When Storm Ly's HP dropped to its final 10%, the NPC holding the clay jar said, "Alright, that's enough."
The other NPC stopped swinging his whip, smacking his lips with a look of reluctant satisfaction.
Storm Ly was now collapsed on the ground, its body twitching occasionally, and letting out pitiful howls from its mouth.
The guy holding the jar pulled out a brush soaked in a thick red liquid that dripped slowly from its bristles.
He stepped forward and stomped on Storm Ly's mouth, then began roughly brushing the dye onto the creature's body.
Before long, Storm Ly's silvery-gray fur turned into a reddish-brown hue.
The NPC put away the jar, took out a potion bottle filled with yellow liquid from a pouch at his waist, and tried to pour it into Storm Ly's mouth—but the hound kept its mouth tightly shut.
The NPC kicked Storm Ly's muzzle and barked impatiently, "Open up, you idiot!"
But Storm Ly showed no sign of movement.
At that moment, Akimi and Kirito noticed that the last 10% of Storm Ly's HP was still dropping—within seconds, it had dwindled down to just a sliver.
Seeing the hound's increasingly weakened state, the two NPCs started to panic.
"Hey, hey! What's going on?! Why won't it even drink the potion?!"
The NPC who had applied the dye quickly grabbed the clay jar and sniffed near its opening.
His expression changed drastically, and he stammered in a panic, "W-We're screwed! The concentration of Lurabium Flower Dye in this batch is way higher than yesterday's! That idiot couldn't withstand the dye's toxicity!"
"What?! Why didn't you notice earlier?!"
"The guys who make the dye always use the same concentration! How was I supposed to know they'd make it stronger today?!"
As they argued, the last sliver of Storm Ly's HP finally drained away.
The light faded from its eyes, and then its body shattered into fragments of light.
"You idiot! This was your dumb idea! Now look what you've done—we're finished!"
Hearing that, the other NPC was clearly not having it.
He slammed the clay jar of dye onto the ground, pointed at the whip-wielding NPC's nose, and cursed, "You dumbass! You've got some nerve blaming me?! If you hadn't gotten so carried away beating it, how the hell would the hound have died?!"
The two NPCs started bickering non-stop, each trying to shift the blame and distance themselves from the incident.
But this was no longer Akimi and Kirito's concern.
As soon as the two NPCs started arguing, the two quietly slipped away from the underground monster stable.
Back at the casino's main entrance, Akimi immediately messaged Asuna, explaining what he and Kirito had just witnessed.
Not long after, Asuna replied:
"Miss Nirrnir wants you two to wait outside the casino entrance. Miss Kio will come pick you up."
When he saw Asuna's message, Akimi felt something was off.
He said in confusion, "Aren't we allowed to go straight up to the third floor? Why would Kio come to pick us up?"
Kirito was equally puzzled.
It was now 2 PM, with an hour to go before the second half of the monster tournament began.
As Akimi and Kirito waited for Kio, members of both ALS and DKB had already started entering the casino, along with other lower-level players coming in from time to time.
About five minutes later, a cloaked figure approached the two of them and tapped their shoulders.
Seeing the face under the hood's shadow, Akimi was just about to say something when he was quickly hushed.
"Don't talk. Come with me."
That voice—it was Kio, the battle maid who served Miss Nirrnir.
Kio didn't say another word, simply turned and started walking toward the street across from the casino.
Although the two of them were confused as to why they weren't going inside, they still quickly followed after her.
After leaving the casino, Kio led them along the street for just over two minutes before arriving at an inn.
While it wasn't as extravagant as the VIP area of the casino, it was still quite luxurious compared to other places.
Without stopping at the front desk, Kio headed straight down the hallway inside the inn.
She eventually stopped in front of a door, then pulled out a large bunch of keys from who-knows-where—there must have been twenty or thirty of them.
She examined the keys for a moment, then selected a plain, unremarkable one and used it to unlock the door in front of her.
Inside the door was a high-end but narrow single room, about nine square meters in size.
Inside, there was only a bed, a small tea table, a chair, and a wardrobe.
After pushing Akimi and Kirito into the room, Kio first poked her head out to check the surroundings, then entered as well and shut the door, locking it behind her.
After putting away the keys, Kio walked over to the wardrobe and opened it.
The inside was completely empty, containing only a clothes rod and a wall hook.
Kio pinched the wall hook and gave it a full twist.
With the sound of interlocking metal gears clicking and grinding, the back of the wardrobe slowly opened inward, revealing a dark hidden passage.
"You two go in first," Kio said calmly to Akimi and Kirito.
"Alright."
With a nod, Akimi crawled straight into the hidden passage behind the wardrobe.
It was very narrow—only about one meter high and fifty centimeters wide—so they had to hunch over to move forward.
Once both of them were inside, Kio followed them in and triggered the mechanism again, closing the wardrobe panel behind them.
With the wardrobe shut, the already dim passage became even darker—until faint bluish light began to glow softly from some mushrooms growing on the walls.
"Luminshrooms?" Kirito asked with some surprise.
"Don't these things die as soon as they're picked? How were they transplanted here from the Quakingrock Forest?"
Kio replied in a very serious tone, "That's a secret of the Nactoy family—if you want to know, Kirito, you'd have to sign a contract and become one of them."
After a brief pause, she added to Akimi, "Of course, if you want, you can join along with Kirito."
Akimi and Kirito both chuckled awkwardly and said in unison, "W-We'll consider it."
Seeing their flustered expressions, Kio couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
"Ahem, alright, let's keep moving. We've already taken quite a while," Kio cleared her throat to stifle her laughter, then urged them forward.
The group continued through the passage for another five to six minutes before finally reaching the end.
There, they found a spiral staircase, similar to the one in the monster stable, though this one was narrower.
After ascending for a while, they reached the top of the stairs, where Akimi spotted a mechanism on the wall beside a wooden panel that looked just like the one at the wardrobe entrance.
Kio timely explained, "Turn that mechanism clockwise once."
After turning it, the wooden panel opened, revealing countless outfits inside—of various styles and colors.
Judging from the fabric, they were all of very high quality.
But Akimi quickly figured out who these clothes belonged to—the colors were primarily purple, blue, red, and black.
The styles were mostly dresses, western suits, and lolita fashion, and the sizes clearly didn't fit an adult.
Looks like these clothes were all Nirrnir's.
Pushing aside the fragrant garments and stepping out of the wardrobe, Akimi didn't even have time to look up when a familiar voice came from ahead.
"Welcome back."
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