Monster village (part 3)

The masked boy made his way through the village and jumped over the wall as if it were merely a tiny bump while making sure to cushion the moment of landing for his fragile passengers.

"There's a cave not too far from here that is connected with the tunnel leading deep into the forest. I will drop you off by the entrance, and you will keep left until you reach an exit with a view of a crystal lake – but do not venture out! It's a golem spawning ground, so don't go out unless there's no other choice. The tunnel itself is a safe zone, but it doesn't look like it, so humans would hesitate to go in. I will go get the others."

Zorey instructed the tribesman, clinging to its two children, and rushed through the forest without waiting for the monster's reply.

For the black-haired boy, the speed of his movement was rather slow, but his passengers could barely breathe because of the wind pressure.

After a few moments, Zorey kneeled down so the beastmen and tribesmen could drop off.

"You know what side is left, don't you?"

"O-of courrrrse...!

The masked boy grabbed the humanized wolfman's arm and confirmed, making the monster blush in embarrassment.

"Go. Don't hang around here, or you might get spotted and followed by humans."

Zorey patted the monster's shoulder and motioned at the menacing entrance of the cave with a threatening aura.

"Arrrre you surrrrre it's sa...?"

The beast got goosebumps just because of the atmosphere surrounding the entrance alone and asked, but the masked priest of death was already gone before it finished the question.

"Mama..."

"Mama is herrrre. Everrrryone, hhhhold hhhhands, and let's go."

One of the beastmen children cried out, clinging to the tribesman's leg, and the monster patted her head reassuringly before grabbing the girl's hand and instructing all the other children to do the same.

Zorey repeated the journey and instructions and went back to the village under attack one more time to finish the evacuation of the beaten children.

Despite it being only a couple of minutes – if it even was that long – the wall of the burgundy flames has been breached by the human adventurers, and all of the wolfmen tribesmen were engaged in combat while the remaining children were cowering behind a broken bed of a hut blown apart by a magic Skill.

"MEN! DON'T LOSE YOUR SPIRIT! THEY'RE ALMOST DONE!"

The heavily armored adventurer's leader took his sword out of the guts of a felled wolfman tribesman and pointed it toward the group of monsters.

"ENCIRCLE THE...!"

He roared, but suddenly, the words got stuck in his throat, and he snapped to the side as if he was pulled by an invisible force – and so did every human around him.

"!!!"

Zorey, crouching down so the children could climb on his back, froze in place and stared at the same point all adventurers were.

A masked fiend (defender) with rusted armor put together from various different sets, and some home appliances were raising her massive shield arm and clenching the broken sword in her other hand as the burgundy flames covering her face were burning brightly.

AOE taunt.

Ridiculously effective at that.

"GET THAT UNDEAD!"

The leader of the adventurers howled, and the affected humans threw themselves en masse at the sole undead.

"HOLY SMI...!"

*WHAM*

"?!?!?"

The heavily armored man who revealed himself to be a pleading while trying to activate a Skill got blown away by something that he definitely wasn't expecting.

A sturdy bedframe thrown by Zorey.

"DON'T LET HER FACE THEM ALONE! FLANK THEM!"

The masked boy growled at the momentarily stunned wolfmen tribesmen, urging them to continue fighting.

"GRAAAARGH!"

"Hold the hell up!"

As the monsters followed his command, the beastman child, looking the oldest of the remaining ones, grabbed a shaped piece of wood that splintered off some furniture, let out a roar, and tried to rush at the human adventurers too, but was grabbed by the color of its clothes and picked up by surprised Zorey.

"L-let me go! My mom is there! I hhhave to hhhhelp hhherrrr!"

The child growled, trying to break free.

"You will help her by surviving! Why do you think she is fighting and not running away?! Your father will help her!"

"NO, HHHE WON'T! THHHE ONE WHHHHO CRRRRUSHHHES KILLED HHHIM! MOM HHHHAS ONLY ME TO HHHHELP HHHHERRR!"

Zorey scoffed at the child but was shouted back at with an argument that made him flinch.

"...shit..."

"L-LET ME GO!"

The masked boy cursed under his breath and took all the remaining kids – including the desperate one who tried so hard to break free the whole way to the cave.

"I must go back!"

Even as Zorey dropped off the kids, that one was doing his best to run back.

*smack*

"Ugh?!"

The masked priest of death gives the child a whack on the back of his head, causing the young beastman to stagger.

"Shut up and listen. Look at how scared those kids are."

"...!"

Zorey spoke coldly, grabbing the beastman boy's shoulder and turning him around to point to the other children trembling in fear.

"You are the oldest one from this group. This means that you have to lead them towards the other exit where it's safe and where others are waiting."

"I... I must go help my mom! NGHAAH...!"

The masked priest of death declared, but when the child tried to shake him off and turn back, he grabbed his left hand and picked him up, causing the child to cry out.

"This is your left hand. As you will go through this cave, it will divide into many tunnels. You will make sure that everyone will stick together and always go through the left one."

"Let me go...! LET ME GOOOO! MOMMY...!"

Zorey ordered in a tone of voice that caused the sobbing children to shut up instantly out of sheer fear, but one boy began crying and struggling to break free.

"..."

"...?"

That made Zorey crouch down so his mask and the beastman boy's face would be on the same level, confusing the child into momentary silence.

Then...

Zorey reached out and removed his mask.

"!!!"

As the equipment lost its effect upon removal, and his shockingly green eyes glared into the best man's face, the child sucked in the air as his face lost all color and his legs gave out.

"Th... thhhe one whhho crrrushhhes....!"

The boy whispered as the overwhelming dread overtook any other emotion.

"You will take the other kids through this damn cave and keep to the left, or I will not only kill all of you, but I will make sure to kill your mom. Not only her. I will kill every other adult in your village, and it will be your fault because you don't want to listen."

"!!!"

Zorey stared into the boy's black eyes and threatened the child in an ice-cold voice.

"If you will be a good boy and listen, I will save your mom. If you will keep being a stubborn idiot... I will kill her just like I killed your dad."

The unmasked priest of death repeated himself to make things clear and lowered the child's hand that he was still holding on to.

"Do you understand? Keep left. Left. The side your heart is."

Zorey leaned back and moved his arm so that the child's hand tapped onto its chest before letting it go and turning around.

"...the hell are you still here for? Do you want me to kill your mom?"

"E-everyone! Hold hands, and don't let go!"

The priest of death stood up and glared back at the child, causing the beastman boy to get up and grab the other children, helping them stand up and rush into the cave.

"..."

*WHOOOSH*

Zorey glared after them for a while to make sure that they were really gone and only then sped back towards what remained of the monster village.

*chomp*

[You've stepped into a snare]

[Pinned down – time remaining 00:04:59]

"...!"

Barely a few steps away from the spot where he jumped off from the previous two times, the earth lighted up, and a circle of red light appeared around the black-haired boy's feet.

"I GOT ONE TRYING TO ESCAPE! Eh?! Oh, shit, it's you...!"

Someone's voice called out from the nearby treetop, and a human dropped down while calling out, just to stagger back in shock.

The person turned out to be none other than Lesia – the Scout that Zorey already met.

...and unluckily, Zorey didn't put Vernlily's mask back on, so his identity was exposed immediately...

"Deactivate this shit right now, or you will regret it."

"...!"

The black-haired boy gritted his teeth and glared at the dark-brown-haired girl, causing her to take a step back and pull up her shoulders defensively.

"I-it's not my skill... it's the effect of one of the items that we were supplied by the guild..."

She looked to the side and mumbled nervously.

"I wasn't asking about that. Deactivate it."

Zorey frowned and demanded while gritting his teeth.

"I could do that... as long as you promise not to interfere with the subjugation of the monster village. There is a weird monster lurking around, and we don't need any more surprises. Oh, and reveal who in the world are you in the first place."

Lesia gulped down her saliva while reaching her hand behind her back.

"If not... I have a way to keep you in place for as long as needed."

She moved her hand back to the front, revealing a couple of metallic spheres the size of walnuts, with shiny red marks burning brightly on the surface.

Just the fistful she held was enough to keep Zorey back for quite a while.