Time passed. The sun set, night arrived, but soon it, too, faded away, giving space once more to the morning light.
It was early. The first rays of sunlight had just appeared when Dante, who was in meditation, opened his eyes. He had managed to gather four strands of mana within his body.
"It seems reaching Three Stars will take a few months, huh…" he murmured, standing up as he stared at the sunrise.
Cultivating in the morning truly felt better—as if training under sunlight brought hidden benefits. As he pondered about waking early and meditating, warm memories of Viviane surfaced in his heart.
After living with her for a month, they had grown close. How is she doing? Maybe I should bring her a gift… A bouquet of flowers would be nice.
However, his thoughts were cut short when Gabriel approached, along with a few nearby members.
"Good morning! The captain is calling us. Looks like we're going to discuss the rescue of the hostages."
Dante returned the greeting and headed to the meeting. Most members were already gathered; only a few who were still cultivating were missing.
He simply nodded to everyone and took his position. Then he looked at the captain and the vice-captains, trying to read their expressions.
They appeared solemn, as if facing a difficult situation. In front of them stood a small improvised table, and on it, a map.
A red circle had been drawn on its surface. Beside it were notes, though Dante couldn't read them from where he stood.
He waited silently until the remaining members arrived—Luke, Cylan, and Lena.
And once they did, the discussion began.
Crowler stepped forward to speak, explaining what they had discovered.
"Good morning, everyone. As we agreed yesterday, we will rescue the hostages. We stayed behind to analyze the best routes and decisions to take."
"We went through the information provided and came up with a plan for the mission."
"The location where the hostages are being held is here," Crowler said, pointing to a spot on the map. "Southeast from our current position."
"It's a relatively open area of the forest, which makes stealth movements difficult overall. So we'll have to confront them head-on."
"For that reason, we believe an attack now—while the sun still has a long way before setting—is the perfect moment. We don't know how long the battle might drag on, and we don't want to face the enemy when they're at their strongest."
"If you're all ready, we'll depart immediately," Crowler said firmly, as if leading them into a war.
It was dawn, and everyone was prepared—he knew that. But he needed to confirm that no one would back out. Fortunately, no one did.
"Excellent." Crowler placed several items on the table. "These are Level 1, Intermediate-Grade talismans. One for each of you—enough to save your lives."
"In addition, there are pills to recover mana, and this one for severe injuries. As expected, there aren't many. They're for emergencies, not for prolonged combat."
Crowler paused while everyone stored the pills and talismans in their dimensional pouches. Only then did he continue:
"We will strike the evil gods first. The hostages must only be freed after that—we don't know if they've been corrupted."
"You should only engage opponents of your level or lower. And if possible, eliminate them as quickly as you can."
"We'll advance in Formation 1-6-7. I'll take the front, and the strongest after me will stay in the rear."
"Our strategy is to attack through encirclement. Evil gods are intelligent, but if we catch them off guard in a siege, they panic easily."
"But there's one thing you must remember: do not let them escape. Kill every evil god you can. Let's move!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Everyone began preparing, quickly leaving the quarry and heading southeast from their original position.
Dante was in the middle of the formation, right behind Crowler. According to John, they would need to advance about forty minutes in that direction.
It wasn't far, but the entire path needed to be taken with caution.
They arrived at the location in about fifty minutes. Fortunately, they had not encountered any evil gods along the way. From afar, they observed.
Around two evil gods stood near a cage filled with several humans.
Dante and many others were visibly shocked. It was their first time seeing evil gods—and they were nothing like he expected.
He had imagined corrupted monsters, feral beasts—like the imp that once chased him. Instead, they resembled ordinary humans, with only a few differences:
Long claws. Black eyes. Hair completely dark and unkempt. Sickly expressions.
And that was truly terrifying—because they looked far too human to be seen as eternal enemies of humankind.
"Don't be fooled," Crowler's quiet but firm voice echoed. "These are not their true forms. Evil gods become more humanlike…"
"The more they consume us."