''What should we do now?'' the fat man asked, lying face down on the rock as observing the fiends ahead and gauging their chances of defeating the fiends and taking the skull piece.
The butler just frowned, watching the pack of fiends carefully from behind the rock. There was no way they could do anything—the fiends were too many, and they were guarding the skull piece like it was their life.
Meanwhile, Alaric muttered, hunched on top of the rock, trying to stay hidden while looking for an advantage of terrain or anything to exploit.
But the result was the same as the butler's observation. There were around fifty fiends. Even with their summoned creatures, there was no guarantee they could defeat them… but that didn't mean taking the skull piece was impossible.
They needed a bait—to draw the fiends' attention away from their lair while the rest of the group sneaked in to grab the skull piece.
At least, it was the best option for them right now, given their already lacking force.
Alaric nodded, finishing his thoughts, then slid down from the rock and headed over to his group, who seemed to have realized their only chance to complete the mission.
''We need a bait to draw the fiends' attention,'' the butler said, glancing at his partners.
''The fat man shrugged and smiled for no reason, as if he'd already been waiting for that suggestion he wanted.
His expression shifted from sly to sad; he tried to hide his real feelings and spoke up.
''Obviously, we need bait, and I have the fittest candidate for this.''
He turned his hopeful eyes toward Alaric, but the slave had seen through the fat man's false tone.
''You—slave. This is your mission.''
The butler grimaced and said in an unpleasant voice, ''Huh. You're crazy! We can't do that to our partner. If he did, there'd be no way he'd survive against that ferocious pack of fiends. Besides, we can use our summoned creatures as bait.''
Alairc frowned at the butler's logical argument. He hadn't expected the butler to defend him—it didn't fit his nature—but he quickly understood the butler's odd behavior when the fat man explained.
''You're right... but did you forget a core point? What if the fiends have reinforcements to back them up, or a trap waiting to protect the skull piece after they leave? If we let summoned creatures draw them, we won't be able to face their reinforcements or anything dangerous lying behind.''
The butler rubbed his chin. ''So, why can't we use one summoned creature to draw them?''
The fat man sighed and shook his head. ''I know you're a good person, but right now we actually need a bait... the fiends are too unpredictable — we need full force to take the skull piece.''
"Moreover, we will save that slave as soon as we accomplish the mission. We won't drop our partner."
The butler let out a deep breath, directed his sad eyes toward the slaves, and tapped lightly on the slave's right shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but we need your help."
The slave flinched after witnessing all the playing of those damned guys. But he had predicted it—no surprise at all.
"Sure, I'll do it."
…
To their surprise, both the Butler and the fat man froze for a moment before snapping out of it. Yeah, they would have expected the slave to have some aggressive response to refuse the mission. They had even considered using brutality to force him, but everything went a different way.
"Why are you surprised? That's normal. I'm the weakest and most useless in the group, so someone like me being the sacrifice makes sense, right?" The slave chuckled, and his good mood made the two bastards feel uneasy—not guilty, but like losers, as if the slave had just walked before them.
"So, do it!" The fat man grimaced and spoke in his usual unfriendly tone. Meanwhile, the Butler just clicked his tongue in displeasure and walked away.
Alaric coughed for a moment and said,
"However, I need water and 6 hours to rest. You know, I can't be healthy enough to complete the mission if I'm in a bad state."
The fat man frowned for several seconds before throwing the flask of water to the slave. Well, at least the slave had been honest.
Nearly immediately, Alairc drank water as if he had never drunk before. Yeah, the thirst had tormented him for far too long ever since he stepped through the gate of Nameless Good. Attending the challenge unprepared was a stupid choice, but in the slave's case, he was nothing but do that choice.
"Thank you. I'll accomplish the mission in the best way." The slave tossed the flask back to its owner and wiped the fresh water from his lips.
The fat man frowned when he realized his flask was empty. He quickly walked away, as thought if seeing the slave's face one more time would make him explode in fury and kill him—but he needed the slave to be in top condition.
6 hours later.
Alairc took a deep breath before walking toward a nearby rock in the land of fiends. He glanced sneakily from behind the rock and managed to spot a good path forward.
At this momment, he summone his system. He had waited 12 hours for his mission to be recovered..
—
Normal Mission (1/1)| Recovery in: 8:20:45
Status: ✅ Discovered
Life-or-Death Mission(1/1)| Recovery in: 0:00:45
Status: ✅ Discovered
—
Normal Mission (1/1)| Recovery in: 8:20:00
Status: ✅ Discovered
Life-or-Death Mission(0/1)
Status: ✅ Discovered
[Life‑or‑Death Mission]: The butler and the fat man were merciless bastards. They forced the pathetic slave to act as bait, dragging a pack of fiends' attention to take the skull piece.
Take them down—and the fiends too—to prove your strength and drag those bastards to the hell they deserve.
—
Blinking for a moment as he looked at the system screen, he quickly dismissed it. Well… he was used to being humiliated by the system's descriptions anyway.
At the same time, he kept an eye on the jagged rock slope with calculating eyes. After a few seconds, he moved stealthily between rocks and brushes, slowly approaching the base of the jagged slope. Even though he had hidden himself thoroughly, several fiends somehow sensed his presence—maybe through the smell of humans.
Then, a few fiends began approaching the base of the slope to check. It wasn't good for the slave, but at least he had closed the distance between himself and the mountain's base.
"Run!"
Without hesitation, the slave lunged forward, letting his existence appear before the fiends and ran toward the jagged rock slope.
"Am I a friend of stone, right?"