Killing one of the high-ranking members of the Race that rules this forest.
It wasn't easy, especially since we've been dealing with them quite a lot for the past seven days.
The attack timeframe was starting to decrease because of what Alf did to the lion earlier, but that wouldn't buy much time, they would certainly put more strength into the next attack.
Killing one of them would certainly have a significant impact, especially since there was an enemy side acting as an informant.
A little too sweet, is this a trap?
Even though this wasn't a trap, we did need allies.
There were too many enemies we were facing right now, it was only a matter of time before they all put maximum pressure on us to corner us.
With the tree growing bigger and bigger, time was running out.
"I'll follow your decision, have you asked Gampa about this?"
When I mentioned his name, a glimpse of the hairless cat with the cloth around his neck appeared in my head.
It's been two days since he went to gather information, how is he now?
In response, Alf nodded slowly.
"Actually, it was Gampa who gave me information about this last night, he sent a letter using insects as a carrier."
I see, thank goodness he wasn't hurt.
"If that's the decision, we don't need to ask the opinions of those four kids either, right?"
"Hmm… I think it would be better if they didn't know the details…" Alf narrowed his eyes, looking a little doubtful about the decision he had made.
"They will follow whatever decision you make, that's why we don't need to ask their opinions, right?"
"Ahaha… although I actually wish they would oppose it a little…"
"Well, we just need to tell them after making sure everything is going smoothly,,,"
"Yes, you're right…"
We quickened our pace towards the depths of the forest, at some point there were several attacks from the Hyena Race who had been watching since earlier, but we were able to avoid them and separate ourselves by utilizing our body size and the Energy called Mana.
With our small bodies, we were able to hide in the bushes and by Utilizing the strange Energy called Mana, we were able to manipulate the body odor that stuck by flowing the air and sending it to a faraway place.
Hyenas have a sharp sense of smell, they will catch the smell and follow it slowly.
On the other hand, we started taking the opposite path and reached a Cave that was near the river waters.
Seeing the big tree where we lived was on the southwest side, it seemed that we were now on the north side of the Forest.
After observing the cave entrance without any guards, we stepped in.
The light immediately became darkness, then became bright again as our eyes quickly adapted to the lack of lighting.
There were many separate passages, with several wooden markers that had different symbols written on them.
One of the symbols depicted four small circles connected to one large circle, it looked like the soles of our feet.
Alf immediately walked into the passage with the sign without hesitation, with me five steps behind him.
It didn't take long until we found another passage, there were several passages we had to pass through until we finally arrived at a room with two burning torches.
Between the two torches was a hole the size of a boar, there was a sound of friction inside.
I put my left hand behind my back, with Alf holding his breath.
A hand emerged from the hole, a hand that was quite large compared to the arm that connected it.
It wasn't very clear because of the lighting, the fur that covered its body was reddish brown.
Less than a meter tall, reddish brown fur, eyes with full black pupils, a snout with a small circle at the end. There were several others that also appeared after, with a total of five.
What race were they from? I couldn't figure it out.
I looked at Alf, he just kept quiet and stared at them without saying anything.
"Sorry for the long journey to get here, but I hope you can understand. After all, the fate of our entire Race is at stake."
One of the first raised his voice.
Alf started to breathe normally and the atmosphere around him softened.
"No problem, there's not much time here so make it short. My name is Alfa, I lead the guardian creatures of the disaster tree."
The disaster tree, that's how all the animals in the forest describe our home.
The representative nodded and raised his head.
"I am Opus, the leader of the mole race. Then let's get straight to the point, as written I plan to overthrow one of the races that holds power in this forest, in return I will provide important information about the forest rulers that would certainly be very helpful."
"Opus, huh? Nice name."
"Thank you, the exchange will be carried out according to what I said earlier. I would like to hear your opinion."
"That's a good exchange, I just want to add a little something."
Alf held his breath once more and exhaled in a very slow rhythm.
At the same time, the atmosphere in this small room began to feel a little bit piercing.
"And, what is that?" The rat named Opus lowered his body slightly, those behind him followed suit.
But when Alf caught this movement, he immediately lurched his body forward, right where the rats were and swung his arm.
"Urghhh—!"
In that very short time he was able to press his arm at the base of the rat named Opus' neck, then lifted him up.
"Opus, I hope you can be my hostage for a while."
The atmosphere froze instantly.
The mole followers' eyes changed from confusion to anger and one of them tried to move back.
I swiftly stopped him, hitting his head with my tail then giving the rest same thing.
Four moles were already lying on the ground.
Somehow that sounded funny.
"Damn it!! What's the meaning of this?! Aren't we supposed to work together?!" Opus who was still struggling from Alf's grip couldn't do much but scream.
His fur stood up and shook, his dark eyes widened as he spat at Alf's face.
Alf dodged it easily.
"Sorry but working with someone who stabbed his own comrades without hesitation wasn't an option from the start."
"Urghh—!!" Opus groaned, saliva starting to flow from his mouth, it seemed like Alf tightened his grip on his neck.
"To me this world is scary, so scary that it makes me afraid of every bad thing that might happen at any time. When such a thing really happens, the only person who can be expected to help is a comrade."
Alf released his grip, causing the pitiful Opus to groan once more and crawl away.
"When I first read the information about you guys planning to commit treason, the first thing I felt was confusion, which soon turned into sadness and pity. But when I read the next line that said that you were only trying to use our presence to exterminate that Race, and had also set a trap for us to fall into, the only emotion left was anger."
"I do consider all creatures in this forest as my enemies, but I still set a minimum limit of respect that I can give."
Alf walked closer to Opus who continued to crawl away.
His expression became more and more gloomy.
He lifted his foot and stepped on the rat's back, then pressed it down and caused a crack in the ground.
"Urffhh—!"
The rat couldn't hold it in, its mouth was leaking vomit and blood, its eyes looked like they were about to pop out and the hole in its lower body was leaking something foul-smelling.
It would die if Alf continued to step on it like that.
Ignoring that, Alf looked up at the ceiling and narrowed his eyes.
"Lastly, you've also set up a trap in this secluded room. Do you think I wouldn't know? The smell of energy flowing around this room… you plan to bury us here if things go wrong."
Ah, I also noticed it when I entered it, there was indeed something strange about this room.
But to conclude that it was a trap and not something natural…
How did Alf see it?
"I'll only give you one choice, work for us with everything you have."
Alf lifted his leg, kicking the rat to hit the dirt wall and bounced away.
"There's no refusal, if there is then the only thing you'll see is your territory being destroyed afterwards. You've surely heard about what I've done to the Lion Race who are the leaders of this forest, right?"