Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Except for a small incident on the first day, the drainage construction proceeded smoothly overall.
The drainage channel that began in District 9 was designed to pass through Districts 8 and 6 before finally connecting with a river outside the city.
“Please dig that part a little deeper. The water needs to flow downward.”
It had already been a month since we began carefully checking the gradient while supervising the work.
At last, we started working on the outer edge of the city.
Simply digging holes in the dirt could cause the sides to collapse, so we built stone walls to support them.
Even this feels risky.
If we had rebar and cement, the structure would be much sturdier.
The System Shop did sell cement and rebar, but the problem was the price.
A single bag of cement costs 3,000 points. If I want to use it for the drainage project, I’d need at least one million points.
Rebar was even more expensive.
There’s no way I can buy that.
Since the goal was only to get through this year’s autumn monsoon, I decided to give up on cement and rebar entirely.
Instead, we filled the stone walls tightly to make them as sturdy as possible.
“Hey, miss.”
Just as the morning work ended and I sat under the shade of a tree to catch my breath, Bram Gus swaggered over.
“I’ve been thinking about something, and I can’t make sense of it.”
“What is it?”
“You and the lord. Anton Brown said the two of you are lovers, but it doesn’t look that way to me.”
Who was supposedly in a relationship with whom?
Calix Krauvel and me?
What kind of nonsense was that?
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t respond.
“There’s no way the lord would like a little girl who still smells like milk. Don’t you agree?”
I didn’t like him either.
Calix Krauvel was handsome, but his personality and other aspects were completely not my type.
More importantly, he was the final villain in the novel.
Even if someone handed him to me by the truckload, I would refuse.
“Why aren’t you answering? You’re not dating, right?”
“We are not.”
“Then why would Sir Anton Brown say something like that?”
I was just about to say I was curious about that too—
“AAAAH!”
A desperate scream suddenly erupted from the drainage construction site.
Bram Gus ran toward the sound first, and I followed close behind.
“W-What is that?”
The construction site was in complete chaos.
Part of the stone wall we had built had collapsed, and the carefully dug trench had been completely trampled.
As the dust slowly settled, something enormous appeared at the center.
“W-What is that thing?!”
It looked like a monster made by combining a worm and a centipede.
Its segmented body writhed, slimy fluid glistening beneath its dark red shell.
Where its head should be, rows of saw-like teeth interlocked together.
Between them, I could see the leg of one of the laborers.
“H-Help!”
The laborer stretched his hand toward us and screamed desperately.
At that moment, the monster jerked its head upward.
A dull cracking sound echoed as the laborer’s body went limp.
I-Is he dead?
The horrifying sight left me staring blankly, forgetting even to breathe.
“It’s a worm!”
Bram Gus shouted.
“A worm has appeared! Everyone run! Drop the equipment and run!”
The laborers screamed and scattered.
“Don’t just stand there—get out of here!”
Bram Gus shouted at me as well.
Right. I needed to run.
Coming back to my senses, I hurried away.
I assumed Bram Gus would run with me, but instead he ran toward the monster.
What was he doing?
Was he going to rescue the laborer caught by the monster?
He must be insane!
No matter how precious a colleague might be, the most important thing was your own life.
Yet he was running toward danger even though he knew the risk.
I couldn’t understand it at all.
“Seona, listen carefully and don’t panic.”
“Your father… the team leader… was injured while trying to save Minseok.”
…I didn’t want to understand it either.
Forget it. He’ll deal with it himself.
I tried to run away without worrying about Bram Gus, but my eyes kept drifting back toward him.
As Bram Gus approached, the monster roared and slammed its long tail against the ground.
The earth shook as if there had been an earthquake.
Bram Gus lost his footing and fell, and without realizing it, I stopped.
My mind kept screaming at me to run, but strangely my body refused to move.
Why?
Did I want to save Bram Gus?
That rude man who looked down on me for being a woman and constantly harassed me?
That’s impossible.
Yes. Impossible.
I clenched my teeth, and my stiff legs began to move again.
I tried to run again, but the chaotic construction site came into view.
All the work we had done over the past week had been reduced to nothing.
If more collapses happen here, we won’t be able to finish the drainage project before the autumn monsoon.
Then the lord’s wish reward would disappear as well.
The monster’s appearance wasn’t my fault, but there was no way the lord would care about that.
“…I have to stop it.”
I tightly gripped the shovel lying on the ground.
Sweat and dirt clung to my palms.
“This isn’t about justice or loyalty.”
I muttered to myself as if hypnotizing myself.
“This is entirely for the wish reward.”
Fixing that thought firmly in my mind, I rushed toward the monster approaching Bram Gus.
The monster wrapped its long tail tightly around Bram Gus’s leg.
I ran behind it and swung the shovel down with all my strength.
Thunk!
“Ugh.”
The impact felt like striking a solid rock, and my wrist went numb.
KIIAAAH!
Fortunately, the attack worked.
The monster twisted its body and let out a grotesque shriek.
“Run!”
I grabbed Bram Gus’s arm and shouted.
His leg seemed injured, but he still ran with a limp.
However, the monster quickly recovered and began chasing us, shaking the ground as it moved.
My breath tore at my throat.
My vision blurred and my legs weakened.
“Ah!”
Eventually my legs gave out, and I fell forward.
KIIEEECH!
It was too late.
I didn’t even need to turn around to know the monster had reached me.
Was this the end?
Just as I was about to shut my eyes in anticipation of death, a sharp flash of light cut through the air.
“KIAAAH!”
A scream of pain from the monster followed.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Gasping for breath, I turned my head and saw a man holding a sword.
Sticky slime dripped from his blade.
“…My lord?”
The man was none other than Calix Krauvel.
Why was he here?
My voice trembled slightly in surprise, but he only glanced at me briefly.
Then he rushed toward the monster writhing in pain.
As he approached, the monster swung its massive tail.
But Calix Krauvel easily avoided it.
Then he raised his sword vertically and drove it down into the monster’s tail.
When I had struck it with the shovel earlier, it hadn’t even left a scratch.
Now the tail split apart like paper.
Dark red fluid burst out like a fountain as the tail was severed.
“Kiiik! Kiiiiiik!”
The monster shrieked and thrashed violently.
The ground shook again, and clouds of dust rose into the air.
The trench we had dug was buried under dirt once more.
“Tch. How troublesome.”
Calix Krauvel clicked his tongue, then leapt up onto the monster’s head in a single bound.
He thrust his sword straight through the monster’s head.
Then he drove it downward with force.
The monster’s body split cleanly in two.
The horrific scene looked like something straight out of a horror film.
I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
A heavy thud echoed as the monster collapsed.
…Was it over?
I cautiously opened my eyes.
The monster lay on the ground, split into two halves, while Calix wiped the blood from his face indifferently.
He wasn’t injured at all.
Not even his breathing had changed.
He defeated that terrifying monster so easily.
As expected of the final boss in the novel.
If he was already this strong before being consumed by demonic energy and turning completely dark…
Just how powerful would he become then?
I was curious.
But I didn’t want to know.
After wiping the slime from his sword, Calix Krauvel turned to look at me.
The moment I met his red eyes, my heart dropped.
Perhaps it was because the scene from the novel—where he rampaged after losing control—flashed through my mind.
For a moment, it felt as if he might kill me right here.
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
So when Calix Krauvel stepped toward me, I reflexively shouted.