Lily clicked her tongue.

"He got what he wanted…"

Even Miho, who had been nothing more than a bystander, hadn't realised it until Lily put it into words. Brant had made Lily spill things without her noticing. It had felt like nothing more than a normal conversation.

"Sister Lily… isn't that dangerous, then?" Miho asked softly.

"No," Lily replied without hesitation. "He was the one who gave Leo the necklace that protects against mental attacks. And Leo accepted it. That alone means he isn't someone completely bad."

"Then… a good person?" Miho asked, hope flickering in her eyes.

Lily shook her head slowly. "No. No one's a good person in this world. Remember that. Always be careful." Her gaze hardened. "He wants us to join Aurelius Beast Academy. That's why he approached both of us."

"B-but… you're a good person," Miho said, her voice dropping as she darted her eyes away.

Lily only shook her head again. She hadn't helped Miho because she was kind. She had pitied her. Nothing more.

"Alright," Lily said, turning away. "Let's go check if the weapon I commissioned is ready."

With that, they headed toward the weaponsmith district, the clang of metal and the smell of heated iron slowly growing stronger.

Just like Leo, Lily had planned to give him a weapon.

The idea had formed abruptly back in the city square. An instructor who had arrived after the ruckus had seen the three-meter-long arced horn of the Rock Ox in Lily's hands and had exclamied, calling it an excellent treasure for crafting extremely durable weapons.

That comment had made Lily grimace. The Rock Ox's skull still had another horn attached—and she had missed it.

Still, she forced herself to look at the positives. Leo used daggers. With the single horn she had, she could make two. So she had immediately commissioned the weapons. Since the material was provided by her, the weaponsmith had charged fifty silver for the crafting, twenty silver paid in advance.

After that—and after paying another fifty silver coins for her own sword—she was left with twenty silver coins.

Enough.

If they ever ran short, they could always leave the city to hunt beasts. There was no shortage of them anymore. With so many variant low 3-star beasts suddenly appearing, lower-ranked beasts had begun fleeing their territories in search of shelter. The city, with its towering walls, provided exactly that.

As a result, the number of beasts outside the city had been steadily increasing.

The instructors had even identified a specific direction from which a massive horde was approaching—beasts ranging from low 1-star all the way to low 3-star. All of them were fleeing from a single existence.

A Cragveil Colossus.

Further investigation revealed that the Colossus had likely detected the city through its Geo-Resonance Sense. Worse still, the demonic drug coursing through its body had driven it into a frenzy. It wanted blood.

The creature spanned nearly three to four hundred meters in width and stood around one hundred and fifty meters tall. The sheer scale of it made many instructors tense. Strength at the 3-star rank simply wouldn't be enough to kill something like that.

Their only hope lay with a numbered professor possessing 4-star strength.

The most promising among them was Brant.

Even then, it wasn't certain. His affinities were wind and water—hardly ideal for dealing with a creature of overwhelming earth mass.

There was also the looming danger of demons themselves appearing during the Beast Tide. If the professors exhausted themselves fighting the Colossus, they would be easy prey afterward.

In the end, all they could do was hope the drug's effect would wear off before the Colossus reached the city—and that it would turn away on its own.

"You—! You're alive?!"

The sudden shout from behind made both Lily and Miho halt mid-step.

They turned.

Alric stood there, wide-eyed, staring straight at Miho. Veins bulged across his forehead as fury twisted his face.

Miho's blood ran cold. The moment her eyes met his pointing finger, memories of punishment flashed violently through her mind. Her face went pale.

"So you've grown audacious enough to not even inform me that your pathetic self is still alive?" Alric sneered.

"Who's supposed to cook for me, huh?" he continued, his voice rising. "Who'll tie my shoelaces? Who'll wash my dirty clothes?!"

His lips curled. "Looks like surviving twenty days in that pathetic trial gave you some courage." He stepped forward. "Let me fix that. I'll break it myself."

Miho instinctively turned and stumbled back, her eyes wide with terror.

But Alric had overlooked something.

Someone.

The moment he reached out to grab Miho by the hair—

Crack!

Lily's hand shot forward, gripping his wrist with brutal force. The sound of bone snapping echoed sharply.

"AHHH—! YOU! WHAT ARE YOU—?!" Alric screamed.

But the moment his eyes landed on Lily, his anger surged.

"IT'S YOU! YOU BITC—ARGHHHH!"

His scream turned shriller as Lily twisted his wrist further, forcing it into an unnatural angle. She released him only after the damage was done.

Alric staggered back, clutching his broken hand with the other, his body trembling.

"Back off, ugly rat," Lily said coldly. "Miho is under me now."

"Y-you…" Alric hissed through clenched teeth. "You'll pay for this. You think I don't know your brother is dead? I even know he got help from the new Baron."

His grin turned vicious. "Rigging his Trial score like that? Even a fool could tell he cheated."

Then he laughed.

"It's perfect that the fucker died. And you—"

"—who sucked his dick just to survive—have nowhere to go," he continued, eyes blazing. "I'm sure you got some treasure from him that enhanced your body. That's the only reason you could break my wrist."

His gaze sharpened. "You're going to regret this."

With a wave of his hand, three beasts materialised beside him.

All wolves.

One was a mid-2-star beast, previously injured—but now fully healed. The other two were peak 1-star.

Confidence surged through Alric as he straightened, completely missing the flat, indifferent look on Lily's face—as though she were listening to nothing more than a dog barking.

"What? Scared now?" he mocked. "I might forgive you if you start sucki—"

He never finished the sentence.

His voice died in his throat.

He blinked.

"Wha…"

A shadow swallowed him whole.

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