Early the next morning, Aiden and Karina stood on the terrace, looking below. Hundreds of women had gathered there, armed with various weapons.

Aiden had even given automatic rifles to some of them. The rest used basic weapons bought through the pseudo system. Further ahead, the watchtower guards had also been replaced by snipers, all of whom were also women.

In fact, Aiden was the only man even out of his room. Apart from the two mutts at the entrance, that is. Since Cole and Bret had been turned into dogs, they were naturally sent outside to act like one.

As for the rest... all of them had seen Cole and Bret’s condition and didn’t dare question Aiden regarding the order to stay inside.

Karina noticed something below and frowned, grabbing her radio.

"The left spike barricade is too close. If triggered, it would do us more harm than good. Move it!"

As soon as she said it, seven women rushed to the trap to move it. They then raised a thumb in the air, asking if it was ok. Karina sighed and once again used her radio.

"You have a radio too, you numbnuts!"

"Hehe... sorry, Mrs. Landlord, we’re quite nervous here. First time fighting an all..." Mika’s voice cackled through the radio.

As soon as Karina heard her nickname, her face turned red from anger and shame.

"How many times did I tell you not to call me by that name!?" she yelled, herself forgetting to use the radio, yet her loud voice boomed over the entire campus.

"Ah, that’s not what you said last time, Mrs. Landlord," Mika still teased her.

The girls who had been nervous seconds ago were now cackling loudly. Even Aiden couldn’t help but smirk, watching them bicker.

"...sometimes they say whatever. Don’t take it to heart—" Karina cleared her throat.

"Why would I mind?" Aiden shrugged. "They are speaking the truth, after all."

"What!?"

"You’re acting like I didn’t already propose to you," he smiled, not even looking at her.

"I... thought you were just saying it for the sake of it—oof! Aiden!"

Before she could protest, Aiden wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her in for a kiss.

"It’s too late to back out now, Mrs. Landlord," he smiled, looking into her eyes.

Touched by his sudden love bombing, Karina’s eyes shimmered with tears as she leaned into his embrace. Just then, whistles erupted from below.

The girls below had been watching them have their moment. Some of them even began enacting the scene below.

"You! Wait there and see what I’d do when I get down there!"

With that, Karina ran downstairs, leaving Aiden to hug air.

"Ladies, focus on your work now," Aiden yelled out loud before opening his chat with Milarel. "Joan is going all out, huh?"

Milarel had sent a message early in the morning. Joan had been so frustrated due to the lack of sleep that she was actually moving with all the combatants, women, and eunuchs.

There were roughly 140 of them, with 25 evolvers, and all were women. The rest of them were the eunuchs who may or may not have had any classes. Since it was a war, it was better to assume all of them had a class.

The numbers don’t match.

Aiden thought, and Milarel’s next text answered his question.

"...the hell? Joan had sent the evolvers to nearby settlements and ’rescue’ women? All the men suffered the same fate as the gang members... what is wrong with her?"

Perhaps making her relive her darkest nightmares had put her on edge. It was the only reason Joan would do something so irrational as kidnapping men and snipping their tools.

"It was their bad luck to live around a psychopath like her," Aiden said, shrugging off any blame since it had most likely occurred because of Milarel’s torture. "Still, that’s a lot of people."

Moving around with hundreds of people in the desolate world wasn’t a joke. The monsters would inevitably attack the crowd. It made Aiden wonder how Joan was planning to deal with them.

He hoped she didn’t have any plans. That way, their numbers would get reduced before they arrive at the apartment. Even if they didn’t have a run-in with that bone-probing mutant.

"That fucker wouldn’t dare act after seeing over a hundred people marching together," Aiden shook his head, leaning against the railing, watching Karina playfully smack the ladies below.

Honestly, the number would have had Aiden even more worried if not for Lina.

As traps made by an evolver, they packed quite a punch. As long as the women used them properly, Joan’s mighty army wouldn’t even last five minutes against them.

However, Aiden knew it was wishful thinking. Out of the twenty-five evolvers, Milarel only managed to get information about eleven of them.

The rest didn’t boast about their new abilities at all. Whether it was because their classes sucked or because Joan had told them not to reveal it was unknown.

"Let’s see... out of the eleven we know about, who is the most dangerous? " he mumbled, going through the list.

Most of the evolvers had combat-related classes, with another three of them being support classes. Aiden wanted the women to target these eleven individuals first.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to get their pictures. The pseudo system wasn’t so advanced yet. In the end, Aiden had to compile their descriptions and send them to the women to take them down as soon as possible.

"And now... we wait."

***

Meanwhile, seventeen miles north of the apartment...

A massive crowd of nearly a hundred and fifty people walked towards their target. Joan was leading the group, along with Milarel.

Behind them were mostly men. Back at their headquarters, the men mostly walked barefoot.

However, given the nature of the business they had to attend, Joan had relented and gave them some scraps to tie around their feet.

She didn’t care too much about their performance in the fight, since they were mostly cannon fodder. The women would handle the burden.

"Mila," Joan called out.

"Yes?" she replied, turning to look at her.

Joan looked visibly drained. She hadn’t had a wink of sleep in days and had massive dark circles under her eyes. The only reason she was even able to walk was because of Mila’s conditioning. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The girl had been the one taking care of her. Preparing meals, her bed, and everything. At one point, she even offered to sleep with her, on different beds, of course. But Joan declined.

She had to have all of her focus on cleansing the city of filthy males. Only after that could she allow her heart to let someone in. However, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t already falling for Mila.

"Do you... hate me?" Joan asked.

"Why should I?" Mila chuckled. "You’re the one who saved me, and now, for my sake, you’re heading to a war. I’m the last person who would hate you."

Mila’s words made Joan smile. She was worried that soft-natured Mila would start hating her after seeing her way of dealing with men.

Mila had told her about her family, who were still trapped under that tyrant Aiden’s rule. She only had a brother and a savior there. Both were males. Hence, Joan thought Mila would be worried about them being treated like other males.

If it’s for her sake, then I can spare them.

Joan smiled, only to drop it the next second. She had to keep her emotions in check until Aiden’s head was under her feet.

"That tyrant," Joan asked. "Do you know about his class or abilities?"

Mila thought for a moment before shaking her head.

"That person is most secretive," she told Joan. "Even his confidants seem to be afraid of him and don’t dare to talk about him inside the apartments."

"Why?"

"Because he has eyes and ears everywhere. The minute anyone speaks ill of him or the ones close to him, they disappear without a trace, never to be seen again."

The more Mila spoke, the deeper Joan’s frown became. A monster like him had no right to exist in any world. Thankfully, he wouldn’t exist for long.

"What about the ones he’s close to?" Joan asked again. "You must know something that could help us?"

This time, Mila didn’t think for long and immediately nodded.

"There is a woman! You could say she’s his weapon. I know about her because she isn’t shy of using her abilities, unlike the rest of them."

"Mila... get to the point."

"Oh... sorry! That woman is called Karina and can turn into a werewolf. She also has a small force under her direct command called the wolves. All of them are evolvers."

"A werewolf?"

Joan was surprised, but not worried. After all, she had slain multiple werewolves in the Otherworld. How difficult could it be to hunt another one on Earth?

"Are there any more evolvers there?"

"It is... difficult to say. A lot of settlements trade with them, so they often send people as tribute to him," Milarel lied through her teeth. "There could be more. We should be prepared."

"Hm... alright, that’s enough information about them," Joan nodded, still confident in her victory. "Also, once the fight breaks out, disappear into the crowd. I don’t want them to hurt you, alright?"

Mila nodded and shyly looked away... before frowning. Acting all lovey-dovey with Joan was making her want to puke, but for Aiden’s plan to succeed, it was important to act that way.