System's POV

Nick and his subordinates followed behind Zion, who acted like a tourist merely sightseeing in the Spiderling-infested region.

Except for Hugo, everyone from the 69th Battalion had spread out to hunt the Spiderlings.

"Are you sure your men are going to be okay?" Nick asked.

"Yes." After replying, Thirteen even took a selfie with Sherry.

He then sent this picture to Erica and Shana, who were stationed in another city.

Zion's carefree attitude made Nick's subordinates confused as to whether they should be impressed or anxious.

By the looks of it, the Spiderlings were running away, but they still couldn't shake off the possibility of them turning around and massacring the living sh*t out of them.

All of them were on guard, ready to take out their weapons at a moment's notice.

Fortunately, every spiderling they encountered lay dead, killed by Zion's men.

"Captain, feel free to collect the Cores," Thirteen said. "They might only be Rank 1 and Rank 2 Cores, but they can still be sold for a decent price."

"Won't your soldiers feel cheated if we took their kills?" Nick inquired.

"It's fine," Thirteen replied. "They're just Rank 1 and Rank 2 cores. It's not a big deal."

After hearing the young man's words, Nick no longer hesitated and ordered his men to collect the cores for themselves.

Since they could be exchanged for currency, the men under his command didn't hesitate to start dismantling the Spiderlings' corpses to harvest their beast cores.

In the meantime, the teenage boy discreetly communicated with Tiona and Rocky, listening to their report about the Spiderlings.

Rocky had already taken care of all the spiders lurking too deep underground, while Tiona and her subordinates had wiped out half of the remaining stragglers.

The rest were left for Cristopher and the other members of the 69th Battalion to handle.

After strolling for one more hour, Thirteen finally arrived at the location where his soldiers waited for him.

"All targets have been eliminated, Sir," Cristopher reported with a salute.

"Well done," Thirteen replied, returning his subordinate's salute.

The teenage boy then asked Nick to take the beast cores from the dead Spiderlings, which made the older man's subordinates very happy.

Cristopher, Colbert, and the rest of the 69th Battalion didn't say anything, simply watching as the other soldiers collected the fruit of their hard work.

Thirteen's battalion had a lot of rules, and one of them was to never question his orders. The Captains who directly served under the teenage boy ingrained it in them very well.

So, although the new recruits were puzzled by their commander's action, they kept their mouths shut and stood on guard as per his orders.

They completed the clean-up operation in an hour, after which they all returned to Palisade City.

"All of you rest for now," Thirteen ordered. "Tomorrow, we will move out to head east."

Thirteen soon ordered all the Squad Captains in Palisade City to gather at the command center for a meeting, stating that there were a few things he needed to tell them.

Within fifteen minutes later, everyone had arrived and waited for Thirteen to start the meeting.

"We've completely neutralized the Spiderlings threat," Thirteen declared. "Every last one has been eliminated."

"No way," one of the Squad Captains replied. "How is that even possible?"

"Is it confirmed that they are all eliminated?" another Captain inquired. "Perhaps you only encountered their vanguard in your expedition."

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not," Thirteen said. "I'm simply letting everyone know there's no longer anything to worry about. You're free to send scouts to their breeding grounds to check for any activity."

The teenage boy silently extended a finger toward the map on the table. The Squad Captains' brows knitted in concern as they followed his gesture.

His finger pointed at Runestone City, the city nearest to their location.

"I will head to Runestone City tomorrow and help them eliminate the monsters they are facing," Thirteen explained. "Chances are low, but a new batch of monsters might attack this stronghold, so all of you should stay to protect it."

Thirteen intended to visit every city in the Cygni Continent, showcasing his and the 69th Battalion's capabilities to the locals.

With what was about to come, raising everyone's morale was crucial. That said, he needed to create a buzzing topic that would spread throughout the continent.

The fastest way to achieve that wasn't through word of mouth.

Through what then? The media.

Joshua mentioned his "acquaintance" was in Runestone City, so Thirteen decided to head there and meet that person.

Two years ago, Roland declared he would wait for Thirteen in the Cygni Continent. There wasn't any better time to let the former know that "he" was already here.

Roland could easily find out his arrival using his channels, but Thirteen wanted to perform a grander way to let the leader of the Hero Party, as well as the rest of the world, know what it meant to have Zion Leventis on the battlefield

And speaking of a grand entrance, what better way was there than to annihilate all the Jinns in his path?

Heading to the city where Roland was currently stationed wasn't even among his choices.

Thirteen believed that the leader of the Hero Party would understand what he was trying to do, and once that happened, Roland would try to counter by also making achievements in battle.

Little did the members of the Hero Party know that Thirteen would soon force them to compete against him on who would kill the most monsters during the preliminary months of the Jinn Invasion.

"Will it be alright if I follow you, Sir?" Nick asked. "I have strict orders to make sure you are safe."

"Be my guest," Thirteen answered. "I'm sure spying on me will be hard if we're apart. How about this—I'll let you tag along if you agree to a fifty-fifty split. Deal?"

An awkward silence descended upon the meeting room as the Squad Captains looked at Nick, who was doing his best to prevent the smile on his face from breaking.

However, seeing Zion give him the Lloyd Fr*ntera smirk, the pitiful Squad Captain knew his cover was already blown.

Well, that should be the least of his worries.

To his ignorance, the teenage boy had already laid out the foundations to lure Nick's subordinates into jumping ships.

It was as simple as letting them gain small benefits like beast cores. Slowly but surely, they would be inclined to be his people.

By the time they realized what was happening, it would already be too late. They would be too deep in the pit to escape from his grasp.