The Approaching Terror, the Footsteps of the Beast
Although the agonizing pain from his shattered knees pierced his entire body, Abel thrashed violently inside the net, too consumed by panic to even register it.
His muscles bulged, taut with rage and despair, and his veins swelled as if they were about to burst. He wanted nothing more than to tear through the mesh this very instant, leap out, and wrap his hands around Baek Kang-ho's throat.
His arms flailed wildly through the gaps in the net, and despite the agonizing twist of his ankles, he struggled to push himself up on his broken knees.
"Aaaagh!!!"
A beast-like groan tore from his throat. Yet, all his desperate thrashing was nothing more than futile resistance.
The tough netting only bound his flesh tighter, and his mangled knees became shackles pinning him to the dirt. Like a wild beast caught in a snare, he flailed in a tempest of fury and helplessness.
Baek Kang-ho looked down at Abel's pathetic struggle with utter contempt. His face was painted with a mixture of mockery and cruel amusement.
His eyes seemed to drink in Abel's agony, a victor's smirk playing on his lips. As if all of Abel's resistance were merely a cheap source of entertainment, he crossed his arms and leisurely enjoyed the spectacle.
Standing in the center of the execution ground, bound in chains, Risa watched Abel's pitiful struggles with a breaking heart. Hot tears streamed endlessly down her cheeks.
A pain that felt as though it were tearing her soul apart washed over her. Abel had thrown away everything to save her, only to end up caught in a cruel trap, brutally broken before her eyes. The sight plunged her into the deepest depths of despair.
Abel... No...
Her lips parted in a silent, repeating scream, but no words, no amount of tears, could alter this tragic reality.
Every eye in the plaza was fixed on Abel's desperate thrashing inside the net and Risa's sorrowful tears.
Leaving the struggling Abel behind, Baek Kang-ho turned back to face the crowd.
A cruel smile graced his lips, filled with the satisfaction of a director about to raise the curtain on a grand performance. With the aid of a mage standing nearby, his voice was magically amplified, booming across the entire plaza.
"Now, then. Let the execution ceremony officially begin!"
His voice was not a mere announcement. It was a grim harbinger of the tragedy to come, the opening shot of a mad, sadistic carnival.
The moment his shout faded, the plaza erupted into a deafening roar.
"Whooooaaa! Execute them! Ravish her!"
Thousands of voices melded into a beastly howl, and the air in the plaza grew thick with bloodthirsty heat.
Baek Kang-ho smiled, deeply satisfied by the crowd's frenzied bloodlust. His eyes gleamed with the sheer arrogance of a man in absolute control of the stage. He slowly walked over to Risa.
Risa was drowning in despair, caught between the agonizing pain of her mutilated vagina and the sight of Abel's ruined body. At her feet, Baek Kang-ho tossed a gleaming sword. The sharp, metallic clatter of the blade hitting the stone rang out ominously over the crowd's cheers.
"Go on, take it. I keep my promises—the sword is yours. Just make sure you don't die too quickly. Give the crowd a show they can enjoy for a long, long time."
His voice dripped with mockery, carrying the vile intent of wanting to prolong her torment for as long as humanly possible.
Risa grimaced as she stared down at the sword. Understanding his sadistic design perfectly, her face contorted with a mixture of rage and humiliation.
"Baek Kang-ho, you bastard!!!"
Laughing wickedly, clearly pleased by her furious outburst, Baek Kang-ho began to stroll out of the execution arena. Each of his footsteps felt like the tightening of a noose around Risa and Abel's necks.
The moment he stepped outside the arena, the soldiers holding Risa quickly untied the ropes binding her wrists. Simultaneously, they unlocked the shackles around her ankles.
Risa tried to reach for the sword the instant she was freed, but the soldiers scrambled out of the arena before she could even make a move.
*Clank! Clank!*
The heavy iron gate slammed shut, the locking mechanism echoing across the plaza. Now, Risa was left entirely alone, armed with nothing but a single sword, destined to face a monstrous beast.
The excitement of the crowd soared even higher, the tension reaching a fever pitch.
Though the excruciating pain in her groin and the awkwardness of her high heels threatened to collapse her, Risa grit her teeth and endured.
Her gaze remained locked on Abel, who lay crumpled and helpless inside the net. Without a moment's hesitation, she snatched the sword from the ground.
As the cold steel met her palm, a spark of resolve flared within her. Even with her ankles freed, her steps were clumsy and unstable, but she hurried toward Abel as fast as she could.
With every step, blood and discharge seeped from her ruined vagina, slicking her thighs, but she ignored it.
Trapped in the net and writhing from his shattered knees, Abel screamed in agony as he watched Risa stumble precariously toward him. His face was a mask of sheer helplessness, devastated that he couldn't stop her from risking herself.
"Risa!!"
His voice cracked with desperation, thick with the pain of watching her put herself in danger for his sake.
Paying no mind to his desperate cries, Risa knelt beside him the moment she reached his side. Her face was set with grim determination.
"Hold on, Abel. Just a little longer. I'll cut you out."
With trembling hands, she raised the sword and struck at the net binding him. The sharp blade scraped against the mesh with a harsh screech.
Yet, despite her efforts, the net didn't yield in the slightest. This was no ordinary netting.
It was not woven from delicate thread, but from thick, reinforced steel wire. It possessed a strength far beyond what her slender arms and a simple sword could ever hope to sever.
Risa hacked at it repeatedly, but the net held fast, as if mocking her. Her breath grew shallow, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
Still, she refused to give up, pouring every ounce of her strength into each strike. But only the futile, high-pitched ring of metal clashing against metal echoed through the arena.
Abel watched her desperate, futile struggle with a heavy heart. Deep sorrow and profound frustration flickered in his eyes.
Then, his gaze fell upon the sticky fluid trickling down between her thighs. Abel's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the mixture of blood and discharge slicking her skin.
"Risa! You're bleeding! What... what happened?! What did that bastard Baek Kang-ho do to you?!"
His voice cracked, a frantic, ragged scream. He wanted nothing more than to tear the net apart, leap out, and strangle Baek Kang-ho to death, but his shattered knees and the steel mesh kept him utterly paralyzed.
Risa paid no attention to his frantic outburst. Her focus remained entirely on the trapped man.
Though the agonizing pain in her groin and the fluid running down her legs tortured her, the desperate urge to save Abel overrode all her senses. Clutching the sword, she continued to hack at the steel net with frantic determination.
"That doesn't matter right now. I have to get you out of here."
Her words were resolute, but despite her efforts, the net remained completely unscathed. The blade struck the steel links over and over, producing nothing but hollow metallic clangs. Cold sweat poured down her face, but she did not stop.
Abel couldn't take his eyes off the blood and fluid staining Risa's thighs. As the realization of what Baek Kang-ho had done to her private parts sank in, his blood ran ice-cold with pure, unadulterated rage.
Baek Kang-ho... I'll kill you...
A murderous whisper slipped through his gritted teeth.
It was at that exact moment.
On the far side of the arena, the massive iron gate began to grind open with a low, ominous rumble.
*Screeeeeech— Thuuuud...*
As the colossal gate slowly parted with a bone-chilling screech of metal on metal, the eyes of the crowd shifted in unison. A wave of tension and an inexplicable dread washed over the spectators.
Abel, too, forced his eyes away from Risa's thighs and looked toward the opening gate. A vague, suffocating terror gripped his heart at the thought of what might emerge from the darkness beyond.
But Risa was different. Enduring the agonizing pain in her groin, she didn't even spare a glance at the opening gate, continuing to swing her sword in a desperate bid to free Abel.
Her face held nothing but desperate, agonizing love for him. Her frantic struggle shone all the more pitifully against the backdrop of the approaching horror.
When the massive iron gate finally opened all the way, the space beyond was shrouded in an unexpected, pitch-black silence.
Yet, before the silence could settle, a bone-chilling draft swept over the plaza. The freezing air pouring from the dark abyss coiled around the crowd like a living entity, raising goosebumps on everyone's skin. Shivering from a cold that seemed to penetrate to their very bones, the spectators instinctively shrank back.
And then, from deep within the darkness, a heavy footstep echoed.
*Thud—! Thud—!*
The sound, faint at first, steadily grew louder. It was the sound of an immense entity dragging its massive weight forward. Each step shook the earth, sending vibrations through the iron bars of the arena and out across the entire plaza.
*Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!*
Drawing closer and heavier with every beat, the footsteps sent waves of pure terror straight into the hearts of everyone present.
It sounded like the drums of death, heralds of some colossal, nightmarish entity emerging from the shadows.
The crowd held its collective breath. Their eyes, filled with a mixture of dread and morbid curiosity, locked onto the darkness.
Some swallowed hard, while others bit their nails in fear. Baek Kang-ho's sinister smile widened, and Baek Jang-mi's eyes gleamed with excitement.
Abel, too, seemed to forget the agony of his shattered knees. Swallowing hard, he stared intently into the open gate.
His face was a tense mix of dread for the approaching horror and a desperate urge to protect Risa.
Yet, Risa remained completely oblivious. Though the excruciating pain in her groin weighed heavily on her, her eyes were fixed solely on the steel net binding Abel.
*Thud—! Thud—! Thud—! Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!*
The giant's footsteps grew deafening, shaking the entire execution ground, but Risa didn't even have the luxury of listening. She kept swinging her sword, desperately trying to hack through the net. Only the sharp, frantic *clank! clank!* of the blade striking the steel chain spoke of her desperate heart.
Sweat beaded thicker on her forehead, her breathing growing increasingly ragged.
While everyone in the plaza was transfixed by the approaching terror, Risa alone continued her pitiful struggle to save Abel. Watching from afar, Cheon Su-ryeon felt her heart ache with profound pity.
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