There are times when a strange premonition strikes him. As the loud engine noise rings in his ears, Han-ya, for the first time in a while, opens the windows of his house.

*Creak-*

With the bothersome sunlight, an unbelievable scene unfolds outside the window. A pink open car running on the road - a vehicle owned by the Katarina family - has just entered Levido. Han-ya extends his vision to check the passenger seat.

"Why?"

Could April really be here? She, who should be arrogantly stirring up the forest?

'And with her limbs in tact, no less.'

"Berto. Don't tell me you've prematurely taken matters into your own hands."

"No way?!"

"Then what is that?"

Berto, tilting his head in confusion, moved toward the window. Then, he suddenly fell backward with a thud.

"Eek! April is already here?! Miley must have pulled off a big move!! There's no need to use the 'poison' now!"

"No. That can't be right."

"What?"

Even without his 'intervention,' he had thought Miley could win against that woman. Especially when the woman, who likely never got her hands dirty, reached her physical limits. But he couldn't be certain, which is why he had resorted to using 'poison.' However, it's only been two days. Even if one stayed up all night, it should be a manageable time frame. This situation was nonsensical.

Then, this inexplicable phenomenon leads to one conclusion.

"So that's it?"

The innate talent of the Katarina family is always dazzling. Han-ya remembered those arrogant eyes that effortlessly looked down on him from a superior position without any need for effort. If Edwin, who also experienced liberation like him, was like that, then April was born with even more talent. But now, was there an even greater monster appearing?

Kyle. That one person was an irritation. An unpleasant emotion surged from within like a metal skewer stirring the heart.

"There's no need to wait any longer. Awaken the poison right now."

"Are you sure?! The 'poison' planted in the forest still needs time to gain consciousness!"

Han-ya looked down and swallowed hard. A rampant massacre could occur, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If only the 'variable' could be removed, then it would be Miley's solo show.

In the silence, Berto shuffled his shoulders, creating a fuss.

"What? What should we do?!"

Han-ya responded with a sneer, his answer implicit in his disdain.

* * *

The bow chosen by Gilliam was a modified Oculus-style longbow, designed not for striking humans but for penetrating the steel plates of a ship's hull.

It closely resembled the model it was based on.

Perched atop a branch of sweet-scented wood, the bow, almost 2 meters in length, bent as the Oculus's eye lit up. The target was a head a kilometer away.

Gilliam's body leaned forward, and his right arm, holding the bowstring, dynamically swelled above his shoulder. The arrow pointed obliquely downwards.

*Thump - Thwack!*

The second-class knight turned instantly, swinging his sword, but it was too late. With a monotonous sound, the arrow struck him square in the chest. He fell with a single scream, the bloodied arrow dropping to the ground, its tip shortened.

"I thought that clown was just playing around. Seems like it really hurts."

The terrifying destructive power of the arrows, fitting for the giant longbow, ensured a one-hit kill if they hit the target.

Although sometimes missing the target, nine participants have fallen victim to this. Most were of lesser importance, but one skilled individual had already scored three points among them. Those hit by the arrows, including him, all fell foaming at the mouth, with only minor wounds on the struck areas. This made it undeniable. The weapons provided by Finelli were designed to inflict pain without lethal danger, accurately conveying the sensation of pain.

Sliding down from the sweet-scented wood, Gilliam headed towards where the second-class knight had fallen. He needed to retrieve the arrows, given that only five were allotted, and to earn points for her.

"April... my princess. What could you be doing right now..."

His bitter words sunk to the ground. In this harsh environment, was she eating well? Shivering in the cold? His worries were beyond words.

Gilliam first collected the fallen arrows, shaking off the blood. He put the arrows, which quickly regained their original form, into a leather quiver. Then, he felt a chilling presence behind him. The most critical situation for an archer - an ambush. Gilliam immediately turned around, aiming his bowstring.

"Huh?"

A man reminiscent of a starving wild bear, Breta, stood there imposingly. In just two days, his cheeks were sunken, and his appearance, covered in dust and dirt, was unrecognizable.

"Food... fight. Food. Food."

"...Are you asking for food, or do you want to fight?"

"Fight. Fight."

So, he wants to fight. Typical of him, it seemed he didn't even consider something like a surprise attack. Judging by the blood on various parts of his body, it looked like he himself had been attacked multiple times.

"Still standing after being beaten up like that?"

Breta simply looked steadfastly at Gilliam, raising his shield.

"It's going to hurt quite a bit."

Only after Gilliam placed his hand on the arrow did Bretta start to charge. It was obvious who would be at a disadvantage if distance was allowed. Gilliam immediately shot the arrow.

*Swoosh-! Thud!*

It was an attack aimed at the blind spot of the shield, targeting the head, but Breta flexibly bent backward and blocked it with his shield.

'Too obvious.'

Breta had been his companion for over a decade. Although Gilliam usually refrained from fighting, he was familiar with Breta's movements. Taking advantage of Breta's shielded vision, Gilliam swiftly aimed another arrow towards his lower leg.

"Ugh!"

Breta hurriedly used his shield to block, but the swiftly fired arrows hit his opposite calf. The arrow bounced off, but the impact was surely felt. He would be down and unable to move for a while. Gilliam was ready to finish with the remaining two arrows...

"Argh!"

"This madman..."

Despite the piercing pain in one calf, Breta did not stop. He screamed and limped, but the distance between them was definitely closing. It wasn't easy to create distance with this heavy longbow, which needed to be anchored to the ground for shooting. Gilliam faced a critical choice: continue the fight or abandon the longbow and flee.

'How can I beat someone like him?'

If his proud face were smashed by those rock-like fists, he wouldn't be able to face April. Without hesitation, Gilliam dropped the bow and started to run away, turning his back.

"Ru-running! Coward!"

Bretta's urgent voice echoed behind him, but Gilliam ignored it. His brown eyes scanned the landscape, stretching his vision for kilometers. While searching for a suitable hiding spot, he caught a movement completely out of place in this forest. His steps gradually slowed.

"What's that?"

Just entering his field of vision, the oppressive aura weighed heavily on him. A primal instinct made his body tremble. Breta caught up in the meantime, and Gilliam raised his hands high in surrender. Breta scowled and raised his clenched fist.

"Breta now's not the time for this."

"Lies. Gilliam. Fool. Admit. Defeat. Food. Food, food!"

"I'm not joking."

Gilliam pointed to his own eyes, shimmering with a brown hue. Bretta narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. He knew that when Gilliam mentioned 'Oculus's Eyes', he was serious about honor.

"There's something really strange. Could it be..."

Gilliam's face hardened with cold determination. This was no time to cower in fear. If the reason April hadn't been seen was because of 'that thing'.

"It seems like something unusual is happening in the forest. Let's go check it out."

* * *

Miley looked at the seeds of the frontier running away before him and thought of them as rabbits. It was a rabbit hunt. If he, the superior one, was the hunter, then the inferior ones struggling to escape were rabbits. The one in front of him used to be like that too.

"You used to run away like a scared rat - why aren't you fleeing now? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?"

Despite trembling all over, he did not avert his gaze.

"There's no need... for that anymore."

Molson, his body already stained with blood from being slashed by the kukri, moved like a fish flopping in its final moments despite the paralyzing fog of poison hanging thick in the air. Still, for someone from the frontier, he wasn't too bad.

He had dodged the kukri, which moved like a live snake with energy infused into its attached string, several times. Even Molson's all-out thrust with his sword had only slightly nicked his arm, but that was as far as he got. The fate of the rabbit doesn't change.

"You fool. Even in death, you can't beat me."

If this was the extent of his resilience to the poison and such wounds, he was no match for him. No, he shouldn't be his match. He grew up drinking poison-laced milk and learned to walk with a body beaten to tatters. The depth of their lived experiences was fundamentally different.

"This weapon, it's quite interesting, isn't it? You won't die even if your throat is slit. Close your eyes."

The rabbit kept his eyes, bloodshot red, open until the end. Miley smirked, infused energy into the string, and the kukri floated mid-air. That's when it happened.

A deep, rumbling sound - Koooom!

It felt like an earthquake as the ground shook. A goosebump-inducing strange energy surged through the air, and something rapidly approached.

*Thump!*

That something struck Molson's shoulder.

"Arrgh!"

The struck arm became limp, clearly dislocated. His arm might have been torn off if it weren't for Molson's sturdy physique. Miley scowled deeply.

"Which bastard..."

He swallowed the words 'dared to interrupt my hunt.' What flowed from Molson's shoulder made him stop mid-sentence.

'Mud...?'

Damp green mud. Miley's eyes flickered with recognition. A faint memory in his mind gripped and shook his consciousness.

*Thunk-thunk!*

Clumps of mud began flying towards them again.

"What are you doing not dodging, you idiot!"

Miley kicked Molson, hiding him behind a tree, but even the thick trunk of the sweet-scented wood couldn't withstand the continuous impacts and began to crumble gradually.

Leaving the shivering Molson behind, Miley stepped back. Despite being openly exposed, the mud continued to relentlessly pummel only the sweet-scented wood trunk where Molson was hidden. Amidst the indiscriminate bombardment, the mud seemed to deliberately miss Miley, as if treating him like an invisible person.

*Thud! Thud!*

As the dust cleared, revealing its identity, suspicion turned into certainty.

'Brother... why?'

Once, while hiding from 'training' in the basement of the Tabas Count's mansion, he had seen it. A shining green crystal, holding a prisoner's broken head in one hand, looking at him. The same way it had carelessly turned and walked towards another prisoner. Miley gritted his teeth in frustration.

'Do you not trust me? To the extent of using such measures.'

Green mud oozed and dripped from the bipedal behemoth, sticking in clumps. He had heard the name of this monstrous entity before. It was a 'Golem,' that was the name of this monster.

Having ceased its bombardment, the golem had its gaze fixed on Molson. It couldn't target Miley, probably due to the 'black crystal' implanted in the inner side of his thigh. It was an artifact implanted when Tabas's children reached the age of three, a simple yet effective tool for the golem's friend-or-foe identification.

The golem's movements appeared slow, but due to its enormous size, it approached faster than a human could run.

Miley was frozen with the same fear he had felt the first time he had encountered the golem. Yet, his blood boiled with anger at Han-ya for not trusting him to the extent of employing such measures. He hadn't strived so hard just to be treated like this. He took out the whistle tucked between his teeth and blew it.

*Kwaang!*

With the explosion, the golem staggered. It was the 'Blasting Grass' he had found on the first day while scouring the forest, known to explode upon strong impact. He had been saving it for a moment like this.

"Huh...?"

His plan had been to at least blow up one of its legs, but it didn't work. Despite staggering, the golem continued its march towards Molson.

Miley gripped the handle of the kukri tightly. He infused all his energy into the kukri and threw it with all his might, burrowing it into the golem's body. Not stopping there, it spiraled in mid-air, piercing the golem's body repeatedly. Despite being penetrated and torn apart dozens of times in that short span, it was ineffective. The holes created quickly filled up with mud, healing instantly. The string attached to the kukri got buried in the mud, immobilizing it. The golem, ignoring even this, finally reached Molson.

The golem's arm rose. As if savoring its prey, indulging in the predator's sense of superiority, the movement was excruciatingly slow. Molson, with eyes filled with fear, looked at Miley.

"Miley. Run away..."

The audacity of the weak to worry about him. With those words, he trembled in fear to the point of fainting.

Only then did Miley realize how arrogant he had been to think he could confront the golem.

'...I'm going to die.'

Molson was certainly going to die, just like the prisoner whose head was torn off... He would witness death right in front of his eyes.

Miley felt dizzy, his vision blurring to a yellowish hue. The tremors started at his lips and spread throughout his body. That indescribable fear made him turn his back. He had to escape this place.

"It's not my... not my concern, right... huh?"

His thoughts scattered into a blank haze, and his steps faltered. Standing before him was the very person he least wanted to see in this state.

A boy in an ill-fitting coat, likely stolen from someone, yet the attire was so elegantly worn that it made him even more detestable to him.

Kyle threw a rock, diverting the golem's attention. The golem tilted its head quizzically, looking at Kyle. It seemed to ponder whether to continue targeting Molson or to pursue this new prey.

Seeing this, Kyle looked down, his eyes meeting his.

"Why does that golem not target you?"

"...What?"

What did he know to say such a thing? No, that couldn't be possible. The golem was a relic from over a hundred years ago, already out of practical use. But why... why did he feel like he saw right through him?

Miley finally positioned himself in front of Kyle but found himself unable to say anything. In Kyle's gaze, there was contempt.

It was as if he was saying, 'This is not your place, get lost.'

"Miley. You can't keep throwing tantrums forever."

Feeling as if he was thrust into a cesspool swarming with rats, Miley clenched his fists.

"When the time comes to make a choice, I hope you make the right one."

Leaving those unsettling words behind, Kyle kicked off the ground and ran towards the golem. His movement was devoid of fear or even a moment's hesitation. It was as if he was spellbound, leaving an expectation in the air. Miley found this feeling utterly loathsome.

"What do you know..."

No matter how great he might be, that monster was far beyond what a mere seed like him could handle...

Yet, the scene unfolding before his eyes was something Miley couldn't comprehend.

Deciding to deal with the earlier prey, the golem thrust its fist towards Molson's face.

*Kwaang!*

The flat side of Kyle's extended sword met the golem's fist. The clash of forces was evenly matched, neither side yielding, maintaining a balance.

·

·

·

"Phew - a real monster meets a monster!"

Finelli watched through the perforated wall as 'Meteor', becoming a mere dot, disappeared into the distance.

An unexpected variable, the golem's appearance, had prompted Zahar to burst through the wall and rush out. The sonic boom created by his speed was enough to send shivers down one's spine.

"Hehe, let's see what happens next."

Though it appears to be a relic from an ancient era, the golem was created to combat 'monsters.' It's not something mere seeds should be able to contend with. Even a second-class knight would stand no chance.

"Ah- I'm dying of curiosity!"

Which will happen first: the golem crushing the seeds or Zahar reaching the scene?