Free Web Novel“I finally... caught you, Muen Campbell.”
Thick tentacles swept across every inch of the floor, leaving behind viscous slime and a sharp fishy stench. It was hard to say whether Donna was “walking” at this moment or “wriggling” forward.
But she had arrived behind Muen all the same.
No longer separated by space. Truly behind him.
After the Grand Barrier had been completely locked down by Saint Peron V’s equal authority and far more practiced operation, Muen naturally could no longer shift elsewhere again. He could only face this enemy who had arrived with her full strength and fury.
As for himself, his battle aura, magic power, and mental strength were all on the verge of exhaustion. Yet the blade in his hand was still the width of a sheet of paper away from Saint Peron V.
A single sheet of paper, like an uncrossable chasm.
Just as Muen now faced Donna—even if he had been able to carve through all of Saint Haze Palace, in his current condition, there was absolutely no way he could defeat Donna.
A dead end.
“Unfortunately, in the end, I was still one step too slow.”
Muen let out a long sigh, looking somewhat helpless.
To be honest, just now, he had once seen the first glimmer of victory. But he had not expected this old monster’s desire to live to be so intense. Even after nearly turning into a dried corpse, he had still managed to burst out with unexpected strength at the final moment.
That strength had not been great, but in the end, it had still affected the tilt of the scales.
“Heh heh... You wanted to kill me?”
Beneath the spotlight, Saint Peron V split his mouth open and revealed an incomparably ugly mocking smile.
“I told you. You can’t kill me. No one can kill me. I am the king of this nation. I am an unprecedented great sovereign. I... will never die!”
“...”
Muen did not continue debating this boring question with Saint Peron V, who had repeated it who knew how many times. Instead, he fell briefly into thought. Now that his attempt to assassinate Saint Peron V had clearly failed, next...
“Do you still want to make some futile resistance?”
Donna twisted her body, carefully studying Muen’s current state while staying on guard against anything he might do.
To her, this fellow before her was far too cunning. She had to be wary of any other backup plans he might still have.
“Give up. It’s already over,” Donna said coldly, already preparing to attack at any moment.
“...Yeah. It’s over.”
After a brief moment of thought, Muen could only reveal a bitter smile.
One man had come all this way alone, all the way to this point. Even if he had bones of steel, even if he had squeezed every last drop of potential out of himself, at this moment, there was nothing he could do.
No matter how hard a human struggled, there was always a limit. Unless he stopped being human, there was no way to break through the predicament before him.
Since that was the case, there was only that one option.
Within his mental space, that black sun had almost swallowed the entire “world.” But with no other path in this hopeless situation, Muen could only choose to once again...
“No, it isn’t over yet.”
But at that moment, a fourth person’s voice suddenly sounded in the room, causing all three people present to pause at the same time.
“This long story hasn’t even had its final period placed yet. How could it be considered over?”
That voice was abrupt, even somewhat out of place.
Because no matter who it was, it would be hard to imagine such a young voice appearing in a place of confrontation this important, this critical.
And yet it was so clear.
Because the owner of that voice was right here.
“Pero?”
Muen froze slightly, because he had not expected her to be here.
When he turned toward the voice and looked over, he subconsciously froze again.
Because what entered his sight was not the little brat Pero he knew, but rather...
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound of deerskin boots stepping across the floor was exceptionally crisp.
At this moment, in one corner of the room, a door was pushed open, and a young girl in a soft, adorable court dress stepped out, like a warm breeze suddenly intruding into the center of a storm.
The youthful and lovely princess slowly appeared, making even the light in this place seem to brighten somewhat.
“Why are you here?” Muen asked, somewhat shocked.
Because whether it was the girl who had suddenly broken in or the way she looked at this moment, both were completely beyond his expectations.
This was something he could never have imagined, no matter how many times he started over.
Especially because although he had long known she was a tomboy, only after actually seeing her like this did he realize that he had still underestimated the contrast.
Aside from the somewhat regrettable openness across her chest, which made it very easy for her to disguise herself as a tomboy, every other aspect had already begun to show the makings of a beauty.
Of course, that openness was still a little inferior compared to Ariel’s.
“Is it so strange? Of course I’m here because I’m the one who should be here more than anyone.”
The girl elegantly pinched up the hem of her skirt and descended the steps. One step at a time, steady and quiet.
The dress looked somewhat ill-fitting, but it still could not hide the girl’s excellent foundation. After the freckles had been wiped away, her face was pale and flawless; several years of wind and sun had somehow left no trace on her at all.
And so, at the very final moment, the girl who had turned from Cinderella back into a princess once more joined this battlefield.
“Isn’t that right, Father?”
Pero looked toward the figure at the center of the room, her gaze incomparably complicated.
All these years, she had always feared Aurier, her elder brother. But how could she not also have feared this father, who had once been kind to her?
After all, even someone as formidable as Aurier had been suppressed by him until he could not turn over.
And now, she had taken Aurier’s place and personally come here.
The word fate was truly impossible to grasp.
“Afrella?”
Saint Peron V’s lips trembled.
“Is... is that you?”
“Afrella?”
Muen’s eyes became even stranger.
“What a cute name. Damn it, how am I supposed to treat the little brat in my memories now?”
“Just treat me the same way you used to!”
Pero... no, the young girl who had now returned to her true name, Afrella Saint Peron, blushed slightly and shot Muen a fierce glare. Only then did she answer her father’s greeting.
“Good morning, my dear father.”
Afrella dipped into a curtsy.
“Your daughter has crawled out of hell to see you.”
“Impossible... impossible! Afrella is already dead! She’s already dead! Aurier personally placed her bones before me! Aurier...”
Saint Peron V was first dazed, then enlightened, and finally shocked to the point of anger.
“So that’s it. Was it Aurier? Was it that bastard Aurier? Did he deceive me?”
“Yes. Brother Aurier spared me and had me return before you at this moment,” Afrella replied with a nod.
“I should have killed that bastard sooner!”
Saint Peron V gnashed his teeth and said viciously, “I knew long ago that he was an ungrateful wolf, a beast. The lust for power in his eyes was practically slapping me across the face—and I clearly wasn’t dead yet! Damn it! If not for the fact that he was still somewhat useful... I should have killed him sooner. Sooner...”
“What use is saying that now?”
Afrella said calmly, “Are there few children who have died by your hand, Father?”
“...”
Saint Peron V did not answer.
Or rather, he could not answer.
He merely widened his cloudy eyes, as if he wanted to curse this unfilial daughter to death once more with his venomous gaze.
“All right.”
Donna suddenly clapped her hands—if two tentacles slapping together could be considered clapping.
“Sorry to interrupt this touching father-daughter reunion, but now really isn’t the time for that, is it?”
Donna turned her head. The large eyes on both sides of her octopus head fixed firmly on Afrella.
“Little girl, what are you doing here?”
“Very simple. I’m here to place the final period on this long story of blood kin killing blood kin.”
Afrella said, “I came to end all of this.”
“With you?”
Donna laughed, as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world, laughing so hard that every tentacle on her body trembled.
“You think you can end all of this? Little girl, did you not wake up from your nap, or are you still lost in some ridiculous dream? You want to end all of this with what? That pretty princess dress you’re wearing?”
“Of course not.”
Afrella shook her head.
“I changed into these clothes only so that I could meet my destiny in my true identity.”
“Then what are you relying on?”
After laughing up to this point, Donna instead became puzzled.
Because she truly did not understand what gave this little girl the nerve to say such shamelessly grand words before her.
She was weak.
Donna could sense that very clearly. This little girl’s strength was as weak as an ant by the roadside. If Muen Campbell, whose lamp had run dry, might still be hiding some power that could threaten her, then Donna could confirm with one hundred percent certainty that the little girl before her could not threaten her.
And she did not possess a Grand Barrier control core either, because there were only two Grand Barrier control cores.
So what was she relying on to supposedly end everything?
Dreaming?
“Forget it. One after another, you all keep doing these absurd things. I’m getting irritated.”
Donna rubbed her head with a tentacle and sighed in extreme distress.
“Although those words of yours sound very frightening, you really aren’t threatening at all. Just to be safe, I’ll still kill this guy first before killing you. But judging by your eyes, this guy is very important to you, isn’t he?
“Very well. I’ll kill him right in front of you first. After that, I’ll kill you. Stay in that special seat and enjoy the show.”
Boom!
The air suddenly roared.
Donna slapped several tentacles against the ground, and her entire body shot toward Muen like a cannonball.
Her speed was extremely fast.
On top of that, the distance between them had already been short to begin with, so in just an instant, she arrived before Muen.
“She’s coming...”
Muen’s expression grew grave, and his entire body tensed.
He did not know what Pero intended to do, but out of trust in his first believer, he still decided to temporarily give up that last, unavoidable choice and take this attack head-on first.
“Just don’t know if I can take it.”
Muen smiled bitterly.
“Don’t worry.”
Afrella seemed to be answering Muen’s question as she said softly,
“You don’t need to take it head-on, and nothing will happen. Because from the moment I confirmed you were here, we had already won.”
“You think a little brat like you can win? What dream are you—wait. Don’t tell me...”
To the side, Saint Peron V had been sneering, but he suddenly seemed to think of something. His face changed drastically, and he roared sharply, “Afrella, don’t tell me you...”
But before he could finish speaking, Afrella suddenly raised her palm and slapped it against the wall beside her.
Click.
In an instant, some kind of mechanism was directly triggered. The rumbling collision of machinery immediately echoed throughout the room.
Donna’s body, which had been charging toward Muen, abruptly stopped, as if something had pulled her back. She was directly pinned in place.
Her tentacles writhed, trying to break free, but the force exerted upon her was exceptionally powerful. For a moment, she had no way out at all.
“Damn it... damn it! Damn it! What is going on?”
Donna was incredulous. Her tentacles twisted and curled in constant struggle. She could feel that what restrained her was some powerful magical array, but why would there be a magical array here?
And why could this little girl use it directly?
Was this not that old thing’s bedchamber?
Why...
“Bedchamber? You still haven’t noticed the problem?”
Afrella said,
“Look carefully. Where exactly is this place?”
