“What the hell is this thing!?”

“Lime! This damn thing is lime!!!”

Roy and Rod rubbed their stinging eyes furiously while shouting in rage.

This explosive sphere was Karl’s own improvised hidden weapon—filled with lime or toxic gas to catch enemies off guard.

No choice. In this world, survival demanded a few dirty tricks.

“Stay still! Or we’ll hurt each other!”

Blinded, Roy barked the warning, telling Rod not to swing his weapon recklessly.

“That thing blew up right between us. That woman’s blind too.”

Rod was certain—the stunningly beautiful woman saw nothing, just like them.

At that moment, Roy yelled:

“Karl! Did *you* throw this lime!? What the hell are you doing?!”

Karl stood silent. Instead, he gently pulled the lime-blinded woman closer.

“Karl! Answer me!!! Are you helping her?! Don’t be fooled! *She’s* the assassin who tried to kill the city lord!!!”

“Exactly! Help us capture her now—I’ll forget today ever happened!”

Karl almost believed them.

If not for his ability to see death nodes, he might’ve handed her over for safety.

But he knew: surrender her, and death awaited him.

First, Roy and Rod would never spare him.

Second—somehow, if she were captured, Count Watt’s entire family, including Karl, would face the guillotine.

*These two can’t live.*

“KARL! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!!!!” Roy roared, desperate for a reply.

Karl said nothing. He quietly raised his left pinky, channeling magic through his meridians.

*Whoosh!!*

A tiny light orb shot from his finger—straight into Roy’s forehead.

*Thud.*

Roy collapsed.

“Brother!! What’s wrong?! ANSWER ME!!!” Rod cried.

Only deathly silence answered.

“BROTHER!!!!”

Grief erupted. Ice crystals swirled around Rod as frost magic violently compressed around his body.

“You damn couple!! Think blinding me stops me?!”

He was gathering magic for a self-detonation—to freeze everything nearby.

It might not kill them, but it’d trap them. Guards would come. They’d be doomed.

What did his life matter now? His brother was gone.

“You… all… go…”

He meant to scream *“to hell!”*—

—but froze mid-word.

The compressed magic dissipated. A fresh bloody hole bloomed on his forehead.

“Not bad,” Karl murmured, blowing lightly on his pinky like cooling a gun barrel. “But your wind-up’s too slow. Felt rude *not* to interrupt.”

The stunningly beautiful woman, still blinded, stood utterly bewildered.

*What?!*

*The twins… dead?!*

*How?! What did Karl DO?!*

“Who *are* you?! How did you instantly kill two peak Gold-rank warriors?!” Fear coiled in her chest.

She’d thought him just a warehouse porter. Now? In her weakened state, she was completely at his mercy.

“Just a special trick.”

Karl checked the corpses. *Substitute dolls exist here.* He had to be sure.

No dolls. Truly dead.

*Only Gloth crafts those. Rare. Makes sense.*

He sighed. He never wanted to kill. But survival left no choice.

Strangely calm—his first kill. Panic had burned into ice.

Then: *How to dispose of them?*

No corpse-dissolving liquid.

*Store them. Burn later.*

He tucked both bodies into his Spatial Ring.

Approaching the woman, he pulled a small oil bottle from the ring. “Rub this on your eyes.”

She fumbled it open, applied it—and vision returned.

She glanced around. “Where are the twins’ bodies?”

Karl waved his palm. “In the Spatial Ring. I’ll handle them later.”

The woman went speechless.

*Good grief!! Using a Spatial Ring for corpses?!*

*You’re history’s first!*

She sighed helplessly. “Why help me?”

“Because you’re beautiful.” Karl answered without hesitation.

*(Truth: If your capture drags me down, I’m not lifting a finger.)*

She fell silent. “I’m sorry… I can’t return your feelings. I’m dying.”

She rose unsteadily, ready to leave—she still had to deliver the document.

But as she stepped forward, Karl’s voice stopped her:

“What if I told you… I can cure the poison in your body?”