Chapter : 155
“Ah, no! The young lady is still inside…!”
It was Joanna.
Using the servants’ quarters in the annex, she had fortunately avoided the immediate danger, but upon realizing the seriousness of the situation, she immediately tried to head toward the main building’s central hall.
However, the townhouse’s butler stopped her.
“Joanna! What do you think you’re doing? Didn’t you hear me say to get out of the way?!”
“B-But the young lady isn’t outside! She must still be trapped in her room!”
As Joanna spoke, her voice trembling with tears, the butler’s face turned pale as if the very air had been sucked out of him.
“What do you mean by that?!”
“We have to save the young lady immediately!”
Joanna cried out again, her voice choked with emotion.
But the butler, undisturbed by the panic, quickly regained his composure. He shook his head firmly and tightened his grip on Joanna’s hand.
It was impossible to enter anyway.
“It’s no use! All the stairs leading inside have been destroyed!”
“B-But—!”
“Don’t worry. The young lady was with Sir Gary, wasn’t she? He surely would have escorted her out before this disaster began. So stop acting like this here…!”
“Huuh! Young lady! Young lady!”
The townhouse’s butler, tears streaming down his face, gripped Joanna’s arms tightly to prevent her from running into the building.
One wanted to go alone; the other refused to let her go.
Their opposing forces clashed, naturally blocking each other’s path.
In the struggle, both the butler and Joanna lost their balance and fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, the monsters that had fallen from the second floor were steadily closing the distance between them and the two humans.
“Ah…!”
In her mind, she knew they had to get up and run.
But when terror reaches its peak, the body often refuses to move.
Helplessly, the butler and Joanna could only stare blankly at the monsters approaching them.
“How dare you, wicked creatures.”
A calm but stern voice pierced through the chaos.
The butler finally exhaled, shaking off his fear, and spoke with a trembling voice:
“W-Who…?”
Before he could even identify the voice, transparent blue and platinum light suddenly surged from behind.
“Set up a barrier. Not a single one of them must escape this place.”
The commanding voice belonged to an elderly priest in charge of the capital’s main temple.
He was the same priest who officiated Sebastian and Erica’s wedding nine years ago.
His face, slightly older now, was hardened with rage.
At his command, the young priests accompanying him solemnly formed a barrier.
The sacred energy spread widely, creating a wall that blocked Joanna and the butler from the monsters’ path.
For the butler and Joanna, it was literally a hair’s breadth that prevented contact with the creatures.
“Phew…”
A sigh of relief escaped naturally.
While the priests’ barrier bought them precious time, the royal guards arrived, walking briskly to lift the two to their feet.
Looking around now, the entire townhouse grounds were densely surrounded by royal knights and temple priests.
“Both of you, move outside.”
Joanna, finally regaining her wits, barely had time to straighten her disheveled appearance before she spoke.
“P-Please save us!”
Though she herself was powerless, she thought that these people might be able to!
If they were royal guards, perhaps they could manage.
And the person trapped inside wasn’t a commoner—it was a high-ranking noble!
Her urgency made her voice rise again.
“Please, save them! There’s still someone inside…! Our young lady! Duchess Acliff might still be there!”
But the knights didn’t seem willing to enter.
They ignored Joanna’s pleas and simply pulled her away.
Meanwhile, the monsters that had fallen from the second floor now completely filled the first floor.
Instinctively, they began crawling toward the humans, not caring that they were trampling over one another. They were lifeforms far removed from any notion of order.
But they couldn’t fulfill their desires.
The barrier created by the priests blocked their path, preventing any further advance.
Their bodies collapsed against the semi-transparent barrier.
Apparently not realizing they could no longer proceed, they even began piling up against it.
The sight was grotesque, inducing a sense of revulsion.
It was natural that the priests, who had to maintain the barrier with their sacred power, began to feel the strain of focusing under such a horrifying spectacle.
Their concentration wavered, and with it, the barrier itself began to falter.
“Can’t you all keep your focus?!”
The elderly priest shouted, but it was useless.
Cold sweat formed on his brow, overwhelmed by the weight of the situation, sliding down his temple.
“It seems that Duke Acliff is not here.”
The captain of the royal guards muttered with a voice full of concern after briefly surveying the area within range.
“Then it would be best to gradually retreat a little.”
The elder priest quickly suggested this to the captain, assessing the junior priests.
Being too close to the monsters offered no advantage. Widening the distance and reinforcing the barrier would be safer and help maintain it more reliably.
However, the captain looked hesitant.
Seeing this, the priest quickly added:
“The number of monsters is too large. Our priests won’t be able to hold out for long.”
“Hrm.”
The captain frowned, contemplating seriously.
It’s always easier to maintain control once you’ve established a first line of defense. Besides, localizing the monster’s appearance made future management easier.
But physically restraining the monsters relied entirely on the priests’ abilities, so their advice had to be considered.
“Then what range do you propose?”
The barrier currently only covered the building.
The elder priest remained silent for a moment, then spoke gravely:
“First, expand it to cover the entire townhouse. In the meantime, evacuate the nearby residents.”
The captain, finding the suggestion reasonable, nodded without objection.
At that moment, a voice they hadn’t heard in a long time came from behind.
“Phew… Fortunately, we’re not too late.”
The elder priest’s eyes widened, and he quickly turned around.
“…!”
“What on earth is this…!”
The crown prince, having just entered the outskirts of the capital, looked utterly bewildered.
“Why is that here again?”
His voice trembled with a mix of disbelief and exasperation.
Understandably so.
In his wide-open eyes, the black pillars of smoke rising violently into the sky were clearly visible.
“My goodness.”
He was returning from the long, exhausting Holy Beast War, finally concluded after six years.
Originally, he would have spent several more months in Pelloz, but he had hurriedly returned due to a secret letter sent by Sebastian.
The letter contained a heartfelt request to adjust plans and join them, which the prince accepted, thinking, “It wouldn’t hurt to leave a small task for the future Duke Acliff.”
Given his personal regard and camaraderie with Sebastian, it was a generous decision he could make.
‘But what the hell is this?’
The crown prince, who had never once forgotten his duties, now felt an overwhelming urge to turn back and retreat.
‘Why is that in the capital? It even looks much stronger than the pillars that appeared in Pelloz!’
