“Indeed. If we don't get rid of her now, we'll never have our day in the sun, especially during the next Racial Competition.”
Faced with this person's anger, the others chimed in.
“Even if she can't be killed, it doesn't mean there's no way to deal with her. Isn't this the perfect opportunity? Or what—are you afraid?”
“Afraid!? You say I'm afraid!?”
The person who had sounded worried just a moment ago immediately grew agitated upon hearing someone suggest they were afraid.
“Are you kidding? I'm plenty brave, alright? Now that the witch has gone in, let's carry out our plan.”
“No, there's no need for us to act yet.”
Just as that fellow was about to do something, someone who had remained silent until now spoke up.
“What? Are you afraid too?”
“No. My point is that we only need to trap that witch. Then, we just leak the news that she's stuck and might never come out again.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“The Witch race is too high-profile. Even if we don't act, someone else will. We just need to play the role of adding fuel to the fire.”
The person shook their head, then confidently explained their thoughts to the group.
Their tone made it sound as if they were utterly repulsed by the high profile of the Witch race.
No... it wasn't just 'as if.' They were repulsed.
A low-profile person doesn't need a reason to be repulsed by someone high-profile.
“For example?”
“For example, like this... then like this... and finally like this...”
Someone didn't understand, so the person elaborated on their plan in greater detail.
“That's a wicked idea, but I like it.”
“It's a bit nasty, but I think the effect will be excellent.”
Once the others learned what the person had in mind, they all clapped in approval.
Brilliant!
This way, they wouldn't even have to worry about exposing themselves and could operate with total peace of mind. It perfectly suited the nature of the Demon race.
And so, after settling some details, a message was sent to the guide, demanding immediate action.
As for the funds for the operation, they were sent directly to the guide's Adventurers' Guild account.
“Phew...”
Upon seeing the message, the guide breathed a sigh of relief.
To take such a massive risk by offending the Witch race, the rewards obviously had to be substantial.
With that amount of money, there wasn't a place in the world he couldn't go.
At worst, he'd just find a place to hole up and use magic to change his appearance and physique.
Anyway, he was done trying in this wretched world.
Whoever wanted to work hard could go right ahead.
As long as he could live comfortably and safely, that was enough.
Thinking this, the guide's thin body gradually expanded, eventually filling out his previously loose clothes.
Then, the guide pulled a tightly wrapped wooden barrel from his card and placed it exactly one centimeter away from the dungeon portal.
After running about a hundred meters away, the guide fired an E-grade Spark spell at the barrel.
Boom!
With a 'pop' as the little flame hit the barrel, it exploded instantly. Smoke and dust shot up over a hundred meters, and even the guide, who had run quite a distance, was caught in the shockwave.
“Damn it! They said a hundred meters was a safe distance!”
The guide, who had been knocked flat on his face, crawled up covered in dust, cursing as he patted himself down.
Fortunately, all his parts were still attached.
Finding that he had only suffered a minor shock, the guide stared quietly at the blast site.
When the smoke cleared, the portal that had once been there had completely vanished, leaving only a large crater from the explosion.
Seeing this, the guide took a photo and hurriedly fled the scene.
The barrel's official name was the 【Mana Turbulence Device Generator】.
Simply put, it was a machine that used a very crude method to completely disrupt the mana fluctuations in the surrounding area, causing everything related to mana to undergo a chain reaction and eventually dissipate.
How terrifying was this 'mana turbulence'?
To put it simply, it was thousands of times more chaotic than the confusion brought by a mana tide.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to instantly erase a portal that even a mana tide couldn't handle.
So, the Spark spell the guide had fired wasn't the key; the key was the mana used to cast the spell, which activated the machine.
Meanwhile, inside the dungeon, the group had only just entered and were still clearing out the small fry at the entrance when they suddenly felt a jolt.
“What's going on?”
“Beats me.”
Vivian looked utterly confused in response to Lan Qingyou's question.
Just then, Gu Xiaobei, who was slacking off, pointed at the portal as it gradually turned transparent and shouted.
“Look! The portal is disappearing!”
“What!?”
The two of them whipped their heads around and saw that the portal from earlier was indeed fading into transparency.
“Dammit!”
Though she didn't know exactly what was happening, Lan Qingyou's intuition told her it definitely wasn't anything good. She immediately activated third gear and dashed toward the portal.
Vivian did the same.
However, they were still too slow. Just as they were about to touch the portal, it vanished completely.
Due to their extreme speed, both of them went flying into the forest behind where the portal had been.
“Hey, Vivian, you okay?”
Lan Qingyou, who was stuck upside down against a tree trunk, squinted at Vivian, who had just performed a face-plant nearby.
Vivian, with bits of grass stuck to her face, suddenly looked up.
“I'm fine. What could happen to me? But you—don't you have anything to say?”
“Nope. Either way, it's either aimed at me or aimed at you.”
Hanging from the tree, Lan Qingyou composed herself and sat back onto her flying magic broom.
“No way. I haven't offended anyone. How could it be aimed at me?”
Vivian stood up and glared.
Everyone knew what she meant and what Lan Qingyou meant.
Even if they didn't state it explicitly, it was clear from their responses.
The disappearance of the portal was definitely abnormal.
While they didn't know what had happened outside or what method had been used to make the portal vanish, there was no doubt that someone outside was sabotaging them.
As for who it was aimed at, that was unclear.
However, Vivian felt that it certainly wasn't her.
“It seems you have zero self-awareness,” Vivian teased as she brushed the grass and dirt off herself.
“Even though your Witch race is currently the number one race in the world, there are plenty of people who look at you with envy, jealousy, and hate.”
“Fine. Let's say for the sake of argument it was aimed at me. What's the point of taking out the portal? There has to be some benefit involved, right?”
Lan Qingyou fell silent for a moment after Vivian's remark.
It was true.
Many people found the Witch race unpleasant to look at.
But in Lan Qingyou's eyes, these were all trivial matters.
After all, it was nothing more than some jealous people spouting nonsense on the world channel; there was no need to even acknowledge them.
Only a scattered few lunatics spent their days rambling like that.
Actually going out of her way to argue with such people would only be stooping to their level.
Rate on N.U.
