At night, as the large, bright moon light up the ground, most people in the rebel camp were already asleep.

Even though there were bars and prostitutes, by midnight, almost everyone would already have gone to sleep, except for those on guard duty or those who had pressing business.

There weren’t an infinite amount of trees to cut down for firewood after all and lighting magic items were expensive.

Above all, this was the rebel camp. There had been an order for rigorous training the next day, so no one wanted to stay up late and train the next day sleep deprived.

Fortunately, since Rei and Set were not in the camp for now, the training was somewhat less tiring than before……or not.

In the first place, the ones Rei had been training were mostly from the guerrilla unit. Everyone else in the rebel army still had their own tough training to undergo.

Chief among them was Gurgast, from the former Second Princess’ faction.

As a battle maniac, his training was extremely rigorous. It was normal for people who trained under him to suffer bruises and broken bones, it wouldn’t even be a surprise if someone died.

Other than that, Theorem and his adjutant, Cyanus, would occasionally conduct training……while Vihera and the other nobles in the rebel army would hold mock battles.

Adventurers and mercenaries in particular were expected to be ready for action at any time, so they typically did more practical training..

For that reason, everyone except those on guard duty or pressing business had gone to sleep early tonight in order to prepare for the next day……

In the silent darkness, some people made their way through the camp.

It wasn’t just one or two people either. More than ten people crept around while hiding from the light of the bonfires.

「Seriously, why is the moon out like this? I wish the clouds would hide it a bit more.」

「Don’t say that. It’s true that the risk of being spotted by the guards is higher, but we should still be grateful that the dolls won’t stumble in the dark.」

「……I should have spent more time increasing the number of dolls and improving their quality. Seriously, Crimson always bothers us, whether he’s here or not.」

Mulla muttered in disgust as she glanced at the people following her.

Behind were her dolls, who had been brainwashed by Mulla’s special skills.

Normally, the best option would be to induce their consciousness so that they retained some degree of self judgement. But, that required a certain amount of time and, right now, time was their biggest enemy.

That was why she had erased almost all of her doll’s self awareness, so that they would do whatever she told them to.

Because they had no self awareness, they couldn’t act on their own judgement unless ordered to, so there was the risk that they could trip over a stone on the ground if they weren’t careful. That was the downside of forcibly brainwashing them like this.

They had rushed everything because, as Mulla said, it had become clear that Crimson wasn’t in the camp at the moment.

Mulla, who usually wouldn’t be present in the front lines, was here so that she could give detailed instructions to her dolls.

She had heard from their accomplice in the camp that Crimson might not be around, but they had only just received confirmation. Now that they had the information, they had no choice but to seize the opportunity to rescue Sobble.

Crimson or a hundred soldiers. If asked which they would rather have guarding their target, Mulla and Sistoi would choose the latter without hesitation.

They knew Crimson was special because they had fought him……and were one-sidely crushed, barely escaping with their lives.

「Stop, I can see them.」

Sistoi, who was leading the way, spoke sharply. Mulla stopped and ordered her dolls to stop as well.

If the dolls had been self aware, they would have stopped on their own without Mulla having to say anything.

Looking at the dolls with some irritation, Mulla turned to Sistoi as she asked.

「So, how is it? Have they noticed us? With this moonlight, they might see us.」

「No, it’s fine. They’ve let their guard down.」

「……They certainly look lazy.」

Mulla looked over at a group of several tents and saw two soldiers talking.

Faint sounds of laughter could be heard on the wind and they definitely didn’t seem to be keeping watch seriously.

But, that wasn’t too surprising. The rebel army had shown overwhelming strength after repelling two consecutive punitive forces.

Furthermore, there had been no information that the enemy were approaching the rebel camp, so it was hard to keep watch with any sense of tension.

After capturing Sobble, they had kept watch with a certain level of tension, wondering if there would be an attempt to take the prisoner back, but after a while, the sense of tension had gradually lessened.

In addition, it was inevitable that they would also become tired.

「Don’t be mad. From our perspective, it’s what we want, isn’t it? It’ gives us an advantage, so we should be grateful for it, there’s not need to get angry at them.」

「I understand that, but……it still makes me feel like they’re looking down on us, and that bothers me.」

「So you want to fight Crimson then?」

「No.」

Mulla replied without a moment’s hesitation, causing Sistoi to give a bitter smile involuntarily.

「Then there’s no point complaining. Rather than that, we should do what we have to do……-?! Get back!」

Mulla jumped back reflexively at Sistois sudden and sharp, but quiet, cry.

A moment later, the dolls followed after Mulla, but several of them had been pierced by something that grew suddenly from the ground, pinning them in place.

「What-!?」

「Ahahahaha. I never thought you’d actually come. I was so bored, so you’re more than welcome to come here.」

A voice came from nowhere.

They searched for the source of the voice……

「It’s here.」

Realising that the voice was coming from underground, Mulla leaped away from her position.

At the same time, something sharp grew from the ground.

「Tentacles-?!」

It was only by seeing it up close that she could tell that it was some sort of slimy, white tentacle, covered in mucus and with sharp tips.

Its graphic appearance made Mulla feel a physiological repulsion from just looking at it.

「Hehehe. Ex-act-ly. But, even if you’ve figured it out, I don’t think you’ll be able to do anything about attacks from underground. Come on, let’s do this. You’re the one controlling those strange people, aren’t you? In situations like this, it’s best to eliminate the commander.」

Mulla clicked her tongue at the words that echoed from the ground.

That was because she had realised why she was the one being targeted and not Sistoi, the strongest one among them.

In fact, Mulla had to be the one giving orders to the dolls, they hardly paid any attention to Sistoi’s words.

Normally, they would have been able to follow Sistoi’s orders, like when they had attacked Rei in the arena waiting room……but these dolls had been hastily prepared.

Seeing that, Sistoi turned his gaze towards the tent were Sobble was likely being held for a moment.

They hadn’t made much noise yet, and there was some distance to the tent. However, he could tell that the guards, who had been conversing with each other before, were now looking in their direction. And, most of all, the lack of clouds in the sky meant that the moonlight lit up the ground quite well, which was a bad thing for them.

Grasping the situation in an instant, Sistoi shouted sharply at Mulla.

「Mulla, I’ll take on this guy. You lead the dolls and secure the target.」

「I got it.」

Mulla nodded without hesitation at Sistoi’s words.

As someone who was always on the front lines, Mulla knew Sistoi’s judgement was better than hers.

「Demon Soldiers, huh. Be careful.」

With those words, Mulla left Sistoi and took her dolls with her towards the tent where Sobble was being held.

「Oh? So you know who we are. I thought we were pretty secretive.」

「You exposed yourselves so much during the Spring War, so you can’t call it a secret. Honestly, I didn’t think you would be on the side of the rebels.」

There was no doubt that the existence of Demon Soldiers was highly secretive, as the Demon Soldier had said.

Even if some information had been revealed during the Spring War, it wasn’t that easy to find out.

However……the organisation which Sistoi and Mulla belonged to was Requiem’s Toll. Which was the most powerful underground organisation in the Bestir Empire.

Naturally, it wasn’t that hard for them to find this information.

「Hmm, I see. That’s why you stayed here, because you seem more used to fighting in person than that woman. ……But!」

Along the way, tentacles grew from the ground.

The tips were extremely sharp and it would be difficult to block them with poor quality armour.

Even so, the Demon Soldier clicked his tongue, knowing that his attack had failed to penetrate his opponent.

(I can’t believe he was able to dodge my attacks to this extent. Honestly speaking, there isn’t anyone who stands a chance against me underground……)

The image of Rei flashed briefly through his mind and he quickly changed his thoughts.

(I thought there were hardly any people at least……but how is he avoiding my attacks anyway? There’s no pattern to it. Luck? No way. In that case, I guess it will be better just to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. I really wanted to do something about the one with the large group following her, but leaving this guy behind seems extremely dangerous.)

As he gathered his thoughts, more tentacles shot out from the ground again, all aimed at Sistoi.

Front, back, left, right, and below.

This is it! Was what the Demon Soldier thought as he attacked from five simultaneous locations. But, the next moment, he was writhing in pain underground.

「AHHHHHHHH-! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! Damn it, you did a good job, didn’t you!」

He could tell roughly what had happened from the sounds coming from the surface. Sistoi had avoided the multiple tentacles that had attacked him simultaneously by jumping into the only available gap.

As the attacks were coming from underground, the range of the attacks were limited.

His earlier attack from five directions……had left the area above empty.

After escaping into the air by jumping, Sistoi had cut the tentacle closest to him with his long sword, causing the Demon Soldier to groan in pain.

「What’s wrong? My strength is much weaker than what is was before. And yet you’re powerless……I guess the strength of Demon Soldiers was just a rumor.」

A clear provocation.

However, the Demon Soldier wasn’t thinking calmly anymore after having one of his tentacles cut off.

Many Demon Soldiers were former criminals who lacked patience after all.

This was clearly on display here.

「How dare you, how dare you, how dare you-! I actually thought about capturing you alive, but I won’t let you off the hook now!」

Along with that shout, tentacles shot out from the ground again.

However, the number was different from before.

Instead of the few that had previously been seen, there were now several dozen coming out from the ground.

(At worst, could it be more than a hundred?)

As he dodged the tips of the tentacles, Sistoi muttered to himself.

With so many attacks, there was no opening to counterattack.

No, even if he focused on dodging, he had to praise himself for being able to dodge everything at all.

Although he thought of that as he dodged, Sistoi wasn’t as cornered as he appeared to be.

There were certainly a lot of tentacles targeting him, but perhaps because the Demon Soldier was hiding underground, the attacks were somewhat monotonous.

(Low combat experience?)

The Demon Soldier’s combat power might have been great, but he wasn’t using it to his full potential.

That was the impression Sistoi seemed to get as he cut away some of the tentacles heading towards him.

(Well, if you think abut it, it makes sense. In the first place, the Spring War was the last time the Demon Soldiers saw actual combat. There haven’t been any major wars since, so the Demon Soldiers probably don’t have much combat experience. They may have been dispatched to places individually, but……it can’t be said that they have a high level of combat experience. If that’s the case-!)

Recalling the information he knew about the Demon Soldiers, Sistoi decided to take advantage of their lack of combat experience as he dodged the tentacles heading towards his torso……however, he failed to dodge them all as one pierced his side.

「GAAAAAH-!」

A scream came out of Sistoi’s mouth.

The Demon Soldier seemed to hear it from underground. For a moment, the tentacles stopped moving.

(What will he do!?)

Praying that they wouldn’t launch a follow up attack, Sistoi screamed as he rolled on the ground.

While his vision shook around violently, he was still ready to move onto the next step if he sense anything abnormal coming from underground.

And, if they really did launch a follow up attack, he would have to dodge it somehow.

Or, so he thought……

(Here he comes!)

The ground rose up with a bang, and from it appeared a face that seemed to be a fusion of a human and a mole.

It wasn’t a neat blend of human and animal elements, like a Beastkin, but rather an unnatural looking combination.

That face appeared and saw Sistoi writhing on the ground……

「Hmph, my……keugh-!」

Not letting him finish, Sistoi threw his long sword, striking the Demon Soldier’s head.

The Demon Soldier fell to the ground without a word……and the fight abruptly ended like this.

「Too bad for you. If I had received a truly fatal blow, I wouldn’t have been thrashing around on the ground like that……but it seems it was enough to pull you out of the ground.」

Making sure that the wound in his side wasn’t too deep, Sistoi sprinkled a potion over it before stepping towards the tent, where sounds of fighting could be heard.

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