A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

The downside was that he would leave without cleaning up the scene after each place he went.

Bray didn't take care of those who broke down, leaving behind a lot of mess.

Although we managed to defeat the monster this time, what about next time?

What about the next time?

Bray isn't a saint; he won't decide to stay and protect Claw Keep forever.

At this rate, this safe zone is not far from complete collapse.

Even without the Silver Seed, this world still faces all sorts of threats.

“On behalf of...everyone, I thank you,” Talika said solemnly during her private meeting with Bray.

"No thanks." Bray shook his head.

"Anyway, not many people besides you are planning to say this to me."

“…” Bray’s words left Talika speechless for a long time, because they were true.

Talika, on the other hand, was somewhat puzzled, unlike the indifferent Bray himself.

It was as if Bray hadn't done anything, as if nothing had happened.

No, it would be a bit much to say that nothing happened, after all, fear was gradually spreading among the crowd.

Moreover, some in Clawburg are planning to exploit this fear to rise to power...

In this situation, everyone's judgment begins to decline, giving many people an opportunity to take advantage.

What a bunch of idiots! They're about to die, and they're still thinking about this kind of thing.

Do those who intend to seize power during this period still have a chance to live after everyone else has died?

Or are they so sure that someone will handle this kind of thing? That handling such a troublesome and exhausting matter is none of their business?

Talika looked at Bray, her feelings complicated.

It seems there really is someone trying to resolve this issue, and it's someone who has absolutely no connection to Clawburg.

In the end, it was that group of idiots who were praised.

"You...aren't you going to cry?" After a long while, Bray asked for no apparent reason.

Talika was stunned for almost a minute by this nonsensical question.

"Why cry... Besides, you've already cried." After a long silence, Talika finally replied.

“Is that so?” Bray glanced at Talika and said.

It seems this girl is much stronger than I imagined.

He then took a cube from his waist bag and threw it onto the ground.

The cube, shimmering with strange colors like glass, quickly transformed into a skateboard after landing.

Talika, who was still chatting with Bray, stared in astonishment at the skateboard that had suddenly appeared.

"W-what are you going to do?" Talika wondered what Bray was planning to do after pulling out a skateboard during their conversation.

How did the skateboard get stuffed into that seemingly small fanny pack?

“Let’s do it once and for all,” Bray said.

If this continues, not only will Fort Claw be in danger, but Bray's own itinerary will also be delayed.

As expected, the problem lay with that mimicry beast that always managed to escape at the last minute.

Both times, the mimicry beast that Bray sensed was in the same posture, unchanged.

According to Taji, the mimicry was unusual, and what was unusual was that it was too intelligent.

While it's going too far to say it's just like a human, at least when it's disguised as one, you can't tell unless you look closely.

Mimicry beasts are not inherently scary; aside from their disguises causing hesitation, their fighting style is also quite monotonous.

Its corrosive power is indeed exaggerated, but it requires close-range combat.

Moreover, despite having many of the characteristics of a slime, it actually has a physical form.

If the core is punctured, the person will die; the core is practically like a heart.

In the past, a weaker adventurer could easily take down several mimicry beasts on their own.

Mimicry beasts are really weak in combat; they're not particularly difficult monsters to deal with.

However, with the safe zone bordering the wilderness and its internal defenses being very weak, its capabilities have been amplified countless times.

If we are careless, they will invade and penetrate directly into areas with a large number of ordinary people.

Although the mimicry beasts are weak, they are more than enough to deal with ordinary people who have no power to resist.

"You said it's a one-time solution, what are you going to do?" For the first time, Talika felt like a curious child, constantly asking questions.

“I won’t answer questions that you already know the answer to.” Bray shrugged and put one foot on the skateboard.

Kill the mimicry beasts around you... no, strictly speaking, kill the mimicry beasts that have infiltrated the area time and time again.

Even if Bray was stupid, he could guess that all of this was related to that guy.

Talika opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

As Bray said, she was asking a question she already knew the answer to.

What else can we do to solve this once and for all? Of course, we should kill all the mimicry beasts in the wild.

She just couldn't imagine it.

“I’ll come back to pack my things when I’m done, and then I’ll probably be leaving,” Bray said.

It's as if this matter can definitely be resolved.

"What are you talking about to yourself..." As Talika was speaking, a sudden gust of wind swept up, forcing her to cover her face with her arms.

By the time she came to her senses, Bray had already sped away on his skateboard.

Talika swallowed the words she hadn't said and walked towards her home.

"Don't break anything on the roadside." She managed to utter a sentence as she watched Bray's disappearing figure.

It seems we can leave that uncle alone; she should go and comfort Taji... and her grandmother.

The door to the house was open, so Talika skipped the step of pushing it open and went straight in.

At home, Taji was hugging his knees; it was clear that it was unlikely he would be lively and energetic like this boy now.

She looked at her grandmother, wanting to say something to comfort her.

However, the old woman was not as sad as Talika had imagined.

She has cried enough, she has grieved enough.

The old woman now only wishes to avoid losing any more of her children.

"That young man left, didn't he?" the old woman asked.

“Yes, he said he wanted to solve it once and for all... and then he’d come back to pack his things and leave.” Talika thought for a moment and relayed Bray’s words to her grandmother.

"Is that so? Just as the divination predicted, he is indeed a busy person," the old woman said.

“Grandma.” Talika looked at the calm old woman and found herself at a loss for words.

"No need to pretend anymore, it's okay to cry a little."

“Eh…no need, I’ve already cried…” Talika said.

“Come here, Grandma’s here. You can be a little affectionate.” The old woman looked tenderly at Talika, who was unaware that tears were already streaming down her face. Bray had once imagined he would encounter many mimicry beasts.

However, after actually encountering it, he still had to say something—

“Too many.” Bray didn’t understand how the mimics reproduced, or why there could be so many of them.

Do these guys reproduce asexually?

Bray pushed the stiff, lifeless carcass of the mimic beast down with his hand.

"Thump." After the mimicry beast's corpse fell to the ground, it quickly went from stiff to soft, and finally turned into a puddle.

Behind Bray, at least fifty of these monsters had already fallen.

The road where the skateboard had traveled was littered with corpses.

However, he still hasn't been able to find that unusual mimicry beast.

He really wanted to use his cunning to find it, but the wilderness was so vast that if he used his cunning, Bray might explode in an instant.

Sure enough, he didn't want to overexert himself at a time like this by being too cunning.

Of course, searching within a certain area is not impossible; that's how he got there on his journey.

Even with these measures, he still felt "mentally exhausted."

The mental exhaustion here isn't just a figure of speech; it's the real feeling of being utterly drained.

Bray stood on the skateboard with one foot, bent over, and supported himself on his knees with both hands, looking weak and listless.

Even his coat was drooping limply, just like its owner.

"..." The wind rustled a leaf beside him, and then Bray suddenly looked up.

His reaction wasn't because of the leaves rustling in the wind, but because he had finally gained something.

A mimicry beast, disguised as a hunting dog, left the forest and ran wildly across the wilderness.

A mimicry beast that can disguise itself in a form other than human... This has never appeared before.

Because disguising oneself as a human is the instinct of the mimicry beast, and the mimicry beast that transforms into a hunting dog is fighting against its own instinct.

At this moment, Bray recovered from his previous dejection.

Even if you want to be lazy, wait until later; first, you have to catch up with that guy.

It can disguise itself as something else and look very impressive, but in reality, the effect is not as terrible as imagined.

Because after disguising itself, the mimicry beast will not gain the abilities of the target, and its size must also be within a certain range.

At most, it can become a hunting dog and run a little faster; it can't even turn into a bird and fly.

As for the mimicry beast that could resist its own instincts, it was none other than Al, who had given it a name.

Although Bray still didn't know the name of the mimic beast, because he didn't ask Taji about it afterward.

The boy's condition simply didn't allow him to ask any questions.

“However, the escape route you chose wasn’t very wise,” Bray muttered, starting his skateboard.

"Whoosh—" The skateboard moved forward at a speed far exceeding Al's running speed.

Bray streaked past like a blur, bursting out of the forest teeming with countless mimicry beasts and leaping directly into the open field.

The reason Bray said the mimic's chosen escape route was unwise was because of the "terrain".

If Al continues to fight Bray in the forest, it will be very difficult for Bray, who relies entirely on his skateboard to increase his mobility, to catch up with Al.

There were too many obstacles, so the speed and explosive power of the skateboard were completely useless.

However, Al's plan is understandable. He probably intended to use other mimicry beasts to distract Bray and make Bray focus all his energy on the forest.

Under normal circumstances, no one would expect Al to rush out of the forest at this time.

Unfortunately, Al was unaware that this world possessed the ability to see things from the outside, and even less aware that Bray possessed such an ability.

Al kept running on the ground, ignoring the pebbles blocking its path, which would still get stuck in its paws.

It doesn't actually feel pain, so it won't scream even if a part of it is cut off.

This is why those mimicry beasts don't let out a scream when they are killed.

This allowed it to escape very quickly.

Even so, it still couldn't shake off the terrifying shadow behind it.

Al felt he was going to die, that he would die very quickly.

It firmly believed that the other side would kill it without even saying a word.

It felt no pain, but fear still lingered in its heart.