Beneath the miserable, gray skies, the only color — a blonde young man — was seemingly deep in thought as he descended a mountain ridge and made his way over to another one.

Unlike the monstrosities, Daru couldn't simply jump to another ridge without any problems.

He had to properly descend first and then climb the other from its toe.

'Hmm…so La Filosa is The Eye's beloved, which means that killing that twitchy horror would…weaken Harlowe maybe? Ah…but at the same time, the demonic jester wouldn't be so apathetic anymore…Maybe the sequence is to kill it first?'

He had been consolidating what he learned and figuring out the identities of The Five and the correct order in which they should be taken down.

Daru was now quite certain that Saphoros was The Ivy, and that taking away his sinful blossoms would weaken him.

The nightmarish ghoul was unmistakably the substance addict among the four special spawns he had encountered.

As for Harlowe…if what happened earlier wasn't observation and inaction, then he doesn't know what would qualify.

The demonic jester was clearly The Eye

The only ones left were The Thorn, The Sword, and The Crown.

Daru had his theories, but it would not be easy to bet on them without confirming a few things first.

For example, Rocante was highly likely to be The Sword, based on his massive stone greatsword and his actions of seeking out opponents.

If this was indeed the case, then La Filosa was probably The Thorn.

She was less likely to be The Crown. At least compared to the theory of a king commanding the warrior wraiths of the stone castle.

This, however, is exactly why Daru must do two more things before returning to Egress:

First was to confirm whether there was indeed a ruler in the castle, which was his next course of action, and the second was to obtain one more page of the Book of The Five, though he strictly needed to obtain either The Thorn's page or The Sword's.

Of course, it would be better if he could obtain more, but Daru felt like he would be able to finalize the identities of all five horrors and the sequence in which they must be defeated, even with just another of the said pages.

In any case, he would decide what to do after completing his next objectives.

Daru soon arrived at the foot of the ridges, moved to another, and began ascending it.

His plan was simple: find a hiding spot near the inevitable battle between Rocante and Saphoros, then tail the former once the monstrous duel was over.

The hulking horror could only be challenging The Crown and losing to them.

After all, La Filosa seemed to be his ally, Saphoros was an easy battle for him, and Harlowe only watched.

Who else, except for The Crown, would be able to defeat Rocante?

Perhaps The Thorn, if his theory about the identity of the special spawns were incorrect.

Either way, as long as he followed the hulking horror, he would be able to confirm the existence and hopefully even the appearance of the last one of The Five.

That's what he did.

Daru was unsure whether Saphoros would notice and protect his harrowing flower from him, but luckily, the ridge where the monstrous duel happened was quite wide.

The slopes were also gentle.

So, with the help of his sword, he would be able to traverse it…granted, there was a low risk of a deadly fall.

But it was fine.

Daru had navigated much harder terrain in the previous days.

Of course, if he were discovered by the blossom addict, he would find himself in another precarious situation.

Daru continued making his way up — cautiously — ensuring that he wouldn't be detected by Saphoros.

He remembered the location where the nightmarish ghoul was sniffing his sinful flowers, thanks to the apathetic, demonic jester, and Daru soon reached that area.

The faint sounds of indulgence even began reaching his ears.

So, to be safe, he decided to immediately slide down the slope and advance from there.

Onimaru Kunitsuna was sharp, and it wasn't difficult to use his sword as a navigation tool, rather degrading as the utilization was.

The closer Daru got, the more tense he became, gazing above in extreme wariness.

He could not be discovered by Saphoros.

The sniffing sounds were growing louder and louder, but strangely, hearing them brought his heart peace.

It meant that the nightmarish ghoul was still enthralled by the blossom and wasn't paying attention to him…and never did.

When the echoes of indulgence grew weak enough, Daru climbed back to the main path of the ridge.

He then looked for a good camping spot and found a small alcove a few dozen meters uphill from where Saphoros was.

It wasn't as comfortable as the root hollow he slept in yesterday.

However, it was a good hiding spot that would allow him to follow Rocante safely.

He still had a lot of time before the hulking horror returned from the other side of the river, though.

So, after setting up his camp and consuming sustenance, he carefully sneaked out, covered his alcove with the camouflage cover, and began surveying the surroundings.

He knew the other ridge well, but not this one.

It was better to scout it out before the monstrous duel — if it would even happen again.

That he did.

Carefully at first, but once he grew more confident that the nightmarish ghoul had no intentions of leaving his sinful blossom by their lonesome, the range of his reconnaissance also increased.

Nothing went wrong…yet.

Once he was confident enough of his knowledge of the area, Daru returned and passed the time inside his alcove, pondering about the correct sequence in taking down the five while staring at the small ceiling.

From what he deduced, Saphoros was looking more and more like the first target.

Of course, this could still change depending on what he would learn, but for now, this seemed to be the case.

He continued utilizing his brain, not noticing that it didn't feel too much of a chore now.

While he did so, time continued passing until finally, he heard the familiar heavy thuds, and a few more seconds later, a spine-chilling hiss.

The monstrous duel was about to begin.

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