Ch.319Chapter 319 – Palace Assault (8)

It was the moment the tower collapsed.

Sia glared at Serious, gritting her teeth.

From behind Sia, Gigas shouted.

“Are you insane, Serious?! Are you trying to kill everyone?!”

“Yes.”

Serious replied, slightly lifting the hem of her skirt.

“Your objective is to destroy the Soul Absorption Arrays. In other words, you would inevitably come to the place where the arrays converge.”

Then Serious added, “Therefore…”

“If you were certain to come here regardless, wouldn’t it make sense for me to set a trap and wait for you?”

After saying this, Serious pointed her fan at Sia and continued.

“And whether it’s the White Dragon or you, it doesn’t matter. Ordinary traps might not work against exceptional fighters like yourselves…”

Serious smiled wickedly.

“But if I aim to bury not just the targets but all their companions as well, you can’t possibly avoid it, can you?”

Sia ground her teeth at Serious’s words.

A sharp grinding sound came from her mouth.

Then Sia shouted in a voice filled with rage.

“Even if I accept that you lured me and my companions into a trap, there are other demons here too! Are you planning to kill them all as well?!”

Sia shouted toward Serious.

Looking down at Sia, Serious’s expression changed slightly.

It was a serious expression, different from her earlier casual demeanor.

“I once used the example of human farming when speaking with you, Sia.”

Serious spoke quietly.

Despite the collapsing building around them, her voice carried clearly.

“For crops to grow well, one must remove those with poor growth. Thinning, as they call it.”

Sera remembered hearing this when they had met her before.

And Serious quietly continued.

“Someone must do it. For the future of demonkind.”

“But…!”

“Rather than continuing our conversation, shouldn’t you be thinking about something else?”

As Serious said this, she waved her fan.

The convergence point floating beside her shattered, and Serious looked down at Sia and said:

“For instance, how to escape from this place.”

“You…!”

Sia tried to shout something more.

But her words were drowned out.

“Th-this can’t be happening!”

“Serious, you damned woman! Are you abandoning us?!”

“We can’t die here…!”

“You cursed vampires, this is all your fault!!!”

The demons who had been quiet in their shock until now began to shout and riot all at once.

Some cursed Serious.

Some blamed each other.

Some tried desperately to escape.

The demons went berserk for various reasons.

“No, I don’t want to die!”

“I’m getting out of here…!!”

A few of the more cunning demons rushed past Sia’s group toward the entrance.

Sia and her companions didn’t attack them as they showed no hostility, and these demons tried to enter the entrance blocked by red mist.

However.

“I’m sorry, but demons I haven’t approved cannot leave this room.”

Serious’s cold voice echoed, and weapons made of blood flew from the red mist.

The demons rushing toward the exit were pierced by these weapons and lost their lives.

“This place is where we create fertilizer for the future of demonkind. As the Demon Lord said, you weaklings should become the foundation for our future here.”

“Serious, you damned woman!!!”

Demons below screamed in terror.

Simultaneously, the red mist from the corridor spread throughout the place.

The demons’ confusion intensified, and some even attacked the vampires, blaming them for the situation.

Sia watched this scene, gritting her teeth.

Serious addressed Sia.

“How kind of you. Even though these demons came here to take your life and your companions’.”

Sia looked somewhat conflicted.

But soon she glared at Serious and said:

“You will pay for this, Serious.”

“Yes. I shall, Sia.”

Serious said with a respectful bow.

Then, as if giving advice, she added:

“You should avoid using powerful techniques. The collapsing tower won’t allow even a moment’s delay.”

As if to confirm her words, furniture and walls began to fall.

Demons were killed as they were hit or crushed by debris, and Sia slashed a falling bookcase that was heading toward her companions.

While Sera’s golem protected Ive and Sera, and Gigas blocked a boulder falling toward his head, Serious, having said all she needed to, transformed into a blood mist.

Then she flew toward the window behind her.

“Serious.”

“This isn’t the time to worry about her, Sia. Get under here now!”

Ive shouted from beneath the golem that was continuously blocking various falling debris.

Sia, who had been watching demons lose their lives with gritted teeth, reluctantly dove under the golem.

Gigas also took shelter underneath, raising his arms to support the golem as it began to tilt after being hit by debris.

“Hey, White Dragon’s lovers, got any good ideas for getting out of here? Honestly, we’re all going to be crushed to death at this rate!”

“Can’t you just grow larger?”

Sera shouted loudly.

But Gigas shook his head with a strained expression.

“Sorry, but my injuries are too severe to grow instantly! It would take several dozen seconds! Don’t you have something similar?”

“That would also take time to summon…!”

“Calm down, both of you!”

The situation was so urgent that Sera and Gigas glared at each other while shouting.

Ive shouted at the two of them.

Meanwhile, Sera’s golem finally reached its limit and began to collapse.

Gigas immediately grabbed the crumbling golem and lifted it up again, saying:

“Anyway, I’m sorry but I can’t help right now. You need to find a way out!”

As Sera’s golem continued to fall apart, Ive, Sera, and Sia bit their lips.

Soon Sia quietly said:

“If there’s no other choice, I’ll have to risk using my power…”

“Using powerful techniques will seriously injure you.”

“We’ll all die at this rate anyway. Rather…”

Sia spoke to Ive with a determined expression.

As Sera watched them, she noticed something strange.

“…Air?”

Somehow, she felt a breeze coming from the floor.

‘Could it be?’

Just as Sera had this suspicion.

A faint red mist rose from the floor.

A thin strand that would be invisible unless carefully observed.

She could see it only because they were under the golem, allowing her to closely examine the floor.

It moved as if showing them the answer.

“Sia, below!”

“What?”

“No time! Below us!”

Immediately, Sera commanded her golem, which was barely standing with Gigas’s support, to raise its fist and break the floor slightly.

Seeing the space revealed below, Sia’s eyes widened.

“Hurry!”

“This much!”

As if saying she could break it without using much strength, Sia swung her sword toward the floor.

The stone crumbled, creating a hole large enough for them to jump through.

“Everyone jump down!”

Sera grabbed Sia and threw herself into the hole.

Ive and Gigas followed immediately after.

With a tremendous boom, debris began to pile up over the hole.

“Further in!”

At Sera’s command, the group moved deeper inside.

Some rocks fell through the hole, causing slight tremors.

After some time passed with no further shaking, Ive quietly said:

“That was close.”

Ive, who had barely made it inside, muttered.

Then Sia looked at Sera and said:

“Impressive observation skills. How did you notice this space?”

“Well, about that…”

As Sera explained what she had seen to Sia, whose expression changed slightly, Gigas gently interrupted.

“…Anyway, our mission is complete now, right? Serious destroyed the Soul Absorption Array.”

“It was just bait. Even if some remained, they would have been completely destroyed when the tower collapsed.”

“Along with all those demons,” Sia muttered.

Looking at Sia, Gigas shook his head briefly before turning to Ive.

“So, where do we go now?”

“It seems like that passage leads somewhere…”

Sera was saying this when she quietly looked at Gigas again.

“The problem is we don’t know where it leads.”

“If it were just our group, we could try it, but in this situation…”

As Ive and Sera said, they couldn’t just blindly follow the path.

They had been separated by Serious’s trap from the beginning.

If it were just that, they might have considered moving forward.

“Outside there’s a monster, and Kei has surely gone to face it.”

Simply retreating would mean abandoning Kei.

Ive and Sera, of all people, couldn’t make such a choice.

“Then we have no choice but to go back the way we came.”

“Luckily we have that option.”

Gigas replied to Sia’s words.

And when Sia nodded, Gigas stepped forward and said:

“I’ll do what you ask, but…”

Then he grinned and added:

“Will you help me explain to the resistance?”

“I will.”

With those words.

Gigas began to concentrate.

+

And after some time had passed.

The now-giant Gigas shouted as he dug through the ruins of the collapsed tower.

[You dare try to crush me, you damned vampires!!!]

“Gigas?!”

Vanilla shouted as she saw the giant who suddenly appeared with an explosion.

And Archery, who was beside her, shouted at Vanilla:

“Wait, if that’s Gigas, isn’t he your…”

“Well, it’s complicated to explain… but why did he suddenly grow so large?!”

Vanilla barely started to explain before focusing on Gigas.

And then she belatedly noticed something.

‘He’s smaller than usual!’

He should have been much larger, but perhaps due to his injuries, he had shrunk considerably.

Still, he was about the same size as the three-headed dog they were fighting.

As Vanilla watched Gigas, he hesitated for a moment.

Then he began running toward Vanilla’s direction.

“The giant is coming this way!”

“Retreat, retreat!!”

The holy knights and royal guards who happened to be in his path fled with all their might, and their formation, already entangled with the black armored knights, completely collapsed into chaos.

Gigas, who increased the confusion simply by passing through, briefly looked down at them with satisfaction as he charged.

Then, without losing momentum, he rammed his shoulder into the three-headed dog.

-KYAAANG!!!

With a terrifying impact, the three-headed dog flew back in a cloud of dust.

While everyone’s attention was on the dog, Gigas stopped in front of Vanilla and Christina.

Then he lowered his hand, which had been holding something, and slowly opened it.

“Sera! Lady Commander! Lady Sia!”

“Chris!”

Sera, Ive, and Sia walked out of his palm, and Chris’s face lit up at the sight of them.

Ive immediately looked around and said:

“So, I thought the giant dog was the only problem, but…”

Ive’s gaze turned toward the Traditore, the royal guards, and the black armored knights fighting the royal guards and holy knights.

Ive quietly said, seeing them already approaching:

“There was another enemy force.”

“Strange. Why are those armored figures fighting the holy knights?”

“Do you know those black armors? And that giant?”

At Archery’s question, Sia nodded slightly.

“…We learned about them when we interrogated those holy knights in Ferarius…”

“We don’t need to explain everything right now.”

As Sia was about to say more, Ive quietly interrupted:

“Explanations can wait. Where is Kei?”

“Lord Kei…!”

Chris quickly explained the situation.

Soon Ive and Sera’s expressions darkened, and Sia quietly said:

“Forget explanations and everything else. We need to deal with this immediate threat first.”

All allies present nodded at Sia’s words.

Then Ive looked at Archery and said:

“Lord Archery, may I have a moment?”

“Well, that’s…”

“There’s no time to explain, so just accept things as they are!”

Ive shouted before pointing at Gigas and saying:

“First, that giant is Gigas. He’s a comrade who has fought alongside us. He’s a demon but he’s on our side! Like that succubus. Make sure our allies don’t attack him!”

“Ah, yes!”

Archery responded reflexively to Ive’s commanding voice.

Then Ive looked at Vanilla and said:

“Vanilla and Chris, please help Gigas deal with that dog.”

“Is that alright?”

“Sia says Gigas might struggle against the monster alone due to his injuries. You two would be better suited to face that beast anyway.”

After saying this, Ive looked at Sera.

“Sera, join me in helping the resistance against the black armored knights and other enemies.”

“Yes!”

“What should I do?”

Sia was the only one who hadn’t received orders.

And to her, Ive firmly said:

“Please go save Kei. I’m counting on you, Dragon Slayer.”

“Hmm.”

Sia nodded.

+

Archery briefly looked at the group after hearing Ive’s orders.

‘They’re not ordinary people.’

That was Archery’s brief assessment as he watched them issue and follow orders without hesitation despite the chaotic situation.

‘They must have experienced such chaotic battlefields before.’

If so, his job was simple.

Do his best without getting in their way.

So as Archery was about to issue orders to the resistance, he turned to look for the princess.

“Then, Your Highness, please move to the rear…”

And he realized.

Princess Gabriella, who had been here until just now, was gone.

As he was surprised by this fact.

“…There she is. Lord Archery!”

Archery saw Princess Gabriella with a sword, coming toward him alongside Domestica.

“Lord Archery! Report! What situation has unfolded here?”

“…Damn it.”

Archery unconsciously cursed.

Princess Gabriella was coming with Domestica.

He understood what that meant.

+

That was a close call.

The impostor disguised as Gabriella thought.

The moment she saw the giant ram the three-headed dog with his shoulder, the fake quickly left the scene.

The real princess would likely have escaped by now and would be heading this way, plus the impostor had her true objective.

“I don’t need this appearance anymore.”

Soon, Princess Gabriella’s form began to melt away.

As if it had been fake from the beginning.

The illusion disappeared.

What emerged was long black hair, a witch’s hat, and entirely black clothing.

“I’m sorry about this, Ella.”

Beatrice recalled what had happened before the battle began.

The princess who insisted on leading from the front, and Domestica who vowed to protect her.

And Beatrice who tried to stop them.

In the end, she had knocked them unconscious and disguised herself as the princess to join the battle.

Of course, she had been concerned for her sister the princess’s life.

But there was something more important.

“Wait, Uncle.”

Beatrice said coldly.

“The time has come for you to pay for everything you’ve done.”

As she quietly passed by her comrades fighting the royal guards and other enemies, Beatrice looked toward the palace.

“Even if justice must be served, I can’t let people like Ella or Tugu get blood on their hands dealing with someone like you.”

Staring coldly at a corner of the palace visible beyond the collapsed tower, Beatrice said:

“Bad blood should be spilled by bad women.”

Beatrice muttered this.

Various calculations briefly crossed her mind.

“Just wait.”

Having determined her destination, Beatrice quietly muttered:

“I’m coming for you.”

Thinking that he would surely be there.

Beatrice ran toward somewhere in the castle.