Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

⟬Quickly, that way! Go that way!⟭

“…What?” Allen responded, forgetting that there were other people around him. Her voice had just come as that much of a surprise.

“Sir, what are you talking about?”

Hearing Allen’s shocked words, the knights cast him doubtful looks.

Allen shook his head and quickly replied, “I’m looking around the forest using magic. Can you all be quiet for a moment so I can focus?”

“Yes, sir.”

In an instant, the knights went completely silent. Allen, no longer concerned with them, narrowed his focus to Vestla.

He had only one thought upon hearing her: ‘Why?’

His question was why she would speak.

There was a simple reason as to why she kept her mouth shut when there was someone else around or when he was talking to someone else.

Because he had no other means to communicate with Vestla.

If he mixed up the two conversations while talking to another person, he would just look like a madman.

So Allen made her promise to keep quiet in front of others.

⟬I'll tell you everything later! Come on, just go that way!⟭

Their unwritten rule…

⟬Hurry!⟭

…was broken at that moment.

⟬Can’t you listen to me just once?⟭

She tried to remove herself from his hand, as if she could go alone if Allen didn't move.

Tapping Vestla’s rattling handle a couple of times until she stopped moving, Allen opened his mouth to speak. "Everyone, follow me."

The expectant eyes of the knights turned towards him. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes, looking at it through my magic… there are a few things of interest.”

"Whoooaaa…!"

The knights were untrained in magic, so they all instantly agreed with him. Seeing signs of Allen taking action, Vestla calmed down.

⟬I really will tell you everything later. So please just go for now.⟭

Although she had stopped wriggling around, she continued to speak.

⟬First, head to that pointy tree over there.⟭

Allen nodded modestly and moved in the direction indicated by his sword.

After that, the knights shouted loudly behind him and the soldiers followed.

"Let's go, everyone! Keep your guard up!"

"Yes, sir!"

And so, their search in the Forest began.

* * *

Allen swung his sword at a monster running toward him. The powerful blade split an orc’s two-headed body in half.

His threads spun together around the head of an approaching gnoll before it exploded from a shock wave, scattering debris through the air.

After entering the forest under Vestla's guidance, monsters began to attack, just as Allen had expected.

‘Is everything stationed here?’

Allen watched the bloody war proceed.

"Block the rear attacks!"

"Don't scatter ranks!

"Hold on! There's a knight coming up from behind for you!"

They weren’t in too bad of shape.

The soldiers stayed calm, defending themselves from the attacks. The monsters couldn't keep pace with the knights who had readied themselves against such threats.

Soon enough all the monsters were wiped out without any human casualties.

"Four wounded! No casualties! All injuries are minor, so they can all continue fighting!"

“Gather round!”

They continued further into the forest under Vestla's guidance.

⟬Slightly to the right of the pit ahead!⟭

Monsters kept attacking them—chimeras, zombies, skeletons, and even more bizarre monsters.

⟬Ignore the pile of rocks in front of you, just go up!⟭

In the already somewhat petrified Forest, the faint smell of sulfur began to thicken to the point of physical pain, and bizarre monsters with deformities such as far-reaching legs or land-adapted tentacles appeared.

Allen began to feel suspicious as they continued deeper.

‘These monsters…’

As they moved closer to their destination, the number of the attacks began to decline.

He was only able to notice it after a while because of how gradual it was, but at some point, the frequency of monsters appearing had drastically decreased.

The soldiers seemed relieved to realize it, but it made Allen tense.

‘There are only this many?’

That couldn’t be.

The event as he remembered it had to be dealt with by the powers of the county. In other words, it wasn’t meant to be an easy task, something taken care of without any casualties.

Allen fell deeper and deeper into thought.

‘Excluding dealing with the god, the current troops should be sufficient. But was the task really this simple?’

As he kept thinking, the party proceeded to their destination under Vestla's guidance.

With a rotten waft, a smell shuddered through the branches of the twisted trees.

Even the flesh of the mushrooms plopped to the ground, making the knights shake from the ever-growing feeling of doom and muggy death as they headed to their destination

‘It almost feels like a trap…’

Just as Allen made that vague prediction about the enemy's intentions, Vestla shouted out.

⟬It's right here!⟭

Had they already arrived?

At her words, Allen stopped ruminating and raised his head. There stood an empty and ransacked lot, messy as if it had been destroyed by something with great force.

Around it, an obviously artificially created building appeared. And in the middle of the open space…

"Grrr…"

There was a huge monster at least five feet tall, with six arms bulging with muscle. 

"It's a giant!"

The giant howled, revealing its innards to be a terrible skeleton with a fully sewn body hanging about, connected loosely by threads.

"Grrraaah!"

The forest quaked, making its avian inhabitants flee. The soldier who shouted earlier covered his mouth with a frightened expression. As the knights rushed at the giant, the giant began to rush back at the knights.

⟬Huh? Huh?⟭

Through the confusion…

⟬Ah.⟭

Vestla uttered a devastating exclamation, as if they were facing the impossible.

* * *

* * * 

Julius made his way through the Heavenly Forest without hesitation. There was no trace of doubt in his steps, and only confidence showed on his face.

"…Sir, do you know where you're going?" Camilla, forced to sit next to Julius on his order, asked him with a look of anxiety.

Although no one else spoke up, they were all curious about his confidence. He was acting like he had discerned a clear path to their destination.

"Yes."

"So you mean you know where the enemy is…?”

She looked at him with doubt.

「Stop the dark sorcerer trying to take control of the god! Save the god within the time limit! Time remaining: 00:04:11.

Reward: the god's favor, ???」

Of course, it was because he already knew everything. But he couldn't answer like that.

Julius brought up the convenient excuse that he’d been using lately. "Yes, I looked into the Heavenly Forest back at the manor’s library.”

"Oh! How impressive, Sir Julius!"

"You are thorough, Young Master Julius!"

The other knights looked relieved at his reply, and Camilla, too, began to regard in a new light this seemingly reformed scoundrel.

"So don't worry. At the very least, we won't be getting lost," Julius recited, listening to their praise.

‘Open the map.’

Turning to the air, he saw the System [map] that had appeared a few days ago.

On the compass-shaped radar, red dots which he believed to symbolize the location of the dark  sorcerers were gathered up ahead.

"If the monsters don't block our way, it should take maybe 30 more minutes to reach them? But don't let your guards down."

"Yes, sir."

Camilla murmured quietly to herself, questioning whether or not she was impressed by him. "…You really are thoroughly prepared."

"Now do you feel like coming under my tutelage?”

"…I'll give it some more thought."

Although Julius took the opportunity to try to persuade her one more time, Camilla refused sharply. However, the strength of her answer was somewhat weaker than before.

‘I just need to push her a little more.’

She would have been easier to convince if only Lord Byron or Anya were there.

They each had their own issues to sort out, so he couldn't bring the two. Only his maid, Laina, followed him like a shadow, but Julius was not concerned by their absence.

‘This should be easy.’

Before coming, he was a little unsure despite the presence of all of the soldiers, not to mention the knights. But once Julius saw the Knight Commander's attack right in front of his eyes, he had no doubt that this would end without a hitch.

He knew who the enemy was. He knew what kind of scheme they were going to set up, and he knew what they were doing it all for. And although he hadn't seen this playing out in the , he also had fairly strong knights in his party. Lastly, he was capable of purification, which could cancel out most black magic.

At this point, it’d be absurd to consider the possibility of failure. 

‘I'm going to beat the Hidden Boss and improve the effects of [Iridescent Eye (S)].’

He hoped monsters wouldn't continue to emerge since there wasn’t much distance left between them and their target.

Had he jinxed it?

Swoosh.

Suddenly something appeared from the side.

He instinctively twisted around. A gnoll ferociously baring its teeth had grazed his side. As soon as he swung his sword, its head rolled on the floor, unable to avoid the slash.

"Young master!"

When he turned his head to the knight's cry, a steel bird fell to the ground.

"We're under attack! Get ready!"

"Sir! The birds from the sky…!”

Looking up at the sky, silver birds plummeted, their eyes turning red.

"I'll take care of it!"

Julius immediately summoned up his mana. A dark blue current ran through the sword. A crackling current covered the sky.

The flock of screaming birds instantly fell to the ground.

Plop, plop, plop.

"Are you all right, Young Master?"

"I'm all right. How are the soldiers?"

"Thanks to your quick judgment, the damage done was minimal."

When he turned his head, he saw soldiers blocking monsters approaching from the left and right with calm expressions.

"Then I will go to assist them, sir…”

After confirming Julius's safety, Camilla spun around again and would have tried to move towards the monsters battling the other soldiers—

Pat.

—had it not been for his touch on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"Do they need any more support?”

"Of course they do—”

Crash!

"Raaaah!"

She looked away in a hurry, finding that the monsters she had been aiming for were now chopped into six pieces, already thumping to the forest floor.

Most of the monsters that had surrounded them were quickly being sorted out, unable to endure the Knight Commander's blows.

"I think the Knight Commander can handle it".

"…But I'll still have a job to do."

She ignored Julius's dissuasion and left to deal with the remaining monsters. After all, that was the part she was meant to play.

"You're too good."

That was why he wanted to have her on his side.

To Julius, extras didn’t matter, but it was different when it came to her.

‘Could we at least consider each other colleagues by this point?’

Julius shrugged and checked the map.

There wasn’t much time left before they would be dealing with the dark sorcerers.

But something about the map was strange.

"Why is the red dot right next to us—”

"Go to hell."

Goosebumps erupted across Julius’s skin. His response to the sudden event was too slow. Why were they here? Why did they come to attack so suddenly? His thoughts flowed sluggishly.

‘If I keep waiting around like this, they’re going to attack me first.’

He bent down as low as he could. The dark blue electric current covered his body in an instant as he raised his sword. However, it was too late. If only he’d found them first, he wouldn't have been pushed back at all.

'…I’m such a loser.’

Julius's angry gaze turned to the attacker.

Just as his sword came crashing down, about to split his attacker’s head into two—

Bang!

A flash of white light countered the water-blue sword.

"…Get back, sir."

"What a waste."

Gasp!

Julius quickly stepped back on the Knight Commander’s instruction, wiping off his cold sweat.

Following the attack, the knights rushed to Julius's side.

"Sir, are you all right?"

"Are you injured at all…?”

Julius couldn't hear them.

The back of his neck was ice cold. As he hurriedly checked the map again, drowning in anxiety, he witnessed red dots rapidly approaching their location.

"Oh my fucking god!”

"Sir, what are you—!”

Just as the knights expressed their surprise at his swearing, black balls of fire came crashing down from the sky, accompanied by a rough tremor from deep below the ground.

Rumble, rumble!

"Get in formation, everyone! Here comes the dark sorcerer!"

The soldiers and knights, hesitant from being caught off guard by the sudden change in their situation, came to their senses at his cry.

"Stop them!"

"Kill them all! They're dark sorcerers!"

Monsters poured down from all sides, as all the red dots appeared in front of them. Curses and other products of black magic fell from the sky, and an unidentified dark knight and the Knight Commander collided.

“Give your all!”

"For the people!"

"Give your life!"

Julius cut an approaching ghoul in half.

“Fuck.”

Things were starting to go wrong.

* * *

Natasha laughed quietly as she heard the explosions from within the forest.

"Princess, shall we send help…?”

"Don’t mind them, Jane. They haven't even used the seeds yet.”

Natasha had no intention of moving until they gave a signal, regardless of their so-called dire condition or potential inability to signal for help. 

'No, even if they did give me a signal.’

If they couldn't overcome a single battle, then there was no point in heading over to support them.

"Remember, Jane. Our goal here is to rescue the young god."

"My apologies, it was a slip of tongue."

"It's alright. They had such a strong man with them, so they'll surely resolve the current threat on their own. As for us…"

As she cast her eyes to the side, she watched dozens of elves concentrating on the back of the person in front of them.

"Finding the location of the god is more important than rooting out one dark sorcerer."

Over the heads of the elves, a small humanlike figure resonated with something and roared silently, pointing in a single direction.

"Anyway, thanks to them, the enemy has been somewhat weakened…”

She would have to thank them later.

Natasha stepped on a branch, erasing from her mind Julius's face, which had popped up for a moment.

"Go. Before it's too late."

"Yes, princess."

As she headed in the direction where the god was supposed to be, dozens of elves silently walked behind her atop the trees.