No matter whether it was day or night, the outermost area of the Audoran Forest was still only dimly lit due to the tall, dense trees that covered the sky above them.
In the dim light that surrounded the place, one would have a hard time seeing that someone so agile was freely jumping and running around the place. Lelitia ran while being followed by three small lights that managed to match her extremely fast running. Lelitia didn't stop running for a while until she finally returned to the human camp she had been watching over before.
"We're here."
A moment after Lelitia said that, the three lights regained their physical form and observed the humans, who were mostly still sleeping after causing such chaos in the Audoran Forest. The fairies had very sour expressions as they saw how humans never changed, even after thousands of years had passed. They all remained so calm and didn't have the slightest bit of guilt, even if they had just committed a massacre of innocent creatures.
"As I said before, there are three leaders of this group. They will split up when they wake up. Now, I will take you to observe your targets."
"We don't have time to do that, Lelitia. I can feel that the person sleeping in that tent has committed many crimes, and his aura looks so disgusting. If he is one of the leaders you mentioned, can you hand that bastard over to me?"
Kegan is the fairy with the greatest destructive power, as well as the fairy with the worst personality. He hates humans and does not hesitate to finish them off in the most cruel way. Kegan already hates humans who disturb the peace of Audoran Forest when they never bother anyone. However, Kegan's hatred will rise to a completely different point when he is faced with a cruel murderer like Prince Jarvis.
Fairies and elves can read a person's aura to determine their personality, so Lelitia also knows that Jarvis is the worst of all the princes. From his aura alone, they can't count how many living beings have been tortured or died because of him. Humans also seem to be victims of his cruelty. Although ordinary humans could not see what was roaming around Jarvis, Lelitia and the fairies could see that dozens of humans were crying and mourning on Jarvis' back.
Jarvis was a cruel human, and Kegan wanted to finish him off. Lelitia nodded in agreement to Kegan's request. "Be careful, Kegan," she warned.
"Then, please let me take care of the youngest among them, Lelitia! She looks cute for a human. But I wonder why a child as young as her could have a heart darker than an ordinary adult."
After Kegan decided to choose his target, Gaia, who had finished observing, finally made her own decision. The earth fairy looked at Lelitia with sparkling eyes, so Lelitia had no choice but to agree to what Gaia wanted.
"Don't overdo it, Gaia. Remember that the safety of the Audoran Forest is our priority."
"Of course, Lelitia!"
Now, all that was left was Aqua, who had no choice but to face the last leader of their enemies. Aqua followed Lelitia to observe the one she had to eliminate to restore order to the Audoran Forest. The water fairy stared at Leroy through the gaps between her fingers that were covering her face, then finally nodded like the other fairies.
"I, I will do my best, Lelitia."
"Take care of yourself, Aqua. I will come to your aid as soon as I have finished evacuating all the creatures living in this place."
The lack of light made the outermost part of the Audoran Forest seem gloomy all the time. And the gloomy place slowly affected the creatures that inhabited it.
The creatures that lived in the outermost part of the Audoran Forest were all top predators. They were creatures that could not live without blood or adapted to the food in the deepest part of the Audoran Forest. Their different characteristics made them unable to live in the deepest part of the Audoran Forest. Or rather, the deepest part of the Audoran Forest itself had rejected their presence.
Even so, the fact that their numbers were few made Lelitia decide to let them live in the outermost part of the Audoran Forest. Usually, aside from Lelitia, the predators were the ones who would kill anyone who entered the Audoran Forest. Lelitia's job was made easier with them around. So even though those creatures all loved destruction, Lelitia still thought about their safety when she knew that the outermost part would soon become a fierce battlefield.
"Okay. You better be careful too, Lelitia."
Lelitia nodded, then left in front of Aqua, who looked the most awkward among the other fairies. Although Lelitia was also worried about the safety of the fairies, in an age where she was the only elf left to protect the Audoran Forest, Lelitia knew she couldn't be picky about accepting any help to protect her homeland.
***
The humans finally woke up a few hours later. They ate breakfast as usual and prepared to leave again after that. Leroy gathered everyone after their camp was set up. As they had planned before, the princes would split up to explore the Audoran Forest better. The prince waited until everyone was ready before he announced his plan in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft.
"From here on, we will travel in three groups. Of the remaining fifty adventurers, twenty will follow Prince Jarvis and Prince Ervin, while the remaining ten will follow me. I have divided the healers, attackers, and defenders equally into each group. I hope you will remember your mission well and bring good news after this."
After speaking, Leroy let his personal servant call out the names of those assigned to each prince's team. Leroy kept his promise by arranging for more adventurers to accompany his two younger brothers. The First Prince of the Lucano Kingdom told his younger brothers their assignments one last time, then prepared to go their separate ways after that.
"Brother!"
Leroy turned around again when Jarvis called his name before they parted ways. Leroy slightly raised his eyebrows as he watched Jarvis running to catch up with him. The eldest prince let Jarvis catch his breath first before he asked his eldest brother.
"What do you want?"
"That... I've been thinking all night. Then, I realized something about our goal all this time."
"If our goal is to kill the monster, then we don't need to care about what happens to this area, right? If we destroy this forest to the point where it can't be repaired, sooner or later, the monster will appear before us, right?"
All this time, Leroy had indeed given orders for them not to kill anyone other than those who were blocking the way. Leroy gave that order so that they could save their strength to fight their main target. However, after a week of not allowing Jarvis to have fun in such a gloomy and lonely place, the second prince seemed to have finally reached his limit too.
Leroy stared at Jarvis for a long time before finally turning to leave. "Do what you like." However, before actually leaving, the eldest prince finally gave his permission to Jarvis.
To be honest, Leroy himself was also starting to get tired of having to linger in the forest, which only made his emotions worse. If Jarvis' method could lure the Audoran Forest Guardian out of hiding, then Leroy wouldn't care about anything else anymore.
After getting permission from his brother, Jarvis' expression finally looked upbeat as he smiled triumphantly. "Thank you very much, Brother!" he said happily. The prince couldn't wait to vent the frustration that had accumulated in his heart since he was forced to enter the Audoran Forest area.
Jarvis walked excitedly to approach his servant, who was also taking part in this long mission. "My sword," he informed. Eddy, Jarvis's servant, quickly gave the prince the sword that Jarvis intended. Jarvis looked at his sword, which was clean of blood, then wiped it gently while whispering venomous words.
"Don't worry, Baby. In a moment, we'll be partying as usual."
The adventurer assigned to Jarvis' team had a bad feeling when he saw the insane prince holding a sword in one of his hands again. Now that Leroy wasn't around to withstand Jarvis' cruel actions, everyone could only pray that they would still be given the chance to see tomorrow.