Chapter 60 · Human Hunting (10)

“Hah, hah, haaah!”

Even when I fled the palace in my seventh life, I had run like this, as if my life depended on it. Back then I had been caught quickly because I knew so little magic…

“Cālígo!”

The moment I recited the activation word, a thick fog spread out behind me. Would this at least cause some confusion? Though since they track by scent, it might not be of much use.

“Everyone…!”

I could see our team over there. They jumped to their feet in surprise when they saw me running toward them.

“Princess?!”

“What happened?”

My breath was caught in my throat and my lungs ached, so I couldn’t speak properly. Only after a moment did I manage to gasp out the words.

“We have to get away. An A-rank monster has appeared. Use the communication stone to request rescue and…”

“B-but if we use the communication stone, we’re disqualified—”

“This isn’t the time to be worrying about that!”

When I shouted, Melvian quickly grasped the situation and pulled out the communication stone.

“We request rescue! The current location is the valley in the middle of the mountain…”

Just then, a massive Baranus let out an enormous roar right in front of us.

‘It’s much bigger than the one before…! It must have burst out after hearing its comrade!’

Freesia and Ark recoiled and took up stances to cast magic.

“Just run first! It’s a monster magic doesn’t work well on. You’ll only provoke it for nothing.”

“…!”

But behind us was a cliff with the valley waters flowing below, and to go forward we had to break through that monster. As we hesitated, unsure of what to do, Ark hurled a large rock at it. The rock struck one of Baranus’s eyes, and it howled in pain, thrashing about and knocking down the surrounding trees with its massive body.

“Ark, what are you doing?!”

“It’s what the princess taught me. ‘Aggro,’ I mean.”

“What is that…!”

“Hurry and run!”

He shoved me hard.

“You, you’re trying to stay behind alone again…!”

“I can’t go. You said magic doesn’t work on it! I don’t have a sword, so I can’t even use aura properly…!”

Freesia tried to stop him, but he spoke firmly.

“Take care of the princess.”

It seemed like the first time he had looked Freesia straight in the eye since three years ago. After a moment’s hesitation, Freesia grabbed my hand, which was at a loss for what to do, and ran madly. I was dragged along haphazardly by her, with Mila and Melvian following behind us.

Right after we passed the Baranus, it screamed and charged at Ark, and a short while later there was a loud splash. It seemed Ark had lured the Baranus and fallen into the valley along with it.

‘It’s exactly the same as then.’

Ark, who had fallen into the water while fighting monsters. Different time, different place, but the same thing had happened.

‘So I told you to stop planting death flags!’

How could something like this happen? Was fate ultimately unchangeable?

‘No. Ark learned the spell to breathe underwater from me.’

Unlike my past life, where he knew almost no magic and only practiced aura to death.

‘He’ll survive. He has to!’

Right now, I had to protect myself and the companions who remained.

“There was a cave over here.”

Recalling the map, I pulled Freesia, who was about to go in the opposite direction.

“Kyaa!”

Just then, Mila, who was at the very back, screamed. When I turned my head, Giselle was grabbing her.

“What the—you…!”

“P-please, save me.”

Giselle begged, trembling. She had run, but she must have been attacked, because one of her arms had turned a dark blue. The Baranus venom was spreading.

“Let go of Mila. Otherwise, I’ll finish you off right now.”

When I spoke in a menacing voice, she sobbed and weakly let go. I let out a sigh and started running toward the cave again. Giselle followed us as if her life depended on it.

Before long, a small cave appeared, and I pushed my companions inside. I still had considerable divine power and mana left, but it was the first time I had used so much power at once, and I felt dizzy.

“Is there no word from the communication stone?”

Melvian said, tapping the communication stone.

“It seems to be a one-way communication stone. We can’t contact them or receive messages until they find us.”

Ugh, those royal mages. Even if no dangerous monsters have appeared on this mountain for decades, why be so stingy!

Using portal magic in a forest full of cliffs was difficult, and since we didn’t know the exact coordinates, it would take the rescue team quite a while to find us.

I turned sharply to look at Giselle, who had collapsed and was gasping for breath. Giselle was trembling, clutching her discolored arm. The moment that poison reached her head, she would lose her reason. Once that happened, neither divine power nor herbs would help. She would become an empty human, breathing but dead.

“Save… please save me, Princess…”

She spoke desperately, looking at me.

“Why should I save you?”

“…”

Giselle burst into tears. Honestly, I didn’t feel even a speck of pity. I clearly remembered her from my past lives, always stuck close to Stella and insulting me. And in this life, she had led the bullying of Freesia and even tried to push me into the portal.

“The princess… can use divine power… Please… please, with your divine power, the poison…”

To have the nerve to beg for her life after doing all that was utterly shameless. I looked at my companions. Mila shook her head, and Melvian was also glaring at Giselle with a furious expression. Freesia, worried about Ark, was trembling with a pale face, paying no attention to this. None of them would blame me if I didn’t save her.

I thought carefully for a moment, then took the locket necklace from inside my clothes. My mother’s only keepsake, the locket containing a small image stone. It was too small to hold a long recording, but this much would be enough.

“Then make it worth your life.”

I said, taking out the image stone and infusing it with mana.

“What…”

“The magic research results the Caesar family has stolen so far.”

“…!”

“Reveal at least three.”

Giselle’s pupils shook violently.

“Wh-what are you talking about…? How would I know such things…”

“If you don’t know, there’s nothing I can do.”

As I turned my head away from her, Giselle cried out urgently.

“The thirty-sixth law of elemental magic!”

“And?”

“The mechanics of destruction magic and the tertiary air purification formula…”

Ugh, they stole that too? They really are something else.

I put the image stone, now holding the recording, back into the locket and approached Giselle. I placed my hand on her body, gathered prana, and poured divine power into her. The skin that had turned blue as the poison spread to her face slowly returned to normal.

“So the Caesar family has been stealing other people’s research results all this time?”

Mila cried out in shock.

“It’s disgusting.”

Melvian said with a look of contempt.

“…”

Giselle couldn’t offer any retort and crawled into a corner of the cave, shedding tears and snot. But before we could even catch our breath, the ground thudded heavily in the distance.

“!”

I quickly raised the strongest barrier I could create.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

There wasn’t just one or two of them. Five Baranus monsters had gathered, and in an instant they were at the cave, pounding on the barrier with their massive tails.

Boom! Boom!

The barrier made of divine power creaked ominously. In that moment, something flashed through my mind.

“Mental binding magic is useful for dealing with A-rank monsters.”

It was something Leo had told me.

“Freesia, can you cast mental binding on all of them?”

“Does that magic even work on them?”

“I-it does, but…”

Freesia had been running wild all over Mount Bifio all day, so she had used up a considerable amount of mana. There was no way she had enough left to take down five monsters that large with high-level magic…

But she sprang to her feet and spoke with determination.

“Yes, I can do it.”

I couldn’t say anything, just stared at her anxiously. Just then, another boom—Baranus’s body slammed against the barrier, and a large crack split the golden shield. I gathered prana with all my might, but I had reached my limit.

‘I really should have trained harder with Paeon!’

It was no use regretting it now… Thinking of him made my heart sink. Paeon had been so angry when he tried to stop me. Could it be that the shadow of death followed me around? Like some unavoidable fate?

So what, was I supposed to live like a corpse? Like in my ninth life, shut in my room all day, self-imprisoned? Even that ended in death.

“Princess, I can do it. Please release the barrier now.”

Freesia said in a desperate voice.

“…”

My divine power was also depleted, and there was no other way at present. In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut and released the barrier. And then—

“Ánĭmus alligati!”

Freesia cried out the activation word loudly. She, who hadn’t been able to use mental binding magic without a medium, was now able to cast it with just the activation word. The magic was so powerful that I could feel the stinging mana even from where I stood.

Thud! Crash! The sound of Baranus collapsing rang out. I cautiously opened my closed eyes and looked beside me—Freesia was trembling all over, her hand outstretched toward them. The last one, as if resisting the magic, was standing firm and writhing.

Thud!

But soon it collapsed helplessly to the ground, raising a great cloud of dust.

“Freesia!”

The moment the last Baranus fell, Freesia collapsed to the ground as well. Her face had instantly lost all color and was pale, and cold sweat was streaming down her whole body.

“Freesia, are you all right?”

I held her and asked urgently. But the answer that came back was unexpected.

“I… did I protect the princess?”

It was the first time I had seen Freesia smile so brightly. For some reason, my nose stung. To be on the verge of mana depletion and still smile and say something like that—it was absurd.

“I’m sorry, I… now I can’t…”

Because of the chills and pain that come from using mana until depletion, she was trembling all over.

‘When on earth is the rescue team coming?’

As I scanned the dense forest with anxious eyes, Mila came over and cried out.

“Princess, look over there!”

I raised my head and saw something flying in the sky above, crying desperately and flapping its wings. Pure white all over, with wings, and golden horns—that was…

“Alv!”

When I shouted loudly, Alv reacted and shot down to the ground like an arrow.

“Whoa!”

Alv pounced on me again, so I had to roll slightly on the bare ground. Instead of licking me like usual, it whined and tilted its head. As if checking whether I was hurt anywhere.

“I’m fine, Alv. But…”

‘If Alv is here… could it be…!’

The moment I thought that, I heard the murmur of people.

“It’s Dean Roktania! And… Commander Parsiel is coming too!”

Melvian said in a bright voice.

But rather than joy, an uncomfortable feeling took precedence. Thinking of my fight with him a few days ago, I absolutely did not want to face him in front of a place where five massive monsters lay defeated. I squeezed my eyes shut, dreading another scolding from Paeon. I couldn’t bear to look at him. In less than a few seconds, his voice reached me.

“Princess!”

But before I could even answer, Paeon pulled me into a tight embrace.