## Chapter 316 – The Monarch of Monsters (18)
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“What… what am I looking at right now…?”
“How would I know…?
Damn… this is really driving me crazy…?”
Even the students fighting the monsters were momentarily distracted, shuddering at the sight of the colossal dungeon gate.
Of course, they still had to deal with the immediate problem, so they didn’t stop swinging their swords. But in reality, most of them probably felt their deaths were imminent.
On the opposite side of the royal capital, pillars of fire and ice tornadoes from indiscriminate attack magic were erupting everywhere. Suddenly regaining her senses, Vivian grabbed the fallen women at her feet, shaking them desperately to wake them up.
“Get up!! We can’t stop now…!!”
“I’ll take a look.
Could you step aside for a moment?”
Perhaps because she was using holy power, a force different from magic, Yeriel, who was unharmed, approached and placed her hand on Vivian’s shoulder. Vivian, at a loss, backed away.
Yeriel closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. Soon, the tips of her fingers glowed faintly, and that warmth transferred to the fallen women.
“Ugh…”
“Ah… ugh…”
“Rise, sisters.
Everyone in this world…
Needs you?”
Finally, the women began to open their eyes with difficulty. Vivian’s efforts to shake Maria and Eloise alternately seemed to be bearing fruit.
“Ah… wh-why am I on the floor…”
“There’s really no time!!
We have to close these things quickly…!!
How much longer until completion!?”
“Th-that is…”
“Please…!! We don’t have time for this!!
We have to get up and finish it…!!”
“Ah… y-yes… yes…!!
Half… half an hour…!!”
Hearing that they had to endure for another 30 minutes, Vivian helped Maria to her feet, leading her to the chair she had been sitting in earlier.
“Speed it up, even a little.
We really don’t have time.
You see that, right?”
“E-eeeeeeh…!?”
Maria’s eyes widened as she saw the massive gate in the opposite sky that Vivian was pointing at.
Vivian pushed her back into the chair, shouting desperately and issuing instructions.
“If we can’t close it from here, it’s all over…!!
Start again right now!!”
“Y-yes… yes…!!”
Seeing Eloise, who had barely gotten to her feet, rejoin the table, Vivian turned around, drew her sword, and faced the crowd.
“All of you, come out…!!
From now on, we’re going to clear a path to that dungeon gate…!!”
Vivian glared fiercely at the people still blocking the monsters pouring out of the pub.
The Henias, summoned by her, emerged from the shadows, also feeling an instinctive fear and fidgeting nervously.
“Q-Queen…!!
You must evacuate quickly…!!”
“We’ll escort you, please hurry…!!”
“If I’m going to die, I’ll die by his side.
But not now…!!
Not yet… there’s still something I can do!!
I have to do it, even for him…!!”
“Queen…”
“Ready to go?”
“We shall follow…”
“Then let’s go in, nyaa…!!”
In the end, following Vivian’s resolute demeanor, the Henias stretched their bodies and immediately began to charge forward.
“Ugh…!! Wh-who is it…?”
“Are they on our side…?
Whoa!! Don’t get distracted!!”
“If it weren’t for you, no one would be distracted!!”
“Find the dungeon entrance… the gate!!”
“Uh… gate…? Find it for now…!!
Hey!! They said to find the gate…!!”
“Then let’s push forward!!”
While bewildered by the sudden appearance of unknown reinforcements, the swordsmanship students and the others, emboldened by the renewed momentum, took a step forward.
Deborah, who had been directing them, Polcinella, who had been resting after treating her wounds, and even other students who had been taking turns resting or had retreated due to injuries.
At first, they had simply been taking turns to block the endlessly spawning monsters, but now everyone had read the atmosphere and started clearing a path all at once.
Now, the vanguard, cutting down monsters to clear a path, was gradually approaching the center of the ruins where the pub had once stood.
“Is that… is that it…!? Right!!?
Hey!! That gate thing, it looks like it’s over there…!!
This way!! Keep pushing this way…!!”
“It’s here!! Here!! Focus here!!”
Every moment was a series of dangerous battles, but as they advanced little by little, they were thrilled by a shout that began to be heard from someone.
Now, Vivian, also fighting as she charged in, heard the shout that the gate had been found. She yelled towards the back, and a hurried voice returned.
“What about the mages?”
“J-just three more minutes…!!”
“It’s almost done…!!
I’ll check the final activation phrase…!!”
“Itarjiable… Ba… Bariare…
Itarjiable Bariare!!
It’s done!! I’m going right now…!!”
The path cleared by the swordsmanship department.
Carrying a few pieces of parchment, the three women began to climb the path where the corpses of monsters were scattered on the floor, piled up like hills.
“It’s here, here!!”
“Grab my hand!! I’ll pull you up!!”
“Ugh… thank you…!!”
Even in the midst of this, the mages grabbed the hands of some of the swordsmanship students who reached out to them, and as they navigated the chaotic path, they were finally able to discover the dungeon gate where a fierce battle was taking place at the center.
“Wow…”
Verdi, looking down at the gate for the first time, which resembled an abyss shrouded in darkness, couldn’t help but stop and let out a sigh mixed with admiration.
And Eloise, grabbing her skirt and continuing to step over the corpses of monsters, and Verdi, grabbing the hand of Maria, whose foot had sunk into a monster’s corpse, finally reached the front of the gate.
“Draw the magic circle…!!
I’ll be in charge of fixing it in place…!!”
As Eloise stretched out her hand and began to unleash blue magic, a barrier of magic unfolded like a blue canvas.
It became the cornerstone that prevented the magic of the magic circle from conflicting with the magic flowing out of the dungeon and shaking unstably.
“Haa… huff… haa…”
“Hoo… I can do it… I can do it…
Baby… Mama can do it…!!”
Maria, skillfully but carefully filling in the magic circle, and Verdi, who was a little nervous but somehow managed not to make any mistakes, were precisely drawing the magic circle as designed in advance.
How much time had passed?
Finally, the brilliant magic circle began to emit light in the sky. Eloise, who was in charge of the background, issued instructions for the next and final stage.
“Then… I’ll start in three…
One… two… three…!!”
“Itarjiable Bariare!!!”
How long had they waited for this moment?
At least, if a catastrophic miscalculation didn’t occur, their long journey would come to an end here.
“Please…!!”
Swinging his sword, a swordsmanship student bumped his shoulder against a monster as if shoulder-checking it, and his sighing prayer was the common wish of everyone.
As the moment passed, where one second felt like an hour, the magic circle emitting light projected magic from its center, pouring that magic towards the gate where the monsters were pouring out.
“Ughhhhh!!”
“Just a little… just a little more…!!”
Maria, the center of the magic circle, and Verdi and Eloise, who were adding magic to it.
The magic circle, operating as if it would drain all of their magic, soon began to flicker with a faint light and disappear.
The moment that light completely went out.
Everyone in that place could see a subtle barrier surrounding the pitch-black gate, transparent like a soap bubble, with magic rippling visibly.
“… It’s done… Ahaha… Aha…”
“We succeeded… Phew…”
“Kyaaaa!! We did it!!
What do I do!! Baby!!
Mama did it!!”
As the monster trying to come out of the gate collided with the barrier and disappeared back into the gate, as if no more monsters could pass through, the mage team watching it expressed their relief and joy, collapsing on the spot.
And of course, the others who saw this also couldn’t hide their joy on their faces.
“Did something happen?”
“Now all that’s left is to take care of what’s left!!
Hang in there a little longer!! Victory is imminent!!”
“Taking care of what’s left is a piece of cake!!
Come at me all at once, you bastards, I’m busy!!”
Since the students and Henias had somehow managed to block the monsters until now, catching the remaining monsters that had already come out of the gate was a piece of cake.
They quickly exterminated the remaining monsters, and the moment the last monster’s head fell.
The students, collapsing as if collapsing into puddles of blood and squishy monster corpses, were showing themselves bursting into joyful laughter.
“Hehehe… Hehihihit… We did it…!!”
“Wohoo!! Yeahhhhh!!”
“Verdi!! You did really well…!!”
“Ugh… Ahahat!!
Serkov!! I can’t breathe…!!
Our darling worked hard too…♡”
“Uh…!! Look over there…!!”
While they were enjoying the joy of victory for a short time, everyone’s gaze turned to someone’s excited pointing.
“That gate…!! It’s being covered…!!
It seems like a similar magic is being cast…!!
The combat mage squad might have arrived…!!”
The massive gate that appeared on the opposite side of the royal capital.
While countless monsters were falling from that place, something like a membrane that could be visually confirmed was covering the gate as if it were climbing over the surface.
The Royal Combat Mage Squad, to which Eloise belonged as a reserve member, was also an attack squad that assumed actual combat.
Here, only Maria had proper knowledge of dungeon sealing, so she desperately gathered fragmented knowledge to design a magic circle and seal the dungeon.
The main force of the Combat Mage Squad would have personnel specializing in dungeon sealing spells.
Eloise, whose pupils were shining blue as if she was using magic for vision assistance, was also clenching her fist with a smile on her face.
The 23 or so dungeons that had already appeared in various places were being suppressed by the security police department, academy students, and professors.
“Then… is it… over…”
Deborah’s quiet murmur as she wiped the blood from her cheek with the back of her hand, panting.
“Please… please…!!”
In response, the others around her also gritted their teeth and frowned, sending anxious gazes towards the gate.
The transparent membrane gradually covering the giant gate.
It climbed halfway up the surface of the gate, gradually filling the gate as if filling a cup with water.
The seal, covering the gate while receiving people’s wishes and prayers, was soon…
“Uh… it stopped…!?”
“It stopped, right…? What happened…!!”
The seal, which had been almost completely covered, leaving only a very small amount that looked like a fingernail from a distance, stopped its progress.
Before people could start buzzing, a large gap burst out in the center of the almost completely covered seal, and most of those who saw this sight were filled with unbearable shock.
