Unbounded pettiness.

They traveled slowly and attentively. Even though the sun hasn't risen yet, everybody was wide awake. Nobody asked Lazaro why he only showed up at the last minute yesterday.

The way he urgently ran to them and strangled the beast to death, and even more so, because he was directly in their midst right now. Made them assume it was his way for atoning for his mistake.

But the fright of yesterday affected them all.

The usual brash and wild Lila was attentive and silent. Avilá was looking at each one, ready to help at any moment. When the turtle attacked, his cowardly instinct took over and he hid on the tree to the side. He ended up just watching as things unwrapped. He was riddled with guilt and prayed inwardly that they did not ostracize him.

A soft hand on his shoulder startled him.

"It's natural to be afraid while on this jungle, we all need each other. So let's not overthink." Larissa spoke with a gentle smile.

He felt slightly relieved inside. 'Yes, I can amplify their skills, without me nobody here can survive. They need me.' He thought and suddenly felt no guilt.

Unbeknownst to him, Larissa was still smiling but her eyes showed cold venom. Slowly she turned to the side, and stared down and similarly looked at Gerald. He looked back, understood. But did not cared. Even if he had some moves left to play then, he'd just keep them to himself to safeguard his and Sophia's wellbeing through the remaining travel.

"Hya!" Something pinched her soft hip.

Lazaro's cheap smile appeared. "Stop building grudges, pay attention to the surroundings."

The accumulated venom in her eyes exploded and she smirked.

PAH!

"Ugh!"

Lazaro stopped and froze, sweat drops at the size of olives streamed down his face, a loose vine had sprung up out of nowhere and slashed up his crotch.

Her cold eyes remained as she slowly spoke.

"Don't. Ever. Touch me."

His attempts on holding the pain back were useless as he let go of Lucas and fell holding his abused potato sack.

"Hm?"

The boar got up in a haze but his eyes were seeing blurry, his first sight was of Lazaro on all fours in front of him. 'This bastard! is he going to attack me again!? Humpft!'

He did similarly to before and evoked a solid clump of earth, his intent was Lazaro's stomach, but he wasn't... precise.

"UGH!" Lazaro grunted with dispair.

Lucas slowly became clearheaded and memories of what he gained from Lazaro's assault came to him. He saw were his attack hit and sighed to the side. He got up and comforted the trembling Lazaro by patting him on the shoulder. With a heartfelt tone, he spoke.

"Thank you."

Lazaro stopped moving.

His wide, bloodshot eyes were unfocused.

A small pillar of solid earth just sprouted from the ground and smashed his root, making it the second time today.

'I'm still a king, right?' He questioned inwardly.

(S-Sure.) Hyera said, barely constraining her laugh.

His eyes were dark and full of hate as he swore to get back at them both.

As he looked ahead, Lila had stopped walking, making the others halt, as she looked at him coldly. She was angry because he didn't come to help yesterday and because he didn't go to her tent, yet, She still stopped for him.

It was not necessary, every other person knew that, yet she did it anyway. Making him smile at her silliness.

As he got up, the sun was showing its first rays of light, marking the start of their second day of the journey. The nocturnal beasts would hide, while the feral daytimers would bare their fangs.

He wasn't smiling anymore.

"You and I will share the rear of the formation, you'll delay and obstruct, and I'll distract. Lila will attack. Larissa and old man will only act if necessary."

He said looking at Lucas. Contrary to before, he was given a role based on his potential and it was a heavy responsibility, he felt conflicted. It wasn't his nature, because he failed to act before, His father died, if , and if he didn't act before and helped his family, wouldn't it be wrong to act now, to help outsiders?

The image of his family appeared on his face. 'It's not for outsiders, I need to live. Live, suffer and repent.' He looks at Lazaro and nodded solemnly.

(He's not changed.)

'It'd be weird if he was. Innately, he's the kind to act and move, but he deviated for some reason. Although small, he took a step towards developing that trait.'

Larissa opened her eyes wide.

"There are three beasts coming directly at us, two E Rank and one D rank."

With an arrogant smile on his lips, Lazaro eyed each one of the nervous eyes.

"Not a bad start, let's go."

*****

With Lazaro's presence, the weaker beasts showed hesitation, an opening well explored by Lila who sternly shot one bolt after another.

She was doing it with half the time of before and didn't paused or grew lax after she fried a beast, changing her position and aiming again. Her proficiency rose drastically from her past mistakes.

As did Lucas's

Gerald looked at this with the same eyes, but nobody knew his inward thoughts.

As they stopped to reorganize Larissa announced another wave of attacks coming in the distance.

They ran forward to cover some ground and faced two more beasts.

Not a hundred meters after, another one of D rank ran directly at them.

After butchering it Lazaro eyed the gasping Lila who tried hard to not show it, and at the others. He frowned.

"I thought you said this area was cleaned by the veterans. That they only left the number of beasts for the future generation to train?"

Sophia adjusted her pink glasses.

"That's the case." She answered

"You're not mistaken by the region they cleared?"

"They cleaned sixteen kilometers in every direction around the United front academy. And, until before the meteor showers, they had a vision on the edge of their cleaning range to warn if any stronger beasts entered. And we did not hear from it."

Locking his eyebrows together, Lazaro started thinking. The beasts were too excited and coming directly at them. That can't be normal. that's when the issue with Ricon who went first came to his mind.

Larissa brusquely turned her eyes to the side. Throughout the day, her essence in the green life around caught glimpses of a presence, but they always scaped and got bolder, she felt a clear gaze on her nape at almost all time.

Knowing what it was, she chewed on her lip nervously.

"Larissa!"

She snapped her attention back.

"Were you given something from that Ricon before coming here?" Lazaro asked.

She frowned an expansive small flask of healing liquid appeared on her hand.

He sighed in relief "Good, throw it away"

She froze.

"This can take a person from the death's door, one flask is a million Un." She retorted.

"Every beast looked at you before anyone else, and they seem unusually active if that nightmare snake hadn't eaten before, she'd attacked us too."

"B-But..." She couldn't picture it, Ricon feared his elder brother, it was already too much for him to not bring her by his side, would he purposely make her the target of beasts?

Lazaro extended his hand and without thinking she gave it to him.

He took the dead beast beside him. put the small flask of healing liquid in its mouth, spun it and threw it at a distance.

Larissa was on her own world, she wasn't even seeing what Lazaro was doing until he threw the thing, she felt a sudden breeze on the left side of her head. ' A sudden breeze? Directly on the head? No wavy curly hair?' Her immediate danger was replaced by an abysmal sense of loss, trembling, she reached with her feltering fingers the shaved patch. it felt like just trimmed grass.

He had spun the beast in a way that its razor-sharp claws took a good chunk out of her beautiful curly auburn hair.

She looked at him in a daze.

"My balls for your hair. A fair trade." He sai with royal pose and turned away.

'The first one is done.'

(You're really the pettiest bastard on the world.) Hyera sighed.

"Whu- wha-t..?" Larissa babbled In a daze. Not believing in what just happened.

****

Lila felt the need to burst out laughing but remembering how the woman was scary she just smirked and gave Lazro hidden thumps up.

Lazaro nodded at her and turned a smirk to an apprehensive Lucas.

Unconsciously Lucas reached to protect his crotch.

But as he stood attention in formation. Lazaro went close to him. "I have a special thank you gift too."

A chill crawled up Lucas's spine, "I really should've let you to that meteor's existence erasing care." Lucas regretted.

"Whua- w- WHAT!?" Larissa screamed.

Lazaro delighted himself in their feelings

"I'm Lazaro of fucking superbia."