[CHAPTER 58]
Adonis turned his head sharply when he heard Meyna‘s voice.
His expression hardened into a fierceness he had never shown before when he spotted the man at the end of Meyna’s gaze.
Although he had never confronted the Ouke family head directly, Adonis knew all too well what he had done.
“I searched everywhere and couldn’t see him.”
Adonis spoke as he led the remaining people.
“I didn’t expect to see this bastard here.”
He felt an overwhelming urge to grab that bright red-haired man and drag him out of the carriage.
But he held on to his reason with difficulty.
‘That would be murder.’
Helping a curly-haired girl board, Adonis reminded himself.
‘I won’t become the same kind of scum.’
This time, helping a pregnant woman onto the train, he thought.
‘Next year, my salary will increase. I can’t become a criminal.’
Only about twenty people remained.
‘I’ll capture him and hand him over to Sir Lennox properly.’
The Ouke family’s bastard.
He would probably rather die than face him.
Meanwhile, Meyna had felt a strong aversion the moment she spotted Ouke.
The incident in La Rundel Town had left a traumatic mark.
An unexpected encounter with the culprit instantly brought back the horrifying memories of that day.
The elderly lady standing in front of Meyna tilted her head.
“Uhā¦?”
Her husband muttered under his breath.
“What is he doingā¦?”
“Why is he shootingā¦?”
At that moment, a young man waiting to board murmured.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
“Aaaah!”
“What?! Who?! What’s going on?!”
Inside and outside the train car, chaos and shouting erupted.
Those who heard the shots instinctively grabbed their heads or crouched.
Ouke, reaching out of the carriage, fired again.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets hit the coupling between the fifth and sixth carriages.
The loosely connected sections quickly loosened.
From the platform of Drain Station, with only about twenty passengers remaining, to the next stations where more passengers were waiting, the sixth to tenth carriages fell onto the tracks.
“Damn it! How am I supposed to load all these scum?!”
Ouke slammed the train doors shut without a pause and locked them from inside.
“What is that bastard doing?!”
Those who realized the situation rushed to the doors.
“Hey!”
“Open the door!”
About twenty people banged on the doors, shouting.
But unfortunately, the train, carrying passengers, began moving slowly along the tracks.
“Damn it.”
Adonis, who had drawn his gun late while helping passengers, fired at the closed door.
But the train was already gaining speed.
“Impossibleā¦”
Watching the train speed away, the elderly lady muttered in despair.
“Nooo! Stop!”
A blonde young man, about to board, fell to his knees, screaming.
One by one, the roughly twenty passengers began crying.
At the abandoned Drain Station, only the piercing screams and cries of people unable to stop the horrific evil filled the air.
Unfortunately, a sinister vibration traveled through the ground.
“The monsters are coming.”
The blonde young man murmured hollowly.
“Thereā¦”
Following the tip of the elderly lady’s hand, people’s gaze turned outside the station.
From far off where the road had collapsed, gigantic insects swarmed.
From poisonous centipedes to building-sized cockroaches and other unknown monstrous insects.
“Sir Hiaron.”
Though knowing there was no solution, Adonis called out desperately.
Holding his gun with both hands, he closed his eyes in distress.
Only two bullets remained.
Not nearly enough to face the swarm.
Then, the whistle of a steam locomotive and the alarm bell from the opposite platform rang.
Another train was approaching immediately.
“A train! A train is coming!”
“Platform 3!”
“Oh, please!”
At the edge of despair, the twenty people quickly formed a new line.
Meyna, clutching her painfully aching stomach, headed toward Adonis.
Seeing her determined face, he tensed.
“Are you okay, Assistant?”
“Yes.”
Meyna nodded.
The train arrived slowly at the platform, and Meyna lightly pushed Adonisā back.
Worried, he ran toward the train and manually opened the doors.
“Hurry aboard!”
Adonis extended his hands, helping the passengers onto the train quickly.
After Meyna, all passengers were aboard. Finally, Adonis closed the doors and entered.
“Depart immediately, go!”
“The monsters are coming!”
Shouts of fear echoed toward the engineer.
Yet, the train needed time to regain momentum to move again.
Steam hissed through the valves, and the train began to move very slowly.
Suddenly, with a loud crash, the roof of Drain Station collapsed.
Several grotesque monsters with long tentacles climbed up, destroying the outer walls.
“My God!”
The elderly lady sank to the floor.
Meyna, clutching her stomach in cold sweat, exchanged glances with Adonis.
“We still have two bullets left.”
Adonis stood at the door, gun ready, leaving the rest unsaid.
Meyna opened the door vigorously like a trained knight and took cover.
Bang!
Adonis fired, hitting the eyeball of a monster trying to grasp the train with its tentacles.
It screamed and fell.
“Sir Hiaron! Aim for the sky!”
Meyna shouted, summoning her remaining strength.
This time, a massive insect monster with sharp poisonous stingers lunged.
Adonis fired his last bullet. With a heavy crash, it tumbled onto the tracks.
The train gained speed and started running.
Yet the relentless monsters eventually destroyed the roof completely,
and even the tracks began to crumble with metallic sounds.
“No!”
The blonde young man watching desperately cried out in despair.
“Noā¦ the tracksā¦”
Adonis muttered with a horrifically twisted expression.
If the tracks broke, the train would no longer move.
The terrifying reality pressed upon the engineer and passengers.
Meyna suddenly looked at the terrified faces of the people around her.
“Do you know what the final duty of all paladins on this land is?”
Strangely, a phrase that Caliph once said came to mind.
“To save the lives of citizens and die honorably.”
Even back then, Caliph had been extremely angryā¦
Why were these fragmented memories surfacing now?
“Meyna. Damn it, Meyna Winslet! That’s the duty of a paladin. Do you understand?”
Whyā¦?
“It’s not your job!!!”
As if possessed, Meyna stood up.
“Sir Hiaron.”
“Yes, Assistant?”
“Iām going out for a moment.”
“What did you say?”
To Adonis, who asked frantically, Meyna answered calmly.
“I have a good plan.”
“No, Assistant.”
“Donāt worry, Iāll come back.”
Rushing past Adonis, Meyna snatched a gun and leapt out the door.
