Chapter 49

“A demon?”

A foul-smelling four-legged beast-like creature with a bird’s head stared at me. The monster’s mouth was spouting the dark crimson liquid. I gulped anxiously at the first beast I saw. This was a normal hiking track, so why a monster…

“Ah, a nourishing tonic…!”

I completely forgot that I was the blood bag that demons liked. Ah, I’m doomed! I don’t know what happened, but it seemed that the monster was drawn here by my blood and had crawled up to the mountain.

‘I just need to avoid that strange liquid.’

I quickly approached the monster’s bird-like head, avoiding the spewing liquid. I swung my sword aiming to take its head. The ground where the liquid splattered sizzled. I was able to evade the attack by jumping around like avoiding a landmine.

“Keeeeeeek!”

Perhaps as a result of my dodging its attacks, it launched a new round of attacks. However, before the monster’s attacks could even reach me, it’s neck fell to the ground.

Tumble tumble!

The demon’s birdlike head, which I hacked off, rolled on the ground. The demon, however, who should have been dead, did not die. No, the monster was no longer alive, but the blood from its neck began to pool and take on a new shape. It was like a slime. Before it could fully materialize, I slashed it with my sword. Despite my greatest efforts to chop and slash the demon’s blood, it wriggled and attempted to regenerate.

“Oh, this doesn’t seem good.”

A blob of blood the size of my height suddenly swung its arm towards me. Fortunately, its movement was slow, so it didn’t pose much of a threat to me, despite its intimidating size. But the trouble was that no matter how much I hacked it down, it would regrow.

‘Ah, I don’t know!’

I slashed the lump of blood because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I wanted to set it on fire, but I only had the sword in my hand at the time. So I had no choice but to keep slashing. I believed if I kept slicing it, its regenerating abilities would eventually deteriorate.

“Let’s see if you win or I win.”

Cut, Slice, Cut!

I continued to cut down the lumps that reformed. I hacked it and ripped it apart. I wondered how long it had been since I began swinging my sword without thinking. The demonic lumps eventually lost their ability to regenerate and remained in the form of blood. I shook off the blood from the blade, set the sword down on the floor, and wiped the sweat from my brow.

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good workout.”

As soon as I began fanning my flushed face, the grass in front of me shook and an unidentified object dashed towards me at full speed. I quickly grabbed the sword from the floor and assumed a fighting stance.

“Don’t you dare come here. I’ll kill you all!”

Just when I swung the sword to attack the unknown thing, it jumped out shouting, “Rosetta!”

I barely stopped my arms at the familiar voice.

Phew, that was close! I almost killed the male lead!

“Please say something when you come, Your Highness. I nearly killed you.”

Sihael sighed, as if frustrated, as he looked at me and the demon alternately.

“I expected you to cry after seeing a demon, but I see you’re doing fine.”

“What?”

Why would I cry? I had never cried since I became Rosetta. When I asked him what he meant, Sihael just shook his head.

“I ran here for nothing.”

“How did you know about it, Your Highness?”

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know because the smell of its blood is wafting everywhere.” When Sihael saw the blood splattered all over the place, he frowned.

“Good, you managed to destroy its nucleus. It must have been hard to find.”

“Nucleus?”

What was that? Sihael’s eyes widened to large circles when I tilted my head in confusion.

“You don’t know? Then how did you kill the demon? Don’t tell me you just kept slashing at it mindlessly!”

“You’re right! I hacked it until it died.”

Sihael burst out laughing when he heard my response. He seemed to find it extremely amusing, as his laughter did not stop.

“You are truly amazing, Rosetta Katzel.”

“It’s a compliment, right?”

“Of course it’s a compliment. You are the first person to kill a Chimera* without knowing anything about its nucleus.”

*[ It’s not the Greek Chimera. Here it’s a class of demonic monsters that live in the demon realm. ]

Sihael continued to praise me.

“If I had hands, I would have given you a standing ovation now.”

It was nice to be praised, but I couldn’t shake the implication of the proverb, ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’

“But why is a demon suddenly here?”

“There are two possibilities. One is that the demon might have come over here through the mountains in the north.”

Sihael kicked the dead body of the mangled demon.

“The other possibility is that the empress is behind this.”

My pupils constricted as I remembered the empress’s setting from the original novel. The empress was a wizard who could command familiars, most of which were birds — mainly crows.

Because the Empress’s abilities were limited, she was unable to deal with large animals. That was why she was so obsessed with creating chimeras that obeyed her commands.

“It must be the empress’s work.”

Sihael nodded as he looked at the cold body of the Chimera.