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Chapter 38
‘Aura.’
It was Shien who had said it.
That he managed to manifest mana bullets using the Law of Preservation.
If that was possible, then… couldn’t the Crown Prince manifest a spear with aura as well?
Of course, it wasn’t something so easily done.
But if it was this man—
If it was the Crown Prince, then maybe it was possible.
Unable to suppress the excitement of having found a possible solution, I grabbed his collar as though I were about to throttle him.
“Your Highness, use aura to manifest a spear!”
“What?”
He looked up at me with a baffled expression, so I shouted in frustration:
“Aura! Let’s create a weapon from aura that will never break!”
In the meantime, the Crown Prince avoided another attack from the monster and leapt aside.
“Lady, if I use aura in this place, I don’t know what sort of backlash it might trigger.”
“You can use the Law of Preservation.”
Ah, right. Just like Shien needed a revolver as a frame, this man would also need a base to wrap his aura around.
I hurriedly rummaged through my pouch and pulled out a miniaturized metal spear. After dodging the monster’s attacks two more times, I finally managed to grab it.
“Here.”
“Hah.”
The Crown Prince looked back and forth between the miniature spear in my palm and me with an incredulous expression.
“You’re really telling me to try this?”
“We can’t just keep running forever. Lord Tower Master was able to do it—are you saying Your Highness can’t?”
The Crown Prince furrowed his brow and twitched his eyebrows.
“Are you provoking me?”
“Yes. I’m provoking you.”
Rumble—! Whoosh—!
Even while caught off guard, the Crown Prince dodged the monster’s attack and then set me down.
He took the spear from me, enlarged it, and began swinging it around with sharp whooshes.
Rumble—.
At that moment, the monster turned its body toward me as if preparing to attack.
I hadn’t realized it before since I was always in the Prince’s arms, but…
‘Why is it only targeting me?!’
I quickly flung myself aside, rolling away from the monster’s charge.
Rumble, boom!
Rumble, boom!
I rolled several times to dodge the attacks, then looked to where the Crown Prince was on the opposite side.
“Is the aura ready?”
The Crown Prince grimaced at the enlarged spear, then reluctantly nodded.
“Let’s try.”
He closed his eyes, then opened them again with determination.
Whiiir—.
A mechanical hum rang out as the spear began radiating a reddish glow.
On its long shaft, spikes like saw teeth began protruding sharply.
‘Wow…’
Rumble, rumble.
Meanwhile, the monster braced itself against the wall and twisted its body toward me again.
Rumble—!
It rolled at me—
Whoosh—!
The Crown Prince slashed horizontally at invisible speed, sending a crimson beam flying toward the monster. It struck, and the monster vanished.
A beat later, a gust of wind swept through the chamber, making my bangs float upward.
Crack, thud—!
The monster’s massive boulder-like body split cleanly in two and slid apart.
One half rolled away, spinning across the stone floor. The cut surface gleamed smooth, perfectly cleaved.
‘Unbelievable. It actually worked.’
A short-lived amazement quickly gave way to a triumphant smile.
If this principle worked, then Yeager and Danha could also wield far stronger weapons.
I let out a short laugh and looked back at the Crown Prince.
“You could do it all along—why pretend otherwise?”
“Astonishing.”
The Crown Prince chuckled, gazing at the aura-coated spear.
But then—
From within the split remains of the monster, a sound emerged.
It was like the cracked lips of a human twitching repeatedly.
“Uh… ah… ahh…”
I stepped closer and listened. The voice was identical to that of the child who had asked me to sing a lullaby.
My unease rising, I straightened and looked back at the monster.
All its countless rolling eyes had stopped, fixed on me.
A shiver ran down my spine, and I stumbled back.
“Ah… ahh…”
The creature extended its severed, bleeding arm toward me as if trying to grab hold—then it fell limp.
Its twitching mouth formed one last whisper.
I froze, breath caught in my throat, staring blankly at its corpse.
The Crown Prince had silently stepped up beside me at some point. He must have heard it too, for he simply looked at the body without a word.
“……”
“……”
The chamber was steeped in a heavy, mournful silence.
‘If only I hadn’t heard that final word…’
With a dry sigh, I dragged a hand down my face.
…Because the monster had called me “Mom.”
Crackle—.
I tapped the brooch again. No connection. Since we still hadn’t reached Yeager’s party, they likely hadn’t realized we’d gone missing yet.
I thought about blasting open the stone gate, but considering the risk of triggering a collapse and the faint guiding light, I decided to wait until we could re-establish contact.
The cave entrance was sealed with a stone door, but the smell of the sea wafting down the stairway meant air was passing through the cracks.
I glanced at the stairs and landings. Skeletons were strewn everywhere.
“Grrrk—.”
Meanwhile, the rabbit lay sprawled on its back, belly distended like a basketball from overfeeding, belching loudly.
The Crown Prince, despite my protests, insisted on descending the steps to investigate.
‘Let’s just rest for now.’
Exhaustion washed over me, and I slumped against the wall of the landing.
‘Haa… I’m worn out.’
Hugging my knees, I buried my face between them.
As I was beginning to calm down—
Splash.
A sound. I turned my head wearily toward it.
“Holy—!!”
The sight jolted me upright in horror.
A monster’s tail was flopping beside me like a freshly caught fish.
“What’s wrong, Lady?!”
The Crown Prince dashed back up the steps, then glanced at the twitching tail. His expression softened, and he casually kicked it away.
It seemed to have been severed earlier when he cut the monster in half.
“You really scare easily.”
His voice was drained of energy, but there was no annoyance in it.
He sat down beside me. I glared at him before sitting as well.
“This all happened because of you.”
The Crown Prince chuckled weakly and closed his eyes.
“I didn’t intend for it… but I apologize.”
“…How was it below the stairs?”
“…Also blocked by stone walls.”
“I see. Then we’ll need to collapse the door eventually.”
“Indeed. Best to wait until we contact the others.”
I nodded but felt heavy inside. The mangled monster corpse and traces of battle lay scattered before me.
The memory of what had happened still sent chills through me. My heart pounded like a drum.
I hesitated, then voiced my thought.
“That was… a monster, right?”
“The body was once human. Looks like they were subjected to inhumane experiments with monsters and other creatures.”
‘Insane.’
Hearing it confirmed made it all the more horrific.
The Crown Prince rubbed his face and sighed, looking troubled. He tried to appear calm, but the heaviness in his tone was undeniable.
After all, the voice that had called “Mom” in a child’s tone was not something easily forgotten.
‘Maybe it attacked me because it thought I was its mother…?’
That thought weighed on me.
I fiddled with my sleeve before blurting out:
“When we get out of here… should we bury it, so it can rest in peace?”
The words tumbled out, an attempt to ease my guilt.
The Crown Prince stared at me wide-eyed.
Awkward, I scratched my cheek.
‘Saying we should bury a monster must sound strange.’
After a long silence, he finally answered with an unreadable gaze:
“…Yes.”
Only after gaining his agreement did I feel a bit lighter, freed from some of the unpleasant emotions.
As relief and calm returned, anger began to simmer in me.
‘Why do these damned variables keep popping up?’
Was this some kind of spin-off story?
How could something so grotesque exist in a sacred zone managed by the temple?
Judging by the design of this cave, it had clearly existed long before the zombie outbreak.
What lunatic could have done this?
To experiment on humans like that?
Even disregard for life had its limits.
Fury boiled inside me. I let out a sharp sigh.
But really, who else could it be?
This was a sacred zone.
A domain managed by the temple, off-limits to outsiders.
The bizarre experiments and facilities here could only be explained by the temple’s involvement.
Even if some group had acted in secret, they could never escape the temple’s eyes. At best, the temple was complicit.
I glanced at the Crown Prince, who was equally lost in grim thought.
‘He must be thinking the same—that the temple is responsible.’
And that the zombie outbreak itself had been deliberately triggered by the temple to erase evidence of their suspicious experiments.
‘And I’ve only just realized this myself, because of what happened here…’
I slipped a hand into my pocket and clenched the crumpled note inside.
[ You must go to the Sacred Zone, at all costs ]
Perhaps the zombie virus vapor hadn’t been an accident at all.
The temple and Heiton may have collaborated on abominable experiments, then released the virus to cover their tracks. Heiton may have taken the fall in the end.
Of course, it was possible Heiton acted independently… but as I reasoned earlier, such facilities and experiments couldn’t have happened without the temple’s knowledge.
It was an entirely different matter from me sneaking weapons into a prayer gathering.
I slowly withdrew my hand from my pocket and glanced at the Crown Prince.
