Laszlo cried out as his shoulders were soaked with blood.
āItās weird. Whereās the inspection team?ā
Thierry, who had a bandage wrapped over his head, shot back sharply.
āHavenāt you realized?ā
āWe were fooled. Thisā¦ This is a trap!ā
Thierry turned his head to look at Tez.
āTez, where did you get the letter back then?ā
Tez murmured back with a pale face.
āThe inspection teamās squire gave it to me. He said that the team had already left for the forbidden regionā¦ā
āHis name wasā¦ Fred, I think? I donāt remember his name, but he introduced himself as a squire of the investigation team. Hey, you think Iām stupid? The moment I got the letter, of course I checked the temporary lodgings where the investigation team was staying, and it was already empty!ā
Heād been silent until now, but Merrick asked.
āIs it Alfred? The kid who said heās from House Roderick?ā
The moment that House Roderick was mentioned, Radis clenched her teeth so hard that her molars let out a grinding sound.
None of these men knew just how much House Roderick went out of their way to interfere with everything that Robert did.
But would they really go to this extent just for the lone reason that Robert was the son of a concubine?
Theyāre acting like the laws donāt apply to them.
āNo, I canāt jump to conclusions. I need to assess the situation as it is.ā
She led the subjugation squad towards the forbidden region so that they could find any traces of the imperial inspection team.
They were now near the Tree of Tartarus, which they heard was the investigation teamās destination, but there were no traces of them at all.
More than half the squad had incurred major and minor injuries throughout this journey.
In addition, the next area over was already the very center of the forbidden region where the Tree of Tartarus was.
āThe pursuit is off. Weāre withdrawing!ā
Suddenly, Laszloās body was flung into the air.
Countless branches were stretching out from the Tree of Tartarusā trunk, casting web-like shadows throughout the fog.
So, it couldnāt be ascertained.
It was impossible to know if there was a real spider web looming within those shadows.
āItās the same as back then!ā
Radis grabbed the web that was attached to the back of her neck.
A bright flame rose from her hand.
Her gaze was focused first on her hand, and then she looked up.
Above her head, a thread as thick as a human beingās finger was coming down from the white fog and the web-like shadows.
In fact, it was burning rapidly from where she had grabbed it.
With a clicking sound, the broken thread fell.
With cold eyes, Radis inspected the rapidly burning thread.
She knew it now. Itās the same thread that had snatched Laszlo away.
āIām really unlucky, huh.ā
How on earth could she be so unlucky.
There were many monsters protecting the Tree of Tartarus.
Elves that used the power of spirits. Centaurs that fired arrows with great power. Even immortal golems.
But by far, the most dangerous out of them all was this Arachne.
Radis looked up overhead.
In that suffocating haze, there was a black shadow.
āYouāyouāre the one whoā¦!ā
The faces of her dying comrades flashed before her eyes.
At that moment, Radis was engulfed by an uncontrollable wrath.
She had already died once and this was her second chance at life, but still, it was something that she couldnāt forget.
How long had she spent repeating in her mind the events that took place on that day, blaming herself with all her heart.
When she didnāt notice the trap, when she shuddered at her own helplessness, when she watched her dying comrades. She blamed herself for everything.
After her second life began, she comforted herself by convincing herself that she was now the sixteen-year-old Radis. She chanted to herself as if it was a mantra that none of that happenedāno, that it wouldĀ neverĀ happen in the future.
She actively tried not to think of it at all.
Until she came here to the forbidden region.
Her hand gripped the sword that was entirely covered in rust.
No. It was now covered in mana.
The mana-infused sword trembled faintly in her grasp.
A sharp sound tore through the stagnant fog.
As fast as an arrow, as hard as steel, as flexible as a whip.
And, it was also sticky that it was almost impossible to take it off when itās already stuck on you.
How many people had been lost to this web in the pastā¦!
āBut itās different now!ā
As she thought this, Radis infused mana into the rusty sword.
Over the surface of the sword that was covered with lumps of rust, showers of sparks could be seen by the naked eye.
She was infusing mana in a rough manner, but there was no other choice.
It was something that she learned through the struggles she faced in her past life.
Fire was the best weapon against a spiderās web.