Her heart was pounding. She felt like time stood still in the midst of the roaring crowd. Before she could even adjust to the strange feeling, a harsh moan erupted through the loud shouts.
“Ugggh!”
Adelaide removed the hand covering her eyes. It was because that voice, which seemed to have been suppressed, was familiar.
She could see Raham through her shaky vision. Sitting on a chair with his whole body tied up, he looked like he was in pain even though she couldn’t see his face.
“No! Stop, please, stop!”
The harpy screamed desperately. Her tears kept flowing as she begged for Raham to be released, but the demons appeared to enjoy it even more.
“Oh my, is it because the blade is too dull? It looks like we still have a long way to go. Please applaud our struggling Modi!”
The host exaggeratedly pretended to be sorry and induced the audience’s response. The demons burst into laughter at his acting and applauded the demon holding an axe.
Adelaide’s breathing quickened. Her vision was rippling like waves, and her head was dizzy. Everything was confusing.
“Master Adele!”
Lisianthus grabbed her shoulder. A scent resembling a forest brushed her nose, and her reason returned.
Adelaide opened her mouth blankly.
“Huh…?”
“Get a hold of yourself. Not now!”
At his command, she looked behind her and saw wings jutting out her back. Her hair and nails also became longer. Looking back to the stage, she could see Raham suffering. She was much closer to the stage than before.
She seemed to have been so provoked that she cut through the crowd and approached the stage without realizing it. Even changing into her succubus form. If it hadn’t been for the scarf Lisianthus had wrapped around her, she would have been found out. To transform into a place like this, among these demons, was no different than begging to be caught.
“But.”
Adelaide’s cheeks trembled as she looked at the stage. The demon called Modi swung the axe without mercy. Raham groaned again at the pain that ripped through his flesh.
‘How can I stay still? After seeing something like this.’
Just as Adelaide’s wings were about to pop out even more, Lisianthus, who knew what she was thinking just by looking at her face, hugged her. His low, whispering voice resonated in her ears.
“If you interfere now, there will be war. This ridiculous circus is a symbol of Sol Dungeon, and touching it is a declaration of war between dungeons.”
“Didn’t you say you’d just talk to him and come back?” Lisianthus spoke to her with a blunt expression on his face.
“If that is what the master really wants, I will follow, but please consider whether or not you are caught up in a momentary emotion.”
War. Adelaide hunched at the simple yet heavy words. Her body froze as if cold water was dumped on her.
Sol Dungeon is a C-Class dungeon. She knew how difficult it was to raise levels, so it would be so much stronger compared to the E-Class Boraca Dungeon. If a circus of this size can be maintained outside the dungeon, their financial resources must be enormous.
If they fought only with pure combat power, they had a chance of winning. No, they wouldn’t lose at all. Because Greenville had Caladium.
However, Greenville Dungeon will be accused of suddenly invading other dungeons, and most of all, everyone except Adelaide and Caladium will not be guaranteed their lives. It may not be a complete defeat, but in that sense, it was not a victory either.
“Is he such an important demon for you to risk everything?”
At Lisianthus’ question, Adelaide clenched her teeth tightly.
When she thought about it objectively, she wasn’t close enough with Raham to risk the lives of the Skeletons, Bell, and Lisian. They had only met one time.
So, even though she knew the right choice, a corner of her heart was unbearably frustrated. She tilted her head, looking up, and veins sprang from her neck.
She thought she had gotten a lot stronger, but she still couldn’t do anything. That fact was so tragic.
Lisianthus gently stroked her shoulder.
“… Durahan is a strong race among the mid level demons. Their bodies are also made of their souls, so even if they lose an arm or a leg, it will regenerate sooner or later.”
He tried to say soothing words, but they were not very comforting. In this situation, regeneration would be nothing but a curse. They would only cut him again and again until the audience got bored.
“Wow!”
“Woohoo!”
At the same time, the surrounding demons screamed again and went wild. Even without seeing the stage, she knew why. The smell of blood intensified. Unsurprisingly, the blunt axe struck again.
When the Harpy saw this, she fainted instead of screaming, and a demon standing nearby slapped her cheek and woke her up. It meant that she shouldn’t miss a single moment of her lover being tortured.
‘I wish I didn’t have to hear this.’
Adelaide muttered, biting her lips. She could only hope, feeling disillusioned with herself.
“Now, let’s stop fooling around and go fast, shall we? Modi, do it right!”
“Yes!”
“I can’t look at this anymore.” Adelaide turned around and sprinted towards the exit. She covered her mouth because she felt like she was going to vomit.
“Adela, wait for me!”
Caladium, who saw her, shouted from afar. He tried to follow Adelaide, pushing demons around him with his strong arms, but his steps were delayed because someone grabbed his clothes.
“Wait!”
Caladium frowned and turned his head. He saw a small woman grabbing his collar. It was a cute demon with short hair.
“Hey, haven’t we met before?”
Caladium’s frown lines deepened. He pulled his shirt from her hands and turned around without answering her. The woman followed.
“Wait, wait a minute. You really look like a demon I know…”
“Go away. Before I kill you.”
He threatened her with a harsh voice. But the woman reached out to him without a look of concern.
“Take off your hat.”
Caldium’s patience ended there. In the blink of an eye, his large hand grabbed the woman’s neck and threw her to the floor with terrifying force. The sound of broken bones was heard.
He moved quickly without even checking if she was alive. Adelaide had disappeared from his sight. Curse words mixed with a sigh came out of his mouth.
“Fuck…”
Caladium brushed his face with his hand.
“What’s, his leg has already been cut off?” The host’s voice could be heard, further irritating his nerves.
***
Adelaide walked blindly and did not know where she was going. She moved aimlessly in search of a place where she couldn’t hear the disgusting cheers. She stopped and took a breath only after finding a quiet place.
After leaning somewhere and taking a deep breath, the urge to vomit subsided. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lisianthus looking down at her. She realized that it was him she had been leaning on.
“I’m sorry…”
Adelaide didn’t know exactly what she was sorry about, but she apologized.
‘I’m sorry for not being strong enough, I’m sorry for being like this, I’m just sorry for a lot of things.’ In fact, more than regret, she felt ashamed.
Lisianthus slowly opened his mouth.
“There is nothing to be sorry for, Master Adele. You did nothing wrong.”
He had such a calm attitude that she wondered if it was the same demon.
“I would recommend that you take a rest, but this place doesn’t seem right for that.”
At his words, Adelaide looked around her. She saw a dark alley. It didn’t seem to be too far from the circus because she could still hear shouting.
Suddenly, her eyes widened. There were large cages made of iron bars all over the place. Inside some cages, monsters she was not familiar with were wounded and trapped.
“What is this…!”
“It seems to be a place where the demons used in the circus are confined.”
She just walked where her feet brought her but she found this place.
Adelaide stepped closer to the one nearest them. Just before her white fingers touched the cage, Lisianthus stopped her.
“Please don’t. The bars are enchanted with high level magic. If you touch it, you will be seriously injured or killed.”
His tone was so calm that she almost mistakenly thought it was nothing. Adelaide felt a chill in her spine and took a cautious step backward. The monster inside the cage had no reaction and seemed to be unconscious.
At that moment, she felt the presence of someone approaching from afar. Lisianthus realized this first and pulled Adelaide gently.
“Please excuse me.”
He led her in the shadows, holding her arm. Adelaide quietly followed him.
Eventually, two demons appeared. Adelaide’s face twisted when she confirmed their identity. It was the host of Casa del Sol and the demon who had been holding the axe a while ago.
“Hey, can’t you do it right? You should have taken 10 more minutes! Haven’t you done this once or twice?!”
“I tried! But the blade was sharper than I expected.”
“This b*stard, how dare you make excuses… ! I purposely brought the oldest ones, but you try to f*cking say nonsense?!”
“But it’s the truth…”
“Stop talking and just lock him up! If you do this one more time, just know that I will report it to Master Mierda right away.”
“Yes…”
The demon, Modi, who answered with a sullen voice, immediately picked up something large and approached Adelaide’s hiding place. Adelaide instinctively pressed her body to Lisianthus while observing the situation. Lisianthus’ eyes fluttered slightly, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
Fortunately, because of Lisianthus’ great stealth skills, Modi didn’t seem to have any suspicions. He opened the empty cage with the key, put something in it, and followed the host back to the circus.
After the two had completely disappeared, Adelaide hurriedly emerged from the shadows and checked the cage.
Sure enough, Raham was there. The shining iron armor was stained with blood and had lost its former shine, and his strong legs were cut off and tied with a cloth. He collapsed without even realizing Adelaide’s presence.
A sense of guilt flooded in at that wretched sight. Adelaide clenched her teeth, swallowing the emotions boiling in her throat, and slowly opened her mouth.
“Raham.”
Raham’s body visibly twitched. It was a name he had not heard in a long time. In this place, he was only known as ‘Durahan’.
Her heart was pounding. She felt like time stood still in the midst of the roaring crowd. Before she could even adjust to the strange feeling, a harsh moan erupted through the loud shouts.
“Ugggh!”
Adelaide removed the hand covering her eyes. It was because that voice, which seemed to have been suppressed, was familiar.
She could see Raham through her shaky vision. Sitting on a chair with his whole body tied up, he looked like he was in pain even though she couldn’t see his face.
“No! Stop, please, stop!”
The harpy screamed desperately. Her tears kept flowing as she begged for Raham to be released, but the demons appeared to enjoy it even more.
“Oh my, is it because the blade is too dull? It looks like we still have a long way to go. Please applaud our struggling Modi!”
The host exaggeratedly pretended to be sorry and induced the audience’s response. The demons burst into laughter at his acting and applauded the demon holding an axe.
Adelaide’s breathing quickened. Her vision was rippling like waves, and her head was dizzy. Everything was confusing.
“Master Adele!”
Lisianthus grabbed her shoulder. A scent resembling a forest brushed her nose, and her reason returned.
Adelaide opened her mouth blankly.
“Huh…?”
“Get a hold of yourself. Not now!”
At his command, she looked behind her and saw wings jutting out her back. Her hair and nails also became longer. Looking back to the stage, she could see Raham suffering. She was much closer to the stage than before.
She seemed to have been so provoked that she cut through the crowd and approached the stage without realizing it. Even changing into her succubus form. If it hadn’t been for the scarf Lisianthus had wrapped around her, she would have been found out. To transform into a place like this, among these demons, was no different than begging to be caught.
“But.”
Adelaide’s cheeks trembled as she looked at the stage. The demon called Modi swung the axe without mercy. Raham groaned again at the pain that ripped through his flesh.
‘How can I stay still? After seeing something like this.’
Just as Adelaide’s wings were about to pop out even more, Lisianthus, who knew what she was thinking just by looking at her face, hugged her. His low, whispering voice resonated in her ears.
“If you interfere now, there will be war. This ridiculous circus is a symbol of Sol Dungeon, and touching it is a declaration of war between dungeons.”
“Didn’t you say you’d just talk to him and come back?” Lisianthus spoke to her with a blunt expression on his face.
“If that is what the master really wants, I will follow, but please consider whether or not you are caught up in a momentary emotion.”
War. Adelaide hunched at the simple yet heavy words. Her body froze as if cold water was dumped on her.
Sol Dungeon is a C-Class dungeon. She knew how difficult it was to raise levels, so it would be so much stronger compared to the E-Class Boraca Dungeon. If a circus of this size can be maintained outside the dungeon, their financial resources must be enormous.
If they fought only with pure combat power, they had a chance of winning. No, they wouldn’t lose at all. Because Greenville had Caladium.
However, Greenville Dungeon will be accused of suddenly invading other dungeons, and most of all, everyone except Adelaide and Caladium will not be guaranteed their lives. It may not be a complete defeat, but in that sense, it was not a victory either.
“Is he such an important demon for you to risk everything?”
At Lisianthus’ question, Adelaide clenched her teeth tightly.
When she thought about it objectively, she wasn’t close enough with Raham to risk the lives of the Skeletons, Bell, and Lisian. They had only met one time.
So, even though she knew the right choice, a corner of her heart was unbearably frustrated. She tilted her head, looking up, and veins sprang from her neck.
She thought she had gotten a lot stronger, but she still couldn’t do anything. That fact was so tragic.
Lisianthus gently stroked her shoulder.
“… Durahan is a strong race among the mid level demons. Their bodies are also made of their souls, so even if they lose an arm or a leg, it will regenerate sooner or later.”
He tried to say soothing words, but they were not very comforting. In this situation, regeneration would be nothing but a curse. They would only cut him again and again until the audience got bored.
“Wow!”
“Woohoo!”
At the same time, the surrounding demons screamed again and went wild. Even without seeing the stage, she knew why. The smell of blood intensified. Unsurprisingly, the blunt axe struck again.
When the Harpy saw this, she fainted instead of screaming, and a demon standing nearby slapped her cheek and woke her up. It meant that she shouldn’t miss a single moment of her lover being tortured.
‘I wish I didn’t have to hear this.’
Adelaide muttered, biting her lips. She could only hope, feeling disillusioned with herself.
“Now, let’s stop fooling around and go fast, shall we? Modi, do it right!”
“Yes!”
“I can’t look at this anymore.” Adelaide turned around and sprinted towards the exit. She covered her mouth because she felt like she was going to vomit.
“Adela, wait for me!”
Caladium, who saw her, shouted from afar. He tried to follow Adelaide, pushing demons around him with his strong arms, but his steps were delayed because someone grabbed his clothes.
“Wait!”
Caladium frowned and turned his head. He saw a small woman grabbing his collar. It was a cute demon with short hair.
“Hey, haven’t we met before?”
Caladium’s frown lines deepened. He pulled his shirt from her hands and turned around without answering her. The woman followed.
“Wait, wait a minute. You really look like a demon I know…”
“Go away. Before I kill you.”
He threatened her with a harsh voice. But the woman reached out to him without a look of concern.
“Take off your hat.”
Caldium’s patience ended there. In the blink of an eye, his large hand grabbed the woman’s neck and threw her to the floor with terrifying force. The sound of broken bones was heard.
He moved quickly without even checking if she was alive. Adelaide had disappeared from his sight. Curse words mixed with a sigh came out of his mouth.
“Fuck…”
Caladium brushed his face with his hand.
“What’s, his leg has already been cut off?” The host’s voice could be heard, further irritating his nerves.
***
Adelaide walked blindly and did not know where she was going. She moved aimlessly in search of a place where she couldn’t hear the disgusting cheers. She stopped and took a breath only after finding a quiet place.
After leaning somewhere and taking a deep breath, the urge to vomit subsided. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lisianthus looking down at her. She realized that it was him she had been leaning on.
“I’m sorry…”
Adelaide didn’t know exactly what she was sorry about, but she apologized.
‘I’m sorry for not being strong enough, I’m sorry for being like this, I’m just sorry for a lot of things.’ In fact, more than regret, she felt ashamed.
Lisianthus slowly opened his mouth.
“There is nothing to be sorry for, Master Adele. You did nothing wrong.”
He had such a calm attitude that she wondered if it was the same demon.
“I would recommend that you take a rest, but this place doesn’t seem right for that.”
At his words, Adelaide looked around her. She saw a dark alley. It didn’t seem to be too far from the circus because she could still hear shouting.
Suddenly, her eyes widened. There were large cages made of iron bars all over the place. Inside some cages, monsters she was not familiar with were wounded and trapped.
“What is this…!”
“It seems to be a place where the demons used in the circus are confined.”
She just walked where her feet brought her but she found this place.
Adelaide stepped closer to the one nearest them. Just before her white fingers touched the cage, Lisianthus stopped her.
“Please don’t. The bars are enchanted with high level magic. If you touch it, you will be seriously injured or killed.”
His tone was so calm that she almost mistakenly thought it was nothing. Adelaide felt a chill in her spine and took a cautious step backward. The monster inside the cage had no reaction and seemed to be unconscious.
At that moment, she felt the presence of someone approaching from afar. Lisianthus realized this first and pulled Adelaide gently.
“Please excuse me.”
He led her in the shadows, holding her arm. Adelaide quietly followed him.
Eventually, two demons appeared. Adelaide’s face twisted when she confirmed their identity. It was the host of Casa del Sol and the demon who had been holding the axe a while ago.
“Hey, can’t you do it right? You should have taken 10 more minutes! Haven’t you done this once or twice?!”
“I tried! But the blade was sharper than I expected.”
“This b*stard, how dare you make excuses… ! I purposely brought the oldest ones, but you try to f*cking say nonsense?!”
“But it’s the truth…”
“Stop talking and just lock him up! If you do this one more time, just know that I will report it to Master Mierda right away.”
“Yes…”
The demon, Modi, who answered with a sullen voice, immediately picked up something large and approached Adelaide’s hiding place. Adelaide instinctively pressed her body to Lisianthus while observing the situation. Lisianthus’ eyes fluttered slightly, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
Fortunately, because of Lisianthus’ great stealth skills, Modi didn’t seem to have any suspicions. He opened the empty cage with the key, put something in it, and followed the host back to the circus.
After the two had completely disappeared, Adelaide hurriedly emerged from the shadows and checked the cage.
Sure enough, Raham was there. The shining iron armor was stained with blood and had lost its former shine, and his strong legs were cut off and tied with a cloth. He collapsed without even realizing Adelaide’s presence.
A sense of guilt flooded in at that wretched sight. Adelaide clenched her teeth, swallowing the emotions boiling in her throat, and slowly opened her mouth.
“Raham.”
Raham’s body visibly twitched. It was a name he had not heard in a long time. In this place, he was only known as ‘Durahan’.
