Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Ugly Struggles
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Mengyak?
The black witches and that demon beast formed a pact?
They're using forbidden magic to execute me?
Adriana's mind was in turmoil.
In short, the demon beast called Abiel had come here because she had used magic out of fear of Abiel himself.
"So that's why the bugs didn't attack me."
That was the reason his minions had simply stared at her.
To monitor whether she used magic or not.
Tears of emptiness flowed endlessly.
Her chest ached so much that she clutched it with her hands, but the pain wouldn't fade.
Why had things turned out like this?
It felt hollow and futile.
Because her own figure, trapped in the clutches of those bugs, seemed so pathetic, foolish, and helpless.
Adriana clenched her fists, unable to accept her impending end...
"Quit your bullshit!"
She couldn't accept it.
Pain was pain.
Sadness was sadness.
Foolishness was foolishness.
But that didn't mean she planned to die.
"Don't struggle."
The king of the bugs raised his hand as if it were nothing.
But a white-haired girl from the Extermination Squad kicked his hand away as she burst onto the scene.
"Run."
Sen couldn't stand idly by, thinking this situation had arisen from her own hasty judgment, and stepped forward.
"......!"
The moment Adriana saw her, she leaped to her feet, cast a spell to shatter the wall with the window, and flung herself out.
"Ares! I have to get to Ares!"
Believing that according to fate, Ares would save her, Adriana frantically began searching for him.
And in the corridor left behind.
"......"
Sen swung her dagger desperately, trying to inflict some damage on the king of the bugs.
But the creature didn't budge, simply staring at Sen before snatching her ankle and slamming her to the ground.
"Kuhuk!"
Sen vomited blood and passed out on the spot.
The bugs rushed in like they'd found prey, but Abiel stomped the floor with his foot, driving them back.
"By the pact. No one's life shall be taken except for the witch who committed the sin."
Abiel licked his lips at the sight of a human he hadn't seen in ages, but since he'd come here in accordance with the pact...
He tried to pursue Adriana, who had fled.
"Hm?"
But sensing a strange aura, Abiel slowly turned his body to look at the girl standing at the end of the corridor.
Her long black hair fluttered in the wind blowing through the hole Adriana had made in the wall.
For a split second, Abiel flinched at her presence, unconsciously stroking the back of his neck.
"I thought I was dead for a moment."
The girl did nothing.
She just stared at him expressionlessly, and the moment Abiel clenched his fist in tension...
Kwaduk.
A black spear thrust into his side.
"......!"
Even he, who ranked high in physical prowess among ancient demon beasts, couldn't react to the casting speed.
"Is this really magic?"
He doubted if it was magic at all, but then Abiel glared as he sensed the energy pouring from her.
"Ah, aah! So she's the chosen one."
Abiel shattered the spear piercing his side and glared at Rin.
Rin gazed at Abiel as if she had become 'someone else', utterly calm amid the bugs swarming the entire corridor and the overwhelming pressure of their king.
"'The Earliest Apocalypse'! How lamentable that I cannot kill you right now!"
Abiel gnashed his teeth, clearly desperate to wring Rin's neck, but he held back with effort.
"Once I kill that witch and free myself, I'll come back to kill you!"
Black energy spread from around Rin, who paid no heed to Abiel's rage.
As the unpleasant aura began to touch the bugs filling the corridor, they melted away and vanished.
But death didn't end there.
The bugs touched by Rin's energy quickly rose again and began attacking the other bugs.
Bugs touched by the black energy died and revived.
Bugs killed in the attacks revived as well.
Even killing the revived bugs brought them back to life again.
An endless cycle of death.
In the end, Abiel's bugs quickly submitted to Rin, and Abiel spat in fury before fleeing in pursuit of Adriana.
"......"
Once Abiel vanished, the bugs that had submitted to Rin burned away in black flames and disappeared.
Thud.
Rin collapsed beside Sen.
*
"Ares!"
Adriana found Ares right away.
After all, before Sen and Rin activated the magic in her room, she had been stuck right by Ares' side.
"Adriana?"
Ares couldn't help but panic at the sight of Adriana rushing to him in such a wretched state.
By chance, neither Arni Duratan nor Elise were around.
Ares blocked the male students from seeing Adriana's disheveled appearance and asked,
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Save me! Please save me!"
"What?"
"Demon beast! A demon beast is coming!"
Screams began echoing around them at her shout.
Abiel flying toward them, leading the bugs like a swarm of storm clouds.
Thanks to Sen and Rin buying time, she had made it to Ares—but if not, she would have died right there.
"What is that?"
"A demon beast?"
"R-run away!"
Ares tried to flee with his friends, dragging Adriana along, but she shook her head.
"We can't escape! It's coming after me! Ares! You—you have to kill it!"
"Me?"
Ares looked back and forth between Adriana and Abiel in bewilderment before shaking his head.
"That thing is way beyond me. Let's run, quick!"
"Don't talk nonsense!"
Adriana yelled furiously. Her mind was so chaotic she barely knew what she was saying.
But in any case, she was spewing out her emotions like vomit.
"Fate told me! You—you're the one who'll save me! That's why I gave you everything! Now save me!"
Logically speaking.
What man would fight such a monster for a woman he'd barely met?
That's why Adriana had chosen carefully.
The blond man from her vision of fate.
She'd only seen his back, so all she knew was his build, blond hair, and that he wielded a sword.
There were countless candidates, but they were all eliminated.
In the end.
Two men remained before Adriana.
Ares Helias and Daniel McKlein.
Ares had blond hair and wielded a sword. His build seemed a bit larger, but he matched the man from fate most closely.
On the other hand, Daniel McKlein hadn't even been a candidate until recently.
But learning he was strong enough to defeat Zavallanko made her wonder.
He wielded a sword and even matched the build from fate. But he wasn't blond.
So she asked him.
If he planned to dye his hair blond.
He flatly refused.
No.
That left only Ares, and Adriana had invested everything in him.
"Don't say ridiculous things! It's after you? F-for now, let's just run!"
Ares pried Adriana's grip off his clothes and bolted away.
His athleticism, rated the best in their year, was beyond what the witch Adriana could match, and naturally, he pulled away.
"Ah, aah."
In the end, Adriana tumbled to the ground, rolling across the dirt.
The bugs began crawling toward her.
"Has your struggling finally ended?"
Abiel landed before her, folding the wings on his back.
A sneer curled his lips.
"How ugly."
Abiel's words, spoken as both demon beast and bug, pierced Adriana's mind.
Ugly?
Me?
All I want is to live—is that so ugly?
She slowly took stock of herself.
She'd worn revealing clothes to seduce Ares, but in the chaos, even those were torn to rags.
Her face was a mess of tears and snot—no beauty could salvage that.
Her hair was disheveled, gnawed by bugs.
And unbeknownst to her, she'd soiled herself a little, mixing sweat with the stench of filth.
"Ah."
I see.
I'm this ugly.
The girl who desperately wanted to survive and see the world finally found the courage to close her eyes only after looking back at her own appearance.
Where had it all gone wrong?
Resentment and rage flared up, ultimately incinerating even her will to survive.
Her desire for life scattered as black ash.
"Have you finally given up? Faithless witch who sold everything for her life, woman no better than a back-alley whore— even the bugs won't eat your corpse."
Adriana now wished only for a quick death.
She wanted to completely forget her ugly self.
But.
"What bullshit."
Abiel was pushed back by someone's sword.
The sky was blotted out by swarms of bugs, but sunlight pierced the gaps, making the man's blond hair shine brighter.
The man stood before Adriana, sword in hand.
"Ah......"
Adriana's mouth slowly opened.
This was the scene.
The exact scene from her vision of fate.
Daniel McKlein.
For some reason, he had become blond and stood before her. Amid everyone fleeing, he alone charged against the swarm, swinging his sword at Abiel.
Daniel slowly turned to look at Adriana.
It should have been a relief, but instead, shame flushed her face red, and she covered it with her hands.
"D-don't look! Don't look at me—the ugly, filthy me begging for my life!"
She didn't want anyone to see her like this.
So filthy.
Having discarded everything for survival, only to end up in such an ugly fall.
But Daniel chuckled wryly and replied,
"Of course."
What's the problem?
As if he couldn't comprehend otherwise.
"Of course you want to live. Everyone does."
"B-but...!"
"Sure, some stake their lives on conviction. Some cherish something more precious than life."
Daniel slowly turned, blocking the path of Abiel, who glared at him.
"But you don't have to be one of them. What you've done is perfectly natural."
She might not know it, but Daniel deeply empathized with Adriana.
Do you know?
What I saw.
The world had perished once.
People died, cities crumbled, kingdoms vanished.
As if mocking the fierce struggles of human life.
The dead rose and killed the living. They became the dead and began killing more of the living.
In the end, everyone died.
Yet even after humanity perished.
Even with no future left before him, one man kept fighting, fleeing, and surviving.
He hid in the forests, used mighty demon beasts as shields, mobilized every bit of knowledge and power he knew, and thrashed with all his might.
The man who struggled the ugliest, most pathetically to survive a death already fated—the longest of anyone.
That man was me.
Daniel McKlein.