Sanev and his group chased down Riniya relentlessly. They weaved in and out of streets, raced down alleyways, and hopped up and down buildings. Sanev and his group of water mages quickly began to lose out, they were sheltered in comparison to the earthen mages.

Nevertheless, Sanev was not a useless elf, he was brilliant. He prepared thoroughly even for the possibility of Riniya escaping and that was why he was able to set up some traps in advance.

“Corner her!” Sanev shouted and the group quickly separated. Riniya was not deaf however, after a few more seconds of running. She turned around resolutely and charged at Sanev. She felt confident in taking him down now that the number of individuals decreased.

Sanev having already considered such a move, tossed what appeared to be a wooden plank.

“Huh?” Riniya was surprised but she brought forth a wall of earth to block the suspicious attack. An excessive reaction surely, but she was not in her right mind at the moment and things would remain that way.

The earthen wall burst open accompanied by a roaring explosion. Pieces of earth and rock pelted Riniya who also fell down due to the explosion.

“Like my toy?” Sanev asked smugly.

“You- How did you do that?!?” Riniya was now truly perplexed, was it possible to activate an explosive array from such a distance. No… When did he even learn to make an explosive array anyway!?!

“You just need to form friendly relations with a tree” Getting wood was not as rare in the desert city anymore but creating a brand new array that was never taught definitely was. Scribbling runes the wrong way could result in painful or lethal accidents. Why stray too far then?

Sanev was a risk taker in that way but he also as stated had help from Azalia who was a very talented tree.

“Stop talking nonsense!” Riniya shouted. “Urgh-!” She then let out a groan as water wrapped around and firmly held her in place.

“That’s a troublesome request. You see I still have a lot of nonsense to talk about” Sanev’s face, though appearing beautiful and kind caused Riniya to shudder.

***

Back in the only safe place from the Bloodhaven, Ed had come to a decision on what to do with Elder Sud.

“Elder, you can live” In the end, Ed made a decision that made some let out a sigh of relief and others put on a large frown.

The acts of Sudryal were nothing to scoff at, his ability to manipulate others was scary to the extreme. But that only gave Ed an idea, he would give Sudryal a taste of his own medicine.

“Under a condition” Sudryal who was about to rejoice then heard Ed say such words and fear took place in his heart. Before the elder could react, Ed placed his hand on Sudryal’s head and the old elf collapsed to the floor almost immediately.

To some of the elves, the scene itself was not unfamiliar. They in fact remembered the earthen mage Riniya receiving a similar treatment. Nonetheless, the scene was scary and many of the elves averted their eyes as if afraid to see something they would regret.

Ed only planned on putting Sudryal under the effect of the system’s command skill. He knew that it wasn’t a surefire method to ensure Sudryal’s loyalty but it was better than nothing. Plus as long as he could perpetuate the fear that their lives were now somehow his neither Sudryal nor Riniya would act wantonly.

Through perpetuating rumors and the subtle influence of the command skills over wisps, Sudryal would be on the receiving end of manipulation.

It was then that Ed heard Alolvi approach him.

“I’m glad we could resolve that but… Ed, will we really continue to explore this cursed place?” Alolvi whispered to Ed.

Ed heard him but before replying he knelt down and placed Sudryal’s consciousness back inside his body.

“AH!” Sudryal open his eyes and screamed. Seeing the dirty ceiling of the base told him everything he needed to know.

“My back, how could you do this to an old soul?” Sud’s complaints fell on deaf ears.

“And to think you don’t trust me even after I came clean like that” Sudryal said with a bit of helplessness as he propped himself off the ground.

“Would you trust yourself?” Ed asked the old elf who promptly laughed.

“I guess not.” Sudryal said completely refreshed. The sins he carried were too large to be forgotten just by coming clean but he still felt like he lost some of the weight on his shoulders.

“Anyway, since everyone is better I recommend you go find yourself a room. If there isn’t a room for you, have one made” Ed wanted to move on from the situation and forced everyone out of the basic infirmary with these words.

Everyone except Alolvi shuffled out. He and Ed stayed to talk.

“I have a lot of things I need from this place” Ed was the first to speak up. He made sure to genuinely express his thoughts to Alolvi who he held some respect for.

“I don’t know what those things are and I’m being presumptuous I’m sure but… Can they wait?” Alolvi word’s expressed his stance on the Bloodhaven rather clearly.

Ed was not keen on stopping his expedition of the place though. As he said, there were things he needed from this place. Namely, things to assimilate. His strength had waned and Ed didn’t like the stagnating feeling that gave him.

It was also worth mentioning that things had been progressing without any wrinkles thus far and that was on its own concerning. Based on what he knew of being a human, the only way a calamity like a dungeon he resided in could be left alone by governments was if something was distracting them.

‘Then again, it’s always possible the humans in power here are also incompetent.’ Ed could be called a cynic of sorts. It would be costly to handle the dungeon and things were peaceful for now. An incompetent person could definitely let the calamity continue to stew.

“They can wait” Nevertheless, Ed replied in a way that Alolvi wasn’t expecting.

“But only because I’m also worried about what’s going on back in the city” Ed could still communicate with the city thanks to the link skill. He knew about the trouble the fruit seeds he left behind were causing.

“You know something?” Alolvi asked with some confusion. Ed’s tone suggested he knew what was going on there but Alolvi was struggling to believe that was possible. Not with the power of a mortal anyway.

“I will discipline her as soon as we return.” Alolvi sounded like he would beat some sense into Riniya so Ed quickly interrupted his thoughts.

“Haha, it’s not just her this time around. I’ll take care of it so don’t worry too much.” Both W and Azalia had limited learning capabilities so some things were still a mystery to him but the fact that Sanev was involved was not one of these mysteries.

“Well… Alright then. When do we head back?” Alolvi did not say anything else and decided not to question how Ed knew these things. Asking more would only leave him more confused and afraid. Alolvi was happy to embrace ignorance here.

“Right now” Ed replied much to Alolvi’s surprise.

“Did something happen?” Alolvi asked back.

“Nothing in particular, I already planned on leaving after settling things with Sudryal” This first expedition was just made to experience the Bloodhaven. Now that Ed and the elves experienced it, he could confidently say it was a dangerous place and prepare some countermeasures.

‘The things I’ve given them were nice but… They weren’t enough’ The creatures of the Bloodhaven were terrifying, Ed couldn’t fathom how exactly they came to be. The entire place was also conscious in some way which was extremely creepy even for someone like him who had experienced countless things.

‘I guess as a mushroom I could be considered a similar existence’ But it wouldn’t make sense for Ed to fear himself, would it?

‘…Well, I am a bit scary’ Ed quickly shook his head and abandoned the topic. Alolvi and Ed were similar in the way they chose to ignore things. That was probably the reason why after putting their heads together they were able to prepare for departure.

“We… We are going back!? Really?!” The elves broke out into celebration upon hearing this news.

Ed and Alolvi had to reel them in though Ed was definitely tempted to let them celebrate a bit more.

After a couple of hours, Ed and the group were on their way back with zero casualties, and since everyone quickly recovered also technically zero injuries. These were two things Ed was keen on keeping at zero but only time would tell.