Dog

Cause of death: decapitation.

They had felt no pain at all when Lilith used a stream of water to cut off their heads.

Lilith looked at the four people lying on the ground, their bodies and heads separated.

"I really am merciful, letting you die without any pain."

With that, Lilith walked out of the alley.

She had no intention of cleaning up the corpses. Those scum did not deserve to have their bodies collected by her. Besides, what did a few dead people matter?

As for what consequences their deaths might bring?

That had little to do with Lilith, and it would not affect her anyway.

Not long after Lilith left, a black shadow dropped from the rooftops and landed where Lilith had just been standing.

Leona, already transformed into a beast, looked at the four corpses on the ground.

"The cause of death was instantaneous decapitation by a sharp weapon." Leona looked at the four heads, their eyes still wide open, and made her judgment. "They didn't even realize they had died."

After reaching that conclusion, Leona became even more puzzled.

She was certain these four men had surrounded someone, and that person had been standing exactly where she was now.

She did not know what kind of power could kill four people simultaneously before any of them could react.

"Leona, did you find anything?"

While Leona was thinking, Lubbock came running over, panting heavily as he braced himself against the wall.

"Seriously, what did you mean by suddenly running off in the middle of an operation?"

Within Night Raid, only Leona and Lubbock had not been exposed. Therefore, from now on, only the two of them could enter the Imperial Capital to gather information.

Yet while they had been walking down the street, Leona had suddenly run off as if she had smelled something, transforming into a beast without him even realizing it.

Lubbock also noticed the corpses on the ground.

"Is there anything strange about these bodies?"

Leona stared at Lubbock. She suddenly remembered that, given the concealment abilities of Lubbock's Teigu, he could also have killed these four men without them noticing.

"These corpses aren't important. What matters is the person who killed them."

Her beastly instincts told her that person was important.

And Leona trusted her instincts.

"Though the scent in the air is faint, I can follow it and catch up to that person. I hope they haven't gone too far!"

Leona immediately gave chase.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Lubbock groaned and followed after her.

When Leona caught up to the target, she was actually afraid!

All this time, though Leona herself had not realized it, the Beast Transformation Belt had caused a slight change in her mentality.

After transforming, without even realizing it, she had begun looking at everyone except Teigu users as prey, especially ordinary people.

After all, she was a lion!

However, when she saw that petite figure hidden beneath a white cloak on the street—

Her body began to tremble in fear.

Lilith—the petite figure radiated the aura of a predator from head to toe!

It was an aura as though every living thing in the world was her food.

"W-what kind of monster is that?!"

Leona regretted it. She regretted not suppressing her curiosity and actually chasing after her.

This was going to be troublesome.

Out of fear, Leona instinctively assumed that petite figure was an incredibly powerful person.

So, she planned to quietly pull Lubbock away and retreat without drawing that person's attention.

But at that moment, that person actually turned around. Leona's pupils shrank, and without caring whether she might expose herself, she grabbed Lubbock and fled across the rooftop tiles as if escaping for her life.

Throughout the process, Lubbock did not struggle or ask why.

Leona's expression had truly frightened him. He did not know what Leona had seen to make such a face, but he knew he could not make things worse.

Leona exited her beast transformation. The abruptly diminished senses and the body that had once made her feel extremely uncomfortable now felt so comfortable.

Leona had never been so grateful. It turned out that having such weak senses could also be something worth celebrating.

Lubbock said, "Leona, have you calmed down? What was so terrifying about that person that you were afraid to this extent?"

Leona froze. "Afraid? Hahahahaha. No wonder—I looked like I was trembling in fear."

It was fear like that of a rabbit seeing a lion!

Leona told Lubbock what she had felt just now.

Lubbock looked utterly bewildered.

He did not possess Leona's sharp senses. To be honest, he had not sensed anything at all.

Seeing Lubbock's expression, Leona actually began to envy him a little.

"Forget it." Leona patted Lubbock on the shoulder. "Having weak senses isn't entirely a bad thing. Let's continue the mission."

"#!!!"

The veins on Lubbock's forehead bulged. He felt insulted.

If he could beat Leona, Lubbock would have punched her and beaten up that little lion head of hers.

"Have they left?"

Lilith had sensed it when Leona and Lubbock were spying on her.

However, the two of them had not shown any hostility, so she had ignored them. Still, one of them had an odd aura, and the way that person stared at her was far too... fixed. Finally, Lilith could not help turning around, only to naturally see nothing.

"Human? Could there really be some human-Dangerous Species hybrid?"

In Lilith's senses, one person's aura had been extremely strange. It contained both a human aura and a beast's aura, mixed together so thoroughly that she could not sort them out at first.

The two had already left, and Lilith did not pursue them.

After all, neither had shown any hostility. She would feel embarrassed chasing after them and cutting them down just because she was curious.

So Lilith continued wandering through the streets.

By then, Lilith was carrying quite a bit of food.

It had to be said that the food stalls capable of staying open in the Imperial Capital all tasted quite good.

"Woof, woof~"

That evening, just as Lilith was preparing to head back, a burst of barking caught her attention.

Lilith walked over to an iron cage containing several large dogs.

No one knew what these dogs had been fed, but each stood nearly half a person tall. Even without counting their tails, they were over a meter long.

These dogs were extremely robust.

"Uh... customer, if you're interested, buy one and take it home. They're great for guarding the house."

The dogs' owner could not see Lilith's appearance beneath her hood. He could not tell whether she was a young master or a young lady, so fortunately, he reacted quickly and addressed Lilith as "customer."