Chapter 278: Shouldn’t We Eradicate Them All?

even after dialogues i said

“Captain, oh Captain…”

Margaret couldn’t help but hold her forehead and sigh, her tone filled with a sense of helpless reality.

“You make it sound so easy, but forget about other places.”

She pointed forcefully out the window toward the direction of the forest.

“Just the monsters entrenched in the forests around our Nightbright Town alone—with just the few of us in this team, even if we threw our lives at it, we’d never be able to clear them all, would we?”

The Saint Knight beside her also nodded with a heavy expression.

“Margaret is right. According to the most conservative statistics currently available, the number of active monsters in the Black Mist Forest near Nightbright Town is already approaching twenty thousand.”

“That’s right,” Margaret added.

“That’s twenty thousand. Never mind that they are ferocious, bloodthirsty monsters from the thirtieth floor and above. Even if they were twenty thousand pigs just waiting to be slaughtered, the five of us would work ourselves to death and still not be able to catch them all!”

“Both of your concerns are very realistic and very correct.”

Mason’s expression remained as grim as iron.

He didn’t refute them; instead, he let out a deep sigh.

“So we have to rely on the strength of others.”

“Rely on who?”

Margaret almost reflexively spread her hands open, her face written with skeptical, hopeless doubt.

“That’s not an area below the twentieth floor… some play-pretend zone for rookies to practice. Monsters from the thirtieth floor and above, even the weakest foot soldiers, can easily tear apart elite monsters from the twentieth-floor area like crushing ants!”

Her gaze swept over her companions present and she also sighed.

“I really don’t think the ordinary adventurers in Nightbright Town… can be of any substantial help in the face of a disaster at this level…”

“So… I’ve found someone who can help us solve this problem.”

His gaze subtly glanced at the wall clock in the corner as he slowly spoke.

“Judging by the time, he should be arriving soon.”

“Ding-dong~”

Speak of the devil.

Monica, who had been silently listening on the side, seemed to have anticipated this.

She immediately stood up gracefully and walked quickly toward the door.

She didn’t ask any questions, just silently opened the door.

The strong morning light instantly flooded into the slightly dim interior.

Standing outside the threshold was a figure not particularly tall, but one that seemed… exceptionally weary.

He sported a pair of heavy, dark circles under his eyes that looked like they were about to slide down to his cheekbones, and he was yawning widely without any regard for image, as if he hadn’t slept for three days and nights.

Moreover, he was clutching a large stack of documents tightly, which seemed to be very important.

This man, who exuded an aura of “death from overwork”… was Red.

Behind him were Tos and Brian.

“Hahaha! Mason, you have no idea!”

The moment he stepped inside, the big-mouthed Tos couldn’t help but walk forward and pat Mason’s shoulder.

“This guy Red… was chased all over by Letia early this morning and finally hid in the Scarlet Legion to escape—”

Hearing this, Red immediately perked up and instantly retorted.

“You jerk! Didn’t you promise to keep it a secret for me?!”

He tried to interrupt, but Tos unceremoniously started wrestling with him.

The two grappled with each other, like two bulls butting heads.

“Wasn’t it you who got me made a laughingstock in front of everyone back at the pub? This is called tit for tat, understand? Besides, you, a guy with a girlfriend, betrayed us, left the organization! You’re a heretic! Should be put on a fire and roasted!”

“You, a guy who’s keeping a succubus, have the right to say that about me?!”

“…These two really get along well.”

Brian crossed his arms and said to Mason not far away.

“The reason we came to see you today is actually about that whole Monster Tide business.”

“I know,” Mason said to the three of them.

“Sit down first, and we’ll talk slowly.”

Hearing Mason’s words, Red could only let Tos off.

Everyone gathered around the meeting table.

Mason, as the host, spoke first.

“You may have heard his name, but let me introduce him anyway. Standing before you is the former commander of Dawnblade—Red.”

“I’m just an ordinary Creation Magus,”

Red said, facing everyone’s gaze without panic, his tone flat.

“So no need for such formality. Keep it simple.”

“Here with us, the proper formalities are a must, none can be skipped.”

Mason smiled.

“But you’re being too modest. What do you mean ‘ordinary’? If you’re still an ordinary Creation Magus, then what does that make everyone else?”

“Alright, alright… let’s get to the main point.”

Red never liked the tradition of noble flattery.

In handling matters, he was actually quite similar to Letia in this regard, preferring a more direct approach.

However, after sizing up Red for a good while, Margaret finally spoke.

“So you’re the vice-captain who kept Dawnblade’s casualty rate at zero?”

Red felt there was a bit of a barb in her words, but for Mason’s sake, he didn’t say much, just shrugged and offered a simple explanation.

“It was just gathering sufficient intelligence, plus a little bit of luck. It’s nothing worth boasting about.”

“That’s true,”

Margaret nodded.

“Gathering intelligence, as long as you have patience, isn’t particularly difficult.”

Mason frowned slightly with displeasure.

“Margaret…”

But before he could speak, Margaret cut in first.

“I know, I know. I’ll be good and shut up.”

Because of this little interlude, the atmosphere in the meeting room became somewhat heavy.

The expression on Red’s face didn’t change much.

How could he not tell Margaret was from a high noble family?

So he was already accustomed to this.

He placed the documents in his hands on the table one by one and said to Mason.

“These are all the intelligence I’ve gathered over the past few days regarding monsters from the thirtieth to the thirty-fifth floor. Their habits, weaknesses—I’ve written them all down in detail here. You can take a look.”

Mason casually picked up one sheet and began reading it carefully.

Written on this paper was a type of monster called an Endermite Sheep.

These monsters were everywhere on the thirtieth floor, and their strength wasn’t particularly high.

Even so, the information recorded here was extremely detailed.

In the past, he and his team would just crush their way through with sheer power, but… this document offered a completely different solution.

“‘Endermite Sheep, social monsters. As long as you do not make eye contact with it for more than three seconds, it is just a harmless herbivore’?”

Margaret’s brow furrowed slightly.

“What kind of intelligence is this? Shouldn’t all monsters be eradicated?”

Red’s face remained calm.

“The number of monsters in the forest right now is quite substantial. If we deal with them one by one, I’m afraid we’ll never finish. And not all monsters will form a Monster Tide; the Endermite Sheep is among those that don’t. So we don’t need to waste energy dealing with this type of monster.”