Noctis
“Lord Noctis, there are no beasts left in this forest.”
Noctis slowly opened his eyes.
He had been lying comfortably on a tree branch, enjoying his peaceful rest.
“I know.”
The soldier hesitated for a moment before asking, “Lord Noctis, what should we do now?”
Noctis glanced down at him.
“What else can we do if there are no beasts left in the forest?”
He paused briefly before asking another question.
“How many people still haven’t awakened to Two Stars?”
“Lord, there are five people left.”
“Bring them to me.”
“Yes, Lord!”
The soldier immediately left.
A short while later, five people stood before Noctis.
None of them said a word.
Initially, they had assumed that Noctis must be an incredibly powerful fighter.
However, after watching him lie on the same tree branch for nine consecutive days, they had gradually stopped paying attention to him.
In their eyes, he was nothing more than a lazy man who enjoyed sleeping.
Of course, Noctis could hear their thoughts.
But he didn’t care.
Instead, he casually asked, “How many Beast Cores do you need?”
The five lowered their heads.
“Approximately fifteen in total, Lord.”
Noctis nodded.
“Alright.”
He casually raised his hand.
In the next instant, fifteen Beast Cores appeared out of nowhere.
The five weren’t particularly surprised.
After all, they were living in a world where seemingly impossible things happened every day.
They quickly collected the Beast Cores and began absorbing them.
A short while later, a golden glow emerged from their bodies.
Then—
Crack!
It sounded as though something inside each of them had broken.
Their auras surged, becoming noticeably stronger.
They had successfully awakened to Two Stars.
Noctis looked at them and nodded with satisfaction.
“Good.”
He rose from the tree branch and stretched his body.
“Now, let’s go back.
There’s nothing left to do here.”
Turning toward the surrounding soldiers, he casually announced, “Everyone, get up.
We’re leaving.”
The soldiers immediately followed his orders.
After all, there was no point remaining in a forest without any beasts.
At least, that was what they believed.
None of them knew that someone had already turned the entire forest into a slaughterhouse.
### Ronan’s Group
Ronan was facing the same problem.
There wasn’t a single beast left in the jungle.
His team had searched almost everywhere, yet they hadn’t found even one.
Nine people still hadn’t reached Two Stars.
Everyone was confused.
It felt as though someone had wiped out every beast in the entire forest overnight.
Unlike Noctis, Ronan didn’t have a large stockpile of Beast Cores.
His group had relied on hunting to obtain the resources they needed.
Now, with no beasts left, their situation had become troublesome.
Ronan stared into the depths of the forest.
“There’s nothing left here.”
After a brief pause, he continued, “I’m going farther inside.”
The others exchanged glances before following him.
They traveled deeper into the jungle, carefully examining their surroundings.
After walking for some time, everyone suddenly stopped.
A dead beast.
Its enormous body lay motionless on the ground, surrounded by black blood.
One of the men cautiously approached the corpse and examined it.
A moment later, his eyes widened.
“The Beast Core is still intact!”
Without wasting another second, he began extracting it.
Afterward, he raised his head and looked around.
As far as his eyes could see, dead beasts littered the forest floor.
Nothing else.
His expression gradually became serious.
At first, he had assumed that another beast might have killed them.
However, after examining several corpses more carefully, he noticed something unusual.
A clean cut.
The wound was precise, as though the beast had been killed by a sword.
His expression changed.
A human had done this.
But who?
He considered the possibilities for a moment before dismissing the thought.
Perhaps Alice or Arthur had already finished collecting Beast Cores in their assigned territories.
Maybe they had run out of beasts in their own areas and moved deeper into the forest.
The number of corpses suggested that whoever had done this had been hunting for quite some time.
There was no point wasting time speculating.
Ronan turned toward his team.
“Everyone, collect the Beast Cores!”
The soldiers immediately got to work.
Those who still hadn’t reached Two Stars began absorbing the Beast Cores as soon as they had enough.
For the moment, they decided to take advantage of the unexpected discovery.
After all, they couldn’t afford to waste such a valuable opportunity.
### Arthur’s Group
Arthur was equally surprised.
There wasn’t a single beast left in the jungle.
After searching for some time, he decided to venture deeper into the forest.
Eventually, he encountered the same sight as Ronan.
Dead beasts.
Arthur stopped walking.
His eyes moved across the corpses, carefully examining their wounds.
He didn’t need long to reach a conclusion.
A human had killed them.
But who?
Arthur began considering everyone who might have been capable of doing something like this.
Then, one name entered his mind.
“Noctis…”
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
However, he soon dismissed the possibility.
Noctis didn’t seem like the kind of person who would spend his time killing beasts without a good reason.
Arthur didn’t know the full extent of Noctis’s abilities, but he knew one thing about him.
The man was lazy.
Extremely lazy.
If someone provided him with three meals a day and a comfortable place to sleep, he would probably spend the rest of his life doing nothing.
Arthur could easily imagine Noctis taking advantage of his team while relaxing somewhere in the forest.
Besides, the four groups had traveled in four different directions.
It should have been impossible for them to cross paths.
And even if they had somehow met, Arthur believed he would have noticed.
Then, another name suddenly appeared in his mind.
Nameless.
Arthur’s expression changed.
The moment he thought about that man, everything seemed to fall into place.
“I’m almost certain it was him.”
He recalled his first encounter with Nameless.
Even back then, Arthur had sensed something unusual about him.
Nameless wasn’t someone who would bow his head to another person easily.
He possessed a strange kind of pride.
A pride that seemed entirely incompatible with his circumstances.
“But if it really was him…”
Why hadn’t he collected the Beast Cores?
Arthur fell silent for a moment.
Perhaps Nameless’s pride was so great that he simply didn’t care about such things.
Or perhaps he had been so focused on killing that he hadn’t bothered to collect the cores.
Arthur glanced around the forest.
There wasn’t a single living beast in sight.
Considering the sheer number of corpses, Nameless had probably spent most of his time hunting.
He might not have had the time—or the interest—to collect the Beast Cores afterward.
Arthur sighed.
“Fine.
I’ll collect them for him.”
Then he remembered his own situation.
“But we need Beast Cores, too.”
Since there were no beasts left to hunt, he decided to collect some of the remaining cores for the soldiers who hadn’t reached Two Stars.
He turned toward his group.
“Everyone, collect the Beast Cores.”
Then he addressed those who hadn’t yet advanced.
“And those who haven’t reached Two Stars, start absorbing them immediately.”
The soldiers promptly followed his orders.
Arthur watched them for a moment before turning his gaze back toward the forest.
Nameless… just what kind of person are you?
He couldn’t help wondering what else that mysterious man might be capable of.
### Nameless
Meanwhile, I knew nothing about Arthur’s thoughts.
I had no idea that he had already figured out what I had done.
Nor did I care.
At that moment, there was only one thing occupying my mind.
Killing.
### Alice’s Group
Alice had already collected a considerable number of Beast Cores.
Now, all that remained was to have everyone absorb them.
Since she had started gathering Beast Cores earlier than the other groups, her team was no longer in danger of failing to reach the required strength.
In fact, Alice seemed to have already understood what was happening.
“Hurry up,” she instructed calmly.
“Absorb the Beast Cores.”
Everyone immediately obeyed.
Alice raised her head and looked toward the sky.
“Tomorrow will be the tenth day.”
Her blue eyes narrowed slightly.
“That means we must return tomorrow.”
She carefully observed her soldiers.
Every one of them was concentrating on absorbing the Beast Cores, determined to increase their strength before the deadline.
However, Alice’s thoughts were elsewhere.
Where is he now?
She took a slow breath.
Then another thought appeared in her mind.
I want to keep Nameless by my side.
The mere thought made something stir inside her chest.
A strange warmth spread through her body.
For a brief moment, the cold expression she usually wore softened, and a faint glow appeared across her beautiful face.
Unfortunately, the soldiers noticed it.
Their expressions immediately changed.
Lady Alice is angry!
They became nervous, desperately trying to figure out what they might have done wrong.
Alice quickly realized their misunderstanding.
Her expression returned to normal.
The warmth vanished from her face, and the familiar coldness returned to her blue eyes.
It was as though nothing had happened.
She continued watching her soldiers in silence.
No one dared to ask her anything.
But deep inside, beneath that seemingly emotionless exterior, her thoughts remained fixed on a single person.
Nameless.