Chapter 20: The Laughing Fiends Attack

After walking for a while, Mira asked, "What about the other village?"

"It’s fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"If the Laughing Fiends are surrounding the villages, then what about the people there?"

"You don’t need to worry about them."

"Why?"

"There are other people helping the elder."

Mira looked at him.

"Other people?"

Ethan nodded.

"Yeah."

Mira thought for a moment.

"People like you?"

"Sure."

Ethan didn’t say anything else. After all, they had all entered this world around the same time. It wasn’t wrong to say there were people like him there.

Mira seemed relieved.

"That’s good."

She continued walking for a little while before saying, "Come with me. I’ll treat you to something to eat."

Ethan wasn’t expecting that.

"Food?"

"You’ve been traveling for so long. You should be hungry."

Ethan thought about it for a moment.

"Alright."

Mira smiled.

"Then let’s go."

...

Deep in the forest, a camp had been set up between the trees.

Laughing Fiends moved around the camp, preparing food, checking their weapons, and keeping watch around the area. More of them were gathered near the tents, waiting for orders.

Inside the largest tent, several Laughing Fiends sat around a wooden table. The commander sat at the head of the table.

One of the Laughing Fiends finally broke the silence.

"Commander, I still haven’t received a report from the group I sent to intercept the messenger."

The commander raised his head.

"How long?"

"Three hours."

"Three hours?"

"Yes. They should have returned much earlier."

The Laughing Fiend slammed his fist against the table.

"Those idiots. What are they doing?"

"How many did you send?"

"Sixteen."

The commander frowned.

"Sixteen should have been more than enough for one messenger."

"That’s what I thought."

The tent became quiet for a moment.

They had already spent more than two weeks in the area, gathering information about the two villages and cutting off their communication. Their original plan had been simple. They would wipe out the weaker village first, then deal with the other one.

"Everything was going according to plan until those outsiders showed up," one of the Laughing Fiends said.

The commander nodded. "The first village was supposed to be the easy target. But with that many outsiders inside, attacking it directly became too risky."

"So we switched our attention to the second village."

"Exactly."

The commander glanced at the map on the table.

"The second village has fewer defenders, and they don’t have those outsiders protecting them. If we wipe them out first, we can deal with the first village afterward."

Another Laughing Fiend frowned.

"But now the messenger has entered the second village."

The commander raised his head.

"If he reaches them and tells them what’s happening, they might send people to help the first village."

"And we don’t know how many people are already there," another added.

"Then we can’t give them time to react."

One of the Laughing Fiends leaned forward. "Should we attack the second village first?"

"We will."

"But the main force won’t go there immediately."

One of them looked confused. "Then where?"

"The first village."

"The one with the outsiders?"

"Yes."

The commander pointed toward the map.

"We’ll send a small group to attack the first village. They don’t need to break through. They only need to make enough noise to keep the outsiders and the villagers occupied."

His finger moved to the second village.

"While they’re busy dealing with them, the main force will attack the second village."

"If the messenger already delivered his message, won’t they be prepared?"

"They might be."

The commander leaned back in his chair.

"But being prepared won’t matter if they don’t have enough people to defend themselves."

He stood and looked around the table.

"We wipe out the second village first. Then we turn our attention to the outsiders."

The others nodded.

"Prepare everyone. We move now."

...

Mira led Ethan to a small restaurant near the center of the village. They had only just started eating when one of the Shadow Wraiths Ethan had left in the forest sent him information.

Several Laughing Fiends had left their camp, and more were gathering behind them. From what the Shadow Wraith could see, there were quite a few of them, and they were all moving in the direction of the village.

Ethan put down his food.

"The Laughing Fiends are coming."

Mira looked up. "What?"

"They’ve left their camp and they’re heading toward the village. There are quite a few of them."

Mira immediately stood up. "We need to tell the captain."

Ethan nodded and got up as well. They left the restaurant and quickly headed toward the building near the western gate. When they arrived, Mira pushed the door open.

"Captain."

The captain looked up from the table where he had been going over some reports.

"What happened?"

"The Laughing Fiends are moving," Mira said. "Ethan’s Shadow Wraiths spotted them. A large group has left their camp and is heading this way."

The captain’s expression became serious.

"How many?"

"We don’t know exactly," Ethan answered. "But there are enough of them that I don’t think they’re coming here for a small attack."

The captain stood up and looked toward the guards nearby.

"Get the men ready. Keep watching the western gate and make sure the eastern gate is guarded too."

The guards immediately left to carry out his orders.

Ethan waited until they were gone before asking, "How many guards do you have in the village?"

"About thirty."

Ethan shook his head. "That’s too few. I saw hundreds of Laughing Fiends gathering. What are thirty guards going to do against that?"

The captain’s expression became serious. "Hundreds?"

"That’s what I saw. I can’t say exactly how many there are, but there were a lot of them."

The captain was silent for a moment before looking toward the guards outside.

"Then we’ll have to make use of what we have."

"We need to prepare before they arrive," Ethan said. "Thirty guards won’t be enough to stop them, so we need another way."

The captain looked at him. "What do you suggest?"

"I’ll go out and stop them before they reach the village."

The captain stared at him.

"You’re going alone?"

"Yes."

"There could be hundreds of them."

"I know."

Ethan had no reason to bring the villagers into the fight. With eight hundred Shadow Wraiths under his control, he had enough to deal with the Laughing Fiends himself.

"If I can slow them down, you’ll have more time to prepare the village."

The captain was still unsure.

"You’ve already fought sixteen of them, but this is different. If there really are hundreds..."

"I’ll be fine."

The captain looked at him for a moment before finally nodding.

"Alright. We’ll get the guards ready while you deal with them."

Ethan turned toward the door.

"Good. I’ll leave through the western gate."

Mira immediately followed him out of the building.

"I’m coming too."

Ethan stopped and glanced back at her. She was already a few steps behind him.

"No. Stay here."

"But..."

"I’ll handle this. You should stay with the captain and help prepare the village."

Mira hesitated, but she eventually nodded.

"Alright. Be careful."

"I will."

Ethan turned and continued toward the western gate.

He had no intention of waiting for the Laughing Fiends to reach the village. There were only around thirty guards here, while the group he had seen in the forest numbered in the hundreds.

Fighting inside the village would only put the villagers at risk.

And there was another reason he wanted to handle this himself.

[Regional Quest: Protect a Novice Village]

The quest was still active.

Ethan had already done most of the work by himself. With eight hundred Shadow Wraiths now under his control, there was no reason to let the guards fight an enemy they couldn’t handle.

He would deal with the Laughing Fiends outside the village.

At the same time, he could complete the quest and take the contribution for himself.