The Insider System

Chapter 77: Forest Massacre Pt.4

His body was moving much slower than he would like, but he guessed this was the walking speed of the person he was pretending to be right now, and since he couldn't control what he was doing, Lake just pretended like he was watching tv.

He would take control but he was interested in seeing what was going to happen when this thing saw what seemed to be its own body. It was possible this identity wasn't aware it was fake, and just the result of one of his skills, and if that was true it meant it would freak out when it saw itself dead and would no longer be useful.

Lake was pretty sure he felt this small because he had handed over most of his brain to let this identity function normally. It was also possible this was some form of hiding. In case something inspected him, him being squished into the back of his brain would make it less likely he would be discovered.

...

He had just seen the dead body and realized whatever was moving his body right now was unable to see whatever was left of its original face, and instead of freaking out it walked over and picked up the body. Carrying the body, it started to walk deeper into the forest.

Lake was a genius, so he could guess why someone who could use Unholy magic would want a dead body, and he also remembered the things Joy had said about a new job the Demon Lord had just rolled out. It allowed people to control undead, and with there being plenty of Unholy mana around he was sure there would be a load of undead here soon.

Lake realized he had just done what he always did when watching tv, he had guessed the big twist, and now the rest of the movie was going to be boring, with the only good part being when he saw he was right. With the fact this movie could take hours, Lake wondered if there was something else he could do while waiting for something to happen.

...

A hundred or so normal looking adventurers were all busy piling bodies in front of the massive robed figure that the others had called Domare, but Domare showed no reaction almost like the thousand or so bodies were beneath their notice, so whatever was going on wasn't really that interesting to watch, unless you liked a gross pile of meat.

The interesting thing was actually about 50 Ft. behind Domare. Two of the other robed figures were silently whispering to one another about the news one of the worshipers had just delivered. "Should we notify Domare that there seems to be someone who evaded the spell?"

The other figure shook their head, and said. "There's no way we could possibly be stopped at this point, so I don't see a reason to say anything until after it's done." If Lake was there he would probably say something about this being a prime example of why you didn't intimidate your own subordinates until they were too afraid to give you bad news, but he wasn't.

"Which one of them was the one who reported this?" Both of them froze and looked towards Domare and fell to their knees before answering. "The one standing over there." The figure who had started the conversation pointed behind them towards the person who had run from Lake earlier.

All of a sudden Domare lifted their hand towards the man and he flew into the outstretched hand. Domare's fingers wrapped around his torso, and a few seconds later the sound of bones snapping resounded through the trees which made it seem Domare had crushed the man, but he was just fine and the noise had no apparent source.

"You would be walking your own body towards the pile if you had fought him." Domare stopped talking after saying this, leaving everyone to figure out what it meant. It wasn't an obvious command they could follow, so they all repeated it a few times before one of them said. "I'll look into it." And ran off in the direction the man had said he saw the suspicious person.

Unaffected by the darkness it didn't take long for the figure to find the only person still alive inside the forest but it was just one of theirs dragging a body towards the pile. About to move on to look for whoever was hiding in the forest the figure noticed something. The person carrying the body had the same facial hair as the body.

The fact that the head had been brutalized meant the figure couldn't confirm they had the same face, but remembering what Domare had said this was too similar to be a coincidence. "You stop." Landing next to the man carrying the body the figure reached out to grab the body from it.

When all the man did was comply the figure thought maybe it had been too quick to judge, but a few seconds of comparing the body to the person who had been carrying it later the figure was convinced they were the same. It didn't really understand who this could happen but the fact Domare had said this was what would happen if the worshiper had fought the intruder made them realize they needed to bring this person back to Domare.

...

Lake could tell he had been caught, and the fact that his identity was acting innocent wasn't really going to stop the fight that was about to happen, so he turned his skill off and retook control of his body. Seeing the robed figure was about to grab him Lake activated burst and put a few steps in between him and the, well Lake thought it was a woman but he couldn't really tell because of the robe.

Not wanting to fight this person Lake said. "I would be happy to leave if you would let me." This was the truth, Lake had just ended up here by accident, and really didn't care what they were doing. "I can't make that decision. now surrender." Lake felt a sensation from his ring and guessed it had just activated.

He didn't know from what, but he guessed the other person had just tried to inspect his stats and the ring had stopped it from working. Lake didn't think it would be smart to stop and look how much mana he had lost, so going off of what he felt he would say about three.

He had just pulled this number from nowhere, and for all he knew it had almost broken his ward but it didn't really matter because it had done its job well enough that Lake saw the figure take out a potion and pour it onto her face. In the process exposing her face enough to be able to pour the potion onto her burnt eyes, her hood fell off and allowed Lake to see her face.

The fact that she was just some normal looking person was kind of funny to Lake, but how you looked really had nothing to do with how strong you were in this world, so he didn't laugh at her. "If I surrender will you let me go after you're done here?" This was really all Lake cared about, he was fine sitting somewhere out of the way until they left.

"Um, sure." Lake could tell they were lying because of his skill but he played along. "Ok." After he said this Lake walked over like this wasn't a life or death situation. Showing no resistance at all seemed to catch the woman off guard and she said. "Alright it's this way." Lake could tell she wanted him to walk in front of her.

It was probably so he couldn't run, or stab her in the back. Lake just went with it like he didn't realize she was trying to keep him in control. Lake saw this as an opportunity to make some small talk and maybe get some information so he said. "You guys making an army or something?"

Lake chose to be direct, but in a nonchalant way. Like he didn't care even though he knew already. He was hoping to make it seem he was cool with what they were doing, and they didn't need to worry about him trying anything to ruin it. It didn't really seem to work because the woman didn't answer him.

Turning his head to see if she was still with him, Lake saw she had fallen to her knees for some reason. "You ok?" Lake pretended to care as he bent down to try and get her back on her feet, but when he tried to pull her up she smacked his hands off her robes.

Lake knew some people tried to pretend they weren't hurt when they tripped, because they were embarrassed, so he said. "It's ok I won't tell anyone you tripped." This got a reaction from her and she looked at him like he was an idiot. "He can't see me." Lake held his ears, and looked up to see nothing. He guessed this person knew what they were talking about.