Dark Forest Escape (2)
The fate of the Elk Bandits is now directly tied to my own survival. This is a golden opportunity to get the Elk Bandits removed from the Lion Heart Unit’s extermination list.
“What if we offer them a certain level of cooperation in exchange for taking our bandit group off the purge list?”
After all, there’s such a thing as plea bargaining. It’s when a criminal cooperates with the investigation of other criminals, and in return the authorities reduce their sentence or even drop the charges entirely. Just like what Chen did to us, couldn’t we offer information on other bandit groups and ask them to go easy on us?
Honestly, I don’t like the way the Elk Bandits currently operate—looting, gang-raping women, selling slaves—and I’ve been wanting to reform it anyway. The other bandit groups show no sign of reforming, so I wouldn’t feel any guilt about screwing over those pieces of trash. Since I’ve already become a bandit, I’d rather be a great thief than a petty one. If petty thieves are just scum scraping the bottom of the barrel, then a true great thief should be on the level of Lupin, Hong Gildong, or Im Kkeokjeong, right?
Marcus let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“You think we can just decide that on our own? That’s something the boss has to rule on.”
“If we can talk things through with the knightess here, do you think the boss would agree?”
Marcus shook his head, shooting down my idea immediately.
“That’s dangerous talk. Of course he won’t allow it. Even if we survive by stepping on other bandit groups, what kind of rumors would spread? If the boss joins hands with a knightess, he’ll never be able to set foot in the underworld again. It would be more like shaking hands with the devil.”
“So there’s no chance he’d allow it…”
I muttered quietly and turned my gaze away.
While we were casually chatting, the knightess and her soldiers were tearing through the undead like a storm. “Haaah!” “Hup!”
Each of them was demonstrating masterful martial prowess and performing far better than expected. Strangely, however, the number of undead showed no sign of decreasing. The countless people who had lost their lives trapped in this forest kept pouring out endlessly no matter how many they cut down. It was like trying to fill a bottomless bucket.
The soldiers’ stamina was gradually being drained as they fought the endless waves, and eventually, disaster struck.
“Aaaargh! It hurts!” “S-Save meee!”
Two soldiers were instantly surrounded by the undead and torn to shreds on the spot. Including the first soldier who had been helplessly killed while urinating, that made three casualties in total.
But the knightess and her soldiers refused to crumble easily. They fought with everything they had until finally, they defeated every last undead.
“Huff… We made it!” “It’s finally over!”
By the time they had dealt with all the attacking undead, the soldiers were drenched in sweat and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Even the knightess and Sinclair looked far from composed. Earlier, right after the battle ended, the knightess had strutted over to me with her chin held high. Now she sat slumped on a rock, fatigue written clearly across her face.
They had all reached their physical limits fighting such a massive horde without priests or mages. At this rate, even if they had barely survived the first and second waves, there was no telling what would happen during the third.
Everyone knew they could never escape this maze-like forest by wandering around looking for the entrance. The best option was to stay in one place and hold out until dawn. Just like a defense game.
I approached the knightess.
“How about untying us so we can help too?”
The knightess, who had been sitting on the rock, lifted her head. Sweat-soaked strands of hair clung messily to her left cheek.
“Don’t even think about trying anything. You think I don’t know what you’re scheming?”
“I’m not trying to run away. And I have no intention of harming any of you. I just want to survive. Isn’t one more helping hand desperately needed right now?”
I nodded toward the children who had been clinging to my waist like baby koalas to their mother ever since earlier.
“I want to protect these kids. Once we get out of this forest, I’ll let you tie me up again without complaint. Can’t you trust me on this?”
As I waited for her answer with a serious gaze, Sinclair, who was sitting beside her, cut in.
“Joining forces with criminals is completely out of the question. This man is insulting us. Please drive him away immediately.”
I let out a small chuckle.
“Clinging to empty pride in a life-or-death situation is something you’ll regret. Listen carefully. Marcus and I can each pull the weight of a hundred men.”
“A hundred men?”
“Don’t lie.”
Both the knightess and Sinclair looked at me with disbelief, as if my words were ridiculous. I calmly explained in order to persuade them.
“What will you do if the third wave comes with numbers like this again? Do you really think you can handle it when your stamina is already this low? Marcus and I possess trapper techniques capable of mass slaughter.”
Fortunately, I still had all the materials I bought at the refugee camp.
“We don’t have time. We need to set up the traps before they come back. Please don’t judge this emotionally—think rationally. What matters isn’t whether you accept help from bandits. What matters is that everyone survives.”
My sincere words seemed to make the knightess think deeply. After a long moment, she finally spoke.
“I cannot give you weapons.”
I thought it was a refusal. But then came the twist.
“However… setting traps might be acceptable.”
I had expected her to stubbornly cling to pride, but she surprisingly gave permission easily.
And so Marcus and I were untied and began installing traps in all four directions—east, west, south, and north—under the watchful eyes of the soldiers. Haida and Evynee rolled up their sleeves and worked hard too, carrying materials back and forth from the wagon to the trap sites.
Watching them, they looked so bright and diligent that a warm smile naturally formed on my face.
“Just traps won’t be enough for us to survive until morning. Traps are consumables that disappear after a single use, so they can’t be reused. We have no idea how many more enemies will come, so I’m worried about the quantity.”
“Isn’t there a better way?”
Marcus looked up at the sky. I followed his gaze.
Countless tree branches covered the sky above us.
“We can cut down those branches to make wooden fences and barricades. Let’s turn this place into a small fortress so we can minimize the use of traps.”
I relayed Marcus’s suggestion to the knightess. After thinking it over seriously, she nodded and accepted the idea. Sinclair, who had been watching from the side, offered no objections either. She simply nodded, acknowledging that it made sense.
From then on, everyone pitched in. We climbed the trees to break off thick branches, stripped long thin strips of bark to weave the branches together, and built fences and barricades. They were hastily made, so they weren’t particularly sturdy or refined, but they were better than nothing. From a defensive standpoint, having obstacles in the way felt psychologically more reassuring than leaving every direction completely open.
“Are you really not going to give us any weapons?”
I asked the knightess, but she only shook her head firmly.
“You don’t need to fight. Just focus on doing your job as laborers.”
Laborers, huh. So she was treating us like construction workers.
Marcus, the children, and I waited in the very center of the formation while the soldiers formed a perimeter around us, quietly preparing for the next attack.
I secretly had high expectations for the traps we had set, and as if to answer them, the undead soon began to appear one by one.
“Ahh… blood…” “You… are… there…” “Brother… save… meee…”
It seemed every undead wandering the forest had gathered here. There were easily over a hundred of them, by my rough estimate.
The knightess and soldiers frowned, gripping their weapons tightly as they waited in place.
“Hold until the traps activate.”
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the undead to come closer. Finally, the one at the very front of the group approaching from the east stepped on a trap installed on the ground. With a crackling sound, the trap activated.
“Grrrrraaaaaah!”
The undead shook violently as if it had been struck by lightning. Marcus and I hadn’t installed ordinary traps—we had set magical ones. The one that undead had triggered was a Chain Lightning trap.
Lightning zigzagged wildly, spreading rapidly to the surrounding undead. Every time the lightning jumped, the creatures suffered burns or had body parts explode with a loud pop.
“Guaaaaaah!” “Uuuuuurgh!” “Hiiiiiieeeeek!”
The Chain Lightning’s area of effect was wide. A significant number of the undead attacking from the east collapsed. Those struck by the lightning twitched and convulsed as if dancing before falling dead one after another.
“Incredible…!” “I’ve only heard about it, but this is the first time I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Gasps of admiration erupted from all around. Having witnessed the undead being slaughtered without anyone lifting a finger, the knightess, Sinclair, and the soldiers could only stare with their mouths agape.