## Chapter 131 – The Great Escape (1)
A truly bizarre standoff: Arachnella versus the swordswoman, the steel maiden versus the viper woman.
As this brief confrontation stretched on, Vivian felt her head spin. She tried to organize her thoughts, various ideas flashing through her mind.
‘They’re just from the Alchemy Department…
They can’t possibly beat the Swordsmanship Department in skill.’
‘But if she can blow away that machine I only pushed aside?
Is she stronger than me?’
‘That Dang Hye-ryeong is no pushover either.
Where do I even start…?’
But the longer she pondered, the more disadvantageous it would be for her.
“You take the one over there. Let’s go!!”
Vivian quickly assigned Hye-ryeong to Leah and charged towards Carla.
But no matter how unskilled the user, the hydraulic armor with its devastating punch was a threat.
It wasn’t that she doubted her own skills, but she didn’t want to choose a quick death.
“Kuh!!”
“Eek!! G-get away!!”
She barely dodged the swinging arm by throwing herself backward, then charged forward again, searching for a gap to exploit.
‘I don’t like this…’
She believed there was a way to overcome this situation, but she had to execute it flawlessly.
“Y-you’re a person…!!
Why are you protecting Arachnella… Kyaaak!!”
Vivian tried to use her speed to force Carla into a mistake, dodging the mechanical arms that swung wildly whenever she approached.
Meanwhile, she could see Hye-ryeong pressing Leah with an arrogant smile.
“Are you just going to keep running? How boring.
Have we met somewhere before?”
“Shut up!!”
Hye-ryeong threw a glass bottle that whistled through the air, shattering on the floor and gradually shrinking Leah’s space to move.
Leah couldn’t be sure what the liquids in those bottles were, but the fact that this woman was throwing them made her suspect they could be deadly poisons.
– Clang
“Kuh…”
Above all, that woman, with her black hair and jet-black eyes, was from Chao Xing, the people she hated most.
Coming to study here meant she was a person of verified status, and just bearing the Dang family name was enough to prove her infamy.
“Don’t run away!! Fight back!!”
“Would you fight if you were me!!”
Although her space to move was shrinking with each passing moment, Leah continued to evade Hye-ryeong’s attacks.
.
.
.
“It’s noisy outside, isn’t it?”
“You noticed?”
Seeing the two women in front of her suddenly become serious, Anne cautiously asked.
“Um… is something wrong…?”
“It seems like something’s happening.
Probably nothing too serious, though.”
“I’ve heard the interrogation.
And about the suspect group.
We can hear the rest later.”
“Can you keep up?
Get up, disciple.”
Anne, helped up by Pulcinella, rose from the bed, swaying slightly.
Although her body ached from the recent assault, she could still move, and assessing the current situation was her priority.
Supported by Pulcinella, the group left the room and began walking down the hallway lined with doors.
– Bang
– Clang
– Kyaaaa!!
“Someone’s making quite a scene, aren’t they?
In a place like this, too.
And with *who* else involved, it’s quite the mess.
Should I offer my condolences in advance?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“……”
Anne, supported by Pulcinella, who seemed to have energy to spare as he flirted with Deborah, gave a wry smile and looked ahead.
In that brief moment, she saw figures hurrying down the hallway, and her expression turned to surprise.
“Hey!! Serkov…!!”
“Ugh!!”
The other party also spotted Anne from afar and, as if remembering something, quickened his pace and ran.
Deborah, quick to catch on, immediately began chasing after him, while Pulcinella, still flirting, loudly called out to her from behind.
“Don’t let him get away~ Got it~?
We’ll take it slow, okay?
The patient needs to act like a patient, right?”
“Shouldn’t we hurry after them too?”
“We? Why?”
“Even if she’s from the Public Security Police Department…
She’s alone, I don’t think it’s going to be okay……”
“Oh, you’re worrying about the wrong person.”
“Huh?”
“If Deborah catches them, the criminals are the ones who should be pitied.
The Public Security Police Department is full of tough people, to begin with.
And Deborah is one of the best.”
“Ah…”
“We’ll just take it slow~ Nice and easy~
We just need to follow behind, okay?
Ah? Speaking of which?
I told you we went to the academy together, right?
So, back in my day…”
“Ugh…”
Anne, exhausted by Pulcinella’s rambling, wore a weary expression as she was helped down the hallway.
.
.
.
“Where are we even going?
Are we even going the right way? Are we?!”
“Haa… haa… how long do we have to run…!!”
A group of boys and girls hurried down the long hallway. Serkov, Verdi, and Aurora each ran with varying degrees of effort.
Serkov, being from the Swordsmanship Department, was physically fine, though he looked a little tired. But Verdi and the potion-seller Aurora were already panting heavily.
They glared at the blonde girl running ahead of them, complaining in voices full of dissatisfaction.
“Are we even going the right way?”
“Yes, so hurry up and follow me!!”
Ranié responded with an annoyed voice, subtly slowing down and smacking Serkov on the back of the head before speeding up again. Serkov was about to retort when…
“Ugh!! You!!”
“Hey!! Serkov!!”
“Why is that bitch suddenly making a fuss!!
Eek!! Something’s chasing us!!”
Serkov saw Anne calling his name from afar in the intersecting hallway. He realized that getting involved here would lead to trouble and began to pick up his pace.
“Se… Serkov…!! I’m tired…!!”
Verdi, who was chasing after him, sounding like she was about to die, whimpered. Serkov quickly slipped his arm behind her knees, scooped her up in a princess carry, and diligently followed Ranié.
“Ugh… why doesn’t your stamina improve even though we work out every night!!”
“Hey!! Me too!! Carry me too!!”
“I’m a person too!! A person!!
Run instead of talking nonsense!!”
“You idiot!! If I get caught, I’ll rat you out first!! Got it?”
“You’re both driving me crazy!!
Ugh!! I don’t care anymore!!”
Serkov, his face red, ended up carrying Verdi over one shoulder and Aurora over the other. He huffed and puffed as he ran down the hallway.
But the problem was that there was a presence relentlessly chasing them from behind.
“Hey!! We’re getting caught!!”
“Kyaa!! Serkov!! Run!!”
“Keep running straight!!
Go into the warehouse!!”
Ranié, hearing Serkov’s shout and Verdi’s scream, sighed and told them their destination before turning around.
“What are you going to do?!”
“Serkov!! Just run!!”
Ranié watched as the boy carrying the two girls disappeared down the hallway. She drew the sword she had received as a prize at the social gathering swordsmanship competition.
“Hmph… Vivian-nim entrusted me with this…
I can’t mess it up here…!!”
“Is the escape over?”
“Heeeng…!! I don’t know who you are, but try to attac…!! Eh…?”
Ranié, who had been posing with her sword, felt something was wrong and hunched over, clutching her knee. Deborah began to approach her.
“Oh no… I also…
D-don’t come!!”
Ranié desperately tried to hide her face, which had unfortunately returned to normal.
She had no means to cover her face, so she had to use one hand to hide it.
Deborah leisurely dodged the sword that Ranié waved haphazardly with one hand. She focused intently, trying to recall something.
But despite Ranié’s desperate struggle, Deborah dodged every fierce attack without missing a single one, trying to confirm Ranié’s face, which she kept covering.
“Definitely… that face… hmm…!!”
Ranié was so desperate to hide her face that Deborah didn’t expect her to move suddenly. Ranié’s hand, which had been covering her face, shot out in a fist, and Deborah blocked the attack with her arms crossed, flying backward.
‘What… what kind of power is this…!!’
But the damage wasn’t severe. Deborah landed gracefully on the floor, and, feeling threatened by her opponent’s abilities, she drew her own sword.
At that moment, Deborah was about to instinctively slash at something that suddenly appeared from the hallway behind her, but she was struck in the abdomen by a heavy pillar that came in quick succession after a short sword strike.
She was sent flying sideways by the unexpected attack, crashing hard into the wall with enough force to crack it.
“You’re here…!!”
“We’re escaping quickly. What about the others?”
“Ugh… inside the warehouse…”
“Good, let’s go quickly!!”
Deborah, staggering to her feet, watched as a blue-haired girl wearing a strange masquerade mask of questionable aesthetic sense helped the blonde girl she had been fighting.
The power was beyond imagination.
The first sword strike must have come from the blue-haired girl, and the subsequent heavy attack must have come from Arachnella’s legs.
‘Why is that thing here…?’
Seeing the monster Arachnella, who shouldn’t have been here, Deborah picked up her sword from the floor and shouted at them, staggering.
“S-stop… right there…!!”
“Let’s get out of here before it gets annoying.
Lend me your back.”
Deborah, unable to run as a last resort, threw her sword at the two people who were moving away with Arachnella carrying the faster-moving girl on her back. But unfortunately, the attack was deflected by something and fell to the floor with a metallic clang.
“Ugh…!! Damn it…!!
What the hell is going on…”
“What? You missed? Really?
Deborah did? That’s a big deal!!
This is definitely front-page news, right?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Deborah, who could only watch as they escaped, was joined by Anne and Pulcinella, who had been walking slowly to catch up.
While Pulcinella made sarcastic remarks at Deborah, who was picking up her sword and putting it back in its sheath with a cold expression, clearly in a foul mood.
Anne, who had been standing quietly beside her, noticed something as she looked around. She walked towards it as if possessed.
“Why is this… here…”
Still folded, the folding longsword in its white, rod-like form, and a single medal attached to it like a magnet.
『Grenot』
After seeing Vivian’s illusion, Anne thought she had lost it and didn’t want to think about it again. But now it had reappeared, and she unfolded it quickly but quietly.
And inside, there was the familiar and clear engraving of Grenot. Anne picked it up and stared blankly at it for a long time.
And when her eyes reached the small glass bottle tucked away in a small compartment inside the sword’s assembly surface, her eyes filled with surprise.
Finally, Anne put the medal in her gown pocket, folded the sword again, and attached it to the belt at her side with trembling hands. She turned and walked back towards Pulcinella and Deborah, who were still bickering.
“Ah… back in my day, we couldn’t even imagine this!!
Deborah missing a criminal!! Huh?”
“Keep it down.
Before I really cut you down.”
‘……’
