Chapter 97

Rea​d on KatR​ead​ingC​afe

An unbearable stench splattered across her face.

Arin turned her head to the side, avoiding the monster’s bodily fluids, but the ends of her reddish-brown hair were dampened.

A revolting sizzling sound accompanied the discoloration and snapping of her hair strands.

She neatly cut off the damaged ends with a sigh.

Danger Sense had always been accurate.

The fluids from the frog-like monster she had just slain were all poisonous.
Without the warning, her face might have melted off.

“…”

Although she had avoided one crisis, the warnings kept coming.
Arin steadied her slightly ragged breathing and looked up.

High above, the fractured sky continued to crack further.

“Too fast…”

The expansion speed of the rift was unnaturally rapid.
It should have taken hours for the fissure to widen this much.
But in such a short time, it had already expanded to this extent…

“This isn’t good. At this rate, there won’t be any survivors left…”

Everywhere she went, only corpses greeted her.
Ordinary people, without the means to fight back against monsters, stood little chance of survival.

Even finding intact bodies was a rarity.

“Ugh…”

Arin gagged, covering her mouth as she stumbled upon a corpse with its abdomen torn open, intestines spilling out.
Even someone as strong-willed as Arin couldn’t suppress the nausea.

The body bore signs of a desperate attempt to push its organs back inside.
Looking at the blood-soaked hands of the corpse, Arin’s own hands trembled uncontrollably.

Screams.

She could hear screams.

But since neither Leo nor Anastasia reacted, it was likely a hallucination.
At least it wasn’t real.
Or was it fortunate? Was the absence of cries for help truly a relief?

She wasn’t sure. Her head spun, overwhelmed by the deafening warnings from Danger Sense.

‘Get a grip.’

Five years. Five years had passed.
What had she worked so hard for during all that time?

Arin slapped her own cheeks repeatedly. She didn’t hold back, and tears welled up from the pain, but it helped her steady her shaken resolve.

Ironically, her past experiences proved useful.
The worst field training—chaotic and disastrous as it was, she hated recalling it.
Yet, it had taught her to remain composed in sudden crises.

“Ugh, it’s so tall. Scary. Bang, bang.”

Blood spurted like a fountain from the neck of a towering giant over 4 meters tall.

Anastasia leaped like a flying squirrel, piercing the mid rank barbarian monster’s weak spot.
The weapon she used, a battered sword stolen from the green dwarves, had a dull blade—nearly useless as a weapon.

Piercing the barbarian’s thick hide with such a blade was no easy feat.
But Anastasia resolved this by stabbing the same spot repeatedly in mere moments.

The giant’s head dropped with a thud.

As the silver-haired girl descended alongside it, she made no effort to break her fall, landing flat on her back.

Arin hurriedly reached out.

The Anastasia before her was not the original body but a clone.
The durability of the clone depended on its distance from the original.
If the original was far away, even a minor shock could cause the clone to vanish. Losing such a crucial asset in this situation wasn’t an option.

“Anastasia. Be careful.”

“Thanks! Want me to pat your head?”

“No thanks.”

“Aww.”

The wind stirred.

He moved like the wind itself.

Although Leo was farther away than Arin, he reached Anastasia first, catching her.

“Arin, doesn’t it feel like something’s seriously off?”

Leo set Anastasia down as he spoke, steam rising from his overheated body due to repeated accelerations.

Sweat evaporated the instant it formed. His breaths were slightly labored, but he showed no signs of it as he continued.

“The rift’s expansion is way faster than we expected.”

The plan had been to use the time it took for the rift to expand to split into groups and rescue people.
It wasn’t a bad plan—at least, not until now.

“…We shouldn’t be splitting into groups. Let’s regroup immediately.”

Arin sighed.

Though not present here, their A-Class classmates fighting alongside them—Eugene, Alice, and Lucia—were reliable allies.

Eugene was unparalleled, Alice excelled in firepower, and even Lucia, though quieter and less prominent, was among the top students in their year.

“But we don’t even know where they are. Would they answer if we called?”

Anastasia tilted her head, doubtful.
They were likely just as busy. Would they have time to answer?

“Eugene and Alice’s supernatural abilities are easy to spot. If we track them—”

Arin stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widening behind her glasses.

A piercing noise struck her mind like a siren.

Danger Sense issued its strongest warning yet.

“Leo, Anastasia, watch out—!”

Before Arin could finish, Leo had already moved.

Accelerating once more, he grabbed both Arin and Anastasia, pulling them out of harm’s way.

The sudden force was rough enough to snap a normal person’s neck, but fortunately, neither of them were ordinary.

Not that it didn’t leave them breathless—the abrupt speed left them gasping.

But they couldn’t blame Leo. His quick response had saved them from being riddled with holes.

SCREEEECH!!!

A monstrous shriek tore through the shattered sky.

The enormous chimera let out a roar filled with rage at its lost prey.
Its sharp claws struck the ground in frustration, sending tremors rippling through the earth.

“That’s… a griffon?!”

The creature had the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of a lion.

Its appearance perfectly matched the description of a monster from the records.

“No… this is the worst…”

A high rank monster had already appeared.

It wasn’t surprising—given the extent to which the rift had opened, its arrival was inevitable.

“We should’ve regrouped before it came to this…”

In the hellish chaos of the cherry blossom festival-turned-battleground, only Eugene stood a chance against a high rank monster.

Arin winced at the growing intensity of Danger Sense, her forehead creasing.

From her field training, she knew all too well the overwhelming power of high rank monsters.

Defeating it was a distant dream. Even escaping seemed impossible.

There was no other choice now—holding out until reinforcements arrived was the only viable option.

Leo let out a hollow laugh.

His thoughts were no different from Arin’s. He had faced a high rank monster before, only to have his arm nearly shattered. Escaping the airborne griffon was nearly impossible. The only course of action was to endure until someone came to their aid.

A high rank monster was far beyond their capabilities right now. They weren’t prepared for this.

“Perfect.” Leo muttered.

“What?” Arin snapped, startled by his sudden remark.

“I was just thinking… Eugene’s been pulling ahead of us too much lately.”

Taking down a high rank monster—it was an achievement he couldn’t help but envy.

Leo clenched his fists, the sound of his knuckles cracking echoing faintly.

Reality never waits for you to be ready.

Complaining about it being too soon wouldn’t change anything.

“Speed is power…” Leo whispered with a smirk, his confidence swelling. “Hey, bird-brain, ever been punched at supersonic speed?”

It was groundless confidence. But he didn’t feel like losing, either.

Somehow, they felt like they would manage.

◈

“Bravo.” came a soft clap.

The girl in the red fox mask let out a coquettish laugh as she clapped her hands together.

The cherry blossoms, charred and blackened, scattered their last petals in the air, mingling with the rising smoke. Amid the bleak backdrop, Astaroth’s voice rang with unrestrained admiration.

“Splendid. Simply splendid. I suspected this outcome, but to think he actually won…”

A true chosen one.

Even against an opponent much stronger than himself, he survived.

No, more than that—he triumphed.

Eugene and the Black Knight’s gap in strength couldn’t have been wider. By all rights, Eugene should have died. Yet the victor and the defeated had switched places.

For a student who, merely a month ago, was considered only “slightly above average”, this result was unbelievable.

“And Alice was incredible too. If she’d been a man, I might’ve confused her for the chosen one.”

The chosen one is male.

That much was certain, based on information gleaned in prior iterations. It was a minor detail, but one that other devils lacked, forcing them to fumble from square one.

Astaroth doubled over, her laughter rippling through the air like an impish child’s giggle. She had come here for a simple distraction, to admire the cherry blossoms, but this turn of events was far beyond her expectations. She felt like rolling on the ground in hysteria but restrained herself to maintain a shred of dignity.

“Ah, you were the one after all.” Astaroth murmured.

Lucia.

Until now, she’d been nothing more than a candidate—a possibility, not a certainty.

That was why Astaroth hadn’t paid much attention after requesting Regina and Seri to cast their hypnosis. It hadn’t seemed worth the effort.

But now…

“It was you after all.”

Each time the chosen one achieved an extraordinary breakthrough, she was there.

Once might’ve been a coincidence. Twice, it was too deliberate to ignore.

Bringing Eugene here today… That was your doing, wasn’t it? It wasn’t Alice.

Eugene holds you in high regard—more than just as a friend, perhaps?

I wasn’t sure before. My information on those other than the chosen one is limited. But now…

This gut feeling.

Astaroth’s lips curled into a grin as realization struck.

“You’re the Needle of Causality.”

The anchor tying the chosen one’s fate. A careful arrangement by the seasonal gods.

The lynchpin that had thwarted the devils, iteration after iteration.

At last, she had found her.

Finally.

“Now that I’ve discovered the most critical piece—the chosen one and the Needle of Causality…”

It was time to set her plan into motion.

Not Agares’s plan. Hers.

“Well then, I think I’ve gained everything worth gaining here. Time to head back.”

The cherry blossoms were all ash now, leaving no beauty behind. This park would likely never host another cherry blossom festival.

What a shame. She had liked the blossoms.

Unfurling her parasol, Astaroth shielded herself from the sun and began to walk away, her heels clicking softly on the ground.

RUMBLE!

She froze after only a few steps.

Though the sky remained cloudless, a thunderous roar filled the air.

CRACK!

A blinding flash of lightning illuminated her red fox mask.

BOOM!

Lightning struck from a clear sky. Not metaphorically—literally.

Astaroth slowly tilted her head upward.

At first, she had thought it was thunder. But no.

It was a man.

His eyes were like unyielding diamonds.

His messy yellow hair stuck out at odd angles, untamed.

A man in a black uniform had descended like a bolt of lightning.

“Are you Astaroth?”

Captain of the 2nd Division, Kallad, furrowed his brows deeply as he addressed her.

Astaroth stared at him in silence for a moment, her gaze shifting across his stark white coat and the overwhelming aura emanating from him.

The sheer intensity of his presence far surpassed any supernatural she had encountered before.

So, this was him.

“You must be a captain.” she said with a smirk.

A pinnacle of humanity.

One of the strongest supernaturals alive.

Perhaps leaving could wait.

This might turn out to be… entertaining.

 

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
The father who received his daughter’s SOS request has finally arrived.

Though, he’s too late!

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
What a troll! Heading for the retreating one instead of making sure less damages occur! Bad!!!

Jokes aside, it seems like a fun fight is gonna happen, heh.