[Few days later.]

[Territory lord’s mansion.]

"FUCK! THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" – shouted the lord as he slammed the table.

"Sir... We checked per your request... But there was no contact whatsoever." – replied the guard.

"What the hell do you mean there was nothing?!" – asked panicking lord.

"They should had arrived here by now!"

"Sir... I’m just reporting to you. We looked everywhere, but we had not found anything related to Crow Watchers." – replied the guard.

"Not messenger."

"Not left behind message."

"Nothing."

"There was straight up nothing for us to receive."

"M-maybe they are late?! Maybe something happened to them?" – said the panicking lord.

"We.... We can keep our eyes and ear out for any messenger." – replied the guard.

"..."

(What the fuck is going on?!) – thought the lord as he bit his nail.

(The promised elite Crow Watchers should had arrived by now!)

(If something happened to them, I should had received a letter or some messenger should had come!)

(So why is there a silence!?)

(Shit! And this isn’t all!)

"What about the golem dungeon?" – asked the lord.

"...They.... The golem forces are still hiding within the forest. According to the report." – said guard.

"They didn’t left the forest, nor even attempted attacking."

"Our forces are on standby nearby, but not close enough to be in danger of being the one getting attacked."

"As for the villages.... For the time being as you instructed, they are being kept abandoned."

"However, the survivors-"

"Tell them shut up if they want to live." – said the lord before the man could finish.

"If they want to die, then tell them that the best way of doing that is going back to their village."

"...Fuck. Don’t they get it?! We still don’t know if we can handle the golems on our own!"

"..."

"What about the adventurers?"

"They are gathering."

"The news by now must had spread by now everywhere."

"We had received the letter from different adventurer guilds, sending us information that many adventurers are currently coming here."

"Good..." – said the lord.

"..."

"Lord Vincent... I know you are worried about your people.... But if you truly hire THAT many adventurers, we may end up going completely broke." – said the worried butler.

"Not only that, all villages that were pillaged by the golems had been completely destroyed, we will have to somehow repair every single one of them."

"There is all other stuff that needs to be take care of... And I worry we have nowhere enough money to deal with all of this at once.

"..."

"I will ask the empire for the direct funding." – replied the extremely exhausted nobleman.

"This disaster was something beyond me in the first place... There is good chance that they will provide necessary fundings to deal with the whole thing." – said the lord.

(But the problem is what then?) – thought nobleman. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

(This place was rumored to be "cursed land", but after empire took over there was never a problem.)

(But now?)

(The "cursed land" is resurfacing in the mouths of many.)

(I’ve read reports that many people are starting to leaving my land.)

(Even if we clean up the whole mess, the fear will remain and this place may straight up become desolated!)

(...Not only that, but there are also these terrorist on the loose... Are they in my territory?)

(Do they have somewhere base of operation?)

(FUCK!)

(If they do, then I may end up having to take some responsible for the shit they did!)

(...And it is not like I can run away now, while so many eyes are looking at me!)

(Fuck me.... When this nightmare will end?)

[Meanwhile: Somewhere in the city]

"..."

(What the hell is going?) – thought the unknown man as he was wondering through the streets of the Maw city while once again pretending to be a merchant.

(The messenger tower should had received the crow long time ago and sent out somebody to go and tell her to hurry the fuck up.) – thought the man as he took out a small communication device he had on himself and tried activating it.... Only for it to once again don’t work.

(Yet... She isn’t here?)

(She should had been yesterday or even 2 days ago.)

(Not only that.... I haven’t received any contact yet either.)

(...)

(This isn’t right.)

(I even brainwashed few people and found out that the lord wasn’t contacted either.)

(I even took a risk and brainwashed one of the mansion maids.... But again, I’ve not obtained even bit of information.)

(Did she.... No. No. No.)

(She would want that dungeon no matter what.)

(She would use us while we would use her.)

(She wouldn’t betray us now, especially while hunting for that dungeon.)

(That can mean only one thing.)

(Something must had happened to her.) – thought the man as he looked towards the skies and saw the sun right above him.

(....I know I should only make contact during night, but right now I need to do it.) – thought the man as he left the city through one of the main gates.

(At the rate things are going, the lord will assembles massive army of adventurers who will assault the golem infected forest.)

(The chances of the golem dungeon surviving it all are... Slim to say the least.)

(However, if by any chance it does survives it.)

(The empire as "whole" will need to react... And this is something we need to avoid at all cost.)

(I will retrieve the communication suitcase and inform lord about the situation.)

The man walked for hours, traversing the main road while encountering some passing by adventurers and merchants.

The man didn’t rushed it nor did anything to any people he encounter. He took his time, maintaining his disguise, even if means traversing a long distance at slow pace.

However, in the end man managed to get to the isolated forest.

(It is quiet shame that the closes place to hide anything is so far away from the city.... But again, I can’t use that device while in the city.) – thought the man as he traversed the isolated forest.

(It is well hidden, but with how much security had increased, including in magic detection department.... If they just sense one thing wrong, it could had ended up in bit of messy situation.)

(However, she is currently one of the strongest beings in the empire.... Is there truly something out there that would hunt her down?)

(...Whatever happened, it can’t be good. I need-)

"..."

(Somebody is in the forest.) – thought the man as he senses presence in front of him, hidden amongst the trees.

(Wait.... That spot-)

"!"

The man instantly activated his stealth skills and began rushing forward, quickly traversing the small forest.... Before then arriving at his destination.

"!?"

(Wait, what?!) – however, as the man arrived, he saw something alarming yet confusing.

The hole where the magical communication device was hidden was dug out.

And the person right next to the floor was somebody wearing a white coat that covered their entire body while hood covered their head.

"..."

(Is it her?) – thought the unknown man as from the get go he realized that something wasn’t right, prompting the man to take out both a knife and a gun he had hidden on himself.

(But-)

As the man was about to make his move, he felt something.

A presence.

A presence of something monstrous that was right behind him.

The man tried instantly leaping away from his spot in fear.... But just as he moved, something pierced both his legs and arms, before then instantly smashing his entire body against the ground as the blade.

"Hello Mother Fucker♪"

"!?"

[Shadow Magic: Shadow Dive]

The man who was caught completely off guard tried instantly using his shadow magic to escape.... However-

(Why... Why I can’t use my magic?!) – he couldn’t use it.

The man tried resisting over and over, but nothing was working.

"Oh sit down." – said attacker who was none other than Ariava.

The blade tails that pieced the man’s limbs suddenly grew several spikes on the surface, including also inside of the man’s body, causing him to instantly scream in agony.

"Nice job girl. See? It wasn’t that hard." – said Ariava who stepped on top of the injured man while her blade extra limbs pierced the man and pinned him against the ground.

"!"

"You!?" – the man looked up, noticing and realizing that the woman in front of him was really vampire named Porai Kuris.

"HEY! THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU REALLY FUCKING BETRAYING US?!"

"ANSWER ME?!" – shouted the unknown man as he was suddenly smashed into the ground against Arava’s boot.

"Oh. Don’t worry. She didn’t had a choice." – said Ariava.

"It was either me torturing her into submission or raping her to the point where her mind would just break."

"So, even if it wasn’t for her willingly giving up, she would work for me no matter what."

"..."

"I’m sorry... I.... Fuck.." – said the vampire woman, making the man that something wasn’t right.

"She is fucking monster... So don’t resist."

"Welp, she was smart about it." – said Ariava as she approached the woman in white coat and caressed her face, while the female vampire did not resisted one bit, making the pinned down man confused.

"She knew that she didn’t stood a chance and decided to work for me."

"I’m.... Sorry..." – said Porai with her voice shaking.

(....This isn’t normal..... What the hell happened?) – thought panicking unknown man.

(FUCK!) – thought the panicking man as he tried moving his mouth, only for the tentacle like limb to get into his mouth, straight up gagging him.

"Let’s see.... Ah! Here!" – the demoness pulled out her tentacle out from the man’s mouth, alongside a tooth.

"A suicide capsule is no go." – said the demoness as she took the teeth which contained a suicidal poison inside.

"You loyal types often have these things inside, so it kind of became a very predictable pattern by now."

"Now... What should I do with you?" – said the demoness as she got on her knee and stared at the man, whose face was now filled to the brim with fear while trying to desperately break out from the blade limbs that pinned him down.

(Shit! I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I need to get the fuck out of here!) – thought the panicking vampire as he tried breaking out his arm, even at the straight up cost of destroying it.

(WHAT EVER THAT THING IS! IT IS A FUCKING MONSTER!)

"You know this is dumb, right?" – asked Ariava as she changed her extra limbs forms, turning them into cuffs that wrapped around the man’s limbs.

"Your name."

"Mission."

"Who you serve."

"And pretty much everything."

"Just spill it out."

"Kay?"

"..."

"You-"

"I doubt you will speak to me from your own free will." – said the demoness, interrupting the man as he tried to argue.

"Welp, don’t worry."

"I know many ways of making people speaking."

"Oh, and if you are thinking about pleasure, then don’t worry."

"I know also many ways to make person feel pain beyond imagination or have them witness terrors that just breaks their mind into smithereens."

"There are truly many ways of breaking people."

"And there are many ways of breaking loyal types like you."

"And unfortunately for you."

"I’m in bit of rush."

"So yeah."

"Sorry but no sorry."

"I may break you in many different ways after I’m done with you."