Lazry barely had time to breathe before the next guest came.
Outside, the hallway lights flickered, shadows stretched across the walls, and a cold presence swept through the apartment like something unseen had just taken a breath. His demon dog stopped chewing the last bone scrap and growled low, its six luminous eyes sharpening.
"What now?" Lazry whispered. He felt a knot tighten in his chest. "Who keeps sending these things?"
The air rippled. A shape rose from the shadows near the door. Bones clicked together, forming legs and ribs and jagged teeth. The creature took form slowly, almost theatrically, like it wanted Lazry to watch. A wolf-like skeleton stood tall, wrapped in faint red light that pulsed like a weak heartbeat.
"A wolf again? A bone? A bone wolf? A blood-bone wolf?" Lazry muttered. "Seriously? Did someone order these things in bulk?"
The wolf lunged without warning.
Lazry did not even move. Instead, he reached into the bond he shared with the demon dog and pushed one clear command.
"Deal with it."
The six eyed dog shot forward like a shadow breaking free from the floor. It clashed with the bone wolf in a burst of wind that knocked Lazry's curtains sideways. Bone fragments scattered as the two collided.
The wolf raked its claws across the demon dog's body, but the attack vanished the instant it touched its fur, as if every strike fell into a bottomless pit.
The bone wolf's paw disappeared, but it grew back immediately.
Lazry narrowed his eyes. "Endless Void… it really absorbs everything."
The demon dog braced itself and pressed forward, but Lazry felt something strange.
On his mental link with his demon dog, he'd sense that there was a pull.
He froze. "Wait…"
He checked the hunger meter.
Twenty nine out of one hundred. Lower than before.
The bone wolf swiped again and again, each hit fading into the demon dog's fur like sinking into dark water. Each time, Lazry felt a small pulse and the hunger meter dropped by another point.
Sixty eight.
Sixty seven.
"Oh no," Lazry breathed. "It's absorbing the attacks. That means… the dog is getting hungrier whenever it gets hit despite absorbing everything."
He gritted his teeth. "Stop tanking. Evade. Move around and avoid its attacks."
The demon dog followed his command instantly. Instead of absorbing the wolf's claws, it flickered like a streak of black and dodged each swipe, barely tapping the ground. The bone wolf tried to turn its head and catch up, but it was too slow. The dog moved like a shadow that refused to be touched.
The hunger meter stayed steady.
Twenty seven out of one hundred.
"Good," Lazry muttered. "Stay like that."
Then the demon dog leapt high, its six eyes blazing bright. Its mouth opened and a sphere of compressed darkness gathered inside, swirling like a captured star.
"Finish it."
The demon dog blasted the bone wolf with a surge of dark energy.
Everything went white for a second. The explosion shook the entire apartment. The bone wolf was torn apart into a thousand glowing fragments that scattered across the floor and dissolved into nothing.
Lazry let out a breath he did not know he was holding. "That should be it. I hope so. Please be it."
It was not it.
Before he could even sit down, a wet sound echoed from the hallway. Something slithered. Something dripped. Lazry stiffened and looked toward the door.
A creature pulled itself into view, made of globs of congealed blood stitched together with thin threads of dark veins. It shuddered as if barely holding its shape. Its face had no eyes, only a hollow opening that seemed to scream silently.
Lazry felt his scalp crawl. "You can't be serious."
The blood creature rushed forward in a blur.
But the demon dog did not move. Instead it spun toward Lazry, placed itself directly in front of him, and raised its body like a shield. The blood creature's claws slammed against the dog's side. The impact rippled through the apartment, but the demon dog held firm, glaring with all six eyes.
Lazry felt a warm surge of shock. "It… tried to protect me? Even without me ordering it?" But he paused. Why be surprised? It's his demon dog.
The dog growled, low and brutal. Then it moved.
The fight stretched long. It was messy and violent and loud. The blood creature kept splitting its body, forming spikes and tendrils that lashed out. Each time, Lazry had to mentally order the dog to evade. Each time, the dog dodged with pinpoint precision, jumping across tables, sliding under swings, rolling off walls.
It was fast. Too fast.
But the blood creature would not stop coming.
"Evade left," Lazry shouted.
The dog twisted, avoiding a sharp tendril. Lazry felt another pulse through their bond. The hunger meter flickered down another point.
"Right. Up. Down. Back. Forward. Go under. Jump over." His commands came like rapid fire.
The apartment was shaking, furniture cracking, lights flickering, walls denting. Lazry was panting, not because he fought but because watching the fight felt like sitting in a roller coaster he never signed up for.
Finally, the demon dog skidded across the floor, planted its feet, and gathered power into its mouth.
"Do it!" Lazry yelled.
The dog unleashed a massive dark blast that swallowed the blood creature whole. The entire hallway was engulfed in a rushing torrent of void energy.
When the light faded, nothing remained. Not even a drop of blood.
Lazry bent over, hands on his knees. "What… What is going on? Who keeps sending these freaks?"
He wanted to dismiss it as bad luck. But in the next moment, another blood creature appeared outside his cracked window. It tried to crawl in, but the demon dog snapped its head toward it and fired a quick shot that obliterated it instantly.
Lazry stared at the smoldering window frame and felt the first real chill of fear.
"Three attacks. All in a row. All aimed at me." He pressed a hand against his forehead. "Someone is targeting me, but this creature seemed different from the first one… Does that mean there are many targeting me? But who?"
He tried to think. The people he had met today… the enemies he had encountered… Could it be the same assassins? Of course, that was the only answer he could think of. It meant that his "hiding in the open" strategy hadn't worked.
Suddenly, he sensed something.
Amid the bones that his six-eyed demon dog was munching on was a familiar mana, similar to that of Gruig. Lazry immediately thought of Old Man Grude.
"Is it Grude?" Lazry whispered. "He's so fast!"
He remembered Grude, the grandfather of Gruig, the old man who screamed about revenge. Lazry replayed the memory with a frown. Grude was terrifyingly vengeful. Once, Lazry had simply bumped into him in the market and spilled a drink on his robe. The old man had shouted for ten minutes straight, summoned three cursed bats, and cursed Lazry's left shoe. His revenge for that stupid incident had lasted days.
So now, after Lazry had killed his grandson earlier…
"It makes sense," Lazry muttered. "That old man would definitely try something. He wouldn't come himself, though. He'd hire someone. Probably some shady summoner… but he's too fast to act… Who could it be? It doesn't matter… Winston already installed an alarm to alert the Lycannis Family if a higher-level conjurer tries to visit, and I'm sure they know that too… so they'll only send a weaker conjurer, which my beast could deal with easily…"
He exhaled a shaky breath. "Figures. Of course I get dragged into this nonsense… It's not like I'm surprised; I was attacked once I got a system—what's the difference?"
He turned toward the demon dog and knelt down. "I don't know who or how many are targeting me, but I'm sure there are people after me…"
The dog looked at him with its glowing six eyes, waiting.
"Listen," Lazry said softly. "I'll depend on you... Until morning, if anyone tries to come near me with bad intentions, blast them. Blow them up. No warnings... But if it's someone coming to fix the door with tools in hand in the morning—someone carrying metal and not wearing a business suit or a curse demon—don't kill him, okay?" The demon dog wagged its tail slowly, understanding him. This was absolute control.
Lazry pushed himself to his feet and walked to his bedroom. The adrenaline left his body all at once, making him stagger. He collapsed onto the bed face-first.
"I'm done. I give up. Sleep."
He didn't even pull a blanket over himself. His eyes shut instantly.
The room turned quiet.
Then the demon dog lifted its head. It slowly walked to the apartment door. It sniffed the gap beneath it, ears twitching. Something outside made its body tense.
The dog nudged the door open and stepped into the hallway silently.
…
Meanwhile, across the city, Ravikus knelt on the floor of his ritual chamber, cursing under his breath.
"How… how is this brat still alive?" Ravikus wheezed. His face was pale, sweat dripping down his temples. "He has a legendary curse beast. So what? He should not be able to control it. Legendary class beasts never obey their owners. Especially, Demon Curse beast that isn't summoned by Curse beast conjurers themselves. Never. So why? Who is protecting him?"
He slammed a fist onto the floor, trembling. "My blood slaves are low grade, yes, but they should at least be able to kill him. They should be enough to deal with him. They should be enough to make the kid pray he's dead just by seeing them. But every single one gets destroyed. Instantly."
He coughed again. More blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. His body shook.
"I am losing strength. If this keeps going, the ritual will fail. I need something stronger. Something more vicious."
His hands hovered over the ritual circle. He hissed sharply, drawing more blood from his palm to activate the spell.
"Come on. Come on. Come on."
The air trembled. Runes began to glow red.
Then a bright light flashed. A white blast of overwhelming power surged through the chamber.
Ravikus's eyes widened in shock.
"What… no… what is this…?"