The Regressed Demon Lord is Kind

round basement, deep below Mentis.
Snoc infiltrated Mentis last night and worked hard in digging the basement without the Iron Tribe finding out.
The floor, ceiling, and walls were all made out of dirt, but the basement was very sturdy since it was made with great care.
The basement probably wouldn’t crumble from usual earthquakes.
It was also very deep underground, so there was a meager chance that the elves would be able to find their location.

‘The air is stuffy, but we just have to live with it.’

Even though they drilled vents on top of the ceiling, they were deep underground, so the air circulation was bound to be insufficient.
However, Zich’s companions were used to sleeping in all sorts of places thanks to Zich’s traveling style.
Soon enough, everyone fell asleep one by one.

*   *   *

The Iron Tribe was bewildered by the troop of human soldiers that suddenly appeared and suddenly disappeared.
They naturally strengthened their defenses and boundaries.
They brightened up their fires and increased the number of soldiers patrolling.
Moreover, Kandis, who was usually asleep during this time, was patrolling around the whole island.
Thus, the soldiers had no choice but to be on full alert.

‘Those fucking bastards!’

Whenever Kandis thought about yesterday’s events, he was filled with fury.
As the general of the Iron Tribe’s army, he felt proud to take on such an essential role in a plan to flourish the prosperity of his tribe; his confidence and pride were reaching toward the heavens.
If this plan turned out successful, the Iron Tribe would become the owners of the entire Adrowon forest region and perhaps even extend its powers to the human realm.
Then, as one of the top leaders of the plan, Kandis would be able to gain a tremendous amount of wealth and honor and become a highly regarded general.
For that reason, he wanted to carry out this plan without the slightest hitch.
Before yesterday, everything seemed to have been going perfectly.

The other tribes couldn’t easily approach them because of the hostages, and they were able to successfully capture and kill the occasional scouts who infiltrated inside.
Everything was going so smoothly that they were even losing a bit of steam.

However, in just one night, their complete triumph was shattered.
A troop that seemed to be made up of humans infiltrated the island.
They suddenly appeared at Mentis and caused chaos throughout the whole island, and at the same time, many of their tribe members died.
Since they had to conserve as much power as possible, it was a significant loss for them.
Moreover, their enemies were able to escape Mentis without even leaving a corpse behind.
Kandis gritted his teeth.
He had no idea how they were able to escape.

“Damn it!” Kandis unintentionally swore out loud.
His soldiers scooted away from him as they saw that he was in a bad mood.
If they happened to cross him, they would get into a lot of needless trouble.
Kandis was not a kind boss.

‘How the heck was they able to escape!’

Without caring at all about what his soldiers thought, Kandis continued to contemplate how his enemies escaped.
Because of this matter, he received all kinds of insults and humiliation from his King without being able to retort a single word.
For that reason, he wished with all his might that those humans would appear again.

‘This time, I’m going to perfectly capture all of them!’

He was not going to let a single one escape and chew them up extremely thoroughly.
It was at that moment that he heard a loud shout.
“Enemies! It’s the same enemies from yesterday! They have infiltrated the place again!”

Kandis’ bloodshot eyes glistened.

*   *   *

“Capture them!”

“Don’t let them escape!”

The elves shouted out loud and headed towards the same destination.
The sight of them running around with torches and weapons was intense and fearsome.
However, since they were focused so much on one area, they paid little attention to a different site.
While a frightening number of torch lights gathered and converged in one place, the opposite side solidified and expanded its darkness.
In the dark, someone was quietly moving.

Tap!

Zich slipped inside one of the buildings that had its lights turned off.
He pushed down his robe further and quietly sensed his surroundings. 

‘There are hardly any elves around here.’

Zich climbed to the rooftop of the building, and he saw bright lights gathered in one area.
It was the area where the elves and armored soldiers were fighting fiercely against each other.
Today, Zich planned to infiltrate the building that Lyla suggested and look for hostages.
The person that was leading the armored soldiers today was Hans.
Zich looked in the direction of the battle once and quickly turned his head back.

‘He’ll probably do well.’

Surprisingly, Zich deeply trusted Hans’ ability and skills.

‘Since I taught him, he should be able to at least perform this much.’

Of course, Zich’s trust in Hans stemmed from himself.
This infiltration mission was much more tricky than usual infiltration missions because they wouldn’t be able to kill any elves.
If the elves near the hostages were killed, the Iron Tribe might become suspicious that the human troops were related to the other elf tribes. 

‘I wish I could capture one as hostage and torture information out of them.’

However, torture didn’t work on trained elves.
Zich experienced this several times before his regression.

‘My words didn’t get through them at all.’

Zich avoided the few elves that were left behind and continued to move.
Soon after, he was able to reach his destination.
It was a tall, two-story building made out of stone.
It was pretty big, but it didn’t look special at all.
Zich scanned the building and began his mission.