I stood there, staring at the chunks of flesh scattered around. Yamanda was speckled with blood, but she seemed unfazed. It hit me then—even if we didn’t consider these beings as people, the way we killed them was still unsettling.

  Yes, they were evil. But most people struggled with the brutality of killing. Given the choice between a gun and a knife to take down a bad person, most would choose the gun to avoid the up-close and personal nature of the act.

  Some might pick the knife, thinking they could stomach the screams, the blood, the torn flesh, and the exposed organs. But when faced with the reality, many would hesitate or feign indifference, only to break down in private later.

  Yet, I was certain I would feel nothing when I returned to our sleeping quarters. This kind of detachment was something you'd expect from someone who had been killing for a while—like Yamanda.

  Maybe we were chosen as defenders of reality because each of us had a screw loose...

  Welp, who cares anyway?

  Yamanda turned to us and asked, “How bad are your injuries? You two.”

  I glanced at her, then back at the chunks of flesh.

  What is her skill card, really? She had mentioned pushing our skills to their limits. Instead of teleporting him whole, she had teleported him in sections around her...?

  Insane.

  She raised an eyebrow, looking confused. “Um… did I scare you all with that?”

  Vacinay replied, “I’m mostly okay. Oh, right! You have healing shots, don’t you? Give one to Lumine. I think she broke her back.”

  Yamanda nodded and walked toward me. “What about you?” she asked.

  “I’m not as hurt as her. I’ll heal on my own. Now… Hessien…”

  He helped Vacinay up. “Got you.”

  “Merci,” she muttered.

  Yamanda glanced at my shoulder, and a healing shot appeared in her hand. But then something odd happened. Without anyone pushing the plunger, it pressed down on its own. The needle pierced my flesh, and its contents emptied into me.

  Surprised, I asked, “Telekinesis?”

  “No.” She tapped her temple. “That’s one of my secret techniques. Can’t tell you about it.”

  She had specified ‘technique,’ not ‘skill.’ Interesting.

  I could feel the elixir moving through my body, a cold sensation spreading through my veins. It reached my back, and suddenly, I felt everything again.

  After a short while, I stood up. My back ached, and I felt a little shaky, but I was mostly fine.

  Ghomas then asked Yamanda, “So, ex-knights. I’ve been wondering. If those half-men are created because of some well or statue… why not destroy it?”

  “It’s a statue in a well. Anyway, it’s not that it can’t be destroyed, but because it’s not entirely evil. The strongest presidential knights have all made contact with it and exchanged something with those wells.”

  Wait, huh?

  Vacinay, still perched on Hessien’s shoulders, asked, “Are you one of the strongest?”

  She smiled. “Yes. I am currently ranked as the third strongest knight in Second Cinderayul.”

  Ah, I finally learned the country’s name!

  I asked slowly, “So… you also made a deal?”

  “Well, yes, but I still look flowman, don’t I?”

  Hessien looked at her skeptically. “I don’t get it. Aren’t you supposed to be a half-man?”

  “No. Since my form remained, it means I made a proper exchange, unlike those who traded their being.”

  Still, it feels kind of weird…

  Right, she had referred to half-men as people who had their form transformed by trading their ‘humanity’ for certain limited wishes to the statue of Pasfell.

  I nodded. “Okay. You didn’t trade your humanity, so what did you trade?”

  She tapped her abdomen. “The same thing the top four presidential knights—excluding number one—gave up: reproductive capabilities.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Eh, damn. So, if I want to beat Lumine, I need to sacrifice my manhood, huh?” Hessien sighed.

  “Unlikely. There’s a reason why ranks four through two are women. Even with a proper process to make us extremely attached—almost obsessed—with the idea of bearing a child, the exchange is harsher for women. Carrying a fetus for months, giving birth, and directly feeding it are major factors. The sacrifice for women is simply greater than for men.”

  Vacinay asked, “So, number one is a guy, right? What did he sacrifice?”

  Ghomas snickered. “He really liked his balls.”

  “Not even I know. All I know is that he is the strongest.”

  Dude probably traded his family or something.

  Though, I kept thinking about what Yamanda had said.

  They went through a process to make them extremely attached—almost obsessed—with having children. If that were the case, why wouldn't they just refuse to make the sacrifice when it was time? Or suffer serious mental effects?

  Vacinay voiced my thoughts aloud.

  Yamanda shrugged. “Who said some don’t refuse? Or suffer mentally? Plenty are eaten away by self-guilt and regret.”

  She tapped her head. “But there are ways to get over it. Maybe some mind-wiping? Or just enduring it.”

  Hm... well, I mean, if it works, it works?

  Yamanda then walked deeper into the tunnel. “I’m thinking we should wrap this up soon—today’s training, that is. I’ve got a test in mind. Get to the top of the mountain and save the people about to become sacrifices. The mountain is full of chaotic energy.”

  She looked at the gemstone embedded in her armor. “I already used my skill energy stabilizer back in the training field, so I can’t teleport you all there. That, and it would defeat the purpose of the test.”

  She snapped her fingers. “Get to work.”

  Vacinay grunted. “What a pain. Lumine! How’s your back holding up?”

  “Okay for the most part. I think my healing is boosted. You don’t need to use your repair.”

  “Good.”

  Hessien raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

  “Totally.”

  Ghomas formed two clones, one bulky and the other lean. “They’ll act as decoys.”

  Hessien nodded, then turned to Vacinay. “You still can’t walk?”

  “Nah, I can. I just like being this high up. Feels nice.”

  He shrugged and followed after Ghomas.

  I trailed behind, checking my knife. Still sharp enough. The tunnel was dark, but I could see... a bit.

  I considered making a fireball and keeping it levitating, but that would have given us away and announced our arrival. Not great. But things seemed desperate.

  Click.

  Eh? The sound came from Ghomas’s strong clone. Everyone froze.

  Three-second future sight!

  I glimpsed the future—an endless barrage of explosive darts heading straight for us.

  “Ghomas! Make a wall of clones if you can—I used future sight, and we’ve got incoming explosive darts!”

  “Future sight? Nice!” He acted fast, summoning over ten strong clones to stand in front of us. But as soon as they were formed, the darts came like bullets. At first, the clones withstood the onslaught, but after two seconds, they were shredded apart.

  Fireball!

  I conjured a massive fireball and crouched behind it. The others followed suit, keeping low. A second later, deafening explosions erupted from the fireball’s surface.

  Shit!

  Maintaining its form was so... damn taxing!

  I clenched my jaw, focusing all my power on keeping the fire ball alive, but every second felt like getting punched and kicked in the skull. It wasn’t just an EP issue—it was willpower too.

  After thirty agonizing seconds, the explosions ceased, and I slumped to my knees, feeling like my brain was about to leak out of my nose.

  ...And I was basically out of EP.

  I hated this...

  Hessien asked, “Can you move?”

  I gave a weak thumbs-up, stayed on the ground for a minute, then forced myself up.

  “Okay... Let’s go again.”

  But we needed a better tactic... This place was way too dangerous for us.

  Vacinay muttered, “Honestly, this isn’t going to work. We don’t have a map, so we have no idea where we’re headed. And there’s no way this place has just one tunnel—there’s gotta be a fake one somewhere.”

  I nodded. “That massive orc wannabe was down here. Either he came to check who shot a fireball outside, or he was guarding something.”

  Vacinay made an “aha!” sound. “I’ll shift into my cat form and use its sense of smell to track the path those half-men take through these tunnels!”

  Oh, that sounded good. She shifted into a cat, fully in control of her body.

  She sniffed the ground, padded forward, then pawed at a wall. A secret door?

  Hessien pushed against it, and a rectangular-shaped door shifted inward. After a couple of seconds, it moved on its own, revealing a new tunnel.

  Ghomas, having recovered some EP, sent out his lean (fast) clone. I guess he had four skills: Playdead, Strong Clones, Fast Clones, and Lightning Bolt.

  In her cat form, Vacinay prowled behind the clone, her nose skimming the ground. Suddenly, she halted, letting out a sharp meow that echoed off the cavern walls.

  Unfazed, the clone pressed on. Three steps later, a monstrous snake lunged from the shadows, swallowing the clone whole before its cold, calculating eyes locked onto us.

  Oh... shit.

  The snake recoiled, ready to strike. I activated my future sight, catching a two-second glimpse of the attack.

  It was lightning-fast!

  The snake lunged. I froze time for a heartbeat, sidestepped, and leapt to safety. We should never have come here before I had fully recovered my EP.

  Summoning a fireball, I hurled it at the snake’s head, making it shriek in agony.

  Ghomas acted fast, sending a steady stream of electricity crackling towards it. The creature thrashed wildly, barely missing Hessien and Vacinay—she had shifted into a monkey form and deftly dodged.

  The snake reared its head, aiming to crush me, but I froze time again and dodged. I launched another fireball. I needed to be more creative... How could I modify it?

  The snake let out a blood-curdling screech and turned toward Ghomas, who was now drained of EP. Suddenly, a dense mist engulfed the area, plunging us into blindness.

  This was a terrible idea—

  A gory spray of blood erupted from the mist, accompanied by the snake’s dying screams.

  “Die, die, die, die!” A woman’s voice echoed chaotically.

  Vacinay? But... how was she seeing through the mist?

  Laser shots, unmistakably from Hessien, pierced the fog. Then, the snake’s cries faded, followed by the heavy thud of its massive body hitting the ground.

  Summoning a fireball, I burned away the mist, revealing Hessien and Vacinay, both panting.

  Vacinay’s face was partially transformed—her eyes were feline. She grinned. “Got three levels from that beast. That puts me at level seventeen.”

  Stretching her arms, she brought up her secondary card, displaying an array of creatures.

  With a flick of her finger, she traced a circle in the air, summoning a two-headed dog that stood a meter tall.

  Crossing her legs, she declared, “Remember when I said I was gonna be the queen of monsters?!”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t it centipedes?”

  “Silence, wench!”