Chapter 547 – You should have watched your back (1)

Count Mock who had been heading toward the forest turned around before leaving with Squad 4.

"Vice Commander!"
"Yes, Commander-nim!"
"You lead Squad 3."
"Please leave it to me."

Squad 3 consisted of Cale, the Vampire warriors, and the Vampire Knights.

"Guide!"

Alberu walked up to Count Mock and handed him four maps at his calling.
Mock handed those maps to the squad leaders leading the squads heading to the north, east, and west.

"Everybody remembers the details of the plan?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"

Count Mock made eye contact with each person responsible for a squad before saying one thing.

"Vice Commander."

Cale raised his hand at Mock's calling.

Three nimble-looking Vampires stepped forward.
Mock looked over them before nodding his head.

"They are informants and people who have each been to the Forest of Darkness at least once."

He motioned with his hand and the three Vampires moved so that one of them was with Squad Leaders 1, 2, and 3.
Alberu moved next to Count Mock and Squad 4 at the same time.

Mock finally turned back around.

"Let's go."

Squad 4 that was made of Dark Elves headed toward the south side of the Black Castle.

"We will be on our way, sir."
"See you soon, Commander."

The noble awaiters who were serving as Squad Leaders for Squads 1 and 2 showed the map to their respective Vampire informants and quickly started to move as well.

"Time for us to go too."

Squad 3 that Cale was leading started to move toward the west side of the Black Castle as well.

Cale made eye contact with Alberu Crossman who turned around and looked at him before he left.

'See you in a bit.'
'Yes, your highness.'

The two of them communicated with a short eye greeting.

– I'll look after Alberu Crossman too.

Cale nodded his head after hearing Eruhaben's voice and started to move toward the west side of the Black Castle.

Shhhhhhh- shhhhhhh-

Squad 3 started to move while matching Naru's movements.

"Everybody should have started moving by now."

Cale changed directions as soon as he heard Solena's voice.

"We are heading north."

He was going back the way he came even though his Squad 3 was responsible for the west side.

Swiiiiiish- Swiiiiiiiish-

His ancient powers had been hidden thanks to Fredo's armband, but the Sound of the Wind now swirled at the tip of his feet.
Although this power did not suit young master Naru-nim, no Vampires questioned this right now.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

The Vampires silently followed behind Cale.
The slightly over 100 Vampires all headed north.
Cale served as their guide in the front.

Shhhhh- shhhhhhh-

They brushed past branches and bushes and immediately turned north once they returned to the place they had teleported to.

Cale started to speak once they were following behind Squad 1.

"Come out."

Shhh.

One of the large trees started to shake.

Boom!

Cale turned his head after hearing a loud noise.

"Welcome, young master-nim."

Tiger shaman Gashan welcomed him.

Crunch. Crunch.

The large Tiger warriors slowly raised their heads from the shadows of the trees along with the sound of crunching leaves.

'Mm!'

Solena had heard about this, but her hands still became sweaty after looking into the eyes of the Tiger warriors who had been hiding.

'It's starting now.'

She tensed up after realizing that the true plan was starting.
She was excited as well.

Cale started to speak.

"The Dark Elves' Elementals have headed south with Squad 4."

The Elementals that Count Mock's subordinates controlled…
Those Elementals were said to eat other Elementals.

"So this is our chance."

The golden top's whip was in Cale's hand.

'Just tell me what to do. Chaos, destruction, happiness.'
'It's been a while! I've been so bored ever since you told me to wait in the Forest of Darkness!'
'Sigh. It was so hard hiding from the Dark Elves' Elementals.'

Caw. Caw.

Cale lifted his head.

The three Wind Elementals and the crows started to appear one or two at a time and started to cover the sky above the Forest of Darkness.

Cale opened his mouth to speak.

"The operation name is 'Hunt.' "

He ordered the first step of the operation.

"We will capture Squad 1 first."

Squad 1's leader was swordsman Andrei who was said to be one of the strongest of the noble awaiters.

"Move."

The Vampires and Tigers started to move north.
Their movements were swift but stealthy.

Squad 3 started to chase behind Squad 1.

* * *

Squad 1's leader, swordsman Andrei.

"Squad leader-nim, it is to the left."
"Okay."

He followed the Vampire informant and turned left with a faint smile on his face.

'Soon!'

He was one of the top noble awaiters.

He was lacking in comparison to the original nobles, but he was skilled enough to be able to receive the best treatment if he had gone to any other organization.
This was because he was a sword master.

Ooooooooong-

His sword started to vibrate.
A faint aura smoke started to appear.

"Congratulations."

He looked back for a moment after hearing a voice right behind him.
Another noble awaiter was smiling as he sucked up to him.

"What do you mean?"

Andrei looked stern as if to ask the person who spoke what they were talking about in the middle of the plan.
The person who spoke smiled even brighter after seeing his expression.

"Aw come on, you know exactly what I mean, sir."
"Ahem."

Andrei let out a fake cough and turned around.

"…Please keep the useless chatter for later."
"I'm only saying it because we are on our own now."

Andrei peeked toward the Vampire informant after hearing that. It was his way of telling the other person that they were not 'on our own,' with this Vampire here.

"Ah."

The other noble awaiter finally closed his mouth.
However, he still smiled wickedly toward Andrei.

He was not the only one.
Andrei's subordinates, as well as the 24 noble awaiters who made up his squad, all had bright expressions.

'Hehe. It's not like I don't understand why he feels that way.'

Andrei understood the other awaiter quite well.

The Black Castle destruction plan.
The plan was to destroy the castle while Cale Henituse and his core group of friends were not around and take the people inside as hostages.

'It won't be easy.'

Even without Cale Henituse and the core individuals, the chances that Cale Henituse left the castle empty because there were enough defenses set up were high.
That was why he thought that the difficulty of the plan would be considered high between high, medium, and low.

'But it is not so dangerous that I might die.'

That was what was making the members of Squad 1 all have bright expressions.
This was especially true for Andrei, who was full of anticipation.

If this plan was a success…

'I should receive a noble title if we succeed.'

He was a squad leader after all.
He had to temporarily become Count Mock's subordinate because of it, but he wasn't planning on quietly staying there.

Andrei composed his expression and started to speak.

"Everybody focus!"
"Yes, sir!"

He then gave an order to the informant.

"We are increasing our speed."

He was planning on quickly getting to the discussed location and surrounding the Black Castle.

Andrei's desires were almost overflowing.

"Yes, sir. I will increase my speed!"

The informant quickly moved with the map in his hand.
Andrei followed behind him as well.

"Ugh!"

The informant's body suddenly fell forward at that moment.

"What is it?"

Andrei looked toward the informant in shock.

"M, my foot-!"

The informant reached for his ankle with a shocked expression.

"…Huh?"

Andrei's eyes opened wide.

He saw a gold rope that shot out of the ground and grabbed the Vampire informant's ankle.

"A rope?"

'Is this one of Cale Henituse's traps?'

His back suddenly turned cold as he had that thought.

'No.'

He felt as if something was clenching him from all directions.
That was why he realized it.

'This is not just a simple trap!'

He turned away from the Vampire who was still on the ground clenching his ankle.

He happened to see something land on his arm at that moment.
Andrei had been quickly charging forward until now. That was why he had not noticed it earlier.

That thing had landed on the back of his hand silently and so gently that he didn't even feel it.

"…Powder?"

Gold powder was surrounding him and the rest of Squad 1.
The amount of powder started to exponentially increase.

'This is dangerous! I can tell that this is very dangerous!'

Andrei shouted as soon as he felt that way.

"…Dodge! Step back!"

He tried to move back as he shouted.

The gold powder.
He couldn't tell what it was, but his intuition as someone who just barely made it past the hump to become a sword master was telling him that this was a dangerous situation.

But it was already too late.

"Ugh!"
"Ugh! My body!"
"Ahhh!"

The powder instantly gathered together and increased in size.
It then started to bind the bodies of Squad 1's members.

"N, no!"
"I can't move my body!"

The shining golden rope was too strong to be a regular rope.
It was hard for them to even twist their bodies.

"Ugh! How is this so strong?!"

Andrei's body had been bound before he could even take out his sword.
It was so quick that he couldn't even dodge.

'Is it a trap?'

That was not it.
He quickly got rid of the thought that these ropes were traps that Cale had left behind.

'This is someone attacking us.'

This power had accurately aimed for all of them.
That was only possible if someone was looking at them right now.

There was also something else he realized.

'This person is strong.'

He was able to become the squad leader because he was a sword master, but most of Squad 1's members were quite strong as well.
There were mages in the group too, but this enemy had tricked all of them and had instantly suppressed them.

Andrei started to sweat.
He held back his fear and raised his voice.

"Who are you?! Who dares to ambush us like this?!"

He looked around and raised his voice.
His hand was doing everything it could to get free and reach for his scabbard.

'If I can just get my sword out!'

He could just slash away this stupid rope with his aura if he could pull his sword out.

It was at that moment.

"Where are you looking?"

Andrei heard a foreign voice.

"You should raise your head."

Flinch.

Andrei's shoulders flinched before he looked up.

He could see an Elf sitting on top of a thick branch on a tree.
The beautiful Elf with white-gold hair started to smile.

"You wish to return alive after stepping into a Dragon's lair?"

'What? A Dragon's lair?'

Andrei was definitely looking at an Elf, but his whole body felt chilly after looking into the Elf's eyes.

It was at that moment.

"Hmm. How disappointing."

He heard a voice behind him.
Andrei slowly raised his head.

It was a familiar voice.

'Whose voice is this?'

He soon remembered the owner of this voice.
He was confused because the way the person was speaking was completely different than normal, but he remembered.

'…Young master Naru Von Ejellan!'

They were allies.

His head that had been slowly turning quickly turned in joy about seeing an ally before he could even question why Naru was here.
Naru was smiling and approaching him.

He opened his mouth to speak.
He didn't sound like the pure and brave boy who just wanted to get revenge for his father. It was a cold voice that reached Andrei's ear.

"This is very disappointing."

Naru was disappointed.
The boy's gaze headed toward the white-gold haired Elf sitting on the tree branch.

"How can you attack first like that, sir?"

'…What?'

Andrei's questioned his ears for a moment.
However, that suspicion soon returned with a clear answer.

Naru looked at him and started to smile.

"I was supposed to get him first."

Grrrrr-

Squad 1 quickly heard the roars of wild beasts surrounding them.

Crunch. Crunch.

However, the things that came out through the bushes were the Beast men of the Tiger tribe who were much scarier than wild beasts.
Berserk Tigers completely surrounded them.

"What the hell!"

Andrei looked back and Naru and started to shout.

"Young master Naru! What the hell are you doing? Did you betray us?"

However, Naru did not respond.
Someone else responded in his place.

"Betray? How can you say such upsetting things?"
"…Who are you?!"

One of the Vampire knights who had been standing behind Cale walked forward.
The Vampires bowed their heads and made a path for him.

The knight removed the helmet on his head.

"You should know my face, right?"

"Uhh, uhh!"

Andrei could not continue speaking because he was shocked.

"H, how are you here?!"

Smile.

Duke Fredo was smiling after seeing his reaction.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]