Juxi bent down, pulled away the blanket covering his back, and drew his other sword.

The bracer, fitted with a hidden blade, was beautifully decorated and gleamed with a cold light. Its hilt was black.

“Yu Nai, we’ll have to take a bit of a detour. We need to find out why those two didn’t take the main road and chose this path instead. If we ignore something like this, I might not even make enough to cover your provisions, Miss Yu Nai. Right?”

Juxi and Yu Nai moved forward carefully and obediently, stepping over the fallen tree and avoiding the roots sticking up from the ground.

“I don’t know if those monsters are still nearby, but we’d better not let our guard down,” Juxi warned as he moved ahead.

As he spoke, he took a handful of medicinal powder from the bag he carried and sprinkled it over the blade of his dagger.

He loosened his collar, revealing the bloody scar on his neck. Yu Nai’s heart thudded with each of his steps, and she snapped furiously.

Juxi took a shortcut and climbed the hillside with Yu Nai.

From the hillside, they could look down over the whole of Paradise Town. At its highest point stood a tower, its roof covered in somewhat faded brown tiles.

All kinds of plants grew across the hillside. A thick layer of fallen leaves and dead branches covered the ground, making the descent treacherous.

After warning Yu Nai again, Juxi instinctively backed away a few steps, then carefully made his way over the slope and back to the path.

They walked very slowly the whole way, and Juxi often stopped to observe their surroundings.

Suddenly, a frantic scream came from far away. At the entrance, a group of horses kicked hard at the ground and leaped about restlessly, sending fallen leaves swirling into the air. A sense of unease welled up in Yu Nai’s heart.

Things were already bad enough, but Yu Nai tried to reassure herself anyway. “Don’t overthink it. When I went to East Asia, they were still alive and well. The Divine Lord protected them. They’re immortal… Anyway, this isn’t a good sign. They’re different from us. We Harilanders only managed to build Hariland Savior Castle in time because the faithful of Paradise Town helped us. I saw with my own eyes that they could drive off the mutants. They really could!”

“Sorry. I don’t really believe that gods exist, but if even they couldn’t…” Juxi murmured, glancing around while keeping his hand signal in place.

“That’s right. This is a sign of the apocalypse. Hariland… and the whole world are about to be destroyed. There’s no escaping it.”

“Is it really that bad? Don’t panic, Yu Nai. Don’t panic.”

Juxi could only hope his reassurance would help. He kicked at the brush around them—not that it would do much beyond lessen the chance of a monster springing out. That village of Paradise had clearly become hell!

At that, Yu Nai started moving, but she trudged along listlessly and reluctantly. Her movements were awkward and completely out of rhythm.

“I feel like I can’t focus on anything…”

“Sigh. Looks like you’re determined to give me some childish trouble!”

With that, Juxi simply picked her up and carried her forward like a father.

His strange behavior startled Yu Nai. After all, she thought Juxi might be trying to get handsy with her…

Having just recovered from the shock, Yu Nai immediately scolded Juxi. “Hey, I think we need to have a proper talk about what’s going on here!”

“Heh. Think whatever you want. We still have a lot to do. The place they once called Paradise may already be gone… I’m sure Yuanhui managed to get away, too.”

“Hmph. I can’t believe you’re such a coldhearted bastard. I regret asking you to take this damn job. You’re not cut out for it!”

Before they knew it, they had reached a wall.

There was hardly any space between the wall and the forest. Leaves, the stone wall, and the occasional chameleon passing over it all blended together.

“We’re here…” Juxi slowly lifted his head. “This is the outer wall of the Savior Castle people talk about?”

At the same moment, he felt a strange tickling sensation, as if an invisible woman were kissing his neck. It kept creeping slowly along his skin, making the hairs on his body stand on end. Juxi wasn’t sure what it meant, but this was an exorcist’s territory, so it was only natural that he didn’t know.

He slowly and casually turned around.

Yu Nai held her breath uneasily, then swallowed nervously.

A young girl stood perfectly still on the hillside he had just passed, one hand braced against the trunk of a pine tree beside her.

The girl wore a long white dress that trailed to the ground. Her waist-length black hair was shiny and tousled.

Juxi thought the girl was smiling, even though they were very far apart.

“Hello. Are you from around here?” He raised a hand in a friendly wave and took a step toward her.

But the girl tilted her head slightly and watched his every move.

From that angle, Juxi could see how pale her face was, and how large and dark her eyes were.

The faint smile on her face suddenly vanished, as if it had been wiped away.

Juxi took another step forward. Leaves rustled beneath his feet.

The girl darted away like a young deer. She ran through the trees, and in the blink of an eye, all he could see was a flash of white disappearing into the depths of the forest.

“Hey, you’re not thinking of chasing that girl, are you?”

Though her skirt was long, it didn’t hinder her movements.

Yu Nai couldn’t stop Juxi. The outskirts of Hariland were full of hidden forest paths, and it was easy to get lost if you weren’t careful.

Yu Nai trembled with unease again and shook her head repeatedly.

Juxi looked toward Paradise Town in the forest once more, then instinctively tried to reassure her with a few words.

He casually set his hidden blade to the open position and slowly followed the wall along a weed-choked path.

Before long, they reached a sturdy iron gate. Its frame was rusty, but the gold on the ring handle looked freshly restored.

After hesitating for a moment, Juxi finally reached for the green-patinated ring handle.

But the instant his hand touched the handle, a sudden shudder made him pull back. The gate creaked open, pushing aside the weeds, branches, and small stones beside it.

“Someone’s finally here…”

As the gate slowly opened, Yu Nai was overcome with joy—until she saw what lay beyond it. She froze… There was no one behind the gate, only an empty, abandoned courtyard. The only thing that had been tended to was the crumbling ruins.

Juxi entered the courtyard alone first. The medicinal powder gave him the nerve to wander around it.

But he kept his steps stiff to avoid making noise. He had figured out how the mutants hunted: they followed sounds.

Sound was the key. The courtyard was enclosed by walls on three sides, with the remains of a wooden shed nearby.

That explained how the faithful had managed to survive for so long. The town was completely enclosed, so ordinary sounds couldn’t get out… Then how had the mutants gotten inside?

The courtyard connected to a hall. Its walls were peeling and stained, and ivy had spread across them. The faded iron windows were shut, and so was the door.

Juxi carefully pressed himself against a pillar near the main entrance, then slowly followed the gravel path into the courtyard. He came to a small fountain filled with fallen leaves and rubbish. At its center stood a white stone angel, its head and wings broken off. It gazed up at the sky, all alone.

Beside the fountain was a patch that looked as though it had once been a flower bed, with a colorful mass of flowers planted in it… or there had been. They’d been trampled into the ground and looked close to withering.

Some petals even had a faint purple tinge around the edges. He reached out to touch one tenderly and leaned closer to smell it. It smelled just like a flower in bloom, only perhaps a little stronger. Could it be that, faced with death, it was fighting all the harder to keep living, without hesitation?

A note… I’d thought there’d only been some kind of rebellion here. I really hoped the two outside the village had simply been scavenged.

But who could’ve guessed that a truly terrifying disaster was unfolding here!

Suddenly, the hall’s door and all its windows slammed open. Juxi jerked his head up and saw an incredibly swift monster charging straight at him, sending gravel clattering across the ground.

In a flash, Juxi thrust his right hand into the air and yanked down hard with his left on the strap of the hidden blade strapped to his body and coated in medicinal powder. The blade sprang into his hand.

Juxi gave the blade a sharp swish. In the blink of an eye, its tip was aimed at the charging monster.

The monster seemed to anticipate the blade the moment it saw it. It moved with incredible speed—not even the elders of Tiandao Academy could stand against it. One powerful leap sent a wave of stones flying dozens of feet into the air, and the fragments shot in every direction.

Even when Juxi was hit, he didn’t so much as furrow his brow. He quickly got back to his feet, then gestured to Yu Nai to stay out.

“Don’t make things harder for me right now. Just keeping up with its attacks is already pushing me to my limit!”

That was putting it nicely. To put it bluntly, he hadn’t even gotten a clear look at the monster, and it had already launched several waves of attacks!

The monster had a human body and wore battered but finely made armor. Its head was enormous and shaggy like a brown bear’s, with a pair of flared ears and huge, round eyes. Its gaping maw was full of slightly curved fangs, and its blood-red tongue flickered in and out like a burning flame.

“Get lost, human!” the monster roared, swinging both arms, but still making no move to reveal itself.

“Or I’ll eat you! Tear you limb from limb!”

Juxi stood with his sword raised, motionless as he faced the monster lurking in the darkness.