Daru narrowed his eyes.

"You're…not?"

Nutter, not expecting his desperate attempt to work somewhat, quickly followed up:

"Y-Yes! After the last encounter, I now know I cannot defeat you, so why would I even try again? I-I'm not dumb!"

Daru fell silent, but his stance hasn't softened.

"Fine. If you're not going for my life, then I will not take yours. But if your comrade doesn't stop calling for reinforcements…" he turned to look at one of the F-rankers. "Then don't blame me for protecting myself in advance…"

Nutter paled, realizing that they indeed said they would be calling for reinforcements.

"S-Stop that!!" he shrieked, reprimanding the F-ranker, who jumped up in startlement, almost throwing the precious communicator in his hands away.

It was guild property.

If he lost it, then he would have to pay it back, and there was no way an F-ranker like him could do so in just a short time.

Daru nodded, threatening the next moment: "Good. Now then, I'll take my leave. If I catch you following me, I'll wipe you guys out."

Nutter initially wasn't sure.

But now, he was. He would've lost another life had they engaged the mad bastard in front of them without reinforcements.

Okuni wasn't someone low-rankers like them should take lightly, even if they arrived at the realm a year earlier.

This was the difference between high-rankers and bottom-feeders like them.

The more time passed, the more this gap would widen.

The party could only watch as Daru left on his Cross-eyed Albino Zebra.

But then, before he was able to escape their sight, an idea popped up in Taro's mind—a smart but rather shameless tactic that would make Okuni helpless.

"Quick, summon your mounts! Let's follow him!"

Nutter, who had just finished thanking his lucky stars after making such a wise decision, paled at his partner's words.

"Are you crazy?!" he shrilled in disbelief. "It's enough that we report the sighting to the boss first! If you want to go after him, then you can go right ahead, but don't expect me to follow. I already lost a life fighting that damned monster!"

The F-rankers couldn't help but hesitate after hearing the traumatized response of the E-ranker.

If Nutter was this scared, then perhaps that B-ranker is indeed that strong?

Maybe they were indeed throwing their lives away here…

"H-Hear me out first!" Taro was a bit guilty that his friend since academy days had lost a life and he didn't, so he somewhat understood where Nutter was coming from.

However, his plan shouldn't have any holes.

The group of five whispered among each other.

In the next few moments, the traumatized E-ranker's expression turned from utter disagreement to neutral, then to one of excitement.

"Hahahaha! Taro, you genius, you!! Good idea. I also believe this would work!" Nutter burst out laughing, giving his friend a few taps on the shoulder. "Like this, we might even be praised by the guild for our wise actions!"

"Hahahaha! I told you to hear me out first, didn't I? You silly you!! Hahahaha! Quick, then. Summon your mounts. Let's follow him."

The party of five rookie low-rankers immediately called upon their horses—also guild property.

They then began chasing after Okuni.

Daru, on the other hand, planned to leave the Crystal Hollows, his mount cantering towards the exit of the massive cave back to the Sunblade Savannah.

His plan was to temporarily find a safe place to change his appearance, give up his current disguise for now, and adopt another one so he could level up and hone his sword skills against the swordspawns in the hollows peacefully.

Only, it seemed that sparing the low-rankers turned out to be a bad idea.

He heard horse neighs and hooves clattering in the distance behind him, and so, Daru quickly turned to look.

And frowned…

There the party of low-rankers was, talking on their communicators while observing and smirking smugly at him from a distance.

Daru was displeased, immediately realizing what they were up to.

He didn't even bother chasing them away, since even if he did, they would simply run away for a few moments, and the moment he gave up the chase, they would return to observe him from a distance once more

He learned a harsh life lesson today: sparing your enemies, especially in a realm where one has multiple lives, wasn't too wise.

A realization also struck him upon remembering the state of his two begging classmates.

People would most likely give up their careers once they were down to their last lives, anyway.

So, what he would actually be doing would simply be ruining their careers as bladeborns and not killing them, which was already very merciful compared to the bastards hunting him down.

He had long determined that his pursuers were probably sent by someone from the party of the S-ranker, Alopecion.

Glaring at the low-ranker party from a distance, he turned and continued on his way.

He came across a few B-rankers like himself and an A-ranker, all of whom looked at him with dumbfounded expressions as he passed, some exclaiming stutteringly:

"O-Okuni!"

They could not believe they just saw the legendary psychopathic B-ranker. It seemed that the rumors were true… that he fled to the Crystal Hollows.

The annoyed scowl on Daru's face only served to reinforce his reputation as a killer.

So, curious as the bladeborns were, they didn't walk closer to him and were content with simply observing him from afar.

The more cautious ones even stepped away.

After all, the crazy bastard even dared to kill Alopecion and was skilled enough to avoid capture to this day.

They weren't dumb enough to think that since Okuni was just a B-ranker like them, they would be able to easily protect themselves from him.

There was a difference between a bladeborn and a cold-blooded killer.

Daru was able to leave the Crystal Hollows and arrive at the Sunblade Savannah with only the mild displeasure of being followed.

However, he had a plan on how to resolve this problem.

Daru quickly ordered his Cross-eyed Albino Zebra to gallop as fast as it could the moment he got close to the acacia and thick shrubbery he hid in near the territory of the Hackstroke Hyenas and Sunblade Lionesses.

He just had to break vision temporarily.

From his estimates, he had around fifteen to twenty seconds to change appearance.

Daru quickly dismounted from his Zebra, clapped his hands to dismiss it, swiftly removed the Oni Mask from his face, and put it back on again.

He then swiftly chose a random appearance—this time that of a green-haired young woman—and changed his name to Otsuna, opting for the color orange for the persona of a female A-ranker.

This way, no one would find his being in the Crystal Hollows weird, as only C-rankers with no notable backgrounds and below were still stuck in the Sunblade Savannah.

"Quick! He's trying to use the bushes and the trees as cover to escape!"

Daru soon heard his pursuers, but he didn't care, confidently striding out of the cover of the bushes.

He ended up standing face to face with Nutter and the others, who had stupefied looks on their faces, partly due to the unexpected encounter with an A-ranker beauty.

'Is this one of this year's fairies?' was the thought in the low-rankers' minds.

He gazed at them coldly for a few moments, locking eyes with Nutter, which intimidated the young man and made him shudder before proceeding on his way, passing right in the middle of the pursuer party.

Nutter and Taro soon realized their blunder. Damn all these beautiful girls, making them lose focus!

They quickly shifted their attention ahead, looked for their target…and paled.

Okuni and his Albino Zebra were nowhere to be found…

In desperation, they turned to Fairy Otsuna: "W-Wait!" the duo called out.

But Daru didn't even turn to look.

In the end, Nutter and Taro didn't have the guts to stop an A-ranker—especially one who looked like she was the young miss of a rich family.

Right…

Why did they even think she would pay attention to the likes of them?

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