Chapter 320 Chapter 320 - A Mother's Intuition
'Something's wrong, I can feel it.' Wandering restless in her room in the middle of the night, Margarette Phoenix was getting more and more anxious the longer no news or any update came from Haruki's side as well as the others.
She'd been kept out of the loop about the events that had taken place in Feral lands so far, however, since it had been way past time for the demi-human tribes to have arrived as prisoners, her worries were worsening with every second to herself. At least while working she could distract herself from such thoughts, thus being free for even a second had turned into her poison.
Pacing in front of her bed, she often raised her gaze looking out the bright moon peering in through the window, and though it provided some comfort, Margarette couldn't bring herself to rest not knowing where her precious Riley was. Despite not knowing about her disappearance, to Margarette who'd never stayed away from her daughter for so long the situation was already harrowing.
"What the hell is happening?" Her attempts to connect with Haruki through Hawthorn having already failed, Margarette was genuinely considering abandoning her position to go look for the others, especially since it's been much longer than the time they were supposed to return to Laria.
Sitting at the edge of the bed, she tried to calm her mind with deep breaths and a slice of meditation, however, meditation helped a demon the same way lust did a celibate priest, that is, no help at all.
"Master Margarette?" A sudden knock on the door paired with a call for her, Margarette was jolted out of her trance of thoughts.
"What?!" As if forcefully woken in the middle of the night, her heart raced with fear as she instinctively answered.
Getting off the bed, she quickly moves to the door and ponders whether to open up or not. The voice was no stranger to her, it was just one of the girls who worked under her, yet for some reason her anxiety kept her on edge about the situation. Even so, placing her hand on the doorknob, Margarette cracked open the door to sneak a glance at the person before opening up completely.
"What do you want?" She asked, peeking at the girl through the gap.
Confused by Margarette's behavior, the girl blinked a few times but then spoke out why she'd come to meet her this late at night.
"Master Riley-" The moment Margarette heard the girl mention Riley's name, she flung the door open and pulled her inside the room.
"What about her?!" She demanded, her eyes widened with a crazed look in them.
Completely shaken by the whole thing, the girl's heart began pounding and she couldn't help but pant heavily in fear. Whatever was going on in Margarette's head, she had not a clue, and thus it made the situation for her even more troubling.
"She's in here, master Riley is back in Laria with the kidnapped tribes!" Closing her eyes tight, the girl spurted out the news.
Hearing the news a bright smile washed over Margarette's face, however, that soon disappeared as the girl opened her eyes to add more to what she had to say.
"We still don't know where the others are, and she only arrived with the tribes and apparently no memories of what happened back there in Feral lands," the girl's words struck Margarette odd, after all, Riley wasn't someone who would cut corners in creating a report about such an incident, and the very fact that she was here alone in Laria without the others entailed that something had happened to the other and that's why she'd left them behind in Feral lands.
"Fuck this, I wanna meet here now!" Grabbing the messenger's arms, Margarette dragged her outside and had the girl lead the way to the place where Riley was currently being housed.
Incidentally, the place happened to be the barracks near the dungeon's opening, and it wasn't just her who was waiting there, but the entirety of the tribes were also caged and waiting for Margarette. With only a few other demons in her tow, Riley seemed to have managed to bring the chained demi-human tribes all the way out to the near Larian land, something that definitely should raise suspicion, but Margarette was blinded to it by her daughter's return.
"What happened?" Hugging Riley the moment she saw her, Margarette squeezed her tight in her arms. "I missed you so much!"
Saying not a word in response, Riley simply shut her eyes closed and let her mind drift into an abrupt slumber. Upon realizing that she was asleep in a matter of seconds, Margarette's concern was raised once more, but before she could worry too much there was an entire army's worth of people to take care of.
"Take the demi-humans in the prison, I'll take Riley to a bed," ordering around her underlings, she lifted her daughter in her arms and made her way back towards her room.
Unbeknownst to her and everyone around her, Margarette had made a severe mistake. Not asking any questions was only the start, as when the parasites in the brains of the tribes begin spreading to the inhabitants of the dungeon, it would already have been too long and before Margarette would even know, even she would succumb to the hell's prince's commands, thanks to her blind love for her step-daughter.
***
By the time Haruki was done with the elf soldiers, they were all drained down to a mediocre level of strength. And although he knew it was dangerous to lessen their strength in such a disgruntling time, he needed every ounce of strength he could get.
'Deus and Maricella, I've found them, and Riley seemed to have made it back to the minotaur dungeon with the tribes as well as Maria and the soldiers she was given.' Hawthorn told Haruki.
"She probably couldn't contact the others and since I was unconscious, traveling to the dungeon portal was nearly impossible for her," making sense of the situation, Haruki chucked that information to the sidelines and decided to focus on the others instead. "What about Asuka, where is she?"
'The only place I couldn't look, the obsidian castle, for a place abandoned by its dead lord, teeming with adventurers, demi-humans, and even monsters for some reason.' Hearing it all, Haruki wanted to instantly head for the castle, however, before going there, he needed to make sure his chances of success were as high as possible.
Heaving a sigh, he ordered Hawthorn one last time before the dragons were set free from their bond made over a simple promise by Roselia.
"Take me to Deus and the others, those bastards need to die so I can make use of their strength for something good for once," he ordered, and the light of teleportation consumed him completely.
Appearing on the other end, the very first thing he noticed through the blinding light was the trio of demon lords covering their eyes with giant vials of demi-god carriers trapped inside vessels of glass. Unlike Maricella and Klaus who were standing before him wearing gloves and other equipment, Deus was bleeding on the ground with giant thorns protruding from the inside of his body. The bare semblance of life left in him was the slight twitching of his fingers, but that too seemed fleeting.
Just a single look at the lab was enough to relay exactly what the two were trying to do, and seeing how Azalea was one of the vessels trapped inside the glass, there was no doubt in Haruki's mind that a large portion of this chaotic mess was their doing.
"Fuck you…" He muttered, protruding his hand forward to cast an offensive spell. "Ouroboros: Devour!"
Working entirely on instincts, Haruki's words came out on their own, and the spell that he had no clue about began devouring the very presence of time and space around him. The first to succumb to the pull were the walls, and the glass vials, and then finally despite trying to hold themselves back, Marcellia's skin was ripped apart from her body, the same was the case for Klaus. It all happened so fast that they had no clue who or what had appeared behind them, even the light from the teleportation hadn't dimmed down completely, and yet one after the other every fibre of muscle in their bodies was being torn apart from the masses.
Howling in hurt, the two couldn't even breathe or cry as both the air and their eyes were pulled right away from them. Before long even their organs and bones were pulled into the everlasting hunger of the self-devouring serpent. Alas, the only thing left of them were the abilities and skills that Haruki's body had stripped for himself.
Finally, once the two were erased from all existence, Haruki stood there in a plain between worlds with nothing but darkness to his company. Even Deus had been shredded to pieces and the poor soldiers who were kidnapped ended up meeting the same fate. However, to him, none of it mattered as he'd dealt with those meddling heavenly bodies and their underlings for far too long.
"Now to find Asuka, and the others," opening a dungeon portal, Haruki left the place behind.
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