Free Web Novel“Hm?”
Not the bedchamber?
Donna tilted her octopus head in confusion. As the shifting light flickered, the lingering false image dissipated, and the true scene entered her vision.
This was obviously not the bedchamber.
This was some kind of underground bunker-like room built from thick metal walls joined together.
Aside from that extremely ordinary—almost excessively ordinary—door that looked completely out of place here, there were no exits, no other doors, and no windows.
Only a small ventilation fan rotated overhead under the influence of magic power, creaking noisily above them.
“Th... this... where is this?” Donna asked in horror.
“You still don’t understand? One of the Grand Barrier’s functions is the ability to freely relocate targets within its range.”
“I know that already, but why would it be somewhere like this?”
Donna sensed the surroundings slightly and cried out in shock:
“This place is entirely built from anti-magic materials? This much?”
“Of course there’s a lot.”
Afrella smiled and began explaining slowly.
“Let’s start from the beginning. First of all, my royal father fused himself with the Grand Barrier because he feared assassination. Once threatened, he could not only use the Grand Barrier’s power to defend himself at any moment, but could also immediately send himself somewhere safe.”
“The latter was the truly troublesome part. No matter how strong an assassin was, if they couldn’t find the target, there was nothing they could do.”
“Normally, the Grand Barrier possessed the ability to instantly transfer my father anywhere within the city, and it could continue transferring him endlessly, leaving behind only afterimages.”
“But my father was very cowardly. Extremely cowardly. Even after merging with the Grand Barrier, he still kept one of his old habits.”
Afrella paused briefly before continuing.
“That is: the first place he transferred himself to would absolutely be the place he considered safest. And in all of Saint Haze Palace, there was only one such place... this safe room he spent tremendous effort constructing.”
“...Safe room?”
Donna stared with her large round eyes. Somehow, it was actually possible to see a stunned expression on that octopus face.
“That’s right.”
Afrella raised a hand, her fingers gently brushing across the icy wall.
“And this is that safe room. Hidden beneath the residence of some utterly unremarkable palace maid somewhere inside Saint Haze Palace. A safe room whose only entrance was hidden behind a pile of women’s clothes.”
“And since it’s a safe room...”
Afrella looked toward the increasingly horrified and stunned Donna and smiled.
“With how cautious my father is, do you really think he wouldn’t have added a few extra self-defense measures while he was at it?”
Click. Click.
Pero found another hidden mechanism and pressed it lightly.
As the walls shifted with sharp scraping sounds, everything concealed behind the steel plating was revealed.
Magic weapons. Magic scrolls. Magic armor. Magical artifacts.
Layer after layer arranged across shelves like merchandise on display.
The dazzling glow almost hurt the eyes.
“Is... is this really necessary?”
Donna’s octopus face twitched. Even at her level of strength and realm, she could feel intense unease from these objects.
Grand Barrier defenses. Positional transfer. And this hidden, heavily fortified safe room.
Any one of them alone possessed extraordinary survival capabilities, yet on top of all that, there was this terrifying arsenal.
“Under normal circumstances, of course it wouldn’t be necessary. After all, this safe room itself is already extremely hidden and extremely sturdy. It’s practically impossible to breach. But my father fears death more than anyone else.”
Afrella casually selected a compact sleeve crossbow and played with it in her hand, smiling lightly.
“When someone fears death, naturally they prepare a few little self-defense toys.”
Thunk.
The arrow fired and precisely nailed itself into one of Donna’s tentacles.
Donna had only just managed to free half her body from the restraints, but before she could launch a sneak attack, the moment the arrow pierced her tentacle, her entire body suddenly twisted violently.
“AAAAAH!”
Donna let out a shriek.
The arrow was tiny, almost miniature-sized, yet after embedding itself in her body, it felt like a butcher’s cleaver chopping straight through bone. Agonizing pain rapidly spread from that tentacle throughout her entire body, forcing her whole form into uncontrollable spasms.
Some terrifying attribute clung to the arrow. With Donna’s level of power and realm, she could not resist it in the slightest.
“Oh, and by the way—even though these are just little toys, they are still part of a king’s personal collection. I think their power quality should be guaranteed. And since that king was just an ordinary human, the items he prepared for himself can also be used by me.”
Tilting her head, Afrella looked toward Saint Peron V with the warmth of a considerate daughter.
“Wouldn’t you agree, Father?”
“You bastard... you... how do you know about this place? How do you know all this?”
Saint Peron V’s gaunt face had twisted hideously with rage, yet there was nothing he could do.
Because he could no longer move.
Donna had already nearly drained him into a mummy, and after exhausting himself fighting against Muen earlier, he no longer possessed any strength at all.
Forget standing up—even moving a finger was difficult now.
So aside from cursing and screaming, there was nothing he could do.
“Holy shit... this is intense.”
Even Muen was staring blankly now.
He looked at Saint Peron V lying there in impotent fury.
Then at Afrella gently stroking those artifacts on the other side.
And suddenly, the scene felt strangely familiar.
This was clearly Saint Peron V’s safe room. The walls were filled with things he had prepared for himself.
Yet all he could do now was watch the daughter he hated most casually play with them.
In a way... wasn’t this its own form of cuckoldry?
“Have you forgotten, Father? You once brought me here before, although at the time I was only an infant.”
Afrella revealed a nostalgic expression as she spoke slowly.
“I think back then, you truly did love me sincerely. Because an infant couldn’t threaten you. So when that assassination attempt happened, you didn’t think much of it and transferred here while carrying me.”
“That time?” Saint Peron V looked utterly shocked. “You were so young back then...”
“Young doesn’t mean incapable of remembering things. Especially after enduring certain life-and-death hardships. Things buried deep within one’s memories eventually get excavated and turned into weapons.”
“You understood that as well. Which is why later on, you wanted to kill me. That should have been part of your reasoning too, right?”
Afrella lowered her eyes slightly, looking somewhat sorrowful.
“To be honest, I never understood why Brother Aurier chose me. Was it because I was your daughter? No. You had far too many children. Was it because I possessed the same special bloodline as Duke Oransien? No. Because Duke Oransien failed.”
“Later, I finally understood. The reason he chose me was simply because I had once been the daughter you loved most... and then became the daughter you feared most.”
“That was all.”
There was no grand reason.
Only fear.
Fear of his own children.
Fear of being dragged down from his throne.
And fear of death.
So Aurier had been gambling as well.
And he won.
Everything Saint Peron V had done originated from his own cowardice.
And in the end, he would inevitably be devoured by that cowardice.
“So, Father, I’m going to use all these things you painstakingly prepared so that you could safely remain seated high upon your throne... all these things that allowed you to trample this country without fear... to finally end you.”
“...Sounds like a joke, doesn’t it?”
Afrella activated another arrow.
The arrow silently sliced through the air and embedded itself into a tentacle Donna had secretly stretched toward them through the shadows while struggling.
“AAAH!”
Donna screamed again.
But this time, it seemed as though she had adapted to the pain somewhat. Her soft body suddenly rose upright, flesh splitting apart as even more tentacles burst outward and lunged directly toward Pero.
The runes on the arrow flickered, suppressing her battle aura and magic power, but they could not suppress the overwhelming strength of her physical body itself.
“Die, you little bitch! I absolutely won’t let you kill him and stop the arrival of the New World!”
Her mouthparts screeched madly. Donna appeared to have entered a completely frenzied state. All her tentacles writhed violently. Every strike dented the metal floor, and every shockwave was enough to smash Afrella into paste.
Yet Afrella’s expression remained calm.
She casually grabbed a handful of magic scrolls from nearby and tossed them forward.
Bzzzzz—
The scrolls automatically opened and activated.
Three layers of barriers materialized instantly, like phantom mountains.
No matter how violently Donna’s tentacles slammed against them, the barriers did not move in the slightest.
Breaking through them was even more impossible.
“Holy shit... she’s rich.”
Muen’s eyes were practically bulging out of his head.
With his experience, he naturally recognized how absurdly expensive these magic scrolls were—scrolls that only required the tiniest bit of magic power to activate.
They were at least an entire tier above the ones he normally used. Very likely crafted by a Truth-Rank Grand Sorcerer. Outside, any single one would sell for an astronomical price, because each scroll represented a life-saving trump card.
But here, Afrella casually tossed out... entire handfuls.
“We’ve barely even started. These are Father’s carefully collected treasures from decades of hoarding. How could they only amount to this?”
Afrella casually reached to the side again and pulled a wooden sword from one of the shelves.
The wooden sword looked utterly ordinary. The weathered wood grain was even visible across its surface.
Yet with a casual slash from Afrella—
Half of Donna’s tentacles were instantly severed.
Next came a small sphere.
The sphere spun rapidly in place before lightly bumping into Donna.
Donna was instantly blasted backward and collapsed limply to the floor as though struck by a giant boulder, black blood spraying from her mouthparts.
Then came a small wooden box.
Afrella shook it slightly, seemingly unsure what exactly was inside.
But when she opened it, a voice suddenly came from within:
“Tasty!”
Then nearly half of Donna’s body vanished as though something had directly eaten it.
She crashed to the floor, internal organs spilling everywhere.
“No, no, no—don’t use that! Don’t use that! That’s mine! That’s mine!”
As Afrella continued using them, Saint Peron V’s screams became sharper and sharper. Blood tears even streamed from the corners of his eyes.
But for now, Afrella paid him no attention.
She simply continued using the objects that once belonged to him to slowly devour Donna’s life.
“No... no... how can this happen... how can this happen...”
Donna writhed, struggled, and convulsed across the ground as well. Her round eyes stared at Afrella with incomparably deep hatred, only for that hatred to gradually turn into confusion.
The little girl before her should have been someone she could kill with a simple flick of a tentacle.
That was how it was supposed to be.
Yet because of these artifacts, she had instead become the one being brutally toyed with.
And the greatest irony was that these artifacts... should originally have belonged to her side.
Or rather, to that “great sovereign.”
That “great” king.
“Saint Peron V!”
At last, Donna let out a despairing scream.
“You’re useless! Useless! Your so-called great sovereign bullshit is worthless—you’re useless! This is all your fault! You’re a completely worthless idiot!”
“Thank you. I think so too.”
Afrella nodded lightly.
Then she threw something else.
This time, it was a painting.
A painting of a hand.
The hand gradually solidified before suddenly reaching out from the painting and grabbing Donna’s head.
The next instant—
Donna’s head exploded.
The hand then took out a handkerchief, elegantly wiped away the filth nearby, and slowly retreated back into the painting.
Only a twitching headless corpse remained behind.
Clearly, she truly was merely a somewhat special magical beast. She did not possess the sort of monstrous regenerative ability that allowed recovery even after losing her head.
She died completely and utterly.
“Now... it’s your turn.”
And so, the room suddenly fell silent.
Afrella raised her head and stared at the old face that was no longer screaming, but had instead gone deathly pale.
“My dear father.”
