61 – BAD END: Sorcerer (2)
“…Ollek-nim hasn’t returned.”
Darkness.
When Lily opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was darkness.
A pitch-black darkness, as if devouring her field of vision. From within it came a voice that sounded nothing like a human voice.
“Originally, this scroll is capable of transporting at least two people. The sorcerer and the person they desire can be brought along. It also has the characteristic of only responding to living beings. So, the fact that Ollek-nim hasn’t returned…”
It was a voice that seemed to imitate a human, but she could still sense the emotions contained within it.
It seemed sad, and yet also pitiful.
“Yeah, Ollek-nim must be dead…”
Lily tried to move her body. Although she couldn’t see anything in the pitch-black void, she could roughly guess that she had been affected by some kind of magic.
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A teleportation magic that transports the target in an instant. She had been ‘transferred’.
In times like these, it was best to act and escape before making any judgments.
However, her attempts were quickly thwarted.
Something sticky was clinging to her entire body, restricting her movements. Judging from the sensation on her skin… it was probably like spiderwebs.
“Well then, let’s take a look at the face of the guy who got dragged here instead of Ollek-nim.”
At that moment, the extinguished flames were finally lit. One by one, torches began to burn in the pitch-black room. Although the sudden brightness momentarily blinded her, Lily couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
The reason was that monsters filled the entire world.
Every single one of them was a high-level monster, stretching as far as the eye could see. In the midst of it all, she was trapped in a spider web. In other words, she was surrounded.
At that moment, the voice from before spoke again.
“Nice to meet you, little one. This is the center of the Demon Realm.”
The owner of the voice was a giant spider.
Arachne. A grotesque monster with a spider’s body and a human face. It would take at least three knights to capture one.
In addition to Arachne, there were Cyclops, Ogre, Banshee, and many other high-level monsters.
“And you just got dragged here.”
In an instant, Lily sensed that something was wrong.
The alarm bells in her head rang at their highest volume. A vague fear gradually engulfed her.
No matter how powerful she was, there were limits to facing an enemy.
Especially if she had to face all these creatures while being restrained… her body would surely be torn apart in less than an hour.
Did her fear show on her face?
Arachne stroked her cheek and spoke.
“Oh, you’re scared, little one. Don’t worry. Alek might be angry that you killed him, but I won’t kill you right now.”
Gulp.
Lily swallowed her saliva.
“I’ll just turn you into a scarecrow instead.”
She continued.
“Nett gave the order. They will send one member of the hero’s party here. They told me to keep you safe. When he arrives, he will use you as a full-fledged scarecrow. I wonder what expression the hero will have when he sees his former comrade turned into a scarecrow… hehehehe, I’m already looking forward to it.”
Lily frowned.
So, this means they’re going to brainwash her.
To use her as a hostage, and to use her to her full potential.
“Damn it… I’d rather kill this bastard.”
Of course, Lily resisted.
Even though she was stranded in enemy territory, that didn’t mean she was just going to tremble in fear.
She was a true member of the party, carrying the heavy burden of the world on her shoulders just like everyone else.
If she was going to be used like this, she’d rather die.
That’s why she cursed and tried to use magic.
With the determination to even self-destruct, she gathered her magic power throughout her body.
…Tried to gather it.
“Well, well, this won’t do, little one.”
If it weren’t for Arachne not moving, she would have said.
The enemy was well-prepared. As Lily gathered her magic power, a magic barrier emitted light around her.
It was a barrier that controlled the target’s magic power.
They had anticipated that the other side would resist and had set up the barrier accordingly.
“Just sleep for a while. Don’t worry. We won’t do anything too dangerous.”
A sleep spell was cast over Lily’s resisting face.
Lily cursed inwardly, but there was no way to fight back. If there wasn’t even a barrier, she would have tried something, but…
As Lily’s consciousness sank into oblivion, the voice of the enemy reached her.
“Oh, by the way. Don’t even dream that your colleagues will come to rescue you here. This place is the central hub of the Demon Realm. There may not be the Four Heavenly Kings residing here, but instead, there are thousands of monsters. Even if the Imperial Knights were to attack, it would be impossible to break through, don’t you think?”
hehehe…
A low laughter from Arachne could be heard.
His laughter, befitting a monster, was grotesque beyond comparison.
With that, Lily fell asleep.
*
Three days had passed.
Lily found herself trapped within the barrier, her whole body immobilized.
Fortunately, it seemed that the strict punishment the creatures had mentioned wasn’t being carried out.
She was even provided with three meals a day. The taste was terrible, but at least they seemed to be nutritious.
Well, it was only natural. As the creatures had said, she was a valuable resource to be used as a puppet.
Only the Goryosa was capable of controlling her.
That’s why the monsters were diligently restraining themselves even in the presence of humans.
And during the three days she was captured, Lily was consumed by self-loathing.
“What a fool…”
She had said she would investigate on her own, but instead, she ended up being abducted like this.
Of course, there were plenty of excuses.
The fact that Olek was already dead and she had let her guard down. The fact that she didn’t know there would be a scroll that required at least a year of preparation.
And to top it all off, that scroll was even enchanted with an anti-magic spell.
It was truly a meticulously designed trap.
In short, it was an inevitable situation.
But even though it was unavoidable, the fact that she was captured remained unchanged.
Because of that, Lily spent three days contemplating escape methods. She thought about ways to break the barrier and ways to free herself from the spider webs that bound her.
She even considered ways to escape while avoiding the gaze of thousands of monsters.
However, one of her ideas was impossible to put into action.
To break the barrier, her hands were tied.
To escape from her body first, she couldn’t gather enough magic power to do much.
To make matters worse, there were always one or two monsters watching her every move.
No matter how capable she was, she couldn’t break free from all of this.
So for three days, she had to stay trapped.
On the fifth day, she had a vague hope.
Maybe, her comrades would break through this enemy territory and come to her rescue?
Or perhaps the knights of the empire would send support?
After all, she was the most important person for humanity. She had to be saved somehow.
However, as cold as her reason was, it was as cold as ice.
It would be impossible. This place was the Demon Realm.
It was a place where all of humanity, except for heroes and hero parties, grew weaker, and even those heroes had to break through thousands of monsters just to reach this place.
In other words, it was an army of knight-level troops that could be counted on one hand.
No matter how exceptional they were, there were limits to what they could do. Not to mention, they were not completely united.
With their current level, it was impossible to break through.
Because of that, Lily could only quickly resign herself even to such hope.
On the seventh day, she decided to look for a way to self-destruct. There is no escape. It seems impossible for her colleagues to come to rescue her.
If nothing else, at least she could self-destruct so that they couldn’t use her.
Fortunately… at least it seemed like there was a way. She would need to make a plan, but it seemed quite feasible.
From then on, Lily… considered tidying up her own life. After all, she had plenty of time.
Even though a week had passed and the monster didn’t come, it seemed like they had gone on a business trip somewhere far away.
In that case, it wouldn’t be too late to blow herself up at that time.
Lily spent another day thinking about that.
The unexpected happened the next day.
“Oh no, big trouble! Big trouble!”
“An intruder appeared! An intruder!”
“Calm down, you idiots! They’re just a few. Just attack them all at once!!”
The noise from outside the prison was loud.
From what she vaguely heard, someone seemed to have entered this place.
For a moment, a sense of anticipation arose in Lily’s chest, “Could it be?”
Did someone really come in here?
Even in the face of that army of monsters? Impossible. It would be foolish.
Reason told her that, but she couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope.
Anyway, from what the monsters were saying, it was true that an intruder had entered. In that case, she could just observe for now.
The monsters believed that the intruder would be subdued soon.
In the end, it’s just a small number of people. It would be impossible to break through this fortress filled with high-level monsters.
That was the judgment.
But after 3 hours, after 6 hours, after 12 hours…
The monsters had no choice but to reconsider that thought.
“The Cyclops has been breached! The Golem has been destroyed!”
“Why can’t we stop them even when hundreds of them rush in? Kiririk!!”
“But they say even that guy is exhausted! Keep pushing them relentlessly!”
Suddenly, the intruders had come close. The monsters fought back, but it was not enough to stop them.
From what the monsters heard, it seemed like they were facing someone even more monstrous than themselves.
There was a sense of anticipation, but what echoed the most in Lily’s mind right now was ‘how?’
As I said before. This place is full of monsters. And those guys were not low-level monsters.
So how could they break in so quickly?
That question was soon answered.
In a rather unpleasant way.
There are no freebies in this world.
To achieve great things, there must be an equal amount of effort involved.
To make the impossible possible, there must be a price to pay.
“Huh?”
As time passed, a man entered.
He had managed to break through the prison gates and find his way here.
Lily couldn’t help but be taken aback by the man’s appearance.
The man had one eye missing.
The man had no ring and pinky fingers on both hands.
His back was covered in countless arrows and thorns, and there was no unharmed spot on his body.
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It seemed like even his internal organs were injured, as fresh crimson blood dripped from his mouth.
Lily knew the man.
The hero, Luke. A suspicious figure shrouded in mystery. The only thing she knew about him was that he possessed deceitful regenerative skills.
And now, he was a complete wreck. It meant that there must have been a lot of stories behind it.
“Ah… I found you.”
After wandering around for a while, he discovered Lily and muttered. It was a tired voice that didn’t convey any strength.
Luke approached Lily and carefully untangled the spider webs, speaking.
“You… You’re such a troublesome person… I know…”
His tone seemed to be holding back something, as if it was filled with bitterness, relief, and sadness all at once.
He was smiling faintly with a battered face, but only melancholy could be felt within.
Lily forced her blocked words out and asked.
“H-How…?”
“What can you do? I just broke through.”
“What happened…?”
“That’s right. It was much tougher than I thought.”
······Why?
“Long ago, I thought about saving all four of you. Foolishly······.”
It was an incomprehensible statement. Even this situation was beyond comprehension.
The one who had always suspected him of being the Demon King, went so far as to save him in such a state. There was no doubt about it.
As soon as the spiderweb was untangled, she supported him.
Luke said.
“Let’s go back. For now.”
Until then, Lily’s heart had been restless.
