Crash!
As the table flipped over, all the items on top of it tumbled down to the ground. However, Renu didn’t seem satisfied, and he started stomping on the fallen table.
“Damn it, damn it, fucking damn it!”
Crush! Crush! Crush!
The table broke under his kicks. After it split and disintegrated into pieces that couldn’t even be used for firewood, he stopped kicking. However, as if he wasn’t satisfied with that, he looked around to search for something else to break. His eyes were bloodshot and exuded bloodlust.
However, there wasn’t anything more to break. The table was the last piece of furniture left, and everything else such as the bed, chair, and several decorative goods were completely destroyed on the ground.
“Damn it!”
After he kicked away a nearby wooden piece, he commanded loudly, “Is anyone outside! Take these things away and bring replacements!”
His subordinate elves came in. They didn’t show much response even after seeing the state of the room. They simply cleaned the remains on the ground in silence, hoping that Renu wouldn’t direct his rage towards them. The messy room became clean instantly, and other furniture filled the room.
All the elves were incredibly skilled at their work since it wasn’t a rare event for Renu to destroy his room. After his subordinates left, Renu sat on his new chair. There were many causes for his rage: the war with all the other tribes that he had started, the Lake Tribe’s shaman who refused to listen to him, and the humans who suddenly appeared before him.
‘Just who are they!’ A mysterious group of humans had appeared and disappeared like ghosts. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they were the most unexpected variable in this war.
‘According to reports, it seems like they simply looted for goods.’ Soldiers reported hearing them shout loudly to each other to look for treasures and search the houses in Mentis. Nonetheless, he couldn’t just accept this as the truth.
‘I wonder if they have any connection with the other tribes?’ There was a possibility. Since the tribes couldn’t make any move because of the captives, they might have employed humans to search Mentis. Was it possible to gather so many humans in such a short timeframe?
‘It’s impossible.’ That was the problem. Today, Renu heard that those humans had ravaged Mentis and disappeared like ghosts once again without leaving even a single prisoner or corpse behind. If that was true, then they were a truly frightening group.
‘With the time constraint, it’s already impossible for a tribe to employ that many humans—especially if they’re all trained.’ The possible connection between the humans and other tribes grew fainter. In addition, another bothersome problem had popped up. ‘There are those robed figures too!’
No matter how well the organization operated, Renu didn’t expect them to move so shrewdly. It hadn’t been long since he killed the guy he was collaborating with, and they already sent another member to warn him.
‘And I lost him right in front of me.’ Truthfully, the new robed figure was 80% of the reason why Renu had destroyed his room. ‘From what he said, that guy knows about the power quite a bit too.’
If that was the case, this mysterious organization had some terrifying information-gathering skills, and they seemed to have a much greater power than he expected. Renu’s insides churned and flipped.
‘The robed figure didn’t seem too worried about the power.’ Did that mean the organization was stronger than the power he would obtain? Renu’s worries continued to grow.
‘No, calm down Renu Ent Draus. There is no power stronger than that one.’ According to the legends, that power was capable of burning the whole world. ‘Yeah, I will burn them all to crisps—the Lake Tribe and all the other tribes, humans, and everything that stands in our way!’
Slam!
He struck the table. The newly-placed table split into two and crashed onto the floor. It was already the second one, but Renu didn’t even glance at the crushed table.
‘To do that, I have to grasp that power as soon as possible.’
Renu mulled over his concerns again: other tribes, the organization, and the humans who suddenly appeared. He thought for a moment that the organization could’ve controlled the group of humans, but he quickly removed the possibility from his thoughts.
‘It doesn’t matter if the humans are part of the organization or not. It won’t change the fact that we are at a disadvantage.’ His eyes sharpened.
‘…It can’t be helped. I tried to follow the right order of things, but I can’t hold back anything in this situation.’
Besides, he needed to be patient for just one more day. All the preparations would be complete tomorrow.
‘You brought it onto yourself, Romanne Wensing Ju Draus!’ Renu gritted his teeth as he thought of the shaman looking at him spitefully while spitting out curses.
* * *
“How was it?” Zich asked Hans as he entered their underground hideout.
“We weren’t found out, but they rushed towards us more aggressively than before while gritting their teeth. I don’t think we can keep this up any longer.”
“Well, that’s probably the case.”
Some guys probably started thinking that something was wrong, but Zich didn’t seem too concerned.
“It’s fine. The only reason why we are acting as a third party is to rescue the captives. We don’t have to act more than this.”
“You must have found the captives,” Lyla said. She understood what Zich said with her quick senses. Instead of responding to her comment, however, he asked her for the map.
Lyla lay the map on the table, and Zich pointed at the two-floor building he saw.
“It’s here. There are eight of them. I checked the kings and queens from each tribe.”
“There’s one person missing. Where’s the shaman?”
Zich lifted his finger off the map and brushed over it. Then, his finger stopped at the castle.
“The shaman was here.”
“They placed the shaman separately? Do they have a specific use for her?”
“They mentioned something about a ‘power.’”
“A power?”
Zich explained everything he saw and heard to Lyla, including the possibility that the castle might be a remnant of the ancient empire and the power hidden underneath the castle. Lyla listened to his words very seriously. She immediately became serious as soon as anything about the ancient empire was mentioned.
“Then you don’t know what the power is?”
“I don’t know. We also don’t need to try so hard to find out what it is. We’re going to find out about it anyway if we save the hostages and wipe the Iron Tribe out.”
“Are you going to save the hostages right away?”
“There’s no need for us to spend a long time on a matter like this. If we take too long, troublesome variables might appear.” Then Zich added in one more thought, “I’m also curious about finding out what the power is.”
“…!” Lyla stared at him, but Zich’s gaze was focused on the castle drawn on the map. Since sunlight didn’t reach their basement, the candlelight cast shadows on Zich’s face. Lyla gulped down her saliva.
An obsession for power—that was basically the embodiment of the Demon Lord of Strength, Zich Moore.
‘Is this just a coincidence?’
So far, Zich hadn’t shown much obsession for obtaining power. He just did kind acts on top of kind acts and shook people around with his freakish antics. However, right now, Zich definitely showed interest in the great amount of power beneath the castle.
‘…It might just be curiosity.’
It was a power from the ancient empire after all. However, the ominous thoughts did not go away.
‘He said that even his past self won’t hold him back.’
When Lyla heard this, she was relieved. She thought Zich would not be tied down by his past Demon Lord self and walk a completely new path. However, if she thought about the contrary, it was also a very dangerous thought.
‘It can also mean that he won’t be tied down by his current desire to do kind acts, and in the future, he can go back to being a Demon Lord again.’ Lyla strengthened her resolve.
“I’m going to cause a commotion near the entrance and go save the hostages tomorrow. Hans and Snoc will be causing the commotion like today, and Lyla, you should stay behind as a reserve force.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Zich moved his eyes away from the map. Hans and Snoc, who were quietly listening to the plan, also stared at her.
“If we save the hostages, wouldn’t it be better for us to immediately teleport them to the other side of the lake?”
Zich stared at her face—he had also thought of this. However, it was easier to move by himself when they were saving the hostages, and he planned to use Snoc’s power to move the hostages to this basement after taking them out of the building. For that reason, Zich didn’t think that he needed to take Lyla with him at the expense of inconveniencing his movements.
However, Zich nodded his head. “Okay. Lyla, you can move with me.”
Lyla felt relieved that Zich easily agreed to her suggestion.
‘He probably didn’t think too much about it.’
Zich didn’t need to cover Lyla’s skills, and even if something dangerous happened, he could easily cover one person. Thus, Zich easily accepted Lyla’s suggestion as she didn’t usually strongly voice out her suggestions. In the first place, no one on this team except for Zich strongly voiced their suggestions or requests. Whatever the reason was, Lyla gained permission to accompany him.
‘I will never let you become the Demon Lord again.’
It was for the good of the world and also for herself since she liked how Zich was right now. Even though Zich fought people at the drop of a hat and his personality was still trash and he enjoyed people’s sufferings, all the actions he did so far were, awkwardly enough, fair and just.
‘It’s also true that he helped me out when I had nowhere to go.’ Lyla tightly clenched her fists.
* * *
The next night soon arrived. Like the previous two nights, Kandis was wandering all over Mentis with his bloodshot eyes.
“Search every corner! If you find even one fucking ant, send a signal right away!”
There were a lot more torches that lit up Mentis compared to yesterday, and there were also more soldiers patrolling the island.
“You guys can’t take a break unless you catch those bastards! So focus and find at least one rat hole! We have to find out how they are coming in and out!” Kandis instilled mana into his voice, and his loud shout continued to pressure the elf soldiers.
The soldiers also began to grow more and more hateful towards the mysterious intruders who hindered them from resting, and they carefully examined every shadow cast on the wall. However, their efforts were useless.
Crash!
The door to a large house in a less guarded area was roughly open. All the soldiers’ eyes moved towards the door.
Slam!
“Urgh!”
An elf that was near the door was pierced directly by a spear. Before the soldiers even realized what happened, armored soldiers came storming out of the door.
“It’s those humans!”
“It’s our enemy! Those armors appeared agai—Ack!”
The soldiers loudly crying out for support lost their lives from the endless amount of armored figures that came out of the house. Sounds of battle rang out all over Mentis once again.
“It’s started.”
“Yeah.”
Lyla and Zich were peering down at the battle scene from a building next to the place where the hostages were kept. The guards patrolling nearby quickly moved to join the rest of their troops in battle. Soon enough, there were only a few guards left in front of the area where the hostages were being held.
“Let’s go.”
Zich and Lyla moved out of the building.