Champion's party

Within a minute of the two girls leaving the sight, five people appeared in front of the destroyed building in a flash of white light.

All wearing white and silver gear. All light-blond or straight-up white-haired.

"Sweet Perseverance… Who could have done this right under our nose?"

The shortest man from the group gasped, looking around with a terrified expression as he assessed the degree of destruction.

"And why did this building, in particular, survive it?"

A tall half-elf woman frowned, leaning against the short man's back and glaring at the only remaining structure within a radius of half a mile. She even started hugging the man, although that seemed to be almost instinctual behavior for her and not a conscious action.

"Something odd is going on. There are four people in there. One of them smells like she has some succubus blood in her, but she also carries the smell of only a single male, so she doesn't appear to be controlled by the demonic bloodline…"

A tall man with wolf ears on top of his head and a bushy whitish tail smelled the air and pointed out.

"Is that really odd? Demons of lust depend on other species and are prone to fall in love with their targets. Hell, I've got some of that blood in me, and I'm on the righteous side."

The shortest man frowned and declared without trying to shake off the half-elf, who was putting all of her weight on his back.

"Let me finish."

The man with wolf ears scoffed with a growl, sending the short man an annoyed glare.

"The odd part about it is that I smell two other smells, but… something appears to be blocking my perception of one of them and making me believe that both belong to a single person…"

"...huh… that does sound odd…"

The beastman pointed out, and the short man let out a grumble of acknowledgment.

"If it messes with you to that degree, it involves someone with some seriously troublesome ability. Can you tell whether it involves demons?"

The fourth member of the group, a grim-faced man with pale red eyes, frowned while shaking his head.

"...no… both smells are human…"

The beastman raised his head to take a few more deep breaths before looking straight at the red-eyed man and declaring.

"Anything else before we get to examining the corpses?"

"Corpses…?"

The red-eyed man straightened his back and asked the beastman but got a rather confused response.

"...wait… Stein, are you saying those four over there are alive? Someone actually survived whatever happened here?"

The half-elf flinched and turned around, staring at the beastman with disbelief.

"Their scent tells me that they suffered some serious damage but nothing fatal."

The beastman nodded his head up and down with a stern face before raising his head to sniff the air once more.

"...and… there's something more… a lingering smell of fear… But I am unable to identify the source as if whatever being was scared got destroyed so thoroughly that not even a trace of their scent remained."

"...holy fuck, coming from you, that sounds terrifying…!"

The half-elf woman gulped down her saliva and shuddered, ending up clinging to the short man even closer.

"...there's something I don't understand. With the power necessary for something so ridiculous, the remaining stench of mana should make you throw up already, but you seem fine…"

The red-eyed man glanced at the beastman with a troubled expression.

"Hold on, Rose is right! You can only tolerate the smell of the goddess's servants' mana! Don't tell us that one of us did this!"

"OI!"

The half-elf gasped in shock, perked up, and put both hands on the short man's head, finally making him call out angrily as she pushed down on him.

"It's worse than you think. There is not even a trace of mana in the air."

"!?!?"

But the answer the beastman gave made all of his companions flinch.

"What in the fuck?! Is there even a skill or ability that would allow for pure physical damage to deal this kind of damage?!"

The half-elf called out in distress, leaning back down and, this time, tightly hugging the short man.

"If you gave a Boarkin Chieftan with a group of Veteran Boarkin Orcs a day or two, they might be able to do it."

The short man reached out his hand and patted the half-elf woman's head as he responded.

"Only that this was done within minutes, if not seconds… Leader, what's your opinion? It's uncommon for you to stay quiet for so long."

The red-eyed man sighed before turning to the side to look up at the last member of their group. The tallest of them all, an eerie white-haired man with off-putting body proportions.

Slightly too long limbs, disturbingly wide mouth, and distorted green eyes that weren't properly round.

"I second that, Zane. You smell like you have an idea, but you're hesitant to share it."

The beastman also turned to the monstrous man and sniffed the air in his direction.

"Well… I do know someone who could do this with a flick of a finger, but that person should have no business in this neighborhood. Also, I can't quite think of anyone around that person with an ability that could mess with Stein's ability…"

Zane squinted his eyes and let out a short sigh as he spoke.

"...boss… you are just saying that to put us on our toes, right…?"

The short man gulped down his saliva and asked, staring at the white-haired man.

"...I… I don't smell a lie…"

"...of fuck…"

The beastman muttered, and his tail dropped down, making the half-elf yelp and tremble when she noticed that.

"I've heard rumors about a female inquisitor with terrifying strength, but this is too much... Leader, I believe that if you possess information regarding such a dangerous individual, you should share it. You should have shared it earlier, but now it's the second best chance to do so."

The red-eyed man took a deep breath and said, doing his best to remain calm.

"That person is clearly not here anymore, so the explanation can wait until we get back to the temple. Now we will focus on the four potential witnesses to make sure that that person is even involved."

Zane shook his head and decided with a strict voice.

"Boss…"

"Personally, I want to make sure that that person is involved because it could be much, much worse if it turned out that they aren't. Let's check on our witnesses for that."

The half-elf let out a complaint, but the monstrous man shook his head decisively and commanded.