Olivia's dagger cut through the air like it had shot out of a cannon. Sylas poured everything he had into it.

Max barely managed to recover, sensing that something was wrong. He tilted to the side, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the dagger from tearing right into his shoulder. His left arm immediately went limp.

Sylas tried to draw the blade across his body, but the resistance was too strong. With the combination of Madness and the blade, the piercing power had the effectiveness of around 150 points of Strength, but there were too many other variables at play to end it all in a single strike.

A pained cry left Max's lips and Sylas knew that he was running out of time. That archer would be here soon.

Sylas moved forward, his stride so long he closed the distance in a single bound.

Max moved to counter, but Sylas' telekinesis ripped the dagger out of shoulder right at that moment, sending another spike of pain through the latter's body that caused that saber he was holding in his hand to falter.

Sylas' fist slammed into his nose and Max's world felt like it was suddenly spinning. Was he going to die like this?

It was then Sylas heard it. Even in this situation, his mind was on high alert.

A wave of light passed through the region as the village officially fell under his control, and at the same moment, Jared appeared on the village walls, his bowstring already pulled into a full moon position. It also seemed that Jared's night vision Skill was on another level compared to Max's because he seemed entirely unfazed by the sudden light.

What he wasn't unfazed by, though, was Sylas suddenly round to Max's back, grabbing Olivia's dagger, and holding it to the latter's throat. Or, rather, it looked like he had done so. In reality, his telekinesis was holding it a few centimeters from his palm.

Jared froze, and Max suddenly didn't dare to move.

Sylas' breathing was haggard, but his gaze was sharp and controlled.

"Who are you?" He asked coldly.

Jared didn't reply, and Max didn't dare to speak.

Sylas pressed the dagger more forcefully on Max's neck, drawing blood.

"I asked a question."

"It's a stupid question," Jared eventually responded. "Why would tell you who we are change anything?"

Sylas didn't reply immediately. Was it a stupid question? Of course not. Jared was just pretending like it was.

Sylas had asked for a very specific reason, and that was because he didn't think it was a coincidence that these people were here. Someone had told them about this location. It could be one of the three Quest takers, or it could be that another village run by humans had found it.

It wasn't like Gnoll Village 019 was marked for Casstle Main alone. Anyone could clear it.

Rather than being a stupid question, it was the most important question.

Just when Jared was trying to figure out what to do in this situation, Sylas drew the dagger across Max's neck.

It was so sudden and abrupt that Jared didn't even know how to react for a moment, and when he did finally react, there was nothing but rage in his eyes.

He released an arrow in pure fury, but aiming for Sylas' head. At this range, his archery skill was more than high enough not to miss.

Unfortunately for him, Sylas had the initiative. He had already ducked the moment he cut Max's throat.

The arrow was swift, almost undodgeable. But even when it curved toward its target, it ended up running right into Max's chest. Sylas had already seen that the homing ability of Jared's arrows was far too limited to round such a tight corner.

He kicked Max's body away when its use had run out and a crossbow bolt appeared out of his Madness Key. Jared had already begun drawing out another arrow from his quiver, but how could he be faster than Sylas' telekinesis?

The bolt shot up and through the skies, appearing before Jared's head in an instant.

The archer might have been slow to draw his arrow, but his Speed and agility were great. It was what he focused on most of all.

He barely managed to tilt his head to the side, barely dodging. The arrow grazed across his cheek and his evasive maneuver put him off balance.

Sylas immediately pulled out a second arrow, and it rocketed through the skies, but what he didn't expect was that Jared would suddenly go limp, his body never managing to regain its balance.

Jared stared out into space, wide-eyed and disbelieving.

"… Poi…son…"

His body froze. He was very much still alive, but his body was entirely paralyzed.

Even Sylas was stunned. 'It worked so fast?'

Sylas took deep breaths, exhaling slowly.

Most venoms, even potent ones took hours to kill. Even among the fastest, a quarter to a half hour was a necessity. But Jared had barely been nicked, and yet he ended up in such a state before he could even fall to the ground.

'Venoms in this world probably work by attacking Constitution. Considering his Speed and Dexterity, he likely focused on them more than Constitution… though it's hard to say. There's also a chance that the poison is just that powerful, but where did that gnoll find it?'

Jared fell from the top of the log-walls, unable to balance himself. Sylas didn't bother to try to catch him. A three-meter fall wouldn't kill a Level 4, and even if it did, he wasn't sure if he would care.

He had moved without hesitation to kill Max and he didn't even feel very much different now that that had settled in. Max was the first human he had killed, and he even knew his full name. It was just that… he couldn't be bothered to care.