[CHAPTER 54]
“Please get in the carriage, Deputy!”
To the two people standing in shock, the one who ran toward them was surprisingly Adonis.
“Sir Hiarin…!”
“Over here!”
At the path he pointed to, a carriage from House Lennox was waiting.
Putting off the explanation for later, Mayna grabbed Gigiâs arm tightly.
“W-what is happening?”
Terrified, Gigi stomped her feet.
“Who screamed? Whatâs going on, Mayna? Huh?”
“Just get in the carriage, Young Lady.”
“Whereâs my carriage?! What do I do!”
“Itâll be fine. Hurry.”
Just as she soothed Gigi and urged her forward, a disturbing vibration rose from beneath the ground.
Is it an earthquake?
No, rather than the entire ground shaking, it felt more like something was moving under the surface.
It wasnât an earthquake, but something elseâŚ
“Kyaa! The ground moved!”
Practically dragging the screaming Gigi along, they quickened their pace.
“Please get in.”
Adonis, who had been standing by the carriage, grabbed Gigiâs hand firmly to help her climb aboard.
It was a side of him rarely seen, given how cautious he usually was around anyone.
“Deputy.”
“Yes, Sir Hiarin.”
Mayna also climbed up quickly with Adonisâs help.
Lastly, he leaped in with a short hop and signaled the coachman.
With a shout, the carriage immediately sped forward.
“Sir Hiarin, what is happening?”
“I don’t know the details yet, but exactly seven minutes ago, Drain Agency issued an alert.”
Drain Agency was an organization based in the southern city of Drain in Ashirius.
They didnât have many guilds under them, but they had been aggressively recruiting skilled ability users recently.
“What kind of alert?”
When Mayna asked with concern, Adonis answered with a grim expression.
“An abnormal flow of mana was detected at the center of the city. They said it looked serious and that everyone should get as far away from Drain as possible.”
A brief silence fell.
Gigi chewed her nails anxiously, bouncing her leg.
“How did you even know I was here?”
Adonis recalled what had happened about ten minutes earlier.
He had been eating sandwiches with Curden in the office of Lennox Castle when a portal opened right in the middle of the room.
The person who emerged was, of course, Caliph.
He had said he would visit Lady Beririchâs mansion, but judging by the dark aura clinging to him, something clearly happened.
Curden and Adonis stared, mid-chew.
Caliph greeted them bluntly.
“What are you staring at?”
Both men fell silent.
Caliph, radiating pure rage, threw off his jacket and dug through the filing cabinet as if searching for something.
“What are you looking for?” Curden asked.
“None of your business. Keep working.”
“Did something happen? You went to see Lady Beririchâs familyâwhy do you look like that?”
“Didnât I say itâs none of your business?”
Curden flipped him off behind his head at that moment.
Then the Drain Agency alert was broadcast to ability users across the empire.
An abnormal flow of mana had been detected and immediate evacuation was advised.
It was something that had been happening repeatedly in various locations lately.
Adonis quickly gathered Caliphâs recon gear and handed it over.
As Caliph changed on the move and stepped into the garden outside, he gave an unexpected order.
“Mayna is at Givray Square. Bring her back safely.”
“Ah⌠yes, understood, Lord Lennox.”
“And donât talk about me unnecessarily.”
Because Caliph opened a portal for him, Adonis had arrived at Givray Square in an instant.
âŚthat was the story.
“Excuse me, why is this carriage so slow? Huh?”
Not only Mayna, but apparently Lady Beririch was with her as well.
“Nothing happened to our Lord Lennox, right? Heâs fine, right, Mayna?”
Adonis had no idea why she referred to Caliph as *our Lord Lennox*, and the familiarity made his skin crawl.
“Sir Hiarin?”
Mayna called out to him carefully.
He knew she was asking again how he found her.
“I’ll explain later.”
Adonis decided to keep Caliphâs involvement secret.
Caliph had ordered it.
And seeing Caliphâs earlier mood, disobeying him today seemed like a way to get himself killed, according to the instincts of a seasoned chief aide.
The carriage sped away from Givray Square.
Before long, they reached the road leading from the southern city of Drain toward the northern city of Wedon.
“My goodness…”
Mayna looked out the window with a gasp.
The streets were total chaos.
Carriages arriving from all over the place moved in conflicting directions, completely tangled.
Some pedestrians scanned the area anxiously.
The tremors from underground hadnât stopped and came intermittently.
“W-what is thatâŚ?”
Gigi whispered as if hypnotized.
Mayna followed her gaze out the window.
Ku-goongâŚ
With a deep, resonant sound, the ground shook violently.
Something was approaching fast from a far, barely perceptible distance.
“A monster⌠a m-monster is coming!”
Someone in the street screamed.
A grotesque being emerged from the eerie darkness.
“Aaaah! What is that!”
It looked like a massive worm, as if it had risen straight out of the depths of the earth.
Its thick, rough body twisted, shaking the ground, and buildings were destroyed in its wake.
“A-a worm is that big?”
“Help us!”
Terrified people screamed everywhere.
And it wasnât just one or two worms.
At first dozens, then hundreds burst out of the ground across the city.
“Ahhh! Help!”
“Dad!”
A flying worm snatched a man from a carriage and stabbed a venomous stinger into his chest.
“Gguhk!”
He screamed, his body hardening to stone within moments.
The worm grabbed the petrified man and flew off across the horizon.
Mud and stones exploded everywhere.
The ground shook, buildings collapsed.
“N-no way. No. I⌠I can’t handle this⌔
Gigi was on the verge of fainting.
Someone who spent her time shopping and visiting cafĂŠs couldnât handle a monster attack.
Mayna and Adonis, however, remained calm.
“Sir Hiarin. After we get the Young Lady to safety, what should we do?”
“Deputy, you go straight to the castle and stay hidden.”
“How could I do that in a disaster like this?”
“If something happens to you, my life will become the real disaster.”
“What?”
“Itâs like that sometimes.”
Thinking of Caliphâs terrifying face, Adonis forced a playful smile.
Mayna tried to smile back, though she didnât quite understand.
The veteran coachman handled the reins impressively, calming the frantic horses and steering around cracks in the ground.
Then he screamed.
“U-ugh!”
The road split open, and a massive centipede burst forth.
“Kyaaaaaa!”
Gigi shrieked at the horrific sight.
The carriage jolted violently, almost overturning.
“Ah!”
Mayna lost her balance and grabbed the handle late.
But the centipedeâs hundreds of legs struck the carriage again, and Mayna was thrown out onto the ground.
“Deputy!”
Adonis shouted, voice splitting the air, as Maynaâs body lifted off the ground.
