"Y–you…"
Kibaou collapsed to the ground, his body beginning to blur.
With his HP reduced to zero, he entered the ten-second death countdown.
If someone had the resurrection crystal dropped by the Floor 35 event boss [Nicholas the Renegade], he might still have survived.
But there was none.
"I don't… want… to die…"
Kibaou struggled weakly, stretching a hand toward Lillian, hatred carved deep into his face.
Then—
Bang.
His body shattered into fragments and vanished into the air.
All the players lost their ability to think for a split second.
They had imagined countless possibilities—Lillian begging for mercy, trying to flee… but never, not even once, had they imagined that he would take the initiative to kill someone, and do so while facing over a hundred players.
To be honest, it wasn't just them who were shocked.
Even Lillian himself was surprised.
He hadn't planned to do this. But after being provoked by Kibaou, he suddenly realized a crucial problem.
He had no alibi.
Which meant that unless Kibaou changed his mind and told the truth, or the person impersonating him stepped forward to confess, there was no way for Lillian to prove his innocence or clear his name.
Burden of proof? Presumption of innocence?
Sorry—none of that worked in a game.
As long as everyone believed you were guilty, you were guilty.
Once he understood this, Lillian actually felt calm.
He cleanly and decisively killed Kibaou—the man who had repeatedly targeted him—and then waved at the crowd.
"Bye-bye."
Kibaou's actions today were clearly meant to put him to death, so Lillian did not hesitate at all. As for everyone else, they were merely the "knives" Kibaou had intended to use to kill him.
Even if Lillian were capable of slaughtering them all—and that was questionable—he would never do it. He wasn't that cruel, nor did he believe that everyone here deserved to die. Beating them up to knock some sense into them might have been fine, but taking lives crossed the line.
That said, there were simply too many people. He couldn't fight them all. And if things dragged on, even an elephant could be bitten to death by ants. Being hit by a barrage of sword skills would overwhelm him sooner or later.
So in this situation, he chose to run—without hesitation.
The encirclement formed by nearly a hundred players was shattered as Lillian took a running start and leapt straight over their heads. By the time he landed, he was already outside the circle.
Only then did everyone react, shouting angrily as they gave chase.
Lillian had now actively killed a player, turning his name orange, and permanently so. On one hand, this meant other players could attack him without restraint. On the other, it meant that if they failed to deal with him here and let him escape, he would become a massive threat to anyone leveling in the field or dungeons in the future.
In their eyes, once Lillian was labeled a murderer, even a fully staffed party wouldn't be able to deal with him in the wild given his strength. What were they supposed to do then? Gather dozens of people every time they wanted to level up? That was unrealistic.
So the only way to eliminate future trouble was to capture him and throw him into the Black Iron Palace prison—or simply kill him on the spot.
With that resolve, shouts of "Kill him!" echoed through the forest as they hunted him down like a humanoid boss.
But the phrase "having the will but lacking the strength" fit perfectly here.
In a game without guaranteed long-range attacks, even if two people had the same speed, catching someone who started running first was extremely difficult—let alone when the speed gap was this large.
And Lillian truly ran.
After barely twenty seconds of high-speed sprinting, the shouts behind him had already faded. He slowed his pace slightly and took a breath.
That was when a dazzling sword flash suddenly struck from the front, brilliant as a burst of daylight and blinding to the eye.
Clang!
The wide blade of a greatsword blocked the sharp thrust of the incoming rapier.
Lillian looked up at his attacker.
Golden hair swirled through the air from her rapid movement, and beneath it was a beautiful face filled with barely restrained anger.
"As expected of Flash," Lillian said.
He twisted his wrist and knocked Asuna's rapier aside. "You've put quite a few points into Agility, huh?" His gaze fell on her weapon. "I was the one who reinforced that sword to +5 for you. Using it against me already?"
Asuna stared at him coldly, saying nothing, her eyes fixed on the orange marker floating above his head.
"Since you're here," Lillian continued, "Kirito must be around too."
As if on cue, Kirito came running from the distance. His Agility was clearly lower than Asuna's, so he arrived a step later.
"Lillian, you…" Kirito froze when he saw the marker above Lillian's head and drew his one-handed sword in shock. "I can't believe it was really you… I didn't believe it at first."
Lillian looked at the two of them and couldn't be bothered to explain.
"Don't block my way, or I'll kill you—"
He paused, then laughed. "Just kidding. Hey, since you've got time to intercept me, why don't you two go get married or something?"
"W-What?!"
Neither of them had expected Lillian to say something so absurd at a moment like this. Their faces flushed instantly, their thoughts thrown into chaos, and the momentum they'd built dissipated.
Seizing that moment, Lillian suddenly dashed forward.
Kirito instinctively raised his sword and stepped in front of Asuna, while she hadn't even had time to react.
As expected of the fastest-reacting player, Lillian thought.
Watching Kirito's movement, he couldn't help but marvel at the protagonist's talent—already on full display at just fourteen years old. Asuna was a genius too, but still a step behind.
But it was only a feint.
Lillian had no intention of attacking this perfectly matched official couple. He merely pretended to strike, forcing Kirito to shield Asuna, giving him a little "relationship boost" along the way.
Even when I'm surrounded by enemies on all sides, I'm still helping other people's romance… I really impress myself.
Thinking such nonsense, Lillian pivoted on his heel, changed direction, and sprinted off again.
Kirito and Asuna wanted to chase him, but in the next second Lillian was already seven or eight meters away. At that speed, they had no choice but to give up.
"I can't believe it was really him," Asuna said quietly. She hadn't shown it on her face earlier, but when Lillian mentioned reinforcing her sword, it had hurt more than she expected. They weren't particularly close, but drawing a blade against someone she knew was never something she wanted to do.
"I didn't expect it either," Kirito sighed. "But there's no helping it. This is just how things are."
At that moment, the pursuing crowd caught up and anxiously questioned them.
"You didn't stop him? Which way did he go?"
Kirito pointed in the direction Lillian had fled, and the group surged off again. Watching over a hundred people charge after one man left both of them shaken.
"Kirito… do you think they can catch him?"
"No."
They had seen that speed firsthand. Even Asuna couldn't stop him—let alone anyone else.
"If he gets away…" Asuna grew worried. "If he hides and starts taking revenge on other players in the wild, the consequences would be terrifying."
Kirito fell silent.
Indeed, a top-tier player with high level, skill, and gear who devoted himself solely to hunting others would be a nightmare—not just for solo players, but even for small parties.
Kirito himself was confident he could solo a full six-person party. Compared to Lillian's equipment and speed, it was even more frightening. He even suspected that Lillian had participated in the second-floor boss raid—otherwise the information wouldn't have been kept so secret.
"And also…" Asuna's cheeks suddenly flushed, her eyes darting away. "What he said earlier… about us going to… what did he mean? Did you ever tell him something like that—"
"No, no!" Kirito waved his hands frantically. Thinking of Lillian's "marriage" comment made his ears burn. "I don't have any private contact with him! I have no idea why he said that… It must have been a joke, right?"
"Is that so…"
Asuna finally relaxed—but then, seeing how flustered Kirito was, she got annoyed again. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.
"Why were you waving your hands so fast? If anyone should be troubled by that kind of comment, it should be me!"
"Uh…"
"Hmph! He definitely said that on purpose to distract us. Too sly!"
She shook her head, clearly unwilling to dwell on it further, and urged him, "Your Search skill proficiency is pretty high, right? See if you can track him. No one else is going to be able to handle him—we need to catch up fast."
"Yeah!"