The vice commander of the King of Hell Squad looked at the traces left by the Inferno Fist.
The flas were still blazing and radiating heat.
“How can you master such a technique and claim not to be the Fla Emperor?”
“Believe what you want, but I’ve said my piece.”
“…”
My answer seed to irk the vice commander, and he frowned.
However, he couldn’t act rashly.
The Inferno Fist had completely broken their formation, and the remaining mbers needed ti to regroup.
Furthermore, it was extrely risky for him to confront , whom he suspected to be the Fla Emperor.
Leaving the vice commander standing there indecisively, I turned and walked back to our camp.
As I approached, head guard Jo’s face twitched uncontrollably.
His nearly completed plan had been turned upside down with a single inferno fist. The frustration he was feeling must be indescribable.
“Since when did you see through our guise?”
“If you don’t know, you’re a fool. It’s not like this is a one-ti thing.”
“What do you an by that?”
“Not telling you.”
It’s not the first or second ti I’ve tackled this dungeon; I should know exactly how key players like him behave.
Especially soone like head guard Jo who would strike a severe blow to the entire team if you let him be.
Of course, even before I beca a skilled player, I didn’t get blindsided on my first fresh attempt.
There were plenty of hints suggesting head guard Jo was suspicious, and thanks to those, I stayed vigilant until the end.
For example, at the first pass, despite warnings from the Green Forest bandits, he casually suggested pressing on.
It could be seen as simply a reckless or overly confident approach from his side, but it was enough to raise doubts.
The next clue becos clear by continually observing the subsequent ambushes and attacks.
The n in black who attacked us mostly focused on the temporary escorts, who are usually Ronin, rather than the regular escorts, who also tend to fight passively and cautiously.
As a result, the Ronin accumulate nurous injuries while the regular escorts suffer relatively little.
Even those led by head guard Jo remain virtually unscathed.
The level of the escorts wasn’t much higher than that of the Ronin, and the fact that only one side got damaged was also suspicious.
Lastly, there was head guard Jo saying he would stay with the injured.
Until then, he hadn’t paid much attention to the Ronin but suddenly he started taking care of the injured.
Even though he claid to be taking responsibility for his words, staying behind in a perilous situation seed excessive.
These clues, when considered individually, might have felt like just hunches but when gathered together, they beca highly suspicious.
Of course, there was no need to explain all the details to head guard Jo.
However, I could at least tell him when I had started to notice.
I took out a small piece of paper from my pocket and answered.
“Since this ti.”
“…!”
Head guard Jo’s eyes widened as if they would tear apart.
The piece of paper I held.
Its true nature was a fragnt of a map stolen from the manor.
The manor had been a hideout for the Demonic Cult, and I had sneaked in while they were busy scheming against the escort agency and had stolen the ink painting.
And what this ant was,
“You knew everything from the beginning…”
“That’s right.”
“Ha, haha.”
Head guard Jo let out a hollow laugh.
A mocking smile appeared on his lips as if he were ridiculing himself.
Head guard Jo’s shoulders shook with laughter for a long ti before his movents suddenly stopped.
When he lifted his head, his eyes glinted with intense killing intent.
“Die!”
In the next instant, head guard Jo swung his sword at Ratty in front of him.
It seed he was determined to take down at least one more enemy to the grave.
Following his lead, the other escorts also began to attack the Ronin.
Although the battle had suddenly resud,
I calmly stepped forward and cast One Point Explosion twice in succession.
Boom, boom!
Two small explosions.
They didn’t cause much damage, but they disrupted head guard Jo’s movents perfectly which created a huge opening.
And Ratty who was fighting against him didn’t miss this chance.
Thud,
His dual swords plunged deeply into head guard Jo’s chest.
However, even though his heart was pierced, he didn’t even glance at Ratty.
Instead, he stared at with a shocked expression on his face and it seed he had realized yet another truth.
“…It was you!”
It was who was disguised as a Ronin who had infiltrated and completely eliminated the mbers of the King of Hell Squad in the chaotic match at Great Eagle Escort Agency.
It was also who had secretly helped the Ronin during each attack.
“Yes, it was all .”
“Hah, hah, completely… played… in the palm of your hand…”
Head guard Jo couldn’t finish his sentence and collapsed.
The next mont, a small box floated up on his chest.
[Great Eagle Escort Random Box (D)] *1
Let’s collect the drop item.
Swish!
While retrieving the random box, the last escort who followed head guard Jo was split in half by Woeful’s longsword.
The situation on this side was settled with this so I turned back to the vice commander of the King of Hell squad.
“What will you do now?”
“…Do we have a choice?”
The vice commander asked in return.
He was tending to the surviving mbers of the King of Hell squad and watching us closely.
As to be expected from mbers of the Demonic Cult, they would likely fight to the end despite the odds, but what if they were given another option?
“If you retreat now, we won’t pursue you.”
“…Are you serious?”
“I don’t joke about things like this.”
“Why?”
Because you don’t drop any items.
While head guard Jo drops a random box when defeated, the vice commander surprisingly doesn’t drop anything.
I tried defeating him dozens of tis, thinking the drop rate might be low, but there was nothing at all.
In other words, there’s no benefit in continuing to fight.
“And we also want to rest.”
Moreover, while many perished due to the Inferno Fist, most of the King of Hell squad still survived.
If we continue fighting now, the injured Ronins who are barely clinging to life might fall.
If the number of survivors decreases, the rewards decrease too which ans a loss for and Go Hyeon-woo.
Therefore, avoiding battle now is beneficial.
“Of course, it feels a bit wrong to let you go empty-handed.”
Though I said he didn’t drop items, I didn’t say there’s nothing to gain from him.
I looked at the vice commander and tapped my inner pocket.
“Leave that thing in your pocket behind.”
“……!”
The vice commander’s eyes deepened.
“How did you know?”
“My intuition is pretty sharp.”
Because that’s what I was aiming for from the beginning.
There was a reason for sending Go Hyeon-woo away and staying with the injured, other than catching head guard Jo.
The vice commander’s hesitation was brief.
On one side of the scale was a fairly important item; on the other was the lives of the King of Hell squad including himself.
If the item’s value was worth sacrificing lives for, he would fight to the end but it wasn’t worth that much.
“Fine. I’ll hand it over.”
The vice commander reached into his inner pocket, pulled out the item, and tossed it.
I quickly caught the white object flying towards .
[Piece of the Treasure Map ©]
It was the second fragnt of the treasure map following the one recovered from the Demonic Cult’s safe house.
Although one more piece was needed to complete the treasure map, this alone was enough to sit at the negotiation table with the Swordsmanship Club.
I spoke in a much softer tone.
“Thank you. You may leave now.”
“We’ll et again.”
“Yes, let’s et again. Next ti, bring so elixirs and martial arts manuals, if you have any.”
His belongings had to be a bit more abundant for him to be satisfying to take down.
The vice commander glared at for a few more seconds before turning his back.
Following him, the King of Hell Squad mbers quickly exited the premises.
“Brother Kim, I see now that you were truly an extraordinary master…”
Even though the situation was now over, Ratty and Woeful still looked surprised.
I bowed deeply to them once more.
“I’m sorry for deceiving you, brothers.”
“No, if it weren’t for you, Brother Kim, we wouldn’t be alive right now.”
“Rather, we should be thanking you.”
A warm atmosphere settled over us.
In the midst of this, Ratty seed to rember sothing and his face grew a bit stern.
After pointing with his chin at what used to be head guard Jo, he asked,
“But if that Jo guy deceived us, wouldn’t there be a problem with the escort mission too?”
“You saw correctly.”
I nodded my head.
The purpose of the injured and the Ronin staying here was to buy ti for the escort mission to proceed, but the fundantal premise was wrong.
There’s no rule that says they have to chase the convoy from behind.
Just like in our first encounter, the main force of the King of Hell Squad’s n would be lying in wait ahead of the escort.
The strongest master, the King of Hell himself, would be there too.
When they realized this, the Ronin visibly panicked and stirred.
Not only had their efforts been in vain but the escort mission was now in even greater danger.
Ratty urgently asked,
“Shouldn’t we go help them imdiately?”
“There’s no need to worry.”
Despite everything, I remained completely at ease.
And with my next words, the Ronin’s expressions brightened significantly.
“Head guard Go is strong.”
“……!”
Ratty slapped his knee.
“You guys were in cahoots from the start!”
“Haha, yes, we were.”
“No wonder you seed around the sa age.”
Throughout the entire two linked dungeons, Go Hyeon-woo and I pretended not to know each other, to deceive the demonic cult mbers including head guard Jo.
If they had suspected even the slightest connection between Go Hyeon-woo and , no matter how much I concealed my strength, they would have kept a close watch on my every move.
In that case, even when I stayed with the injured people, head guard Jo would have responded differently.
However, we did not reveal that fact until the decisive mont and I ended up facing the pursuit team led by head guard Jo and the vice commander, while Go Hyeon-woo faced the King of Hell.
“Let’s go; it’s probably all sorted over there.”
I led the way with a relaxed stride.
After walking slowly with the injured, we eventually saw carriages stopped in the distance.
Ratty and Woeful were still tense until then, but as we got closer to the convoy and confird everyone was safe, their expressions gradually relaxed.
Soon, Go Hyeon-woo spotted us from afar and ca out to et us.
In one hand, he held a golden magic sword which he had used instead of his iron sword. This ant he had to use his true skills in the last battle.
Seeing he was unscathed, it seed the King of Hell was not a particularly difficult opponent as expected.
“You’ve arrived, Kim-hyung.”
“Oh, did you finish things well on your side?”
Go Hyeon-woo grinned and raised his other hand.
There were two small boxes in his hand.
[Great Eagle Escort Random Box (D)] *2
“Two of them ca out.”
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