Part 47

I sighed as I watched the conversation between the Caldwell siblings. I was glad I had the map, so I could listen in on their plan.

"They won't survive," I chuckled as I closed the map. Then, without much more of a wait, I turned around and ran back to the group. While the main group of twenty was weak, the strength of the Caldwell siblings was enough to warrant concern. Therefore, I would need help.

It didn't take me long to reach the group I had left behind. It had only been two or so minutes since I left, so all of them were surprised to see me. Hazel immediately turned toward me and stopped her conversation with Evelyn. I took one look at Hazel, then smiled.

"They're planning to ambush us," I said as I looked at Hazel. Hazel's eyes widened, but then a smile formed on her face, "Let's turn the tables."

"We'll be fighting the Caldwell group?" Jonathan asked with shock. I looked at him and nodded, which caused the rest of the group to stand up. Even Stuart and the other adventurers looked in our direction and wondered what was going on.

"We'll set an ambush," I said as I opened the dungeon map once more. I turned my gaze toward the Caldwell group, who were steadily walking through the dungeon as they attempted to make their way to us. Then, without paying much more attention, I quickly opened the [ Traps ] section and began browsing through the options.

"How long until they get here?" Jonathan asked nervously. I glanced toward him, then turned my gaze back to the map. I quickly measured how fast they were moving and roughly calculated the time it would take for them to get here.

"Ten minutes, maybe?" I estimated. Jonathan and the others nodded as they prepared themselves for battle- both mentally and physically, "It's long enough to hide, that's for sure. I'll set up traps, as well as pitfalls and hidden corners for us to hide in."

"What about Stuart?" Jonathan asked as he looked at the other adventurers. Then, in a hushed voice, Jonathan said, "It's not like we can let them know about you. We can knock them out."

I looked to Stuart's group as I thought about what to do with them. I had a few options. Either one- the most unlikely option- I could tell them all about me and turn them into allies. That wasn't likely to happen, nor did I fancy the idea of spilling my secret so easily, so I quickly scrapped that idea. Another option was to trap them behind a wall or something similar, but doing so would probably be seen as antagonistic, so they would attempt to kill me the next time they saw me. Plus, if any of them were smart, they would instantly figure out my abilities.

I had one last option, but I needed information. I turned back to Jonathan, then asked, "You said you left Hewe a few days ago? Did you leave an official request?"

"What do you mean?" Jonathan asked, confused.

"Were you all recorded in the gate or guild's records? Does the guild know you're all out here right now?" I asked.

"Yes," Jonathan nodded. I smiled, then turned to Stuart's group. There were only seven of them left and all of them were incredibly weak. Even Kobold Elites were stronger than these people. I couldn't help but smile wickedly as I thought about all the DP these people would give me. Jonathan saw my gaze, then asked, "We're killing them?"

"Let me do it," Hazel suggested. I quickly turned around and looked at Hazel, surprised. Then, after realizing Hazel hadn't managed to accumulate much XP recently, I began to nod. She had nothing to do but train over the last week, so it was no surprise that she wanted the chance to stretch her limbs out. As Hazel saw my nod, she smiled and began to unsheathe her sword.

"Hey, what's going on h-" One of the adventurers, a tank, behind me began to yell as he saw Hazel unsheathe her weapon. However, before he could finish his sentence, a dark flash of grey zoomed through the small cave. By the time the blur disappeared, the man's neck was already cut wide open. He began to choke as he brought his hands up to meet the bloody fountain that his neck was.

Then, with another flash of her sword, Hazel finished the job and let the man's head fly through the air. I barely saw Hazel's figure standing over the headless corpse before she attacked again. Her sword flashed through the air like the wind, letting only little shimmers of light reach my eyes before disappearing again.

Hazel's cloak waved through the air as she danced, creating small moments where the completely black armor could be seen for a moment before disappearing again. The adventurers from Stuart's party began to fight back, but their speed was nothing compared to Hazel's. Of course, her weapon did 60 DMG, but the AC of most of the people in Stuart's party was over 20.

Whenever Hazel would strike, her sword wouldn't kill the enemy she was going for. This caused a gap in her defense that the others tried to take an advantage of. The fight continued on, lasting for another twenty seconds as Hazel dashed through the air.

By now, two more adventurers had fallen. One of them, the priest girl, and the other being one of the warriors. Stuart, two of the tanks, and the other warrior were still left. By the time the priest girl died, the party had managed to get into a strong formation.

The two tanks stood in front, prepared to defend against Hazel's attacks. Once they were prepared, the AC of each tank went up to the triple digits. Hazel would only be able to kill them if she got a critical hit, which would require missing their armor entirely and hitting the unprotected parts of their bodies. The warrior hid behind the tanks as he held the end of his severed arm. Just ten seconds earlier, he risked an attack that ended horribly. His sword was between the tanks and Hazel, but he had a backup dagger that he was planning to use. Stuart, being the back-line leader he was, stood in the back and immediately used『 Claim 』.

"Traitor!" Stuart yelled as he looked at Hazel. His face was the color of a tomato as he barely contained his anger within his body. Hazel, on the other hand, stood still and swung the blood on her sword to the ground as she stared at her next target in silence.

I watched with interest for a moment before eventually returning to the dungeon map. We didn't have much time until the Caldwell group was going to get here. I quickly went to work as I molded the cave around us.

I watched as the walls and ceiling grew larger. Traps, specifically two types of traps, were set up around the room. The most used trap was a crossbow- albeit a badly made one, that would activate through either a small tripwire or a pressure plate. Of course, I used both. I made sure to set the tripwire at the entrance to the cave while the pressure plate-activated traps were placed sporadically around the room.

As I worked, Hazel's fight continued on. She was fast, but against five people, she was barely holding on. Every one of her attacks did about 60 DMG, but the tanks at the front of the formation had an AC that completely negated most of her attacks. Occasionally, she would see a wisp of black smoke escape from her sword as she attacked. Stuart's『 Claim 』skill didn't make things easier, either, as it strengthened the adventurers around him by about 50%. That black smoke would go into the adventurers and would gradually weaken them, but it wasn't enough to finish them off.