## Chapter 311 – The Monarch of Monsters (13)
Aside from some houses being damaged here and there, and some injuries caused by falling debris, it was a disturbance that occurred on an otherwise peaceful evening.
Vivian and her group were locked in a seemingly endless battle, having witnessed the bizarre phenomenon of monsters suddenly appearing in droves within the royal capital—a place where they shouldn’t even exist.
People who felt something was amiss due to the commotion inside the large tavern came closer, only to be met with a barrage of sharp words and forced to flee in a panic.
“Eek!! What is that?!”
“Are you just gawking?
Go report it quickly!!”
“Y-yes, I will!!”
Judging by the time, there should have been many people passing by on the streets.
Because of the destroyed tavern door, what was happening inside was practically being broadcast live to the outside world.
“Watch your head.”
“Heeit!! How long do you think it took me to grow this hair!!
Are you trying to make me bald!?”
“Being bald is better than losing your head.”
Many people ran to the nearby constabulary to report the sight of the schoolgirl-uniformed girls and the uniformed woman fighting monsters inside, like some kind of magical girls.
But even as time passed, no one came to help them.
“Haa… Is Polcinella not back yet…”
Polcinella, who had gone to investigate deeper into the tavern to see what was happening, said it would only take a minute, but ten minutes had passed without any news.
The constabularies, which were set up throughout the royal capital like police boxes, should have sent at least a small number of reinforcements upon receiving a report, but there was still no word.
‘Is there something inside that’s keeping Polcinella?
Or is the constabulary dealing with something else that’s preventing them from paying attention to this?’
Deborah, with a myriad of thoughts swirling in her eyes, beheaded a monster and quickly dodged an incoming charge, feeling that something was terribly wrong.
However, because the monster she dodged charged toward the door, Vivian was caught off guard and barely managed to fend it off, complaining in frustration, forgetting her polite speech.
“Ugh… Don’t you think it’s too much to pass it off like that?”
“You looked bored, so I gave you some work.”
“How very kind of you!!”
A heartwarming scene unfolded with jokes bordering on insults, but the reality was far from pleasant.
Monsters were constantly pouring in, and they had to fend them off without a moment’s rest.
Vivian, who was guarding the door, had the easiest job, and Deborah and Roxanne, who were exceptionally well-trained, were still relatively relaxed.
On the other hand, Anne, who hadn’t improved much except for a slight increase in skill, and Lanie, who was just mindlessly swinging her sword, were starting to show signs of fatigue.
Even with Roxanne occasionally bestowing some kind of warm light upon Lanie, allowing her to slowly recover her stamina, it was still like this.
Unlike Roxanne, who was wielding a heavy weapon and could freely adjust her distance, Lanie, who had to run around with a normal sword, was in the most demanding position.
“Renee!! Let’s switch.”
“Heeak… Hheet…
Is that okay…?!?”
“Quickly!!”
“Then I’ll get out of here…!!”
Vivian started charging forward, switching with Lanie, who scurried away.
Each time her sword flashed, the monsters would split apart, scattering blood of various colors as they fell.
Fortunately for her, the monsters so far had been relatively common, allowing her to predict their approximate weaknesses and attack styles.
‘The neck…!!’
Whether the opponent was a dog, a wolf, or a hyena, being bitten by their teeth might result in different outcomes like flesh being torn off or bones being crushed, but cutting off their legs would reduce their mobility, and cutting off their necks would kill them.
Realizing that it was no longer the time to worry about what others thought, Vivian quietly activated Nemea, covering her entire body with a black, pliable carapace.
It would be troublesome if Deborah found out, but it was better than dying.
Nemea, in its school uniform form, wasn’t completely defenseless, but it was nothing compared to its current form.
It was the most suitable form for combat, maximizing athletic ability and body function.
Vivian, who continued to fight without any cumbersome skirts or sleeves, revealing the beautiful curves of her body in a stark but beautiful way, focused on driving the monsters around and confusing them as much as Lanie had done.
“But this…!! How long!! Do we have to do this!?”
“Until Polcinella returns.”
“Isn’t that dangerous!?
The person who said they’d be back in a minute!!
Still hasn’t come back!?
If we have endless enemies and no support!!
Isn’t it hopeless?”
“Tch…”
Deborah clicked her tongue at Roxanne’s question, beheading a monster.
The floor was starting to pile up with monster corpses.
Roxanne’s words were valid in a way, so Deborah, narrowing her eyes as if thinking about various things, beheaded the next monster and started shouting to the surroundings.
“Prepare to retreat…!!
After three, we’ll leave through the door…!!
You’ve done enough.
Contact the nearest constabulary and return home, wherever that may be!!”
‘That’s going to be a problem…’
“One… Two…!!”
“Kkeuhyaaaaak!!
I’m… back……!!”
Just as everyone was slowly starting to back away to retreat.
The moment someone suddenly burst out, smashing through the wall inside the tavern and tumbling onto the floor, drawing the attention of the others who were retreating.
“Polcinella!!”
This time, someone ran past Vivian, who was belatedly reacting to the monsters’ attack targeting that person.
“Kkyahuk!! Ugh……!!”
“Monehen!!”
Anne ran towards Polcinella, who was struggling to get up from the floor, and plunged her sword into the neck of the monster lunging at her, holding on to prevent herself from being pushed back.
She didn’t have much strength, so she couldn’t stab properly, and she was trying to fight the monster, which was still thrashing fiercely without dying, with her strength, but fortunately, Polcinella seemed unharmed thanks to her.
“Kkeueu… Euheuek……”
A groan of pain, squeezed out by the pressure, leaked from between Anne’s tightly clenched teeth.
“Recover those and retreat!! Move quickly!!”
With Deborah’s words as she sprang forward, Vivian and Roxanne, who had been watching the situation from behind, also charged forward, starting to break through the path blocked by monsters.
Eventually, Deborah cut off the neck of the monster that Anne was holding back, and at the same time, wrapped her arm around Anne’s waist and dragged Polcinella, who was trailing on the floor, as Vivian and Roxanne blocked the way and swung their weapons.
“Here!! Quickly!!”
And Lanie, who had been opening the retreat route from behind, was waiting for the others to retreat with a wide iron plate that she had somehow obtained, and as soon as they all got out, she set up the iron plate and blocked the entrance.
“Phew… The neighbor was having a big iron plate barbecue?”
– Thud, crash, bang, bang, bang
The monsters continued to push against the iron plate with their bodies or try to break it by ramming into it, and the girls, who had barely managed to retreat outside the tavern, were finally able to collapse on the floor and rest.
Of course, they had to be mindful of when the monsters would realize they could break through the closed windows, but that was something to keep in mind.
“Hooah…… This request experience…
Is more practical than I thought?
As expected of the central Magic Kingdom…
The scale seems to be different!!”
“Haa… Haa… There’s no way that’s the case……
This is just… Hoo… This time it’s… unusual…”
Vivian, now too tired to argue, casually accepted Roxanne’s words, while Deborah was slapping Polcinella’s cheeks to wake her up.
It seemed that Polcinella was the only one who knew the information inside, but also, her concern for her colleague and friend, who she pretended not to care about, was clearly revealed by this incident.
“Nell unnie…!! Wake up…!!”
“Get a grip!! Polcinella!!
What was inside!? What happened to you!!
You should have said it before you collapsed!!”
Actually, that might not have been the only reason…
“Holy Knight!! Can you heal this girl a little bit!?”
“Seeing as my body is starting to get cold…
I don’t think I can heal much?
But I’ll do as much as I can!!”
Roxanne, who had approached them, slowly knelt down and carefully placed her hand on Polcinella’s chest, and soon her hand brightened, and the light slowly illuminated Polcinella’s body.
“Judging by her current condition, it will be difficult to completely heal her.
It looks like she’s been bitten in many places…
And there seems to have been quite a bit of bleeding……
She’s quite a strong person, what could have happened?”
“We can’t know for now.
We need to wake her up and ask her quickly.
We need to do something about that quickly too…”
Deborah’s eyes, looking back at the iron door that was still banging and crashing, were gradually filled with impatience.
Just then.
“Ughhhh…”
“Polcinella!! Wake up!!”
“Uheu… I think I hear my darling’s voice…”
“I’m not your darling.
Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Uhyahhh…… My back……
Am I… Am I badly hurt…?
I’m not going to be able to do it again, am I……?”
“There’s no time to talk nonsense.
What did you see inside? Quickly…!!”
Polcinella, who had been opening her eyes groggily at Deborah’s urging, gave a weak smile with a face that looked like she was about to die, and then showed an uncharacteristic hesitation.
“I… I can’t believe what I saw either…
But if it’s that… No matter how I think about it…”
“What is it!!”
“A dungeon… It’s a dungeon… Kkeuheueu…
At least… That’s what it looked like to me…?”
“A dungeon……?”
In the end, Deborah’s eyes, who had never lost her composure, widened in shock at the uncertain word that came out of her mouth.
The ripple effect of the single word ‘dungeon’ that Polcinella had said was just that great.
If it was that, it could explain all the incidents that had happened so far, and conversely, it could also explain how dangerous the current situation was.
A dungeon was a pit of magic that was created for unknown reasons.
And inside, for some reason, countless monsters were created from nothing.
If you asked what was the most dangerous existence for humans in human history, many people could give their own different opinions.
Some would point to this monster, some would point to that monster, and some would suddenly point to human greed, environmental destruction, and aliens who had infiltrated human society.
But the dungeon was something that everyone commonly said was the worst existence.
“Why… Why is there a dungeon in a place like this…
Isn’t this… the royal capital……”
Dungeons, which were gaping like monsters in every place where humanity had set foot, had taken countless lives with the monsters they spewed out, and had led countless warriors to a lonely and miserable fate of death to subdue them.
The data accumulated by the sacrifices of those countless heroes had become the core for humans to completely conquer the dungeons in the residential areas.
By deploying only a limited number of about a hundred people, composed of warriors with expertise in various fields, to shatter the magic energy created somewhere in the dungeon with minimal sacrifice.
Only after paying such a sacrifice could humans finally be freed from the threat of dungeons and obtain a life of peace and security.
The problem was that, according to the records, the last dungeon subjugation was a whopping 150 years ago.
‘It doesn’t make sense… It’s too sudden…
A dungeon suddenly now……?’
Sometimes, the guardians at the forefront would often discover external dungeons during their searches, but there was no reason to risk subjugating the dungeons beyond the forefront, which were outside the human sphere of life in the first place.
Usually, it was extremely rare for a dungeon to suddenly appear out of nowhere.
And even if that happened, it was even rarer for people to be injured.
Like Undenbrah, the major cities of Groden had numerous ancient magic circles to protect the city, which were measures to prevent dungeons from being created by abnormal magic gathering.
In that sense, the sudden appearance of a dungeon in this royal capital was shocking and appalling news in itself.
“They’re not there!! They’re not there!!”
While their anguish continued, Lanie, who had run to the nearby constabulary on Vivian’s orders, returned, and the sound of her shouting could be heard before she arrived.
As Lanie, who was running breathlessly, reached their side, Deborah asked her a question.
“Heue… Euh… Hoo…”
“Renee, what’s not there?”
“This… This isn’t just… happening here…!!
Hooah… Hooah… Monsters are pouring out from all over the royal capital!!
The police department must have sent all their manpower to other places!!
As of now… They can’t… give us support…
Ah, but the mercenaries and the royal knights are preparing, so just hold on a little longer…!!”
“Damn it…”
Eventually, silence fell among the group who had faced the worst situation, and even Lanie, who had been continuing to speak, greeted the atmosphere and only let out rough breaths, keeping her mouth shut.
Polcinella, one of the best forces, was retired according to the law that there is no match for being ganged up on.
In addition, Lanie was also exhausted, and Anne was holding her shoulder with a painful expression, as if she had strained her body the moment she saved Polcinella.
Deborah, who had unexpectedly had a mental breakdown at the news that dungeons had been created all over the royal capital, and even Vivian, who had started to worry that the impact would reach Enic, too.
And above all, if you include the powerlessness brought about by the fact that the monster replicator in front of you was a dungeon, it would be strange to come to your senses in the current situation.
Of course, there was one girl who was still lost in thought, weighing things and turning her head.
‘If I let them loose… Even if the problem is solved…
It would be troublesome if they came to search for monsters…
I have to stop them here…’
The girl’s blue eyes flashed fiercely, and her eyes, which had slowly started to turn, began to look towards Flora’s direction.
‘I’m not going to sit down like this…’
“Renee, keep watch here.
I think I have a way.”
“Yes…? Uh… Could it be…?”
“That’s probably right…
I don’t know what it is, but a party has opened…
We should enjoy it grandly too, shouldn’t we?”
Before Lanie could stop her, Vivian kicked off the ground and started running somewhere, and Deborah, who was watching her, turned her eyes away, blew air into her mouth, and blew her disheveled side hair over.
“She’s not even trying to hide it anymore…
I’ll have to go arrest her soon…”
