— Are you ready?
Tebas asked Isabella while checking whether the cuff he had placed around the woman's wrist, attached to his own, was securely fastened.
— And do I have a choice?
The woman smiled ironically.
— Are you afraid of failing?
— Honestly, yes. After all, we're talking about Douglas, and if you fail to kill him, you'll make me your hostage.
— Heh heh heh, don't worry. I won't kill you. You're a precious ally.
— I wouldn't put anything past a demon.
— In that case, know that the Lord wouldn't allow anyone to hurt you.
— And what if someone does?
— They might end up dead. I can guarantee you that.
— I don't know whether that makes me feel any safer, but either way, if Douglas discovers that I'm the traitor, he'd kill me too without hesitation.
— Girl, don't underestimate me that much. I'm not stronger than Douglas, but I have my own means. Now, let's go before we run out of time.
"There's no way this can go wrong. Even if she's deceiving me, she won't be able to free herself from the cuffs, and even if she does, I still have that. The master has never been wrong. I need to pierce Douglas with a single strike and leave his body poisoned. The spear wound obviously wouldn't kill him, but the poison on its tip is enough to weaken him for about five days—or, with some luck, kill him. That will be more than enough."
Isabella prepared herself, and, grabbing Tebas's arm, the two of them teleported.
The plan was to catch Douglas from behind and strike him in a single blow.
Tebas had already prepared his spear to drive it into Douglas's body, but before doing so, he had carefully calculated the entire plan.
Tebas appeared in front of Douglas, who had his back turned to him. They had arrived at the exact location they had planned.
"Now!"
Tebas put all his strength into driving the spear through Douglas's back. Caught completely off guard, Douglas couldn't move.
Tebas and Isabella moved away as the demon pulled the spear from the man's body, traces of poison dripping onto the ground along with his blood.
"It's done. Even if he's the strongest hero, there's no way he can walk away from this unharmed!"
Tebas smiled as he watched Douglas turn around, one hand pressed against his wound as he staggered.
— We did it, Isabella. I'm sure the Lord will reward you handsomely for this.
— Heh, it's a shame that you won't be around to enjoy any of it.
— What?
Tebas stared at Isabella's face and saw her smiling mockingly.
— Goodbye, you worm.
Tebas's head flew away after a single swing of Douglas's hammer. Part of the demon's cervical spine came off with it. His head rolled backward, the vertebrae dragging along the ground and leaving a trail of purple blood behind.
— Eww! It splashed on me!
Isabella cut off the demon's hand with her knife and threw his body to the ground.
— Just like you said. If I hadn't used the poison-resistance amulet, I would've been infected.
Douglas began staunching the blood from his wound, seemingly feeling nothing.
— I told you to trust me. Has any plan of mine ever gone wrong?
The girl tossed her hair back as she used her weapon to heal Douglas's wound.
— I just don't understand... How did you manage to communicate with Li-Xeng?
— Well, that was actually the most complicated part. I was going to keep it from you, but I knew you'd eventually become suspicious and question me. You know that Li-Xeng has the ability to communicate telepathically with someone he's had sexual contact with, right?
— You...
Douglas's eyes widened, disbelief spreading across his face.
— Li-Xeng really did mention that once, but I never thought he'd actually use it. That boy, haha... He just seems so innocent.
— Nah, he really is very innocent. If I hadn't drugged him the night before, it never would've happened.
Douglas went pale as he stared into Isabella's eyes.
— You...
— I did what had to be done. You can judge me or blame me, but if I hadn't done it, we'd be dead. And Li-Xeng seems to have... "understood."
— Understood...? What do you mean?
— I ended up explaining everything to him afterward.
— You thought all of this through?
— You asked me to take care of everything, didn't you?
For one of the rare times in his life, Douglas was left surprised and speechless.
— I've been communicating with Li-Xeng ever since I was "captured." Did you really think I'd be captured by knight-level demons? Come on! I went there already planning to become a hostage and pretend to be the traitor. Thanks to Li-Xeng's communication, I discovered that they were after Natasha, believing she was the traitor. But when I revealed myself as the traitor, they believed me, especially because I gave them some "proof." Look at my finger. I'll need some pretty powerful magic from Yumi and probably an amulet to restore it. But I also got lucky, and I don't think you know this yet, but... some of the demons I encountered there belonged to the group that died on the eleventh floor.
Douglas was shocked for the second time. The unshakable leader, who always displayed coldness and confidence, was now utterly incredulous at the woman's words.
— What do you mean? The demons were our companions?
— I know it's hard to believe. I still don't have enough proof, but I'm almost certain they were. One of the demons who captured me claimed to be Ralf, that bard who stayed behind.
— Ralf...
Douglas remembered the name the instant he heard it.
— But the others didn't seem to be, or perhaps they simply didn't remember. I don't know exactly how it works—whether only some of them are transformed, or whether they somehow took their memories. But I can guarantee that he knew everything Ralf knew, even the way he spoke.
— I trust your perceptive judgment. What do you think it is?
— Honestly, I didn't believe it at first. But after seeing his actions, I was able to confirm it. He really was Ralf.
— And what did you do? Did he help you?
— Yes. Thanks to him, my plan went quite well. But unfortunately, he had to be sacrificed.
Douglas's eyes widened again. He thought he knew Isabella, but the more time passed, the more he realized that he barely knew her at all.
— You would've done the same, wouldn't you? That's how I managed to get Tebas to trust me and make it this far. Even though I could communicate with Li-Xeng, that didn't guarantee that my plan would work. First, I needed him to communicate with you. And since I already knew you had the mana crystal Li-Xeng left behind, I figured you'd find a way.
— You put your faith in something so unreliable, with so many loopholes?
— And what choice did I have? I trust Li-Xeng. He's the smartest one in the group, and you have good synchronization with him. I knew the two of you would be able to communicate using the mana stone.
— You... really are something else.
Douglas took a deep breath, surprised but relieved to have Isabella on his side.
— Thanks to that, I managed to communicate with Li-Xeng through Morse code using the mana stone. He warned me about the attack from behind that you were going to make and told me to use the poison-resistance amulet. I wanted to save it for later, but there was no other way. We'll just have to hope we can find another one on some floor.
— What are you complaining about? I lost a finger, you bastard. You're going to compensate me for this.
Isabella smiled and gave Douglas a light kick in the shin. He smiled subtly back at her.
But just when he thought their problems were finally over, Douglas looked at the demon's decapitated body in front of him and began to notice that something had changed.
The large, crimson body covered in thick scales was transforming into a thinner body with bluish skin and exposed veins.
— What...?
Douglas became alert and saw the severed head laughing in the distance.
He quickly moved toward it and realized that it wasn't the original head he had cut off. It seemed to belong to another demon.
— Who are you?
Douglas pointed his sword at the bleeding head, which laughed while sticking out its thin tongue. Its skin was bluish, and its jaw was less narrow, completely different from the head Douglas had severed.
— He deceived us.
When Isabella arrived at the scene, she immediately realized what had happened.
— What do you mean?
Douglas asked, ready to crush the "living" head.
— That wasn't Tebas. At some point, they must have planned this and "camouflaged" themselves. The whole plan was to make me think he was Tebas, wasn't it?
Isabella kicked the head, which began laughing again.
— Hahahaha! The master is never wrong. Understand that, you wo—
Before he could say anything else, Douglas crushed the head with his hammer.
— Now isn't the time to listen to explanations. Li-Xeng and Natasha... If that's the case, then the real Tebas...
Douglas's expression became grim.
Meanwhile, on Natasha and Li-Xeng's side, after the demon had exploded, they sensed a powerful presence.
— What? There's another one?
When Natasha looked behind her, she didn't even have time to react before the demon they had just defeated struck, slicing through her body.