A traitor

Some people were gathered on a mountain illuminated by sunlight but slightly obscured by the large trees nearby.

"Information?"

"Sir, they are coming. There are 6 of them, 2 of them are rookies. The information we have is that Carion Westwood is coming as Leader. He is the only one at the Primary Level."

"The elf?"

"Yes."

"Oh, I hear he's a Controller. How curious that he was chosen as leader."

"Well, it's a rescue mission. A Controller on a rescue mission is the best, and he's an elf; he knows very well how to move through the forest and abandoned places." Said another, interrupting the words of the two who had been speaking.

The Leader smiled. "True."

He then looked at the man who was giving him the information.

"Are you sure they are from Nithim Twice?"

"Yes, sir. While they are not high level and barely 'rookies', I saw when a person from Nithim Twice awarded the mission to Carion Westwood."

The Leader's eyes twinkled.

"Well..." He smiled softly. "Then Old Rod and that organization are also with Nithim Twice; that's precious information that will sell for a good price to those guys in the Capital." His smile turned sinister as he spoke.

The man who had interrupted earlier spoke again.

"Although I still say that messing with Nithim Twice is not a good idea, we already accepted this mission. Will we go all the way?" He asked.

The Leader smiled at him, "What? You don't want Nithim? That ore is so precious, if we get some, we could go to Kingdom Carter and live a quiet life."

The other man sighed. "We all want Nithim but still don't know who is behind Nithim Twice. If the ones in the capital couldn't find them, what makes you think we can? They even seem to be controlling a good level Organization like that, don't you think..."

"Stop." The Leader changed his expression, becoming serious all at once. "Privileged information can't be said in front of just anyone. Let's do it. For the Nithim and our quiet lives in Kingdom Carter." He said, raising his hand in the shape of a fist to bump it with his second in command, the guy he was talking to.

He sighed and ended up raising his hand as well and high-fiving him. The others also did the same.

"For the Nithim." They said in a soft shout.

"Well, let's go kill or capture small fry."

...

Klaus was surprised by the good scenery and the type of vans in this place. They had a style closer to those of the ancient era of the earth than to those of the modern era.

It was a curious design but exciting and very comfortable.

The place where they were going did not have many well-made roads; some were only partially made with rocks. The terrain was a bit tricky, but after 1 hour of driving, they stopped next to a small mountain with tall trees.

"From here, we have to walk. We have to be careful, as the village is nearby and those guys will be waiting for us there. Remember that this area was abandoned due to the presence of cursed beasts, so be careful." Carion said as he got out of the car.

The place that greeted them was a slightly wide and rocky terrain with a lot of undergrowth growing around it. There were occasional tall trees, which prevented the sun's rays from reaching them very often.

They walked carefully, following the map they had brought, until they came to a place built slightly downwards. There were houses down there, a small village surrounded by small mountains and large forests.

The planting grounds were much larger than the village itself, so farmers had lived here at one time. And seeing as the grounds still had seeds growing, that time didn't have to have been too long ago.

"This is it." Carion stopped when he arrived, causing the rest to stand behind trees. He subsequently threw a small rock towards the front, which hit another rock and then bounced off to hit a final rock.

It looked as if the rock broke away from the small slope, so it would not alert anyone, but it was a signal to warn that they had already arrived.

With that, their infiltrator would come.

Carion turned to speak but suddenly saw Klaus with a frown on his face and looking around.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

'There's something strange.' Klaus thought. 'It looks like iron smell, but it's blood. Also... Is it this lead?' It wasn't very obvious and could be easily camouflaged due to the place's dampness and the wind's movement, but two kinds of strange smells were reaching his nose.

No one else noticed, but Klaus' senses could not lie to him.

During his childhood and part of his adolescence before rising to fame, he was involved in different situations that gave him the necessary experience not to be fooled by poorly camouflaged smells.

He looked at Carion and nodded to him. "I think... That there are explosives nearby."

"Explosives?" Carion's eyes widened in shock. "Are you sure?" he asked quickly.

Klaus nodded, but before he could speak, the expedition commanders scoffed.

"Hmph, we are trained to encounter these types of things every time, and I can say with certainty that there are no explosives here. Normally, it takes muddy ground to put them in; there isn't here." The one who spoke was the same as before.

Klaus scoffed. "If no muddy or soft ground exists, they will simply have to work harder. It doesn't mean there can't be; it just takes more effort. Besides, there are different types of explosives; don't be an idiot." Although he wasn't temperamental, he felt something was wrong this time.

That's why he needed to make the guy in front of him shut up so he could think of a countermeasure quickly. That's why he spoke that way and rendered that guy speechless.

"You..."

Feeling angry, the other commander smiled and opened both hands, taking a few steps back.

"If so, why don't you tell us where those explosives are? There's nothing here; the terrain here is rocky. There's no way to put them." He said, leaning against a nearby tree.

Klaus frowned and looked at the ground. 'There are a lot of rocks, but trees don't grow in places with only rocks...' Suddenly, his eyes flashed, and he quickly stepped to the side as if he wanted to avoid something.

"Shit, it's under the trees!" He shouted, but just then, the man who had addressed him put a foot right next to the tree roots behind him.

He felt like he was sinking slightly, so he looked down at the ground, but suddenly a massive explosion occurred.

The same explosion raised several other explosions nearby in a few seconds, blowing up different trees and turning the rock into menacing weapons that flew back and forth.

This was a previously made and tested, extremely deadly attack that would destroy the rocks and turn them into stakes. It was commonly used in wars between nations. If one of the two sides managed to lure the other into this trap, it would become an almost one-sided slaughter in which they could hardly survive.

Just then, a voice came from the sides of the explosion.

"Hehe, looks like your information was correct." Said the Leader in charge of making this happen as he looked at a small thief near him.

The thief smiled, "Of course. I've been in contact with them since before they came out. They thought they had managed to infiltrate one of their men into this band of thieves. What they didn't expect was that you guys were so big."

"Hahaha, right. Let's see how many of them survived if there are survivors. It's been a long time since we used this tactic."

The Leader took a few steps forward but suddenly cocked his head quickly.

A stone stake flew past him, grazing his cheek. "Oh? It's dangerous to do this tactic. Even I could be threatened, tsk, tsk." He said without looking back, but his second in command suddenly spoke up.

"No, wait."

Making the Leader turn around.

"What is it?"

Turning around, he was shocked that the thief he had been talking to a moment ago was on the ground, with a stake in between his eyebrows, very precisely.

"Someone threw that stake." Said the 2nd, looking straight ahead.

The Leader then frowned and returned his gaze to the front.