149 Absolute Victory
Being honest, it was surprising how easy it was to handle all the Demons blinded by smoke and distracted by the bait I prepared specially for them.
The effectiveness of my plan surprised even me, causing me to wonder how I was able to deliberately execute such a plan flawlessly.
‘It must be due to my high intelligence…’ I reasoned.
In any case, it took me only five rounds of my strategy to fully capture all the Hobgoblins. What initially seemed like an endless and undefeatable army slowly whittled down with each round of my ambush, and I was able to end things by the fifth round.
>SHUUUUUUUU<
Smoke hissed from the hot, charred ground as a harsh silence filled the air, save for the consistent undertone of the hot smoke that surrounded everyone.
It had almost dispersed at this point, and just in time too. By the time vision began returning to the frightened group of Melissa and company, I was done with the final Hobgoblin.
“Whew!” I heaved in relief.
My arms felt a little sore from flapping them so much to touch as many Demons as I could in such a limited period. Surprisingly, I didn’t even need to resort to my big guns to take care of the biggest threat yet.
‘I suppose I should be grateful to these guys…’ I mused, turning to the confused bunch trembling within Melissa’s pink barrier.
If not for the convenient ability she had and the personality of the girls, I may not have been able to distract the monsters as well as I did.
Disabling <Camouflage> which was already at its limit, I appeared from the fading vestiges of smoke that remained and made my presence known to the girls.
“Are you girls okay?” I asked.
Still donning my mysterious mask and dark cloak, my oddly small body moved closer to the huddled group.
“I-is it over…?” Melissa stuttered, clearly suffering from extreme trauma.
She had to endure over an hour of a most heart-wrenching experience. Death was knocking at every turn, and if she let up for even a fraction of a second, the Hobgoblins would have devoured her.
While the others had been in an equally dire situation as Melissa, as the one handling the defenses most of the mental and physical burdens were placed on her.
“Yes. It’s over… I’ve taken care of them all.” I replied in a calm, soothing way.
Instantly, Melissa released her pink barrier, coughing and wheezing in exhaustion. She nearly collapsed to the hard ground, but I quickly knelt and caught her.
As much as it would have been quite a funny sight to watch her hit her head on the ground, it was dangerous since she might die from the fall. I couldn’t have her dying on me just yet.
“T-thank you… for not abandoning us… f-for saving us…” She whispered.
Her lips quivered as she spoke and her entire body followed, trembling with the remnant fear that had seeped into every nook and cranny of her being.
The remaining girls also gave me heartfelt thanks and burst into tears. Of course, performing my role as a hero, I consoled them. Their pathetic states were so pitiful that if it were under different circumstances, I could have actually felt bad for them.
These girls were broken from the near-death experience they had experienced. Now that it was all over, they gave me profound thanks for saving them. If only they knew that I was the malefactor behind their misfortune.
‘I wonder what their reaction would be like…’ I mused.
“You’re all scared and exhausted. It’s still very dangerous out here, since there may be some leftover Demons running around.” I said.
The moment I mentioned the possibility of more monsters, the girls froze in even more fear and stifled shrieks that were bound to be deafening.
Their eyes bulged as the trauma replayed in their minds. I didn’t think things would be so bad with them, but to think they were so weak-minded.
I currently had four [Subspace] Slots to spare, since I had already used on up to capture the Hobgoblin Warriors.
It was kind of a waste to do this, as well as hypocritical, but I decided to let them into safety.
“I seem to have recovered some of my energy. I can transport all of you to a safe place while I scout the area for any remaining threat.”
The girls all loosened up when they heard this, nodding with relief and immense gratitude that I had once again saved them from a terrible fate.
I touched them one after the other and transported them into [Subspace].
[System Alert]
~Your Gift [Subspace] Storage Is Full!~
<Please Free Up Space For Optimal Use>
[.]
I gave a wry smile upon seeing the icon. Even the system knew I needed to reserve slots for emergencies. Besides, Skills like <Mine Alone> wouldn’t be able to function properly if I had no free Slot in [Subspace].
‘Looks like I need to free some space…’
To be fair, some slots in [Subspace] could use some rearrangements. Since items could be put in boxes and count as a single object, I could place some of the things taking up independent space in them.
If push came to shove, I could also remove the Camp supplies, since they weren’t going to be as useful as what I had. However, I didn’t consider doing that yet. No matter how low in quality something was, it still had value.
That was something this Apocalypse had forcefully taught everyone!
‘Welp, there’s that poop Slot as well…’ I reasoned.
Needless to say, this would take a while. And then, after I was done… the real challenge would begin.
During the just-concluded ‘stampede’, I had trapped 3,432 Hobgoblin Warriors, 1,457 Tankers, 558 Archers, and no Brawlers. A total of 5,447 Hobgoblin Demons.
“Not bad…” I smiled in a whisper.
I could feel my blood rising in excitement as I gave in to the thought of what would happen after I was done organizing my [Subspace].
A slaughter was coming!
After all… the Demons I took into [Subspace] weren’t supposed to live there forever!