Outside of the city's gates, a small crowd gathered; more than a hundred people gathered here with the sole purpose of hunting a man.
Calice, one of the strongest men in the True End Guild, clapped his hands before announcing.
''Your attention, please.''
The noisy crowd turned silent upon hearing Calice's words.
''Good! As you know, the reward for capturing the enemy is 2000 Gold coins.''
Most of those present whistled as 2000 Gold coins were a lot of money.
''3000 Gold coins for killing him. The enemy is extremely dangerous and cunning, so be aware of his tricks; your death will have nothing to do with us as you have received ten gold coins upon signing for this quest. There will be no question as we will immediately depart. By the way, the information stating that Alex Grim was inside Torel's mountains is not fake because it came from the person himself.''
The crowd turned immediately noisy upon hearing the last part of Calice's words; they wondered if Alex had become crazy to invite the wrath of an entire guild? But thinking about what that madman had done until now, it was unlikely; he did this for a reason; it was a provocation; he must have known that the True End Guild would gather other players and some NPCs to hunt him down, and yet he still did that.
'What is his thinking?' Though most people present, even Sakuya, who wore a fox mask, was intrigued. However, she had no way of knowing what Alex's goals were, but she knew she would find out once reuniting with him.
Sakuya lowered her head to stare at her right hand; on top of her hand was a shining crimson tattoo.
''I guess they must have done this to know how many people there are and go after any that ran away after taking the ten gold coins. Roughly counting two hundred and twenty people multiplied by ten, then you will have 2200 gold coins, this guild is sure rich to spend 2200 gold coins so easily.'' Sakuya mumbled while looking around her; every single person present except for Calice had this tattoo on their hand.
Sakuya chuckled when she saw that tattoo, unlike the others, before the tattoo could be applied to her hand, she covered the latter with an invisible wind element, so the tattoo didn't etch into her flesh; therefore, she could remove it at any moment, this was necessary as what she was about to once inside these mountains must be known. By removing this tattoo, Calice and others would think that she had died, which would be perfect for a sneak operation.
Something else bothered Sakuya, but after a bit of thinking, she understood the people behind this mission intention. Apart from Calice, only a few other members of the True End Guild were present; not even the guild master, the vice guild master, and Blood Chalice Guild master were present; one might think that it was because they feared an ambush, but this wasn't a valuable reason, the real reason should be them testing the water with this group, to put it bluntly, Sakuya and others were just cannon fodder if they succeeded and killed Alex that would be for the best, but in the case, they got wiped out it wouldn't be bad as those who had not come would launch an attack on Alex who should be exhausted after fighting against two hundred people.
'How devious.' Sakuya mumbled before grinning behind her mask; she would thoroughly crush this plan but first, why not enjoy hunting her man? Thinking about it made the S Queen genuinely excited.
•••••
One hour later, a group of ten men could be seen walking in the depth of Torel's mountains.
''Tch! We have been walking for one hour but yet found nothing, not even a trap. I started thinking maybe this man played us and is not here.'' One of the men said the frustration inside his voice could be felt; he was getting more annoyed because of the lack of action; he loved to fight, so naturally, not seeing even a monster for one hour could be torturing.
''Calm down, let's continue; we might find something soon, and don't forget that we have only covered a tiny part of the Torel's mountains, so it is normal to not encounter anything for now.'' Another man calmed the first one who clicked his tongue and stayed nothing more.
Sakuya, who was silently walking with this group, chuckled inwardly; just as she was about to use the wind detection skill, she stopped, and her lips curved up behind the mask.
''What?"
''What is this?"
Panic cries rang out as a sudden mist covered the whole forest where the ten men were.
In less than a minute, the forest was covered by a thick fog rendering one unable to see and what was the most frightening was that their sense of direction was thrown in disarray.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
A sudden sound filled the fog, making those unable to calm down panic further, and they started swinging their weapons aimlessly, hoping to at least touch the thing moving around; however, their attempts failed miserably, and they ended up stabbing their allies.
''Cough! Cough! Marcus, you-" The man couldn't finish his words before life slowly left his body, and he disappeared.
Marcus, who had just killed his friend, trembled, and he muttered incoherently.
''I-I'm sorry, I'm really am I. I don't know-"
Puchi!
In turn, Marcus's voice was cut off because a sword pierced through his neck, and upon seeing the sword tip, Marcus chuckled because it was the sword of an acquaintance, the sword of the girl he was courting but hadn't succeeded until now.
Just as life slowly started to slip from his body, Marcus's memories flashed before him like a movie, and among them, there was one that talked about a mysterious alchemy potion capable of creating a frog that disrupts one's senses but could create illusion and confusion, this potion is called: Nightmare Fog.
''W-we a-are doomed!" That was Marcus's last thought before disappearing.