The number of people remaining at this location had decreased since the nobles and their attendants had evacuated. However, with knights arriving, the count was bound to increase swiftly.

Even at this moment, the [Visible Population Count] was continuously increasing.

“Don’t worry, Lulu. I’ll protect you,” Hezen said, holding me tightly.

‘Protect? The most dangerous thing here is you.’

I swallowed my bitter thoughts.

His intentions were clear; he wasn’t here to protect me but for some other purpose. But a bigger question plagued my mind.

‘Why is he so confident?’

As mentioned earlier, the hornpipe was a cash item created to summon boss-level monsters for big rewards. These monsters were all formidable, and Hezen, yet to complete his awakening, was not in a position to confront them.

Despite this, his confidence in summoning the monster and observing the situation implied he had some sort of safety measure in place.

“Oh, I’m so scared, Hezen,” I feigned fear and buried my head in his shoulder, quickly scanning his interface with eagle eyes.

A new term appeared on his status window that I hadn’t seen before.

【(Rare) Seedless Watermelon】Lv.10 Hezen Einspanner

§Stealth State§

Attribute: Eunuch

‘Stealth?’

Status: Stealth

The effect of the item makes your state [Stealth]. While this effect lasts, your presence is weakened. Monsters around you cannot sense your presence.

‘That explains it.’

Unlike bugs that attack weaker individuals first, normal monsters usually target the strongest first. Despite Hezen not having completed his awakening, he was still the strongest here.

Yet, the was confronting the knights instead of attacking Hezen, which seemed odd. But now it made sense; he was selfishly using an item to hide.

It was fitting to describe him as despicable and cowardly.

“Oh, Lulu,” Hezen patted my back, pretending to comfort me.

“It’s okay. It’ll be over soon. Just hold on a little longer.”

I glanced at the [Visible Population Count], which had already exceeded 70.

The knights must have gathered quickly.

‘Right, I need to end this soon too.’

I looked up at Hezen.

“But Hezen, even with so many knights gathered, why can’t you defeat it? I mean…”

And while he was looking at my face,

Snap! Crack!

I grabbed and broke his bracelet.

[SYSTEM] Stealth state has been deactivated.

“Why don’t you go and defeat it?”

“What…?”

Just as Hezen was bewildered by my words,

“Screech!”

The began to twist its body and roar at us.

[SYSTEM] The monster has recognized you.

Then, suddenly breaking through the surrounding knights, it charged towards us.

‘Yuck, disgusting.’

The sight of the giant octopus moving its eight legs across the land wasn’t pleasant to watch.

Wherever the massive legs of the passed, they left huge marks.

Being hit by those legs would undoubtedly result in severe injuries.

The creature, incredibly fast for its size, rapidly approached and leaped towards Hezen and me.

Just before the pounced, I quickly rolled back, distancing myself from Hezen.

[SYSTEM] Activating skill .

[SYSTEM] Your movement speed temporarily increases by +500%.

Hezen also used a skill to narrowly avoid the monster.

Boom!
A giant hole was created where the had attacked. The creature snorted and puffed angrily.

Hezen, gasping for air, glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.

“Louibel Aizester, did you just deliberately break my bracelet…”

However, he couldn’t finish his sentence as he had to dodge another attack from the .

“Sir Hezen!”

“Are you alright!”

“Send reinforcements!”

Knights scrambled to assist Hezen.

But the targeted only Hezen.

“Darn it…”

Hezen cursed and drew his sword to face the , but he was clearly outmatched.

[Poor seedless player, you’re struggling against the . Such a tricky mid-level monster to fight, why not just kill Louibel Aizester and complete your awakening.]

“How, in this situation, can I…”

Thwack!

As Hezen was shouting at the system window, one of the kraken’s tentacles struck him in the ribs.

“Ugh…”

Hezen clutched his side and fell to the ground.

Pale with fear, he was frozen in place as the monster charged towards him.

Then, the leaped into the air and landed on Hezen.

Boom!

Dust rose with a loud noise.

[SYSTEM] You have died.

‘Hezen… he’s dead…’

I stared at the message, momentarily frozen.

‘It’s all over now…’

But then,

Ding!

[SYSTEM] Characters automatically revive upon death during the tutorial phase.

[SYSTEM] You are instantly revived.

A sparkling effect appeared around Hezen, and he stood up again, alive.

‘He’s revived…?’

Instead of attacking the monster, he looked towards me.

[Visible Population Count: 99]

The count soon exceeded 100.

[Visible Population Count: 102]

Hezen, who had been glaring at me menacingly, smirked as he noticed the count.