As soon as the first defense ended, Ian summoned Sema and checked on the situation of each allied faction.

"!"

Water filled a bronze basin. As the skill activated, the smooth surface rippled and revealed another settlement.

They started with Nameita's Black Rock Village.

A black tide of mamool was flowing through a narrow pass.

They were beast-type mamool covered in dense spine-like fur, with short legs and rows of sharp teeth. Their movement speed was so fast that from a distance they resembled a dark river rushing through a canyon.

The next moment, dwarves sprang from concealment carrying shields.

The mamool bared their teeth and charged, but the shields were nearly as large as the dwarves themselves, leaving nothing to bite.

The dwarves stabbed upward with swords nearly as short as their arms, plunging them into the creatures' soft underbellies.

"Oh!"

Nameita, who had been standing beside Ian in tense anticipation, clenched his fist.

"Next."

There's no time.

Ian didn't allow him a moment longer to be moved.

Sema waved his staff.

The skill he had nurtured with experience had risen rapidly in level. It could now display any location that at least one party member had previously visited.

The Forest of the Elves appeared upon the water's surface.

The dense woodland shifted and writhed.

Mamool with the lower bodies of tigers and the upper bodies of humans ran through the forest before abruptly stopping to look around.

The trees swayed again, opening an entirely different path.

Thrown into confusion, the mamool split into two groups and followed separate routes.

Arrows from hidden Elf Rangers pierced their throats.

Jenea nodded.

"Next."

The water darkened.

Deep ocean depths filled with rising bubbles.

A gigantic great white shark with legs swallowed fleeing fishfolk along with entire buildings.

Armored fishfolk soldiers stabbed at the shark's eyes with spears before withdrawing in unison at a gesture from the Mermaid Queen.

Cannons fired simultaneously from atop the walls.

As the shark writhed in agony, fishfolk soldiers entangled it in thick nets.

"Next."

The Vatican, hidden behind a milky-white barrier, was peaceful.

Children were playing war games with wooden swords.

A boy carrying a toy bow and a girl wielding a wooden sword cornered another boy wearing a fake beard in a two-against-one battle.

The bearded boy soon dropped the staff he was holding and clutched his throat, pretending to die.

The children behind him immediately knelt and began praying.

The boy with the bow and the girl with the sword jumped up and down in celebration before solemnly kissing each other.

The children who had been praying, along with the fake-bearded boy who had pretended to die, all sprang back up and started hopping around excitedly.

"..."

"Next."

Ian gave the order before Keith could speak.

"Wasn't that the 'Execution of the Corrupted Pope' incident that happened at the Vatican? They killed the Pope and then the two of you kissed—?!"

"Next."

He cut off Sema's question as well.

Saying I didn't would sound like an excuse.

Who was spreading such absurd rumors?

Sema suddenly looked as though he had attained enlightenment.

Then he hurriedly turned his head away and pretended to focus on waving his staff.

Ian was bothered by the expression, but he chose not to ask.

There was no point voluntarily bringing up a disadvantageous topic.

Amid the strange silence, the skill activated once more.

The next scene appeared.

A dark forest.

A house-sized mamool was chasing a fleeing human.

It lazily prodded its prey with one forepaw after another. Each shove sent the man tumbling forward across the ground, while the mamool leisurely followed behind.

The fleeing man tripped over a rock.

Rolling across the dirt while clutching his leg, he cried out in pain.

Then he lifted his tear-soaked face, abandoned any attempt to escape, and pulled a whistle from his clothing.

He blew it.

The mamool swallowed him in a single bite.

Behind the beast followed several enormous creatures.

"...?"

For a moment, Ian couldn't place the location.

Then he realized.

The road leading to the Village of the Betrayers...

No.

The Village of the Wanderer Clan.

They had already checked every other allied settlement in the Dark Forest.

Ian instinctively looked toward Louise.

Louise's face had gone completely pale.

"Lord Ian."

"What are you doing?"

"...?"

"Why aren't you moving already?!"

"Yes!"

Louise startled violently and sprinted out the door.

Even as he urged his wolf onward at full speed, Louise's thoughts remained tangled.

I hesitated.

The moment he looked into the Water Mirror, he had recognized the villager.

Yet even while watching that neighboring man run toward the village, he had remained frozen in place, simply staring.

"Lord Ian."

Why did I call for Lord Ian?

He didn't know.

Even as the words left his mouth, he didn't understand.

Did he want to help them?

Would they even welcome his help?

Before he could dwell on the question, however, his lord had already ordered him to save the villagers.

That was the kind of man Lord Ian was.

Righteous.

Just.

And it wasn't only Ian.

Everyone in the dungeon except Louise himself was admirable.

Every one of them was willing to risk their lives to save others.

Nameita had dedicated his entire life to a cause greater than himself.

Jenea had thrown herself into Ian's service for the sake of her village.

Even Sema.

That mage had followed Ian from the very beginning, casually risking his life to exploit a dragon and steal the World Tree of the Elves.

Louise had never asked why.

But he could easily imagine that Sema had done it for the people of this dungeon.

Good people.

Louise was not one of them.

The only person for whom he could willingly give his life was Ian.

He felt completely and utterly devoted to Ian.

Yet he still didn't know whether he truly belonged here.

The feeling of being an outsider was familiar.

Even among the rejected clan, he had always been alone.

Did Lord Ian notice my hesitation?

Without showing the turmoil raging inside him, Louise led the charge.

Soon he spotted the rear of the mamool horde.

There were only six of them.

Not many.

Had they become separated and wandered here by accident?

Whatever the case, they appeared to have been starving for a long time, judging by the savage roars and demonic energy pouring from them.

The creature at the front slammed its body into the wooden palisade surrounding the village and shattered it.

Its appearance was grotesque.

Instead of fur or skin, exposed red muscle covered its body.

The sight instinctively inspired horror.

"Ready."

Louise remained calm.

Pressing his thighs tightly against the wolf's flanks, he drew his bowstring.

Tremble.

The tip of the bow shook.

Why?

It wasn't fear of the mamool.

Only then did Louise realize his breathing had become uneven.

His heart was beating erratically.

Not from fear.

From anxiety.

He bit his lip.

"Fire!"

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Unlike Louise, the soldiers riding alongside him did not falter.

The muscular mamool, struck from behind, turned around.

"GROOOOAAARRR!"

The creature tore apart the muscles around its crimson mouth and released a furious bellow.

Louise noticed something else.

"Where's the sixth one?"

One was missing.

A mamool had already entered the village.

...!

The soldiers noticed as well.

"Go ahead!"

One soldier shouted before Louise could say anything.

It was the same man who had constantly grumbled about Louise from the first day of archery training.

Louise couldn't even remember when the man had stopped questioning his orders.

"Hurry!"

"We'll handle things here!"

The other soldiers maneuvered their wolves and surrounded the mamool.

"Catch up after you're done!"

Louise shouted and leapt over the collapsed wall.

The wolf that had once fought desperately to throw him off now moved as though it shared his thoughts.

The wolf lowered its body and sprinted like the wind.

Louise didn't blink despite the freezing air stinging his eyes.

He couldn't afford to lose sight of anything.

Nor did he allow himself any distracting thoughts.

Especially not about the soldiers he had left behind.

The ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) opinions others held of him had always been predictable.

And yet...

Why had they sent him ahead?

Louise's archery wasn't merely exceptional within the village.

It was exceptional even within the dungeon.

Objectively speaking, he could confidently claim to represent more than half of the archery unit's combat power.

Without Louise, the danger increased.

The soldiers were experienced enough that they wouldn't die to creatures like those.

Still, there was no reason for them to accept even the slightest additional risk for the sake of the Wanderer Clan.

Even if the clan had not betrayed the Middle Realm, they were still the Wanderer Clan.

Louise couldn't understand it.

His chest ached.

The red, bald, muscle-covered mamool was attacking the village well.

Collapsed beside it was a little girl younger than Louise.

Eliza.

The granddaughter of the Village Chief.

The child who had ordered Louise around like a servant.

He had always found her irritating.

But he had never wished for her death.

His body moved before his mind could decide.

Drawing and releasing the bowstring felt perfectly natural.

This time, there wasn't even the slightest tremor.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Several arrows struck immediately behind Louise's own.

The shafts slipped through gaps between layers of hardened muscle and pierced every vital point.

The monster collapsed like a felled log.

Boom!

The crouching Eliza cautiously opened her eyes.

The moment she saw Louise, shock filled her face.

Louise turned around.

"The mamool?!"

"We dealt with them immediately! There were only five, weren't there... sir?"

Jeff, the soldier who was always complaining, suddenly switched to respectful speech after seeing the villagers.

Another soldier jabbed him in the side and whispered.

"Captain. Captain."

"...Captain!"

"...?!"

Louise doubted his own ears.

He could have sworn he had just heard an utterly horrifying title.

And it sounded like the others were encouraging it.

"L-Louisе. You're the commander of these warriors... these honored warriors?"

The Village Chief ran forward and pulled his granddaughter into his arms.

Then he looked up at Louise.

His face held shock.

And envy.

And desire directed toward strength.

Not the familiar mixture of contempt and satisfaction that Louise had always seen before.

Louise was about to explain that while he technically was their commander, that didn't mean he could order them around however he pleased.

Before he could speak, an elemental arrived.

By now, even Louise could distinguish the appearance of the wind elemental controlled by Jenea.

The elemental mimicked Ian's voice. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

["You there yet?"]

"Yes, Lord Ian. We dealt with six mamool."

["Six?"]

The elemental frowned.

Then spoke firmly.

["Sixty more are coming."]

"It will be difficult to defend this location. The palisade has already been breached."

Louise immediately reported the situation.

There was no time to stand around in shock.

["Evacuation?"]

"How much time do we have left?"

["Ten minutes."]

"There are too many elderly people and children. I don't think it's possible."

Louise answered without even looking around.

These people were no different from when he had left.

Each was focused only on escaping immediate danger while pursuing their own interests, making collective action impossible.

The fact that they were still running around in confusion instead of immediately loading supplies onto beasts and carrying children to safety told him everything he needed to know.

The elemental issued orders without hesitation.

["Get the civilians into the largest building. Gather everyone capable of fighting and defend it."]

"Yes, Lord Ian."

["Hold out. We'll be there soon."]

The tension drained from Louise's shoulders.

"Leave it to me."

The villagers would survive.