Flandre Scarlet pondered how she would play when those people arrived in a moment. The Great Barrier was an option, but she didn't know how many people there were. If there were too many, pulling them all in would be a great burden for her.
So... Flandre looked toward both sides of the valley, and her eyes lit up as she looked toward the southern side. It was a depression overgrown with trees, with only a single path through the middle. It was quite hidden and perfect for Flandre's games.
If anyone else came, they would likely choose to block the valley entrance and wait for the enemy to retreat. After all, the situation inside the valley was complex, and there could be falling rocks at any time; the longer one stayed, the more dangerous it became. However, the valley entrance was over ten meters wide. To block it, besides Shield Guards, it would take about ten ordinary people.
But Flandre didn't care about blocking the door. To her, this depression—roughly the size of two or three football fields—was her target.
By now, faint figures had begun to appear to the north, proving that the Ursus people had reached the northern part of the valley. It would take them at most an hour to reach this side and pass through the valley to the depression.
Time waits for no one!
Flandre jumped into the thickets of the depression. She carved runes onto the trees one by one, and before the enemy was even halfway there, Flandre had finished all her preparations. She flew back to the mountaintop, watching the Ursus people below as they cautiously made their way through the valley.
Upon seeing their familiar Reconnaissance Squad uniforms, Flandre's gaze turned completely ice-cold. Seeing their slow, dawdling pace, the impatient Flandre clapped her hands together.
Earth Magic: "Great Earth Tremor"
In an instant, the great mountain began to vibrate slightly. Accompanying the mountain's vibration, shattered rocks began to fall from the valley walls. The people below hadn't expected to suddenly encounter an earthquake when they were halfway through the valley. Many tried to run back. But the path they came from was already filled with fallen rocks. So they could only grit their teeth and charge forward.
Fortunately, they were lucky; after rushing out of the valley, they found that not a single person had died. But at the same time, they felt like their luck might not be that good after all.
Because the forest in front of them didn't seem to be the one they knew!
They looked at the guide, who indicated he had no idea! In his memory, this was a forest with quite a few thorns—a common sight around here—but he had never seen anything like what was before them. A jungle shrouded in blood mist. The smell of fresh blood made these people feel uncomfortable even while wearing respirators. The thick mist covered the entire area. When they looked up at the sky, they found that their field of vision overhead had become extremely dim.
If the road behind hadn't been blocked and rocks weren't still falling from the cliffs from time to time, they would have had the urge to turn back and go home. After all, no matter how you looked at it, the path ahead was too eerie. Moreover, seeing this pervasive blood mist made them think of a certain Blood Demon associated with blood, who had previously caused a great deal of trouble in Ursus.
"What should we do? Go forward or stay?" Someone asked.
The leader looked at the red mist and indicated he didn't want to go in at all, but if they stayed here once it got dark, it would be even more of the enemy's home turf. With no way to retreat, they could only continue forward. He thought for a moment and suddenly had a bright idea. He took a long rope out of his backpack. This was originally intended for tying up large numbers of Infected after capturing them, but now it had a new use.
"Everyone line up and hold onto the rope as we walk together. This will help us avoid getting separated as much as possible."
Although some felt this method was a bit silly, they couldn't find any other solution. This blood mist jungle looked more and more eerie; if they delayed for too long, problems would inevitably arise. So, they swallowed hard to calm their inner fear, gripped the rope, and began to cautiously walk into the blood mist.
After walking dozens of steps, the person at the very front started to have some regrets; the mist was even thicker than imagined. Coupled with the already complex terrain, their maps weren't detailed enough to show them exactly how to take every step. In a situation where you couldn't see your feet when looking down and the headlamps could only illuminate a small patch in front of you, everyone's tension was pulled to the limit. If anyone slipped or pulled the rope tight for any reason, it would make everyone around them jump. But these people were considered well-trained; after gradually adapting to the darkness, they became increasingly calm.
However, Flandre wasn't about to let them pass through this area so safely.
"Did you guys hear some kind of sound?" "Where is there a sound?" "I heard it too, there's definitely a sound. It's a little girl's..." "Is she singing?" "What singing? She's laughing... she's laughing in my ear!" "Damn it, what are you hearing? Why can't I hear anything?" "Aaaaah, she's right next to us, she's going to kill us, we're going to die, aaaaah..."
Someone began to break down and let go of the rope; in the next second, they were completely swallowed by the thick mist.
"Damn it, this is an enemy trick! No one let go of the rope! Hold it tight and stay close to your comrades!"
The captain in the lead shouted loudly, attempting to calm everyone down. Then, the young girl's voice rang out in his ear.
"Hee hee hee hee, are you here to play with Flan? Flan has so many games she wants to play!" "What should we play? I know, let's play the 'Wooden Man' game." "In a moment, I'll start counting. When I stop, no one is allowed to move!" "Those who move are bad children, and bad children must be punished by Flan." "So, the game begins!" "1, 2, 3..."
The numbers began to ring in everyone's ears. Everyone watched their surroundings warily while pricking up their ears to listen to the sounds around them. Just then, the counting suddenly stopped.
Some people followed the voice's instructions and stopped instantly, while others continued to grope their way forward as they pleased.
"Oh dear, so many people aren't listening to Flan?" "But if I kill everyone at once, there won't be many left to play games with Flan. So, what should I do?" "Then Flan will pick a few of the most disobedient ones!" "I hope everyone else listens well in the next game!"
As soon as the girl's voice vanished, screams erupted from the positions of several comrades. Then, those nearby felt liquid splashing onto their bodies. Looking down, it was their comrades' blood.
"Damn it, everyone, indiscriminate attack on the surround— ah..."
The person who spoke hadn't finished before they lost consciousness after a scream. After several people died, the others finally began to obediently listen to Flandre's words.
Flandre sat cross-legged, floating above their heads, clapping her hands while watching them go in circles in the mist. Ten minutes later, the people below also realized something was wrong. They felt they had walked at least one or two kilometers. How had they not walked out of this thick mist yet?
At that moment, someone accidentally stepped on the remains of a person who had died earlier. After seeing the situation up close, they shouted out, and the group realized they had been walking in circles the whole time. At this point, many people began to break down and curse loudly. Various Ursus profanities came wave after wave.
"Hm, although you guys are very bad, Flan is a good child. Now, turn left and keep going straight, and you'll be able to walk out of the mist zone!"
After a few seconds of silence, Flandre's voice rang in their ears.
"What do we do?"
Everyone knew by now that they had become fish on someone else's chopping block, but even so, everyone wanted to desperately survive.
"Staying here is also death. Why don't we try going left?" "Blood Demons can't be trusted. How about we do the opposite and go right?"
After someone made this suggestion, the others adopted it one after another. Then, under Flandre's "guidance," they circled around again and rushed out of the blood mist from the "right."
When they came out, they originally wanted to shout for joy. But looking up, wasn't this the same valley entrance they had just entered from? By now, the fallen rocks had completely blocked the way back, leaving them with nothing but a wall of despair.
This time, everyone truly broke down. Even when Flandre landed behind them, no one looked back. Despair had broken through everyone's mental defenses. They now had only one thought: to die a quick death.
Flandre sensed their thoughts and snapped her fingers. Everyone found themselves appearing in the middle of a smoke-filled battlefield.
"Welcome to the second game, the Invasion of Poland." "You are all playing as brave Polish cavalrymen. In front of you are your mounts. Mount them and face your enemies. If you survive, I'll give you a chance to live." "And your opponent is a general named Heinz Wilhelm Guderian and his XIX Panzer Corps." "Hurry, hurry! Your enemies are about to arrive. Take up your weapons, mount your horses, and show your bravery! Ura!" "One last reminder: if you run away, I will execute you as deserters!"
The girl's voice was sharp and loud, yet it couldn't drown out the thunderous roar coming from the distance. They blankly mounted their warhorses and then saw... rows of armored vehicles and tanks rolling over the other side of the hill, then charging toward them amidst the clamor of road wheels...
They instinctively looked at their own weapons: a knight's sword that was impossibly beautiful and a lance like the ones seen in Kazimierz's Major. So... we're supposed to use these things in our hands to charge against those iron lumps? And survive?
Before they could even think about running away, the tanks in the distance had already aimed their barrels at them. After a burst of smoke, only a pile of mangled flesh remained.
In the next second, they were back at the edge of the forest shrouded in red mist.
"How regrettable. Not a single one of you passed the game, so you can go ahead and die!"
This was the last sentence Flandre left there. Then, she raised her small hand and squeezed hard...