The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-73

[Atarak is furious.]

[As she quivers her body, spiders pour into the room from all sides.]

More spiders poured down from the ceiling than the spiders that escaped previously.

Kieeee!

- Do you… Do you have any idea how long I’ve had to sneak around? I’ve hid underground, enduring all sorts of humiliation, to grow this big.

Atarak was talking a lot about things that Seol was frankly uninterested in.

Seol, disinterested, ordered Karen, “Karen! I want you to bring that chatterbox down to the ground.”

“Alright, sounds fun.”

Leap!

As Karen dashed toward Atarak, multiple spiders jumped in to block her path.

Splatter!

[You have gained experience.]

[You have defeated a Sulfur Spider.]

“Damn it…”

Punch!

[You have gained experience.]

[You have defeated a Sulfur Spider.]

“There’s a lot more of them than I thought?”

Kieee…

- The reason that I hid here… wasn’t so that I would be belittled by someone like you!

Fwooosh…

Atarak tore a boulder off the ceiling and threw it at Seol.

“Krgh…”

Throw!

Jamad took Seol and moved him out of the boulder’s way

Booooom!

K-Kieeeeek!

There were dead spiders left in the boulder’s wake.

Kieee!

- How dare you! How dare youuuuuu!

It seemed like staying in a room that was too small for her for this long left her unable to properly control her anger.

Regardless, there was no way such an emotional attack would land on Karen and Jamad.

Fwooosh!

Cruuush!

Kiee…

Fwoosh!

Crush!

Spider corpses were piling up to the point that Seol couldn’t even see his own feet.

Jamad, while protecting Seol, spoke to him.

“Careful, their blood is starting to pool together.”

“Their blood? God damn it…”

The ground that Seol believed was flat was actually sunken, and the spiders’ blood was starting to slowly pool.

Seol’s concern was that if the blood continued to pool together like this, Seol could end up having no place to stand on.

‘How am I going to drag down that monster?’

If it wasn’t a Solo Adventure, Seol would have recruited long-range damage classes to attack Atarak directly.

Since Atarak wasn’t attacking Seol directly, it wasn’t too hard to stay alive. However, it wasn’t like Seol could only dodge forever.

“Hah!”

Karen used this time to throw broken rock fragments at Atarak.

Stab.

Kieee…

- I guess what you said about dragging me down from my webs was all talk. Resist as much as you want, child. It delights me the more you resist as it makes the meal sweeter.

A sticky saliva dripped down from Atarak’s mouth. Her eyes were all locked on Karen.

And then, she spat out a cocoon from her mouth.

[Atarak used Spiderweb Bomb.]

[The projectile is influenced by Passive: Detect Movements.]

Karen, seeing the lump of spider web swiftly flying toward her, made a call that she shouldn't get hit by it.

Fwoosh!

Karen used her wits and tossed a spider that was attacking her into the direction of the projectile.

Fwoosh! Thud!

The cocoon wrapped around the spider in an instant, causing it to fall to the ground with a thud.

Kiee…

The spider twitched on the ground but was helpless beyond that.

“That looks dangerous. Not like I’m going to get hit by it though.”

Fwoosh!

Fwooosh!

[Atarak used Spiderweb Bomb.]

[The projectile is influenced by Passive: Detect Movements.]

Atarak used the same attack again.

However, Karen was now ready for it. She dodged the cocoons by a large margin.

Kiee…

- How swift. But… What about your comrades?

Fwoosh!

Fwooosh!

[Atarak used Spiderweb Bomb.]

[The projectile is influenced by Passive: Detect Movements.]

This time, the spiderwebs shot toward Seol and Jamad.

Jamad, obviously, was on guard against Atarak’s movements as well.

“Hmph!”

Kieee!

Fwoosh!

Thud…

Jamad used the same method that Karen used the first time to defend against it.

Atarak, having failed her attacks multiple times, became furious on her comfortable webs.

Kieee…

- So you’re all looking down on me, huh?!

Seol then mocked her, “Why don’t you stop talking and come down here if you have a problem? Coward.”

It seemed like that was an effective blow.

Atarak gave a different reaction from the ones she had shown so far.

Kiee…

- …Alright. Since you’ve mocked me, don’t regret it if I give you a painful death.

Skitter…

[Atarak used Sweet Dreams.]

“Watch out! It’s a mental attack!” shouted Jamad.

Jamad, catching the eerie energy of mind-type spells shouted quickly. But as he shouted, everyone’s vision started to grow dark.

As negative thoughts started to enter Seol’s head, he bit his lips.

Bite!

Blood dripped down Seol’s lips as he read the messages.

[The ‘Spell Resist Dice’ are rolling.]

[Spell Resist Dice has rolled a 4.]

[Jamad resists Sweet Dreams.]

[Spell Resist Dice has rolled a 5.]

[Snowman resists Sweet Dreams.]

Luckily, two of Seol’s party members resisted the spell.

However, their luck ended there.

[Spell Resist Dice has rolled a 1.]

[Karen’s high resistance adds 1 to her dice roll.]

[Karen falls into a sweet dream.]

‘No!’

Seol and Jamad instantly realized that Karen had fallen for Atarak’s attack the moment she stood still with a blank look on her face.

“Damn it, elf!” Jamad leaped toward Karen.

Meanwhile, Atarak watched Karen with glistening eyes.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

Karen looked forward with a blank look. It was bright around her, as everything was made of gold.

And then someone approached her.

“What’s going on?”

“Hm?”

“I bet you’re the only person who would ever doze off in front of Montra’s Emperor, Karen.”

“Jin, was I sleeping?”

“Haha… Are you trying to lie to me now that we’re the only two people here?”

“So I was sleeping. I guess I slept but… who cares!”

“Yeah, that’s a much better reaction.”

Karen felt an old, heavy weight in her chest. It made her feel comfortable and safe.

“...Are you back now?”

“What are you saying?”

“It’s nothing. What about Karuna?”

“He’s probably in the training grounds. He’s always there anyway.”

It was the same daily routine.

Sunlight poured on Montra’s palace as if the sun itself were blessing them, while Karen enjoyed her nap.

Her brother, Karuna, was training as he always did, and the Emperor, Jin, would drop by from time to time to have a conversation whenever he needed a break from his immense workload.

It was Karen’s everyday life that was a matter of course. It was also something that seemed like it would last forever.

But…

‘I feel like I’m forgetting something important…’

Despite how relaxing it was, Karen felt like something was off. The Emperor, noticing how Karen was feeling, asked her a question.

“What’s wrong, Karen?”

“Jin. You know, how do you become an emperor?”

“An emperor? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing. I was just curious if amazing people like you, Jin, are just born amazing too.”

“You’re asking something so pointless. Still, I’ll answer you.”

Jin then gave a mischievous smile as he continued.

“Montra was handed down to me.”

“...What?”

“I inherited it. I wasn’t the person who built up Montra.”

“Hahaha! What the hell is that?!”

“Obviously, though, when I first inherited Montra, no one called it an empire.”

“......”

“But through me, Montra became one.”

Karen liked the man in front of her.

Obviously, it wasn’t a romantic interest, she simply liked him as her lord. She felt peaceful being with him and enjoyed watching him.

“It doesn't feel like you have the ability to do something like that when I watch over you though…”

“Hahaha! Others would have punished you if they heard you say that. Still, I’m glad that you’re someone who can say that.”

“Hurry up and answer my question now. How do you become an emperor?”

“An emperor is made by the era.”

“What does that mean?”

“And the era is made by the people.”

Karen turned her head at Jin’s riddles.

Even after that, Karen and Jin continued to talk about the empire.

Jin had a look in his eyes, like he was recalling something.

“Thinking back… So many people helped to make me emperor. They gave their hearts and did whatever it took to make me emperor.”

“To make you emperor…? Why?”

Karen looked at Jin.

When she looked into his eyes, she felt like she had a small idea of why his aides worked so hard to make Jin an emperor.

“Someone you want to make into an emperor… someone you want to serve… hm… this is hard.”

“Regardless, being an emperor really isn’t all that great, so if you meet a good person, don’t ever try to make them into an emperor.”

“Hahaha… Who else would I serve but you, Jin?”

“......”

Jin gave a calm smile and simply maintained eye contact with Karen. Even so, a corner of Karen’s heart was still uneasy.

That’s why even she didn’t know why she kept making an uneasy expression.

“It looks like the problem still remains.”

“You know… I think… I have a concern.”

“Tell me. I thought we could share any small worries with each other.”

“It feels like you only share big worries with me, though.”

“Hahaha. What can I do, though? You’re the only one who can listen to my worries comfortably.”

Karen then spoke with blank eyes.

“I can’t pull it out.”

“Can’t pull what out?”

“My sword. No matter how hard I try… I can’t pull it out.”

“Oh no…”

“The moment I think about pulling it out to protect, my body stiffens up like a rock.”

Jin gave a chilling look.

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who are you trying to protect?”

“I think… it’s someone other than you, Jin.”

“......”

Jin laughed again.

“Do you remember the vow you made to me?”

“Of course. I promised that I would only serve you and only swing my sword for you.”

“And it seems like that promise is preventing you from going further.”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s why you’re trying to get permission from me to swing your sword for someone else.”

“......”

“...From me, someone who’s died.”

“Dead? Who’s dead?”

Rumble Rumble…

Suddenly, the palace started to shake.

“Karen.”

“Jin! Come here! The castle is—”

Jin shook his head.

“This is a dream, Karen.”

“...What?”

“I am dead and Montra has gone to ruin.”

Crack!

Rumble Rumble…

CRAAAACK!

The stones made to create the palace had broken. Karen was shocked and quickly tried to grab Jin’s hand but he refused her.

“Why? Why?!”

Push!

Jin pushed her away.

Karen was falling. Falling into a dark space.

“Go, Karen. And don’t look back.”

“Jiiiiiin! You bastard!”

Jin’s face slowly turned to dust.

Even as he was becoming a skeleton and scattering into the air, he continued to talk to Karen.

“You stupidly loyal knight, my time has ended. Accept the new era.”

“Jiiiin!”

“And through that, be redeemed.”

* * *

[Karen resists Sweet Dreams.]

“Aaaaaargh!”

“Look around you, elf!”

“...Huh?”

Karen swiftly realized that everything that happened was a dream.

She also realized that Jamad was carrying her over his shoulder and she was being dead weight.

Kieee…

- Swiftly offer your everything to me. To me, the Queen of Fire.

Atarak was confident in her victory as the moment Karen fell asleep, she had been able to push both Seol and Jamad back into a corner.

In fact, if Karen hadn’t woken up right now, it really would have been an extremely dangerous situation.

“What is this…”

“We can talk after you get down from my shoulder!”

Slip!

Karen skillfully rolled off Jamad’s shoulder. And then, she grabbed her sword. The same sword that she had been carrying as baggage, unable to pull it out.

Kieee…

- Was the present I gave you sweet, child?

Karen could hear Atarak’s whispers in her ears.

“Yeah, it was damn sweet.”

Kieee…

- That dream showed you whatever was most important to you.

“No wonder.”

Jin and Karuna.

Her memories with them were her happiest memories.

Kieee…

- Serve me. And if you do, I will let you have such dreams forever.

But also, they were her most painful memories.

“Stop your bullshit, you fucking spider!”

Karen got into a stance to pull out her sword.

“Karen!”

“Hey!”

Kieee…

- How foolish. Then die.

Fwoosh!

Fwooosh!

[Atarak used Spiderweb Bomb.]

[The projectile is influenced by Passive: Detect Movements.]

Atarak shot out her Spiderweb Bomb at her.

Since Karen had only dodged her attacks, Atarak was quickly preparing a follow-up attack. However, this time, Karen didn’t dodge.

Click!

Pull!

Karen unsheathed her sword, letting a clear sound ring out.

The sword she pulled out from her sheathe had become a blazing inferno.

Flaaaare!

Fsss… Fsss…

The Spiderweb Bomb that Atarak shot at her quickly incinerated before her fire.

And it wasn’t just her attack either.

Kieeee!

Kiee!

With a single swing, Karen ignited all of the spiders that stood in her path.

Kieeeeee!

Skitter…

Atarak swiftly skittered closer to the ceiling, surprised by Karen’s powers.

Karen let out a low growl, “You shouldn’t have messed with Jin. I’ll burn you to a crisp, so get ready.”

Her sword was already starting to melt.

“Because right now… I think I’m a little pissed!”