.｡.:✧ Chapter 50 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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A covenant?

The dark witches had made a pact with this beast?

To execute me for using forbidden magic?

Adriana’s mind was in turmoil.

In essence, the beast named Apviel had come because of the magic she had used out of fear of him.

‘So that’s why the insects didn’t attack me.’

The reason his minions only observed her was to monitor whether she would use magic.

The tears of despair continued to flow, unceasing.

Her heart ached so much that even clutching it with her hands did nothing to alleviate the pain.

Why did this happen?

It was all so futile and empty.

She felt so pitiful, foolish, and incompetent for having fallen into the clutches of these insects.

Adriana clenched her fist, preparing for her end…

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

She couldn’t accept it.

The pain was real.

The sadness was real.

Her foolishness was real.

But she had no intention of dying.

“Struggle futilely.”

As the King of Insects raised his hand,

His arm was kicked aside by Sen who had just appeared.

“Run.”

Sen, regretting her hasty judgment that led to this situation, couldn’t stay put and stepped forward.

“……!”

Upon seeing her, Adriana immediately rose, used magic to break through the wall where the window was, and leaped out.

‘I need to find Ares! Ares will save me!’

Driven by the belief that Ares would save her, Adriana frantically began searching for him.

And in the deserted corridor,

“……”

Sen tried to inflict damage on the King of Insects by brandishing her dagger,

But he remained unmoved and simply grabbed her ankle and threw her to the ground.

“Cough!”

Sen coughed up blood and fell unconscious.

As the insects swarmed towards their perceived prey, Apviel stomped the ground, ordering the insects to back off.

“By the covenant, no life shall be taken except for the witch who has broken the law.”

Despite Apviel’s temptation by the sight of a human after so long, he had come here under the witches’ covenant.

He attempted to chase after the fleeing Adriana, but then…

“Hm?”

Feeling an odd disturbance, Apviel slowly turned to look at the girl standing at the end of the corridor.

Wind blowing through the hole Adriana had made caused the girl’s long black hair to flutter.

For a moment, Apviel was taken aback by her presence, unwittingly stroking his neck.

‘I thought I was dead for a moment.’

The girl did nothing.

She just looked at him emotionlessly, and as Apviel clenched his fist in tension,

Crack.

A black spear pierced his side.

“……!”

Even Apviel, one of the ancient beasts known for superior physical abilities, couldn’t react to the speed of the casting.

‘Is this magic?’

Doubts arose whether this was truly magic, but soon Apviel squinted at the energy emanating from her.

“Ah, ah! Are you the chosen one?”

Destroying the spear that had pierced him, Apviel glared at Rin.

Rin looked at Apviel as if she had become ‘someone else,’ unfazed by the oppressive atmosphere of the corridor full of insects and their king.

“‘The Earliest Apocalypse’! It’s lamentable that I cannot kill you right now!”

Apviel gnashed his teeth, wanting to twist Rin’s neck but refraining.

“After I free myself by killing that witch, I will come back to kill you!”

The black aura emanating from Rin’s vicinity didn’t seem to bother her at all.

As the unpleasant aura touched the insects covering the corridor, they melted away and vanished.

But the death didn’t end there.

The insects touched by Rin’s aura rose again and began attacking other insects.

The insects touched by the black aura died and then revived.

The insects they killed also revived.

Even killing those revived insects would bring them back to life again.

An unending cycle of death.

Eventually, the insects under King Apviel began to submit to Rin, and Apviel, spewing his rage, fled after Adriana.

“……”

As Apviel vanished, the bugs that were subservient to Rin burst into black flames and disappeared.

Thud.

Rin collapsed right beside Sen.

***

“Ares!”

Adriana was able to find Ares right away.

Before Sen and Rin activated the magic in her room, she had been sticking close to Ares.

“Adriana?”

Seeing Adriana in such a dire state rushing to find him, Ares was inevitably taken aback.

At this moment, neither Arni Duratan nor Elise was around.

Being with other male students, Ares made sure they didn’t witness Adriana’s dreadful state and asked,

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Save me! Please, save me!”

“What?”

“The monster! The monster is coming!”

As she screamed, screams began to echo around them.

Like a dark cloud, Apviel, leading the swarm of bugs, was flying towards them. Thanks to Sen and Rin buying time, Adriana could reach Ares, but otherwise, she would have died on the spot.

“What is that?”

“A monster?”

“Run, run!”

Following his friends, Ares attempted to flee with Adriana, but she shook her head.

“We can’t escape! It’s following me! Ares! You, you have to kill it!”

“Me?”

Ares looked between Adriana and Apviel, shaking his head in disbelief.

“That’s clearly not something I can handle. Let’s just run!”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

Adriana snapped, her mind too muddled to understand her own words.

Nevertheless, she was pouring out her feelings.

“Fate said it! You, you were supposed to save me! That’s why I devoted everything to you! Now you have to save me!”

Logically.

How could any man be expected to fight such a monster for a woman he barely knows?

That’s why Adriana had been selective.

The blonde man she saw in her destiny.

She had only seen his back, knowing only his build, blonde hair, and that he was a swordsman.

Many candidates were considered but eliminated.

In the end.

Two men remained in Adriana’s consideration.

Ares Helias and Daniel McLean.

Ares was blonde and a swordsman. His build was slightly bigger, making him the closest match to the man in her destiny.

Conversely, Daniel McLean hadn’t been a candidate until recently.

But learning he had the skills to defeat Zavalanco made her wonder.

He was a swordsman with a similar build to the man in her destiny, but he wasn’t blonde.

So, she had asked him.

If he ever thought about going blonde.

He firmly said no.

Thus, only Ares remained, and Adriana had invested everything in him, but now.

“Stop talking nonsense! Chased by it? Let’s, let’s just run!”

While saying so, Ares started to run, leaving behind Adriana, who was clutching the hem of his clothes.

Renowned as the best athlete in his grade, Ares quickly distanced himself, and Adriana, a witch, couldn’t keep up, naturally falling further behind.

“Ah, aah.”

Unable to follow, Adriana fell and rolled on the ground.

And the bugs began to crawl closer.

“Is your struggle over now?”

Apviel, folding his wings behind him, stood in front of Adriana with a sneer on his lips.

“How pathetic.”

Apviel’s words pierced through Adriana’s mind.

Pathetic?

Me?

Is wanting to live so vile?

She slowly looked at herself.

Wearing revealing clothes in an attempt to seduce Ares, now torn and in a worse state amidst the chaos.

Her face, smeared with tears and snot, was a sight not even a beautiful woman could salvage.

Her hair, gnawed by bugs, was a mess in every direction.

In fact, she had sweated so much that the stench of sweat mixed with waste was repulsive.

“Ah.”

So it was.

I was this pathetic.

The girl who wanted to see the world and survive, only after looking back at herself, found the courage to close her eyes.

Where did it all go wrong?

The indignation and anger burning inside her eventually consumed even her desire to survive.

The desire for survival turned into scattering black ashes.

“Now you give up. A faithless witch who sold everything for her life, no different from a street harlot, even the bugs won’t eat your corpse,” Apviel taunted.

Adriana wished for death to come quickly.

She wanted to completely forget her ugly self, but then.

“That’s nonsense, really.”

Apviel was pushed back by someone’s sword.

Though the sky was obscured by the swarm of bugs, the sunlight breaking through illuminated the man’s blond hair.

The man standing before Adriana with a sword in hand.

“Ah…”

Adriana slowly opened her mouth.

It was the scene.

The exact scene she had seen in her destiny.

Daniel McLean.

Somehow, he had become blonde and was standing before her. In a situation where everyone else was fleeing, he alone had run against the tide and swung his sword at Apviel.

Daniel slowly turned to look at Adriana.

She should have felt relieved, but instead, Adriana blushed with shame and covered her face with her hands.

“Don’t, don’t look! Don’t look at me, begging for my life, ugly and filthy!”

She didn’t want anyone to see her in such a dirty state.

Having thrown away everything for her life, she had fallen to ugliness.

But Daniel just chuckled and replied.

“It’s only natural.”

What’s the problem?

As if not understanding.

“Of course, you want to live. That’s the same for everyone.”

“But, but…”

“Sure, there are people who risk their lives for their beliefs. People who hold something more precious than their life.”

Daniel slowly positioned himself between Adriana and the glaring Apviel.

“You don’t have to be one of those people. You’ve just been doing what’s natural.”

She might not realize it, but Daniel deeply empathized with Adriana.

Do you know?

The sight I’ve seen.

In truth, the world once perished.

Humans died, castles crumbled, kingdoms vanished.

As if mocking the fierce struggle of human life.

The dead rose and killed the living. They became the dead and started killing other living beings.

Eventually, everyone died.

But even after the extinction of humanity.

Even when there was no future left, there were people who fought, fled, and survived.

Hiding in forests, using mighty monsters as walls, using all knowledge and power at their disposal, they struggled with all their might.

The most prolonged, ugly struggle to survive from a predetermined death.

That man was me.

Daniel McLean.

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