Chapter 179
Chapter 179
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: The Calamity God's Descent
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The princess glanced around at the suddenly quiet surroundings and subtly lifted the corner of her mouth.
“…See. My victory again.”
Her flat declaration of victory was directed at whom?
Wincing briefly at the sharp pain in her shoulder, the princess soon smiled again and spoke.
“Poor things. This time, yeah. This time it was really fun. The most realistic so far, enjoyable, and honestly a bit scary. I was curious what it feels like to face a real threat to your life, and this is the sensation.”
Laughter even escaped the lips of the princess, who had regained some composure.
*Schwing!* At that moment, a sword flew toward her, but Deathberry's pale hand gripped the hilt.
Looking at the blade halted just before her eyeball, the princess said,
“I won't fall for it twice. I'm not an idiot, Seren.”
“…….”
Seren panted for breath.
She felt like she could use her cold energy one more time… but. Even if she did now, it didn't seem like it would change the situation.
“Seren. My first friend. I really like you.”
“…So, because you like me, you're going to kill me too? Or what, you won't stuff me and turn me into a doll. I'd hate that.”
Though Seren openly sneered, the princess replied without any sign of offense.
“As if. But I was thinking I might visit the Goodspring family later. Not sure if the real-world Seren is like you, though.”
“…What?”
What nonsense was that?
It was the moment Seren felt puzzled.
Suddenly, with a *rumble…*, the entire building shook slightly.
It seemed to come from the floor below.
“This sound…”
The princess's expression turned strange. Her eyes stared into empty space once more.
A moment later, a slightly flustered voice emerged.
“It's alive? No way—”
That was the instant.
A flash burst forth, and someone charged at the princess at tremendous speed.
‘Caron Woodjack?’
Only Seren caught a glimpse of the movement.
Had he used a blessing? The speed was so incredible it didn't seem like an ordinary one.
Perhaps it was the so-called final resort prepared for Caron.
The princess noticed Caron's approach too late, by a single step.
“Gurk…”
A thick hand clamped tightly around the princess's throat. Reflexively grabbing his wrist, she stared at him in shock.
“H-how…”
“…….”
Blood dripped from Caron's entire body. Though the princess hadn't realized it, his muscles trembled fiercely, like those of someone who had pushed his flesh to the brink.
Nosebleed streaming, Caron sneered.
“…Not falling for feigned death is basics in hunting. Seems Her Imperial Highness hasn't gone hunting.”
“Ha, haha…”
“Stop the doll's movements. Princess Perist, you've lost.”
Even at those words, the princess only let out laughter.
Had she finally gone mad?
Caron thought as blood dripped.
If he killed this woman here, would the doll stop? Or rampage?
The risk of the latter was too great. That was why he hadn't killed the princess yet.
It was then.
Princess Perist seemed to ponder. It wasn't in response to Caron's suggestion.
He could see the strategist's eyes, deep in thought about a way to turn the tables.
*Crunch.*
“Guhk…”
He silently tightened his grip.
Moments later, the princess's face flushed red. The moment she frantically slapped at his arm, he loosened his hold slightly.
Then the princess gasped for air and soon closed her eyes faintly.
*Thud—*
At that instant, Deathberry—who had been glaring at Caron while standing—collapsed limply in place.
The princess had ceased control.
Up to that point, it was what Caron had wanted… but her following words far exceeded expectations.
“…Good, Deathberry. This time, I lost.”
“What…?”
“So let's end this round here. Yeah. For some reason, my head feels dizzy, and my shoulder hurts a lot. It's a different feeling from usual…”
“…….”
“Are you listening? Deathberry.”
Caron.
He had thought this woman mad countless times, but now he wondered if she had truly lost it.
Yet regardless of that sentiment, a chill gripped deep in his chest.
Before he could identify the emotion, Caron spat out words.
“You… what the hell are you talking about…?”
“Huh…?”
Princess Perist Scarlett.
She looked more shocked and flustered than even Caron.
“Why aren't you all disappearing?”
“You mad bitch…!”
“Gurk…!”
Sudden uncontrollable rage surged, but it was really to mask his fear.
Caron glared at the princess with his one remaining eye. His grip tightened gradually.
“Wait. Something's off about the princess's state.”
If not for the chilling voice in his ear, he might have snapped her neck right then.
“…….”
Caron ignored commands from those he didn't acknowledge. He even brushed off pleas.
But Seren had proven her worth multiple times in this battle. Naturally, his grip loosened.
“Guhk, cough…! H-heek…”
And Princess Perist.
She looked at Caron with an expression utterly terrified, nothing like her demeanor so far.
It wasn't just a mask.
It was a drastic change, as if the person had completely switched.
“Cough…! Hack… W-wait… B-breath… can't… breathe… Ahk…”
“…I've been feeling an ongoing sense of wrongness.”
Seren said in a eerie tone.
“Your attitude, the slips of words… I have mountains of questions, but first this.”
“Cough…”
“…What does 'lost' mean?”
Did she sense the killing intent in Seren's voice?
Perist flinched.
She still glanced at Caron, who roughly gripped her collar. Shadows of fear and dread on her face grew ever larger.
Her face was just like someone realizing far too late that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Th-that is…”
Perist trembled.
Her quivering voice struggled to form words.
Unable to wait, Caron threatened again.
“Princess Perist Scarlett. Answer quickly. Your language ability would still function decently even if I severed all four limbs.”
“H-heek…”
Only then did Perist cry out in a desperate voice.
“B-but…! Th-this is all… a dream, right?!”
“…What?”
Perist spoke like a madwoman.
“Y-yeah…! An incredibly realistic dream, no different from reality…! You're all dream inhabitants who volunteered to play the intruders for me… No, wait… Don't tell me…”
“…….”
He first realized that nonsense taken too far could leave one speechless.
As Seren and Caron's expressions twisted horribly, Perist's grew more desperate.
She now trembled as if only just feeling the pain.
“Eek, ack… It hurts… M-my shoulder has a sword… Ankle's swollen, nails too…”
“Shut your mouth and keep talking.”
Caron growled.
Trembling at his murderous mutter, Perist spoke.
“I… just… hated the imperial family… Hated being royalty… But in a dream… I didn't have to be myself… Here, I could deviate as much as I wanted…”
The words were disjointed, but comprehensible.
“So… everything happening here has no connection to reality… No influence… That's what I heard for sure.”
“Heard?”
Seren stepped forward with a hardened face.
“From whom.”
“Th-that's…”
“Speak quickly. Who told you that.”
“D-De- De—”
Perist muttered abruptly.
“Deathberry…”
That was the moment.
*Creak, creeeak.*
Deathberry, who had been collapsed until just now, moved.
“You, still—”
“N-no! I-I didn't do it!”
Perist shook her still-moving left arm as she spoke in desperation.
No threads were visible even when focusing his gaze. Moreover, the fear and terror in her voice rang true.
Caron and Seren shut their mouths and watched Deathberry move alone.
Of course, dolls moving on their own in this shadow world wasn't strange at all.
But Deathberry's movements now were bizarre.
*Grind, griind…*
Deathberry rose in jerky, halting motions, as if twisting its own joints grotesquely.
*Squeak, sqqueak…*
Then it walked with creaking steps.
They were in a situation where they had to do something.
“…….”
“…….”
But strangely, everyone watching the scene couldn't move.
With each step the doll took, it felt like needles pierced their skin.
Soon, it became tangible fog binding their entire bodies.
Meanwhile…
Deathberry reached the window and perched on the sill.
*Thump.*
Then its movements stopped.
“…Deathberry?”
Perist muttered in a low voice, momentarily forgetting her pain.
Deathberry didn't respond.
It was just like a wind-up doll completing its final action before fully halting.
Its head drooped slightly and stayed there.
*Whoooosh…*
At that moment, an eerie wind licked their skin.
Unusually hot, it felt like a revolting monster licking their cheeks.
Deathberry had stopped, but no one else moved. Beyond the silence, everyone felt the oppressive atmosphere weighing on the air.
Seren swallowed dryly, recalling Ruan's words.
- Isn't it possible both are cultists?
He had been foolish.
If he'd considered that possibility, he should have thought of the opposite too.
‘Why.’
Why hadn't he considered the possibility that neither royal was a cultist.
‘Damn…’
It was obvious.
His own fault.
From the start, Seren had been convinced one royal was a cultist, so Ruan Bednicker had believed it too.
‘Damn Laplace's divine scripture…’
It wasn't entirely without excuse.
The scripture was full of the vague, nebulous phrasing typical of prophecies.
It described the disaster so clearly, yet left the mastermind ambiguous.
If the princess was merely a puppet, killing Perist here meant nothing.
The shadow world wouldn't vanish, nor would the dolls stop moving.
The puppeteer he'd thought was the black幕 turned out to be a puppet doll herself? This sweet potato plot—if it appeared in a novel, he'd drop it immediately—
*Clatter…!*
As Seren began devouring himself in self-reproach, the glass window rattled and screamed.
*Ahahaha!*
The dolls.
The ones sprawled, sliced, pierced, and torn—laughed in unison.
If their forms so far had been as slaughter dolls, now they seemed equipped with just one function: mockery.
The dolls did nothing but laugh.
It scraped their brains like nails on a chalkboard.
It was like the era they hadn't experienced, now vanished in time.
The prelude to the Demon King's descent.
Just as Glenn Scarlett had said.
Each royal had someone they relied on.
Princess Perist had constantly addressed Deathberry.
It wasn't how one treated a doll.
‘If Deathberry's voice truly reached the princess.’
If Perist hadn't been talking to herself or mad, but actually conversing with the doll.
And then it dawned on her.
The ones laughing weren't just the dolls.
“……!”
The blood-red moon beyond the window trembled violently, changes forming on its surface.
At first, she thought it an illusion. Moon spots appear in various shapes depending on perspective, after all.
It wasn't.
Slowly emerging from the blood moon was unmistakably a face.
The moon burst into laughter.
Seren's face paled for the first time, confronting soul-shattering madness.
*Drip, plop.*
Changes came to Deathberry's body too.
Demonic horns sprouted from its temples. A pale vitality infused the body that had seemed doll-like. No, it was more like death settling in.
[…….]
The moment its eyes opened.
Strange inverted eyes—whites turned black, blacks turned white—revealed themselves.
The instant they met those eyes, everyone forgot to breathe.
Instead, they realized.
The Calamity God had possessed it.