Fueled by Ernest’s blatant provocation, the youngest Bronco was the first to take the bait. Brinci, who fancied himself clever, and Branca, the eldest, with an acting style befitting a commanding general, followed suit.

Ernest seemed to be toying with the triplets in the ensuing moves despite his hands being bound. Naturally, Ernest faced challenges several times while trying to evade their blows. There were moments when they almost landed punches on Ernest’s face. However, by predicting their movements, Ernest managed to react before the attacks came.

Crack!

The sound echoed as Ernest’s muscles tensed repeatedly during movements that required high flexibility. Unavoidably, Ernest had to endure pain even though he never took a direct hit from the triplets.

Nevertheless, Ernest continued to hold his ground against the triplets.

A few moments later…

The game ended when Ernest knocked out the triplets by hitting the back of their necks.

Through this fight, he could estimate the pure physical combat strength he possessed. Although compared to his physical strength when he was still a demon, it was like night and day; the raw combat skills he honed during his time as a demon had not faded.

‘Was this what they called soul memory?’

Of course, there were other factors explaining why Ernest could hold his own against three individuals larger and physically stronger than him.

He clenched his fists momentarily before realizing that his hands were still bound by a cloth.

Slap!

Ernest slapped the grounded Bronco to wake him up.

Ernest instructed Bronco to undo the cloth binding his hands, wearing a sinister smile.

Ernest’s foot was ready to step on the space between Bronco’s legs, urging him to open the cloth binding his hands.

Afterwards, Ernest opened the triplets’ shirts one by one, and then he tied them under a dawn redwood tree. Branca and Brinci, regaining consciousness, looked around in confusion. However, they soon understood that they had been defeated when they saw Ernest gazing disdainfully before them.

“I left you here, okay.”

“What? We’d slowly die if you just left us here!”

“Hahaha, don’t overreact. I was sure the cemetery gatekeeper would save you. Well, if the cemetery gatekeeper was willing.”

Upon hearing Ernest's words, the triplets’ faces were filled with cold sweat.

They might worry that the graveyard keeper wouldn’t help them because, earlier, they had beaten up the graveyard keeper before entering the cemetery.

“Oh, I took your car because I didn’t want to walk back.”

Ernest smiled as he spoke.

The triplets seemed to keep talking, but since Ernest had covered his ears with both hands, they appeared to be doing mouth exercises.

“Hehe. Oh, for the last one, I promised I’d still repay my debt. But I didn’t know when.”

This time, Ernest was serious and not lying. He intended to pay off all his debts. Taking responsibility for his own mistakes was something he had learned recently. Nevertheless, an expression of disbelief still emanated from the triplets’ faces because Ernest spoke with a playful tone.

“Enough of your empty words. Free us—Uh, AARRGGHH, there were BUGS!!!”

The triplets failed to convey their complaints when a spider and insects suddenly crawled towards their naked bodies.

“Okay. That’s it. Thank you.”

Ernest left the three of them, accompanied by the disgusting screams of the triplets.

Entering the car, Ernest took his sling bag and put in his scattered personal items first. Only then did he start the car and step on the gas pedal.

Vrooom!!

The sound of the car shook the air, and the wheels of Ernest’s driven car rubbed against the road surface, indicating Ernest’s departure from the cemetery.

He chose to take a winding route—a back alley—through roads not commonly used by people to reduce the likelihood of encountering traffic police. Well, he didn’t have a driver’s license yet. If there was a traffic stop, he would be in trouble. Moreover, the car he used was also stolen—an unauthorized use of another person’s car.

Driving slowly on the road, he felt an uneasy atmosphere.

The day was already night, but according to the car’s clock, it was only seven. So, there should still be some activities in the community. 

Ernest stuck his head out of the window to look at the night sky. The moon’s glow was terrific. However, strangely, the moon had a red tint.

He was reminded of Olivia’s warning.

Olivia’s note advised Ernest to stay and remain in the hotel. This was to prevent anything terrible from happening during the lunar eclipse phenomenon.

Indeed, new magical phenomena did not occur for about 10 years. But that was on regular days. However, when the Earth experienced some rare natural phenomena, magical events still occurred frequently.

One example is when a lunar eclipse like tonight’s took place.

- Tonight, on March 3, 2026, you could witness the phenomenon of the worm blood moon lunar eclipse in the sky.

The radio voice that Ernest had played earlier informed Ernest in more detail.

- Okay, I would start telling you about some myths about the Worm Blood Moon…

The radio announcer, impatient to tell the story, sounded very enthusiastic.

The Emotion of Gods, Harbinger of Disaster, and other myths began to come out of the radio announcer’s mouth.

Of course, Ernest did not want to believe the nonsense the radio announcer was saying. But he remembered the note left by Olivia. So, he concluded that some of the myths told by the radio announcer had become a reality from various perspectives.

- An announcement from the government had come. For everyone, please stay indoors tonight. Police and military had been deployed in several places to prevent monster attacks that might occur.

When the police and military were mentioned, Ernest began to furrow his brow. Not because he was afraid of being arrested but because he did not see any signs of their presence at all.

That’s when the radio announcer explained to Ernest.

- Unfortunately, there were still some places that could not be reached by the police and military. Reportedly, these places were only inhabited by members of underground gangs.

- Yes. There was a case where the police and military were killed not by monsters but by the people who lived there. Moreover, if they were ordinary citizens, they would have left those places already, so I could understand why the government chose to leave those places unguarded.

The male radio announcer responded to the female radio announcer’s statement.

The topic discussed by the two radio announcers shifted to mention which places were included in the zones not protected by the police and military. Surprisingly, the place where Ernest was currently located was one of the places mentioned by the two radio announcers.

The place where Ernest was now was the Milk District.

Since when had the Milk District turned into a crime-filled zone? Why didn’t the government intervene? Was the power of the underground gangs greater than the government? Ernest didn’t know the answers to these questions.

Ernest accelerated his car to quickly get out of the Milk District.

Throughout the journey, he looked at the old, almost crumbling buildings due to the war in the past, so Ernest immediately thought that it was probably one of the headquarters of the underground gang.

“Hmm... What was that?”

Ernest’s focus on driving was distracted when he saw something from one of the most dilapidated buildings.