Chapter 369
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 369
Chapter Title: It's Elsewhere
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Ching!
"Guh... hack."
The man who had squeezed out his last dregs of psionics to fell the monster.
Lucas clutched his broken sword and spat up blood.
Then he let out a sigh.
'This is it, then...'
His armor was shattered.
His psionics were depleted.
His special rounds had run dry long ago.
Even the enchanted armor that had once protected him was now in tatters, unable to shield his body any longer. With his sword snapped, he couldn't cut down another foe.
For a man who had resolved to fight to the end, if only to aid his revered princess in some small way, there was simply no path left to continue the battle.
The Blue Dragon Corps and Flame Dragon Corps fared no better.
Only a handful remained on their feet, led by Lucas.
Most were like Nadia—wounded and struggling—or passed out from psionic exhaustion.
Meanwhile, over a hundred monsters still lurked.
No matter that they were the mightiest warriors of two great clans; demanding more of them went beyond possibility into outright cruelty.
Clang.
"What are you staring at?"
And yet.
Lucas refused to kneel until the very end.
Even with one arm broken, he gripped the shattered sword with his remaining hand.
"Come on, you scum."
The Blue Dragon Clan, who knew not to bend even if they might break.
And as the ironclad knight who had escorted their noblest princess.
Lucas stood firm to his last breath, pointing his blade at the monster horde.
Thus, as the monsters prowled warily, like predators eyeing a prey's desperate thrashings, and realized no further caution was needed before charging at him—
Boom!
The lead monster flew back like a deer struck by a truck.
Those following crashed into it in turn, tumbling in a heap. And the truck that caused the pileup...
No, the flying object hopped nimbly into the air.
"Ow! My leg!"
Recoil from kicking the monster, perhaps.
She clutched her leg with her wings and rolled a bit.
Then she sprang right back up, bellowing at the fallen beasts.
"Damn it! Why are these monsters so damn tough? They oughta drop dead with one good hit like monsters should!"
Was it her outrageous gall, blaming the monster's durability after slamming into it herself?
Or her utterly random entrance and appearance?
Lucas's face stiffened, his fiery resolve from moments ago paling into awkward bewilderment.
Speaking for him was Nadia, blinking hazily through blood loss.
"...Who are you?"
"Come on, sis. Why act like it's our first time? We're not strangers."
"H-Have we met before?"
"Met? We've scarfed down combat rations together tons of times."
"...?"
Nadia's expression grew even more blank.
She had no memory of sharing meals with such a colorful woman.
Especially not one with wings instead of arms—a half-human, half-bird klutz.
But the woman herself didn't seem fazed by Nadia not recognizing her.
She just rummaged in her bosom with her wings, grumbling.
"Team Leader's such a slavedriver, making his barely revived pet do this crap. Ain't that a labor law violation?"
"Um, hello...?"
"Or maybe animal protection laws. Could be both."
"Excuse me?"
"Eh, rescue team's better than bait, I guess."
Pure my-pace.
Whether hailed or not.
As the woman muttered to herself and searched, Nadia stared in stunned silence.
Lucas's face hardened.
"Watch your back!"
The monster had recovered from the kick.
It charged ferociously, as if seeking revenge.
As Lucas lunged to shield the exposed woman—
Thwack!
"Hey, cut it out! Not a mosquito, but you're annoying as hell!"
"..."
She spun on one leg, thrusting the other out in a perfect roundhouse.
She sent the monster flying again with casual ease, then resumed rummaging—all while Lucas stood speechless.
Even to him, a specialist-grade expert, her kick looked flawlessly executed.
Her physical prowess in toying with a high-level monster was just icing.
Grraaaargh!
But one kick wasn't enough to finish it.
The beast rose again, roaring in frenzied rage.
Its fellows echoed the fury.
Shaken by the bizarre half-bird intruder, they now bellowed savagely and charged her.
About a hundred strong.
Too many for even a top-tier player equivalent to handle alone.
"Found it!"
But the half-bird woman with a stray white hair poking out ignored them.
Yuna Kyung pulled a lock from between her feathers and grinned.
As the horde bore down—
"Paul Toaz KoueRus (Wail in misery)."
Boom!
A clear voice rang out.
Seven-colored smoke billowed.
The front-runners of the horde vanished.
Ribbit? Ribbit! Ribbit!
In their place rose a cacophony of croaks.
Dozens of poison frogs appeared, lamenting their fate with pathetic cries.
Lucas and Nadia gaped at the absurdity.
"Huh? That's weird, it shouldn't be like this... Was it KoueRus or CoueLus? Why do these tongue-twisters always mix me up?!"
But Yuna Kyung, the culprit, just tapped her head with a wing.
"Whatever!"
She swung the thinned lock wildly, chanting haphazardly.
And so began the mad party.
"EpiAn (Play around)!"
Boom!
"XoDya KAjin (Receive blessings)!"
Kaboom!
"RIskakataraCka! (Drink till you're drunk and revel till you die!) "
Gurgle gurgle glug!
Toy soldiers popped up from nowhere, slashing with spears and blades. Ingots plummeted from above, crushing bodies.
Some spewed beer like waterfalls from their mouths, others drowned in it after turning to frogs.
Their savage momentum vanished.
With each of Yuna Kyung's spells, the monsters met pathetic ends—or wished they had.
And her magic didn't stop at foes.
"YOhas (Rise with vigor)!"
Plip plop.
As flowers bloomed at her feet with a wing flick—startling them briefly—dew from the rapidly growing blooms soaked them, easing their pain. Lucas and Nadia were dumbfounded.
Yuna Kyung scratched her head with the now-vanished lock.
"Hmm, like Witch Sis said, recovery spells are inefficient. That's why she told me to study herbology separately."
Pop.
"Eh, if quality's lacking, quantity it is. YOhas, YOhas, YOhas!"
Flowers sprouted willy-nilly, wounds finally knitting closed.
Nadia, buried in the sudden flowerbed, pinched her cheek to check if she was dreaming.
Lucas regained his wits and asked.
"Which lineage of witch are you?"
"Witch? Who, me?"
"You seem from a venerable line. Am I wrong?"
"Nah, no way. I just picked up some tricks over the shoulder."
"..."
She giggled and waved it off, as if he'd said something silly.
But Lucas was the one floored.
He was from magic-infused London.
And having fought in the London Incident, he knew witches' spells packed real power.
Thus, he could say with certainty:
Yuna Kyung's magic was no shoulder-peek amateur stuff.
Toying with that many high-level monsters? Only a 27th lineage witch could manage.
Her varied arsenal screamed great witch's direct disciple.
"Ah! Wrong spell again!"
...Though it felt a tad sloppy for that.
Still, her prowess was undeniable.
Lucas, Nadia, and the survivors of both corps eyed her with suspicion and awe.
Aware or not, Yuna Kyung finished off the last monster before turning with a cheery shout.
"Alright, let's get outta here!"
"...We can't escape alone."
"Worried about Countess Sis and Soldier Sis? Don't be. Someone even tougher than me went to save them."
Yuna Kyung cut straight to it.
Unlike her leisurely monster-sweeping, her face now tensed as she continued.
"Besides, the real dangerous monster here... is somewhere else."
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"Tch."
Rimon clicked his tongue lightly in the darkness.
Where thousands of monsters had swarmed moments ago, now only heaps of corpses remained. He eyed the chunks of meat on the floor and muttered.
"Tough bastard."
Honestly, unexpected.
He hadn't planned a full thousand cuts, but a hundred at least.
Yet upon realizing defeat inevitable, it sent all remaining summons in a suicide rush.
Thus, Rimon had lost the Branga he'd pinned down. Regrettable.
Though with both legs severed before escape, even Branga would be severely hampered...
'Still feels off.'
Rimon frowned suspiciously.
From Seven Dragon Society to black mages.
He knew foes who feared no torture.
But Branga was different.
Anger at lost limbs, yes—but no human despair or loss.
Pondering the oddity, Rimon furrowed his brow.
His Sword Master super-senses caught a faint tremor.
"...It finally started."
"Started? What do you mean?"
"What I've been worried about."
Her condition off, Rose hadn't sensed it and looked puzzled. Rimon asked bluntly.
"Sis, front or back—which you prefer?"
"...Pardon?"
"Nah, forget it. On second thought, both up front's best."
Rimon scooped Rose up, supporting her hips with his left arm.
With his right, he pulled Hasneti close, letting her lean on his shoulder.
"Hold tight. Gonna hustle."
"...Understood."
"Don't worry about me."
Not grasping the situation yet, neither princess demanded explanations.
They exchanged glances, then wrapped arms around his neck from both sides, bracing to let him move freely.
Thus cradling both princesses, Rimon bolted through the passage like a gale.
Rumble rumble rumble.
Soon after, the passage shook violently—enough for Rose and Hasneti to feel.
But changes didn't stop there.
From floor.
From walls around.
From ceiling above.
Something writhed, sprouting thousands of ropey tendrils to snare them.
Rimon zigzagged through, wall-kicked into a leap, and escaped the passage.
Even surfacing from the dark underground into sunlight, he didn't stop.
He even used Space Movement to widen the gap from the hole.
Kaboom rumble crash!
"This is...!"
"...So that's it."
Moments later.
The quake peaked, the earth collapsing wholesale.
Then Rose and Hasneti understood.
Why Rimon rushed to escape underground so urgently.
Why Space Movement failed from the moment they fell in.
How Branga built such a vast, complex maze beneath the plains.
"We've been inside that monster's belly all along."
As a colossal shadow surged endlessly from the chasm, Rose groaned.
Rimon halted at last and shook his head.
"Wrong, sis."
"Wrong how?"
"That ain't a monster."
"What?"
Rose panicked; Hasneti stared blankly.
Size, shape—it screamed monster. Why deny it?
"If not a monster, then what?"
Hasneti asked point-blank. Rimon answered softly.
"That's..."