Seeker 116

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Chapter 116. [Stealth] Skill

We followed the elf girl Riviera, who asked us to help her friends.

After walking through the forest for a while, Riviera stopped.

"It's up ahead," she said, pointing beyond the dense trees.

A faint light, likely from a bonfire, could be seen.

The story was that the kidnappers were camping in the forest.

There still seemed to be some distance to the campsite.

From that direction, we could hear several voices. 

I couldn't make out what they were saying clearly, but among the many male voices, there was a faint voice that sounded like a scream.

"Rize, Shia, please be safe...!"

Riviera let out a desperate cry as if praying.

Kazane-san and Yuzuki also stared forward with piercing gazes.

I conveyed a message to Riviera.

"From here on, we'll go alone. You stay here and wait."

"Understood. I know I'm being insistent, but please, save Rize and Shia... my friends."

I nodded in response and then turned to Kazane-san.

"Kazane-san, do you still have Skill Points left?"

"Oh, sorry. I used it to acquire [Stealth]."

"I see. Well, that works out. I was planning to suggest you take [Stealth]."

"I see. And what about Hotaru-chan?"

"Well, my available Skill list doesn't include [Stealth] from the beginning. Damn it, am I the only one without it?"

"Ah, hahaha... Sorry about that, Hotaru-chan."

"Never mind about being in sync. But if that's the case, it might be better for Kazane-san and me to go ahead first."

I accessed the Skill acquisition screen and obtained the [Stealth] Skill.

It was a Skill that had been on the list since Level 1, and I had thought it was a Skill that would lead to death. 

But now I was acquiring it, bringing about a somewhat indescribable sense of emotion.

Upon acquiring the skill, I intuitively understood how to use it.

I could consciously control the effect, reducing my presence and any signs of my presence, and minimizing any noise I made.

As a test, I turned on the effect of the [Stealth] Skill.

At that moment, Kazane-san, who was next to me, reacted slightly.

"Daichi-kun, did you use [Stealth]?"

"Yes, I did. Can you sense it?"

"Yeah. I think I can perceive the presence with [Sense Presence], but it's becoming faint, like a whisper. I noticed it because I'm right next to you, but if you were far away, I probably wouldn't realize it had disappeared."

I see.

That means it has some effect even against someone with [Sense Presence].

"Well, then, I..."

Just as Kazane-san said that her presence seemed to diminish.

I still see her if I focused on myself, but she blended into the background, making me difficult to perceive her.

Of course, the effect wasn't that powerful; it just made recognition of her slightly more challenging.

"Alright. So Kazane-san and I will go ahead and assess the situation. Yuzuki, move when we give the signal."

"Got it."

Kazane-san and I nodded to each other and proceeded through the dark forest together. 

Thanks to the [Stealth] Skill, we made almost no sound even though the ground gets covered with bushes. 

Unless it was an extremely quiet place, it would be difficult to sense anomalies.

As we advanced, the conversation we had heard became clearer.

"So, boss, those adventurer guys interfered with us..."

"Yeah, we didn't know what to do..."

It was the voices of the two thugs from earlier. 

They sounded fearful and were stuttering in their responses.

Overlapping those voices was a deep, intimidating voice.

"What? I'm asking you how you plan to take responsibility for letting valuable merchandise escape. Don't you understand how much I'll lose if even one person gets away?"

"Well... um... I-I'm sorry! Please, please forgive us!"

We hear the fearful voices of the two trembling thugs. 

The person they were talking to was likely the 'boss' Riviera had mentioned.

Eventually, we arrived at a location where we could see the kidnappers' campsite. 

Hidden behind a thick tree with Kazane-san, we observed the situation.

It was a slightly open area in the forest, with a bonfire at its center. Around the bonfire were about ten figures. 

Two of them appeared to be elves, bound and gagged, sitting side by side.

The remaining figures numbered seven. 

One of them—the bearded giant—was hunched over, tearing into a piece of meat while confronting the two men in front of him.

The two men being confronted were the thugs we had encountered earlier.

They were prostrated on the ground, their hands pressed against the ground as they anxiously watched the bearded giant's expression.

The other four figures—all thugs—also seemed frightened by the bearded giant's displeased demeanor.

That bearded giant was likely the 'boss' Riviera had mentioned.

No one, including the 'boss', had noticed our presence.

Now, how should we approach this?

After a brief moment of thought, I asked Kazane-san in a low voice, "Kazane-san, can I leave the rescue of the two elf targets to you? It would be troublesome if they made them a hostage."

"Yeah, I think I can handle that without a problem. I'm confident in my speed. However, it depends on the boss's actions. Daichi-kun, what about you?"

"I'll keep the boss occupied. Since it'll be a one-on-one situation without you, I won't make any forced attacks until Yuzuki arrives. I'll keep him engaged."

"Understood. Make sure not to push yourself too hard."

"I won't. After all, if something were to happen, I wouldn't be able to flirt with you like before."

"Uwah... You still say embarrassing things, Daichi-kun. But I got the message. That's reassuring."

That settled our plan.

A few seconds later, Kazane-san and I synchronized our breaths and began our actions.