Ch.317Chapter 317 – Palace Assault (6)

An earthquake struck.

Chris lost his balance slightly due to the tremor that occurred while they were quickly moving toward the tower with the Soul Absorption Formation.

“Is, is this suddenly an earthquake?”

“No, it’s outside!”

Vanilla quickly pointed outside and ran.

The three of us quickly checked outside through a nearby window.

And for a moment, we were speechless at the sight of the enormous monster visible outside.

“It’s a dog… with three heads.”

“Did the demons summon it?”

I quickly turned to Vanilla and asked, but I saw her shaking her head.

Then she began muttering at an incredible speed.

“I understand why you’d ask that considering the Orthros, but those creatures have two heads, not three. Wait, are they the base for this? But it’s too big for that. How did they make something the size of a house? More importantly, who would even create such a thing…”

“Stop the monologue and just summarize what you can immediately identify.”

When I snapped at the flustered Vanilla, she fortunately regained her composure.

Soon, magic circles appeared in her eyes, and she muttered with a serious expression.

“First, the conclusion. That wasn’t summoned by demons. It wasn’t made using Orthros either. It was created by… humans.”

“Humans?”

When Chris asked in disbelief, Vanilla nodded.

“The thick fur delayed my analysis, but it’s covered in traces of being stitched together using necromancy on various magical beasts. I can’t properly determine how many creatures were combined to make it from this distance. Where did they get such technology…”

Vanilla paused mid-sentence and looked at me.

Seeing her, I quietly said:

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t compare it to me.”

“Well, it’s completely different since dragon materials weren’t used. And it’s alive too.”

Despite that, the reason she looked at me was apparently because technology similar to what was used on me had been applied.

Ignoring Vanilla’s words, Chris muttered:

“Who could have made something like that…”

“Who knows.”

They might have somehow acquired or imitated the technology, but there was no point in thinking about it further right now.

More importantly, the problem was where that monster had come from.

And I could recall the words of a certain demon.

“…That succubus, Cusia was it? She definitely said something about deploying weapons.”

Moreover, there were two specific words she mentioned at that time.

Guardian Beast and dog.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out the truth.

“It seems that king created such a monster in an attempt to produce a Guardian Beast.”

The royal Guardian Beast—one of the reasons Princess Gabriella was treated poorly by the resistance.

All evidence suggested that neither the current Florence nor the royal capital had contracted with this Guardian Beast.

In that case, it wasn’t far-fetched to imagine someone coming up with the idea of creating a monster to replace a Guardian Beast they couldn’t contract with.

Of course, while the idea wasn’t implausible, whether they would actually implement it was questionable.

“…More importantly, this is serious. If a monster like that attacks the resistance…”

At Chris’s words, I bit my lip as well.

The resistance’s role was to draw attention.

Their job was to buy time for us to destroy the Soul Absorption Formation and retreat.

If they were annihilated now or forced to retreat after suffering heavy casualties, those forces would come after us instead.

For our small group, that was a development we wanted to avoid.

‘Beatrice is there, but…’

Even someone like Beatrice would have fought to protect the resistance and the princess, so she wouldn’t be in perfect condition.

Given her desire to hide her identity, she probably couldn’t summon her Guardian Beast.

She would have to face that monster and the continuously advancing soldiers with just her own strength and that of the resistance.

In such a state, if we left that monster to them, the outcome was unpredictable.

If left alone, there was a high probability that the operation would fail or massive casualties would occur.

In the end, there was only one course of action we could take.

‘We need to send reinforcements.’

Though we were stretched thin here, the situation there was more critical.

The question was who to send.

Sia came to mind first, but she, along with Eve and Sera, were separated from us.

Whether sending just one person would be enough was also a concern in this situation.

‘…I have no choice.’

As I was making a decision in my mind and looking in the direction where our companions above might be, I felt it.

A killing intent accompanied by a chilling sensation.

“…Hm?”

“Huh?”

Chris and Vanilla also seemed to have felt something, suddenly startled.

By then, I had already moved, pushing both of them aside, transforming my halberd into a shield, and thrusting it forward.

I quickly braced my legs.

And with that…

The wall began to be sliced.

-KWANG!!!!

An enormous impact sound rang out.

However, the shield successfully withstood the impact.

I endured the sensation of being torn apart along with the tremendous shock.

And as if to show this was no ordinary attack, the wall in the direction I was facing had been shattered along a nearly diagonal trajectory.

“The-the wall was cut?”

Vanilla muttered in disbelief.

Thanks to being behind me, she and Chris were safe.

Chris stared blankly at the trajectory where the wall had disappeared for a moment.

Soon, he spoke with a slightly shocked voice.

“…Did he really come?”

“Seems so.”

Beyond the torn wall, in the distance.

On what looked like a rooftop somewhere, platinum blonde hair was fluttering.

“Idea.”

He had appeared.

+

Sia was in pursuit of the red mist when it happened.

Suddenly, the ground shook, and she sensed that something ominous had appeared outside.

‘Seems like a fairly powerful monster has emerged.’

From the sounds reaching her ears, the enemy was of an extra-large size.

It wasn’t something the resistance could handle.

And Gigas spoke with apparent concern:

“Uh, is that okay? The resistance won’t be able to stop that, right?”

“What’s happening?”

Eve questioned Gigas.

Sia decided to answer Eve’s question herself.

“It seems a big shot has appeared. Whether from the royal palace or the demons here, it looks like they’ve been raising a monster.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just sensed something like an aura.”

Though Sera spoke with disbelief, Sia had actually sensed the presence of such a creature outside and had no other way to explain it.

‘…Given that I can sense it, it’s probably just a simple monster.’

Sia was certain that it wasn’t the type that could deliberately control whether its presence could be sensed.

Of course, she had met someone who seemed capable of that.

‘Idea.’

She thought that he, whether intentionally or unconsciously, could probably hide his presence.

If she couldn’t detect him, it was evidence that he was sufficiently far away from her, Sia reasoned.

‘…Let’s forget about him for now.’

Offering a small prayer that he wouldn’t attack while they were in this situation with broken communications, Sia reassessed the situation.

The monster outside was significant enough that even Gigas could sense it.

While Chris might not have noticed, Vanilla and Kay surely would have felt it too.

They might have even witnessed it directly by now.

“…How big of a threat is it?”

“If we want to avoid the annihilation of the resistance, we’d need to send one or two strong people from here as reinforcements—considering the battle situation, maybe even three.”

“Good heavens…”

Seeing Sera’s face turn slightly pale, Sia quietly fell into thought.

And soon she reached a conclusion.

“For now, let’s focus solely on destroying the Soul Absorption Formation.”

“Will that be okay?”

“Since Serious has blocked us in anyway, we have no other choice.”

And then, Sia quietly added:

“…I’m sure Kay has already taken the separated group to stop the monster by now.”

To face the monster, they needed 1-2 strong individuals, and considering the overall battle situation, perhaps one more as backup.

So about 3 strong individuals were needed.

And coincidentally, there was a separated group that perfectly met those conditions, not far from here.

‘He will surely act.’

Though he might deny it, Kay wasn’t someone who liked to see people die needlessly, so he would undoubtedly recognize the danger of leaving the monster outside unchecked.

Being who he was, he would definitely take the people around him to provide reinforcements.

What that meant, and what they needed to do in the meantime, was just one thing:

“We must destroy the Soul Absorption Formation by any means necessary.”

Achieving their original goal.

Only if they succeeded could they retreat without hesitation, even if just to a reasonable extent.

“Kay…”

“Mr. Kay…”

The two women spoke with concern, looking beyond the red mist.

And Sia quietly addressed them:

“Didn’t you both say that you didn’t come here to hold him back?”

Looking at Eve and Sera, who seemed to be wavering slightly, Sia spoke firmly:

“If you’re truly worried about him and don’t want to hold him back, then what you should do is complete the task he originally intended to do. Not stare anxiously beyond like a mother who’s abandoned her child by the water.”

“……”

“Don’t you think he’s acting with the belief that you’ll do just that?”

Eve and Sera, who had been momentarily shaken, regained their composure at Sia’s words.

“My mind wandered a bit.”

“I’m sorry.”

Seeing the two apologize, Sia grinned.

“That just shows how much you care for him. I understand.”

Adding that she would have cheered them on if not for the current situation.

Sia quickly swung her arm to deflect a blood weapon. As soon as their movement slowed down to encourage their comrades, weapons immediately flew at them.

“Has Serious become a bit impatient? Is it because we’re not falling into the trap quickly enough?”

“That might be it.”

After saying that, Eve looked at Gigas and said:

“There, a spear will emerge in 2 seconds.”

“Whoa!”

At Eve’s words, Gigas quickly jumped back.

Indeed, a spear shot up from the ground where Gigas had been standing.

As Gigas looked dumbfounded, Eve quietly said:

“We can’t waste any more time here.”

Eve raised her sword.

After closing her eyes briefly, she deflected two swords flying toward her and shouted:

“Everyone, please follow my instructions.”

As the three turned their attention to Eve.

Eve smiled and said:

“I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen next.”

“Yes!”

As soon as Sera responded, Eve swung her sword.

Her instructions were immediately given, and those present became Eve’s limbs.

Sera used her golem to block emerging spears.

Gigas parried flying weapons with perfect timing.

Eve precisely deflected small, fast weapons that were difficult to avoid.

Sia split powerful attacks that were hard to block.

Serious’s attacks couldn’t hinder them at all as they moved as one.

After this exchange of offense and defense, they finally reached the corridor leading to the tower.

“If we go through here—”

“Sia!”

At Eve’s cry, Sia stepped forward.

Soon, black bat-like objects began flying in, and Sia cut one of them with her sword.

The bat-like object exploded with the smell of blood.

And since they filled the corridor, when one exploded, it triggered a chain reaction.

After the chain of explosions subsided, revealing a tattered corridor, Gigas spoke:

“If we had tried to intercept after entering, we would have been caught in it.”

“More importantly, let’s move quickly since we don’t know when it might collapse.”

Saying that, Sera tapped the floor with her staff.

Soon, mud emerged from various parts of the corridor to fill the gaps, and the group quickly began running through.

There didn’t seem to be any more traps, perhaps due to the earlier explosions.

And finally, when they exited the corridor and entered the tower:

“They’re here, they’re here!”

“Nice to meet you, companions of the White Dragon!”

“BUOOO!!!”

Countless demons filled the tower.

Among them were the vampires and minotaurs they had seen plenty of earlier. Eve ignored them and quietly looked upward.

“Is this the last of what you’ve prepared?”

“Who knows?”

Sitting in what appeared to be a carefully crafted chair in a space designed to overlook the lower floor, Serious answered Eve’s question while covering her mouth with a fan.

“I prepared things to keep you entertained on your way here. It seems you enjoyed them.”

As Serious spoke, three ominously glowing magic stones floated beside her.

The group knew what they were.

“The convergence points are there.”

At Sera’s words, Serious nodded.

“If you destroy these, your objective will be achieved, correct?”

“If you know that, why not just hand them over?”

“It wouldn’t be fun to just give them to you.”

Serious laughed at Sia’s blunt words.

Soon, as if responding to her words, the demons began to move.

And as if to block the group’s retreat, red mist sealed the entrance.

“We’re surrounded.”

“Well, it’s not like we didn’t expect this.”

Despite being surrounded, the group remained unshaken, and seeing this, Serious quietly asked:

“My, aren’t you afraid? Even though you’re surrounded.”

“Of course not.”

Eve declared confidently.

“Once we overcome this hurdle, I won’t have to force the person I love to push himself anymore.”

“The person you love, huh.”

Serious laughed with delight.

“I do enjoy love stories. I’d like to have a tea party if I could.”

“I’ll consider it if you surrender quietly.”

“How unfortunate. I can’t do that right now. I still have things to do.”

Serious smiled at Eve’s proposal.

Soon she put away her fan and stood up.

“Then I hope you enjoy what I’ve prepared last.”

Serious said this and snapped her fingers.

“I’m certain it will be quite a spectacle from outside.”

“…No way?”

Just as Sera seemed to realize something with surprise.

The entire tower began to shake violently.

“The building is collapsing!!”

“SERIOUS!!!”

Sia glared at Serious and shouted.

Serious was looking down at Sia.