As soon as Seo Yu-ju finished speaking, she instantly dashed toward the rear.

Moments later, the sounds of people shouting and weapons clashing echoed from behind. Soon, people started emerging from both the front and the sides.

Three in the front, two on each side.

'...Crazy bastards…'

Since Seo Yu-ju said there were about six behind us, if that was correct, then the total number was likely thirteen.

If that many people had been tailing us, it was hard to understand how only Seo Yu-ju noticed.

'With this many... how could we not have realized?'

A man stepped forward from the front and began speaking. He seemed to be the leader of the group.

"...How did you notice the tailing? You shouldn't have been able to."

I immediately opened his status window.

[ Name: Park Tae-soo ]

[ Age: 34 ]

[ Class: Shadow Caster (Rare Rank) ]

[ Title: None ]

[ Unique Trait ]

Shadow Field (Rank being evaluated) - Creates a shadow field. Within the shadow field, both the user and others experience a significant reduction in presence. The field's range and effectiveness depend on the user's mana stat.

[ Traits ]

Basic Spearmanship (Common Rank) - Slightly increases comprehension of spearmanship.

[ Stats ]

Strength - 17 Agility - 12

Stamina - 15 Luck - 13

Mana - 07 Resistance - 10

'Is that why we didn't notice?'

His trait stood out. Aside from his mana stat, his overall stats weren’t exceptionally high. However, due to the Shadow Field trait, the presence of those in front of us had likely been obscured.

This also explained why Seo Yu-ju only sensed the six behind us—it was probably because of this trait.

Our group's expressions hardened upon realizing there were seven people other than those in the back. Since they couldn’t see the enemies' status windows, they likely assumed it would be a tough fight.

Uncle Ho-won raised his shield and spoke to us from the front.

"Everyone, stay cautious. Iseo, get ready to shoot."

"Already ready, old man."

Fortunately, none of the seven enemies in front appeared to be archers.

However, one question arose upon realizing that there were thirteen of them.

If thirteen people had been tailing us, it meant they were aware of our presence and had planned this in advance. It wasn't a spontaneous pursuit.

'...Information was leaked.'

If they had been tailing us regularly, we would have noticed sooner. Even if the others hadn’t, Seo Yu-ju definitely would have.

This was their first time tailing us.

There must have been a specific reason they were able to obtain our information.

I opened my mouth to extract some answers.

"You tailed us deliberately. How did you know about us?"

The man, seemingly the leader, looked slightly surprised.

"...You're sharp."

The others in my group seemed bewildered, unable to follow what I was getting at.

"This is your first time tailing us, isn't it?"

The leader nodded.

"That's right, how did you figure that out?"

"If you had tailed us before, there's no way we wouldn’t have noticed."

"Hmm... Was it because of that woman who ran off earlier? We gathered extra men to catch her, but getting caught is unfortunate."

'They know how strong Seo Yu-ju is.'

"Even so, isn't she being too overconfident? Going to fight six men alone—what a fool. Her subordinates must like her a lot. She’s quite a beauty, after all."

"...How did you learn about us?"

"We didn’t know about you. We only knew about the woman who ran off earlier. Didn’t some guys leave your camp a few days ago?"

Hearing his words, I realized where the information had leaked from.

'Ahn Tae-woo mentioned some guys got their jobs and went out exploring on their own.'

"Before we killed them, they mentioned a camp full of people, led by a woman. They also said the camp had plenty of food. Killing you and taking over the camp sounded like a good plan."

I had wondered why those guys never returned—turns out they were slaughtered by these bastards.

It made sense, looking at their status windows, I saw at least two of them had classes. But with that guy’s unique trait, those fools probably had no idea what hit them.

"Did I satisfy your curiosity before you die? If you surrender and pledge loyalty to me, I'll spare your lives, I have a generous heart."

The leader smirked, already convinced he had won.

I could understand why he was so confident. We had three women in our group, two of whom were children.

Even though they had one less person than us, they clearly thought we were easy prey.

The ones who leaked information didn't know about our full strength either. They must have only heard that Seo Yu-ju was strong enough to kill monsters.

But Yu-rim, Yu-hyun, and the other three had already changed classes. Compared to these cocky idiots who had only fought weaklings, we were far more battle-hardened.

"...Pfft."

I couldn't help but laugh at his stupidity.

As I suddenly burst into laughter like a lunatic, my companions looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

The leader’s expression twisted in annoyance at my laughter, and he spoke coldly.

"What’s so funny? Have you gone insane, knowing you’re about to die?"

"Heh... Dumbass."

"What?"

"You think just because we're women and kids, we’re weaker than you? You’re not on Earth anymore, dumbass."

"What the—"

"At least bring some mages or archers. Instead, you gathered a bunch of thugs with nothing but brute strength, where do you get off acting all high and mighty?"

After enduring so much hardship since coming here, I must have built up a lot of stress.

The man stood frozen for a moment before his face turned red with rage, and he shouted.

"Kill them all!"

'Fool."

As they charged at us, I immediately activated the magic I had prepared.

"Burn, flames."

The man at the front was instantly set ablaze, flailing in agony.

"Aaaagh!"

As the man next to the burning one hesitated in shock at my use of magic, an arrow fired by Kang Iseo lodged itself into his head.

Seeing how these guys fought, I was certain. These bastards were not used to combat.

Most likely, they had gotten by simply by intimidating weaker people into submission.

The crucial difference between them and us was the availability of ranged attacks. These idiots had neither archers nor mages—what gave them the confidence to pull a stunt like this?

Only after losing two men in an instant did their leader realize something was wrong, and he thrust his spear at me.

But our reliable Uncle Ho-won wasn’t about to let that happen. The spear was blocked before it could reach me.

Clang!

"Shit!"

While the leader was occupied attacking and Uncle Ho-won was blocking, Song Ha-eun finally made her debut after her class change.

"Sylph!"

The floating spirit whipped up a gust of wind, slicing off a man’s arm.

"Aaaaagh! M-my arm!"

These guys must have never seen supernatural abilities like magic or spirits before, as they were completely thrown off balance.

Witnessing the true power of a Spirit Mage in action, I found myself intrigued.

Uncle Ho-won had mentioned that Kang Iseo and Hyun-jin had experienced something similar. That seemed to be true, as Hyun-jin, completely unfazed, stabbed his sword into the man who had lost his arm.

Squelch—

"Gaaagh!"

He must have killed before in a similar situation. While he wasn’t entirely indifferent to killing, his actions were too decisive for it to be his first time.

Of the remaining four enemies, Kang Iseo and Ahn Tae-woo engaged two, while the other two must have thought Yu-rim and Yu-hyun looked like easy targets, swinging their axe and sword at them.

"Shield of Protection."

Ping—

The sword and axe bounced off an invisible barrier before they could even reach Yu-rim and Yu-hyun.

"W-what is this?!"

As their attacks failed against Yu-hyun’s shield, Yu-rim immediately swung her dagger and slit a man’s throat.

"Ghhk..."

Only then did the last remaining enemy realize that just because they were children, it didn’t mean they were easy prey. He fell onto his backside and started begging for his life.

"...P-please, spare me..."

Yu-rim bit her lip and looked at me.

She must have hesitated at the sight of a pleading enemy, unable to bring herself to kill him.

It seemed she was silently asking me what she should do.

'...If she wants to survive in this world, she has to harden her heart.'

It was cruel, but there was no other way.

Not for me, but for her and Yu-hyun, Yu-rim needed to become stronger.

I shook my head slightly and looked at her firmly.

Her eyes trembled violently for a moment, then she shut them tight and drove her dagger into the man's throat.

"Ghhk... Sp-spare..."

Moments later, as Yu-rim stared blankly at the corpse, I walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You did well, Yu-rim. If you and Yu-hyun want to survive here, you need to be strong. Keep your heart firm."

"...Yes, Oppa."

I gave her a slight smile and removed my hand.

Looking over at Uncle Ho-won’s situation, I saw that the leader, realizing his men were all dead, began cursing.

"Shit! Damn it! Why is this happening?!"

Noticing me approaching to assist Uncle Ho-won, the leader suddenly turned and tried to flee.

"Shit! Aaaagh!"

As everyone stood stunned for a moment at his sudden retreat, Seo Yu-ju swiftly appeared in front of him and swung her spear at his neck.

"...Ghhk... You... bitc..."

Grasping his throat with both hands, he staggered before collapsing lifelessly.

Seo Yu-ju turned away from the fallen corpse and, after seeing that we were all safe, let out a small smile and spoke.

"Looks like everyone is safe. Good work, everyone."