Cedric glanced back, his eyes gleaming with malice.
"I know what I am doing. Now, stop shaking and follow me. We have a mercenary contract to write."
Drax watched him walk away, shaking his head in disbelief.
"You will be the death of us all," Drax whispered. But he had no choice. He followed the boy into the dark.
Cedric turned around, looking back toward the dark forest where Lysander had vanished.
The fear he felt earlier was gone, replaced by a burning, obsessive hatred. He touched his cheek where the mud was drying. He remembered the metal mask. He remembered the red eye of the sword.
"But this isn't over," Cedric whispered.
"Let it go, Cedric," Drax grunted, starting to walk again. "The girl is probably dead. And that armored man is dangerous"
"No"
Cedric clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
"Seraphina isn't dead. I know it. That bastard took her"
He narrowed his eyes, visualizing Lysander's face.
"I will find them," Cedric vowed, his voice trembling with malice. "I don't care how strong he is. I will hire mercenaries. I will hire assassins. I will burn this entire forest down if I have to"
A twisted grin spread across his face.
"I will kill that man in the armor. I will peel that metal off his corpse. And Seraphina?"
He licked his lips.
"I will drag her back by her hair. She belongs to me. And nobody steals from Cedric Vance"
He turned and followed Drax into the shadows.
"Just wait, Armored Freak. The hunt has only just begun"
The moon hung high above the Stratified Domain, casting long, twisted shadows through the silver canopy. The forest was alive with the sounds of nocturnal predators—the howl of wolves, the screech of owl-bears—but nothing moved faster than the shadow tearing through the underbrush.
Lysander checked his HUD. The red numbers of the countdown were ticking away mercilessly.
[TIME UNTIL CRITICAL STATE: 2 HOURS]
"Too slow," Lysander gritted his teeth. "The children don't have two hours"
He adjusted his grip on Seraphina's legs. She was clinging to his back, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, her face buried in the hood of his Void-Weave Cloak to shield herself from the biting wind.
"Seraphina, keep your head down!"
Lysander commanded. "I'm increasing the output"
"O-Okay!" she muffled a reply, tightening her hold.
[SKILL COMBINATION: VELOCITY OVERDRIVE]
Lysander's eyes glowed blue behind his mask. He didn't care about conserving stamina anymore. He had points. He had potions. He had to get there now.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: AGILITY REINFORCEMENT ]
[SKILL ACTIVATED: SHADOW STEP]
BOOM.
He kicked off a massive tree trunk, shattering the bark. He didn't touch the ground; he flew.
To an observer, he was nothing but a streak of black lightning. He leaped from branch to branch, covering fifty meters in a single bound. The wind roared in their ears like a jet engine.
Whoosh—Zap—Whoosh.
He flickered in and out of existence. One second he was on a limestone ridge; the next, he was crossing a ravine, defying gravity.
Seraphina didn't dare open her eyes. The G-force pressed her chest against his back. She could feel the raw power in his body—the way his muscles coiled and snapped with every jump.
He was carrying her, his heavy armor, and the weight of a mission, yet his breathing remained steady, rhythmic, like a machine.
'He isn't stopping,' she thought, her heart pounding against his back. 'He hasn't slowed down for a single second. Who is he running for? Who is waiting for him?'
"Almost there," Lysander's robotic voice cut through the wind.
He saw the familiar landmark—the muddy clearing where he had fought the Bison days ago. The village was just beyond the ridge.
"System, prepare the Shop Interface."
[TARGET ITEM: Panacea Elixir (High-Grade)]
Lysander narrowed his eyes. He had 15,000 SP. He wasn't just going to buy the fruit; he was going to buy the best medicine money could buy.
He landed on the final cliff overlooking the hidden Demi-Human village.
"Hang on," Lysander whispered to the darkness. "Zero is back"
With one final, explosive leap, he dove toward the valley floor, racing to cheat death one more time.
The landing was heavy. Lysander dropped from the sky, landing in the center of the muddy village clearing with a thud that shook the puddles.
Seraphina slid off his back, her legs wobbling. She pulled the gray cloak tighter around herself, looking around with wide eyes.
"Where... where are we?" she whispered.
She didn't get an answer. Instead, she got silence.
From the shadows of the ruined huts and the treeline, figures began to emerge. They were Demi-Humans. There were Fox-kin, Rabbit-kin, and Wolf-kin. But there were no men. It was a village entirely of women and children—about twenty of them who had been healed previously, standing protectively in front of a quarantined tent.
When they saw Lysander, their faces lit up with hope. But the moment their eyes landed on Seraphina—a human woman with the silver hair of nobility—the atmosphere turned to ice.
"Human!"
The villagers recoiled, pulling their children behind them. Their ears flattened against their heads in fear and hostility. To them, a human meant slavery, pain, and death.
Miko, the little fox-girl who had been the first to be healed, stepped forward. She stood in front of her mother, trembling but brave.
"Lord Zero..." Miko said, her voice shaking with betrayal. "You came back... but... why is she here?"
Miko pointed a small, accusing finger at Seraphina.
"She is a human. Humans are cruel. They burned our old homes. They hunted us down like animals after our fathers ran away and abandoned us! They only hurt the weak who were left behind. Why did you bring an enemy to our sanctuary?"
Seraphina shrank back, feeling the physical weight of their hatred.
She didn't blame them. In the capital, Demi-Humans were treated worse than livestock. She had seen what the Royal Guards did to them; she knew what men like Cedric did to their kind for "sport." Their hatred wasn't prejudice—it was a survival instinct.
She looked at the trembling fox-girl and the mothers clutching their children. She didn't see beasts. She saw victims. She saw the same terror in their eyes that she saw in the mirror every time Cedric looked at her.
"I..." Seraphina stammered, raising her hands to show she was unarmed. "I'm not... I'm not like them. Please..."
"Silence," Lysander commanded.
He stepped between the angry villagers and the terrified noblewoman.
"She is not an enemy," Lysander stated, his robotic voice echoing through the clearing.
"She is an outcast. Just like you. Just like me"
He looked at Miko, then at the women holding makeshift spears.
"She has been beaten, hunted, and thrown away by her own kind. She has nowhere else to go. She will not harm you. I vouch for her"
The women lowered their weapons slightly, though their eyes remained wary. If Lord Zero vouched for her, they would obey. He was their savior. But the air remained tense; forgiveness for humans would not come easily.
Lysander didn't waste time on introductions. He turned to the quarantined tent where the heavy smell of sickness still lingered.
"The others," Lysander asked. "Are they still holding on?"
"Yes," Miko's mother nodded, tears welling in her eyes, though she kept a suspicious side-glance at Seraphina. "But barely. The fever is taking them, Lord Zero. Please..."
Scene continues with the healing...
Lysander walked over to the mats where 5 children and 4 women lay shivering. Their skin was grey, covered in black veins. They were fading fast.
Seraphina followed him timidly. She looked at the sick demi-humans. In the capital, the nobles called them "filthy beasts." But here, Seraphina just saw suffering.
"System," Lysander commanded internally.
"Open Shop.
He had 15,000 SP. He needed the best.
"Purchase"
[Greater Sun-Fruit]
[Quantity: 9]
[-4,500 SP]
[REMAINING BALANCE: 10,500 SP]
Flash.
In Lysander's hands, nine glowing golden fruits appeared. Unlike the small red berry he had given Seraphina, these fruits were the size of apples and radiated a blinding, warm light that illuminated the entire dark village.
"Eat," Lysander said, kneeling beside the first sick child—a small rabbit-kin boy.
He crushed the fruit slightly to release the juices and fed it to the boy.
Lysander walked over to the mats where 5 children and 4 women lay shivering. Their skin was grey, covered in black veins. They were fading fast.
Seraphina followed him timidly, but when Lysander opened his inventory and pulled out the glowing items, she froze.
"Eat," Lysander said, kneeling beside the first sick child—a small rabbit-kin boy.
Seraphina watched, her mouth falling open in absolute shock. She didn't just see fruit; she saw a king's ransom.
'Wait... I've read about these in the Royal Archives,' she thought, her mind reeling as she sensed the dense, suffocating mana radiating from the golden skins. 'Those aren't just magical fruits. Those are Greater Sun-Fruits. They are the primary ingredient for creating Rank-A Elixirs of Life.'
She gripped her cloak, trembling with disbelief.
'In the human world, High-Rank Adventurers form entire raid parties just to find one of these in a deep dungeon. People lose their lives trying to harvest them. Major Guilds would kill to get their hands on a single crate'
And yet, there was Zero.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't ration them. He held nine of these priceless treasures in his hands—enough wealth to buy a small city—and he was feeding them to demi-humans without blinking an eye.
Use. Use. Use.
He was burning through a fortune that even the Duke would hesitate to spend, tossing it away with the casual indifference of someone feeding bread to ducks.
"He's insane..." Seraphina whispered, her voice filled with awe and confusion. "He's completely insane"
As the juice touched the boy's lips, the miracle happened.
The black veins on their skin vanished instantly. The grey color flushed into a healthy pink. The labored breathing turned into deep, peaceful sighs. The power of a Rank-A ingredient was absolute; no sickness could survive it.
One by one, the 4 women and 5 children opened their eyes. They sat up, looking at their hands, feeling the strength return to their bodies.
"Mommy?" the rabbit boy chirped, his ears perking up.
"Oh, spirits..." Miko's mother sobbed, rushing forward to hug the healed women. "They are back! They are back!"