I silently retreated from the window, before looking at Maki and Lily.

Both had retreated from their windows, and for whatever reason were looking at me expectantly.

'What the hell am I supposed to do?'

I rolled my eyes before considering the Cadets outside seriously.

'To kill or not to kill?'

That was the question now.

In all honesty, I was of the opinion of letting them go. They looked haggard and weary, plus they had no bags on them. No bags meant no supplies either, making them even less desirable.

The only thing we'd gain from fighting would be noise, and maybe a few points from their deaths. But we'd also be eliminating the danger they brought with them.

Desperate hands tend to do desperate things, and those Cadets looked plenty desperate to me.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

In the end, all of those were mere excuses. Good ones, but excuses nonetheless.

Truth was I had no desire to start killing Cadets. Yes, yes, I was aware this was merely a simulation and none of them would actually be dying.

That didn't mean I was willing to just start murdering any Cadets left and right, especially in a situation so disadvantageous. The only thing of tangible value we'd gain from the altercation would be points.

But if the team looked this haggard from just the journey to the city, it didn't inspire much confidence in the amount of points they held.

I scratched my hair before heading back to the window.

'Who knows? Maybe they'll just be passing by.'

Nope, they were heading straight for our building.

Because of course they were.

In the end a choice had to be made.

I glanced between Lily and the window as I considered it, when suddenly an idea hit me.

"Let's run a little test on their sincerity."

I stood on the fourth floor now, arms holding my crossbow as I stealthily pointed it down through an open window.

Its scope was firmly locked on the leading figure's head; by now they were pretty close to the door.

I could hear the sound of snow crunching crisply under their boots even at this distance, though that was mainly due to me being in a call with Lily; the girl was positioned on the ground floor.

Maki was as well, though she wasn't as central to this plan as Lily.

I can't lie, I was a bit shocked when Lily decided to take this role willingly. The look of determination she'd given me then told me to trust her a bit.

Besides, I would've just forced the role on her if she hadn't.

This just made things easier for everyone.

I straightened my posture the moment I heard a voice come through the call. My finger shook a bit, before stabilizing on the trigger.

Lily was starting.

"Don't come any closer!"

Below I saw the girl step out of the house, holding an axe threateningly in front of her. The moment they saw her, the three figures froze before rapidly taking a few steps back.

The leader spoke first; it was a boy. He spoke through audibly chattering teeth.

"W-we don't want any trouble, we're just passing through."

Lily kept the axe aimed straight at the boy.

"Then move it, this building is mine."

The boy gave her a shaky nod, then he paused as though realizing something.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are your teammates?"

Lily froze; her voice came out stuttering and nervous.

"Th-they are definitely around, so beat it. We can end this peacefully."

'Not the best acting, but should be good enough to fool them.'

And sure enough, it did.

The boy gave Lily a careful scan before sneakily glancing at his teammates.

"Alright, we'll be leaving now."

The boy started walking away from the building.

I didn't relax my grip on the crossbow though; instead I took a deep breath before activating [Error Sense].

One step… two steps. The boy suddenly turned around. Before he could do anything, I pulled the trigger.

A portion of his skull exploded, spraying blood and gore on both Lily and his teammates, painting the stark white snow beneath them crimson.

The boy collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

[Wretched hunter, you have slain one of your own. The world grows ever darker.]

[Bounty points: 22]

They all stood in stunned silence, when suddenly one of the figures clutched their neck, wheezing as they struggled to stem the river of blood that began spraying out of it.

This one collapsed slowly and painfully to the ground. Maki's work for sure.

I could only see the faint glare reflected by her metallic threads as it retreated from the dying Cadet.

That seemed to have finally been enough to break the silence. The last Cadet wasted no time in running straight for the outskirts.

By then, I had already reloaded my crossbow, which I now leveled at the retreating figure. I hesitated a bit, before dropping it down, letting the figure get away. They were running straight for the outskirts; only death would find them there.

I looked down to find Lily still frozen, standing motionlessly beside the two corpses. I sighed, before heading too.

Maki stood beside Lily, gently comforting her. The girl in question had collapsed to her knees now. She looked blankly at the blood on her gloves.

As to be expected, killing the Cadets hadn't affected Maki all that much. Although I would've loved to claim I was the same, the constant trembling in my hands kept betraying me.

I looked past the girls, to the corpses lying at the front of the building.

In the end we killed them; they lost the chance we'd given them.

After all, they tried attacking Lily. Or perhaps they didn't; perhaps the leader only turned around because he wanted to tell Lily something.

None of that mattered though, because they were dead now.

It seemed whatever Maki had been telling Lily worked, as the girl clenched both bloody hands into fists. She had a growing look of determination on her face.

Even though I could still sense the fragility behind that façade, I could tell. The girl was learning.

Maki gave her a pat on the back, before looking at the corpses out there with a strange face. It wasn't disgust or horror at what she'd done. If anything, it was much closer to disappointment.

At who exactly, I couldn't tell. But with my knowledge of her, I had a pretty good guess.

'It's herself, isn't it?'

The girl shifted her gaze to me.

"Are you planning on retrieving your bolt?"

"No."

Perhaps I'd regret that choice in the future, thinking if only I hadn't left that bolt behind. That was a problem for future me.

Current me wasn't in the mood to start puking his organs out, thank you very much.

Maki didn't say much after that, only moving to help Lily stand up.

I gave the surrounding buildings a weary scan, before speaking again.

"We need to get moving soon. We've been very lucky so far; no monster has been alerted by the fight or the smell of blood yet. I don't know how much longer that luck is gonna last us."

Maki gently pushed Lily back to her position.

"I agree, we have to get moving, Lily."

The girl gave her a shaky nod.

I shifted my gaze towards a nearby alleyway.

" You remember the path, right?"

Maki nodded. Her eyes flicked once to the corner, then to the rooftops beyond, trying to map the route mentally.

"Alright, then. Let's get moving."

We plunged into the darkness of the alleyway, leaving the corpses to be buried under the endless snow.

We slipped slowly yet steadily through the dark alleyways, pausing and hiding whenever Lily sensed motion, while at the same time keeping away from the main road.

Even coming into its direct line of sight was a huge risk.

It was only then I really began to feel the effects of the abuse I'd been putting my body through, getting slapped in the chest by the Crawler, staying the night without a fire, and using my ability.

I could feel my body tiring out quicker. The pain in my chest was only compounded by the bitter cold that managed to entrench itself within it.

My lungs felt like someone had wrung them out and hung them to dry

My arms sagged and shivered as they held on to the crossbow for dear life.

I put my all into just focusing on what was in front of me.

"There's movement in the alley up front."

We paused at Lily's voice, crouching and waiting. Our breaths shrinking so the sound would not travel. The snow creaked somewhere ahead, soft and patient.

After a while, she added.

"It's not moving away."

There weren't any other alleys we could use to bypass it.

Meaning we'd have to deal with the bastard.

'Well fuck.'

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