Translator: Nox

Chapter 110

“You are friends with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Theodore, are you not? His Highness is looking for him. That is why I must escort him to Westmore.”

That was the only reason Kellian was searching for Eden. Because Crown Prince Theodore was looking for him, he had to take him.

He hadn’t known why Eden, whom Kellian had been searching for so desperately, was here with Sinclair, but…

[ Exclusive Report! Cherry Sinclair, the Real Reason Behind Her Disappearance is the Lancaster Heir, Eden!? ]

[ Cherry Sinclair and Eden Duncan Lancaster’s Secret Tryst in a Rural Village…!? “The Egret and the Crow, an Unexpected Pair.” High Society in Shock…! ]

Suddenly, he remembered the articles that had circulated before the world ended. It had been such a massive scandal that even Elliot remembered the details.

‘So that’s why the Princess and that man were together?’

On the day the world ended, Elliot had been in Kintne. He had found out through the newspapers that Cherry was nearby and had intended to head to Brunel. If the world hadn’t ended that very day, he would have been in Brunel by now.

Wait, but why on earth did that bastard Kellian tell me that story?

Shouldn’t information like <The Crown Prince of Grayden is alive and well in Westmore, hiding and searching for his people> be a top-secret matter under the circumstances?

‘It’s almost like he was asking me to spread the rumor.’

Of course, in this ruined world, there wasn’t exactly a place to spread rumors, but…

‘Ah, come to think of it, there were remaining survivors at Viscount Severan’s estate.’

Small as Kintne was, it was still a town with its own train station. Consequently, there were several other small survival camps besides the Sinclair Hotel.

‘Dammit. If I’d known it would come to this, I should have headed to Westmore the moment I heard that story.’

At the time, Elliot had ignored it because he saw no reason to leave his kingdom of Kintne and travel all the way to Westmore. He never imagined he would regret that decision so much now.

Lost in thought, he suddenly snapped his head up. The desk he had been hiding under had been ruthlessly smashed to pieces.

Startled, he scrambled out from under the wreckage, only to see nothing but monsters filling the room. Every single member of the guard had already vanished into the monsters’ maws. Not only that, but as several of them were infected during the struggle, the number of monsters in the room had actually increased.

Elliot’s face turned deathly pale. He had to get out of here, but now even that seemed impossible.

‘Huh? Wait.’

He thought everyone had been wiped out, but there was still someone alive.

In the corner of Elliot’s vision, he spotted a single guard. The man was narrowly dodging monsters, moving toward the balcony.

“Hey! Where are you going?! You have to kill those things!!”

Elliot screamed desperately at the sole surviving guard. The guard looked back at Elliot and furrowed his brow.

“Shut the hell up and be grateful I didn’t kill you first!”

Before Elliot could process the guard’s cold words, the man charged straight for the balcony, grabbed the railing, and leaped down to the floor below.

“N-No!”

Elliot’s blood-curdling scream rang out. Simultaneously, the roars of the monsters rushing toward him at the sound of his voice filled the fifth floor.

   * 

Jeffrey, a guard from the Kintne survival camp, escaped through the balcony.

Gas pipes were attached to the exterior wall of the building. The brainless monsters only thought of climbing up to the fifth floor via ladders; they would never think to move by hanging onto the gas pipes like Jeffrey.

He didn’t forget to kick the ladder away as he left the balcony.

At any rate, he managed to escape the hellish fifth floor and head down the stairs, only to witness an unexpected sight on the second floor.

All the people from the camp were gathered there. Moreover, most of them were in a disheveled state.

Some were splattered with dark red blood, and others were covered in green slime.

‘Wait, green slime? Could it be…’

Jeffrey looked toward the stairs leading to the first floor with an ominous expression.

“Jeffrey, where are the other guards? Where on earth is Lord El?”

People who recognized Jeffrey approached him, asking about the whereabouts of the leadership. They seemed to believe that if the leaders arrived, they could get this situation under control.

“Lord El is dead.”

“…What? How can that be? Lord El is dead? That devil?”

“Good! I’m glad that devil is dead! He treated us like slaves! We’re free now!”

“Wait, then who’s going to deal with those monsters? What about the guards? Jeffrey! Where are the other guards?”

People grabbed Jeffrey by the collar, bombarding him with even more frantic questions.

It was ironic. They had been oppressed by El and forced to risk their lives at every turn, but they had also been protected by him within the sanctuary of the Sinclair Hotel.

But now, their exploiter and protector was gone. The people instantly fell into a state of chaos.

 Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Furthermore, the sound of constant gunfire echoed from the first floor. It meant someone was fighting the monsters.

“Nick is down there, right?”

At Jeffrey’s question, those around him nodded vigorously.

“Thanks to Nick, we were all able to escape.”

“It looked like Nick was down there dealing with the monsters and some outsiders we’ve never seen before…”

Outsiders they’d never seen before. At those words, Jeffrey thought of the woman and man he had seen on the fifth floor earlier. It was definitely them.

‘Damn it…!’

Do they have any idea how dangerous those people are!

When Jeffrey ran down to the first floor clutching his rifle, everyone was taken aback.

“Jeffrey! It’s dangerous!”

Leaving their shouts behind, Jeffrey hurried down to the first floor. There, he was met with a lobby that had turned into a scene of carnage.

The thick wooden doors of the hotel entrance were smashed to pieces. Monsters continued to pour through the gaping hole where the entrance used to be.

Only two people stood in their way.

“That’s…”

A woman with deep pink hair and a blond police officer.

The woman hoisted a massive pillar she had gotten from somewhere. It was twice her height, thick, and looked incredibly heavy, yet she held it with no apparent difficulty.

The people who had followed Jeffrey down watched in horror. Nick was nowhere to be seen.

While the crowd murmured, the pink-haired woman adjusted her grip on the pillar, holding it horizontally. Then, she began to push the monsters back outside.

The combat prowess of the man in the police uniform standing beside her was also extraordinary. When he took a steady stance and lightly swung his sword, dozens of monster heads were severed instantly. Just watching him, one could be overwhelmed by the fierce bloodlust the officer radiated.

He also saw a young man and a girl perched on the lobby counter, providing cover for the woman with rifles.

The problem was that, despite their efforts, monsters were still streaming endlessly into the hotel entrance.

The woman was holding her ground against the monsters with her incredible super strength, but so far, that was all she could do.

“My God! She’s going to get bitten and die at this rate!”

“Is she crazy? Someone stop her!”

“But who is that woman?”

“Isn’t she an intruder?”

“Is she infected too?”

The crowd buzzed, bewildered and unsure of what to do at the unbelievable sight. They expected the woman to be bitten and killed by a monster at any moment.

“What is she trying to do with that?”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s not what’s important right now. Let’s take this chance to hurry upstairs and fortify our defenses!”

“Right! This place is already done for! It’ll collapse soon!”

Leaving the reckless outsiders behind, they prepared to flee to the second floor.

Just then, Nick was seen leading survivors he had rescued out of the kitchen. People hurried to support the survivors Nick had saved.

Just as they were all turning their backs to abandon the lobby and flee, Jeffrey, who had briefly glanced back toward the hotel entrance, shouted in surprise.

“W-Wait a minute.”

“What is it? Why?”

“Huh? Uh… look over there.”

The woman blocking the monsters with the pillar had finally begun to move forward, step by step.

The movement of the monsters, which had been surging in like a tide, came to a halt, blocked by the woman’s pillar.

The monsters could no longer break inside. In fact, they were slowly being pushed back by the woman’s strength. The stragglers outside the pillar’s reach were handled by the officer and the young man sniping from a distance.

It was a sight that was utterly impossible to believe, even with one’s own eyes.

“My God. It’s… it’s incredible. She’s not human.”

A woman standing next to Jeffrey murmured. He entirely agreed with her.

‘…A savior.’

Had a savior appeared to rescue them from the demonic monsters and the even more demonic El?

   * 

Dammit. This is so freaking hard.

This wasn’t my plan!

I just wanted to live quietly and hidden in Happy House…!

Why am I suddenly doing this here? How did it come to this?

I bit my lip, grunting as I gripped the pillar. I could see a monster’s head poking over the top of it—a grotesque, twisted, massive face with skin that looked like it was melting.

The thing glaring at me opened its mouth. Then, its jaw dropped with a wet  thud . Soon, the dislocated jaw began to slide down toward me over the pillar. It was about to touch my hand. Ugh. Gross.

 Slash— 

The creature’s head was instantly lopped off. It was where Eden’s sharp blade had just passed.

“Miss Cherry, I told you not to overexert yourself.”

Eden spoke as he sliced through another lynx-like monster that lunged toward my side. Honestly, things were so chaotic I wasn’t even sure if I was hearing him correctly.

Struggling to avoid being bitten, I gradually pushed the monsters back with the pillar.

‘Eden has the antibodies, so he’ll be fine.’

Thinking that made Eden feel more reliable than ever. Not only was he a man of great martial prowess, but thanks to his natural antibodies, he wouldn’t get infected. What better asset could there be?

Anyway, just a little further and we’re at the entrance. Just a little further…!

Dammit. When I get home, I’m going to sleep like a piece of trash in bed for a whole week!

I tightened my core. And—

“Hyaaaaaah!”

Like a weightlifter squeezing out every last drop of strength for a gold medal, I let out a scream and shoved dozens of monsters back with the pillar.

I saw Eden looking at me with a startled expression, but I’d save the embarrassment for later. I had to survive first.

After a fierce struggle, I finally pushed the monsters back and stepped onto the ground outside the entrance.

“Eden, above you. Above! The handle!”

I shouted to Eden, still putting all my strength into holding back the monsters. There should be a handle to lower the emergency shutter on the ceiling where the swinging doors used to be.

Didn’t I tell you? My father put his heart and soul into creating emergency escape routes when he built the Sinclair Hotel.

“I can’t reach it. So you pull it down, Sir!”

Eden glanced down at me and let out a smirk.

“You aren’t very cute when you’re using your strength like that. But then you’re cute again when you do things like this.”

Eden muttered to himself, then reached his arm high up and yanked the round, handle-like protrusion on the ceiling I had pointed out.