The clearing remained silent for a while after the beastman fell.
Smoke from the campfire drifted lazily upward. The smell of burnt wood mixed with sweat, steel, and the faint metallic scent of blood.
Null stood quietly for a moment, then finally lowered both swords.
"Alright."
He exhaled slowly.
Behind him—Ronan's group finally moved again.
Derrik let out a long breath. "That was insane."
Mira whistled softly. "Remind me never to piss him off."
Tobin simply stared at Null like he had just witnessed a legendary hero descend from the heavens.
Lyra, meanwhile—was still frozen.
After a few moments, the team tied up the unconscious bandits together using ropes taken from the camp supplies. Derrik dragged one of them closer to the others while Mira tied another man's wrists behind his back with practiced efficiency. Tobin gathered fallen weapons. Lyra quietly checked everyone again for injuries, just in case.
Within a few minutes—all six bandits were tied together near the campfire.
Only then did the group finally relax a little.
Ronan wiped sweat from his brow. "Good work, everyone."
Null stretched his shoulders lazily. Then he glanced at the pile of restrained criminals.
"So." He tilted his head. "Now that we've captured them, how exactly are we supposed to hand them over to the Justice Regulators?" He gestured at the unconscious bodies. "Don't tell me we have to manually drag them all the way to some police station or something."
Ronan blinked. "Police… station?" He scratched his head. "I don't know what that is."
Null coughed. "Never mind."
Ronan waved his hand casually. "But don't worry. We don't need to drag them anywhere." He pulled a small rectangular device from his pouch. It looked like a polished slab of enchanted crystal framed in bronze. "We just use this."
Null leaned slightly closer. "Oh? Is that?"
"Arcane communication device." Ronan tapped the surface. The crystal lit up faintly. "We just enter the mission completion details into the JC App."
Null blinked. "The what?"
"JC App. Justice Regulators' official system." Ronan shrugged. "We log the captured criminals and the location. Then their unit force comes to arrest the criminals." He pointed at the unconscious bandits. "Until they arrive, we guard them. Once they take custody, the mission is officially completed."
He stepped aside and walked a short distance away to start interacting with the glowing interface.
Null watched for a moment before chuckling quietly. "I see. I guess this magical fantasy world is more advanced than I gave it credit for."
Lyra tilted her head. "Magical fantasy?"
Null immediately coughed. "Please don't mind me." He waved his hand dismissively.
Magical fantasy world or not… this was his reality now. And he had no choice but to go with the flow.
Because for him—whether it was this fantasy world or his home world, which was a sci-fi version of Earth—things weren't that different. And honestly… no matter the world, everything always felt colourless for him.
Null sighed quietly. Then he turned toward Lyra.
"By the way, Lyra-san."
The young elf looked up. "Yes?"
Null smiled mischievously. "I kept my promise. No fatal wounds." He tilted his head playfully. "Don't you think I did well?"
Lyra froze. Her elven ears twitched.
"W-well…" She stammered. "I… I don't know what to say… Null-san."
Her ears slowly turned bright red.
Null grinned. "Hehehe. As I thought. Elven ears are very fun to tease."
Lyra's face exploded into a deep tomato red. "W-WHAT?!"
Being barely fourteen—and very inexperienced—her brain practically short-circuited.
Mira burst out laughing. Derrik chuckled loudly. Even Tobin snorted.
Null coughed awkwardly and gently patted Lyra's head. "Now now, Lyra-san. Please calm down. No need to get so flustered. I'll stop teasing you, okay?"
Unfortunately—this only made things worse.
His hand gently rubbing her head, combined with his absurdly handsome face so close to hers—Lyra's eyes began spinning.
"I… I… I…"
Null froze. "Uh." Now even he didn't know what to do.
Just as he was about to retract his hand—
A crackling sound of laughter echoed across the clearing.
"Ahhhh. What a heartwarming bonding moment." The voice dripped with mockery. "Watching such touching friendship… makes me want to ruin it even more."
Everyone froze.
Ronan immediately spun around. "—WHO'S THERE?!"
Null sighed quietly. Internally.
Right on schedule.
Two figures appeared.
They didn't walk into the clearing. They simply—blinked into existence.
Black cloaks. Black hoods. Silent.
The moment they appeared—one of them moved.
Fast. Too fast.
He dashed straight toward the tied-up bandits. Before anyone could react—his dagger flashed.
SHLIK.
Blood sprayed across the ground. The first bandit's throat opened instantly.
"USELESS!"
SHLIK. The second bandit died.
"PATHETIC!"
SHLIK. The third.
"TRASH!"
SHLIK. Fourth.
"UTTERLY WORTHLESS!"
Within seconds—all six bandits were dead.
The team stood frozen. Everything had happened too fast.
The killer with crazy violent eyes finished slaughtering. By the end—blood soaked the dirt around him. The young man stood atop the corpses, laughing wildly.
He licked the blood dripping from his dagger. "Ahhh… Fresh."
The motion caused several strands of violet hair to slip from under his hood. Part of his face became visible. He looked young. Maybe eighteen. But his eyes—were completely insane.
Behind him—the second hooded figure hadn't moved at all. He stood exactly where he had appeared. Silent. Still.
After a moment—he finally spoke. His voice was cold. Flat.
"Glo. Are you done with your psychotic actions? If so, we have a task to complete."
The violet-haired killer clicked his tongue. "Tch." He jumped down from the corpses. "Yeah, yeah. You don't have to tell me." He wiped blood from his dagger. "And how many times do I have to say it? Stop ordering me, Nubrus. I know what to do."
The second man finally turned his head slightly. His hood shifted, revealing part of a pale face. Silver hair. Emotionless eyes.
"I am not ordering you. I am drilling reality into you."
Glo rolled his eyes. "Tch. You cold-faced bastard." He stretched lazily. "Do we even have anything to worry about?" He pointed his dagger toward the team. "The target is a weakling. Master must be underestimating us, giving us such an easy-peasy mission."
Nubrus' gaze shifted toward Null. "The target might be a weakling. But the difficulty of this mission does not lie in the killing act." He spoke calmly. "It lies in the fact that we are targeting someone under that personage's protection. And within that personage's territory." His eyes narrowed slightly. "She is one of the {Seven Luminary Paragons} of Humanity. Do you understand the gravity of this?"
Glo shrugged carelessly. "So what? When I reach my full potential… I'll butcher those so-called heroes." His eyes gleamed with violent madness.
Nubrus snorted. "Keep your daydreams to yourself. Master warned us to be extremely careful. This mission is a trial of sorts. And we will complete it without mistakes."
Glo groaned. "Tch. You're so frustrating." He licked his lips and turned toward the team. "Good thing I have prey to vent my frustration on—"
He stopped. Blinking. "Huh?"
Because the prey had distanced themselves.
While the two assassins had been monologuing to each other—Null had quietly signaled Ronan.
Retreat.
Ronan saw it. Understood instantly. Despite the fear in his eyes from the grotesque turn of events—he nodded.
And the team moved.
Ronan. Derrik. Tobin. Mira. All of them quietly pulled back.
Only one person was rooted in place. Only Lyra hadn't moved. The youngest. The most inexperienced. She stood petrified, her eyes wide with terror.
Null sighed softly. "Of course." He grabbed her wrist. "Come on." And dragged her with him.
If it had been anyone else—Lyra might have instinctively resisted. But maybe—because it was Null. Her first crush. She let him pull her along.
Behind them—Glo raised his bloody dagger and grinned.
"You lot are quite clever for novices. I'll give you that." His smile widened. "But… there's no escaping my clutches."
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