“I am deeply hurt by Jeremy’s death, but… I will not let it impede the progress of this mission. You shouldn’t as well. If you allow this to stop you… his death, as well as the several other deaths that have occurred, would be for nothing!”
Using <Rule>, I echoed those words into their ears and somehow began to change their perspective on things. There was no way I would try consoling them.
In the end, I only needed them to be strong enough to complete the mission, leveling up in the process. Out of everyone around, only two people knew my identity— apart from myself.
Lara, because I filled her in on the plan and also wanted her to be an integral part of it. There was one other— Tasha.
She had already heard from Charles that the masked hero was merely a persona I created. Plus, she knew I wouldn’t die so easily.
‘She’s still silent… good.’
It would be quite troublesome if she spoke out. I would have to silence her. Well, there was no immediate chance of that ever occurring. Everyone was counting on me, after all.
“I would like to exterminate the Demon Horde that has gathered. Judging from your numbers, our objectives must be aligned.”.
Immediately after I said this, Daniel beamed and nodded profusely.
“Yes! If they aren’t dealt with, our Camp— no, everyone in the area will suffer!”
As usual, he donned his crusader vibes. His self-righteous tone nearly drove me to disgust but I controlled myself.
“With your current numbers, you won’t be able to handle them,” I stated the obvious.
The rest of the Subjugation members were a total of 35. Out of them, most weren’t suitable for direct combat and excelled at long-range attacks. Plus, their levels weren’t too high. A single Hobgoblin of the second compound would be able to kill one of them with Stats alone. In terms of numbers, they also had the upper hand.
Conclusively, Daniel and his small fry had no chance of victory.
“I was planning on taking care of them with Lara, but now that you’re here… we could work together! What do you say? Let’s form an alliance!”
Despite my attempt at the offer, it was not as if the group had any other choice. They had been saved by me once already. Plus, Melissa and the rest of the bait had witnessed how I handled the stampede all by myself.
‘Well, their vision was blocked so they probably couldn’t see a thing!’
However, the fact remained that I killed all those monsters in their presence. No one in their right mind would refuse me. Plus, Lara, my supposed lackey was only surpassed by Daniel in the whole group.
‘The second strongest is Tasha. She’s Level 39…’
As expected, Daniel agreed. We shook hands and formed the alliance— though it was clear the odds were unevenly balanced.
‘I’ll practically be carrying them. Lol.’
********************************
The Subjugation Squad members were hungry, so I fed them scraps from my Subspace. Of course, they were glad to accept the nearly expired products and ate through them with satisfaction.
One would think I offered them the world from the way they thanked me. As they all ate, I decided to have a private meeting with Tasha. No one objected or suspected anything.
“What’s going on Jeremy? I don’t… understand…” Tasha’s voice mellowed out halfway into her inquisition.
Confusion played finely in her eyes as she expected an explanation from me. My supposed death was not a part of the plan, and the Masked Hero was only supposed to appear in the later parts of the Subjugation— the final few days.
However, once one thought of it well, nothing had gone according to plan. Even I had to compensate for the major oversights on my part. The deaths of so many Gifteds during the second round on the first day, the unrest that followed… even the ‘Stampede’. They all happened outside my predictions.
In essence, the more time went, the more dire things would get. I had to switch up to a quicker— more efficient strategy.
“You don’t need to know the details. If there’s something you should be aware of, it’s this… we’re clearing out the Horde today!”
The look on Tasha’s face was shock, no, that didn’t do it justice. I couldn’t exactly explain it since I had never seen anything like it before.
A mix of disbelief and surprise, adding a hint of confusion.
“Don’t look at me like that, it’s not impossible.” I grinned.
“B-but, how’s that possible? Even with your strength… they should number over a thousand, and-“
‘Pfft!’
Tasha’s ignorance was amusing. If I were to judge by their normal standards of measuring the Hobgoblins, I would be looking at the normal Brawlers and Archers from the beginning stage.
I had already killed thousands of them, though. The total number should have been nearing fifteen thousand. I also dealt with thousands more Hobs who had far better Titles and Stats. So far, approximately over thirty thousand of those monsters had died at my hands.
That was far too many a number compared to the paltry sum Tasha was bringing up. Of course, that didn’t mean the rest would be a cakewalk. I was certain that the final challenge waiting for me at the end of the walls was one that would draw blood from me— probably.
“It’s fine. I’ll win.” I simply told her flatly.
She chose to believe me and didn’t question me any further. A hint of the fear that had remained with Tasha from our last exchange lurked within her eyes as she tried avoiding a direct gaze with me.
It was just so amusing that I wanted to observe her for longer. However, I decided to send her back to her group.
The moment she left, Lara appeared from the shadows— undoing her <Camouflage> Skill. It was quite useful since she could eavesdrop all she want from a close distance and Tasha couldn’t even notice her presence.
“Wow, I’m surprised…”
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om