Chapter 57: Black Mist

“Your Highness!——”

A sharp scream tore through the silence of the street.

The two maids following behind Veronica’s face changed color instantly. Almost simultaneously, they threw themselves to her side.

The magical devices on their wrists lit up.

A semi-transparent magic barrier expanded in an instant, enveloping the three of them.

The next moment——

Fire arrows rained down from the sky in a relentless barrage.

Explosions of flame erupted against the barrier, blinding red swallowing the entire street.

Despite the overwhelming display, the arrows never managed to pierce through.

The devices they wore were advanced magical tools prepared for guarding the royal family, internally storing vast reserves of mana. Even under bombardment from a mid-rank mage, they could hold out for a while.

But the problem was——

Wave after wave of scorching heat pressed down, as if trying to burn through their lungs with every breath. Breathing became painful and difficult.

This was a long-planned ambush.

The fire arrows continued for several moments before gradually ceasing.

The street was already charred black, the air thick with the pungent stench of burning.

“Your Highness, are you alright!”

Luo Lan maintained the device on her wrist as she asked urgently. Her usually gentle and restrained face was now barely concealing her fury.

Someone actually dared to assassinate a royal family member in broad daylight, right here in the Kingdom of Rune’s royal capital!

Veronica stood pale-faced between the two of them.

It had all happened too fast. She hadn’t been able to react at all.

Before they could even catch their breath.

At the end of the street ahead.

More than a dozen figures slowly emerged from the rippling distortion of the air. As if they had been waiting there all along.

All of them wore identical white robes, their wide hoods concealing their faces.

Luo Lan’s pupils contracted sharply. She demanded in a sharp voice, “Who are you people!”

No one responded.

They simply stood there quietly, murmuring some strange and obscure incantation under their breath.

Harvey’s expression shifted.

Even though he couldn’t perceive the true flow of mana, he could still feel the increasingly dangerous pressure bearing down on them.

“Run!”

He warned them. “They’re preparing a grand magic!”

But it was already too late.

In midair, a blazing red magic array unfurled with a deafening roar!

Layer upon layer of array patterns directly blotted out the sunlight.

The surrounding fire elements converged wildly toward the center of the array, the air itself twisting and distorting from the heat.

Under everyone’s horrified gaze——

In the center of the magic array, vast streams of scorching magma surged forth.

As if an entire volcano had been forcibly dragged into the sky above the street.

“Cataclysm?… No, it’s not that——”

The other maid’s voice was already trembling. “But at this scale, we can’t block it——”

They all knew it clearly.

Once the barrier shattered, only death awaited them.

Veronica stared at that sky-covering sea of crimson.

The color slowly drained from her face.

Those white-robed people’s target was her.

The three people behind her were nothing more than sacrificial victims she had dragged into this.

“No…”

Veronica clenched her teeth suddenly. She stepped out of the protective range the two maids had created around her and walked forward.

“Your Highness!”

Luo Lan cried out in alarm. “Come back!”

Leaving the protection of the magic barrier meant facing that nearly burning air head-on.

“Stop!”

Veronica stood amid the waves of heat, her skirt flapping loudly in the hot wind.

Her face no longer carried its usual bossy arrogance. Only a stubborn, almost defiant determination remained.

“The one you want to deal with is me!”

“Let them go!”

She couldn’t let others die because of her.

No matter how much she was looked down upon——

She was still the princess of Rune. She had a duty and obligation to protect her people.

“Your Highness!”

Both maids’ voices were choked with tears.

Ahead on the street.

Among the white-robed figures, the one leading them raised his head.

He looked at Veronica.

Then——

He shook his head gently.

The next moment.

The scorching magma suspended in midair came crashing down!

Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale in an instant.

Too fast.

The other side had not negotiated.

Not even a single moment of hesitation.

The magical devices on the maids’ wrists emitted a piercing whine, their light flickering violently, on the verge of collapse at any moment.

Veronica stood rooted to the spot, as if nailed there.

She watched that falling sea of crimson.

Only at this moment did she truly understand——

From the very beginning, they had never intended to leave any survivors.

Her stepping forward had meant nothing.

They would not stop.

Everyone was going to die here.

——And all of this was because of her.

Because she had insisted on going out. Because she had dragged them into this.

Veronica gripped the hem of her skirt tightly, the suffocating waves of heat pressing down on her until she could barely breathe.

She stared at the falling crimson, the corners of her eyes slowly turning red.

——Why.

Why couldn’t she do anything.

She clenched her teeth so hard she nearly ground her molars to dust.

In that moment——

Hatred nearly exploded from within her chest.

Hatred for the cruelty of those people.

And hatred for her own powerlessness at this moment.

Veronica suddenly turned her head, looking back at Harvey behind her.

That round face no longer carried its usual bossiness. Only an apology that couldn’t be hidden in time.

Harvey saw her lips move.

‘I’m sorry.’

“Is that all?”

“What’s there to apologize for?”

“Something like this is worth you lowering your head?”

Doubt arose in his mind. At that moment when the blinding crimson came crashing down upon them——

Harvey instinctively raised his left hand.

As if trying to block that magma canopy that was impossible to block.

In that moment, even he was startled.

Something had reacted in his place first.

The next instant.

The air in front of his palm suddenly twisted violently.

Black mist spread wildly from Harvey’s left hand, rapidly tracing a massive, hideous bone hand in midair.

Like some long-dormant beast, reaching out from another world.

It stood defiantly above them.

BOOM!——

The falling magma slammed heavily into the massive bone hand, unleashing a horrifying impact.

And at the center of that surging shockwave——

The enormous bone hand did not retreat an inch.

The next moment.

The five fingers suddenly clenched!

CRACK!——

The molten stream was crushed and exploded, turning into a sudden downpour of crimson rain.

Vast clouds of steam and black mist roiled and spread, the intense air pressure causing the stone materials of the street buildings to crack and crumble inch by inch.

The scattered, high-temperature molten flows turned to ash the moment they touched the black mist, falling in a gentle shower.

The deathly silent black mist spread like the slowly opening maw of an abyss, extending toward the magic array.

The two maids stared at that bone hand, their faces filled with shock.

“What… what kind of magic is this?!”

Veronica couldn’t speak anymore.

She stood there dumbly, staring at the giant bone appendage blocking in front of her.

That ghastly white, eerie shadow exuded a chill that penetrated to the marrow.

Was this what he meant when he said——

“It’s not necessarily impossible”?

In the distance.

The white-robed figures’ chanting had stopped.

They stared at that sky-covering black mist, undisguised terror appearing in their eyes.

“De… demon race! This is power only the demon race uses!”

Even pure fire elements could be corrupted.

This black mist, radiating evil energy, looked exactly like something only the demon race could produce.

Of everyone present, only Harvey didn’t really understand what had happened.

He just felt his left hand grow completely numb, frozen with an icy coldness that made it lose all sensation.

A familiar voice echoed in his ears.

[Ah, my.]

[Little one, why make such a big commotion?]

The voice carried its familiar lazy charm, drifting out from the depths of his heart.

[Let me see…]

[How many souls can you harvest this time?]