Kiiing!
The translucent blue curtain flicked the thorny vines that were pushing into the building.
Kagagagak!
The thorns scraped along the surface of the sphere, trying to find a way inside.
I watched as soldiers ran around, and the commander of the royal guard observed them. Behind them, the staff working at this residence were also rushing around, blocking the windows.
It seemed like they had frames set up in advance to block the vines. When they pressed a hard plate and pulled the adjacent frame, a clunking sound was heard, and the windows were sealed.
The workers stopped moving and began checking the inside while we were in a small shelter.
It was definitely a high-security place.
The security was better than I expected. Seeing how easily the witch infiltrated this place, it must mean that she is exceptionally powerful.
At the moment, there aren’t many harvesters awake in the capital. Some were swept away by the vines growing along the road and died, others fell asleep when pierced by the thorns, while some were trembling inside their homes, watching in fear as the thorns slowly crept inside.
Even if the door was tightly sealed, branches began growing through the cracks, stabbing people with sharp tips. It wasn’t like a bee sting where venom was injected, but the thorns simply grew slowly. Even a slight prick from these thorns would cause someone to lose consciousness and fall asleep.
Since we’re in a shielded area, no thorns have managed to burrow inside.
“Is it safe here?”
“It won’t hold for long.”
The commander answered my question.
With a cold expression, he moved the soldiers around. Being from the royal guard, none of them were panicking. Some were attempting magical communication, and others were pulling out winding machines and turning them on.
The winding machines emitted a glow along with their distinctive operating sounds.
Soon after, the outside scene was projected into the air.
Wow. A hologram!
It must be magic-based, as some parts seemed unusually advanced.
Looking down from the roof, the screen showed the massive thorns growing along the wide road.
The thick trunks stretched across the road, and the smaller branches were digging into houses.
As time passed, the harvester’s viewpoint started shrinking.
And in the middle of it all, there was one harvester still fighting.
Victoria.
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
She was using water currents to cut off the branches that were approaching her. Aside from the fact that being pricked would make her fall asleep, it was no different from normal trees, so she passed through the thorn-filled area effortlessly.
“Shadow? Move the screen upwards!”
While watching both the screen and the harvester’s view, the commander pointed his finger at the top of the screen, seeming to have noticed something.
Was there a camera outside? The screen moved upwards.
And in the sky.
A massive black dragon was flying.
With its arms, legs, and large wings on its back, along with two sharp horns on its head, it looked like a dragon, but the commander said in a low voice:
“It’s the witch. Lower the screen now. Don’t show the full view; just follow the tips of the feet. Otherwise, we’ll be detected.”
The screen quickly moved down. It seemed like the witch didn’t notice this, as she was facing the other way.
“What are we going to do next?”
When I asked, the commander hid his tension behind a stern face and said:
“Don’t worry. Wait here. The kingdom has been preparing for the witch for a long time.”
He didn’t say that they could defeat her. Following the screen, I saw light flying from the center of the capital, directed at the dragon.
And Solindigus was heading to the basement of the building where Princess Aurora lived. From what he said, it seemed they had prepared to protect Aurora.
But they had once failed, and they were now prepared to make sure they wouldn’t fail again.
Right.
Aurora falling into an unending slumber meant they had failed.
If she were an ordinary person, she would have died long ago, but since she was a princess, they had kept her alive using advanced technology. They had kept her alive—just alive.
They pierced her body to provide nutrients, massaged her limbs daily to prevent them from stiffening, and made sure she didn’t develop bedsores by moving her slightly.
Had she not been a princess, they wouldn’t have been able to do all that.
“How dare those powerless worms try to defeat me! Do you think you can defeat the Queen of Evil? ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) That illusion will vanish along with the country today!”
At that moment, Maleficent’s voice echoed through the building. It rang out loudly.
At the same time, the light that had been directed at her on the screen was deflected back to the other side.
Boom!
The explosion wasn’t visible on the screen, but I could hear it coming from the direction of the royal palace. The color drained from everyone’s faces.
But it was only for a moment.
Suddenly, large boulders, accompanied by flames, were thrown at Maleficent.
But none of them reached her. They were consumed by the black flames around her and disappeared.
“There are some who don’t know their place. Well, if you don’t know your place, I’ll teach you. [I hereby strip you of your right to use magic!]”
Her words seemed to come from both sides at once.
And the effect was immediate.
A loud clank rang out from outside, and all the machines inside the building shut off. Even the lights went out, and the interior became dark.
An utter darkness where I couldn’t see a thing.
From the darkness, I heard rustling followed by a clicking noise, and soon a small light flickered up.
“What is this?”
Somehow, the thorns had already penetrated inside, and the walls were filled with black thorns.
And one by one, those closest to the wall collapsed. When someone fell, the thorns would creep towards them.
Eventually, a soldier, terrified, swung his weapon around, but he was stabbed by the thorns coming from all directions and fell.
The commander swung his sword until the end, but he too soon collapsed to the ground.
And then the thorns touched me.
I didn’t fall asleep.
The sharp thorns pierced my skin, but I didn’t feel sleepy at all. My body moved fine. I grabbed the plant that had neither light nor warmth and twisted reality.
Thud.
To my surprise, there was some resistance.
I carefully focused my power, using the experience I gained in the second world, and condensed it into one point. With the feeling of a soap bubble bursting, a white branch appeared above my hand.
I swung it, and the thorns moved away from me.
As expected.
I swung the branch again, and the branch that had slithered in through the window swelled up, breaking the window it had been blocking.
Yeah, I think I understand how to use it.
I grabbed the branch and climbed up.
When it entered me, it must have understood my method because there was no malice in the thorns. Surprisingly, the thorns didn’t have any direct intent to kill.
So I wouldn’t directly touch Maleficent with this.
Meaning, I could go meet her.
I climbed out through the window. There were plenty of thorns around, but if I swung the white branch, they automatically cleared the way.
When I stepped outside and looked up at the sky, the witch was no longer hovering above.
But finding her wasn’t difficult.
A harvester with supernatural abilities was fighting the witch.
There are more than 300 superpowered harvesters in the capital. Of those, 43 had chosen to fight the witch.
But their numbers were dwindling.
They were being torn apart by the dragon’s claws, burned by the flames from its mouth, or melted by magic.
Still, they fought desperately.
Not only did they unleash their powers, but they combined their abilities or used the terrain to attack the witch.
But time was on the witch’s side. One by one, the harvesters were either killed by the witch or fell asleep from the black thorns.
And the witch didn’t leave those who fell asleep alone—she stomped on them to kill them.
Meanwhile, she mocked them, saying that the weak didn’t deserve to live and that her crude techniques wouldn’t work against the most evil one herself.
One by one, the superpowered people were killed, and finally, one person remained.
Victoria Bet.
From the harvester’s perspective, there were several times when Victoria nearly fell.
But Maleficent didn’t attack her when the opportunity arose.
At first, I thought it was a coincidence, but when Victoria kept shooting water but Maleficent ignored her and killed the person next to her, I realized.
She was letting her go on purpose.
And in the end, Maleficent, in the form of a black-scaled dragon, grabbed Victoria’s torso with one of its claws.
“Ah, you poor little lady. Did you think you could defeat the power of hell?”
Victoria’s abdomen contracted.
The dragon-like Maleficent tightened her grip on Victoria.
Victoria trembled in pain but then drew blood from her hand and formed a spear, throwing it at the witch. She must have thought the witch’s eyes would be weak, even in her dragon form.
But the thorn she threw was blocked by the dragon’s eyelids and lightly bounced off.
“Haha! What a cute move. But it won’t work on me. Tory. That’s not enough.”
Victoria gasped in shock and stuttered as she looked at Maleficent, her voice trembling.
“Mal... Maleficent?”
“Ah, yes. Malie is my nickname. Not Merryweather’s, but Maleficent’s. Remember that, Victoria Bet.”
Like a cat toying with its prey, Maleficent chuckled and, with her arm still in the form of the dragon’s, transformed into the familiar image of the guard.
Meaning, from the beginning, it wasn’t Merryweather disguised as Maleficent—it was Maleficent in disguise from the start.
“How did Bell do?!”
Victoria yelled loudly.
“Ah, that monster? By now, it’s probably been stabbed by the thorns and fallen asleep. Even if it hasn’t, there’s no way it can escape this thorny prison. I’ve been watching for a while, but it didn’t seem like it had much power.”
Maleficent laughed.
“No one can help you now, Tory.”
She slowly tightened her grip.
“Why are you doing this?”
In the end, Victoria asked, tears streaming down her face.
“Because I’m the Queen of Evil? Well, of course, there’s a reason. A long time ago, right after you were born, the king insulted me. So I made him pay, but he used cowardly tricks to escape the consequences. What’s this?”
She was talking about Aurora. I had wondered why the names sounded similar, and it seemed like the story of the Sleeping Beauty was unfolding.
“The king trampled on my honor, so the kingdom will pay for it.”
It was an unreasonable reason.
Victoria couldn’t even raise her voice properly, muttering in a locked voice. No, it was because Maleficent was holding her so tightly that she couldn’t speak.
And I had just arrived at the place where the two were fighting.
At this rate, it seemed like Victoria would break, so I decided to draw attention. Being the villain of a fairy tale, she’d surely be interested in a lullaby.
“You can’t cry. You can’t cry.”
I thought to myself, hoping Victoria would calm down.
I swung the white branch, clearing the black thorns surrounding the area, and approached them.
“Santa doesn’t give presents to crying children.”
Hearing the lullaby, Maleficent’s grip weakened. Then, she dropped Victoria, who fell to the ground, coughing.
Maleficent didn’t spare a glance for her, instead glaring directly at me and asking:
“Who is this Santa you speak of?”
Her face was filled with anxiety and confusion as she asked that. So, I said:
“He’s someone who doesn’t give presents to bad children. Merryweather. You got fooled.”
“My name is Maleficent, you monster.”
Maleficent snarled back.