Chapter 185 - Pain Is Real

Prince Edwin opened his eyes and found himself inside the King's Court. He got up on his feet and was as confused as the others regarding how he ended up where he was. He looked around him and there was no one else inside the Court. "What am I doing here? Did I sleepwalk or something?"

He exhaled and thought, "I guess this test is stressing me out. I have never sleepwalked before. I should go back to my room to get a night of proper sleep."

Edwin was about to turn around to head towards the door but his eyes fell on the golden crown of the King that was lying on the throne. He wanted to walk away but his greedy heart wanted to try on that crown and sit down on that throne.

"There is no one here to see me. I guess I will take a taste of how it feels to sit down on that throne. It is going to be mine anyway." Edwin smirked to himself and then began to head towards the throne with a great sense of self-esteem.

But his self-esteem began to dwindle when his feet were not taking him anywhere near to that throne. He increased his pace but he felt as though he was walking on the same spot over and over again. He started to get agitated, and he began to run at his full speed while gnashing his teeth. But even when he ran, he was unable to reach that throne. Rather, the throne seemed to be moving further and further away from him.

He stopped while panting and shouted, "What kind of sorcery is this? Am I dreaming?" He punched himself on his gut and the pain was very real. He groaned and crouched down. He had hit himself a little too hard because he was almost sure that he was dreaming.

And out of nowhere, Edwin heard the loud laughter of the King. He glanced in front of him and the King was sitting on his throne in his full Royal attire. And he was laughing while pointing his finger at Edwin. "What an idiot! I can't believe that you fell for my trick. I had you chasing this throne for years and you actually did it."

The King cackled again and said, "But you know what? I am never going to give this throne to you." Edwin could not bear that mocking laughter from the King and he jumped towards the throne.

Somewhere else, the screeching sound was getting closer and closer.

At this point, running was not an option for Adeline. The whole place was made out of rocks and running would only make the enemy aware of her movements.

And what good would running do? She didn't even know if there were any exits in that cave somewhere. She had already looked everywhere and there was no luck. She would have been able to feel the wind blowing from somewhere if there really was an opening. And the air was very still inside the cave further proving that Adeline was trapped inside.

So she took a deep breath in and held her ground, determined to fight off whatever was coming towards her. She closed her eyes and began to focus on the screeching sound to estimate the distance between her and that thing.

Now that she was completely focused and was willing to fight, she noticed that the screeches were coming from three different sources. And she could tell that it was not from knives or swords or any weapons of that sort, it was from something completely different.

Adeline was also sure that whatever it was, it was neither animal nor human because she was also hearing the faint tapping of its toes that sounded as though it had sharp claws on its legs.

When that thing was close enough but still far away for her to attack, it suddenly stopped screeching as well as moving. And it began to chuckle very grimly sending echoes throughout the cave.

However, Adeline was unfazed by that sick laughter and she shouted furiously instead, "Why have you locked me here? Who the hell are you?"

That thing chuckled again and spoke in a hoarse and ragged voice, "You just told who I am. Hell. I am your Hell."

Adeline scoffed, "You are my Hell?" she gave a soft chuckle and repositioned herself so that she was facing in the direction of that thing, "Don't flatter yourself. Get your arse over here and let's see who is whose Hell. Don't underestimate me, because I can bring down Hell upon you."

That thing clicked its tongue and said, "Ah! Right! You cannot see me… let me help you, maybe it will help you to jog your memory."

Then maybe it performed some kind of magic because the whole cave was now filled with light. "Remember me?" That creature tilted its head to the side and gave a smile while showing its razor-like fangs.

And Adeline's heart jumped inside her chest when she saw the tall and slender figure that was standing not too far away from her while flashing its fangs and claws. Adeline recognized what it was.

It was a Ghoul. No, no, not just a Ghoul but the Ghoul. It was Izel, Theodore's follower. Yes, the same one who had hurt Adeline a long time ago.

If it wasn't for her pride, Adeline would have screamed out of fear the moment she saw that nasty creature that she had wished she would never encounter again. But she had just threatened Izel saying that she would bring Hell upon him. And that very threat of her pressured her to maintain her calm even in front of that deadly creature from literal Hell.

Adeline glared at the Ghoul and asked him in a stern voice, "Izel. Why did you bring me here?"

"Let's just say… because I want to… eat you." Izel gave a malicious grin and inched closer to her.

Adeline still tried to maintain her composure and reason with Izel, "You don't want to do that, Izel. Theodore will kill you when he finds out that you have held me hostage."

"Don't worry about what might happen after you die. I will deal with my master." Izel gave a little chuckle and without any warning leaped on the air to attack Adeline. It spread six of its dangly claws when it neared Adeline's face and swiped it across.

Adeline leaned backward in time to dodge the attack and she missed the claws by a hair. She quickly did a backflip while kicking that Ghoul right on its face. It just moved an inch.

And before Adeline could land on her feet, the Ghoul was fast enough to catch her in the air and smash her down on the rocks. Adeline hit her back very badly and she coughed some blood. Without giving her another second to recover from that, Izel straddled Adeline. He flashed his pointy claws again and dug its claws at both sides of Adeline's stomach.

She gave out a gut-wrenching cry of pain. Blood started to ooze out from her open wounds and a pool was formed underneath her.. It was a bloodbath.