After leaving the jewelry store, there were a few more nearby ones that she didn’t mind taking her time inside. Some stores for outdoor wear, a place or two for sweets, an art store to freshen up the mid-quality supplies that she used for some experiments, and, finally, the outdoor stalls where the people weren’t as restricted in meeting her.

“Hello, little one,” Vera greeted as one of the kids looked up at her wide-eyed, frozen in place as she went on one knee. “Is something wrong?”

“Forgive him, your highness!” a man rushed in, grabbing the kid and holding them in his arms away from her as if Vera would have them executed for just being scared. “He’s not used to talking with, uhm, people he doesn’t know.”

That was one way to put it.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Vera assured the father, ruffling the kid’s hair. That got a laugh out of the youngster. “Children can have a hard time adjusting to something new. What is your name, child?”

“... Evan.”

“Well, Evan, it is lovely to meet you,” she said, finally getting some more words out of the kid before handing him and the father a dozen or so gold coins. “Sorry for causing a scare before. Treat yourselves tonight.”

“This is too much,” the father protested, trying to hand them back but Vera wasn’t having any of it. “A fine night out is one coin at most.”

“Then have several fine nights out,” Vera was quick to counter. “I won’t tell.”

By the amount of laughs that elicited, she was confident she’d made her point. The man, child in hand, relented and accepted the coins which allowed her to move on. The next hour or so had her do a few repeats of the act, varied enough to seem accidental while portraying the same message.

The royal family was happy, confident, and trusting enough to go out and spread their happiness with the people. She wanted them to know that she cared for them, in the hope that they wouldn’t panic as much when the news about the death spread far enough that everybody had heard of it.

At this point, Vera was relatively secure in what she’d accomplished. As she moved further and further into the district, though, she noted how it had started to get a little crowded.

“I believe it might be time to return to the castle, Your Highness,” the guard told her before she could request it. “The way we came from is too crowded to be safe, but we can call for a coach to pick you up at the city center if you wish. The alternative is a detour through another street which might take longer.”

Vera had promised herself that she would walk the entire way on her own feet, yet she was starting to feel the consequences of using boots she wasn’t accustomed to, and since the people had already gotten their spirits lifted… Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ride one every once in a while, right?

“You can call for one if you believe it would be safer,” Vera accepted, before being brought to the city center so she could be in a relatively safe area while one of the guards went off alone to come in contact with the castle so a coach could be driven to them.

She internally grimaced as she saw the amount of people who had appeared in the area within a few minutes of her arrival. The two guards remaining by her side weren’t happy about it either, just trying to manage while waiting for the third to return with their way out.

This place can hold thousands. How did they manage to fill it up so quickly?

It couldn’t be easy for the Dungeon Guards who had to keep people away from the entrance that sat in the very middle of the open area. It was rare so many would be here at once, the last time she could remember being when her father had personally visited the Dungeon entrance during the country’s 40th anniversary.

That had certainly been a day to remember, as it had been that very day that Phillip had slipped her some champagne. Oh, how angry their father had been.

It brought a smile to her face. She wondered if her older brother would remember the day if she—

A rumble interrupted her thoughts, along with just about everybody else’s words directed at her. The shouting, the pleas for her to look their way, and even just the breathing of her guards as they kept away those who didn’t answer the orders to keep a distance. It all went silent, as they froze in reaction to that rumbling.

Quiet but definitely felt beneath their feet. It didn’t force her onto her knees, but it was obvious to anybody that this shaking couldn’t be good.

Then came the red light from the pillars around the Dungeon’s entrance, and the grinding and crashing of metal as the gate before the tunnel into the depths was closed in rapid fashion.

People began to breathe again for just a second before a monstrous screech was heard. Then all hell broke loose as the implications were finally understood.

“Your Highness, please stay back!” the female guard shouted at her, bracing herself as the crowd began to vibrate with movement. “Stay close, and you’ll— ugh!”

An elbow found itself in the guard’s face before she could finish her words. Not the worst hit in the world, something that any well-trained guard could handle, but the hundred that came after that point weren’t as easy to deal with. Vera cursed that they had stayed so close to the main streets, thinking they could get in the coach quickly and take their leave since it now meant that every person around them wanted to get through.

And it only got worse as the sound of metal being smashed into pieces reached the open air, the screams of monsters being met by the screams of men and women at the same volume. Vera could feel her ears hurting from the sound alone.

This isn’t good.

But running wasn’t an option. She wouldn’t get through the crowd. Instead, she needed to stay in place and wait for help. Already, without even thinking about it, she had pulled out the paper from her hidden chest pocket and ripped the paper into pieces. It burst into red flames until disappearing entirely, before she could feel a mark settle on her. For the next many hours, Harper would have her exact location.

But her Illusionist could do little alone. Vera knew that, knew it meant she needed to protect herself in the meantime, which was why she brought out the mirror a moment later. Pulling it close, she swallowed and opened her mouth.

“Give me—” she tried to chant to activate the item, but the guard holding back the worst from getting in her way was overpowered by the craze. They were pushed back with a strength that only those desperate could put out, right into Vera and further into the wall behind them.

Try as she might, the hit to the back of her head made her grip on the small mirror grow loose, the one-of-a-kind item falling to the ground and shattering into pieces.

… Oh, no.

Her defensive trump card was gone. The one thing that could’ve kept her safe outside of sheer luck from the manic crowd was on the ground in pieces, impossible to use to protect herself. Vera still had the enchanted wands to stun and kill, but what good could they do against a crowd of thousands? And shooting innocents to—

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An arm barreled right into her, making her see black for a moment as she fell to the ground. Whoever had been the owner of the limb didn’t stop to help her up, hurrying along towards the chance at survival. Vera cursed them in the second she had to spare before she felt boots hitting against her from above.

At that moment, it didn’t matter that she was a Princess of the country. It wouldn’t have mattered if she was the queen, the king, or even a deity prayed to by all. The only thing that mattered to the people was to flee and save themselves. Anybody on the ground, anybody they stepped on, didn’t matter anymore.

The unmoving bodies of her guards on the ground attested to that, Vera’s eyes darkening as she saw the dented armor.

Even with the multiple hits to her head, and countless kicks to her body, she knew that she would share their fate if she kept being on the ground.

So she fought the bodies moving around her, shoving, pulling, and grabbing at anything that could get her back up on her feet. There was screaming, yells, and words thrown around because of it, but Vera couldn’t make herself care as she got back up and pushed herself to the wall.

With the slight bump to her elevation for standing next to it, she could see past the crowd and over to the Dungeon’s entrance. She could see it as… what looked like giant centipedes led the charge into the open area. A common monster on the top floors of the Dungeon, though Vera couldn’t remember the name of them at the moment.

Her head was hurting too much to think properly. She hoped Harper would get here soon.

The guards who stood to protect the people from the Dungeon Breaks did their best to stop the horde of monsters flowing out, but the sheer amount leaving the pit was too much. Vera could see one wield a sword to cut one in half before being covered by three others and consumed before she could blink. It was a horror show in itself, one that she refused to keep her eyes away from.

Phillip’s worries had turned true. A Dungeon Break unlike what had occurred in the past ten years, one that had already caused the deaths of dozens.

Hundreds, if those crushed under the boots of others fleeing were counted. They probably wouldn’t be, if Vera’s guesses were to be trusted as accurate now. God, her head was hurting.

She wiped away the blood from her eyes when it began to hamper her line of sight. It seemed she’d been bleeding from the top of her head without her noticing. The headache must’ve hidden it from her senses, all the other pain making it hard to notice any superficial wound. Maybe she should’ve brought along some items that could heal in an emergency.

Focus, Vera. They’re coming.

Harper’s voice appeared in her mind to remind her of where she was. Blinking a few times, she saw the amount of people around her thin. The last stragglers had passed by without her notice. How many minutes had fallen while she was by this wall? She had trouble remembering, yet the view of the new breed of monsters was obvious.

Though it took effort, she remembered those insectoid creatures and their disgusting buzzing. They were the creatures that appeared a few layers deeper than the worms did, known for the loud buzzing their insect-like wings gave off as they flew around. And, while they might’ve been the same size as the worms, they were so much more deadly.

The former creatures could only move on the ground, after all. These didn’t have that weakness, more than able and willing to dive people from all possible angles. With their multiple arms all ending in sharp razor points, they were deadly.

It was a good thing most people had left by the time, lest so many more would’ve died. Vera looked on as so many were penetrated by the blade-like arms of the beasts, struggling for a moment before being cut up and killed. It was gruesome, many of the Dungeon Guards already falling victim to the attacks as well. And they were spreading out…

She flinched as some started looking their way. The large bulbous eyes had locked onto her, the buzzing increasing in volume as they neared her location.

You trained for this, Vera.

Harper’s voice arrived again inside her mind, calming her as she brought out the wand meant to kill. She’d spent weeks learning how to aim it, figuring out how to shoot the artifact with a level of precision that could kill a fly.

Vera hadn’t practiced it while suffering from a concussion, however. She mouthed the command, a bolt of red light flew from the wand, and it hit the wing of the first insect that tried to dive at her. It went off course, hitting the ground a few meters away, but the monster barely saw that as a hindrance as it leaped at her.

“Akta!” she nearly screamed, aiming the wand again and watching the red bolt hit right in the center of the bastard’s head. With the energy of a warhammer compressed into a small point, it shattered the exoskeleton of the beast and made it collapse into itself. Dead on the spot.

She was given a moment more to breathe, yet that didn’t mean she was safe. Other insects were still leaving the dungeon, bigger ones than before, and the fliers already out had noticed the sounds of their brethren imploding. The smell of flesh, of food had them interested.

“Akta!” she chanted again and again, bolts flying out in rapid succession. Though she felt lightheaded, likely from a mix of blood loss and a shaken mind, Vera refused to stop the slaughter. Just like she’d accepted with the people who had stomped her, it wasn’t a matter of wanting others to suffer but instead wanting yourself to live. For her, this wasn’t about them anymore. It was about her. “Akta.”

She felt an emptiness in her hand as the last bolt of red fired out, half the size of the others, and barely able to make the insect it hit twitch on the ground. It wasn’t dead outright but it wouldn’t lunge at her yet.

As for the others, that wasn’t the case. Vera was forced to leap to the side to avoid several dozen razer-arms aimed at her body. She could hear the limbs hitting the stone tiles, digging into the material while trying to pull out so they could charge her again.

She wouldn’t let them. The first wand was discarded and the second was pulled out in its stead.

“Vikto!” Vera chanted again, watching as a larger blue bolt was sent out. Easy to hit with, quicker to make them drop onto the ground, but this time it wasn’t lethal. The flying insects and worms were forced to twitch and fight to do anything other than vibrate in place, but it would barely last a minute. Maybe even less, with how much Mana they had inside them.

But that meant nothing to her.

Vera just fired it off again and again, as more and more arrived. A losing battle, one she wouldn’t win alone, but her attempts to make her distance and maybe flee into one of the streets failed as she began to be surrounded by more of the monsters. Running wasn’t an option. There weren’t many options left at all, really.

And, as she chanted once more to stop the diving of one of the larger insects, Vera could only widen her eyes as it sputtered and failed to fire. She dodged to the side at the last second, but it was barely enough to not get hit through the heart, one of the arms still managing to go through her midsection.

She screamed.

The wand, not good for another spell, was used as an improved tool as it was shoved into the nearest eyeball of the insect. It screeched, head shaking as it tried to get the wooden branch out. The razors in her stomach twisted and ground against her flesh in the process, making Vera scream out yet again.

Was this it?

No.

It couldn’t be.

Yet as she struggled and struggled, there started to be less and less hope, even her body slowly accepting her fate as her fingers began not obeying her commands. The mind was willing to fight, but the body had long since begun to give out.

Vera felt her eyelids begin to fall as another set of arms came from above, aiming at her with lethal intent. She couldn’t dodge, the insect already with its arms in her stomach holding her in place.

A screech made her eyes fly open again, however, right in time for green blood to cover her face. The insect from above had been cut through in mid-air, a massive blade saving her from the fate the monster had almost ensured.

An axe?

Weren’t the guards supposed to wield swords and spears only now?

“Off you go, you little shit,” she heard a mutter as she stared up blankly at the blurry figures. The green blood half-covering her eyes made it hard to really see. What was happening? “Oi, Elijah, I think this one’s still alive!”

She hissed and tried to curl into a ball when the blades in her stomach were pulled out. Whoever was above her didn’t allow it, strong hands keeping her back against the ground without mercy. She might’ve screamed something, but she wasn’t sure.

The only thing she was sure of was the feeling of a hand on her stomach and a burn that rivaled the hottest of fires.