The Greatest Sinner

Whoosh.

Evan's spatial ring glowed and the mask he had bought not long ago appeared in his hands. If he was going to fight these people it`s better not to show his face. The same goes for if Evan had to run away, it`s best to keep his identity a secret.

He only decided to come here because he had seen the demon mask and red mantle at the leader of this group. For now, it was the only clue that could lead him to the "Demonic Tree". Moreover, after using the formation, the group had weakened and posed no serious danger to Evan.

<They have a real tunnel system here, even the entrance is so long.  I thought it was just a small base.> Evan didn't expect to have to walk through a tunnel.

Evan walked slowly and quietly, he didn't want to be heard before time. After a while, he reached another passageway. He looked into it cautiously and saw a large room.

To his surprise, inside it, he saw not only the entire group but several other people he hadn't seen before.

<So these twelve were just the attacking group. The rest of them stayed here, I wonder if they are only killing monsters or doing something else?>

While Evan was thinking the squad leader turned to his subordinate, "Here you go."

He handed him a bag of fruits, the same that were scattered near the tree, and said: "Scatter them around the base and come back."

"But, boss, can't you do that later? I'm pretty tired after activating the formation." The subordinate was too lazy to do it now, he wanted to rest.

Whoosh.

The boss grabbed him by the collar and said stiffly: "Shut up, we have to get out of here soon, we've gathered enough material. We need to build up our strength to get out of these woods alive. So do me a favor- scatter that fucking fruit around the base and come back."

The subordinate nodded silently and headed towards the exit with a disgruntled face. Evan was wary, he didn't have time to left the place unnoticed, except running away. But, in that case, they would know he was here. At that moment, Evan was deciding what to do with the man walking in his direction.

<Kill him or knock him out?>

After a few seconds, the man came up the aisle. He didn't notice Evan right away, as the young man had pressed against the wall.

Whoosh.

Evan quickly grabbed the man and knocked him out with one precise blow to the neck, then placed him gently on the ground. He moved the sack of fruit into the spatial ring and began to think about what he should do next.

<Okay, I've got that sorted out, but what should I do now? This isn't the only room in these tunnels.> At this point Evan watched as the boss and several subordinates left the room through another tunnel.

<If I want to know anything about the "Demonic Tree", then I need to interrogate their boss. But, that's impossible to do when there are so many of them. It looks like I'll have to spill some blood, only how to do it discreetly?>

Evan looked at the man he'd just knocked out and thought, "Shit, if he'd been wearing a hood, I could go further unnoticed".

He was confident in his strength, but attacking everyone at once alone was too reckless. Sure, he had the raven with him now, but Evan couldn't use its strength right now. It wasn't that he didn't want to use its help, but that if the raven shot its beam here, there would be a collapse and they wouldn't get out of here alive.

These tunnels were only a few meters underground, there were no supports and there was only earth around, no solid rock. A powerful blast from the beam would destroy everything here.

While Evan was trying to come up with a plan of action, the two men left in the room began to "Create".

<That's right, they've all used up a tremendous amount of mana. They urgently need to restore it, moreover, the commander said that they have to leave here soon. Looks like luck is on my side after all.>

It was the perfect opportunity to get rid of two more. When a magician "Creates" he concentrates on the mana that flows around him. Those two will definitely not notice Evan if he acts quietly.

The young man slowly made his way towards one of them. He decided that until he was noticed it would be best to just knock them out one by one. It would be much safer that way.

Bam.

As he got close to the man, he knocked him out with one precise blow, now the second one was next in line. Evan approached him, but suddenly the second man stopped "Creating". He saw the body lying to his left and was about to scream, but...

Crack.

Without hesitation, Evan instantly snapped the man`s neck. He couldn't allow himself to be discovered, at least not now.

<That'll do, I need to drag their bodies away and move on.> Evan quickly did as he had planned and headed for the next passageway.

There was a fork and Evan decided to go left. He was going to explore this place anyway.

<What do we have here?> Evan thought to himself as he peered into another passage.

To his surprise, he saw a large warehouse. Here it was everything this group of people had gathered during their time in this forest. There were the materials of the red monster they had just killed, and a great variety of plants and berries.

<And how are they going to get it all out of here? As I recall the squad leader didn't have a spatial ring. It takes a few wagons, but it will be suicide to take a wagon through the "Half-Dead Forest".>

There was one girl inside the warehouse, she was not involved in killing the red monster. At the moment, she was checking to see if everything was in place and how much material they had already collected.

Whoosh.

Evan waited a moment, quickly got close to the girl, and then knocked her out. He didn't take her body anywhere, just hid it under the fur of one of the monsters they'd killed.

<I've already coped with four, I hope there aren't too many left besides that girl in that group".

Evan decided not to leave the warehouse, he was curious to take a closer look at what was there. Since there was really a lot of material here.

<There are so many bones, skins, and other parts of the monsters here, you could make some pretty good equipment out of it. What's more, they`ve collected a huge amount of plants and medicinal ones. There are even some unusual insects, but why don't I see "it" anywhere?>

Evan was looking for crystals similar to the one the squad leader had pulled out of the monster. It was obvious that it was a very valuable item.

After a while, Evan looked into the small pouch and said with a smile on his face: " I`ve found it."