"Attack!" One of the militiamen barked, immediately picking up a spear in one hand and his shield in another. They seemed already prepared to charge at the enemies beneath the domain of Sylas' Madness.

Sylas cursed beneath his breath as he stumbled, retracting his Madness. It was something he rarely did, but it seemed appropriate in a situation like this one.

He had no choice but to deploy it to save his life, but it had thrown everyone off balance. The militiamen were under orders to protect Olivia as their top priority, and so they were already charging into the forest.

Olivia herself was in too much of a daze to call them back, Alex was looking at his bone ax like he might start tongue-fucking it, and Morgan, the sanest of them, was still frozen in place for a moment, struggling to regain his bearings.

To make matters worse, Lauren fell to the ground, dropping her weapons and tightening herself up into a ball, a sound that was a cross between a manic laugh and sobbing coming from her.

The range of reactions was vaster than Sylas would have expected, but the ultimate result was a completely disorganized group right in the middle of an ambush.

Without Olivia's Skill, Sylas couldn't even get an understanding of how many gnolls they were facing, but she was only just regaining her focus.

Sylas knew he had no choice but to activate Madness just now, but he was still frustrated with the outcome, especially since his mind said the smartest thing to do was to activate it again.

Right now.

He did as his logic guided him, and it wasn't even a moment too soon. Another arrow appeared, but this time, he was ready.

He ducked out of the way. Even without <Madness Control>, the added control Madness alone gave him was enough to overturn most disadvantages.

He dashed forward, ducking behind trees and quickly changing positions as he rushed after both the militiamen and the apparent location of the archer.

If this archer was anything like a sniper, they might already be changing locations. But he had noted a few things.

'It took time for them to reload… the arrow was on a slight downward trajectory, so they are likely high up in the trees… the second arrow came from an angle, so they likely haven't changed locations just yet… they're targeting me, and though it's not certain that they'll leave the others alone when I start hunting them down, it's the best option I have…'

If he stood there, trying to protect people he barely knew, he would not only be a sitting duck, but he might even put them in even more danger.

He dispelled his Madness. He couldn't use it continuously anyway, and as he made some distance between him and the others, it would at least give them a chance.

The wind whistled by his face, the humidity of the rainforest mixing with his sweat. Adrenaline pumped through him as his green eyes flickered from side to side, scanning for anything he could come across.

Suddenly, his ears twitched, and he ducked and rolled.

'There.'

He could feel his senses on high alert. He had felt it before, but the higher his Mental and Will became, the sharper they seemed to become. Now that he was actually looking out for a specific sound, he reacted to it instantaneously.

The arrow pierced into a tree with such force that its tail vibrated wildly, but Sylas had already darted forward again.

He seemed to have turned a blind eye to the militiamen who were charging forward.

—-

[Lurk (F)]

[Level: 4]

[Physical: 40]

[Mental: 42]

[Will: 47]

—-

Sylas' sharp eyes finally spotted the archer. Hidden in the foliage, he surprisingly had two crossbows strapped to his wrists while he wielded a bow that honestly looked one pull away from snapping in two.

When Lurk saw that Sylas had spotted him, a yellow grin spread across his face as a light far more intelligent than Sylas wanted to admit lit his eyes.

'It's luring me somewhere.'

Sylas' head turned toward the militiamen who were charging in the completely wrong direction and he gritted his teeth.

There was no choice. He had to catch Lurk before he could succeed. And even if he did succeed, he had no choice but to fall into this trap.

If Lurk could sneak attack them, there was no doubt that he had locked onto their scents already. Even after killing five more, the village would still have not just two elites and a super elite remaining, but a total of fifteen warriors.

That could overrun Casstle Main ten times over.

It would be worth the retreat if the Rudimentary Village had some real defenses, but the "walls" of that village were no different from a suburban home's fence. It wouldn't work.

'This is stupid,' Sylas told himself.

Who cared about the village? If the gnolls tried to track him through scent, he would just disappear into the forest. See if they could track him through a sea of beasts as he picked them off one by one. It wasn't like he was tied to the village.

He knew the real reason he was doing this, even if he didn't allow his mind to go there. He had been fiercely protective of her his whole life, and it seemed almost ten years had changed nothing.

Those vague memories that resurfaced during his Madness Comprehension, especially the ones where he laughed at himself for what he would say if he called her to tell her about the Summoned Ascension, lingered in his mind for longer than he cared to admit, along with another emotion…

Guilt.

He didn't even think of her back then, as though she was just some distant, meaningless memory. And yet it hit him like a truck the moment he saw her again.

She was the truest friend he had had in his entire life. Even if she laughed in his face, he should have at least picked up a damn phone.