Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Badlands. Near Edinburgh kingdom's borders. Evening 7 PM.

A region near the entrance to the Oni dungeon.

A small squad of Edinburgh's army was approaching the Oni dungeon carefully. The sun was just about to set and darkness was about to descend on the Badlands.

This was the time to call it a night and find a place to hide until the morning. But for some reason, this small squad of soldiers kept marching.

"Captain, this is our third time doing the recon instead of entering the dungeon? What's the point of just checking things out if we won't use them?"

A member of the squad complained to his captain in a rather annoyed tone. She was a night elf.

"We don't know what's waiting for us inside, Bhaa Laah. Captain knows what he is doing. We just have to follow his lead. Stop complaining."

The one who tried to quiet Bhaa Laah the night elf was also a night elf himself. He had kind of similar facial features as Bhaa Laah as well.

Bhaa Laah was an elf with a slim build. She had dark purple hair and large ears, even by elven standards. She had light gray eyes and dark blue skin.

Bhaa Laah Badekaan was a close combat expert in her squad. She was the most boisterous in the group, often asking questions to her captain Tumko Darata.

Of course, Tumko was a quiet person, so he rarely responded. Bhaa Laah's random questions and talks were usually ignored by the group. This time wasn't different either.

Answering Bhaa Laah's questions was the job assigned to her elder brother Jaad Ugar Badekaan. This night elf also shared most of his features with his younger sister.

Jaad was a bit taller and his skin was a different shade of blue. Also, his hair and eyes were white, making him a bit different to look at than his real sister if one ignores the facial commonalities.

There was also a ranger named Teer Maar. He was a bit taller than Jaad Ugar, he had medium-length black hair and intense dark brown eyes. He spoke next while keeping his vigilance raised.

"Your brother is right, Bhaa Laah. Plus, we are in the forbidden zone. Even if we are still serving in Edinburgh's army, we are not supposed to be seen here. So keep your voice down. Or better yet, don't speak at all."

Teer spoke in a low voice. Bhaa Laah showed expressions of displeasure when she heard two of her team members trying to shut her down. She wasn't happy that the captain wasn't responding to any of her questions as well.

"There's fucking nobody here. Why should we sneak here like a bunch of rats trying to save our hide from a big bad cat?"

Bha Laah spoke. She was just about to break formation and approach her captain when the latter stopped in his tracks after sensing something.

"There's someone ahead. Teer!"

Tumko raised his arm at a stop sign and spoke. He then called out the team's ranger, prompting him to take action.

"On it."

Teer disappeared from his position and climbed one of the giant trees the dense forest was made of. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Teer saw a group of four rankers walking casually through the forest as if they were taking a walk here. He briefly looked at all four of those using his long-range class-specific spell.

Teer was about to disperse his spying spell when one of the rankers from the group raised her hands and twisted them in the air. This ranker was a young woman who had worn a striking black dress.

The black-haired young woman had red eyes that stared right at Teer's vision before narrowing down on it. A grimoire had appeared in front of her as she tugged at Teer's intangible consciousness.

Teer felt like his long-range spell had been detected. He also felt like he was naked in front of those red eyes as if they could see through everything and anything he had in his mind.

Those red eyes suddenly grew much larger than their original size. They stared at him displeasingly, as if the person to whom the eyes belonged was irritated by the fact that Teer had spied on them.

This red-eyed girl tugged at something in Teer's direction using her twisted hand in the air and the next moment, Teer found it unable to retract his consciousness from his long ranger spell. The ranger was scared shitless when he experienced something like this. He felt like he shouldn't have tried to spy on these four rankers. For they seem to be exceptionally powerful.

"Teer?"

Tumko frowned when Teer didn't say anything for more than half a minute. He knew about the spying spell he had made Teer cast on the unknown personnel. It was convenient for his team to have him on the squad, thanks to this spell of his.

Tumko Darata's team had managed to avoid a lot of trouble, thanks to Teer's untraceable spying spell. So they didn't expect him to fail this time either.

Before Tumko could ask Teer any more questions, he saw Teer's body about to lose balance from the branch he was standing on.

"Hm?"

Tumko felt puzzled by the fact that Teer had lost his balance. Nevertheless, the captain immediately took action. He quickly approached Teer's place and spread his arms.

Teer's unconscious body came crashing into Tumko's open arms. The other members of the team were alerted by the sudden development and approached Teer immediately.

"The fuck… Teer… what happened? Why are you passed out all of a sudden?"

Bhaal exclaimed in shock. She couldn't believe that the ranger of her team was down even before they confronted these four rankers. Someone had managed to injure Teer remotely without any visible signs of injury on his body.

Tumko had serious expressions when he saw Teer's condition. He had normal vital signs. It didn't look like he had been passed out. That could only mean one thing.

"Someone has managed to interfere with Teer's spell."