Passing the frozen figure of Kiolle, he stumbled upward. The corner of the hallway where he had rendered unconscious the servants of Katchian before descending was now empty. Fortunately, it seemed unlikely that he would have to throw the button again.

With each step, a dizzying pain surged up from his toes, as if they were burning. But compared to the urgency to reach a safe place as quickly as possible, it was nothing. Urging his consciousness, which seemed ready to black out at any moment, he managed to keep walking by leaning on the wall. Suddenly, something caught his foot. The one who helped him, when he almost tripped, was Kiolle, who still hadn't left.

"Why haven't you left yet? I told you to go..."

"Something's strange. If it's not a poison, then what on earth is it?"

Yuder clenched his teeth so hard against the inner side of his mouth that it was a miracle his vision didn't go blurry. The sharp pain managed to clear his mind a little.

"It doesn't concern you. Go back before it gets noisy."

"No. I am bound by an oath to help you forcibly because of you. How can I calmly follow along? If you suddenly die, do I have any guarantee that I won't end up in trouble for breaking the oath? You should clearly explain what is what!"

"Who's there!"

Damn. As Yuder swallowed a curse, Kiolle grabbed his arm and hastily hid him behind a large suit of armor nearby. His vision was spinning, and his body was so shaky that he couldn't even resist such a clumsy movement.

As soon as he hid, Yuder, gasping for breath and nearly collapsing, looked up at Kiolle, who was speaking non-stop without hiding his helplessness.

"Such a pain... I can't even swear because of you! How... how to do it. You, it would be hard to throw the button now, right? My weapon... ah, I surrendered it before entry. Those guys, somehow I have a bad feeling, they don't seem like soldiers guarding this place..."

"Just shut up."

Yuder managed to utter that one sentence with shallow breaths and then roughly pushed Kiolle's face away with his arm.

"Ouch!"

Since all weapons had to be surrendered before entering the party, Yuder was also unarmed. Yet, he wasn't worried because he could easily manifest his ability as long as he had something to throw, like the button. However, he hadn't expected a sudden manifestation under such dizzying conditions. Even though he had prepared for it in his own way, the timing couldn't have been worse.

'I could use it if I wanted to.'

But if he used his power and it hastened the impending manifestation, and he lost consciousness, the situation would get even trickier.

What should he do? As he toyed with the button in his hand and gasped for breath, Yuder suddenly remembered a precaution he had taken before coming here.

'Ah, right. The magic tool. The bracelet.'

Hearing the sound of hurried footsteps from the other side of the corridor, he quickly rolled up his sleeve. As soon as he found the thin bracelet that he had worn inconspicuously over his white glove before coming here, he immediately crushed one of the black stones strung on the string.

With a crackling sound, the stone crumbled like a salt crystal, and at the same time, an invisible force wrapped around Yuder and Kiolle like a shield. It happened at the same time the rushing soldiers pointed their weapons at the suit of armor where they were hiding.

"Over here! I heard a noise from... huh?"

"There's nothing here!"

"I'm certain I heard something! It was a human voice...."

The magic tool bracelet that Alik, the disciple of the mage Thais Yulman, had given them was proving its worth, despite its rough appearance. The soldiers didn't realize that there were two people hiding behind the transparent shield.

However, the shield would only buy them a few minutes at most, so they could only hope that the soldiers would dismiss their suspicions and retreat in the meantime.

"We should still thoroughly search the area just in case..."

"Wait, step back!"

One of the soldiers, who were debating amongst themselves, suddenly yelled out. At the same moment, the armor that was blocking the path of Yuder and Kiolle made a strange clanging sound, as though two pieces of metal were colliding, and began to move its limp body and limbs.

"It's the Armor Knight of Luma!"

Yuder, who was suppressing a sensation that seemed ready to burst out of his body from behind the small shield, turned his head with difficulty upon hearing the strange sound.

In the Deluma Palace, named after the Archmage Luma, there was an armor knight who had been enchanted and had moved about freely for nearly a thousand years. The mysterious entity that Jimmy had once said he wanted to see was apparently here today. The empty armor, brandishing its sword noisily, caused the soldiers to curse and retreat.

"Why did that thing have to be here. Why was it pretending to be a normal armor? Damn it."

"Such a fool. Mistaking the noise made by the armor knight for a human voice? Can't you make a proper judgement? We need to find those rats as soon as possible! Step back!"

Even after the soldiers had vanished behind the armor, Yuder did not move. The giant armor, casting red light from its eye sockets, looked around clumsily, then walked away in the opposite direction of the soldiers, its movements echoing metallically. The shield that had been surrounding the two also lost its power and disappeared.

"...Huff."

Finally, Kiolle let out his held breath and slumped.

"To think I'd see the Armor Knight of Deluma Palace here... I've never seen it before despite searching so much when I was young... Hey, you saw it too, right? But what was that bracelet from before? A magic artifact? You're a strange one. Why did you hide that?"

Yuder didn't have the mental capacity to respond to Kiolle's chattering. He felt as if something might burst through his skin at any moment. Every time his consciousness flickered, his instincts screamed danger.

"Uh, haah. Uh..."

Instead of replying, Yuder suppressed his pain by scratching the ground, causing Kiolle to finally realize there was no time to indulge in his sentiments and quickly helped him up. Even the slight contact brought a pain so severe, it felt like his bones were shattering and his body trembled violently.

"Let go..."

"If you die, I might die too, so I can't leave you. I'll take you to the party, after that, you're on your own! There are your companions there, they'll figure something out."

That wouldn't do. There were too many people at the party. Yuder didn't even think he would be able to handle it properly until Kiolle was gone. In a hurry, Yuder pushed him away and, nearly collapsing, leaned against a wall, taking deep breaths.

"Huff, gasp."

A door appeared in front of his eyes, blurred by intense pain. Dragging his legs, he walked towards it and, upon opening it, revealed a small room, seemingly used for storing cleaning tools and utensils within the palace.

'This could work.'

Gradually, making a proper judgement became more difficult, but this place seemed sufficient to hide for a while. Yuder gritted his teeth and looked back at Kiolle. He might have been better off being discovered by the prince's servants than asking for help from such a fool, but given the circumstances, he had to try as much as possible.

"If you really want to help, there's only one thing you can do. I'll stay here, and as I said before, pretend you got lost and return to report to the Commander."

"What?"

"Manifestation. Just tell him a manifestation has occurred, he'll understand... but also tell him he shouldn't come."

"What? What does that mean? How can I..."

"Go."

Before Kiolle could object any further, Yuder closed the door. If Kiolle tried to come back in, Yuder was prepared to launch the button, regardless of the consequences for his body. Fortunately, it was quiet outside the door.

Although Yuder had almost no hope that Kiolle would successfully deliver the message, even if he failed, if an hour passed and he didn't return, Kishiar would start looking for Yuder. That was the only part he could trust.

Finally, the strength drained out of his barely standing legs. Like a wounded animal, Yuder crawled on the ground, moving towards the most secluded corner.

'I still have work to do...'

He had to find the carriage that the deceased Lenore had ridden in. The Crown Prince's servants had claimed that the servant Lenore brought didn't seem to know anything, but if he looked again, he might find something different. How much of the hour Kishiar had given him was left?

As he gently bit his lip, a deep throb echoed within his body again.

"Ugh..."

Yuder swallowed his groan, wrapping his arms around his body.

'Of all times...'

He had anticipated the manifestation was approaching. He had prepared in his own way. But this was definitely earlier than the time he had predicted based on memories from his previous life. Was it due to the spot? Or was it because he had encountered Alphas in heat?

'No... what's the use of speculating. It's already started.'

There was no point trying to predict an incident after it had already occurred. This was a fact he had come to understand from a similar experience in his past life.

Struggling, Yuder got up and leaned against a corner that wasn't easily noticeable between the walls, sitting down with his knees up. In this position, even if his strength disappeared and his sanity fled, he should be able to activate the magic tool quickly.

Listening to his rapid breathing in the pitch black room where no light penetrated, his mind started to go blank. His body, which had been chillingly cold due to pain just moments ago, was now radiating heat and dripping cold sweat. From his fingertips to his toes, his entire body writhed in pain as if his bones were being squeezed in a vice, and he groaned.

'The full manifestation will start soon.'