CH 214

< Hero Yoo Seodam (5) >

When Lenica opened her eyes again, she was lying in a completely unknown place to her. It was eerie, dark and cold, but at the same time, it felt dignified, luxurious, grand, while still being a terrifying place.

‘Huh?” Lenica, who opened her eyes, could not immediately understand the situation she was in right now. She opted to think about what happened last night first. The meeting with Hero Yoo Seodam was the part that Lenica had been looking forward to for a long time. It was because she’d heard the story of Heroes who saves the world by slaughtering evil while wearing splendid silver armor, traveling through all kinds of difficult and remote areas. It had been Lenica’s dream since childhood to accompany such a Hero.

The story of a princess or a saintess accompanying a Hero had been heard and known throughout countless generations. Perhaps, the woman who followed the Hero of the time was the woman who lived the happiest life in that era. It can be said that Lenica had become one step closer towards becoming ‘the happiest woman in this era’ by obtaining the qualifications as a saintess.

By any chance, if she and Hero Yoo Seodam could be together, a romance, which would be told even to the next generations, could unfold!

However…

Aracelli was the problem. She was a thick-faced woman who pretended to be a saintess. Not only that, with her pretentious face, she seemed to have done a good deed, and she was monopolizing all the attention, love, and attention of the people on the street by just giving them a treatment.

‘I treat nobles who are more valuable than beggars, but why is it all for that woman…!’

It was already annoying enough that she was clinging onto the Hero, Yoo Seodam, but she even took the title of saintess away from her!

So then last night, Lenica returned to her room and opened the bottle of whiskey she had been saving.

Then…

She ran into a certain man wearing a full dark garment… and then…

“Where is this place?” Her head felt like it was going to break. Getting hit by something? Because of a hangover? She did not know. To overcome the headache, Lenica tried to touch her head with her hand.

Rattle-!!

However, her arms couldn’t move.

Rattle-!! Rattle-!!

“What!?!?”

So did her opposite arm. Looking up, she saw black, thin chains wrapped around both of her arms above her head.

“Ah, ah?!”

Rattle-!!

She tried to pull her arm with all her might, but only felt stinging pain. The chains stood strong, chaining her hands to the wall.

“Wh-what… where is this place…?”

“Shhhh… Be quiet!!” A voice comes from the other side of her. When she looked there, there was a girl, who, like herself, was standing with her hands bound over her head. It was Aracelli.

However, unlike herself, who was dressed in her pajamas, Aracelli was wearing a white, elegant dress. It was so absurd to the extent that anyone who saw her would never consider her as someone who just got kidnapped.

“You, why are you…. Just what is happening right now?”

“Don’t you know? We were kidnapped by a Demon King. The one who kidnapped us was none other than one of the strongest Demon King ‘Kim Diablo’.”

“Ah…Ah….” Lenica starts to let out mumbled randomly. She was aware that it had been a common development since ancient times that princesses or saintessess would be kidnapped by Demon Kings. But that action will lead the Hero to destroy the Demon King because his precious companion was kidnapped.

However… The story of the Hero rescuing a kidnapped princess, marrying her, and living happily ever after was just a story in a fairy tale.

While in reality, what happened?

“It can’t be… It can’t be…”

By the time the Hero rescued them, it was already too late. Tortured by the demon king, they had lost even the minimum dignity to live as human beings. And even if they could come to their senses, in many cases, they would commit suicide eventually. It was very easy to predict what the Demon Kings would do to the girls they kidnapped. This made Lenica even more desperate to escape.

Lenica bit her lips tightly and lowered her head, sobbing silently. She knew that no matter how great of a Hero Yoo Seodam is, it would take at least a few years for him to break through this impregnable Demon Castle.

No, even if several years pass, would it be possible for him to break through this place? The very same Kim Diablo’s Demon Castle that the Empire and the Holy Church evaluated that they would never be able to break through even if they all worked together!

In any case, if Hero Yoo Seodam miraculously had the power to save her… By that time, it would have been too late.

‘I, my life, like this…’ A sense of despair engulfed Lenica. How did it happen? She couldn’t quite understand.

Tak-!! Tak-!!Tak-!!

At the sound footsteps which came closer and closer, Lenica slowly turned her head. She was restrained to a wall adorned with beautiful decorations facing Aracelli, and someone was walking on the red carpet between them.

Black hair and bright red eyes. It was the Demon King, Kim Diablo.

With a smile that caught his mouth, he slowly approached the two saints.

“Well, seeing both of you put together, both of you truly look like fine pieces of art. It was a good thing I invested the ‘Infiltration’ stat in Left and Right.” He stroked his chin and looked at Lenica, and then Aracelli. The Hero Yoo Seodam’s comrade was definitely Araceli, but Lenica was by no means a bad loot.

‘By the way, why is she wearing a dress?’ He had heard from Left and Right that they had infiltrated at dawn. It was proven by the fact that Lenica was still in her pajamas and didn’t have any make-up on. But Aracelli had her makeup done thoroughly to the point even her lips were dyed blood red, and she wore a dress with a slight exposure to it, giving off an alluring atmosphere. As if intentionally exuding an atmosphere of ‘the abducted saintess who was sad and pitiful, but she was beautiful nonetheless’.

Unbeknown to him, his assumption was to some extent correct. It was because Yoo Seodam had shown Aracelli the ‘abducted princess rule book’ and taught her that it was an implicit rule for people who were kidnapped by the Demon King to dress up beautifully.

“Oh, are you interested in my clothes? Pretty, right? I did my best to look good for Professor. I don’t normally enjoy dressing up. But it’s human nature to want to dress up beautifully in a special situation like this.”

“That sound like you knew you were going to be kidnapped?” Kim Diablo said as his face hardened. He was aware that the Hero Yoo Seodam was by no means an ordinary enemy. He possessed swordsmanship above the level of a master, and his strategy was above the level of normal people. So it’s impossible for him to not know that his companion would be kidnapped. Or… Did he know in advance that his companion would be kidnapped?

Something feels fishy.

However…

“No matter what Hero Yoo Seodam is planning, it’s useless. From the moment you enter the Demon Castle, there would be no way for you to escape.”

His words were not mere arrogance but well-founded confidence. And it was a word that drove Lenica even further into despair.

“Aracelli, just give up… As long as we’re here, it’s almost impossible to get out of here forever…”

“Oh, yes. The saintess over there seems to be able to grasp the reality. Don’t worry. Because I’m kind and gentle to women. If you just cooperate, nothing bad will ever happen to you.”

[The protagonist, Kim Diablo, activates the skill ‘Stockholm Syndrome Charm (A+)’.]

[Even though they were kidnapped and found themselves in crisis, the supporting actors sympathize with the friendly and warm appearance of the protagonist who treats them kindly!] (P/n the fk?)

Lenica’s eyes widened slightly. She suddenly developed a certain gratitude and attachment to the appearance of the Demon King who treated her kindly even though she had kidnapped her.

[Aracelli uses the skill ‘Eyes of The Great Sage (SSS)’ to resist.]

Well, it didn’t work for Aracelli.

“Then, what do you think, saintess?” Kim Diablo asked Aracelli. He knew that she didn’t have to care about Lenica anymore.

“Hmm…” Aracelli frowned and pondered for a moment, then she suddenly ripped the chains which bound one of her arms.

“What?!” Kim Diablo hastily retreated. However, Aracelli didn’t have any intention to attack him. She just ripped the chains because she wanted to scratch the itch on her cheek.

Once she put the chain back on with magic, she smiled and opened her mouth. “Can you repeat the question?”

“…about this situation, what do you think?”

“Oh, right. Are you curious about my Professor’s strategy to break through this castle?”

Kim Diablo’s eyes darkened. Because of the sudden act of Aracelli, he had summoned his subordinates through magic. And they slowly flocked to the surroundings.

Something was clearly fishy. That woman, how could she break that chain so easily?

‘That chain can only be broken by people with a strength equal to or above a grand-class wizard!’

After thinking for a while, Aracelli started talking. “Actually, my Professor did not have any thoughts of attacking you, o Demon King. You must have been looking forward to it, but I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“What? So, are you saying that he’s going to throw you away?”

“No?” Araceli reacted sensitively to the words before suddenly looking up to the ceiling. A beautiful vermilion chandelier was swaying. But she wasn’t looking at the artistic chandelier. She was looking beyond that, to a much higher place.

“There was one fatal flaw in my magic. Not even six magic towers or 20 grand-class wizards could solve it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Of course, she was talking about Meteor Storm, an offensive magic that drops meteors at a designated location.

Even though they had prepared all materials needed to execute the magic, in the end, 9 circle magic couldn’t be perfectly casted by 7 circle wizards, no matter how many of them gathered. However, there was still a way to cast it on a specific place. It was to cast Meteor Storm right on the target. In other words, someone needs to cast the spell inside the Demon King castle.

Actually, this part wasn’t much of a problem. Because that someone just had to use magic as soon as they entered the Demon Castle. That’s why Yoo seodam was preparing to depart for the Demon King’s Castle to directly cast the magic from the inside. Perhaps, if it had been as originally planned, he would have come to the Demon King’s Castle immediately after meeting the Pope at the Holy Church?

However, when the Demon King’s servants came to her, Aracelli suddenly had such a thought.

‘If there are minions with this level of kidnapping ability, are there perhaps other victims who have been kidnapped?’

She understood Yoo Seodam’s beliefs well. He was someone who would always properly kill the protagonist, but he would never harm innocent people. So, Aracelli decided to check the Demon King’s Castle with her own two eyes by letting herself get kidnapped.

“It is truly a great castle. If I were to try to attack it with normal means, hmm… Unless I can regain my original strength, I will be quite troubled. I even struggled to find out where the prison was.”

“Have you been walking around my castle?”

“Just a bit at dawn. Well, it’s thanks to the fact that you are not here. Now that I have confirmed that there are no ordinary people here, I can destroy the castle without any guilt.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

Did he perhaps hear it wrong?

Destroying this castle?

“You’re talking nonsense… This castle will never fall. How many stats do you think you invested in its defence?”

“I know. Internally and externally, this castle is perfect.”

“That’s right! Even if the legendary 8th circle wizard appeared on my door, it was impossible for them to destroy it!”

At those words, Aracelli let out a sweet laugh without realizing.

“Well then, how about the magic of the 9th circle wizard?”

Crack-!!

The chains which bound her arms were torn apart in an instant. Aracelli’s body slowly rose into the sky, as a golden glow emanated from her whole body. Numerous cogs, turned behind her back, and jagged thorns protruded from her back. Aracelli’s blue eyes sparkled, and moments later. Lenica was already in her arms.

Woooonngg-!!!

High in the sky, an ominous noise filled the world. Aracell slowly flew away as she spoke to the Demon King, Kim Diablo. “If you give up on this Demon Castle and run away… I wonder… Maybe you’ll be able to survive?”

Flash-!!

At the end of those words, Aracelli’s figure turned into light and disappeared. At the same time, Kim Diablo, who was still raising his head to look at Aracelli moments before, could see something through the window.

A catastrophe more terrifying and greater than any other catastrophe that had ever come upon mankind. A catastrophe that far surpassed earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and typhoons.

A meteor rain.

The beautiful and dazzling trajectory of light was pouring down into the Demon King Castle, which was his everything.