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After leaving the alchemist workshop, Renn’s group sprinted in the same direction as the other hunters, aiming to track down Willo. Along the way, the hunters briefed them on the laboratory’s situation.
“This is really bad, isn’t it?!” Yufi shouted, struggling to keep pace with the others.
“Yes, it’s likely Father is heading to destroy the lab’s subjects,” Quin replied from the front. “We’ll meet the king in the meantime.“
“What if they’ve stationed guards to protect the lab?” Renn asked from behind him. “You two should go help Willo. I’ll face the king alone.”
“There will be guards at the throne room too. We’re sticking with you,” Quin countered. “Besides, you’re still feeling the effects from the arena match.”
Renn knew he was right. Given her potential connection to Veledot’s royal family, Quin and Yufi were determined not to leave her side.
“Don’t worry about Willo, missy,” one of the hunters added. “He’s famous for a reason. We’ll back him up. You three focus on confronting the king and the palace guards.”
The trio nodded, quickening their pace. The palace was only minutes away.
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Meanwhile, Willo and his group had breached the palace walls, with Willo leading the charge, his claymore, Lightningstorm, blasting strong bursts of wind to push back the guards. He was careful not to use the lightning core, as he didn’t want to inflict lethal damage.
Willo’s group, now down to just two dozen, faced waves of hunters from all over the kingdom converging on them. The tension grew as they pressed on.
“Did Edward say the entrance was outside?“ one of the hunters asked.
“Yeah, just around the corner,” another replied.
“Let’s move!” Willo commanded, sprinting ahead with the group close behind.
The palace guards, equipped with mana weapons, filled the area. These guards were far more skilled than the hunters trailing them, and their relentless pursuit began to slow Willo’s group. Still, they refused to back down.
Thanks to Willo’s mastery of Lightningstorm, they cleared the path to the laboratory entrance, pushing forward with minimal delays. However, the guards quickly regrouped, resuming the chase alongside the other hunters.
By the time they found the entrance, they wasted no time and charged inside, the relentless tide of hunters still in pursuit.
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From outside the palace walls, the sheer number of hunters was overwhelming, a visible trail of bodies racing towards the lab. As Renn’s group reached the palace, they blended into the chaos, eyes fixed on the same goal.
“We’ll stick with them and follow Willo,” one hunter said, exchanging determined looks with the others.
“Careful. We’re outnumbered,” Quin warned.
“Heh, don’t underestimate your dad, Quin. He’s a legend around here,” one of the hunters said before they all headed towards the lab entrance.
“How much bounty did the king put on your dad’s head…?” Yufi muttered, watching the large swarm of hunters rushing ahead.
“I don’t care. No one’s collecting it,” Quin responded as he made his way to the palace’s entrance, where two guards were stationed. “We’ve got our mission to focus on.”
Renn followed, gripping Esperanza. “Yeah.”
Yufi, aware she was the least powerful among the trio, steeled herself to guard their backs against ambushes.
Together, the three broke through the palace’s double doors—Quin wielding his wind-element longsword, Yufi ready with her fire-element bow, and Renn with her silver staff.
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As Willo and his group pressed through the underground passageway, the unsettling quiet deepened their sense of caution. With no guards present, only the growing echoes of their pursuers filled the space, but they pushed forward until reaching the entrance of the lab—a massive hall, just as Edward had described.
The group, tense but curious, followed the eerie hum of machinery deeper inside, their eyes catching sight of the glass tubes filled with cyan liquid. Yet, unlike what they had imagined, the tubes were empty of monster bodies. Then, looming ahead, was the giant tube containing the dark crimson mass, pulsating within the bubbling cyan fluid. The sickening sight was disturbing, with some in the group even hearing faint heartbeats, a grim reminder that the monster was indeed alive.
A mix of awe and disbelief swept over the group.
“Is this... really a monster?” one of them murmured.
Willo took the lead, scanning the hall for Theodore or any scholars, but the place seemed deserted. Theodore had either fled or was waiting elsewhere.
“Spread out,” Willo ordered. “We need to find a way to stop this.”
As the others scattered, Willo moved closer to the tube, his eyes tracing the grotesque lump inside. Up close, the mass of flesh was even more unsettling. Its slow, rhythmic pulsation gave it the appearance of a cocoon, and as he focused on it, Willo thought he could make out something vaguely humanoid beneath the layers of crimson.
“A cocoon…” he muttered, echoing the same term Edward had used to describe this horrific experiment.
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Inside the palace, the trio fought their way through the guards. Yufi, using her mana bow, provided ranged support, launching precise fireballs that scattered their attackers. Quin charged ahead, his longsword sweeping in wide arcs, while Renn stuck close to Yufi, guarding her with quick, calculated strikes from Esperanza.
Though Quin didn’t match his father Willo’s raw power, his mastery of swordplay was evident. He wielded his two-handed sword with skill, a technique he’d learned from Willo himself. As the guards closed in, Quin parried their blows with his wind-enchanted blade. The fierce, spiraling gusts surrounding the sword made it difficult for opponents to land a solid hit, forcing them back.
Whenever the wind staggered the guards, Quin countered with swift, punishing strikes. At times, he would expand the wind swirling around his sword and hold it aloft. Yufi would then fire a carefully timed fireball into the vortex, creating a fiery whirlwind that forced the guards to retreat. The firestorm didn’t last long, as the Mana would return to Yufi’s bow, but it gave the trio enough of an advantage to press forward.
If any guard proved especially troublesome, Renn would charge them, her staff flashing with power as she swiftly incapacitated them. The three moved fluidly together, each complementing the other’s skills.
Before long, they reached the palace’s grand staircase and ascended to the second floor.
“The king must be somewhere nearby,” Yufi muttered, her eyes scanning the halls ahead.
“The throne room is probably at the back,” Quin said, relaxing slightly as the absence of guards allowed him to lower his sword.
The second floor was eerily quiet compared to the chaos below. They advanced cautiously through the dimly lit corridors until they came across a set of double doors that stood out. Exchanging brief glances, they pushed the doors open.
Inside was a grand hall, with a red carpet stretching towards an ornate throne at the far end. Slouched on the throne was a figure, his posture far from regal.
They had found the throne room.
The trio said nothing as they stepped inside, slowly approaching the throne. Around them, several guards stood at attention, waiting silently for their king’s command.
“Ah, look who’s gracing me with a visit.” The man’s mocking voice echoed through the throne room.
Quin stopped in the center, his eyes narrowing at the figure slouched on the throne. “…You’re the king?”
Behind him, Renn and Yufi stood alert, their gazes shifting warily to the guards stationed along the walls. The tension in the air was palpable, the quiet unnerving.
“What’s with that question, peasant?” the man sneered, adjusting the poorly placed crown on his head. “Are your eyes so terrible that you can’t see this crown?”
The so-called king was a pudgy man in his late twenties, his brown, curly hair unkempt, and blue eyes sharp with disdain. The crown sat askew on his head, almost as if it had been tossed on as an afterthought. His posture, his entire demeanor, screamed of laziness and arrogance, a stark contrast to the image of a noble ruler.
Renn felt her stomach tighten. There was something off about him—he was far too young to be the ruler of Veledot. The stories she had heard of the kingdom’s downfall began to make more sense now. It was as if the kingdom had been handed to an incompetent man-child.
“You’re not the king,” Renn said, stepping forward, her voice filled with suspicion. Her hand gripped Esperanza tightly. “Where’s the real king?”
“Oh, I assure you that I am the king of Veledot—King Coby!” he declared, rising from his throne with an exaggerated flourish. Despite his attempt at grandeur, his short height and chubby frame made him look anything but regal.
Quin and Yufi exchanged a glance, their expressions unreadable. They remained silent, allowing Renn to take the lead. This was clearly her moment.
Renn’s jaw clenched, anger bubbling just beneath the surface. Her knuckles whitened as her grip tightened on Esperanza. “I came all the way here to meet the king and to ask him about my parents. Tell me where he is.”
“Your parents?” Coby repeated, his brow furrowing for a moment before his eyes lit up in recognition. His hand went to his chin, rubbing it thoughtfully. “Wait… are you the one Theodore mentioned?”
At the sound of the name, the trio stiffened. The name Theodore had come up from Willo’s men, confirming that this King Coby was indeed linked to the man they were after.
Suddenly, Coby burst into laughter, his voice loud and grating as it bounced off the high stone walls of the throne room. The sound was unsettling, almost manic.
“What the hell are you laughing at?!” Renn snapped, her patience quickly running thin.
Coby’s laughter slowed, but the twisted smirk remained on his face. “Oh, did I offend you? How tragic,” he mocked, leaning back into the throne with a careless wave of his hand. “But honestly, I don’t care what you think. No need to bother answering.”
He shifted in his seat, lazily adjusting the crooked crown atop his head as if the entire conversation was little more than a game to him. His smirk widened, eyes gleaming with amusement as he continued. “It’s just so hilarious, you know? Meeting you here, of all places… because of our parents.”
Renn froze, her eyes narrowing at his words. “…What did you say?”
“Of course, you didn’t know.” Coby replied with a nonchalant shrug. “You were probably just a baby when it all went down, while I was, oh, thirteen or so.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Renn’s grip on Esperanza tightened, but before she could snap back, Coby leaned forward on his throne, his mocking smile stretching wider. “Ah, here comes a lovely little storytime. So clean out those ears of yours and listen carefully.”
Renn’s eyes narrowed, and Yufi tensed beside her, but they stayed silent, their focus sharp as Coby began to recount his tale. His voice dripped with theatrical flair, enjoying every moment of his twisted narrative.
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Coby’s father had been a man of wealth in Veledot, though his riches were far from earned through honest means. His fortune came from dirty deals, extortion, and under-the-table trades that had cast a long, dark shadow over the city. The former king had grown suspicious of his actions and sent guards to the family mansion several times, trying to expose the corruption. Yet, with his vast influence, Coby’s father had always managed to wriggle out of trouble, bribing officials and silencing those who questioned his methods.
Then, one day, Theodore arrived—a mysterious figure with ambitions as dark as Coby’s father. Theodore quickly became a close friend and adviser to him, sharing in his schemes.
“My father hated the king,” Coby mused, leaning back against his throne. “He loathed the fact that the royal family had any power left. So, Theodore—genius that he was—offered a solution. He whispered a plan into my father’s ear… a way to take the throne for himself.”
The plan was simple but brutal. Theodore concocted a poison—a slow-acting, lethal blend—and slipped it to Coby’s father, who arranged for it to be administered to the king. The poison worked its way through the king’s body over time, making it seem like a sudden, unexplained illness. When the king finally succumbed, the people of Veledot mourned, but no one suspected foul play. It was a perfect crime.
At the time, the king’s son, the prince, was away on a journey across the Mainland. Rumors had spread that he was searching for something, but no one knew when he would return. In the vacuum left by the king’s death, Coby’s father wasted no time. He used his influence, bought loyalty, and presented himself as a stabilizing force in the kingdom—a temporary substitute until the rightful heir returned.
But, as Coby’s father gained more power, his desire for the throne only grew. He couldn’t risk the prince returning and reclaiming his rightful place, so he took matters into his own hands. He hired assassins to hunt down and kill the prince, no matter the cost. He had started to believe he deserved the throne, that it was his destiny.
As the months passed, news finally reached the kingdom: the prince had been slain, supposedly by a monster during his travels. The people mourned, but behind closed doors, Coby’s father celebrated his success. It had all gone exactly as planned.
However, the assassins reported back with more information—they hadn’t just killed the prince. There had been a woman with him on his return journey, someone who had been traveling at his side. The assassins had killed her too, another casualty in the pursuit of power.
Coby’s father hardly cared. To him, one more life lost in pursuit of the throne was meaningless. But Theodore, always meticulous, had uncovered a piece of information that Coby’s father had not anticipated: the prince had left behind a daughter—hidden somewhere in the northern region.
Coby’s father wanted the child dead, to ensure no royal bloodline could rise against him, but Theodore assured him that he would handle it. The matter was swept under the rug as Coby’s father focused on consolidating his power.
And so, after what felt like a seamless transition, Coby’s father was crowned king of Veledot. To the public, it seemed as though the royal family had been completely wiped out, leaving the kingdom in need of a new ruler.
But as time passed, Coby’s father’s greed and obsession with power consumed him. He no longer cared for Coby, his only son. All of his attention was on the kingdom, his influence, and his newfound authority. Coby was left in the shadows, neglected and filled with growing resentment.
“And that’s when I decided I’d had enough,” Coby said with a twisted grin. “I went to Theodore, just as my father had done before me. And I told him I wanted the throne for myself.”
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. The trio, especially Renn, stood there wide-eyed, stunned by Coby’s casual confession. Esperanza fell to the ground from Renn’s loosened grip. Even some of the guards shifted uneasily, their expressions betraying discomfort.
“And just like that, I became king! Pretty easy, huh?” Coby said with a nonchalant shrug, as if he were recounting a trivial event. “Five years later, here we are. Gotta say though, now that I’m looking at you, you’re kinda cute.” His eyes roved up and down Renn’s form as he rubbed his chin with a sleazy smirk.
“You… damn murderer!” Quin snarled, stepping forward, his body shaking with rage, sword gripped tightly in his hands.
Before he could get closer, Renn’s voice cut through the tension. “Then why?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, her eyes glossy with the tears that were starting to pool. “Why did they leave me?”
Coby froze, watching her closely as the first tear slid down her cheek.
“They could’ve taken me with them,” Renn continued, her words trembling. “Then it’d all be over, right? No more royal bloodline. No more Veledot princes or heirs. You’d be happy. Everything would be done.”
A smile—fragile and heartbroken—spread across her face as more tears fell, streaking her cheeks. She turned, her eyes pleading with Quin and Yufi. “Right, guys? It would’ve been better, wouldn’t it?”
“Renn…” Quin muttered, his voice cracking, as he lowered his sword, helpless in the face of her pain.
Without hesitation, Yufi rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around Renn’s trembling body. “Don’t talk like that,” she whispered softly, holding her close. “Please, don’t say that.”
Coby’s expression shifted to mock surprise, his tone still dripping with condescension. “Aww, what’s wrong? That sad? I mean, I technically killed the guy responsible for wiping out your family, didn’t I? You should be thanking me. Guess that’s what happens when royalty gets raised by peasants.”
“You shut your mouth!” Quin growled, turning his gaze to the guards around them. “Can’t you all see what’s happening here? Is this the man you really want to serve?”
The guards exchanged uneasy glances, their loyalty clearly wavering, but none of them moved. The tension in the room thickened, uncertainty hanging in the air.
Coby let out an exaggerated yawn, waving his hand dismissively. “Bah, who cares? None of this matters anymore. I’m honestly bored of being king of just one tiny region.”
Standing from his throne, he adjusted his crown as if it were a nuisance. “Besides, I’ve got a new toy to play with now. After months of effort— and a lot of money— my little project’s finally complete.”
Quin’s eyes narrowed. “You mean the lab?” His voice grew more confident. “Our team’s already on their way to destroy everything.”
Coby’s lips curled into a twisted grin, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Oh, are they now? Let’s see if that’s true.”
Taking a deep breath, Coby suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, the sound echoing through the hall:
“Balehorn! Wake up!”
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In the depths of the laboratory, tension crackled in the air. The sound of heavy boots echoed off the cold stone floor as the hunters and palace guards finally caught up with Willo’s group. But as they stormed into the lab, ready for battle, their momentum halted. Instead of attacking, they were struck silent, staring in disbelief at the grotesque sight before them: a massive, pulsating lump of flesh suspended inside a giant glass tube, like some twisted experiment gone wrong.
The room filled with murmurs as none of the new arrivals seemed to have any knowledge of what they were seeing. Willo took the moment to explain, his voice grim. “This is what we came to stop. A group of unknown scholars has been using the monster corpses we hunters brought here. They’re running experiments, trying to create something from the dead… something we can’t allow to be born.“
The gravity of the situation finally hit the newcomers, and the hunters and guards exchanged uneasy glances before nodding in agreement. Whatever this abomination was, they had to stop it. Some stepped forward, aligning themselves with Willo’s group, while others fanned out to search the hall for any way to shut down the machinery or sabotage the experiment.
“Are you sure we can’t just destroy this stuff?” one hunter asked, eyeing the strange, humming machines that lined the room. Flickering lights illuminated the faces of the hunters, casting sharp shadows that only heightened the unease.
“What if it blows up in our faces?” another replied, his voice laced with worry.
“Well, we’ve gotta stop it somehow,” the first hunter insisted.
Near the glass tube, several hunters stood cautiously, their weapons drawn but useless against the thick glass. One of them tapped the surface, watching as the lump of flesh within pulsated rhythmically. “This thing’s thick. I doubt even our mana weapons could break it.“
“At least we’ve got some time,” Willo muttered, recalling Edward’s words that the experiment needed a few more days to complete. “The scholars are gone, and we’ve stopped feeding it more monster corpses. That should slow it dow—”
“Whoa!”
The sharp exclamation interrupted Willo’s reassurance. All eyes turned to the hunter who had spoken, his face pale and wide-eyed.
“What’s wrong?” someone asked.
“I… I thought I saw it move,” the man stammered.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” another hunter said, laughing nervously. “It’s just pulsating. You’re jumping at shadows.”
“No, I swear! It wasn’t just pulsating. It… moved!”
The air in the room grew thick with dread. Hunters glanced warily at each other, then back at the massive glass tube. Slowly, one by one, they all saw it. The lump wasn’t just pulsing anymore. It was moving, as though something was stirring within the grotesque mass—something trying to break free.
“Oh no… it’s moving!” a voice shouted in terror.
Panic spread like wildfire. Some hunters scrambled toward the exits, their footsteps pounding in a desperate attempt to escape. Others stood frozen in place, torn between fight and flight as the hall filled with the sound of screams and frantic shouts.
“Willo! What do we do?!” one of Willo’s men asked, gripping his mana weapon tightly as if it would protect him from whatever was about to emerge.
Willo stood frozen, his eyes fixated on the giant glass tube. His mind raced, but there were no answers, only questions. Was it supposed to be moving? Had they miscalculated something? His gut twisted with unease, realizing that neither he nor anyone else had any clue what they were truly dealing with. His pulse hammered in his ears, each beat louder than the last, but he forced himself to remain steady, unwilling to show fear.
The glass was thick—reinforced to contain whatever monstrous thing was inside. It shouldn’t be able to break through. It shouldn’t.
But then, the unmistakable sound pierced the room.
A crack.
“Run,” Willo commanded, his voice tight with urgency as he spun around and bolted for the entrance. His heavy footsteps echoed off the stone walls, urging the others to move.
“RUN!” came the frantic shouts of those behind him, panic spreading like wildfire.
Some hunters were paralyzed with fear, their legs buckling beneath them. They collapsed to the ground, eyes wide in horror as they watched cyan liquid spill from the glass tube, seeping onto the floor in thin, ominous streams.
Then came the tearing sound—wet and sickening—like flesh being ripped apart. From within the monstrous cocoon, a massive dark crimson arm emerged, slender but frighteningly powerful. With ease, it shattered the thick glass that had once contained it. Shards clattered to the floor like jagged rain. Another arm followed, clawed fingers gripping the edge of the broken tube with a sickening scrape of nails against glass.
The beast dragged itself free from the pulsating lump of flesh, revealing its grotesque form. Its body, humanoid yet horribly wrong, was bulging with muscle, its skin a deep, blood-red crimson. The face of a bull stared down at them, eyes glowing yellow with predatory hunger. Dark, curved horns crowned its skull, and its tail, long and barbed, flicked menacingly behind it. It stood tall, towering over everything, each of its steps sending faint tremors through the ground.
The hall shrank under its presence. The hunters—once proud and fierce—now seemed like mere playthings for this monstrosity.
“Ahhh! M-monster!” one of the hunters screamed, his voice cracking as his mind broke under the weight of terror.
His scream was cut short. WHOOSH—the air split with a sound too fast to follow. His body stopped mid-motion, only for his upper half to vanish in a spray of blood, erased from existence by the creature’s whip-like tail. It hadn’t even looked at him, only reacting to the sound of his voice, the sharp tip of the tail finding its mark with deadly precision.
Screams filled the hall as the remaining hunters scrambled for survival, their weapons now little more than toys in the face of this nightmare.
Willo finally burst out of the hall, gasping for air as the horrific screams echoed behind him, fading only slightly as he sprinted through the underground passageway.
“This can’t be real!” a terrified voice shouted from behind, panic gripping the remaining hunters.
“Keep moving!” Willo barked over his shoulder, his voice sharp with authority. “It can’t fit through the passageway. We need to get to the surface, NOW!”
The remaining hunters didn’t need to be told twice. They raced up the sloping underground passage, boots slamming against the stone floor in a frantic rhythm. Hearts pounded in their chests, but the fear of what was behind them pushed their legs to move faster.
Finally, they emerged into the open air outside the palace walls. Panting heavily, some hunters kept running, desperate to distance themselves from the underground horrors. Others stopped, doubling over to catch their breath or staring back at the palace, wide-eyed with dread.
“What now, Willo?” one of his men asked, still trembling as he looked back towards the entrance. “That thing… it’s loose! And it’s right in the heart of the kingdom!”
Willo wiped the sweat off his brow, glancing towards the palace. “It can’t get through the passageway. Not with how big it is. But we’ll have to find a way to kill it, somehow.”
“Kill it?!” The hunter’s voice rose in disbelief. “I saw it up close! That thing’s a death sentence waiting to happen! It killed a man in seconds!”
“So what, you want to just leave it and hope it doesn’t kill us all?” Willo’s words came out sharp, silencing the man. “Out here, we have more room to move. We can’t let it run wild in the kingdom.”
As if in response to Willo’s words, the ground beneath their feet trembled violently. THOOM. THOOM. The tremors came one after the other, rhythmic and heavy—like something monstrous was tearing apart the earth below.
“Whoa…!” someone shouted as they stumbled, trying to keep their balance.
“We need to get out of here, now!” another hunter said, pointing towards the distant palace walls.
“Right,” Willo nodded, his voice steady despite the fear gnawing at him. “Let’s go.”
The group began to sprint away, but a voice from the back made Willo pause.
“Wait! Renn’s group… they’re probably still in the palace!”
Willo’s heart skipped a beat. “What?! I told you to get them out of the kingdom!”
“I-I know!” the hunter stammered. “But they said they’d help us out! And they were going to meet the king anyway!”
“Tch… Damn it,” Willo growled under his breath. He turned towards the palace entrance, jaw clenched. “We’re getting them out. Let’s move!”
But before they could take more than a few steps, the ground trembled violently again—this time, the tremors felt dangerously close.
CRACK! The earth beneath them groaned and split apart, as if something far below was struggling to reach the surface.
“What the—!” a nearby hunter cried out, eyes wide with terror.
Then, with a thunderous BOOM, the ground on the opposite side of the palace erupted, sending chunks of stone and debris flying. Dust filled the air, but through the haze, they all saw it—a dark crimson arm, impossibly large, bursting from the earth.
The monster had broken through.
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