Chapter 320 [Illustration]

Chapter 320 [Illustration]

“Where the hell is he and what is he doing?” Riana de Granz muttered with a frown, arms crossed.

The Miss & Mister Temple contest had already started. The Royal Class students who had gone to watch were all seated together.

“Indeed...” Harriet murmured quietly in response to Riana’s irritated question.

All the contestants were students, but they were all exceptionally good-looking, and if they lacked in appearance, they made up for it with impressive talents.

Ellen was the ninth contestant. Contestant number seven had just finished, and it would soon be Ellen’s turn.

All their classmates, including Connor Lint, were present, but Reinhart was nowhere to be seen.

What was he doing?

Harriet felt conflicted. She didn’t know what Reinhart was up to, but she had assumed he would come. Yet, he hadn’t shown up.

According to Riana, that fifth-year senior hadn’t appeared in the waiting room either, for whatever reason.

What was going on?

‘He should be here, so why isn’t he coming?’

Harriet felt a mix of relief and disappointment at Reinhart’s absence. She knew it was cowardly to hope he wouldn’t come, but she was also afraid to see how Ellen would look that day.

Everyone was puzzled by Reinhart’s absence.

Harriet watched the situation unfold, feeling anxious and uneasy, without even knowing why she was so nervous.

Contestant number seven, who had been trembling slightly, managed to finish their dance number and went backstage. It was now time for contestant number eight.

That person finished, and Harriet’s anxiousness grew.

It was time for contestant number nine.

—Now, we have a contestant from the Royal Class. As you all know, in the Royal Class, their class numbers indicate their skill level. This contestant is from the first-year Class A, and she’s number 2. Please welcome Ellen!

Ellen walked onto the stage, accompanied by the audience’s applause.

“...”

Harriet had known it all along, of course. Although Ellen always wore either her school uniform or her training clothes, Harriet was well aware that Ellen had a striking appearance.

However, seeing Ellen properly dressed up left Harriet in awe. Her mouth fell slightly agape without her realizing it.

Riana seemed to have spent all this time searching for the color that suited Ellen best.

Ellen was wearing a pure white dress, and her hair was tied up with a ribbon as an accent. With her white heels, Ellen stood out so much that even Harriet thought she overshadowed the other contestants.

Riana looked at Ellen with satisfaction, and Ellen’s classmates, as well as the rest of the audience who didn’t know Ellen, stared at her in a daze.

Ellen had diligently practiced smiling, and so the smile she had on was rather convincing.

Looking the way she did, she could stand shoulder to shoulder with Olivia without any shame, Harriet thought.

Ellen stood there with her smile, disregarding the audience’s reaction, peering at the audience as if searching for something. As if searching for someone.

Ellen’s gaze eventually met Harriet’s. She scanned the area around Harriet, as if looking for someone who wasn’t there.

Her gaze returned to Harriet, a questioning look in her eyes.

It seemed she hadn’t found the one she was looking for.

Harriet felt her heart tighten, even though she wasn’t the one on stage.

Ellen’s eyes held a question for Harriet. ‘Isn’t Reinhart here?’

Harriet didn’t know how to respond to that gaze. She couldn’t smile, nor could she cry. She must have made a very strange expression.

Ellen lowered her eyes, as if Harriet’s troubled expression was already an answer.

—Ms. Ellen, do you have a special reason for participating in Miss Temple?

—Oh...

Ellen’s lips trembled. She seemed to want to say something.

Harriet watched as Ellen stood there, trembling slightly, her head lowered.

—Is there someone special you wanted to show this look to today?

There was silence on stage.

Ellen couldn’t answer the host’s question. The question pierced directly into Ellen’s heart.

She needed to say something, but she didn’t know how to say anything to someone who wasn’t there. Harriet gritted her teeth as she watched Ellen struggle.

Just a moment ago, Harriet had thought it was a relief that Reinhart hadn’t come. Seeing Ellen in such a pitiful state, though, Harriet had only one thought in her mind.

Ellen looked like she was about to break.

No matter what, Harriet didn’t want that to happen.

‘Where are you...?’’ Harriet thought as she clenched her fists unconsciously. ‘Where are you and what are you doing...?’

She felt a surge of resentment towards Reinhart for not being there.

***

Sarkegar observed the situation from just outside the abandoned monastery. The monastery, which hadn’t been used in a long time, was massive, and an eerie atmosphere had settled upon it due to its prolonged abandonment.

Sarkegar still didn’t fully understand the situation. He had followed orders and hastened over because there was a need for force, but he still did not understand the full picture. He only knew there were people to rescue and enemies to eliminate.

He didn’t know why, but this mission required them to reveal their existence.

At the moment, though, the objective, as always, was infiltration. This time, it was a rescue mission, not a kidnapping.

Sarkegar transformed into a sparrow and flew over the monastery’s outer wall, entering the monastery with ease. While the security wasn’t tight, there were still guards stationed at various points.

Among them were about twenty elite guards who posed a real threat.

His lord had ordered him to rescue two women: one trapped inside the monastery and another who had just rushed into the monastery.

There were likely more armed personnel capable of using Divine Power within the monastery.

Sarkegar was a demon. While not as vulnerable to Divine Power as the undead Eleris, he still didn’t fare well against it. Infiltrating a place teeming with high-ranking holy knights wasn’t exactly pleasant.

But did he have a choice when it came to carrying out orders?

Sarkegar flew carefully inside the monastery, sensing the presence of others.

He did not need to search meticulously; he could hear an agitated voice coming from a courtyard.

—Where is Adriana?

It was the woman who had just arrived at the monastery.

—That will depend on your answer.

—You already know what my answer will be.

—Then you also know what will happen.

—What do you want?

Sarkegar moved closer to the voices.

A middle-aged man sat on an old chair by a campfire in one of the monastery’s courtyards, flanked by several holy knights. Opposite him stood a young blonde woman in a Temple uniform.

Sarkegar recognized the middle-aged man as Leverier Lanche.

“Return to Ouen. Retract all your previous testimonies and publicly declare your regret.”

“...”

“After which, the Church of the Five Gods, led by the Order of the Holy Knights, will break away from the empire and establish an independent Holy Empire. You will be the first Holy Emperor of that empire.”

Slash!

“Ugh!”

Swoosh!

“Argh!”

Unexpectedly, the throats of the two holy knights holding onto Adriana were suddenly slit.

Both Oliviat and Leverier Lanche stared open-mouthed at the sudden fountain of blood.

As the two headless bodies flailed about in the darkness, a figure caught Adriana’s falling body.

“Humans.”

A shadowy figure, like a manifestation of darkness, muttered from a red maw within the darkness. “How can they be so wicked?”

The shadowy figure, which looked like a pure manifestation of evil, smiled as it mused about the depths of human wickedness.

Swish!

The dark figure reached out, and shadows enveloped Olivia’s entire body.

“Wh-what is this...!”

“A... a demon...?!”

Olivia was suddenly bound up by the mysterious figure, just like Adriana.

The figure, with wings like shadowy membranes, took to the sky.

Whoosh!

“Ahahahahahaha!”

With a maniacal laugh that ripped through the night, the monster that had snatched Adriana disappeared into the sky. Olivia, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, found herself dangling in midair, caught in the monster’s trap.

—What, what is this?! Let me goooo...!

Her cute and delicate scream didn’t match the serious and ominous atmosphere at all.

“What is that!?” Leverier Lanche exclaimed.

“It seems to be a demon, sir!”

“How... how can there be a demon in the imperial capital...?!”

Leverier Lanche pointed at the mysterious demon that had suddenly taken Olivia and Adriana, but no one could identify it.

However, the confusion over the demon’s appearance didn’t last long, as an even more bewildering situation unfolded.

Rumble... Rumble...!

Dark clouds gathered in the night sky, and lightning crackled within the ominous clouds.

Flash!

In an instant, bolts of lightning began to rain down from the sky.

Harriet de Saint-Ouen had summoned lightning bolts during her battle with Olivia Lanche. Now, dozens of those bolts were pouring down.

Rumble!

“Ugh!”

“It’s magic!”

The holy knights activated their Divine Power to protect themselves, but those who did not manage to react in time were instantly charred and crumbled to ashes.

This was the highest level of destructive magic, Thunderstorm.

“It’s a demon attack!” The holy knights cried out, quickly assessing the situation. However, things were not looking good.

The Thunderstorm was just the beginning.

Zzzzzing!

A strange, tearing sound echoed around the monastery, and massive shockwaves erupted from the north, south, east, and west, punctuated by four massive explosions.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The spell “Explosion” was cast four times in succession, causing the structure of the already-dilapidated monastery to crumble and collapse.

Holy knights, priests, and members of the secret society who did not have access to strong protection spells were immediately blown to pieces.

It was an instantaneous massacre.

The sudden assault by a high-level mage turned the place into a living hell. Lightning rained down on the holy knights as explosions ripped through the monastary.

And then...

Rumble...

The ground shook, and flames began to erupt from the earth.

Lightning rained from the sky while a storm of fire erupted from the ground.

A Firestorm began to sweep across the ground with ferocious intensity.

Leverier Lanche watched as the lightning and flames engulfed the holy knights.

“This is...”

He remembered an incident when a similar firestorm had suddenly erupted in front of the Order of the Holy Knights’ headquarters. A dragon had appeared, while a mysterious lycanthrope had caused chaos.

Leverier Lanche had not been in charge of the caravan of succubi prisoners at that time, but he had heard the reports.

This felt just like that. A mysterious demon attack.

As the flames and lightning raged on, someone emerged from the chaos.

The magic seemed to part for them, as if it was avoiding them. They were unaffected by the pandemonium around them.

A wolf-like demon with silver fur—a lycanthrope.

And beside it, a figure with flaming red hair, a pair of curved horns protruding from their temples, human in appearance but clearly not human.

Rumble!

In the midst of the inferno, a lycanthrope and an unknown demon had appeared.

The demon stepped through the wall of flames, a sword with a milky white blade slung over their shoulder.

“Leverier Lanche.”

It was an unending series of horrors.

“Who... who are you?!” Leverier Lanche cried, eyes wide with disbelief as the heat from the flames and lightning buffeted him.

The demon boy approached him, dragged his sword along the ground.

“Me? My name is Baalier. I am the rightful heir of the Dark Land, the legitimate successor of the Demon Realm.”

The boy pointed his sword, with its milky white blade, at Leverier Lanche. The former Commander’s eyes widened even further as he recognized the sword for what it was.

“How... how is this possible?!”

Leverier Lanche couldn’t make heads or tails of a single aspect of this situation.

“Well... you corrupt priest, it’s time for divine retribution.”

Despite his incomprehension, things were still unfolding.

The Demon King, wielding a sacred sword, was about to kill him.