## Chapter 317 – Monarch of Monsters (19)
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“It failed…!?”
“What…!! Why……!!?
What’s going on…!!
What in the world is happening……!!”
The students were shaken, witnessing the dungeon sealing fail.
Just when they thought they had overcome one crisis, another one struck. Vivian saw a grim future in their confused and bewildered expressions, and she gritted her teeth.
“Something might be happening with the Mage Division…!!
Then we should quickly provide support…!!”
“Attention, Academy students!!
Stop all dungeon defense missions immediately and return to the Academy as soon as possible!! This is an urgent message!! I repeat!! Everyone, return to the Academy immediately!!”
Just then, a messenger from the Academy arrived with the recall order. The students struggled to their feet and began to retreat from the sealed dungeons.
Eloise, sensing the anxious gazes of some students directed at her, reassured them like a true professor.
“Hmm… The Academy is protected by a time-honored Great Intrusion Magic Circle…
It’s probably more efficient to defend from the Academy…
I’m sure it’ll be alright… Everyone, let’s return quickly…!!”
After all, even though they were adults, they were still just greenhorns who had just entered the Academy.
“Hic… Are we going to die now……?”
“No…!! It’s not like that, let’s just go back for now. Okay?”
They had lived in an era of peace, and the courage and strength they had shown while enduring the bloody battles with the monsters was truly commendable.
After this, Deborah, as an investigator from the Public Safety Police Department responsible for protecting the public, and the professor Eloise, along with teaching assistant Lucia, led the students back to the Academy, forming a long line.
Of course, there were those who didn’t leave, like Vivian, Ranier, and the Henias, but most people were focused on retreating.
Vivian felt Deborah’s gaze on her and offered her a wistful smile, knowing she had many questions.
“…… Then we’ll move to the Academy…!!
Make sure no one gets left behind!!”
“Those who are injured, help them out…!!
Like we’ve been doing, let’s work together until the very end!!”
Watching the students, who had admirably fulfilled their roles, depart, Vivian turned to look at those who remained.
The Henias, including Ranier, who naturally followed Vivian, were one thing, but surprisingly, a few other people had also stayed by her side.
“Aren’t you guys going back?”
“At a time like this, it’s safer to be by your side than at the Academy.
That would be better for Verdi too.”
“Always scheming… Yui, you too?”
“I guess so…… I’m…
Let’s just say I’m staying out of loyalty?
But if there’s anything I can do to help…
I want to help……”
“Alright. Let’s go with that. Then……”
The gate still had gaps at the top and middle, allowing monsters to leak through.
Vivian stared blankly at it for a moment, her eyes blinking a few times, before slowly closing.
And when she opened her eyes again, the others focused on her as her tightly closed lips began to part.
“Okay… Let’s…
Go back to him now……”
They had successfully closed a small-scale dungeon, but failed to block the giant dungeon gate. No one knew what would happen next.
However, the only thing Vivian could do now was to preserve as much of their strength as possible in the current situation.
Even if it was for the day when a rescue team was formed and they had a chance to recover.
Vivian decided to evacuate with everything they had built up and turned back towards Floraz.
“Go back to Floraz and pack only the important things.
And… Aurora is probably doing well on her own…
But just in case, have one or two people go to Mademoiselle… Branch No. 3 as well.
We don’t have much time, so let’s move quickly?”
“Yes!! Your Majesty!!”
Vivian gave orders to all the Henias, singling out one of them to guide Serkov and Verdi to the lair first.
She returned to Floraz, which she might not see for a while, and began preparing to leave.
“It’s really… changed a lot……”
“It’s all meaningless now, though.”
“We’ll come back, someday…”
Vivian packed some documents from her desk drawer and carefully wrapped valuables in a cloth.
She chuckled weakly at Yui’s words of comfort, thinking about the uncertain future, and then suddenly remembered something and asked Yui for a favor.
“I hope so.
Ah, someone’s coming to find me.
Could you finish packing this?”
“Yes, it won’t take long.
Go ahead and come back soon.”
“Thank you. I’ll be right back.”
Vivian left her office to Yui and immediately ran outside.
As she had thought, she called out the names of the girls who had to return with them in a loud voice.
“Lily!! Greta!!
We’re leaving now!!
Come out quickly!!”
Floraz had grown quite large, and her voice echoed through the corridors as she ran through the large brothel, calling out to the girls she had told to hide.
“Lily!! Can’t you hear me!?”
“Your Majesty!! Your Majesty!!”
Just then, she heard the Henias calling her from somewhere.
Thinking of the girls who weren’t showing themselves, Vivian hesitated and looked back.
But she felt a strange sense of unease in the voices calling her, so she reluctantly frowned and ran towards them.
“Your Majesty…!! Ugh!!”
Vivian heard strange thuds and bursts coming from the right corridor of Floraz, near the lobby. At first, she was just running, but her steps gradually became more urgent. Finally, she reached the place where the Henias were calling out to her.
“Your Majesty……!! Over here…!!”
“Ah……”
Vivian felt as if her mind was going blank as she watched the Henias being thrown around like rag dolls in slow motion. She stopped in her tracks.
“Grab her…!! The ground!! Pin her to the ground…!!”
“Kyaaak!! She’s too strong!!”
The Henias were trying to grab and subdue her, but the little girl shook them off and sent them flying.
Eventually, she was pinned to the ground by the weight of many Henias, but the bodies of the Henias holding her down were shaking with her movements.
“Your Majesty…!! Lily is……!! Kyaeuk!!”
“Your Majesty……!! What should we do…!!”
The little girl was buried beneath a human sandwich, like a tackle in American football.
Her face, devoid of emotion, was already turning purple, and her unfocused eyes stared with a gaze that felt like déjà vu, striking Vivian’s mind.
‘Madam……!! I’ll do it right away…!!’
It was the same reaction as when she first entered the bar with the dungeon, like seeing someone fighting with Ranier inside.
– Ggeureureuk geugeaelgyeokryeok
“Li… Lily…!! Please stay still……!!”
Her physical abilities had been enhanced, making her stronger than most adult men, and she would rise again like a zombie no matter how much damage she took. It was presumably the symptom shown by those who had eaten the flesh pieces.
‘They say we’re having meat today!! Thank you!!’
Vivian faced it again before her eyes, her mouth gaping as she struggled against the unbelievable truth before her.
‘Thank you for buying me, Madam……!!’
“Your Majesty……!!”
“Everyone, step back…”
At Vivian’s command, the Henias hesitated, wondering if they had heard correctly, but they slowly moved away from Lily.
Vivian gritted her teeth and took a step forward, and as if the little girl’s unfocused eyes had captured her figure, she reached out her hand and staggered towards Vivian.
“You’re in danger, Your Majesty…!!
That child is…!!”
“Everyone, ignore it and go back to what you were doing.
Is everything ready to go back?”
“… That’s……”
“I said go back to what you were doing.
I’ll take care of this…”
The Henias watched as Vivian kicked the monster in the form of a girl, sending her flying into the lobby, and then they returned to their tasks.
“Yes… Yes……!!
Everyone, let’s move quickly!!
Is the counter cleared…!?”
In the end, two women remained in the lobby together.
A mature girl who was just beginning to exude the scent of a woman, and a cute girl who had not yet shed her childishness, looked at each other and moved towards each other.
Once again, a kick sent the little girl flying out through the lobby door, as if she hadn’t taken any damage at all. She staggered to her feet.
– Ggieee eoeolg
Feeling only the murderous intent filling her unfocused eyes, Vivian walked out of the lobby through the broken door, her eyes wide with a single tear streaming down her face as she glared at the girl.
“You, who weren’t loved…
I only thought inside that you looked like me…
I never gave you… any feelings……“
‘Madam…!! Can I…
Call this place home now……?’
“It’s just… that you were weak……
Everyone else… endured and stood by his side…
We could have been happy together……”
The girl had eaten an unidentified piece of flesh and become a being that was no longer human.
Vivian didn’t know who had mistaken the flesh piece for meat and fed it to her, but before she could get angry about it, she was filled with a sense of futility as she looked at the monster before her.
‘Is this…… my future self…?’
Her figure seemed to overlap with her own, who had given her body and soul to the monster.
The girl’s figure, reaching out her hand with unfocused eyes, was like looking at herself in a mirror.
‘Can I really… call you big sister……?’
– Ggireeeoeolg ggeueulg geeaek
It was as if the girl was showing her what humans saw her as.
Despite the fact that the girl had walked right up to her, Vivian stared down at her, and the girl’s unfocused gaze, filled with murderous intent, collided with her own, sparking.
“Why do people like us…
Always end up like this…?
I don’t like it… do you……?”
Just as the girl was about to grab Vivian’s thigh, Vivian preemptively knelt down and hugged the girl’s neck tightly.
As if she had missed her, and as if she didn’t want to let her go.
“I… can’t do anything……”
And before the girl could touch her body, Vivian buried her face in the girl’s shoulder and began to strangle her neck with all her might, her arms trembling like an aspen leaf.
– Ggeuieoryeoge aek ggieggyeok
“I didn’t want to do this……
I thought it would be okay……”
– Budeuk deudeudeuk
As the girl’s neck and spine gradually twisted and made grotesque sounds, the thing in the form of a girl made strange noises and grabbed Vivian’s body.
Her hair was pulled, and a clump of hair was torn out with a ripping sound. Vivian endured the pain of the small hand trying to scratch her back and continued to put more strength into her arms.
‘I’m sorry, Lily.’
– Ggiriiik
Even as the chilling scream, like a death rattle, suddenly stopped, Vivian couldn’t release the strength in her arms.
She felt the hand that had been pulling her hair lose its grip, and the hand that had been scratching her back fall limply downwards.
Vivian just hugged the limp body of the girl tightly with her trembling arms, her shoulders shaking, and her small sobs, which no one could hear, quietly disappeared into the flames engulfing the ruined capital.
