“D-Damn... what a gorgeous girl...”

Lapluo, who had finally caught up to his companions, immediately felt his eyes light up upon seeing the unfamiliar black-haired girl.

An indescribable desire ignited within his heart like a blazing inferno and instantly spread out of control.

Already someone lustful by nature, the moment he met the girl’s blood-red eyes—

The desires in his heart seemed to magnify infinitely.

Overwhelming lust rapidly devoured his reason.

To the point that Lapluo and the other slave traffickers completely ignored several obvious abnormalities visible right before them.

The only thing left in their minds was filthy greed.

Capture the black-haired girl before them and sell her to the black market for a fortune.

And before that—

Playing with her a little first shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Hehehe~ little beauty~

Of course—

They needed to be careful not to accidentally kill her like they had done with those young elf girls before.

This girl was unbelievably beautiful, but she also looked incredibly delicate.

‘Gotta control the strength a bit, hehe~’

A vulgar grin spread across Lapluo’s face as he casually put away the magic gun in his hand.

In his eyes, dealing with such an unarmed and fragile-looking girl didn’t require weapons at all.

However—

Just as Lapluo was preparing to walk forward—

A glowing crimson Blood Butterfly suddenly fluttered before him, causing him to freeze in confusion.

??

“Huh?”

‘Why the hell is there a butterfly in the Winter Forest? And one with this kind of color?’

Looking at the blood-like crimson patterns and eerie glow on the butterfly’s body, Lapluo instinctively felt a strong sense of discomfort.

A cold bead of sweat slowly slid down his forehead.

Unfortunately, this degree of unease was quickly swallowed by the raging desires continuously burning inside him.

Compared to caring about some weird butterfly, Lapluo was far more interested in the black-haired girl in the distance.

“Get the hell outta my way already!”

Lapluo impatiently waved his hands, trying to drive away the strange butterfly.

However—

At the moment he swung his arm, the butterfly landed directly on the back of his right hand.

Seeing this, Lapluo frowned and instinctively tried to shake it off.

??!!

W-Wait?!

M-My hand?!

But—

Before he could even move his arm—

An indescribably intense pain exploded from the back of his hand and surged straight into his brain.

Along with it came an incomparable terror.

“AAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! M-My hand!!”

The next instant—

Massive amounts of magic power, vitality, and soul energy began pouring endlessly into the Blood Butterfly.

Under Lapluo’s horrified gaze, the skin touching the butterfly suddenly began shriveling at an absurd speed!

In barely an instant, his entire arm turned into dry, withered wood!

Immediately afterward, the energy from the rest of his body also began uncontrollably flowing into the butterfly.

Lapluo desperately wanted to stop it—

Only to discover his entire body had become paralyzed and completely immobile.

All he could do was watch helplessly as his body rapidly dried up.

At this moment, all the lust and greed inside Lapluo vanished without a trace.

What remained—

Was unprecedented fear.

‘W-Why... why is this happening...?’

In the end—

Accompanied by a despair-filled scream, Lapluo’s consciousness fell into endless darkness as his body abruptly transformed into a dried corpse and collapsed onto the snowy ground.

However—

He was not alone.

The other slave traffickers who came into contact with the Blood Butterflies also had all of their energy drained away before miserably dying amid agony and despair.

Except for one person.

The leader of these slave traffickers—

The high-tier mercenary named Depier.

Relying on his early sixth-tier strength and years of life-or-death combat experience, Depier managed to evade the Blood Butterfly’s touch at the final critical moment and sliced it apart.

Only then did he narrowly escape death.

In response—

The black-haired girl in the distance appeared to reveal a faintly surprised expression.

After witnessing all of his companions die miserably—

Depier was completely horrified.

‘W-What the hell are these creatures?!’

Looking at the Blood Butterflies drifting around him, Depier couldn’t help biting through his lip.

Especially after noticing—

The Blood Butterfly he had just sliced apart had actually regenerated?!

Depier’s pupils instantly contracted as he sucked in a cold breath.

There wasn’t even the slightest energy fluctuation, yet they could instantly suck a fifth-tier expert into a dried corpse?!

And he had clearly cut that butterfly into four pieces just now!

How... how did it return to normal?!

What kind of monster was this?!

‘T-This is bad...’

As Depier’s thoughts spiraled—

The Blood Butterflies that had finished off his companions slowly began flying toward him from all directions.

At this moment, the seemingly harmless butterflies resembled vicious ghosts in Depier’s eyes, giving him an unprecedented sense of pressure.

Even the hands gripping his twin blades began trembling uncontrollably.

His instincts screamed at him—

Even as a sixth-tier expert, the moment he touched those Blood Butterflies, he would undoubtedly die without a corpse left behind.

And right then—

Depier noticed the black-haired girl not far away.

Instantly, the shock within him transformed into boundless hatred!

Because at that moment, he suddenly realized that several Blood Butterflies were quietly fluttering around the girl’s body.

A few had even landed on her shoulders.

Yet the girl herself remained completely unharmed.

Clearly—

This bitch was controlling the butterflies!

“It was you!! You damned witch!! You killed my brothers!! I’ll make you pay for this!!”

The moment he realized the truth—

Depier became utterly furious.

The brothers who had followed him for years had all been wiped out just like that?!

How could he possibly accept this?!

And after meeting the girl’s crimson-red eyes, the violent emotions in Depier’s heart became even more intense.

‘Combat Art — Thunder Calamity Twin Blades!!’

Light purple battle aura suddenly exploded from his body, forming a solid aura armor around him!

At the same time, battle aura wrapped around his twin blades, causing them to radiate terrifyingly cold light! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

“DIE!!”

Lightning erupted.

Accompanied by a hysterical roar, Depier transformed into a streak of purple light and instantly charged toward the black-haired girl with thunderous force, both blades aimed directly at her neck!

However—

Just as Depier revealed a bloodthirsty grin and anticipated the sight of the girl’s head flying off—

The black-haired girl, who had remained motionless this entire time, suddenly tilted her head slightly to the right.

Within those crimson eyes appeared—

A trace of curiosity.

‘Curiosity?! What the hell?!’

Seeing the girl’s expression, Depier couldn’t help feeling confused.

Unfortunately—

Before he could think any further, the girl’s palm suddenly enlarged rapidly within his field of vision!

The speed was so fast that Depier couldn’t react at all.

“Eh??”

After letting out a startled cry—

The girl’s delicate hand made intimate contact with Depier’s face.

PAAA!!!

Accompanied by an unprecedented, earth-shaking slap—

The violent thunder-attributed battle aura surrounding Depier, along with his aura armor, instantly collapsed and vanished into nothingness.

As for Depier’s head—

Still wearing a completely horrified expression, it spun roughly 3600 degrees before abruptly saying goodbye to his neck forever.

His consciousness instantly plunged into endless darkness.

Just like that—

Depier’s head flew off into the distance while his now powerless body collapsed limply before the black-haired girl.

—

“...Uh.”

Looking at the scar-faced man whose head and body had separated, the black-haired girl—

Our Miss Yumo—

Stood frozen in place for a moment before somewhat awkwardly glancing at her right hand.

The same hand that had just slapped Depier’s head clean off.

Yumo’s brows twitched slightly.

Honestly—

She had intended to leave the scar-faced man alive.

After all, she needed a survivor to question about the situation.

But since the guy looked pretty strong, Yumo figured she should use just a tiny bit more force and simply knock him unconscious.

Only—

She hadn’t expected...

Glancing toward the head scattered into pieces several hundred meters away, Yumo awkwardly and mischievously stuck out her tongue.

‘Ah... well... I might’ve... maybe... used a little too much force...’