A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

“A sharp stone with three red lightning bolts carved on it, and a broken bridge with a book pattern on it…” Bray silently recited the order of the landmarks.

So this is what it feels like to memorize things? It's so painful.

For someone who wasn't a top student, remembering the characteristics and order of the landmarks was a real struggle.

That's right, it concerns whether he'll get lost, so he should be more careful.

If you get the order wrong, the mine will probably explode on the spot.

There are no supply points in the area where that ruin is located, so if you get lost, you'll have to worry about food and lodging.

“This pasta tastes pretty good…I won’t get tired of it.” Bray suddenly stopped thinking and turned to look at the pasta in his hand.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Talika was speechless. Why did the topic change like this in just a few seconds?

"Is there something wrong with what I said? Don't you think this tastes good?" Bray asked, feigning doubt.

"No, not at all." The wolf girl's lips twitched, and she couldn't continue.

"That's fine then." After saying that, Bray prepared to try a different kind of ration.

He actually wanted to hunt some monsters, dry them, and store them, because hunting them himself was much cheaper than buying them.

That's the surface reason; the deeper reason is that he has much less money in his wallet and needs to be more frugal.

However, just as Bray opened his mouth, his right pupil suddenly contracted, and he silently put down the rations in his hand.

There are mimicry beasts again in the safe zone of Claw Fortress.

"Really...?"

“Now we’re going to run.” Bray tossed the rations to Talika.

Talika hurriedly took the rations, looking completely bewildered.

"Run? Run for what?" Talika asked instinctively, clearly not having realized what was happening yet.

"The Mimicry Beasts have appeared in your safe zone again," Bray said calmly, stating the alarming fact.

---

"Tari, hurry up!" The wolf boy ran ahead, carrying a sum of money in his arms.

However, the wolf boy Taji was quite cautious and did not openly display his wealth.

As the saying goes, one should not flaunt one's wealth. Taji was well aware that if he were to flaunt this money on the street, it would definitely attract the attention of some people.

As for the sum of money in his pocket, it was obtained by selling the magic gun that Bray had given him.

"Don't run too fast, I'm still carrying a bag of rice," Tari said, panting.

After a short rest, Tari mustered all his energy and caught up with Taji again.

Taji always dumped some of the rough work on him, which made him quite dissatisfied.

Taji's cunning is really annoying.

However, he would also keep the good things for himself, so Tari's feelings towards Taji were quite complicated.

Otherwise, Tali wouldn't have been so hardworking and conscientious.

"Let's go!" Tari ran forward with his head down, as if that would save him some energy.

But this won't make him walk any easier; it will only make him unable to see the road ahead.

Sure enough, he hadn't walked more than a few steps when he bumped straight into someone.

"Thud." Rice fell to the ground, and Tari stood there as if nothing had happened.

The fat man with the lion's head touched his head, looking a little dazed.

He quickly looked up at the person he had bumped into.

The person who came into view was as delicate as a porcelain doll.

But the person with the short haircut made it difficult to determine their true gender at first glance.

“…” The young man in the tower was mesmerized.

Is this a girl? No wonder it felt soft when I bumped into her.

"Are you alright?" Tari asked fearfully, worried that he might have hurt someone.

He was very big and strong, so usually when he bumped into others, it was the other person who fell down.

"It's alright," the other person replied simply.

"That's good, that's good." The honest-looking Tari breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, what are you doing over there?" Taji waved wildly from a short distance away, signaling the chubby boy to hurry up and catch up.

"I bumped into someone, don't I have to apologize?" Tari said irritably, then picked up the rice from the ground.

"By the way, excuse me, what's your name?" Tari asked.

“Al.” Suddenly, the exquisite-looking person spoke.

“Call him Al.”

"Oh... hello." Tari was a little confused, but still replied.

But soon, the chubby boy with the lion's head looked surprised, and then fearful.

A huge shadow enveloped him.

Previously, Tali didn't know whether to refer to this person as "he" or "she," but now he does.

It was neither "he" nor "she", but "it".

This is a monster, a mimicry beast.

He didn't believe that the other party was a mimicry beast until Al's head transformed into a giant net.

because...

“Tari…” Taji took a step forward, wanting to walk towards his brother.

But after he took his first step, the tower had already been swallowed up.

All he could see were the mimicry beast and the gurgling bubbles.

Taji's eyes were bloodshot, but reason told her that if she continued to go forward, she would definitely become the other person's next dinner.

In the moment of his hesitation, Al did not choose to continue facing the wolf boy who was at a disadvantage, but instead paused for a few seconds.

"He will die." Al, who had just killed a boy, suddenly muttered to himself.

"Al is afraid." After reverting to human form, Al trembled.

Then it shrank into a small animal and escaped through the gap in a flash.

Taji remained frozen in place, unsure whether to advance or retreat.

The wolf boy's expression was distorted, with tears, anger, and finally, fear.

So why would Al give up the food that was already in his mouth?

Because something terrible is coming, a very, very scary monster is approaching.

Although it was still some distance away, Al knew very well that if it wasn't far enough away, it wouldn't be able to escape.

The premonition of death is so intense, and it's as if the other party knows where I am, relentlessly pursuing me. Everyone has probably thought that death is far away.

Even the distance from familiar relatives and friends should be far away.

After that day of disaster, the world ruthlessly told everyone that this was not the case.

Death is all around us, and it can come at any time.

Who knows, in the next minute, in the next second, your best friend, your most beloved person will die.

Taji felt that the disaster day had been enough, and he shouldn't have to go through something like this again.

And that was indeed the case; he did not experience death again, but his brother did.

He was half-eaten by a mimicry beast right in front of him.

He didn't vomit, because this wasn't the first time he'd seen such a horrific sight.

However, tears kept welling up.

Anger, fear, and sadness were twisted together, leaving him unsure of what expression to wear.

"Aaaaaaah!!!" he screamed, venting his inner emotions.

You can shout, but what good will it do even if you shout until your throat is hoarse?

Tears and snot smeared his entire face, making him look like a helpless two-year-old child.

"Tari...Tari..." He crawled on the ground in a disheveled state, trying to move towards the other person.

But a hand patted him on the shoulder.

"Alright, that's enough, that guy escaped." A flat voice sounded behind him.

Those hands lifted him up from the ground and brushed all the dust off him.

"I'm sorry," Bray said, pressing his hand on Taji's hair.

"Tari! That's Tari!!!!" But unlike Bray's composure, Talika, as the older sister, was clearly so excited that she lost control.

What a joke, why would her brother die here?

Why!?

"Tell me! What happened!" Talika, disregarding Taji's condition, grabbed his collar and lifted him up by force.

“It’s a mimicry beast.” Then Bray answered the question for the distraught Taji.

"Isn't it obvious at a glance?"

"Why are you so calm! Is it because the person who died wasn't you..." Talika was about to say something when she was stopped by a sharp look from Bray.

Lifeless and cold, yet sharp as a sword blade.

“Calm down, take a deep breath, and don’t let your mind go blank,” Bray said calmly.

He had already guessed what Talika wanted to say to him; it was nothing more than condemning his coldness.

He said he could be so indifferent because the victim had nothing to do with him.

The only response to Bray's question was "yes".

That's right, that's it.

There's no need to make excuses, really no need to make excuses, and then to boast about how noble you are.

Because the truth is that Bray was neither noble nor very indifferent.

“…” Talika’s whole body was trembling, but she still took a deep breath.

"Just like last time, there's more than one mimic beast in the safe zone." Bray bluntly threw the harsh truth in the face of the irrational girl.

"More than one..." This time, the chilling information finally brought Talika back to her senses.

Bray was also surprised; he hadn't used his cunning for just over a day, and several more mimicking beasts had appeared in the safe zone.

He didn't understand. Were these monsters really that hard to spot? Surely not.

In Anjing City, he had never encountered such rampant mimicry beasts.

Moreover, last time, there was even the unusual phenomenon of a monster escaping.

Bray inexplicably opened the bottle at his waist, but the radiance that would be drawn to the silver remained unmoved.

Left with no other choice, he had to put the bottle back.

Something that has nothing to do with silver seeds? I didn't expect it to be so troublesome.

As expected, I don't have the ability to create clones, which makes me particularly weak in this situation.

"It's a mimicry beast... a talking mimicry beast!"

"No, it's a mimicry that can say its own name, a mimicry that speaks fluently! Just like a human... just like a human." Taji said these words in a state of continued collapse.

“Tali was talking to it like that, and then suddenly he was eaten whole.” He rubbed his hair, his body still trembling.

The wolf boy, who usually seemed cunning, looked so helpless at this moment, like a clay figure that would break at the slightest touch.