Hello, we're here again. I'm still safe and sound, and I hope you all are too.

Let's cut to the chase and go on with the show. As usual, see you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


Bam! Bam! Bam!

The front door of Jonathan Dunlow's house was suddenly banged on early in the morning. The land was still not yet fully illuminated by the sun because it was still right at the horizon, and pretty much everyone inside were still half-awake having their breakfast. Nevertheless, the banging sound gave everyone the jolt to become fully awake.

"Who's there?"

Jonathan stood up from his seat while slowly and cautiously approaching the door. Alice and Rose looked at him with watchful eyes, in case it was something which would warrant an intervention from them.

"Chief! It's bad! The lake is stained red again!"

A male voice shouted from behind the door. Both Alice and Rose immediately stood up from their seat upon hearing it.

"What!?"

Jonathan immediately opened the door, revealing a relatively young male villager who was sporting a grim face while trying hard to catch his breath.

"Yes, chief! Stains of blood are flowing from under the bridge again! Some people are already on the way to retrieve whatever is there"

"Oh god..."

Jonathan spoke with a faint tone as his left hand raised to hold his own forehead. His body tilted to the side, which immediately prompted the young man to hold onto him and prevent him from hitting the floor.

"Ah! Chief!"

As the young man shouted, Alice quickly stepped in and helped in holding Jonathan's body.

"You could've been a little considerate and tell him to sit down beforehand..."

"Uh..."

The young man reacted to Alice's remark, lowering his head with his eyes averted. Rose soon also stepped in, and the three people brought Jonathan to a seat where he could sit down. His eyes were still open and he was breathing, but he was otherwise unresponsive.

"Let him rest. I'll go check"

Alice immediately walked out from the house and flew towards the upstream bridge, which was a little far because Jonathan's house was right next to the downstream bridge.

Alice arrived at the upstream side within less than a minute, and indeed red stains were flowing from under the bridge. Several people were standing on either side of the bridge, holding a thick length of rope which was attached to a large net covering the width of the river.

Alice landed on the left side near a small crowd of people who was looking with worried eyes. Blood was flowing from where the net was under the water, so whatever the dead body was, it was now caught in the net.

"Alright! Pull it here!"

One middle-aged man, seemingly in charge for the current situation, standing just a few meters away from Alice, shouted a command. The group holding the net at the opposite side of the river slowly walked to the bridge and crossed it while maintaining their grip on the rope. As this was happening, more people came and the crowd around the bridge grew larger and larger.

Soon, both groups holding the rope were on the same side. Their eyes were on the person in charge, waiting for his next command. He looked around towards the growing crowd and spoke as loud as he could.

"If you can't stand it move away and don't look!"

Right after the man spoke, a portion of the crowd stepped back. Some of them covered their face with their own hands, but still peeked through gaps between their fingers. Paying no heed, the man immediately spoke the command.

"Pull it out!"

Both groups pulled the net out from the water, visibly struggling to do so. It was a clear sign that whatever they were pulling out was heavy. Nevertheless, they managed to bring the thing onto the ground after two minutes.

"Ugh..."

Alice was taken aback by what she saw with her own eyes. Just at first glance, it was very apparent that the object inside the net was a pile of human body parts, coming from at least two people since there were two left hands visible. The stench of fresh blood, compounded by the confirmation that the objects were mutilated human corpses, triggered a lot of reactions from various people within the crowd around.

"No way...! That's...!"

One of the villagers who had pulled the net spoke in a horrified tone. Without speaking further, he put his hands over his head with his eyes clearly showing despair. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man gritted his teeth and clenched his fists hard.

"There's no mistaking it! It's Hasan and his wife! Those Zenme bastards have murdered them!"

The crowd, which had grown large at this point, was sent into uproar within a couple seconds upon hearing the shout of another villager from somewhere nearby.

Crap! This is bad!

"Kill! Kill! Kill those Zenmes!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill those Zenmes!"

The crowd began cheering in unison, shouting the 'kill' word over and over like a madness mantra. Alice, who was practically in the middle of the crowd, felt as if a heavy burden had been placed on her shoulders. Her legs became weak and she could drop on her knees anytime soon. In addition, her head was abnormally dizzy as if she was spinning in place.

"Kill! Kill! Kill those Zenmes!"

Something's not right... I have to get out of here!

Alice couldn't confirm it, but she could feel something ominous and malicious within the area around her, like a magic miasma. She wanted to fly away from there. She knew that she had to, and quickly. But she had a hard time focusing, her senses began to dull, and she could feel her mana being forcefully drained out from her. At this point she regretted leaving the staff from Ainz at Jonathan's house.

"Kill! Kill! Kill those Zenmes!"

Thud!

Alice dropped on her knees. Her lower body stopped responding to the orders from her mind. Everything started going dark and she knew she would soon lose either her consciousness or her free will.

"Kill! Kill! Kill those Zenmes!"

Tch!

Mustering what was remaining of her consciousness and determination, Alice grabbed the dagger she had always been keeping strapped under her coat. She quickly unsheathed the dagger, looked down on her own legs, and gritted her teeth.

Shhk!

"Ughh!"

Alice stabbed her own left thigh with the dagger. The pain she immediately felt was horrible, to say the least. Tears burst out from her eyes in response to the pain, and her breath ran short.

"Kill! Kill! Kill those Zenmes!"

But the horrible pain was all she needed to regain focus.

[Fly]

With just enough focus returning to her mind, Alice activated her Flight Necklace and flew at full speed back to Jonathan's house. The dagger was still stuck on her left thigh, dripping blood as she flew. However, the adrenaline rush from all things happening helped her to ignore the pain for the time being.

Once she arrived at Jonathan's house, Alice landed right in front of the open door and collapsed. The ones inside were naturally startled by her sudden arrival.

"Liz! What happened!?"

Rose immediately approached Alice, looking clearly concerned. Alice pulled out the dagger from her leg while gritting her teeth, trying to endure the pain again.

"I'll tell you, but first please have Meru heal me"

"Oh, right!"

Rose quickly switched with Meru, her attire changing accordingly, and immediately began charging energy.

"Resta"

Meru's photon tech enveloped Alice in a green light, and her stab wound was instantly healed. Her leather trousers still had the stab hole, though, and the red stains were still there.

"Thanks..."

"What happened there, Liz...?"

Meru asked the question while still looking concerned. Alice was still short on breath, but she inhaled deeply, exhaled, and finally spoke.

"We've been checkmated. The enemy got the first move, and now the villagers are under their control"

Hearing Alice's answer, Meru and everyone else in the house, namely Anna, the young man from before, Jonathan, and his wife, were shocked.

"W-What?"

"The villagers...?"

"What did you say!?"

"My people are...?"

Thud!

Jonathan's wife was the only one reacting without saying a word. Instead she dropped what she happened to be holding on her hand, creating the dull thudding sound.

"One thing for sure, don't get anywhere near the upstream bridge. That area is now littered with some kind of mind control magic. I barely escaped by putting myself in great pain, as you could see"

"W-What should we do, Liz...?"

"I want to fly to Zenme and alert the people, but if the enemy is as cunning as it seems now, I'm afraid the Zenme villagers are suffering the same fate, and all the people will soon kill each other"

Alice lowered her head and put one hand over her forehead.

"Hah... it's all my fault. If only I hadn't decided to wait until this morning..."

"Liz..."

Meru switched back to Rose, her attire changing accordingly. She immediately looked at Alice with her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Okay, but you have a plan, right? You know, something better than sitting around blaming yourself"

Alice reacted with a wry smile to Rose's words.

"I'm not some military genius who can come up with a new plan this quickly. Give me a minute"

Rose let out a sigh while sporting a similar wry smile before speaking.

"Liz, I'm not letting you shoulder everything. Tell everyone here the current situation in more detail. Who knows, someone might come up with something. Two heads are better than one. Or in this case, six"

Alice looked over Rose's shoulders after hearing Rose's words. At least Jonathan and the young male villager nodded, silently stating that they were willing to help.

"Heh, you're right. We definitely don't have much time, so I'll speak fast. Also, Rose, message Guardian about this"


[X][X][X]


Inside a barn at Zenme Village, two people occupied its space. One was Ekuld, a villager of Zenme who had been tasked by the chief to keep watch on the Adventurer whom the village was holding hostage as insurance for her mates to find the village chief's missing daughter. The other was the aforementioned Adventurer, Guardian.

Right now, it was morning and the sun was already a little above the horizon. Guardian was still asleep, lying on a makeshift bed made from covering a flat stack of hay with rags. To prevent her from escaping, her arms were tied up behind her back with a length of rope that was tethered to the barn's middle support column. In addition, her legs were tied together at the ankles and knees. None of the restraints were visible, though, because she was covered in a warm blanket from the neck down.

Ekuld personally thought that the restraints were unnecessary because Guardian had been cooperative and never made a fuss. But Thomas Zenme, the aforementioned village chief, had insisted to keep her on a tight leash, and so Ekuld obeyed. Sally and Falgos also thought the same, but Guardian herself had recommended them to obey, to mitigate suspicion from whatever was affecting Thomas.

Speaking of whom, Ekuld wondered why neither Sally nor Falgos had come to switch with him yet in guard duty. His turn should have ended at least one or two hours before, but none of them had showed up.

Bam!

The door of the barn was opened violently all of a sudden. Ekuld was naturally shocked, and Guardian was awakened from her sleep thanks to the noise. The one showing up behind the barn door was none other than the chief, Thomas Zenme. His eyes were bloodshot and the facial expression clearly displayed rage.

"C-Chief? What's wrong?"

"Have you been keeping that brat on a tight leash like I told you to?"

Thomas asked the question with his breath running short from the anger. Ekuld immediately looked at Guardian, who looked back at him with sharp eyes.

"Yes. Yes, of course! Look!"

Ekuld stood up from the spot he had been sitting on, approached Guardian, and took the blanket off from her, revealing to Thomas the bondage she was still in ever since last night.

"Hrmh!"

Thomas grunted, walked up on Guardian, and checked her restraints one by one. They were indeed still in place, preventing her from going anywhere.

"Those Dunlow bastards...!"

Ekuld couldn't help getting a very bad feeling after seeing how Thomas behaved, and so he asked.

"Chief, what has happened?"

"Those bastards, they murdered Sally and Falgos in cold blood!"

Both Guardian and Ekuld froze up hearing what Thomas had said. Their eyes went wide and their jaws slightly dropped.

"Chief... you're kidding... right...?"

Ekuld asked the question in a strained voice. There was no way he would believe it. It was just last night he laughed together with them. They had been just fine. There was no way...

"Do I look like I'm kidding, idiot? They're all dead! Go see for yourself near the bridge if you still don't believe me!"

Ekuld rushed out of the barn within an instant, leaving Thomas and Guardian behind. He ran as fast as he could, probably even faster than he could have ever imagined.

No way, no way! It couldn't be! It's a lie!

Ekuld arrived at the bridge of Zenme Village within a minute. There was a large crowd there, gathering around a spot just next to the bridge.

"Give way! Give way!"

Ekuld pushed through the crowd, shoving away all people who were in his way.

"Sally! Falgos! Sal-!"

Ekuld's cry was cut off the moment he saw what was right in front of his very own eyes. His whole body froze up, and no more words could come out from his mouth.

In Ekuld's sight, two dead bodies were down on the ground. Both of them had been butchered in cold blood, having slash wounds all over and nearly completely stained red. Their bloodied hands were holding each other tightly.

Thud.

Ekuld fell on his knees, tears running down his cheek. He didn't want to believe it, but there was no mistake that the two dead bodies were Sally and Falgos.

"Ekuld, now you see for yourself, how cruel the Dunlows are"

Thomas suddenly spoke from behind, and Ekuld felt something changed from within him. His grief gradually changed into something else; rage and thirst for vengeance.

"People! We have had enough! We go down there and kill the Dunlows!"

"Ooooohhh!"

The crowd cheered, raising their fists high.

"Kill the Dunlows!"

"Kill the Dunlows!"

The crowd shouted the phrase over and over, and Ekuld stood up from his kneeling posture. He gritted his teeth and his eyes gradually became bloodshot red. He then quickly took the woodcutting machete he has always been tucking on his waist, and raised it high.

"Kill the Dunlows!"

"Kill the Dunlows!"


[X][X][X]


Inside a barn within Zenme Village, Guardian sat still on the hay bed. Her head was lowered, her mouth was slightly open and hanging, and her eyes were essentially devoid of light. She was overcome by guilt.

Guardian didn't care about the prickly hay she was sitting on. She couldn't care less about the ropes binding her down. She wouldn't care about the noise of the crowd shouting she could hear at a distance. All that was going on in her head was the fact that two people had been killed on her watch.

I should have protected them... What was I thinking...?

Thinking back, Guardian could have insisted to have everyone rest here together. Instead, she had conceded to Sally and Falgos convincing her that they would be fine. Now both of them had paid the price of her failure with their lives.

I screwed up. I'm a failure of a Guardian.

Smack!

Suddenly Guardian felt a hit on her head. It was not on her physical body, but her own projection inside her mind space. It didn't take long for her to realize that Gettemhart, the host of Dark Falz Elder, had just smacked her on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Done crying, chump?"

"I'm not crying!"

Gettemhart folded his arms, looking down on Guardian.

"Oh yeah? To me, you are"

"Ah, shut up! Two people just died on my watch, you know!"

"So what? Wanna continue crying like a useless chump you are? Gonna grieve and let more people suffer, like I did in the past?"

Guardian was speechless hearing Gettemhart's words. She just now remembered that Gettemhart's fall into madness, which ultimately had turned him into a Dark Falz, had begun with his grief over his loss of a loved one. Guardian's case was far from that extreme, but she nevertheless understood the message.

"As much as I don't like the person, I agree with him"

A familiar female voice spoke to Guardian. It was Dark Falz Apprentice, or known as Margaretta here, approaching Guardian from another direction. As Guardian turned her head, Margaretta resumed.

"It's too bad that two people died on your watch, but what matters is what you can do next"

Margaretta came even closer to Guardian, and she touched Guardian's cheek and chin while resuming her speech.

"I don't really care about your choice, but grieving makes you ugly, and I don't want to see that ugly face of yours. It's bad for my own beauty"

Margaretta gave Guardian a light flick on the forehead, and stood next to Gettemhart with a somewhat mischievous smile with her arms on her hip.

"Still need the other three to talk you down, chump?"

Gettemhart asked while still looking down on Guardian.

"Nah, I'm good. You're right. Both of you"

"So, you're done playing damsel in distress?"

"Hey-!"

Before Guardian could protest, Margaretta added her own statement to Gettemhart's.

"I must say, though. I concur with your clone. You look cute being a damsel in distress"

Guardian facepalmed hearing that.

"That's it. I'm so done with this"

Without waiting for either Gettemhart or Margaretta to speak, Guardian returned her consciousness into her physical body, which was still tied up to the middle support column of the barn.

Equip weapon: Atlas Zemus Ex!

Guardian summoned her scythe-looking rod weapon into her grip and immediately charged a photon tech. One of the perks she had as a Phantom class was the ability to become a floating ethereal wisp while charging any photon techs as long as she was wielding a Phantom-compatible weapon. Naturally, all the ropes tying her down came off the moment she became ethereal.

Shifta.

Since she was now free, Guardian used the photon tech to finish her attempt. However, she forgot one thing, which she realized just a little too late.

"Oh, crap..."

Another perk of Phantom class was an automatic roundhouse slash using the weapon after casting certain photon techs if the equipped weapon was a rod. That was exactly what she did next. The slash sliced the support column of the barn, along with all other support columns, and the whole barn.

Crack! Drrt! Brrm!

The barn collapsed on Guardian as a result. She was unharmed thanks to her photon armor, but it was a fact that she had just unnecessarily destroyed a property. Nevertheless, Guardian dusted herself off and went into thinking about the next course of action.

"I'm not sure what to do now. Maybe I'll just fly to Dunlow and meet the others for now"

Beep! Beep!

Suddenly Guardian heard the notification of someone contacting her. It was Rose.

"Guardian! How's things over there? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine myself, but... nobody else is hearing me now, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. I'm not putting this on speaker mode. Why?"

"Unfortunately... Sally and Falgos are dead..."

"W-What?"

"Just... don't tell Anna for now. I'm coming there soon"

"Alright. Be careful on the way"

The communication link ended, and Guardian activated her Flight Necklace to fly straight to Dunlow. She hoped the others had a better outcome over there.


[X][X][X]


"Unbelievable..."

Jonathan put his left hand over his lowered head, elbows resting on the table surface in front of him. The others in the room were as speechless as him after hearing Alice's story about what had just happened at the upstream bridge.

"I'm afraid our situation is grim. Whatever magic happened back there drained nearly all my mana, and we still don't know who, or what we are facing against"

Alice ended her speech with a sigh. Even after telling the story, she still couldn't come up with a good solution for this.

"Chief, how long does it take to reach Zenme Village by walking?"

"Uhh, I don't really know. It's been a while"

Jonathan was very visibly flustered as he spoke, but the young male villager raised his hand and spoke.

"I think it's half an hour. I went there last week for some trading"

"Ugh, it's pretty close. And if the Zenme villagers are bewitched too, they likely will encounter halfway. That means we have less than 15 minutes before they begin killing each other"

"Everybody will die...?"

Anna asked with a very visibly worried face. Alice wanted to say something to calm her down, but she couldn't think of anything. Moreover, finding a possible solution was more important than thinking of a speech to calm a person down.

"We won't let it happen"

Everybody in the room suddenly heard a voice coming from the front door. Naturally, they all turned their head towards the source of the voice. What they saw there immediately brought some delight to most, and a confusion to the rest.

"Ah, you're finally here, Guardian!"

Rose was the first one to speak on the arrival of Guardian.

"Yeah, the situation has changed, so I broke out and flew here as fast as I could"

Guardian walked into the room as she spoke. Then she resumed speaking without waiting for anyone else to speak.

"While flying here, I got a glimpse of what was happening below. It seems the people from both villages are mind-controlled to kill each other in an all-out open conflict. I don't know how far or deep their actions are controlled, but I think our first priority is to prevent the two crowds from engaging"

Alice nodded and immediately spoke in response.

"Yeah, I think the same too. But I barely escaped from whatever magic that was, and as the result I'm now basically out of mana"

"So it's down to the two of us, huh...?"

Guardian put her hand on her chin, going into a thinking posture. Alice couldn't help feeling guilty for becoming useless.

"Yeah, sorry..."

"Nah, don't be. At least you're safe. In any case, I have an idea. Not brilliant, but it should at least buy some time"

Alice just made a wry smile upon hearing Guardian's words, and she didn't say anything in response.

I failed to think of anything, while she got an idea by herself. Really, do I actually have a place in this team?

"Liz, something wrong?"

Rose asked her out of nowhere, which startled Alice a little.

"Ah, nothing. So, what's your idea?"

Alice straightened her face and asked the question to Guardian, who immediately turned her body towards the front door.

"We don't have much time, so I'll explain as we go. Let's hurry"

Rose immediately nodded and followed Guardian to the front door, while Alice looked back at the other four people in the room who had been wordlessly watching.

"Lock the doors and windows, and barricade yourselves in. Also..."

Alice lowered her head, contemplating briefly before she resumed.

"...perhaps you may consider isolating yourselves in a different room each, or even tying yourselves up. We don't know how far the enemy is capable of mind-controlling people after all. For all we know, they might take control of you to kill one another in our absence"

There was a brief silence before someone finally spoke.

"A-Alright. Please, save my people!"

Jonathan spoke in a very apparent pleading tone, holding the hands of his wife, whom Alice could notice the pleading eyes of hers.

"Please save my dad!"

Anna also did the same. Seeing this, Alice felt that she had to succeed. She was now determined to save everyone from killing each other, and make whoever responsible for this pay dearly.

Full of determination, Alice took her staff and ran outside to fly up, following Rose and Guardian. Ignoring the angry, bewitched crowd they passed along the way, the group kept flying towards the direction of Zenme Village until Guardian slowed down just slightly less than a minute later.

"There!"

As she spoke, Guardian pointed at an area ahead of them. At this particular area, the river and the dirt road alongside it went through a small forest.

"What about that forest?"

Rose asked the question, while Alice began to figure out what Guardian wanted to do.

"Are you intending to cut down trees and make a quick roadblock?"

"Yeah. I know it won't stop them, but like I said, it should buy some time"

Alice nodded, approving the idea which was a lot better than doing nothing.

"Yeah, let's get to it then"

Without further words, the group landed down on the ground and began their work. Rose and Guardian cut trees down with their weapons, while Alice used some scrolls of [Mage Hand] to move the fallen trees into position. In the end, the makeshift roadblock was complete within less than ten minutes. Just in time for welcoming the approaching crowds from both sides.

Alice looked back and forth between the two crowds while standing atop the roadblock made of fallen trees. Both crowds looked like nothing more than a bunch of angry mobs bent on anarchy to her eyes. The one from Dunlow was seemingly led by the man who had been in charge of pulling out the corpses, while the one from Zenme was led by Thomas Zenme himself. The majority of the people from both crowds carried weapons on their hands, like the Zenme villagers from the previous day.

"Move away, Adventurers!"

Thomas shouted, followed up by the crowd behind him cheering.

"Move away! We gotta kill the Zenmes!"

The man from Dunlow shouted too, and the crowd behind him cheered. Alice used a scroll of [Amplify Voice] and began speaking out.

"All of you, stop! Don't fight!"

Alice's voice echoed to all sides and both crowds briefly fell silent, but the silence didn't last long because Thomas shouted immediately.

"Why should I listen to you!?"

"Ooooh!"

The crowd behind Thomas cheered while raising the weapons they were carrying.

"Because your enemies are not the other village! Not the Dunlows or the Zenmes! We all have a common enemy who has been pulling strings!"

Not wavering, Thomas shouted back.

"Ridiculous! You still haven't returned Anna to me, and your partner is right there! Nobody will believe you! I personally won't! Chaaaaarge!"

"Oooh!"

Thomas and his crowd charged straight at the roadblock, and the Dunlow crowd also did the same. Alice, Rose, and Guardian leaned on each other's back, not knowing what to do because the charging people were just innocent people who were being controlled by the enemy, which none of the group knew where.

Schwing! Grrk!

Suddenly, a wide wall of crystal rose from the ground at each side of the roadblock, stopping both crowds from engaging each other. Alice had no idea who had done it, and the other two were as confused as her.

"Hey, come here!"

A voice called out to the group from the direction of the woods. Alice looked at that direction and saw a masked person in red standing there, signaling them to come. Alice quickly recognized her, and spoke to Rose and Guardian.

"It's a friend! Let's go!"

Rose and Guardian gave a quick nod and followed Alice to approach the person, who was none other than Evileye, one of the members of Blue Rose.

"It's been a while, Evileye. Thank you for the help"

Evileye tilted her head hearing Alice's words.

"Hmm? Have we met before? Oh, wait a second. You're Alice from Ignite Maximus! But where are the other two I remembered? Ryu and Lily, right?"

"Well, the team expanded and now I'm with these two. This is Rose, and this is Guardian, her twin. Rose, Guardian, meet Evileye. One member of Blue Rose team"

Evileye nodded slightly before speaking in response to the introduction.

"It's nice to meet you two, and thanks for stalling the mobs. I wouldn't have made it in time otherwise"

"Ah, speaking of which, how are we going to deal with them? They are being controlled by something we don't know anything about"

Alice hurriedly asked the question, hoping that the more experienced Evileye would know an answer.

"Yeah, no worries. My boss is taking care of it as we speak, and we do know the one behind this"

Evileye raised her head, looking up as she spoke. Alice's group looked the same way, and they saw a person standing atop one of the two crystal walls. Alice could recognize the person as Lakyus, the leader of Blue Rose. She was raising her dark sword upwards above her head, and a glimmer of light could be seen all around her body.

[Widen Magic: Mind Purification]

Light particles showered both crowds, and within a few seconds all the people looked around while looking confused and dumbfounded. One thing for sure, Alice no longer felt any rage coming out from all the people.

"Alright, that should take care of it"

Evileye spoke with her arms folded while still looking up at Lakyus, who began speaking with an amplified voice like Alice before.

"People! You all have been controlled by an evil being! But now you are free from its grasp! I, Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra of Blue Rose, urge all of you to go home and shelter yourselves because this place is going to become a battlefield!"

Gasps could be heard from both crowds, followed by noises of talking to each other. Regardless of that, Lakyus resumed.

"Your safety is our priority, and therefore some of us shall escort you back"

Right after Lakyus spoke, three more people showed up. Alice could easily recognize them as the twins of Blue Rose and Gagaran the Warrior. They, along with Lakyus, split up into two groups to escort the villagers away.

Alice decided to ignore what was happening next over there, and turned to Evileye to ask a question.

"Can you tell us what we are going to fight against?"

"In short, an Evil Deity. Are you confident in your strength? If not, you should retreat with the villagers and help escorting them"

Alice couldn't hide her surprise. She knew very well what an Evil Deity was, and with her current condition of having little mana, there was no way she could win a battle against one, even with the staff from Ainz.

"I killed an Evil Deity once, if that means anything"

Rose suddenly said something which surprised Alice, and seemingly Evileye too.

"What, you're not joking, are you?"

Evileye tilted her head again while asking in a doubtful tone.

"Of course not. Its name was Piethoms, and I killed it with one move"

Before Evileye could respond, someone dropped down from above and landed on her two feet. It was an old, dark-skinned woman wearing a dark brown hooded coat.

"I see, so you are the one who slayed Piethoms. What a coincidence"

The old woman spoke with an inquisitive smile, but Alice couldn't care less about that because she remembered the woman. Out of reflex, Alice spoke out.

"You, you're... the lady from back then! My father's friend!"

The old woman showed a reaction, immediately looking at Alice. Within a second, her eyes went slightly wider and her mouth opened a little.

"Oh! You're-"

The old woman halted her speech, then she glanced at Evileye before continuing.

"If you already know that much, I won't hide anything. Evileye, this is Janus' daughter, she's grown big now"

"Wait, what? The baby from that time? Wow..."

Evileye spoke without hiding her surprised tone. Alice needed some time to process the fact that Evileye apparently had known her a long time ago. Meanwhile, the old woman let out a laugh.

"Hahaha, the slayer of Piethoms and Janus' daughter in one place! This is a small world after all! Anyway, I'm known as Rigrit Bers Caurau. Nice to meet you again"

Rigrit offered a handshake, but Alice just froze up. Instead, she just spoke with a strained voice, signifying her disbelief while both Rose and Guardian tilted their heads in confusion.

"Rigrit...? The former leader of Blue Rose... and one of the Thirteen Heroes...?"

Rigrit smiled with a little sigh coming out from her nose as she pulled her hand back and put it over her hip.

"You're very knowledgeable. Yup, that I am. I'm just a wrinkled old woman now, though"

Rigrit laughed a little after saying that. But immediately after, Evileye turned her head towards the woods and spoke in a clearly serious tone.

"They're coming"

"Heh, unfortunately we have to cut the introduction. Like she said, if you're not confident you can help escorting the retreating villagers and leave the enemies to us"

Rigrit turned her body as she spoke, unsheathing the decorated sword which had been hanging on her waist.

Just a couple seconds later, an overwhelming feeling of dread came to Alice. The woods ahead became somewhat darker for some reason, and her instincts screamed at her to run away from there.

[Enhanced Magic Resistance]

Rose activated her Martial Arts and took a breath. Alice looked at her, and their eyes met. Rose made a nod before speaking out in response.

"I'm alright now. This is likely a fear-inducing magic"

Alice immediately reached to her magic bag and pulled two magic scrolls of the same spell. She then used one on herself and the other on Guardian.

[Scroll: Lion's Heart]

After the spell took effect, Alice felt relieved. The overwhelming fear was gone, and she could focus her mind again.

"Thanks, Liz"

Guardian spoke her gratitude out, but her eyes immediately looked forward. Alice looked the same way towards the woods, and now it was clear to her that a horde of shadowy creatures were coming straight at them. They took different shapes, some humanoid while others were animal-like, but they were all pitch black with a glowing yellow pair of eyes each.

"Heh, I was kinda expecting that you would flee, but it seems you are more capable than that"

Evileye made a mildly snarky comment without losing her focus on the oncoming hostiles which was still a good distance away.

"I must say that there are quite a lot of them. This won't be that easy"

Rigrit spoke her remark in a serious tone.

"Hey, can anyone give me a quick course on what those things are?"

Guardian spoke out, asking the question towards Evileye and Rigrit. Her question was immediately answered by the former.

"Phantom Demons, the minions spawned by Mo'ryck, the Evil Deity of Malice, Hate, And Chaos. Individually they are only about as strong as a Mithril Rank Adventurer, but a swarm of them would be quite bothersome"

Hearing the answer, Guardian nodded and smiled.

"Thanks. Get behind me then"

"What?"

Evileye asked in mild confusion, glancing over her shoulder. Rigrit did the same, and right at this moment Guardian summoned her blue scythe which, when unfolded, was longer than she was tall. Both Evileye and Rigrit seemed to be quite astonished by it, staring at the scythe without saying any words.

"Alright, that's quite a weapon right there"

Rigrit broke the silence by making the comment. Guardian smiled again and dashed past the two, speaking a short sentence as she passed.

"Cover for me in the case I overestimated myself"

Guardian stopped dashing halfway towards the horde, which was just a stone's throw away from where Alice and the others were standing. She then seemed to be charging energy with her scythe readied in her grasp.

The horde closed their distance, and once the foremost Phantom Demon was just a couple meters in front of Guardian, she spun her scythe above her head and executed a wide, sweeping slash.

Schwing!

There was a silence for a couple seconds as the entire horde in sight was stopped in their tracks. And then...

Crack! Crack! Booom! Drrrdd!

A whole lot of trees in front of Guardian were slashed in two and fell down at once, shaking the ground and creating a lot of dust, limiting visibility. With the help of some magic spells from Evileye and Rigrit, the dust settled within a minute, and everybody there couldn't quite believe what they saw next.

A large portion of the woods in a cone area in front of where Guardian stood had essentially lost its trees. There was nothing there other than a pile of fallen trees strewn across the area. None of the Phantom Demons were visible in sight either. They likely had been slain by the great swipe.

"In just one move? Who... or what is she?"

Evileye spoke in a very apparent astonished tone of speech.

"I suppose I should believe her twin's claim that she has killed Piethoms in one move"

Rigrit spoke with her arms folded, glancing at Rose with a facial expression which showed that she still needed a moment to process everything. At the same time, Guardian walked back to the group while putting her scythe away, making it disappear into light particles.

"Those were only the minions, right? Do we know where the... what was it?"

"Evil Deity"

Alice quickly spoke the phrase to fill Guardian in.

"Right, Evil Deity. Where can we find it so we can finish it once and for all?"

Evileye raised her hand and immediately spoke.

"Look, I have seen it myself that your strength is far beyond our imagination. But Mo'ryck itself is not as simple to deal with. It's-"

"There!"

Before Evileye could finish her speech, Rigrit pointed towards a direction forward. Everybody looked there, and they saw a humanoid figure similar to the Phantom Demons rising from the debris of fallen trees. Visible dark strings of energy flowed towards the figure, seemingly empowering it.

"Is that the Evil Deity?"

Guardian asked with her eyes narrowed, carefully observing what was happening. Rigrit was the one who immediately answered.

"Yes, some details were omitted for quicker explanation. The truth is, the Phantom Demons and Mo'ryck itself are essentially the same. The former were parts of the latter, functioning as its extension. Through the Phantom Demons, Mo'ryck can do bad deeds and cast spells affecting people without being actually there"

"I'm guessing it's now gathering itself into one, then?"

Guardian spoke with her eyes still straight at Mo'ryck, and a different weapon appeared in her hand. This time, it was what some people knew as a gun, or an assault rifle as Guardian had told her before. Alice had known Guardian for a few days and they had talked together, so she already knew what the contents of Guardian's arsenal were. Evileye and Rigrit were visibly amazed. After all the only other person in the Kingdom known to be in possession of such a weapon was the leader of Red Drop.

"Can I shoot it, or are there bad things that can happen if I do that now?"

"Uhh, nothing of the sort"

Bang!

Guardian immediately shot Mo'ryck after hearing Evileye's answer. The humanoid figure of Mo'ryck was immediately beheaded from taking the hit, but there was no blood. The body didn't fall and the head visibly began to restructure itself.

"...but as you can see, Mo'ryck is an incorporeal being of energy. Destroy it, and it'll just disperse, eventually coming back together again"

Right after Evileye spoke, Rigrit chimed in to add to the information.

"Before you ask, Mo'ryck is dealt with by sealing it. I have contacted the person who has the skill for that purpose, but he will need some time to arrive. Until then, we simply keep wearing it down to prevent it from harming innocent villagers"

Guardian showed a reaction as Rigrit spoke the last part. She then visibly gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists.

"It already has...!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Guardian shot the figure of Mo'ryck repeatedly, disintegrating a body part with each shot. Mo'ryck just stood still, regenerating its body parts as Guardian kept shooting it. She then jumped up several meters, spun her body once, and pointed her rifle straight at Mo'ryck.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!

Numerous projectiles spewed forth from Guardian's assault rifle, raining down upon Mo'ryck. The latter just stood still, taking it all without being fazed as the bullets destroyed its body parts one by one in quick succession. It just kept regenerating itself without moving ever so slightly. The others just watched in stunned silence as this was happening.

"Was it something I said?"

Rigrit asked the question while sheathing her sword, and Alice felt that she had to answer it.

"A number of villagers had already been hurt, some even outright murdered horribly just this morning. She didn't take it well"

"Oh, I see"

Rigrit folded her arms while looking back at Guardian, who was still raging at Mo'ryck. Evileye put her hand on her masked chin and spoke.

"Hey, is it just me, or Mo'ryck is getting smaller?"

"What? Huh, you're right"

Rigrit took a quick look and immediately confirmed Evileye's words. Alice and Rose stepped forward to have a better look, and Alice couldn't help agreeing.

"Is my twin sister actually killing it?"

"I don't think so. I don't feel its presence getting any weaker... Oh, don't tell me-!"

Guardian stopped her barrage of bullets and landed back on the ground right as Evileye replied to Rose. Her eyes were still straight at Mo'ryck, who was now armless and missing the top half of its head.

"Watch o-!"

Without warning, and before Evileye could finish shouting her warning, a black figure very similar to Mo'ryck emerged from the ground right behind Guardian and grasped her head with both hands. It then quickly morphed into a stream of black energy and assimilated itself into Guardian's head. Meanwhile, the Mo'ryck which Guardian had attacked could be heard laughing as Guardian fell on her knees and then kissed the ground. It also morphed into a stream of energy and entered Guardian's head.

"Guardian!"

Rose ran forward, looking very much surprised and worried. But Evileye grabbed her arm to stop her.

"No! Don't come any closer to her!"

"What the hell just happened!?"

Rose shouted the question in response. Alice looked at Rigrit, expecting an immediate answer, which she soon got.

"We have been tricked. Mo'ryck dispersed itself bit by bit to sneak up on Guardian and get the jump on her from behind. Now she's possessed!"

"What? Does that mean...?"

Alice's face turned grim as she said it.

"Unfortunately, we are going to fight against her now. Is her twin here as strong as her at least?"

Alice shook her head.

"Guardian is far, far stronger than the rest of the team combined!"

"Oh, good grief..."

Rigrit lowered her head and facepalmed. The situation had turned into the worst scenario possible.


[X][X][X]


The plan was a success.

That was what Mo'ryck thought to itself the moment it entered the mind space of this human and took form there. All it had to do now was to corrupt this place to its liking, and then it would obtain full control of this human. It would happen very quickly, and nobody could stop it now.

Smack!

Mo'ryck had no idea what had just happened. All of a sudden, it felt a fierce hard impact from its side, throwing the Evil Deity quite a distance away. He quickly stood back up, and what it saw next was the figure of a male human who looked nothing like the human it was going to possess.

"I just hate uninvited guests"

The male human grunted after saying that. Before Mo'ryck could retaliate, both its arms fell off from its body, having been sliced from behind. Mo'ryck quickly looked behind, and what it saw was a female human, also looked nothing like the human it was going to possess.

"Not to mention it is sooo ugly! I'm already sick of it!"

Not waiting for Mo'ryck to act, another voice spoke from a distance.

"Fufufu! As interesting as it is, I'm compelled to get rid of this pest"

Mo'ryck looked at the direction the voice had come from, and what he saw was a male elf, who immediately raised one hand and conjured a giant red blade above him. He quickly lowered his hand, and the giant blade was launched straight at Mo'ryck at incredible speed, instantly impaling it.

This can't be happening...

The red blade disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, but Mo'ryck felt its strength fading as it was lying flat on its back within this mind space. It couldn't believe that the mind space of this human had already been occupied by not just one, but multiple foreign beings.

"What do you think? Can we play with it?"

"I dunno. Will it play with us?"

Mo'ryck saw two similar young humans, seemingly twins, standing over it. They looked at it curiously, tilting their head with their eyes round and wide.

"Hey, how about, we eat it?"

"Let's eat! Let's eat!"

Mo'ryck couldn't believe what it just heard as the twins jumped around playfully. It tried to stand up and flee, but the twins didn't let it escape. They each put one arm forward, and the two arms conjured a giant gnawing mouth each, voraciously eating away at Mo'ryck.

No! No! No! Nooooooo...!

And just like that, Mo'ryck was erased from existence, within the mind space of a single human.


[X][X][X]


"Bleergh..! Ugh, not tasty at all!"

"Buurp..! Uh-huh, it was gross! Ewww...!"

Flo and Frau spoke while sticking their tongue out, showing their disgust over their recent meal. Right after that, Guardian's consciousness appeared there, looking awkwardly worried as all the Dark Falz inside her mind space approached her with various expressions. Guardian put one hand behind her head and spoke in embarrassment.

"Uhh... I guess I owe you all one-"

Smack!

Gettemhart gave Guardian a pretty hard smack on the head. Guardian didn't make any reaction other than holding her head in pain.

"Watch your surroundings, chump! Good grief, you're so unbelievable!"

"You were lucky that we could do all that, you know"

Margaretta folded her arms as she spoke, clearly not looking happy.

"It was an interesting sight to behold, but not worth putting my existence in jeopardy for. Fufufu..."

Luther spoke while looking up, putting his hand over his forehead, and let out his signature creepy laugh afterwards.

"Now you owe us a good meal!"

"Yeah, yeah! Good, delicious meal!"

Flo and Frau spoke while jumping around playfully. Guardian had mixed feelings about it because on one hand they were the only ones who didn't look visibly unhappy, but they were also the ones paying the highest price for her screwing up.

"I'm really sorry about that! But thank you for saving me!"

Guardian bowed deeply as she spoke, and without waiting for a reply she returned her consciousness to her physical body. The moment she stood up, she realized that she was surrounded by everyone else. Their weapons pointed straight at her.

"Whoa whoa whoa! What are you all doing? It's me, okay?"

Guardian put her hands up as she spoke.

"Wait, what? How come you are not possessed by Mo'ryck?"

Evileye spoke the question out while still being cautious, maintaining her battle stance. Guardian was not sure if telling her about the Dark Falz within her would be a good idea.

"I... had help within. That's all I can say"

"Hmm, for all we know, you might be pretending. Is there a way to confirm?"

Rigrit glanced at Alice and Rose as she asked the question. Alice's eyes immediately went slightly wider, a possible sign that she had figured something out.

"Hmm, I can't think of anything. How about we tie her up for now until we can be sure that she is not possessed?"

Guardian rolled her eyes the moment she heard the suggestion.

"Oh come on! Really!? I've been tied up three times already this week! I don't want a fourth!"

Alice smirked briefly and let out a small laugh hearing Guardian's complaining. She then relaxed her stance and spoke out to the others.

"That's really her for sure"

Everyone else was briefly silent before letting out a sigh of relief and relaxing their stance. Guardian herself couldn't help getting quite impressed by Alice's quick thinking of a way to confirm her identity.

Whoosh! Thud!

Suddenly, someone dropped down from the skies above and landed on their two feet just a couple meters away from the group. It was seemingly a man, fully clad in white armor which had the shape of dragon heads at the shoulder part. Neither Evileye nor Rigrit, who were the closest to him, seemed to get any more tense seeing the newcomer, so it was probably the friend Rigrit had mentioned recently.

"I came here as fast as I could. Where's the Evil Deity?"

The voice coming out was deep and masculine, so it was very easy to conclude that this newcomer was male.

"Already taken care of by her, somehow"

Rigrit replied while glancing at Guardian. The man looked at her without much visible reaction.

"I suppose an explanation is in order, then. Anything-"

The man's speech was cut off, because Alice suddenly spoke out.

"Tsar-san? Is it you?"

The man immediately turned his head to Alice upon hearing her.

"Aren't you... Alice? Janus' daughter? Why are you here?"

Rigrit chuckled before speaking out to the man.

"Because this is a small world after all, Tsa!"

Rigrit laughed after speaking. So many things had happened this morning, and it seemed a lot of talking and explaining was imminent.


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

Needless to say, the villain came into the wrong neighborhood.

Coming up next is... well, something way outside canon.

See you again later.