I follow Bella around the Abyss bunker and heal all the other patients.

【“The next injured should be in the treatment center…… it’s a building just past the way we came from……”】

As Bella and I were in the middle of conversing in our minds, a Lithuvar woman is seen running from behind us, heading this way in a hurry.
Her breathing is heavy, and her eyes are dry.
Although shallow, but her arm has cuts and bruises, and her clothes are all covered in dirt.
I wondered what was wrong, but then the woman suddenly knelt down and groveled at my feet.

“Bella-sama! Ryujin-sama! I beg of you, would you please see to this first!”

“C-, Calm down first! What is it……”

“They infiltrated our hiding place, and…… after being scared by Ryujin-sama’s arrival, they kidnapped the children as they fled……”

The woman was in tears while saying that.

I didn’t think they’d even resort to kidnapping……
Since they’ve infiltrated the interior as well, that means our losses are even greater than I feared.
Change of plans, dealing with this takes first priority.
If we don’t go now, we might be too late.
And thus, we follow the woman in tears.

As for the other patients in the treatment center, we asked the Lithuvar Tribe to bring them outside.
I’m surprised I still have more MP left to spare…… guess I really haven’t used much MP during the battle.
We’ll focus on healing them as we move along, while also recovering ourselves and using attack magic if necessary.

Partner is handling the healing, and Bella is asking about the situation inside.
Apparently, there were ten children taken.
With so many of our fighters down for the count, there weren’t enough to defend the defenseless…… they’ve made me upset for the last time.

Something tells me this isn’t the last of their fiendish acts……

“Why would they take the children……? Did they say anything in particular? Were there any signs that they would kill the children?”

“I think the first person who sneaked in asked…… ‘do you know about the glowing beast’, he said……”

G-, Glowing beast……?
Is that, the reason why they poisoned the river, destroyed the village, and slaughtered the villagers?

“…… It matches the information we extracted from one of the prisoners we captured. Those people…… they intend to anger the Feared God……”

Bella says in a sweat.
That tone of hers makes it sound like she’s afraid.

The Feared God…… they’re the little forest dwellers, right?
I heard it from Alo once.
They must be related to the glowing beast somehow.
But still, Bella seems too afraid to even mention the Feared God.
Are those little guys really that scary?

I turn to Bella and ask for an explanation.
Bella utters an unfamiliar chant and uses〖Telepathy〗to speak to me.

【”…… The last time the villagers angered the Feared God, half of the village was buried underground. To prevent another cataclysm to happen again, we tell the children of such scary stories at a young age. I’m worried for the children’s safety…… but, if they share this story to others and the outsiders manage to anger the Feared God, then even I don’t know what will become of this forest……”】

T-, The forest dwellers will destroy the forest……?
Aren’t they monsters who live on by sucking the life force of trees?

Then suddenly, a scream is heard from outside the village.

“Monster attack…… monster attack! Those who can still fight, ready your weapons! They’ve already breached the perimeter!”

This monster came at a bad time.
Is it the survivors of the Abyss nest?
No…… it could also be the enemy who summoned the wyverns.
If he’s a summoner, then it wouldn’t be strange if he can summon other monsters.

“What’s this…… the monsters are already going away? K-, Kale?! It’s one of the abducted children! The abducted children have returned!”

W-, What does this mean……?
Arriving at the scene, a Lithuvar person is seen tending to an injured child.
Then, in the distance, I can see the kid spiders passingly crawling back to the forest.
Looks like they saved the kids from the enemies.

“It’s true! They really are the children who were kidnapped!”

“The spiders brought them back!”

“It’s the Spider God! All hail the Spider God!”

…… Even if it only happened for one instance, this village easily calls so many things gods, don’t they?
I’m glad it was just a misunderstanding on the spiders’ part, but…… this is a complicated feeling……

Bella, who ran after me and arrived late, started counting the children after catching her breath.

“Three, four…… five. We’re missing five more……”

…… The chances that the remaining five have been taken away are high.
If we leave them alone, who knows what will happen to them.
Besides…… there’s something about the Feared God that bothers me.

Since Alo and the spiders were around this area, it’s likely that they’re still close by.
I really want to check how they’re doing now.
We’ve already covered most of the injured in the village.
There’s probably even more injured who can’t move in the outskirts of the village, waiting to be rescued…… but, I’m sorry, I don’t have time to go to your aid.

“Bella-sama! We were able to extract more information about the enemy’s army from the prisoners! We’ve confirmed its credibility from the other prisoners as well!”

A Lithuvar man coming from the village informs us as he heads this way.

“Is that true?! The enemy’s size is……?”

“They number over 600, but more than half of them came to attack this village, and the other half were already destroyed! There won’t be another attack from their army anymore……!”

So, even their reinforcements have already been crushed.
That would mean that retrieving the abducted children and taking down their leader who wants information about the Feared God will end everything.

Tallmann’s luxurious clothes and smug face comes into mind.
After knowing that they’re after the Feared God, I’m certain.
He’s the mastermind behind all this.
I knew I should’ve stopped him when I had the chance.
If we had captured him and turned him into a hostage sooner, this wouldn’t have happened.
I blame myself for endangering the lives of the villagers for my mistake.

“Gru~uooo……”

I growl low, and Bella immediately turns to me.
I then face the village, then the forest next.

“…… Ah! I understand. We will handle the treatments in the village ourselves.”

I nod at Bella’s words and dash at the direction to where the spiders were heading.
This will be…… the final battle.

I find the spiders, all gathered in one place.
Petite Nightmare is also with them.

I make a quick stop and approach them, but then I see Alo looking rather exhausted and resting in place.
Her skin is turning into soil, similar to what she used to look like in her previous evolution.

“Ryu…… jin, -sama……”

Alo weakly tries to opens her mouth.
Her abdomen looks like it’s been pierced by a sword.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Name: Alo
Species: Revana Low Lich
Status: Cursed
Lv: 31/65
HP: 53/284
MP: 58/299
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Oh, heck! You’re gravely injured!

“Gra~a”

Partner wastes no time and uses〖Fake Life〗on Alo.
Black light surrounds Alo and her wounds start to close.

I extend my tail in front of Alo.
Alo reaches out and touches my tail, using〖Mana Drain〗to absorb my MP.
Her skin slowly reverts back to its usual whiteness.

Alo shakily stands up and holds onto a tree for support.

She must’ve fought hard.
Still, I’m impressed that she has that much MP left in her…… was what I was thinking, when all of a sudden, the tree that Alo is holding onto suddenly turns and faces me.
I see even Lesser Treant is here.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Lesser Treant
Status: Cursed
Lv: 11/25
HP: 37/75
MP: 34/60
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Seems like Treant was also fighting…… except his level hasn’t gone up at all……
Then, I meet eyes with Alo.
Looking back at Treant’s status, his HP and MP were reduced by half, but it doesn’t look like he suffered any major damage.
…… Aah, so Alo absorbed Treant’s HP and MP first.
That means Alo had even lower stats before.

“I lost…… against that pale faced, swordsman. The children, were taken……”

…… A pale-faced swordsman.
It must that guy who summoned the wyverns, took Tallmann away and escaped from the village.
He seems to be quite a formidable fighter.
I’ll have to incapacitate him, and not just Tallmann, then.

Just to be safe, I’ll have Alo and the others guard the area around the village to scour for any more surviving enemies.
As for me, I’ll storm in the enemies’ headquarters myself.
That being said, I’ll need a guide……

As if hearing my thoughts, Treant steps forward and volunteers himself.
You’ll be my guide, then?
But, Treant…… your speed is, well…… you won’t be able to keep up with me ‘cause I intend to run all the way there……

One of the kid spiders steps forward, and it runs straight to where I think the enemy is before I could even react.
Alright, alright, I’ll follow after you, then.

“………… Gru~o”

I give Treant a quick bow and follow after the spider.