Chapter 166

166 Explosives

Selma Payne’s POV:

The moment it touched my skin, a sharp pain suddenly burst out from the top of my head. Those tattoo-like engravings lit up like neon lights!

The pain made me lose control of my body, and I fell to the snow like a broken sack. The earthworms swarmed up like leeches that saw blood and drowned me instantly.

“Selma!”

I saw Dorothy reach out to me in panic at the last moment.

The dark red liquid tightly bound my vision, and I felt like I was a larva in a cocoon wrapped in cold mucus. They tried to invade my seven orifices and pores, but the engravings that emitted a soft golden light loyally protected me.

A power as gentle as the moonlight spread, forming a thin, formidable protective barrier between the sap and me.

After the failed attempt, the sap began to press down on my body. However, the soft protective barrier suddenly became as hard as steel, and I could not move it.

Taking advantage of this gap, I hoped to tear a hole in the cocoon, but the sap seemed to endlessly fill up the hole I created. It seemed to want to twist and break me when I moved my hands and feet.

My struggle failed, and I could only give up on moving. I used the mark to fight the sap.

Why was I always the one dragging me down?

I had never hated my weakness as much as I do now. Like Aldrich said, “Compared to true power, you are still far from it.”

I thought I was a qualified warrior if I could show off my fists and feet on the training ground, but reality had hit me repeatedly. My strength did not match my ambition.

Every time I rushed to the front and tried to be a qualified leader, I became an arrogant burden, putting everyone in danger. I tried to save everyone, but I couldn’t even save myself.

A ridiculous pine tree and a pile of disgusting sap. These were the unsolvable problems that lay before me. If I were a witch or an experienced warrior, I would not be as helpless as I am now.

But I was nothing. I was just a young girl who dreamt of being a queen.

Hot tears flowed down my cheeks. Look, what a fragile little princess. Arrogance was just an illusion under layers of protection. When I encountered a life-and-death situation, I could only cry shamelessly.

The power of the mark was getting weaker and weaker. I could feel the cold temperature of the sap gradually seeping into the soft protective film.

Maybe I’d die in less than a minute.

What would happen to the people I leave behind if I couldn’t escape?

My father would sigh in silence, and my mother would cry to death.

Dorothy would live in the shadow of her good friend’s death for the rest of her life.

Aldrich, my lover, I couldn’t imagine his red eyes at my funeral.

And Mara and Avril, I couldn’t be their bridesmaid anymore.

And the new friends we made in the social class, we no longer had the chance to laugh at the etiquette teacher’s tight collar.

I once swore to return to my hometown in glory to repay my adoptive parents and brother for raising me. Now, it seemed that I might have to go back on my word.

There was one more person.

My enemy, the great demon Leviathan, hurt me and lured me to the Rocky Mountains. Did she predict everything that would happen today?

What we encountered, whether the illusion in the snowy night or the constantly moving pine forest, was this the demonic power that leaked from the seal or a trap she had set up long ago?

This despicable demon, had it been hiding in the dark for a long time to enjoy our final struggle?

I suddenly felt a gaze filled with malice and ridicule. It was trying to capture every second of panic and despair on my face through the tight cocoon.

‘Moon Goddess, please tell me, is she there? Or is it all just my illusion?’

I suddenly felt wronged and angry. Why? Why must it be me?

I thought I’d been working hard, trying to train my strength, trying to learn everything a princess should have, and trying to bear the responsibilities I should bear.

I’d been looking forward to achieving something one day, but why was I always the one being played by fate?

Why was I always the one who had to swallow my anger?

I thought the sap must have affected me because I felt anger and irritation from the bottom of my heart. These sudden intense emotions were like a sharp steel cone, easily piercing my fragile heart.

I didn’t want to endure it anymore.

This was a world where danger lurked everywhere, and it was also an unfair world. Danger always existed, and safety was just a lie. Natural-born demons had the power to rule over life, while weak creations, no matter how hard they tried, could only become puppets for people to play on the stage.

But why?

Why could Leviathan toy with me in peace while I could only accept her malice?

Was it because of this ridiculous difference in power? Was it because I couldn’t match her natural strength even if I worked hard to death?

Why couldn’t I be the one with this power if that was the case?

If I had this power, could I turn the audience below the stage into puppets on the stage?