Chapter 182

Chapter 182
## Chapter 182

Operation: Escape from the Demon King’s Castle (4)

The arrival of Olivia brought with it the chilling ‘aura of fear’ unique to supreme undead beings, instantly blanketing the entire vicinity.

Merely existing in her proximity caused their physical forms to shudder and their respiration to accelerate; confronting her gaze directly shattered their mental fortitude, rendering their thoughts scattered and chaotic.

Riley ground her teeth together and pulled Hesperon closer against her chest, desperately fighting to retain her clarity.

‘Banshee Queen Olivia. The terrifying entity who earned her dark reputation under the reign of the second Immortal King, cementing her place in historical texts…!’

On a personal note, this was the exact monster responsible for capturing her alongside Isea and dragging her into the presence of the Immortal King.

During that first encounter, she had managed to withstand the terror through the assistance of protective enchantments and an array of mystical artifacts. Now, however, standing exposed before a high-tier undead without any defenses, it was an overwhelming ordeal for someone of her modest strength to even remain upright.

[My… I had been informed of these visitors from another world… yet I truly did not anticipate you possessing the capability to break free from this domain…]

Olivia cast her gaze toward Hesperon, who was coughing up crimson drops due to the severe rebound of internal mystic energy, and slowly shook her head in disapproval.

[Regrettably, I cannot simply overlook such actions…]

In truth, she had not just arrived at that moment.

Being a phantom, her mastery over concealment gave her an immense benefit, ensuring they remained entirely oblivious to her presence.

To be precise, she had slipped into the area while Hesperon was systematically thumping the Crown Prince, silently observing the unfolding drama from the shadows.

‘Had this merely concluded as a physical altercation, I intended to depart without a sound…’

She had received explicit directives on how to manage them, which was why she refrained from stepping in while the Crown Prince was taking a unilateral beating.

She had watched the event unfold with absolute focus, prepared to leap into action only if Hesperon attempted a lethal blow or if Riley faced injury from a desperate retaliation by the Crown Prince…

Yet, out of nowhere, their conversation shifted toward an actual prison break.

Witnessing them actively preparing to execute a plan rather than just discussing it, she moved with haste to disrupt them, striking first by fracturing Hesperon’s flow of mystic energy.

‘He sustained minor harm during the intervention… but an injury of that scale will mend given sufficient time…’

She risked facing reprimand for inflicting harm on an individual who held the interest of the Immortal King, but such a consequence was far preferable to allowing their successful flight.

[I shall take custody of this gentleman for the time being… As for you, Princess, you will remain here without making a sound…]

“Ngh—!”

As the Banshee Queen drew nearer, making her intentions perfectly clear, Riley bit down on her lip with enough force to pierce the skin, drawing a thin line of blood.

She had finally grasped a shred of optimism in a hopeless predicament, only to be forced to surrender it so abruptly…

Compounding her wretchedness was the stark reality that she was utterly powerless to alter the outcome.

‘…What value does the title of Iron-Blooded Princess or heir to the imperial throne hold? I am incapable of achieving anything by my own hand, constantly relying on the strength of others, and now I cannot even offer assistance in this moment of peril!’

The populace beyond these walls remained ignorant.

To them, she was the figurehead who issued decrees and paved the path, always surrounded by subordinates eager to execute her will.

Even in her youth, when she lacked the strength to confront her royal siblings, the inherent authority of her princess title shielded her. Once Isea stepped forward to become her emotional anchor, she strategically leveraged that status to forge her own faction.

Upon her official entry into the contest for the crown, the political coalition backing her served as both her offensive weapon and protective mail.

But in this place…

Riley stared down at the wounded man cradled in her arms.

His respiration was ragged and heavy, his body wracked with agony from the violent disruption of his internal mystic energy.

‘…No, I cannot perpetually conceal myself behind the backs of others. The sovereign I intend to become is certainly not a coward who shrinks from danger.’

There was no guardian left to shield her now.

She was forced to navigate this crisis using nothing but her own resolve.

The likelihood of a miraculous turnaround was virtually nonexistent, and she lacked even a fundamental strategy…

Nevertheless, she could not simply capitulate without mounting a defense. She still bore the moniker of the ‘Iron-Blooded Princess’.

Swoosh—

Rising by slow degrees, Riley began channeling her internal mystic energy to fortify her physical frame.

She locked her arms tightly around Hesperon, signaling her absolute refusal to surrender him.

[Ah— Such a meaningless display of defiance… I ask that you simply submit to my custody…]

Observing the unyielding determination in her eyes, Olivia gave a weary shake of her head and reached out to brush against her cheek.

For someone already debility-stricken by the energy rebound, Olivia’s raw miasma was toxic by its very nature.

She required extreme care and a delicate application of her spectral power to separate the man from her, but such active defiance promised to complicate the task.

‘Though it is merely a minor inconvenience…’

Time, after time, was something she possessed in abundance.

A faint smile touched Olivia’s features as she drifted gracefully off the ground, moving toward the pair.

“Hah, hah—”

‘Is there truly no path to salvation?’

Riley drew deep, ragged breaths as she retreated step by step, her eyes darting across the terrain in search of an exit route.

Yet, from the very beginning, no viable strategy existed.

It was entirely possible that, as Olivia suggested, this was nothing more than a pointless expenditure of effort.

‘Even so.’

Compressing her lips into a tight line, she relied on sheer willpower to withstand the crushing wave of dread, keeping her gaze locked onto the advancing foe.

‘I am fully aware this attempt is futile. Yet, even if it amounts to nothing… I refuse to bow my head without a fight!’

To yield now would render the remaining days of her captivity utterly unendurable.

Just as she was cementing her internal resolve,

Grab—

A sudden, powerful grip clamped onto her arm.

She gave a sharp start before looking downward, her expression instantly illuminating as she identified the source of the grip.

“Heron? Can you hear me…!”

Squeeze—

He offered no verbal reply, choosing instead to tighten his hold on her arm with meaningful force.

Hesperon locked his gaze onto her, his eyes burning with an intense brightness despite the crimson stream tracing down from his mouth.

“…Heron?”

Detecting an unsettling shift in the air, Riley spoke his name with a note of caution.

And Riley was not the only one to sense that the dynamics had shifted.

[What exactly are you attempting…?]

Olivia likewise detected the sudden alteration in their demeanor and immediately thrust her arm forward to intercept them.

Her intention was to instantly incapacitate the pair regardless of the toll it took on Hesperon’s physical state, but…

[Ah…? Hold, what manner of sorcery is this…!]

The event proceeded in a manner entirely divorced from her anticipations.

Her spectral influence proved incapable of touching them, encountering a barrier as though the very fabric of the environment had been severed in two.

[Such a feat should be impossible… This domain was crafted by the hands of the King himself…!]

Stunned by the development, Olivia abandoned her caution and surged forward through the air to seize them manually.

Yet, despite her ephemeral nature as a phantom, she found herself completely barred from crossing the threshold to reach them.

She had been invested with a degree of spatial authority in her role as the overseer of the Immortal Fortress…

[W-wait… It cannot be, are you truly…?]

As she scrambled to comprehend the mechanism behind the anomaly,

Swoosh—

The two figures who had occupied the space a breath before vanished into thin air, leaving no remnants behind.

It was not a mere trick of optical invisibility.

Their very essences had evaporated from the sensory web of the Immortal Fortress, completely vanishing from this residential sector and beyond.

[This… how can such a thing be explained…?]

Left utterly speechless by the unpredicted turn of events, Olivia scanned the empty environment for a prolonged duration before she was ultimately forced to acknowledge the grim reality.

The two captives had successfully broken out of the Immortal Fortress.

[No matter… If I initiate a tracking ritual immediately and drag them back… Eh?]

Yet, just as she prepared to dispatch her phantom thralls to hunt down the escapees,

A sudden telepathic chime resonated within her mind, causing her to freeze instantly and lower her head in a gesture of profound reverence.

[You have summoned me, my Liege… I await your grand directives…]

The Immortal King had personally materialized his awareness to call upon her.

Having concluded all her primary obligations, she had been awaiting his arrival, as his routine inspection was fast approaching.

She simply had not anticipated his manifestation at this exact second.

[My… Liege… I have a critical development to convey…]

The timing would have been far more favorable had she managed to resolve the crisis prior to his arrival.

However, a failure to report an issue of this magnitude was an impermissible breach of duty.

Steeling herself for a severe reprimand, she delivered a meticulous account of the escape, carefully proposing that she launch an immediate tracking expedition to retrieve them.

[What? Understood… I shall comply with your decree…]

Yet, as though he had foreseen the entire sequence of events from the start, the Immortal King’s demeanor remained completely indifferent, rendering her inner trepidation entirely wasted.

Abandoning any attempt to decipher the profound designs of her master, Olivia dismissed the phantom hounds she had summoned, cast a final glance across the deserted residential area, and dissolved into nothingness.

With her departure, a profound stillness settled over the second residential sector of the Immortal Fortress.

The escaping pair, followed by Olivia, had completely vanished from the stage.

Only the broken form of Crown Prince Simon remained, abandoned on the soil of the estate garden.

—

Several hours following the grand disturbance.

“Ngh— Curated curses, my skull feels split…”

A crumpled shape upon the earth twitched uncomfortably before gradually pushing himself into a sitting posture, blinking at his surroundings.

Yet, the manicured grounds were entirely devoid of life, leaving him completely solitary in his battered state.

“Ugh— Those wretched vermin! How dare they subject me, the Crown Prince, to such indignity…!”

As the memory of the events preceding his loss of consciousness rushed back, Simon ground his teeth in a fit of pure rage.

That insolent wretch, Hesperon, and Riley, who had treated him with such utter disdain.

He could vividly envision the pair mocking his pathetic state as they made their departure.

“Ugh, is it possible I was lured into a premeditated snare? Could they have established a concealed boundary around this sector beforehand specifically to mock me…?”

Unwilling to accept that he had been bested in a fair contest, his mind rapidly constructed a convenient rationale to soothe his pride.

The more he pondered this theory, the more flawless it appeared to his ego!

To his way of thinking, falling victim to a cowardly magical ambush was infinitely more plausible than suffering a physical defeat at the hands of a mere scholar of magic.

“Indeed, that must be the reality of it! Those spineless bastards resorted to deception…?”

Reassured by his own fabrication, he forced his aching limbs to stand, evaluating his current state while formulating a strategy for retribution.

He remained, after all, a Crown Prince and an official contender for the imperial throne.

Though extreme mental pressure had caused him to temporarily lose his composure, he possessed too much cunning to fall victim to the identical strategy on a second occasion.

‘Very well, I shall concede this minor setback for now. However, our subsequent encounter will yield a far different result.’

He had no intention of letting the insult pass unpunished.

His previous failure stemmed entirely from overconfidence and misjudging their capabilities; now that he intended to apply his full focus, a repetition of that failure was impossible.

‘My immediate priority is to heal my injuries and formulate a flawless countermeasure. They may possess magical aptitude, but their overall rank remains mediocre, meaning there is a distinct cap on the complexity of the boundaries they can deploy. In a properly executed engagement, my victory is guaranteed.’

His solitary source of anxiety was the potential return of Lilith before he could exact his vengeance, yet the future promised an abundance of openings.

Time was an asset he possessed in plenty within these walls.

Simon made his way back to his quarters, cleansed the grime from his body, and collapsed onto his mattress.

In all likelihood, those two were currently celebrating their minor triumph and mocking his name…

‘Savor your fleeting moment of joy. The second my vitality is restored, I shall introduce you to a living purgatory.’

He gradually succumbed to exhaustion, his mind filled with visions of the day he would force both of them to beg for mercy at his feet.

Regrettably, he remained entirely oblivious to the fact that he was the sole occupant left within this entire residential sector.

The realization would likely dawn on him much further down the road.

By the time that occurred, any machinations for retribution would be rendered completely irrelevant…

Still, as the old adage suggests, vengeance is a pleasure best savored after a long delay. Perhaps this interlude would serve as a developmental milestone for his character.

“Ngh— Hehehe… You arrogant peasants… I shall reduce you to my personal thralls… Zzz…”

It was highly probable that this pleasant delusion marked the absolute pinnacle of joy in his earthly existence.

—

Several hours following the successful breakout.

“Ngh— Damnation, my vision is spinning…”

Riley snapped her eyelids open, taking a sudden, deep gasp of oxygen.

The disorienting side effects of navigating a long-range spatial distortion left her senses reeling, yet her physical discomfort was discarded in an instant.

“…The open air? You actually succeeded… under those impossible parameters…?”

Above her stretched an azure firmament dotted with leisurely drifting ivory clouds, accompanied by the genuine radiance of a warm sun.

The immediate environment teemed with a rich tapestry of wild flora, completely distinct from the calculated arrangements of an ornamental estate, with the sounds of insects vibrating through the air.

It was an authentic slice of the natural world, a sight denied to her throughout her nearly two-month confinement within the simulated courtyard.

She could do nothing but gaze unblinkingly at the vista for a long moment, utterly transfixed by the reality of it.

“Cough—! Blegh—!”

The spell was shattered by a violent, wet cough emanating from the figure resting against her.

“Heron! Retain your consciousness!”

He had pushed his physical reservoir past its absolute breaking point during that final confrontation, and a fresh torrent of crimson spilled from his lips before he managed to part his eyelids with immense effort.

“…Riley? Have we truly… broken clear…?”

“Indeed! We have achieved it, Heron! Your power is beyond belief…! No, speak no further for now. Allow me to handle our security from this point onward!”

She quickly silenced his attempts to converse and hoisted his massive frame onto her shoulders, invoking an enchantment of physical augmentation to bear the weight.

He had sacrificed his own well-being to deliver them from captivity; she refused to remain passive while he suffered the consequences.

“Whew— To ensure our safety, I shall chart a cautious course. Toward the south.”

A full two months had elapsed since the abduction of the Fifth Princess and the Crown Prince of the Azeria Empire.

At long last, Riley had broken free from the dominion of the Immortal King, reclaiming her destiny.

‘Excellent, this concludes the sequence in a most gratifying fashion.’

Accompanied by a grin of deep satisfaction from a certain unseen overseer.