Volume 2, Chapter 80 – The Prey in the Web

In the eastern part of the Deepwinter Forest,

“Wesk, are we almost there?”

“Almost, we’ll be there once we crest that hill!”

Walking through a small ravine, the former adventurer named Wesk spoke with some excitement.

Upon hearing this, the Seventh Hero of the Ashurmos Church, Kabane, could not help but reveal an excited expression.

Finally! He was almost there!

As long as he could bring the specific coordinates of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons back to the Ashurmos Church, he would achieve a monumental feat! Without a doubt, he would become a new Heavenly Apostle!

The era of Kabane was about to begin!

Fantasizing about his brilliant future, a wide grin slowly spread across Kabane’s face.

Kabane was extremely satisfied with his choice to venture into the Deepwinter Forest.

This was absolutely the most correct decision of his life!

In that moment, an incomparable surge of excitement rushed through Kabane’s heart.

“Faster, even faster!”

He could not wait to experience the feeling of success and fame.

However, despite his excitement, Kabane still felt a slight trace of annoyance.

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The red-haired man slowly turned his head to look at the woman behind him who wore church robes and had short orange hair.

“Arela, didn’t you say you weren’t coming? How is it that you followed us all the way here?”

Kabane’s voice was filled with disdain and a thick sense of gloating.

“Lord Third Hero, didn’t you say it was impossible for us to find it? Didn’t you say Wesk was a liar? Well, look at us now! Aren’t we almost there?!”

In response to Kabane’s words, the orange-haired woman named Arela narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze still full of contempt.

“We aren’t there yet, so what’s the rush…”

“Heh, let’s see how long you can keep up that stubborn act.”

Kabane gave a cold laugh.

He couldn’t wait to arrive at the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons and see the change in Arela’s expression. He wanted to see what kind of face this Third Hero, who usually looked down on him, would make after seeing the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

On the other side, the woman named Arela remained indifferent to Kabane’s boasting. She did not respond to Kabane’s provocation at all, instead focusing her attention on observing the surrounding environment and staying alert for the appearance of Abyssal Demons.

Initially, Arela had indeed been dismissive of Kabane’s claims about knowing the location of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons. After all, fake news of this kind was endless! Even after seeing the so-called fragment of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons, Arela remained skeptical since the adventurer named Wesk spoke with many inconsistencies.

In Arela’s view, the man was a fraud.

Moreover, even if such information were true, it should have been reported immediately to the Archbishop or the Pope to wait for a decision from the church hierarchy, rather than acting independently for the sake of merit as they were doing. Arela had not intended to enter the Deepwinter Forest at first and had instead reported the information to the Archbishop.

However, before she could receive a reply from the Archbishop, Arela was surprised to find that Kabane had already taken it upon himself to lead his team and Wesk into the Deepwinter Forest.

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Although she had some minor conflicts with Kabane, as the Third Hero, Arela still valued her companions. She naturally could not watch a companion go to their death because of stupidity! Thus, carrying a rare spatial teleportation scroll, Arela rushed into the Deepwinter Forest. Using a tracking item shared between Heroes, she followed Kabane’s trail, attempting to pull this reckless Hero back to Windward City!

However, after tracking them for a while, Arela found to her astonishment that the so-called ‘secret path’ Kabane and Wesk were taking was exactly as described—a special path where one would not encounter magical beasts or Abyssal Demons! After secretly following the lingering scent for several hours, Arela truly hadn’t seen a single Abyssal Demon! She hadn’t even sensed the residual aura of one!

‘Perhaps that adventurer was telling the truth?’

Once this thought emerged in her mind, Arela chose to advance together with them after catching up to Kabane’s group. She was also curious about whether they could actually reach the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons. If they encountered a large number of Abyssal Demons later, escaping shouldn’t be a problem given the spatial teleportation array given to her by the Archbishop.

And so, Arela joined the team…

‘There really aren’t any Abyssal Demons…’

Looking at the forest, which was so silent it was hair-raising, Arela felt increasingly conflicted.

Though she remained full of doubt, she might now have to believe that Kabane had truly found a reliable adventurer with genuine information this time.

If that was the case, then what lay ahead?

Would they enter that special barrier after crossing this hill? And then, would they see the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons?

Thinking of this, Arela felt a surge of nervousness and tightened her grip on the rapier at her waist. After all, who knew if they would encounter other Abyssal Demons after entering the barrier, despite what Wesk ¹ Not sure who this Wesk is since the informant from chapter 59 is called Jack had claimed?

Thus, with a heart full of anxiety, excitement, and skeptical complexity, Arela crested the final small hill along with Kabane and the others.

In the next instant, the group seemed to step into a special barrier just as expected. Everything around them suddenly distorted, and the vision before them underwent a world-shaking change! The dense forest of giant trees that had been in front of them vanished abruptly, replaced by an open stretch of land! It was an open area surrounded by the forest…

However, after crossing onto this land, the excitement on everyone’s faces vanished instantly.

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The reason was simple, they did not see the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons anywhere.

“This… what is this? Where is the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons?!”

Walking at the very front, Kabane began to look around hysterically as a look of intense disappointment surged onto his face. Following that disappointment, a surge of deep anger rushed into Kabane’s eyes!

Of course, besides anger, there was also embarrassment because he had just been boasting grandly to Arela.

“You! You lied to me!”

With an explosion of red holy magic, Kabane spun around and grabbed Wesk by the throat, questioning him harshly, “You! Where is the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons?! Didn’t you say it was right here?! Then why is there nothing at all?!”

However, upon entering the barrier, Wesk seemed to have lost his soul and stood frozen on the spot. No matter how many times Kabane slapped him, he showed no sign of responding, and the light had already vanished from his eyes!

“What the hell is this?!”

Kabane gripped Wesk’s neck tightly, finding the situation hard to accept.

Just then, a shield-bearing man nearby slowly walked up to Kabane and spoke in a shocked and bewildered tone.

“Captain… you… look over there…”

“Hmm? What now?!”

Confused, Kabane followed his teammate’s finger and looked toward the shore of a small lake in the distance.

In the next moment, just like the other members of the Ashurmos Church, Kabane froze in place after seeing what was by the lakeside, his brown eyes filled with disbelief.

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“Why… why is there a small wooden hut here?!”

Looking at the structure that resembled a rural cottage, Kabane couldn’t help but doubt his own eyes, even raising his hands to rub them repeatedly.

“Why is there a hut? That… that couldn’t be the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons, could it?”

“No, that’s unlikely…” Arela, who also felt bewildered, could not help but shake her head in denial. “Should we go over and take a look?”

Under normal circumstances, Arela’s style would have been to record the coordinates and retreat in the face of such a bizarre and inconceivable situation.

However, for some reason, after seeing that hut, Arela’s gaze became firmly fixed upon it as if a voice from within the wooden building was constantly calling out to her, beckoning her to investigate.

And when Arela made this suggestion, the other members of the Ashurmos Church didn’t have the slightest thought of refusing.

Kabane, who was already unwilling to give up, was even more impatient under the hut’s strange allure and rushed forward immediately!

“Since we’re already here, let’s see exactly what this place is!”

At the same time, atop a giant tree branch in the distance, a beautiful blue-haired girl was quietly drinking a cold beverage while silently watching the group from the Ashurmos Church walk toward the hut.

‘Good luck to you~’