Confirming that the subspace had closed, Oscar looked around once more.
‘There are no witnesses... That ended easier than I thought?’
Then again, who would have known that the Commander was here in this vast continent?
Even if they had luckily guessed this place, it didn't matter anymore.
Because the Commander had already hidden his body inside the subspace.
‘From here on out, there's no reason to feel rushed.’
Since he had already secured the Commander, his only remaining task was to make it out of this forest.
If possible, he wanted to use a portal to leave right away, but the Shadow Forest interfered with that.
Fundamentally, a portal is a magic that locks onto and connects the coordinates of two different spaces.
However, the irregular flow of mana in the Shadow Forest obstructed the very process of scanning external space and setting a destination.
‘If I really pushed it, I could force a connection, but...’
The problem was that there was no way to know where it would lead.
In the worst-case scenario, it could connect to a distant region like the Demon Realm, evaporating all his mana.
‘All my problems will be solved just by leaving the forest, so there's no reason to gamble.’
Feeling his tension slightly ease, Oscar retrieved the spear he had driven into the ground and pondered.
Should he have his conversation with the Commander on some deserted island in the Southern Sea?
Nobody would be searching a place like that.
‘I can decide my next course of action then, too.’
Having decided on a direction, Oscar rested his spear on his shoulder and started walking.
He just needed to retrace the marks he had left behind on his way here.
As long as he didn't get lost on the way, he should be able to exit at the place he entered within two hours.
As he walked with those thoughts.
-Rustle.
At the sound of crunching dead leaves from up ahead, Oscar hurriedly hid his body behind a large tree.
The distance to the other party was a mere 30 meters.
Oscar's brow furrowed.
‘What is this? I didn't sense their presence until they got this close?’
Had he let his guard down too much just because his job was done?
Raising his relaxed tension back up, Oscar peeked his head out to observe the situation.
“.......”
“.......”
Approaching was a duo consisting of a man and a woman.
The man had a massive physique like a bear, while the woman was so gaunt her bones were visible, creating a striking contrast.
The outfits they were wearing were similar to the mercenaries he had encountered earlier.
They each wore worn-out robes over leather armor, with swords or axes strapped to their waists.
‘Their appearance is that of typical mercenaries, but...’
It was then.
The two stopped in their tracks as if they had agreed upon it beforehand.
“Nearby.”
Standing stock-still, the man muttered while looking only straight ahead.
At this, the woman reached a hand into her bosom.
A moment later, what she pulled out was a compass.
“86 feet.”
“Confirmed.”
After their brief exchange, they soon put the compass back into her bosom and continued on their way.
Oscar, who hadn't let go of his tension until they left, narrowed his eyes.
‘Feet?’
Like miles, it was an obsolete unit of measurement in this era.
He had heard that some mercenaries used it like a code, but this was his first time actually seeing it.
“.......”
Oscar waited for more than five minutes without moving a muscle from his spot.
Because the two who had passed by just now felt somewhat alien.
It wasn't simply because they used the unit "feet."
Thump, thump.
His heart, which had been calm even when fighting the mercenaries, began to beat faster for no reason.
Even if his mind couldn't find the reason, his body was warning him that those two were dangerous.
‘Those two were definitely... I can't put it into words, but something was off...’
Flinch.
At that moment, remembering something, Oscar's brow narrowed.
‘Wait a minute, but if it's 86 feet...’
Converted to the modern metric system, it was about 26 meters.
That exactly matched the distance from where the two had been standing to where he was right now.
The moment he realized that fact.
Rustle.
His pupils dilated along with a faint sound ringing in his ear.
“Ah.”
And, the voice of the woman who had definitely passed by a moment ago.
“Caught you.”
Came from behind the tree he was hiding behind.
‘Damn it!’
Biting his lip tightly, Oscar spun his body around.
His position was already compromised.
There was not a single inch of doubt in that judgment.
And, it was the correct answer.
Claaaaang!
“......Kugh!”
Oscar's body slid backward.
It was because he had barely blocked the attack that flew in, piercing through the tree he was hiding behind.
What he had barely blocked was a long, thin weapon like a needle—a rapier.
Shrrk.
As the attack failed, the rapier slipped out, and the woman's eye could be seen through the gap pierced in the wood.
“What a shame. I approached so well without getting caught.”
The moment her eyes curved beautifully like half-moons.
Feeling a chilling sensation crawl up his spine, Oscar swung his spear backward.
Kabaaang!
“Kuaaagh!”
The bear-like man, who was sent flying from the impact, rolled across the snowy field a few times before leaping to his feet.
Oscar glared at him and asked.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Hmm. Talking is annoying. That's why humans are annoying, too.”
“......What?”
Before that question could be resolved.
Swaaek!
An awl-like blade shot out from behind him.
‘Fast!’
A straight sword honed to the extreme solely for thrusting.
The rapier's speed was more than twice as fast as he had thought.
‘Was it a little slower earlier because the tree absorbed some of the impact?’
He barely twisted his body, but the area near his collarbone was pierced, and blood splattered.
“What a shame.”
Only sticking out her right arm holding the sword and her head from behind the tree, the woman grinned.
Oscar tore his gaze away from her and quickly looked behind him.
‘The woman is speed, and the man is...’
Strength.
Kabaaang!
He blocked the flying fist with his tightly gripped spear shaft, but.
That fist pushed the spear shaft right back and ultimately struck Oscar's chest.
“Cough!”
Thrown backward just like that, Oscar quickly grabbed onto his fading consciousness and roused his mana.
Fwoosh!
At the same time as the mana rising from the ground launched his body upward.
The rapier, which had been waiting in advance, narrowly grazed past his earlobe.
“What a shame! A shame, a shame!”
Having missed her chance again, the woman stomped her feet on the ground and threw a tantrum.
After barely rolling on the ground a few times, Oscar quickly picked himself up.
Ping—
His vision wavered from sudden dizziness.
‘This isn't good.’
These guys, they're strong.
Oscar wiped the blood flowing down his mouth and asked.
“Are you human hunters?”
“Hmm. In the grand scheme of things, you aren't wrong.”
“What a shame!”
The man approached the side of the giggling woman.
He looked at the woman and asked.
“Are you sure it's that guy?”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“Wait.”
The woman, putting her hand into her bosom, pulled out the compass once more and checked it.
Then, nodding, she pointed at herself with her index finger.
“That's the guy. 37 feet.”
“As expected, the compass wasn't wrong.”
A compass?
Were they chasing him by looking at that?
Oscar frowned.
“......I don't know what you want. But you've got the wrong person. Above all, compasses don't work normally in this forest.”
“Keuk, probably not.”
The man lifted the compass the woman was holding and said.
“The reason this works is, what was it... Right, the mechanism is different.”
The mechanism is different?
Of course, the properties of mana might differ slightly, but in the grand scheme of things, there can be no absolute difference.
‘If such a thing were to exist...’
Flinch. Oscar's expression hardened.
At the same time, he slowly raised his head and stared at the two with an expression of disbelief.
“You guys, don't tell me...”
“Have you finally noticed?”
“He's slow. This guy.”
The two grinning individuals lunged forward, without either waiting for the other.
Simultaneously, their foreheads tore open and horns sprouted out.
The dark red aura they had been suppressing beneath their human husks burst forth explosively.
Facing horns and demonic energy, two all too familiar elements, Oscar's face distorted.
“Demons...!”
And he realized.
Why his heart had started racing the moment he saw them.
Why he had felt a strange sense of incongruity despite seeing them for the first time.
‘Had I become dull without realizing it?’
Unlike his mind, which had dulled from living in human society.
His senses, honed from rolling through countless battlefields, had not forgotten their scent and characteristics.
Oscar became unbearably angry.
‘That I.’
The fact that he hadn't recognized their true identity the moment he saw them.
Slap!
Slapping both of his cheeks with his hands, Oscar's eyes grew clear.
At the same time, Crunch!
Oscar kicked his knee up into the face of the giant rushing at him with spread arms.
And, at almost the exact same time, he reached out his hand toward the thrusting rapier.
“What a shame! You can't catch this!”
The bizarrely excited woman's rapier coiled with dark red demonic energy.
Stab!
Just as she expected, Oscar's palm was pierced as easily as a lie.
A fatal blow that couldn't be blocked even though he was wearing 'Breeze.'
However, Oscar didn't bat an eye.
“I know.”
Instead, he pushed his palm further forward.
His wound opened further, but he didn't care; pushing his hand in, he then firmly grasped the hilt of the rapier.
“Nice try. But what a shame.”
Bite!
The woman suddenly bit into her own thumb and grinned.
“Goodbye, human, bye-bye.”
Then, into the wound pierced by the rapier, Drip, drip!
She dropped her own blood.
That scene played out slowly in Oscar's eyes.
Usually, the moment a human accepts the blood of a demon, they meet only one of two fates.
One is to ultimately fail to accept the rampaging power of the blood and die.
If not that...
“You're a comrade now, a comrade.”
To become a demon and transform like them.
Crunch! Crackle!
Strength surged into Oscar's grip holding the hilt.
Crushing the hilt in an instant, he then began to squeeze the woman's hand.
“Ouch! It hurts!”
The woman frowned.
From her perspective, this current situation made no sense.
The fact that the human in front of her was perfectly fine meant that he had become one of her kind.
If that was the case, as the master who bestowed the blood, she should rightfully have command over him.
“Loosen your grip!”
But the human did not listen to that command.
Instead, just as they usually looked down on humans, he was looking down on her.
As if he were a being superior to demons.
Crack!
The joints of her fingers twisted along with the sword hilt.
“Ah... It hurts! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”
Hearing her screams, the man hurriedly rushed over and tackled Oscar in the side.
Kabaaang!
But Oscar didn't get pushed back a single step from his spot.
“......Wh-What!”
Grappling with all his might around Oscar's waist, the man wore an expression of sheer disbelief.
At that moment, Oscar's arm coiled around the man's neck like a snake.
“How many years do you think I've been fighting your kind?”
A method to prevent their blood from being absorbed into the body was something he had already mastered in his second year of the war.
“Y-You monster!”
“A monster? Yeah, a monster sounds good.”
Oscar, who had begun using his mana the moment he realized the two were demons, muttered.
“I am always prepared.”
“Kk, kkeueueugh!”
“Prepared to become a monster myself in order to deal with monsters like you.”
The male demon let out an agonized groan.
But that was only for a moment; the mana condensed in Oscar's arm exploded.
Kabaaang!
As Oscar released the tension in his arm, the man, whose head had disappeared without a trace, collapsed lifelessly into the snow.
“Now.”
He slowly shifted his gaze toward the woman.
Facing a gaze so icy cold she couldn't believe it belonged to a human, the female demon...
‘S-Scary. Scary, scary!’
Felt like screaming and running away.
“Why don't you tell me what you know.”
Of course, the human did not permit that.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]

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