Chapter 535 |
When death was right in front of her, Mengya very sensibly… chickened out.
“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! I’ll do anything! Just please, my lords, spare my worthless little life!” What burst out of her mouth was fluent human common tongue, almost without an accent at all, which caught Veyra’s group rather off guard.
They had already prepared to use a precious telepathic scroll for interrogation. Now it seemed they could save it.
Mengya tried her best to widen her already watery eyes, making them look even more pitiful through fear and pleading as she stared straight at Veyra, trying to awaken even the tiniest sliver of mercy in this human’s heart.
If that curved blade stayed on her neck any longer, she was going to pee herself from fright.
“Watch out for charm!” Fein rushed forward in a single step and flung a small handful of disruption powder straight into Mengya’s eyes.
“I didn’t! I didn’t use charm! Aahhh! My eyes!” Mengya instantly forgot about the blade at her throat, clutching her burning eyes with both hands as she curled up on the ground, rolling in pain.
“She really didn’t use charm,” Veyra said.
“I’ve never seen real charm before! The way she was looking at you, I thought—” Fein retreated awkwardly, muttering under her breath.
Her reddened, tear-filled eyes stayed fixed on the ground. Her body trembled slightly from pain and fear, terrified of causing another misunderstanding.
The interrogation went extremely smoothly. Faced with their questions, she spilled everything in one breath.
Not only had two human adventurer teams gone missing in this area, even the demon side had lost people nearby. She and her goblin partner, Stinky Fish, had been sent to investigate.
Though neither of them were particularly outstanding among the demons, they excelled at stealth and reconnaissance. Who would have thought they’d capsize in the gutter this time.
They had indeed found some clues—but Stinky Fish was exposed and captured because of it.
“A cult…” This was beyond Veyra’s expectations. They had assumed the only enemies nearby were demons. “Then why didn’t you immediately go back to call for reinforcements?”
“They’re probably about to hold another sacrifice soon… by the time reinforcements arrive, it’ll be too late to save anyone…”
“So you planned to rescue him yourself?” The curved blade in Veyra’s hand shifted back almost imperceptibly, retreating by nearly an inch.
Mengya keenly caught that tiny change. Her survival instinct immediately latched onto it, her tone growing even more earnest. “Y-yes… but I’m too weak. I was just panicking. I really didn’t know what to do…”
Sure enough, Veyra did not press the blade back again.
Though it was still close, the extreme pressure of the blade brushing her skin—death looming at any moment—was finally eased, at least for now.
Phylline’s fingers never left the arrow nocked on her bowstring. She glanced sideways at Mengya. “What, you demons also care about things like ‘bonds’?”
With others holding the knife and herself the fish on the chopping block, Mengya didn’t dare argue. She could only twitch her lips into a smile uglier than crying.
Based on the information Mengya provided, they didn’t spend much effort before finding the group’s trail.
An abandoned church stood abruptly in a relatively flat clearing deep in the forest, repurposed as a temporary base.
From a distance, they could see a few black-robed figures moving in and out among the ruined portico and broken walls. Some had human silhouettes, others bore demon horns or tails. The mixed races did fit the cult’s profile.
“Strange. The map doesn’t mark a church here,” Phylline said, unfolding her leather map scroll and running her finger over the area. There were no building symbols at all.
Holding Mengya with one hand, Veyra carefully observed the structure in the distance. “It might be one of the remnants brought by the mist.”
After the mist dispersed, changes in terrain or buildings appearing or vanishing out of nowhere were no longer rare.
A rough estimate suggested there were at least thirty cultists occupying the church. Their strength varied, mostly ranging from Bronze to Silver rank.
That discovery eased their tension somewhat.
Phylline and Fein both looked to Veyra, waiting for his decision.
Veyra pondered briefly, his gaze sweeping over the church. “Since they haven’t started the next sacrifice yet, Anton and the others may still be alive. If we retreat now to seek help, time probably won’t be enough. From what we’ve observed, we might be able to handle these cultists. But remember—if we encounter enemies we can’t deal with, we withdraw immediately. Safety first.”
“And her?” Phylline flicked her wrist, the arrow she’d been holding pressing against Mengya’s neck. “Kill her.”
“I told you everything! Didn’t we agree—” Mengya’s sobbing plea was muffled as Phylline’s other hand clamped over her mouth, the arrow pressing half a notch deeper.
Veyra reached out and gently grasped Phylline’s wrist.
Facing Phylline’s questioning look, he explained, “Rescuing people requires timing. She’s still useful.”
Then he patted Mengya’s shoulder, her face flushed red with fear. “We can try, within reason, to rescue your goblin partner. But on the condition that you help us too.”
Mengya nodded furiously.
In the end, she took a blasting arrow from Phylline’s quiver and carefully ran toward the depths of the forest.
“What if she’s actually in league with the cult, just acting?” Phylline asked, watching the succubus’s retreating back.
“Then she’ll definitely try to warn her companions,” Veyra said, returning a pouch of powder to Fein. “I left tracking powder on her. If she tries to turn back, Fein will notice.”
Fein accepted the pouch and nodded firmly.
“As long as she successfully detonates the blasting arrow and draws away part of the cultists’ attention, our goal is achieved. If the arrow doesn’t go off,” Veyra withdrew his gaze and looked at the sisters, “then everything she said was a lie, and we retreat immediately to report.”
As much as he wanted to save Anton, Veyra had to prioritize Phylline and Fein’s safety.
If the risk clearly exceeded expectations, he could only choose the safer path and seek reinforcements.
As for whether Mengya might be carrying some kind of instant long-range communication device, Veyra didn’t give it much thought.
That kind of expensive equipment, usually sealed with complex magical locks, was obviously not something a middling nobody like her would be issued.
Elsewhere, Mengya’s mind churned with countless thoughts.
Once she was free of Veyra’s control, she wasn’t tempted by the idea of simply running away.
But if she did that, Stinky Fish would truly be beyond saving.
She didn’t have the guts to storm a cult stronghold alone to rescue someone.
But making a big commotion from a relatively safe distance—she still had the courage for that.
Even if she couldn’t be sure Veyra and the others would truly keep their word, at the very least… this would add a sliver of hope for that idiot Stinky Fish…
“Y-you’d better appreciate this!”
In the end, she did as Veyra instructed. At a distance neither too close nor too far from the abandoned church, she activated and detonated the blasting arrow.
Boom!
A dull explosion tore through the forest, sending birds scattering into the sky.
Not long after, movement came from the direction of the abandoned church.
Nine cultists poured out of the broken doorway, cautiously heading toward the source of the blast.
Once they had gone far enough, Veyra and the other two quietly moved toward the church.
And farther away, on the outskirts of the forest, a scout puji had just blown a loathsome slime to bits, even stomping on it a few extra times to grind its core into nothing, completely unconcerned about the corrosion.
[Vibration Sense LV10]
Even though sound was barely audible here, the puji still sensed the explosion through vibrations.
Without hesitation, the scout puji leapt lightly and vanished into the forest.
There was more than one scout puji in the fallen region. Wherever something happened, it was always worth taking a look.