Narberal's eyes quivered before she nodded, "I will, Ains-sama!".
Aura and Mare watched her go before they stood up; their expressions indicated they had cried long and extended.
"Prepare to fight; I will teleport us straight into the skies of Nazarick. If they are there then I am going to fight them personally, Mare will support me. Aura, your task is to save our companions still alive in the dungeon".
"Ha!" The elves nodded and began casting supporting spells on themselves just like their master, ready for any eventuality.
...
After the buffing was done, Ains pulled out a crystal from his dark pocket space and cast it.
...
"Mark my words... Nazarick will dominate this world. And with the strength of this world... Osiris will be eradicated, it doesn't matter who they are. I, Ains Ooal Gown, will have my vengeance".
**
**
The New World, Re-Estize Kingdom, Royal Capital of Re-Estize.
On the city's outskirts, deep into the mountain forest, ten adventurers walked quietly in formation.
"We have to be extremely careful with this quest," The leader said, a warrior wielding double swords; he was on his guard just like the rest of the team.
"How can a simple search quest become a Gold-Rank quest? We're just supposed to look for some survivors" A sorcerer held his staff and groaned when he noticed the atmosphere around them start to turn a bit misty.
"Because at least ten squads have undertaken it and never returned to the guild" " the leader commented, "That's why stay up your guard; the prize for this quest is a thousand gold coins. Madame Elaine Forlorn is an aristocrat coming from the Sloane Theocracy, they have money".
"She's a blonde hottie, too~" One of the swordsmen licked his lips; some ignored him, and some agreed.
"Could it be some sort of ambush?" another one inquired; for such an easy mission, it didn't make sense that so many teams had failed, let alone that there were no survivors.
"But for what purpose? All sorts of squads have gone into it, bronze... what is there to earn by ambushing them? It is theorised there is a strong beast in the forest gatekeeping".
"During her journey from the slane theocracy, she describes that her group got shortened and nearly decimated by a pack of wolves in the forest".
"Wolves don't frequent this forest, Alloy. It had to be some mysterious monster that hunts in this part of the forest. If she is that powerful of an aristocrat, wouldn't she have high-tiered sorcerers escorting? Would they be decimated by some wolves?" The second-in-command asked ominously.
The story they had been sold didn't make sense. The leader, Alloy, frowned... but it was too late to back off after coming this far into the forest. All of the adventurers in the group had to be paid for coming; if the job were cancelled, he'd be in red numbers.
They got deep into the woods until they found a destroyed carriage in the middle of the mist. The carriage was all torn and filled with branches and roots, as if it had been here for a long time, and vegetation was starting to grow in it.
"It's been too long; I don't think any survivors would be able to make it unless they managed to reach the capital. We still need to search the surroundings. If we can return with proof of having seen this carriage without survivors, we can receive the quest's reward even if we didn't rescue anyone".
*GROWL!*
Wolves manifested from the mist, growling in a pack of at least ten of then.
"No way, there are really wolves in this forest. Guess there is a first time for everything".
"More than likely, those survivors of this carriage became the wolves' food. Kill them all, we can sell the fur and make some extra cash".
The wolves howled and jumped the warriors. Alloy went first to strike the first one mid-air, brimming with confidence.
He slashed the wolf through and through, splitting it in two. That's when the unexpected happened. No blood came out, not the red one they were used to, at least. A pitch-black substance was what fell in his body, and the heart-shrieking pain that followed afterwards as his armour and flesh dissolved like salt in water.
"HAAAAAAAA!!!"
Shrieks of pain followed an unwinnable fight.
"Hehehe~"
Ominous giggles and laughs resonated in the background as a massacre ensued; the sorcerers used magic spells and panicked. The fire worked, but not for long; more and more wolves crawled out of the ground like zombies crawling out of a pool of black miasma.
Alloy witnessed his comrades fall one by one as the black miasma engulfed the whole area like a black sea, dragging them all into the abyss.
"Tastier than the last group~".
She licked her lips. Solution Epsilon's naked body walked slowly, her flesh connected to that black miasma and those wolves like one single entity. Black Elder Gooze, an ancient slime. She looked ever so ominous, tearing them apart, devouring the flesh and leaving the goods behind.
Walking behind her were vampires who stared at everything with an amused expression.
"Tastier perhaps, but their equipment was rubbish at best. Not fit for a sacrifice to Ray-sama" Shaltear took one of the beheaded corpses and licked a single droplet of blood from one of the wounds inflicted by the wolves. She shrieked in disgust and dropped it back into the black miasma.
"We should have accumulated enough for several sessions~" Solution rejoiced and picked up some of the armour plates made out of steel; some of the sorcerer staff had high-tiered monster cores engraved in them.
"Then we should report back to Ains-sama to schedule. I want to taste his hands in haste" Shaltear turned around, unaware of how ominous Solution's gaze looked when staring at her.
"Do you plan to sacrifice your little boyfriend, Count Walter Hemsworth? Was that his name?" The vampires smirked.
"Why else would I allow him to court me otherwise, Lady Shaltear?"
"Do you think what you feel is love?".
The slime bit her lips in frustration, "It would be disappointing if it wasn't. I was told, the higher the sacrifice, the better the quality. If what I feel for him is not love, then I have wasted precious moments of time with that piece of trash".
The disgust was palpable in her expression, Shaltear looked at her shook her head in exasperation.
She already had her answer, but she didn't notice. They set en-route back to their mansion in the capital where Sebas Tian awaited, leaving behind no corpses, no proof.
A pity, another party of adventurers would have to come again... and search for survivors.