Ibnel anxiously asked the knight as she watched the monsters disappear leisurely beyond the door.

“What about the other entrance we passed when we came in? Is it closed?”

“No. It was left open.”

“Damn it.”

She hurriedly chased after them, as preventing the monsters from leaving this building was absolutely necessary. Fortunately, the exit was closed, so the Nyabis were still in the monster training ground.

She breathed a sigh of relief that at least the worst-case scenario had been avoided.

‘I have to end this here.’

She calmly aimed her gun at the monsters. With just two of them, she had enough of a chance on her own. After all, she could aim precisely for their cores.

Growl!

As she took aim at the monsters, who were on high alert with their fur standing on end, intending to finish them off, an ominous sound of a doorknob slowly turning was heard. The two monsters’ gazes also turned towards the door, seemingly having heard the sound.

‘No way.’

They started running towards the door at an incredibly fast speed, as if they had also heard the sound. Just as Ibnel was about to tell them not to open the door, the closed entrance was fully opened.

It was the moment the last hope disappeared.

What appeared through it was another knight who had been guarding the entrance. He had detected the faint gunshots from inside and the commotion of the monsters, and when no one came out after some time, he had tried to check.

It was just the worst timing due to not knowing the situation inside.

Faced with objects suddenly rushing towards him, the knight instinctively swung his sword without even having time to judge the situation.

With that single strike, one Nyabi multiplied instantly just like before, and ultimately increased to three.

As if they were no longer afraid now that their numbers had increased, they mercilessly attacked the knight standing in front of the entrance and then leisurely disappeared from sight.

Ibnel watched the scene with a dumbfounded expression and roughly tousled her innocent hair. At that moment, the knight who had followed the monsters out and Dabian approached.

“What happened?”

“They multiplied to a total of three. And they all went outside.”

At her words, the knights’ faces turned pale. The monsters had escaped; how on earth were they going to resolve this situation? This was a major incident that wouldn’t end with just a reprimand.

“We have to stop them somehow. If they cause an uproar in the imperial palace…”

Ibnel didn’t want to imagine such a situation either. So they needed to move as quickly as possible instead of wasting time like this.

“One of you go to His Majesty, and the other to the Knights’ Order to quickly report this. I’ll chase after the monsters.”

She decided that was better than chasing them with the two knights. For now, it was important to inform people of this situation and ensure their safety.

Lastly, she looked at Dabian. She lowered her head, shrinking her shoulders as if she knew this had all started because of her. But assigning blame had to be postponed for later.

“Dabian, go to a safe place and stay there.”

“No, I…”

“You’re still trembling like that. Do you think you can follow me in that state?”

Ibnel had no leeway to protect her, given that she was visibly shaking, probably shocked by the sudden situation, and there were now three monsters to deal with.

“Others will come to help, so it’s fine. Now, let’s each move quickly.”

The knights also obediently followed her instructions. When they thought about it coolly, that was the best course of action for now.

At that moment, Ibnel’s eyes fell on a sword lying on the ground, and after a moment of hesitation, she picked it up.

“I’ll borrow this for a while.”

With those words, she started running in the direction the monsters had disappeared.

‘Where did they go?’

She had no idea how to find the Nyabis in this vast imperial palace. She had to find them somehow before they caught people’s attention. There was no telling what the highly excited monsters might do.

“They couldn’t have gone far yet.”

Ibnel tried to calm her mind all the more in this situation. Then suddenly, this thought occurred to her. If she could sense when monsters were approaching, wouldn’t it be possible to find them the opposite way?

‘Let’s give it a try.’

She closed her eyes and started searching for the unique aura of monsters. A cool breeze brushed past her face, and riding on that air, an unpleasant sensation was felt. Without delay, she started running in that direction.

When she arrived at a place where people were coming and going after passing through a deserted path, she was able to spot the backs she had been so desperately searching for.

The good news was that all three were in one place, and the bad news was that there were servants approaching them, unaware they were monsters, drawn by their cute appearance.

Before getting any closer, Ibnel shouted at the top of her lungs.

“They’re monsters! Run away!”

Fortunately, her words seemed to be heard clearly as the maids hesitantly backed away before hurriedly leaving the scene.

Ibnel stopped at a slight distance, and when the monsters tried to run away, she fired bullets in that direction without hesitation. At the warning shot, the Nyabis looked at her with the same pure eyes as before.

Of course, that trick didn’t work on her at all.

“It’s useless on me, so don’t waste your energy. I saw how hideously your faces changed earlier. Oh, come to think of it, I brought something you might be looking for.”

With those words, she deeply planted the sword she had taken from the knight into the ground. The gazes of all three were fixed on that sword as planned. She had to keep them in one place, even to prevent the monsters from escaping.

So Ibnel decided to use their habit of looking for something that could cut their bodies in urgent situations.

Having changed their plan to taking her down, the Nyabis transformed into the same hideous appearance as before. Simultaneously, they all rushed at her.

She tried to calmly aim for the cores while maintaining a defensive posture to prevent them from approaching the sword. However, with three of them attacking non-stop, it was no easy task to hit accurately. Just dodging wouldn’t end this.

‘Should I target them one by one for sure?’

With only one bullet left in the gun, she took aim at the Nyabi attacking from the front. Ibnel could see the core shining on its forehead.

At that moment, taking advantage of her inability to move, one of the others sank its teeth into her right arm holding the gun, while another bit into her left leg with strong force.

Ibnel gritted her teeth against the oncoming pain and pulled the trigger, and the quickly flying bullet hit the core accurately. The monster collapsed lifelessly before her eyes. Then she shook off the Nyabis biting her arm and leg as if throwing them.

Surprised by her strike, the monsters quickly approached their fallen companion. It had already breathed its last, having lost its core.

“This really hurts.”

Kneeling on one knee, Ibnel took advantage of the two monsters’ attention being on the dead Nyabi to reload her gun with new bullets. Blood was seeping from her bitten arm and leg, staining her training uniform.

Angered at the death of their companion, the monsters bristled their fur and glared at her as if to kill.

“Looking at me like that doesn’t scare me.”

She smiled leisurely as if taunting them and stretched out her injured right arm again. In that hand, Shuher’s gun was shining.

‘I never thought I’d use it in actual combat like this.’

She intended to eliminate one more for certain this time, even if it meant sacrificing her arms and legs like before. And just as she aligned the sight with the core located in the body.

“Ibnel!”

‘This voice…’

Ibnel turned her head in surprise towards where the voice calling her name came from, and there stood Dabian, who had arrived at some point. She had clearly told her to stay in a safe place, so why was she here?

No, now wasn’t the time to think about such things.

“Get away quickly!”

She had no capacity to worry about Dabian in this situation. But for some reason, she didn’t listen to Ibnel’s words.

“I want to help somehow too.”

Dabian had followed Ibnel because she couldn’t just stand by idly and wanted to help in any way she could. After all, she had abilities too.

While her enthusiasm was commendable, the timing was terribly wrong with the Knights’ Order not having arrived yet. At that moment, the two monsters began to move to attack Ibnel and Dabian separately.

‘This is bad.’

Ibnel attacked the monsters, but they moved quickly, and aiming at both of them at once inevitably reduced her accuracy, even for someone like her. Moreover, her right arm was injured.

In the meantime, the monsters closed the distance in an instant, and Dabian, not having anticipated such a situation, didn’t know what to do.

“The core, the core…”

Ibnel was given two choices. Whether to attack the monster rushing at Dabian, or the one rushing at herself.

She hesitated for a moment before turning the gun barrel to the left where Dabian was. Then she pulled the trigger repeatedly to prevent the monster from approaching her. The Nyabi had no choice but to retreat under the shower of bullets.

Meanwhile, the monster rushing towards Ibnel didn’t slow its speed. It was only a matter of time before it pounced on her in her defenseless state.

At the same time, the gun ran out of bullets.

Just as Ibnel was about to throw her body to somehow avoid it, a single gunshot rang in her ears. Simultaneously, the Nyabi that had been running towards her with its mouth wide open fell to the ground with a painful cry.

There was a clear wound from a bullet on its body.

“Who on earth…”

“Are you alright?”

A pair of neat shoes entered Ibnel’s field of vision as she knelt on one knee. As she slowly raised her gaze upwards following them, there was a gun in the right hand.

‘That means the person who just fired the gun was.’

When she hurriedly checked the face, it was someone she knew.

“Duke Peldin?”

“I’m glad I wasn’t too late.”

Peldin was looking at Ibnel with kind eyes filled with relief. And he wasn’t alone.

“I thought you were just going to see the monsters.”

“Your Majesty.”

Shuher, who appeared with him, frowned as he looked at the mess around caused by the monsters, and then noticed the blood splattered around Ibnel.

It was clearly her blood to anyone who saw it.

“How did the two of you end up together?”

One thing was certain, she couldn’t have been happier to see the two of them appear.

“I think we should resolve this situation first. Wouldn’t it be better if Your Majesty didn’t get involved?”

Peldin said this while looking at the two monsters that were on guard seeing their sudden appearance. Knowing that it would be disadvantageous for him to face them with a sword.

But Shuher didn’t seem to mind much as he drew his sword.

“It doesn’t matter as long as we attack the core accurately.”

“Then let’s each take on one fairly. Lady Ibnel, where are the cores located?”

Ibnel, who had been listening to the two men’s conversation in a daze, hurriedly checked the gathered Nyabis again.

“The injured one’s is at the part where the tail starts to split, and the other one’s is in the center of the body.”

“I’ll take the tail one.”

Shuher said this, judging that it would be easier to attack with a sword given the target point, but Peldin firmly refused.

“It was my prey from the start. And you know my skills, don’t you?”

As if telling him to do as he pleased, Shuher rushed towards the monster first. Peldin followed suit. Both of them moved with such ease, without the slightest change in expression, as if they were going for a stroll.