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Chapter 41

“Bwahahaha, unlucky wench! You’re monster food now!”

But Luke freaked out and shouted back.

“G-Goruz..! Eben still, she’s a giwl..!”

“Do you think I care?! This door can only be opened from this side. Kehehehe!”

Radis reached out quickly, but the stone door was already closed shut.

“Ha..?”

Feeling a tingling sensation at the back of her head, she stepped back and looked up at the tightly closed door.

The closed stone gate looked like a huge wall.

There were some sticky, poisonous moss that looked to be grayish-brown all over the stone gate, and there were vines hanging throughout as well.

To anyone who didn’t know that there was a gate right here, it looked like it was only a stone wall.

“Those pricks, really?”

Grinding her teeth, Radis pulled the rusty sword from her waist and held it tight.

She tried to push the tip of the sword through the cracks in the stone gate, but it was impossible.

The stone gate was solidly closed, and the gap was closed like it was a shell.

On the other hand, her iron sword was also covered in a thick layer of black rust.

She tried a couple more times, but Radis eventually gave up on opening the door.

She pounded the stone wall with her sword.

But it really wouldn’t budge.

“Ha!”

Radis touched the spot where the moss was scraped off from being beaten by the iron sword.

She tried pushing the stone gate with mana covering her fingertips, but it still wouldn’t move as she wanted.

It felt like she was pushing against the ground.

“This isn’t any regular stone, is it?”

Though she didn’t know its exact identity, the stone gate was also part of the ancient magical ruins.

Maybe that’s why she couldn’t break it like she could with regular stones.

Looking at the wall with a conflicted expression, Radis suddenly found something.

“What’s this?”

She could see a thick groove where the moss had been scraped off.

Looking at it with a grimace, Radis tried to examine it, but she was startled by a distant roar.

“Ah, seriously.”

She tore off a piece of her shirt and covered her nose and mouth with it.

After that, she held the rusty sword firmly so that she’d be able to face off against whatever it was that could appear suddenly.

‘What a terrible place.’

Radis sighed inwardly.

Most parts of the forest of monsters were terrible places, but since the monsters were basically still living beings, the forest was still a habitable place.

However, that didn’t include the forbidden region.

As she walked through the fog, Radis’ eyes continuously scanned her surroundings, and through the white haze, she found a silhouette.

Radis stopped to look at it.

‘The underworld tree!’

It was the tree at the center of all demonic monsters and the root of all their origins.

The tree, which was as white as a sheet, looked so unnatural that it would catch the eye of anyone who’d see it.

Its huge trunk was something that not even ten adults would be able to cover even when their arms would stretch out to the fullest.

However, if one would look closely, numerous thin roots extended from under the trunk and floated in the air to support it.

It was a characteristic trait of the underworld tree that its roots were floating in the air just as mangroves grew in the mud.

‘Haa, it’s strong.’

Her eyes were burning from the intense demonic power that was emanating from the underworld tree.

Radis frowned and placed the chest on the floor.

Monsters usually laid their eggs near the roots of the underworld tree.

It might seem like the act of abandoning their eggs, but instead of gaining warmth from their mother’s bosoms, monster eggs grew even more powerful if they could absorb energy from the roots of the underworld tree.

It wasn’t a nasty characteristic.

“Ha..”

Beneath the cloth that was covering her lips, Radis let out a sigh.

She didn’t come here to return the eggs because she had some good faith towards the monsters.

Just as she said, she came here to make sure that Gorz would set his wayward actions straight.

But far from reflecting on his actions, Gorz really went ahead and did the exact opposite.

‘Terrible bastard.’

The back of her head was still stinging.

But the strange thing was that, rather than being angry at Gorz, she felt pathetic because she didn’t foresee this.

‘I’m still tied to the past.’

The realization was like a splash of cold water.

“This is a sign that I should stop thinking about the past. Let’s just say that I’ve been stabbed in the back..”

Radis urged herself.

She decided to roughly leave behind the eggs near the underworld tree and go back to the stone gate to find a way to open it.

‘But what if the gate never opens?’

It might open if she was really determined to break it, but if the door breaks, then the monsters might be able to go out through the passageway.

‘Then.. I’ll just find my way out of this place. How many days will it take though?’

Radis sighed deeply, rolling out the fist-sized monster eggs roughly towards the roots of the underworld tree.

And, just as she was about to pick up the shiny egg,

“....!”

Radis quickly reached over her head.

“Vice Commander!”

Laszlo cried out as his shoulders were soaked with blood.

“It’s weird. Where’s the inspection team?”

Thierry, who had a bandage wrapped over his head, shot back sharply.

“Haven’t you realized?”

“What?”

“We were fooled. This.. is a trap!”

Thierry turned his head to look at Tez.

“Tez, where did you get the letter back then?”

Tez murmured back with a pale face.

“The inspection team’s squire gave it to me. He said that the team had already left for the forbidden region..”

“Squire? Which one?”

“His name was.. Fred, I think? I don’t remember his name, but he introduced himself as a squire of the investigation team. Hey, you think I’m stupid? The moment I got the letter, of course I checked the temporary lodgings where the investigation team was staying, and it was already empty!”

He’d been silent until now, but Merrick asked.

“Is it Alfred? The kid who said he’s from the Roderick family?”

“....!”

“....”

The moment that House Roderick was mentioned, Radis clenched her teeth so hard that her molars let out a grinding sound.

None of these men knew just how much House Roderick went out of their way to interfere with everything that Robert did.

But would they really go to this extent just for the lone reason that Robert was the son of a concubine?

They’re acting like the laws don’t apply to them.

‘No, I can’t jump to conclusions. I need to assess the situation as it is.’

Radis looked around.

She led the subjugation squad towards the forbidden region so that they could find any traces of the imperial inspection team.

They were now near the underworld tree, which they heard was the investigation team’s destination, but there were no traces of them at all.

More than half the squad had incurred major and minor injuries throughout this journey.

In addition, the next area over was the underworld tree, which was the core of the forbidden region.

Radis made a decision.

“The pursuit is off. We’re withdrawing!”

At that moment.

Suddenly, Laszlo’s body was flung into the air.

“AAACK!”

Countless branches were stretching out from the underworld tree’s trunk, casting web-like shadows throughout the fog.

So, it couldn’t be ascertained.

It was impossible to know if there was a real spider web looming within those shadows.

‘It’s the same as back then!’

Radis grabbed the web that was attached to the back of her neck.

A bright flame rose from her hand.

Her gaze was focused first on her hand, and then she looked up.

Above her head, a thread as thick as a human being’s finger was coming down from the white fog and the web-like shadows.

In fact, it was burning rapidly from where she had grabbed it.

With a clicking sound, the broken thread fell.

With cold eyes, Radis inspected the rapidly burning thread.

She knew it now. It’s the same thread that had snatched Laszlo away.

“I’m really unlucky, huh.”

She meant it.

How on earth could she be so unlucky.

There were many monsters protecting the underworld tree.

Elves that used the power of spirits. Centaurs that fired arrows with great power. Even immortal golems.

But by far, the most dangerous out of them all was this Arachne.

Radis looked up overhead.

In that suffocating haze, there was a black shadow.

“You—you’re the one who..!”

The faces of her dying comrades flashed before her eyes.

At that moment, Radis was engulfed by an uncontrollable wrath.

She had already died once and this was her second chance at life, but still, it was something that she couldn’t overcome.

How long had she spent repeating in her mind the events that took place on that day, blaming herself with all her heart.

When she didn’t notice the trap, when she shuddered in her own helplessness, when she watched her dying comrades. She blamed herself for everything.

After her second life began, she comforted herself by convincing herself that she was now the sixteen-year-old Radis. She chanted to herself as if it was a mantra that none of that happened—no, that it would never happen in the future.

She actively tried not to think of it at all.

Until she came here to the forbidden region.

Until she met Arachne.

Her hand gripped the sword that was entirely covered in rust.

No, it was now covered in mana.

The mana-infused sword trembled faintly in her grasp.

Hwa-rak!

A sharp sound tore through the stagnant fog.

It was Arachne’s web.

As fast as an arrow, as hard as steel, as flexible as a whip.

And, it was also sticky that it was almost impossible to take it off when it’s already stuck on you.

How many people had been lost to this web in the past..!

‘But it’s different now!’

As she thought this, Radis infused mana into the rusty sword.

Over the surface of the sword that was covered with lumps of rust, showers of sparks could be seen by the naked eye.

She was infusing mana in a rough manner, but there was no other choice.

It was something that she learned through the struggles she faced in her past life.

Fire was the best bet against a spider’s web.

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