Chapter – 20
After a while, just as they had said, we reached a relatively safe area and spoke in hushed voices.
“So you’re saying those people just abandoned you and left?”
Hearing the unbelievable story from the siblings made me frown without realizing it.
Their group had arrived when only three ruler positions remained.
At that point, not only did they push the evil spirit positions onto two young and weak kids—
They even abandoned them in the middle of the forest instead of protecting them.
“I can’t believe people like that exist…”
“They’re really awful.”
Lilia and Yeriel, who were both incredibly kind-hearted, looked genuinely shocked that such cruel people existed.
Did they reduce the headcount before dividing the rewards?
For me, it was easy to guess.
Since when were humans creatures filled with goodwill?
If survival demanded it, humans would willingly become ugly and cruel.
“Maybe that’s exactly why they did it. Because they’re human.”
Celestine shook her head with a bitter smile.
“But I still think it’s fortunate. It’s better to hide than to hurt others.”
Sylvester, who had been looking down, also murmured quietly.
Was it easier for him to accept this than to live with guilt?
Honestly, just like Yeriel and the twins, I found it hard to understand their hearts.
Could people really keep their kindness in a situation like this?
“So… do you have any plans? We have to survive somehow.”
Still, finding them was fortunate.
Sylvester
[Constellation: The Versatile Youngest]
“Well… I’m pretty confident when it comes to running away. Pretty noona, do you have a plan?”
Celestine
[Constellation: Guide of Reincarnation]
“For now, we should stay hidden and wait for an opportunity.”
The Versatile Youngest and the Guide of Reincarnation.
Immediately, I imagined a swift boy wearing winged shoes and a loyal beast guarding a great gate.
Having capable allies with high potential was always welcome.
“If you don’t have a plan, would you like to travel with us?”
I held out my hand to the two sitting down.
“First, we need to establish a defensive perimeter centered around our current position.”
What we needed was time.
And a shield to buy that time.
“Lilia, can you summon the brazier? As big as possible.”
“Okay! I’ll try!”
At my words, Lilia frowned slightly and summoned the brazier.
“Done!”
The brazier she summoned was no longer palm-sized—it was about the size of a basketball.
The larger the brazier, the wider the buff radius.
With this size, everyone nearby could receive Lilia’s healing effect increase buff.
Meaning most minor injuries would heal just by staying near it.
“Eden, find all the paths people could approach from. We need traps at each entrance.”
We had to use the rules of the Evil Spirit Forest.
And their loopholes.
Evil spirits couldn’t directly attack rulers.
But they could lure rulers into traps.
“Sylvester, I’ll leave the traps to you.”
I called Sylvester over.
“Especially around the bushes.”
In novels, bad guys always popped out of bushes.
“Since it’s a request from a pretty noona, gladly.”
Sylvester smiled brightly and nodded.
Even in a situation where death could come at any moment, the kid seemed relaxed.
Well, it makes sense.
His constellation was the Versatile Youngest.
His true name was Hermes.
A god known for speed, skill, and cunning.
Perhaps the only constellation more advantageous as an evil spirit than as a ruler.
[Constellation, The Versatile Youngest shows interest in your plan.]
Getting his cooperation alone increased survival chances several times over.
“Celestine, please conceal the presence of the traps.”
And then there was Celestine.
[Constellation, Guide of Reincarnation watches you with chin resting on hand.]
With Anubis’s stigma Veil of Oblivion, she could completely erase the presence of traps.
Hide.
Wait.
Lure enemies into traps.
Honestly, it wasn’t a grand strategy.
But it could exploit the rulers’ blind spot—thinking evil spirits couldn’t attack at all.
With our current low stats, even that was enough to improve survival odds.
“Ah, Yeriel. Do you have any flowers…?”
“I only have about two Blood Sun Flowers, but unless it’s a major injury, this should be enough.”
“Good. Then everyone prepare—”
For an improvised plan, this was excellent.
If we run hard enough, we can survive.
That careless thought had just crossed my mind when—
“Well now… I came to finish you off so you wouldn’t struggle before dying.”
A mocking voice came from a tree in the distance.
“What a lucky find.”
The mixture of ridicule and killing intent sent chills down my spine.
“These useless brats brought us something good.”
Damn it. I forgot.
The map given to each team in the Evil Spirit Forest.
Teammates could see each other’s locations.
“We’ll kill you painlessly since you did a good deed.”
Three figures sat on tree branches looking down at us.
“Thanks for the gift, kid.”
They were Sylvester and Celestine’s former teammates.
I stepped back slightly, pretending calm to hide my shock.
Showing weakness to people like them only made them more aggressive.
“Killing teammates is against the rules, you know.”
I spread my arms to shield the children.
Huh.
I wondered what kind of people would abandon kids with Hermes and Anubis as their constellations.
Turns out—
Kal
[Constellation: Orator of Hell]
Derek
[Constellation: Angel of Death]
Hines
[Constellation: Ray of the Great Plains]
Flashy appearances, worthless substance.
The Orator of Hell was Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister.
Looks impressive.
Useless beyond talking.
Same with Angel of Death.
Another Nazi tied to human experimentation.
A disgrace to the word angel.
At least the Ray of the Great Plains—Jebe—was a Mongol general…
Still inferior to the twins’ constellations.
It was honestly disappointing.
People with trash constellations drunk on the temporary title of ruler.
Exactly the kind who die first in worlds like this.
The real problem was—
We had no way to fight them.
I frowned, searching for an escape.
Perhaps they mistook my expression for fear.
Kal smirked.
“Rules? Yeah… it would be against the rules.”
He jumped down.
“If we killed you ourselves.”
Yeriel stepped in front of me protectively.
Eden gathered light in his hand, ready to fire an arrow.
I grabbed his hand.
No.
Evil spirits cannot attack rulers.
Absolute rule.
Breaking it meant penalties.
And we couldn’t waste mana.
They surrounded us with cruel smiles.
“We’ll spare the four of you. Of course… if you kill that kid.”
[You have become the target of Kal’s stigma: Incitement.]
[Skill Big Data analyzes Incitement.]
[Stigma Incitement (E) proficiency increased to 33.3%.]
I smiled slightly.
As expected.
Big Data could absorb buffs and debuffs too.
Good. That’s settled.
Four kids.
One pale man.
One fragile-looking woman.
Their confidence made sense.
But that made things better for us.
And—
They’ll spare us if we kill the kids?
Even a passing dog wouldn’t believe that.
They wanted us to dirty our hands eliminating their teammates.
Then they’d kill us.
Pathetic.
But their cruelty might be our way out.
“Okay.”
Celestine’s eyes trembled.
“Let’s do it.”
“Miss Wendy!”
Yeriel called out to stop me.
But I spoke firmly.
“Yeriel and I will kill the children.”
The more they underestimated us—
“Well that’s convenient. I was annoyed about sharing rewards anyway.”
The more we played along—
“You’ll spare our group then, right?”
The better our chances to strike back.
Yeriel froze.
Then she saw my lips form silent words:
Trust me.
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
“O-okay… we’ll… we’ll kill them.”
“Now you’re talking! I like smart people!”
Kal laughed loudly.
[Constellation Orator of Hell snickers.]
“You…!”
The twins looked at me in shock.
I feel terrible.
Getting that look from children hurt.
(Moya: Knew it…)
(FlowerMaru: Toxic selfish character as always lol)
(EuriEuri: Reusing this annoying character? I’m dropping this.)
Even my constellations were in chaos.
Well, Wendy’s original story behavior probably triggered their PTSD.
Can’t be helped.
There was no turning back.
We needed even the smallest opening.
“Then kill them right here.”
Kal’s purple eyes gleamed darkly.
