Chapter 90: The Beastkin (1)

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It felt like her breath was being choked off.

The flesh on her left arm had been torn away to the point where the bone was visible. The sensation of blood gushing out with each heartbeat was horrifying.

‘I need to stop the bleeding first…’

It’s too close to the heart. Sugar hadn’t yet mastered blood manipulation, so she visualized using her internal magical energy to bind the muscles.

The bleeding quickly significantly reduced compared to before.

Taking a deep breath at the sight, Sugar immediately aimed her staff.

“It’s delicious. Saintess. So delicious.”

Despite the situation, the beast-like girl calmly swallowed the piece of flesh and left a glowing review.

“Biting Wind.”

Invisible, sharp blades of wind shot toward the beastkin. The girl, who had been standing still, dodged to the side at the last moment and leaped at Sugar. Her blood-stained maw lunged forward. Her teeth were unnaturally sharp, far beyond what could be considered human.

“Gust.”

Just before they collided, Sugar barely finished her next incantation. A powerful gust of wind surged toward the beastkin.

The wind seemed to halt her movement, but the beastkin extended her hand with an expressionless face. Her long, curved claws, like those of a predator, tore through the wind as she advanced.

The moment her claws touched Sugar’s clothes, Sugar exploded the magical energy at her feet to evade. Simultaneously, she kicked off the ground, changing direction to deliver a kick to the beastkin’s side.

The beastkin crashed into the wall letting out a thud and made a sound as if to express pain, but it didn’t seem to hurt her at all.

She immediately stood up and stared at Sugar. Her eyes were filled with intense desire. She licked her lips, exhaling a breath tinged with the smell of blood. Her young face glowing with pure gluttony and greed.

Her tail stood straight as she slowly moved sideways, never taking her eyes off Sugar. Sugar, too, kept her gaze fixed on her.

This was a first. It wasn’t a gaze filled with malice, but one of pure hunger. It didn’t feel like facing a human. Now she understood why the followers called her a beast.

What brought her here? What is her true nature? Why does she want to eat people? There were too many questions.

To find out, to escape, she had to overcome her first.

‘…I have to do this alone.’

She couldn’t rely on the followers. They weren’t in good condition, and they were trapped too. They wouldn’t have any weapons. She had to fight alone.

She missed a certain blond man terribly, but no. She couldn’t keep depending on him.

She had vowed not to hold him back. She had resolved to shed her weakness.

As she chanted her incantation, Sugar raised her head and opened her eyes wide.

Her body was tense to the point of pain, and she exhaled softly.

At that moment, the beastkin lunged.

Simultaneously, Sugar’s activation word.

“Whirlwind.”

She trusted the followers behind her to dodge on their own.

The air in the room gathered and a whirlwind raged. The wind grew larger, centering around the beastkin. Even as she struggled to break free, the walls of wind trapped her. Her flailing was futile as the wind tightened around her.

The sharp wind tore at the girl, cutting off her oxygen. Soon, pained screams began to echo.

Sugar frowned, aiming her staff and pouring more power into the spell. The pitiful cries were grating.

But it soon ended. The screams faded, swallowed by the wind.

“…”

Sugar exhaled and released the spell. She kept her staff aimed, not lowering her guard. If this had been enough, the followers wouldn’t have been so terrified.

As the wind died down, the inside became visible.

The girl was crouched low, panting. Her body was covered in blood from the wind’s cuts.

Yet, her gaze remained unchanged. Her sharp pupils, unclouded, stared straight at Sugar.

A feral roar burst from her throat, the moment it was released her body began rapidly changing.

She had expected this.

“Biting Wind.”

It would be foolish to just watch. Sugar immediately chanted another wind spell. She liked wind magic for its speed.

The sharp, biting blades of wind flew toward the girl, slicing into her. But the beast, as if mocking her recovery, clapped twice.

Her form disappeared.

‘What is this now…’

Sugar narrowed her eyes and looked around.

A sharp sensation from behind made her roll to the side.

A few strands of white hair floated in the air. Some of them were caught in the beast’s claws.

The beastkin had appeared behind her.

The thought of her nape being targeted sent chills down her spine. Seeing the beast casually chewing on her white hair was disgusting.

As Sugar aimed her staff, the beast clapped twice and disappeared again.

Where would the next attack come from? As she focused, it came from the lower right, the girl leaping out from the ground.

The sharp, curved claws grazed Sugar’s leg as they passed. She reacted quickly, but not fast enough. Her stocking tore, and the skin beneath deeply sliced, blood rapidly spilling out.

If she tried to ignore the pain and counterattack, it would disappear immediately.

Sugar clicked her tongue and chanted a protective spell. It enveloped her entire body in a spherical shield.

As she waited, a sound came from behind.

“Ahh!”

Turning around, she saw the beastkin biting the arm of one of the followers.

“Tastes bad.”

Sugar aimed her staff, but the beast muttered something and disappeared.

Clicking her tongue, Sugar stood in front of them.

“Do you know what that ability is?”

“We’re not sure…! It’s probably some kind of teleportation… Ahhh!”

This time, the girl appeared right among the followers, biting and tearing before disappearing. Perhaps she needed to replenish her energy after regenerating. Whatever it was, it was a nerve-wracking tactic.

The followers looked up at Sugar with eyes pleading for salvation. The leader was gone, and they had been cast out by their fellow followers. To them, the Saintess was nothing short of a miracle.

But all she could do was wield the demon god’s power. A force that killed, corroded, and consumed. That was its essence.

‘If used recklessly, even the gods present here will be annihilated. No matter how much they are heretics, I’ve been using only basic magic, hoping to spare them for the sake of Louveci. Although it’s the work of the Inquisition, still…’

‘Moreover, I need to capture the beast alive…’

She had been trying to keep them alive as much as possible for information.

But it seems… now is not the time to be picky.

“Everyone scatter. Don’t stand in front of me. Avoid it as best as you can.”

‘I can’t meet your expectations, but I hope you can survive.’

It’s better for them to scatter to avoid the beast that appears unexpectedly and considering what Sugar is going to do, it’s even more essential.

For now, that beast-like creature can leave this room. It hides outside the walls using teleportation, then comes back to hunt again.

She thought about invisibility, but that wouldn’t work. Even if Sugar can’t be detected, she can still sense the magic disappearing and reappearing.

‘Two claps… the trigger is too simple. The range of movement won’t be much.’

With teleportation magic, even with a spell and incantation, the usual limit is 50 meters. Right now, that girl probably can’t even move 10 meters.

Then, where exactly did she hide her body? Is the outside of these walls really safe?

Sugar recalled something she heard a few days ago.

An exit-less space discovered on the map of the underground prison. The answer to it.

‘What? That… what was it? It’s probably a space needed by the design. Steele is a multi-layered space, so they probably left it as a spare.’

Then, she looked at one side of the wall. The whole wall was made of ash-colored stone, but there was a particularly white part.

If you look closely, there seems to be a transparent membrane wrapping it, but the white part is exposed without such a membrane. The transparent membrane was probably made from the gemstone dragon’s crystal. It’s unaffected by the Evil God’s magic, so it’s entirely ash-colored.

In that case, the white part is the spare space.

If all the spaces were blocked off with ‘magic-disrupting crystals,’ there would be structural issues. In these multi-dimensional spaces, there needs to be gaps where magic can flow. If the flow gets tangled, a spatial entanglement accident would occur.

Just like Steele’s male dormitory.

Heh. Sugar chuckled and reached out toward the white wall. She struck the unprotected black magic wall in one go.

When she broke through the corroded walls cleanly, a girl with wide eyes appeared. A mischievous beast hiding in the mysterious space between overlapping dimensions, recovering her body.

She immediately bared her claws and opened her mouth, but Sugar was faster. The Evil God’s magic enveloped the space, causing the girl to wince and clutch her neck. Right. It must be hard to breathe.

Then, the finishing move.

“Explosion.”

There’s no escape.

With the sound of an explosion, the space collapsed.

.

.

.

Cough cough.

Caught in and entangled within the explosion, Sugar collapsed to the ground, coughing repeatedly as her eyes opened.

When she came to her senses, she was in a familiar place. The strange forest she was in earlier. Before her stood the crystal tower proudly.

“I escaped…”

Sigh. Her body grew limp as the tension released.

It was a relief that her predictions were right, the fresh air of the forest sweet on her nose. While she exhaled in relief, she sensed someone’s presence and looked up.

It was Riley. He was approaching with a serious expression.

“You… what happened… your arm…”

She was glad to see him again, but his expression was chilling. Sugar momentarily examined her own body.

Her arm was so torn apart that bones and nerves were visible. Her thigh was torn and bleeding. She was filthy from rolling on the ground and being caught in the explosion. Her frail body looked even more pitiful.

“It’s fine… it’s nothing, Riley. Anyway, I escaped on my own. There was a space inside the crystal tower, but… I’ll explain it later. It’s impressive, right? I did it all by myself.”

“…”

She started to feel the pain now that she acknowledged the wounds, but it was bearable.

‘I’m not a troublesome woman. I’m not weak.’

Hoping he would understand her feelings, she tried to act tough, but quickly came to her senses and looked around.

“Oh, that! We need to catch that!”

A ghastly figure staggered to its feet. It had been dragged out with the explosion.

But something seemed off. Its body had turned pale due to the Evil God’s magic, corroded in spots, but scales began growing over it.

Its eyes still gleamed with pride, and its teeth and claws had grown sharper and larger. Small horns were sprouting beside its beastly ears, not in pairs, but in multiples. It didn’t feel normal.

It was clearly transitioning into a beast form. A monster.

Sugar hurriedly grabbed her staff and stood up.

But Riley, without hesitation, scooped her up and restrained her, passing her to Cedric. She couldn’t see his face as she was held in his arms.

“Riley?”

Without answering, Cedric moved her to a corner and began administering first aid.

“Sir… Cedric. How can you leave Riley to fight alone? I’m fine, so please go help him.”

“Just stay still.”

His cold response left Sugar bewildered as she blinked in confusion.

“…!”

She couldn’t breathe.

A dense, overwhelming magical aura. Her skin stung, and it was painfully cold in the air.

Startled by the sudden change, she looked at the source and saw Riley standing there. The back of his cloak fluttered, embroidered with the Steele emblem. Around him, a strange vortex of magic swirled fiercely, some of it clearly his, some not.

In his hand, he held a book.

Dark clouds began to roar ominously in the sky.