As soon as Reiji was about to return to the village, he heard silent footsteps that were getting close to the cult's direction.

Reiji focused his senses in their direction and noticed that they were not wearing the same clothes as the cult members.

​​

'Who are these people now?'

He wanted to get information about them as well and as soon as he stealthily got closer, he heard their whispers…

"It seems that they're really the Three-Eyed Imp's Cult…"

"We have to quickly make a report… With their numbers, we wouldn't be able to repel them with just our strength."

There were three individuals silently observing the cult's action.

Reiji realized that they were probably the scouts sent by the village chief. They wore dark clothes and hid their faces as they gathered intelligence about the enemy.

He continued watching the scouts as they seem to possess a piece of equipment that allows them to avoid being easily detected. It was an interesting item and they seem to have other missions as well…

Soon, he saw one of the scouts pointing in a certain direction… The other two nodded and silently walked in that direction. They avoided the sentries using their equipment and they soon arrived in front of a large stone…

"Is this the place? I can't sense anything…" One of them looked around the place before focusing on the large stone.

"This is the entrance to the cave, I can't be wrong…"

"Mhmm… How many of them are still alive…"

"Sixteen… Unfortunately, four of them was about to lose their life… I can feel their Soul Energy about to dissipate…"

"Very well… Our job is complete." The leader paused before checking the blue orb on his hand.

"The magic item's effect is almost finished… Let's retreat now…"

"Yes!"

The leader of the three then ordered their retreat as they make haste to leave the place… When the cult members felt their presence, they were already moving extremely fast as they went down the mountain. To avoid being followed, it seems that they even left some traps for their pursuers before going here.

Reiji was impressed with the three who managed to swiftly leave the place. He noticed that they were returning to the village and followed closely without being detected.

"They're professionals…"

Reiji easily concluded after seeing their actions. They're probably Hunters that have a clear grasp of the terrain and experience in this type of mission.

"There's no one behind us…"

"Don't put down your guard yet… Wait until we're in the village."

"Yes, Sir!"

After several more minutes of running, they arrived at a location where three horses are waiting…

They quickly untied the horses and hopped on.

Now that they're riding horses, it didn't take long before they saw their village. Even though it was already night time and many of the residents were already asleep, it was still lit brightly as guards were patrolling the surroundings.

As soon as they arrived, they quickly headed to the village chief's residence and made a report…

"What?! A hundred of them?" The village chief asked in surprise. This was terrible news for their village.

"If this is a large movement of the cult, then we should be able to get help from the Knights Order…"

"Yes… We also discovered that some bandits were still alive… There should be about thirty of them but we detected that only about half of them were imprisoned in a stone cave…"

"They' might've been sacrificed already…"

"I believe so… Since they still have some human sacrifice left, they shouldn't be thinking of hunting in our village at this time… We still have a chance to call for help."

The old village chief went silent as he considers their options. No one objected to letting those bandits die at the hands of the Three-Eyed Imp's cult and they even thought of it as a good buffer before they look for other sacrifices.

"No one followed you guys?" The chief asked.

"Yes… However, it's only a matter of time before they'll realize that it was our doing…"

"That's enough… The nearby villages would be sending their hired Hunters tonight… They should arrive here early in the morning…"

"How about more Arcanists?"

"Urgh… They're too difficult to move… They're asking for more compensation so we only managed to hire a few…" The chief answered.

"Haaa~ The Arcanist Association has powerful members but they wouldn't normally go out to do missions like this…"

"That's right… I heard that those low-ranking Arcanists would normally focus on increasing their Spiritual Energy and mastering their Arcana instead of doing real combat… But hiring higher-ranked would be expensive…"

Apparently, new Arcanists needed better control or understanding of their Arcana. It also requires them to spend more time mastering the skills or Arcane Magic it possessed.

In any case, Arcanists were still powerful in large scale battles as they have several Arcane Magic with them. However, the maintenance of their equipment or weapons were expensive. Even if they defeated the cult, most of the spoils might just be given to them.

After all, this cult wasn't known for being rich due to the evil god they're worshiping.

At the very least, they can rely on the Arcanist's protection if the cult decided to attack their village. That's right, they can't leave this village unprotected so leaving those Arcanists here was also a good decision.

"We still have twelve Arcanists on our side, it should be enough to handle their leaders."

"All of them are 4th Class?"

"Yes…"

The three scouts looked at each other and considered whether it would be fine. They have sensed the power coming from the ten leaders so they were sure that a new Arcanist couldn't handle them. They can only hope that those twelve have enough combat experience to fight those ten…

If they can probably wait for a week, they might be able to get help from the Knights Order to destroy the cult camping in the mountains. Unfortunately, they don't have that much time since the cult might finish their ritual before it happens.

"We can't let them summon the Three-Eyed Imp… We'll move once the Hunters arrive…"

"Yes, Chief!"

Reiji listened to their whole conversation and learned a lot from it. His only question now was about the chief's word referring to summoning an Imp…

It was a very interesting piece of information. It seems that the name of the evil cult, Three-Eye Imp's Cult, wasn't just for show.

***

Stella woke up early in the morning and greeted the sword who was leaning on the wall of the room.

"Good Morning, Mr. Sword…"

"Oh, you're awake… Are you going to the workshop now?"

"Yes, I'll just fill my stomach a bit."

"Right, you need to eat… I forgot."

The girl smiled as she went downstairs to have the milk and bread readied by her uncle. It seems that it was a routine where her uncle wakes up early to prepare food for her.

Soon, she saw her uncle and greeted him.

"You look serious, uncle… Is there something wrong?"

"Ahh! Stella… The subjugation party to hunt down the cult's members has already left…"

"I see… Do you think that they'll be defeated?"

"No way! The party was filled with two-star Hunters and it even has twelve strong Arcanists…"

"Then, why do you look worried?"

"Hmmph… Because they left the village with only five arcanists and ten guards… What if some members of the cult came here? All the Hunters probably joined the subjugation…

"Uncle, There's no way---"

As soon as Stella was about to give her thoughts, a loud explosion was suddenly heard inside their village.

Panic cries of the villagers were heard. They soon noticed smoke coming at the eastern part of the village…

Ting! Ting! Ting!

Suddenly, the striking sound of a bell resounded throughout the whole village.

"An attack!"

It was a signal that the village was under attack. The only question now was whether it was a beast attack or not.

Soon, Stella and her uncle saw the running residents of the eastern part of the village as they try to go somewhere else. It seems that they were running from something so her uncle asked one of the men he knows.

"What's going on? Who's the enemy? Is it a beast attack?"

"No, it's the cult! You have to run as well, Hemil! Bring your niece with you… We need to get away from here… Once the subjugation party came back, we can just retake this village! Hurry!

Hemil, Stella's uncle, nodded seriously as he looked for his niece… He saw her quickly running upstairs probably to take some important belongings as he was sure that she heard the man's words as well.

He also acted and brought his weapons with him as he waited for Stella.

Outside of their house, they can hear the cries of people getting louder. The Arcanists and the guards seem to be fighting with their life as several explosions and Arcane Magic was being thrown around.

"Graaa!!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Some retired Hunters were fighting the berserk members of the cult.

"AAhh! Help me!" Several lives were already taken as the evil people advanced.

"There's too many of them! We can't hold them off! We have to stick together!"

The retired Hunter shouted as they made a formation to handle the assault of the cult members. He can see the five Arcanists battling around twenty members of the cult while the others preyed on the guards…

Hemil wasn't aware of the method that the cult used to easily enter the village.

However, he was sure that their current situation was extremely dire.

Bang!

One of the guards was thrown on the wall of their house. He was only punched by the berserk member of the cult.

Hemil had a cold sweat after seeing the guard landed…

A blood-drenched cult member was now looking at him, his next prey.