Saintess

"Exactly. They sure are thick as thieves with each other."

Asilie's reaction, like she'd just witnessed something utterly dumbfounding, was still on the milder side. My expression had gone completely rotten. The camaraderie of losers who practice human sacrifice. Felt like I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just seen some godawful shit for the first time in a while.

After soothing my stomach, which had turned sour from watching those dickheads huddled together jerking each other off, we swiftly returned to the campsite and I explained what I'd seen to the group, who had already finished all preparations.

"You should've started by telling us those fuckers' hideout looked just like an abandoned dungeon, man."

That was after I'd first given Sen a pointed look for leaving out such crucial information.

"I was so out of it that it slipped my mind, hehehe."

That 'hehehe' almost earned him a fuckin' forehead flick.

Seeing how his brain had seized up, it looked like thoroughly crushing their morale had also worked in a bad way.

They'd gone on so much about their 'order' that I'd naturally pictured an ancient Greco-Roman-style temple in a wide-open clearing, but the bastards had actually holed up in a familiar-looking abandoned dungeon.

For now, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was a snag in the initial plan, but it wasn't a particularly bad thing, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so it was a mistake we could gloss over for the time being.

"Hoho. Seems we've got quite the connection with abandoned dungeons, eh."

Gin wasn't the only one who reacted with a laugh. Gaendal also shook his head and smiled, and for starters, Rellie and Yekaterina both reacted with an 'Another abandoned dungeon?' and laughed too.

But afterwards, Yekaterina looked extremely disappointed.

"Aw man, this means I'm stuck out of the action again, huh?"

"We won't know for sure until we get inside, but just from a glance, the entrance looked bigger than that time. So wouldn't there be a chance the interior's a bit more spacious too?"

"Honestly, I can't say for certain, but it's not completely unrelated either."

At Gin's added hypothesis, Yekaterina—who'd been bitterly hoping she wouldn't end up stuck in the rear again—beamed. Physically, there's not much separating her from a battle-hardened veteran, but seeing that gentle face light up at the prospect of a fight was jarring no matter how often I saw it.

Sen's group watched us like we were beings from another world, beyond mere dissonance, but since there was no reason to explain it to them this time either, I decided to ignore it.

"You said they numbered well over a hundred, right? If it's big enough to house that many and live there long-term, it'd be decently spacious. But unlike last time, we don't have interior blueprints, so we'll need to think this through carefully. What do you plan to do?"

Not only Gin, who had spoken up, but everyone else's eyes were on me. Apparently, since I'd brought in this request, they were provisionally treating me as the leader.

What I'm good at is using my body rather than my head, but fortunately, our hand was so solid this time that I didn't need to use my head much, so I humbly decided to act as the leader.

"For now, since we have three mages in our party, I don't think we'd be particularly outmatched even if we went inside. Asilie can provide support with her bow, and unlike me, she's also skilled in spirit arts and magic. Kals has a crossbow too, so he'll be helpful in many ways."

Having more people isn't always better, but at minimum, our party composition right now was genuinely quite superior. I nodded at the silent agreement and continued.

"Before we knew it was an abandoned dungeon, I planned to try picking them off individually using the forest's advantages, but now that we know, it's practically created a way to prevent them from using their numerical advantage, so I think it's better to ambush their advance party in front of the abandoned dungeon and push in before they can finish preparing inside."

If it had just been Asilie and me, we'd have been able to run around freely, so it would have been annoying rather than truly dangerous. But Sen's group was already struggling with barely 10 of them; there was no reason to choose a bad move just because we trusted our own strength.

"It's easier to corner them in one place and catch them. If those bastards scatter in all directions running away, it'll be a pain."

Yekaterina, who clearly understood my intent, waved her hand around as if shooing bugs and laughed heartily, and the others answered with laughter too. Staying alert while maintaining composure—that's a truly good sign.

"Since everyone seems to agree, we'll head out immediately. When we arrive, Gaendal and Mr. Gin, take position at a suitable spot with Sen's group first and prepare for a coordinated attack. Yekaterina and I will start the ambush at the entrance. The bastards made all sorts of fuss, so the ones coming out first should be those with some skill. I think it's best to maximize the ambush advantage with my weapon and Yekaterina's war hammer. Big Sis, act at your own discretion until we enter the abandoned dungeon."

An elf in the forest is invincible, and Asilie is a god!

She isn't literally invincible, but she's plenty powerful. Elves can draw help from even the smallest blade of grass in a forest, so it's a hundred times better to let her act on her own judgment.

"Before you go in, even whistle if you like. I'll follow along on my own."

As soon as she answered, Asilie moved first, leaping into the forest to also keep an eye on the bastards' movements. And before she'd even taken exactly five steps, she vanished from sight, making the group marvel.

"Wow. That's the first time I've seen an elf disappear in the forest like that."

It was probably that thing I'd experienced last time when we received the spirits' help. From an observer's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠viewpoint, it looked like she was suddenly erased from the world. Not just Sen, but the others also reacted with surprise, but since the ambush took priority over explanations, we decided to hurry our steps first.

Since we'd never mentioned our exact night raid time in front of that Number 84 bastard, they wouldn't be able to mull things over so leisurely either. In fact, since they couldn't know when we'd catch on that the guy had escaped, we were in a situation where we had to move as fast as possible if we decided to attack.

Considering that, I'd even used Magic Power to return to the campsite as quickly as possible, but we were just as pressed for time as them if we wanted to move according to plan.

"How should we do it? Me first, like last time?"

Perhaps recalling how we'd ambushed those bastards returning to the village during the abandoned dungeon request, Yekaterina asked with a cool smile, and I answered with a smile too.

"Let me try first. I think it'll be more effective against the ones just coming out of the entrance."

I guarantee that, from a third party's perspective, we were wearing the sort of smiles you'd expect from truly nasty villains.

Sen, with his short legs, struggled quite a bit, but we managed to reach a suitable position without being late.

"Seems no reaction yet. I can't sense any unusual movement nearby."

Was it a dwarf-only sense? Mr. Gin, who'd briefly closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate, confirmed while looking at their hideout. Then Gaendal tilted his head slightly and raised a question.

"Hmm. The possibility that they haven't been able to make a quick decision yet. Or the possibility that they have something akin to magic among them and are surveilling us in some form. Which is higher?"

Personally, since I couldn't see any activated magic right now, I figured it was absolutely the former, but explaining that with clear evidence was problematic, so I kept my mouth shut for the moment. Fortunately, the group started seriously considering Gaendal's question, and soon Seneran was the first to answer.

"I'd say the former. Even if it's the latter, mages can sense magic. Even if those guys really are borrowing some insane god's divinity, the likelihood that it's an all-powerful miracle capable of completely sniffing out people hiding like we are right now is extremely slim."

"Even if the latter is correct, ultimately they're in a position where they have to come out and deal with it, so I think we just need to watch out for a possible counter-ambush."

As expected of mages, their brains work well, unlike us sword-swingers. When Rellie agreed with Seneran's assertion, Merdela simply nodded to join their opinion as well. That alone was enough for us to nod in satisfaction and decide to move while taking the women's advice into account.

"Then it'd be better for us to split up here into positions convenient for surrounding the entrance. Just asking in case, but how will you start?"

Toward Gaendal, who was showing his experienced party leader side, I answered not with words but by pulling out a needle and showing it.

The group had already seen the needles' absurd performance firsthand, so they didn't ask anything before splitting left and right and disappearing into separate patches of brush. Crouching in the bushes was enough for me, while Yekaterina hid behind a tree so she'd have room to swing her war hammer. We spent another five minutes or so discussing the ambush in a little more detail.

It was around then that the cultists in familiar attire began showing themselves at the wide entrance, making a clamor loud enough for even my ears to hear.

I don't know about other things, but working with Gaendal's group really does seem to bring good luck. The bastards, whether because they were less tense or for faster movement I don't know, started bursting out in a hurry with their swords still at their hips.

Thanks to that, when about fifteen or so of them had left the dungeon entrance in that state, I whistled in satisfaction.

-Fweet!

"A wh-whistle!"

Nine needles scattered like buckshot toward the cultists who flinched and reacted at the sound of the whistle. I'd figured they'd been told the story. Since it was an attack that'd slaughtered ten people without even lifting a finger, they'd obviously have explained it in great detail.

But nothing would change just because they'd listened so hard to the explanation.