One year and 3 months after Norman's death.

"Shit!!!!" Alden screamed as he ran desperately.

Right behind him, a terrifying noise resonated. They were the echoes of hooves, paws, claws, and whatever else those aberrations used to run.

And those damned monsters were relentless; no matter how much Alden ran or tried to lose them, they kept chasing after him.

The fact that the boy screamed desperately every other second didn't help either… All he managed to do was attract more monsters and reveal his position.

Still, his bad luck was rather impressive. With every turn he took, a different monster appeared. And each one was more frightening and bizarre than the last; as if giant spiders weren't enough, then came crawling, disgusting worms.

"Yuck!" he complained in frustration as he fled.

Behind him, a symphony of death: roars, shrieks, hisses. One of the monsters almost grabbed the cuff of his pants, and Alden leaped so high he could have competed in an Olympic competition, and escaped.

It was then that he finally managed to get close to the main camp. After all, this whole thing started when he was seduced by Alexia's comment about a treasure room near where they were.

He had decided to go get the treasure by himself before the group moved and ended up in this situation.

"Help! Help!" he shouted as he got closer.

At the camp were the various explorers who had come to work in Davi's hunting party.

All of them sighed as they watched the scene, which had become almost routine, and then…

Dozens of runes engraved on the ceiling and walls of the corridor glowed red. And several magical tools were activated all at once.

An intense light blinded Alden, as hundreds of weapons fired beams of mana, to the point that the entire corridor was consumed by the dense energy.

The rift was becoming more and more infested with hundreds of monsters, especially the weaker ones.

Thinking about this, Luna and Alexia began to devise more efficient ways to eliminate these monsters. And Luna created, among many others, that trap.

Alden, who was in the middle of it all, was naturally hit, but the blow wasn't powerful enough to cause him much damage.

He complained dramatically, "Ow! Ow! Don't go firing off attacks when I'm still in range!" with his eyes closed because of the brightness.

The funniest part was that he was so focused on complaining that he didn't even notice the giant spider that approached and bit him right between the legs.

"Fuck!" he yelled in pain, his eyes snapping open in shock.

Some more powerful monsters survived the trap, but Carlos quickly moved in, summoning his own beasts to eradicate the enemy.

A few other hunters who followed him helped finish the job, but Alexia just watched; there was no need for her to participate personally.

That's why she turned to Luna with a satisfied smile after noting the results of the trap's deployment.

"It seems things worked out well," Luna commented, approaching, but she had a somewhat dissatisfied look.

She wanted her trap to have eliminated all the monsters, but some had ended up surviving. Furthermore, the activation took a little longer than it should have.

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Alexia said, understanding what was going through the girl's mind. "We all want to be as useful as possible. But there's no point in demanding that everything be perfect, okay?"

Alexia leaned towards Luna and smiled. She understood that Luna, being unable to help in direct combat, was putting a lot of pressure on herself to find other ways to be useful.

"Aren't you the one who's always making sure Davi doesn't overdo it? Take your own advice, okay?" She gave the girl a light flick on the center of her forehead.

"Hey, that hurt!" Luna's eyes teared up cutely, and she complained in a slightly childish tone. "Don't forget how strong you've become."

"My bad, my bad," Alexia commented casually. "Just cheer up, okay. And, one more thing, the plan worked perfectly."

"What do you mean, 'the plan'!" Alden limped over and interrupted their conversation.

Hearing Alexia's words, he connected the dots and understood that she had purposely told him about the treasure room to trick him.

Alden had sworn to himself that he would never again agree to be used as bait; after all, the last few experiences had been traumatic. Still, that cunning woman had tricked him and made him act as bait voluntarily.

"Damn you, sly woman!" he complained dramatically as always. "I could have lost my balls, you know?"

"All women are always sly," Carlos interjected into the conversation, his voice frighteningly cold and dead. "Besides, losing your testicles would be a blessing. Sexual desires only serve to blind a person."

Ever since he was brutally rejected by Sophia, who had joined Davi's harem, the light seemed to have left Carlos's eyes.

He had committed himself to a journey of self-improvement and, at least, had become much stronger as an explorer.

"I've finished eliminating the monsters, Commander," he said, turning to Alexia in a neutral tone. "What is the next mission?"

"Rest for now. We'll be heading out for another hunt soon."

"Very well," he said, "I'll return to my tent, then." He left without another word, walking with his head down to his tent.

"Is he going to be okay?" Luna asked, concerned.

"I think so," Alexia shrugged. "And another thing," she turned to Alden. "You were the one who decided to go alone because you were greedy. And you were the one who was being dramatic for no reason with enemies nearby, and that's why you ended up getting attacked."

She approached him with an accusatory look and a superior smile.

"Therefore, everything that happened was because of your own decisions."

The boy wanted to disagree, but he couldn't find a good argument at that moment, so he gave up.

But unwilling to admit he was wrong, he looked around, searching for a way to change the subject. And, at that moment, Davi appeared like his savior.

"Davi! You're finally back! Everyone is so mean to me," Alden ran to hug his friend.

"What happened?" Davi asked, caught by surprise.

"Alexia used me as bait again!" he complained, letting go of his friend and pointing at the girl.

"Well, there's no denying you're the perfect bait," Davi commented with a wry smile.

"You too!" Alden complained, ignoring the fact that the first person to use him as bait had been Davi. "I have no allies," he fell to his knees, being dramatic again.

After laughing a little, Davi approached Luna and Alexia, gave them a quick kiss, and mentioned he had just stopped by to say goodbye.

He had spent the last few weeks hunting on the deeper floors with Amelia, and his plan was to spend the rest of the time helping Alexia, who was temporarily managing his hunting party.

However, Inanna had called him, saying he needed to perform one last ritual to prepare for the war.

It was a little scary to think about, but the great climax was approaching.

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