Chapter 149
Upper level of the White Dragon Offering Hall. The room of the stone tablet and prayer.
On the floor where a magic circle faintly glowed, green smoke rose, and several men appeared.
"Hah... hah... hah...!"
"Damn it... They made fools of us...!"
"Everyone got taken out... How did it come to this...!"
Because they had used the escape item, the gang members were teleported back to the room with the first stone tablet.
There had been at least fifty gang members... but now only a few remained.
It was supposed to be an easy job—take down just four people, Clael and the Temple Knights guarding him, and abduct one.
"We got wrecked... Damn it! At this rate, the organization will collapse!"
"We'll definitely pay you back for this... Just you wait!"
Cursing one after another, the gang members ran toward the stairs connected to the land to escape from the White Dragon Offering Hall.
They had to escape quickly—those people might come after them.
They no longer had the advantage in numbers. Capturing Clael was now impossible.
On the contrary... with this defeat, the gang had lost the majority of their main fighting force.
At this point, even rebuilding the organization was in jeopardy.
"Those brats... How dare they set us up like this!"
"This won't be the end... It's not over! I'll kill every last one of them!"
Shouting obscenities, the gang members burst out of the White Dragon Offering Hall.
And then, they were forced to stop in their tracks.
"Huh...?"
A large number of humans stood before them.
Soldiers, knights, and people who appeared to be priests surrounded the dungeon entrance, leaving not even a gap for a kitten to slip through.
At their feet lay familiar figures.
"Ugh..."
"Y-You bastard..."
The ones lying at the knights' feet were the gang members who had been left outside to keep watch.
They were all restrained, collapsed on the ground like caterpillars.
"They're out! The outlaws!"
"Capture them!"
Seeing the gang members emerge, the knights immediately sprang into action.
"W-What the hell are you guys!?"
"Royal Knights! Stay where you are!"
The gang members who had come outside were pinned to the ground and bound with rope.
The sudden turn of events left them no time to resist.
"N-No way... They were lying in wait!?"
The gang didn't know... but this had all gone according to plan.
Clael... Crown Prince Eric had gathered trustworthy people for this decoy operation.
They had no idea who might be connected to the gang or corrupt nobles.
That's why... only those who could be trusted without question were carefully selected to participate in the operation.
The knights and Temple Knights... fewer than fifty participants were recruited from each group, showing how strictly the numbers were limited.
"Operation complete. The outlaws have been restrained!"
"We'll wait for His Highness the Crown Prince to return. If everything went according to plan, he should be out soon!"
"We're taking these guys back to the castle for interrogation! All their comrades who aren't here will be captured too, so they better be ready!"
"Damn... Damn it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
At the knights' words, one of the bound gang members shouted in frustration.
His empty cry was swallowed by the surrounding forest, echoing hollowly into the distance.