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A minute later, bloody hands clawed at the ground as a figure crawled forward, eventually reaching Ness’ feet.

“Ness, help me…” Ballmer grabbed Ness’ pant leg and sobbed, his face barely recognizable.

However, Ness was petrified, his limbs frozen stiff with fear. He could only watch as the blonde devil grabbed Ballmer’s ankles and dragged him away.

“I see you can still scream so loudly. You’re definitely tougher than Ash.”
“N-No! No more! I’m sorry, mercy please… Spare me… Spare… AHHHHH!”

Ballmer’s pleas fell on deaf ears, leaving bloody claw marks on the ground.

Bam. Bam. Bam.
“Ness…”
Bam. Bam. Bam.
“Help me…”
Bam. Bam. Bam.
“Please… save me!”
Bam. Bam. Bam.

Ballmer gradually fell silent.

Lilith rose, wiping her bloodstained hands with a handkerchief. She then turned to Ness and Brady with a smile. “Sorry for making you two wait.” Her smile was sweet, but the blood on her face gave her the look of a demon freshly arrived from hell.

“Come on, it’s your turn now. Shall we continue?” Tossing the bloodied handkerchief aside, Lilith stretched her shoulders. What she had done to Ballmer barely qualified as a warm-up exercise to her.

“N-N-N-No thank you!” Ness and Brady backed away, forcing an ingratiating smile on their faces. “We surrender, we surrender!”

Ness’ strength was comparable to Ballmer’s, yet the latter couldn’t even last a minute under Lilith’s assault. Challenging her, even with a piece of trash like Brady, was akin to serving himself up on a silver platter.

The one-sided, merciless fight with Lilith punching Ballmer into a pulp left Ness wondering if an ancient demonic beast lurked behind Lilith’s adorable facade. Trembling with fear, Ness backed down decisively and without hesitation.

After all, it wasn’t the first time he had done something similar.

“Surrender?” Lilith frowned. “But you just demanded ten Holy Dragon’s Hearts from me as compensation.”

“What? No, you must have misheard us!” Ness asserted firmly. “We’ve long admired you and Lady Erica. In fact, we’ve even brought ten Holy Dragon’s Hearts for you,” he added.

After Ness took out his entire fortune—five Holy Dragon’s Hearts, his eyes drifted to Brady beside him. He cursed inwardly, recalling that the guy had already been robbed clean earlier.

Ness handed over the five hearts with a heavy heart and pointed at Ballmer, who lay motionless except for twitching fingers. “There are five more on him,” he said.

“Oh, I see. I must have misheard you all earlier.” Lilith’s eyes widened in realization.

“No, no, no. It’s not your fault. Ballmer, that idiot, didn’t explain clearly and caused a misunderstanding.”

“Ah, I see. Be sure to speak clearly next time. Misunderstandings are mostly caused by poor communication,” Lilith said, somewhat annoyed, yet she smiled as she accepted the Holy Dragon’s Hearts.

“Yes, of course. We’ve learned our lesson.” Ness nodded respectfully, relieved to see Lilith accept the Holy Dragon’s Hearts.

Lilith’s gaze darted to him mischievously. “But I think I heard someone saying something about me being a lowly lackey and that he could take me down single-handedly?”

Ness’ heart raced as if he was on a roller coaster. “Oh, that… Ballmer is such an a̲s̲s̲h̲o̲l̲e̲.” Ness was quick to throw Ballmer under the bus.

“He’s always arrogant, looking down on people. Many hate him for that. Despite his strength, no one wants to associate with him. Your intervention is like ridding us of a nuisance, truly a service to the people!” he said righteously, as if disgusted to be in the same team with a scum like Ballmer.

“Is that so? I have bad hearing, I hope you’re not lying to me.” Lilith played with her fingers, not bothering to look at Ness.

“Haha… Why would I lie?” Ness forced a smile, hiding his inner frustration. Despite his internal struggles, Ness reluctantly produced a folded vellum. “This is a map of this small world. Consider it an apology on behalf of Ballmer,” he said.

“You guys even have maps?” Lilith exclaimed in surprise, unfolding the vellum to reveal a crudely made map. Though its credibility remained a question, the grassland, sea, and snowy mountain she visited were indeed marked on the map.

Since she wasn’t a target of the Anti-Princess Alliance, they likely didn’t know where she’d been.

“In other words, this map is real,” Lilith murmured with slight surprise.

Knowing the terrain made certain things much easier.

“In fact, several tournaments were held in this area before, so quite a few incomplete maps were circulating in the market. Due to special circumstances this time, our Anti-Princess Alliance has worked on filling in the gaps to piece together a complete map,” Ness explained.

“I see.” Lilith nodded. It seemed like the Anti-Princess Alliance had put in a lot of preparation to besiege Estelle and Luna. “Well, I guess this will do.”

“Thank you, thank you!” Ness replied gratefully.

“Hmph, do you still think Lady Erica is too arrogant now?”

“I wouldn’t dare. Lady Erica was just being straightforward,” Ness said, lowering his head. He even felt a little intimidated to look directly at Lady Erica, who had remained silent throughout.

For her lackey to wield such power, Ness dared not imagine how strong Erica herself must be. Could it be true that Lady Erica had indeed eliminated Princess Estelle, as rumored?

Ness remained uncertain. With Princess Estelle’s whereabouts unknown, it was hard to determine if she had been eliminated or was in hiding.

“Then… can we leave now?” Ness asked cautiously. He had offered his treasures, apologized, and spoken kind words.

“Wait a moment.” Lilith waved her hand, gesturing for him to be patient. She then sat down on the ground, disregarding the mud, and exhaled deeply. “That was exhausting.”

Exhausted? That battle was brief.

Doubt flickered in Ness’ eyes.

Lilith rubbed her sore waist and gazed enviously at Erica. “I envy Lady Erica’s stamina, to be able to fight Princess Estelle for three hours.”