Hours later, Aiden was still on the terrace. The women below were either squatting down or lying in the shade under the watchtowers.

Any normal group would have already reached the apartment from the butcher’s base. But it seems their large size had caused some issues during the transit.

If being close to the apartment wasn’t the core of the plan, he would have told his forces to march forward. Now, he could only wait for Joan.

Suddenly, three women came running towards the building.

"They’re here!" Elena yelled into the radio.

"I see them too," Aiden replied, using [Farsight].

Joan was in the lead, as expected. However, now everything was up to his expectations.

"Milarel, you’re putting on quite a performance," Aiden scoffed, watching Joan lead the bound Mila ahead of the crowd.

Joan wanted to show off. Perhaps she thought that by seeing one of their own, tied and under the enemy’s control, she’d sow discord within Aiden’s forces.

After all, in her eyes, Aiden was a tyrant. Who in their right mind would fight for him? If she gave them enough reasons, they might even turn against him, and she thought she could achieve that by capturing Milarel.

"What a fool," Aiden shook his head. "You have disappointed me, Joan. To think at one time you were one of my greatest rivals..."

At the same time, Joan was whispering words of comfort to Mila.

"The restraints aren’t too tight, are they? I can loosen them if you want—"

"You can stop worrying about me," Mila replied with a smile. "I have endured much worse things in that... hellhole."

Milarel didn’t lie. She had indeed felt the burden of restraints, although all of them were to induce pleasure at Aiden’s hands. But Joan didn’t need to know that.

As expected, Joan’s eyes reddened a bit at Mila’s words. The thought of Aiden ruining her innocence made her blood boil.

"Move faster!" she barked at the people behind her. "First, we’ll rescue Mila’s brother and mentor. Then we’ll kill every man there!"

The broken road was filled with roars and shouts of violence. It seemed that once the women got a taste of blood, they no longer cared about sparing the men like they did before.

As they reached the cross-section, Mila headed straight, but Joan headed to the right, towards the survivor camp. The chain became taunt as the two women looked at one another.

"Why are you heading that way?" Joan asked, pointing towards the camp further ahead. "That’s their base—"

"...the apartment is right over there," Mila replied, nodding her head towards the apartment.

As soon as she said that, a huge building appeared within their vision. Although it was still far away, they could see the well-maintained structure amidst the rumble of a forgotten time.

"W-Where did that building come from?" someone from the crowd yelled.

It was one thing to not have noticed the building if it were ordinary times. But how could all of them hadn’t seen the building sticking out like a sore thumb?

Joan’s eyes shifted between the survivor camp and the building in the distance. The next moment, her cheeks turned red from embarrassment.

Did I kill innocents that night?

Joan slapped herself with her free hand at even entertaining such an absurd thought.

No! No man is innocent in this world!

After repeating those words like a mantra, her sense of guilt disappeared entirely. Even though they weren’t her original targets, Joan made up her mind to deal with them after ridding the world of Aiden.

"Crush him!" Joan yelled, urging her followers to run ahead. "Send him to hell!"

"Get ready," Aiden spoke into the radio. "Snipers, target the women first. You are free to go for the kill."

The snipers perched in the watchtowers swallowed their saliva and nodded. Although they had been shooting monsters here and there, they had yet to kill a human.

Still, they didn’t hesitate for more than a second. How could they when their landlord had trusted them and treated them so well? For him, they would even gladly have fought an endless monster horde.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed, and the woman running just ahead of Joan suddenly jerked violently. The side of her head exploded in a spray of red mist and bone fragments. Her body crumpled mid-stride like a puppet with its strings cut.

Joan froze for half a second. More gunshots followed, and two more women were hit. One fell with a clean hole through her forehead, the other clutching what remained of her throat as she fell gurgling.

Joan was too stunned to move. Guns didn’t exist in the Otherworld. All she knew were arrows, but even they didn’t have such range.

"Take cover! Use the men as shields!" Joan roared, eyes wide with rage.

The women didn’t have to be told twice. They grabbed whoever they could, not like there was a shortage of meat shields.

One tall, muscular man was shoved directly in front of Joan just for another sniper round to punch through his chest.

The man died instantly as the bullet struck his heart, but Joan kept him upright, using his body as cover while protecting Mila behind her.

Joan’s breath grew ragged. She looked at the watchtowers in the distance with hatred. Those pesky structures had to be dealt with immediately.

"Keep moving! Don’t stop!" she barked, swapping for another shield. "Run towards those towers and take them down!"

What kind of power is this?

Her respect for Aiden as a threat grew, but so did her hatred. Joan thought that as they got closer, they’d be able to overwhelm Aiden’s pesky force with their abilities.

However, reality shattered her plans.

As they got closer, a different type of gun awaited them.

Dadadadada!

Women on Aiden’s side unleashed their rifles on them. No matter how many shields Joan’s army had, they couldn’t outlast the bullets Aiden had. He kept restocking their pseudo shop with free bullets every time they ran out.

"Huh, looks like I was worried for nothing," Aiden smiled, resting his chin on his hand.