This is the story of a magician and an elf girl.

"..."

John quietly approached the city wall, lowered his body and moved forward in the sand pit. He saw that there was an even larger space under the city wall. The smell inside was more like the stench of corpses than the stench of decay. He found it difficult to breathe through his nose, so he switched to breathing through his mouth and put on a mask.

"It stinks. Who can do this?"

"Stop arguing, it's getting worse. Just finish it quickly."

"..."

The orcs, who were working in the same uniforms as the previous batch of puppets, were dealing with the corpses diligently but unhappily. There were not many of them, only two of them, and they were dealing with a large number of corpses with only hoes and shovels in their hands. A careful observation would reveal that these corpses were all puppets, and they had been dead for who knows how many days, and were so rotten that worms had grown in their skulls and filled their eye sockets - it was really disgusting.

"Can't we change the sport?"

"What the boss meant was... we little servants have no right to give instructions..."

"There should be a limit to killing them, about two or three per round."

"The boss is the kind of person who likes to release fifty puppets at the same time. You know that."

"Ahhhh, this is so annoying!! It's all because of those two monsters! Jiesi! And Ao-kun!! This is ridiculous, how can he kill so many puppets alone? It must have been hard to capture them, but I'm not making them your targets!"

"That's how strong they are. What can you do to them? Haha."

"..."

John, who had priority in collecting intelligence, hid among the corpses and continued to wait.

I have a general idea about Aojun, but I have no idea what kind of person Jiesi is. If he is also an orc and has the ability to kill fifty puppets single-handedly, then he is definitely a character that should not be underestimated.

Formulating countermeasures is a necessary process before the battle begins. If multiple threatening opponents join forces, even John will not be able to withstand it.

"..."

He cannot rely on the power of the Magic Eye, as it has not yet regained its full power. The magician has created numerous skills and magic by dividing various abilities. The ability that once could cause a typhoon is now only enough to cause a gale. Most of the power has been taken to another world by adventurers. Even accelerating the cell division cycle to repair the body's lifespan has a limit. Once he loses consciousness and cannot use the Magic Eye - he will definitely die.

The power bestowed by the goddess, the stone tablet that seals the devil insect, and the curse of cause and effect.

The cost of using the magic eye is no joke.

"Ah... if this continues, I'll have to catch puppets again... I can't stand this... I've had enough..."

"What are you afraid of? We can just lure them to this place and catch them easily. That's our job."

"..."

Moreover, John, who suddenly had a flash of inspiration from the topic, looked in the direction behind him as if he had thought of an idea.

That was the place where he had just annihilated the puppets. There were indeed more of them than usual. If they were to find a habitat, it shouldn't take much time given the distance.

This was a bad idea, he knew. If Linnae was also affected...

"I must use the tokens when I get back. I finally saved up enough money and can finally have a comfortable night."

"Ahh... Is it that busty girl again? You like her so much... Don't you find it disgusting that she is fucked by other men every day?"

"You, an incompetent fellow, wouldn't understand. If I were truly in love, I wouldn't show such affection to her. It doesn't matter who she gets fucked by. The tokens in my hand can buy her three days in my room. During that time, she's mine."

"..."

You haven't forgotten who your opponent is.

Of course not.

John left the cave and walked towards the source of the puppets, with a determined look without any confusion.

Since the power of the magic eye cannot be exerted, dealing with a large number of opponents is definitely the worst of the worst strategies. It is better to say that the strength of the tiger wolf man cannot be exerted at all in the soft desert if he is allowed to stand on the hard ground and fight.

John felt that the possibility of his defeat was more than 70%.

It's too risky. If she loses again this time... Linna will spend the rest of her life there as a tool for the reproductive elves.

And I will become a corpse on the bamboo pole and be dried into bones.

There is no turning back. The best strategy is to be fully prepared before taking on the challenge.

Even if it has to be done through the teeth and dirty hands of puppets.

"We'll see..."

John continued to move forward towards the center of the desert, following the footprints left by the puppets and keeping a certain distance to prevent them from discovering his presence. Although they could chase their targets based on smell, John's whole body was now filled with the stench of corpses, just like theirs, with no difference at all and it was really difficult to distinguish.

At the same time, a silhouette the size of a black ant gradually came into view.

“…Over there…”

After John checked the status of his weapons on the top of the sand dune, he naturally did not risk attacking them. With his current equipment and existing strength, it was too unwise to deal with hundreds of puppets - the same went for the people in the fortress.

So what needs to be done is very simple, that is bait warfare.

"Roar, gaaaaaa!"

"..."

"Snap." John made sure that the direction was still within visual range and cut the hyena's neck with a knife. When the second hyena jumped over, he threw the dagger.

"Snap!" The hyena fell to the ground and groaned, and died on the spot. The third hyena saw that the situation was not good and wanted to turn around and leave.

"Swoosh, snap!" Who would have known that a throwing knife had pierced its hind legs. It was running while dragging its hind legs, dying, and then it was stabbed again on the other foot. It could only rely on its front legs and lie on the ground, rubbing its belly on the sand.

"run?"

"Gah?!"

If he really wanted to kill it, John would have killed it more than three times.

Now he knows better than anyone how evil what he is about to do is, so he will do it because that is who he is, and that is what a man named John would do.

"Roar……"

“Ga…” “Ga…”

"Ah..." Then he threw the injured hyena into the group of puppets.

"Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

A heart-wrenching wail was heard - as bait, it naturally had to be a living creature with flesh and blood in order to attract more puppets. The prerequisite was the wail, and then the smell of flesh and blood that could attract the living creature. After the feeding began, the puppets would only enter the eating state, constantly looking for edible pieces of meat.

He dug out the internal organs from the two hyenas and kept throwing pieces of meat on the sand along the way. He waited for the puppets to catch up and continued to throw food until they moved forward and discovered the existence of the fortress - the spreading smell of blood had already entered their nostrils.

“Roar… Gagaga!!”

"Quack quack!!"

Killing people is a very simple thing. He knows this matter better than anyone else. It is really too easy to do.

Therefore, he attaches importance to how to save a weak life.

There is a huge difference between those who can't do it and those who can.

"Wow! What…"

"Guga?!"

The cleaner, with his mouth covered, saw his companion being shot through the neck by a sharp throwing knife, and his armpits being strangled by a thick wrist. Looking in the direction of the wrist, he saw a tiger claw pressed against his neck, unable to move - enemy attack? No, he was going to be killed, help... help...

"Where is the door to the fort?"

"What...what...is there...we can talk it over...relax...relax..."

"Where is the door? Answer or you will die a horrible death, just like the corpse under your feet."

"Alas……"

The cleaner, not knowing the purpose of his words, looked towards the desert, feeling that the other party had deliberately adjusted his perspective.

The black ants that came into view were heading towards the fortress in numbers that could not be underestimated. The cleaner immediately realized John's intention and the imminent fate of the fortress, and immediately told the other party the information he wanted to know: "Behind, behind! At the edge of the corner, there is a reinforced iron door! The key is in my companion's pocket! Please don't kill me!"

"Snap!" John, who was not even sure of the intelligence, cut open the opponent's neck with a knife. The splattering blood dyed his hands red. Although this way of dying was much happier than being torn into pieces by puppets, he was still an unfortunate guy as he could not avoid death.

John, who found the key from the cleaner's body, found the iron door, opened the thick mortise lock, inserted the key into the hole, flipped open the heavy iron bar, and pushed the iron door open with one foot, letting the hinge flip along the wall.