323rd Chapter: You Can Do It. (2)
Alfoy turned his body while watching Queen Grex, who seemed to beckon him closer as she created space for him.
Then, he whispered towards the empty void behind him.
“Uh, what should I do now? What do I do now?!”
“Get closer.”
“What am I supposed to do when I get closer?”
“Lure her in! Just show her some magic or something. If she sees something intriguing, she’ll follow you like a moth to a flame.”
“Ugh… Alright.”
Taking a deep breath, Alfoy set his foot forward. The Grexes merely squirmed but did not show any hostile reaction towards him.
Belinda asked in disbelief as she saw Alfoy slowly walking toward Queen Grex.
“What, what are you doing? Why is he acting like that? They always attacked when they saw us, right? Alfoy was with us!”
They had dealt with every Grex they encountered on the way here. The Grexes had not treated Alfoy any differently.
The only difference was that Queen Grex was present here.
[When the scouting party was wiped out, one exceptionally skilled mage survived alone and wandered the forest. He accidentally arrived where Queen Grex was located and faced an onslaught from hundreds of Grexes, nearly meeting his end.]
Ghislaine nodded in response.
“Queen Grex is showing interest in Alfoy right now.”
Belinda was taken aback by this.
“Could it be… is Alfoy her type? Is she trying to make him her husband?”
“…Not exactly.”
[According to the mage, it was thanks to Queen Grex that he was able to return alive. Queen Grex has a bit more intelligence than the other Grexes, especially with a habit of observing things she sees for the first time out of curiosity. This was evidenced by the mage who had survived and found Queen Grex.]
Watching Alfoy move cautiously, Ghislaine said, “That thing is very interested in mages.”
“Mages?”
“Yeah, for some reason, it seems able to sense magic. That’s why we couldn’t send anyone else, only Alfoy.”
[We thought Queen Grex was friendly towards humans. So we sent troops for observation and investigation, guided by the mage who had returned alive. But that was our misunderstanding.]
Belinda tilted her head at Ghislaine’s words.
“Then isn’t it fine to move with Alfoy? After all, there’s a mage mixed in.”
“Not like that. There’s a limit to what it allows. And it doesn’t permit just anyone.”
[Only one. The number of individuals Queen Grex shows curiosity towards is limited to just one. She displayed hostility towards any numbers beyond that. Moreover, she only shows curiosity when there is just the mage present. It was impossible not to think that Queen Grex had a special ability to sense magic.]
Although the group wore dubious expressions, they could only trust his words.
It was because what Ghislaine said was happening right before their eyes.
Belinda was truly curious to the point of madness. No, so were the others.
‘How on earth does the Young Master know this? He’s never entered the forest alone before!’
Had he entered the woods as a child, he would have already been dead, and there would be no body left. Initially, with Ghislaine’s previous authority and skills, he couldn’t even approach the forest.
Yet seeing Ghislaine so knowledgeable about the forest made it feel like…
‘He must have been here before, right?’
It was certainly amazing whenever Ghislaine performed other tasks, but it didn’t compare to the strangeness of exploring the Forest of Monsters. Each time he entered, it appeared as though he was consulting some detailed records.
A woman’s intuition can sometimes be frighteningly precise. Belinda dug up the long-buried theory of possession within her mind.
‘It doesn’t seem like a dark sorcerer is possessing him… After all, our cute Young Master is really him…’
Yet it felt like there was some other entity inside that body, one giving Ghislaine hints here and there.
‘Just wait till I catch you. I’ll make sure to poke holes all over your body.’
The fact that she hadn’t considered that Ghislaine might die if she did this was a minor detail in her resolve.
While Belinda couldn’t shake off her doubts, the others brushed it off. Having experienced so many bizarre occurrences alongside Ghislaine, it was now tedious to think through every single one.
Amidst the thoughts of the party wandering, Alfoy carefully approached Queen Grex.
The Grexes merely stared blankly at Alfoy without posing any threat.
“Ugh…”
When Alfoy got closer to Queen Grex, he halted. He couldn’t muster the courage to go any further.
“Creeeeek…”
Queen Grex lowered her many eyes slightly and began to observe Alfoy from various angles, as if sniffing him out. Just looking at the drool dripping from her was enough to make Alfoy’s knees weak.
For some time, Queen Grex scrutinized Alfoy, then let out an unpleasant screech.
“Grrroooorrr…”
At that, the Grexes began to display increasingly aggressive behavior. They lifted their claws and moved towards Alfoy.
‘These bastards?!’
When a person’s life is precarious, they exhibit remarkable senses.
Alfoy instantly realized that Queen Grex was losing interest in him.
“Creeeek!”
As Queen Grex screeched loudly and the Grexes began to move, a small fireball shot out from Alfoy’s hand.
“L-look! It’s fire! Fire!”
“Creeeek?”
Queen Grex jumped back as if startled. The Grexes all ceased their movements too.
“Isn’t it fascinating? Look, it can move like this.”
Alfoy did his utmost to move the fireball here and there.
His magic control was so delicate that even a high-ranking mage of the 7th Circle would be taken aback. After all, when your life is on the line, there’s nothing you won’t do.
“Creeeek!”
Queen Grex twisted her body in awe.
‘It’s working! It’s really working.’
Feeling a bit more confident, Alfoy began to move backwards while manipulating the fireball.
Queen Grex watched the moving fireball with fascination and followed Alfoy.
Despite breaking a cold sweat, Alfoy maintained his focus.
‘Just keep going like this.’
He only needed to reach the place where Ghislaine was. Then everything would be resolved.
Shaking from nervousness, as he moved, suddenly, Queen Grex stopped.
“Creeeek!”
Alfoy understood again. It meant she was asking if there was anything else. With life on the line, he could grasp her meaning just from her cries.
‘This crazy monster, it’s really picky.’
In the end, Alfoy extinguished the fire and showcased his special move.
“L-look at this.”
He picked up four small stones from the ground and showed them to Queen Grex with an open palm.
“…?”
In front of the tilting Queen Grex, Alfoy flipped his hand and used a sleight of hand.
Swish.
With only the back of his hand visible, Queen Grex couldn’t see one of the stones vanish.
And when Alfoy slowly opened his hand again.
There were three stones.
“Creeeek!”
Queen Grex let out a sound as if she was flabbergasted. It seemed she was exclaiming, ‘What a great trick!’
As a monster, there was no way she could detect such a high-level trick that even humans could fall for.
Alfoy continued to lure her in by showcasing these fascinating tricks.
As he moved backward, Queen Grex trailed after him, while the other Grexes just sat there, staring at them blankly.
Kaor, watching this unfold, muttered.
“This is absurd.”
It was indeed going just as Ghislaine had planned. It was hard to discern whether it was Ghislaine’s brilliance, believing Alfoy could play the bait well, or Alfoy’s own talent in luring monsters.
‘Does this guy really have something up his sleeve?’
He was the one known as the man who defeated a god. Seeing the once-mocked Alfoy now in action made Kaor feel quite tense.
Unintentionally recalling the hot air balloon crash incident, he shook his head vigorously.
The rest of the party held their breath, watching Alfoy. They were even sweating.
‘Please! Please!’
‘You can do it! Alfoy!’
‘You’re the man who defeated a god!’
If Queen Grex swung her claws, Alfoy, who was busy hiding stones, would end up shredded.
“Creeeek!”
Every time Queen Grex screeched, Alfoy flinched. Yet he continued to slowly lure her in. He truly was a surprisingly resilient man.
In the suffocating situation, Queen Grex finally approached the spot where Ghislaine and the others were hiding.
While they still had a little distance left, the abilities of the people here meant they could leap over it in an instant.
And just around that time, Alfoy’s magic act came to an end.
“Creeeek!”
“What, what do I do now?”
Alfoy’s mind went blank. He had shown everything he could—except for taking off his clothes.
Looking at Alfoy’s flustered state, Queen Grex screeched again.
“Creeeek!”
And simultaneously, the Grexes displayed their claws and began to advance towards Alfoy.
In an instant, Ghislaine’s eyes glowed red.
“Now!”
Boom!
“Creeeek?”
As something leaped out from the dark forest, Queen Grex lifted her head.
“Good job! Alfoy!”
Ghislaine shouted out loudly and swiftly severed Queen Grex’s arms and legs.
“Graaaah!”
With Queen Grex’s pain-filled scream echoing, the party rushed out. The Grexes screamed and rushed forward as well.
“Tie it up!”
As Kaor shouted, Belinda’s robe fluttered, unleashing dozens of daggers.
Thin, strong threads connected to the daggers bound Queen Grex’s body tightly. Following that, the knights used ropes they had brought to secure her even more firmly.
“Creeeek!”
Queen Grex struggled, but she couldn’t manage to get free from the tightly bound ropes.
“Run!”
At Ghislaine’s command, the knights dragged Queen Grex away.
“Belinda! Alfoy!”
“I understand!”
Belinda grabbed Alfoy by the scruff of his neck and ran.
“Kaor! Clear the path!”
Bang!
Ghislaine swung his sword and smashed the trees that were blocking their way. Kaor also advanced, breaking trees alongside Ghislaine.
Since Queen Grex was quite large, they had to navigate carefully to avoid getting caught on trees while dragging her along.
As they ran, the group thought.
‘Is it really necessary to go through all this hassle?’
‘Couldn’t we just go and kill everything and drag her back?’
‘The ones behind can’t even follow us!’
Upon capturing Queen Grex, hundreds of Grexes chased after them, but they couldn’t catch up to their speed.
It felt like they could just go to the fortress without any issue.
At that moment, Ghislaine shouted again.
“Run with all your might! Hurry!”
It felt as though something was chasing them. The group wore bewildered expressions but complied with his orders.
And soon they felt tremors ringing from all around.
Thud thud thud thud…
“Creeeek!”
Queen Grex kept screaming. But the tremors resonating seemed to be following Queen Grex.
Something was approaching this way.
Belinda, with her keen senses, tightened her expression. This tremor wasn’t coming from nearby.
Quickly running, she glanced down.
“From underground?”
The tremors echoed from beneath the ground, akin to a colossal tsunami moving underground.
“There’s not just one.”
If a massive monster were moving, that would be easier to deal with. But the vibrations felt from beneath her feet were not so simple.
It was the flow of dozens, hundreds, even thousands of something moving.
[We wanted to uncover the secret of how Queen Grex established dominion over this area. We theorized various possibilities on how such a weak group could survive in the Forest of Monsters.]
Kaor, who had been cutting through the trees while running ahead, suddenly opened his eyes wide.
Boom!
“Graaah!”
The ground caved in here and there, and Grexes sprang out.
“What the hell! What is this?!”
Kaor shouted in shock.
Had it been just a few, he might have let it slide. But the Grexes that leaped out were close to hundreds at a glance.
And as if that wasn’t enough, more Grexes continued to burst out from all directions.
“Creeeek!”
Thud thud thud thud!
The tremors echoing from the ground grew increasingly louder. Ghislaine’s voice hit the group like thunder.
“Break through!”
Boom!
Ghislaine, at the forefront, began cutting down Grexes indiscriminately.
Each one was treated as a weak monster, comparable to human soldiers. But when so many gathered, the situation changed. Just like how a group of human soldiers becomes fearsome.
[If we could unravel that secret, we believed we could explore the Forest of Monsters much more easily. That’s why we kidnapped Queen Grex. But that was our mistake. There was no secret. The Forest of Monsters operated solely on the logic of power.]
“Creeeek!”
The Grexes that burst out from below had increased in number, filling the area.
Kaor clenched his teeth, cutting down the Grexes. Belinda and the knights were busy attacking the Grexes that were approaching Queen Grex.
As the Grexes crowded in, the group’s speed began to dwindle. The ground had so many holes now that there was barely anywhere to step.
[As we suspected, Queen Grex indeed possessed a peculiar ability. The ability to move all the Grexes. The Grexes had come in countless numbers to rescue their queen. And the number of Grexes that moved to save their queen was… ]
Boom!
Ghislaine opened the level 3 core and shouted.
“Break through faster! If you delay, we can’t handle it!”
[…Approximately 200,000.]
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