Chapter 225: Leave Nobody Standing (1)

BAM!

Arianne kicked the door down and dashed forward.

As she did, something glinted in her peripheral vision.

It wasn’t an enemy swinging weapons at her; the room was devoid of any living presence. Instead, it was something barely visible—colder, more mechanical.

Tripwires!

“Haap!”

Without hesitation, she swung her sword, cutting through everything in her path.

By then, she understood that not all those “tripwires”—thin and sharp like metallic piano wires—were meant to trigger traps. Some were simply sharp and nearly invisible, functioning as traps themselves.

Certain wires were rigged to activate mechanical bows that would shoot at the target. Each had perfect aim, following the angle of the trigger wires. No matter where the target was along the “thread,” it would hit with 100% accuracy!

TANG!

Though Arianne’s reflexes allowed her to cut down all the bolts that flew toward her or behind her, where the others stood, she ignored the rest, deeming them harmless.

“Phew…”

In just moments, she cleared all the wires in the room, along with the traps. She quietly sheathed her sword, lost in thought.

The room resembled a dungeon.

The stone walls bore remnants of where lamps had once hung, with soot still visible. The space wasn’t large, almost as wide as a single cell in a ward.

However, it wasn’t the size that troubled Arianne. It was the sheer number of traps.

This setup was clearly not intended to make the passage safe. Instead, it ensured that “nobody” could use this path to infiltrate!

’Instead of burying the path, making it unusable, their choice of using traps just shows the twisted nature of the one who set it up…’ She thought.

Most likely, it was the Emperor himself who had ordered this.

“W-What the…?”

When Sophia and Tiffany arrived, with Rico right behind them, they couldn’t help but gasp.

The room was littered with hundreds of fallen arrows, most of them broken in half, while several stuck out from the stone floors and walls, cracking them. It looked as if a battle had taken place there, but there were no corpses—only Arianne, standing amid the chaos.

“I’ve cleared all the traps here,” she stated. “But I have yet to check any further, so be careful.”

The three quickly nodded, glancing around warily. Just a single look was enough for them to realize that if they had been in the lead, entering this room would have likely killed them instantly.

A few moments later, the rest of the group managed to climb the stairs and reach the room.

As soon as they all gathered, Eve stepped forward to address everyone. “Alright. It’s time…” she whispered. “From here on, we will be killing everyone we encounter, with a few exceptions.”

Her voice was heavy, but her resolve was firm.

She understood that this was a necessary evil—one meant to eliminate a greater evil.

Arianne nodded, smiling bravely with her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

Ethernina flicked the brim of her wide witch hat and twirled her staff, ready for battle.

Teruria walked forward, using her staff as a walking stick, her other hand resting on her hip, looking proud—like a cheeky child.

Eve smiled at the three, seeing their eagerness. Not a hint of hesitation showed in their eyes, unlike her own.

“Then…” Eve pulled out her pistol, disengaging the safety and cocking the lever. “Let’s go!”

The room they had just exited was literally a dungeon cell—a place where prisoners were typically confined. However, even the solid metal bars could not block their path.

Arianne swung her blade, and the bars collapsed, turning into metallic dust. She cut through them so swiftly and finely that it appeared as if she had struck with a single slash!

The four moved side by side, occupying the entire hallway, pacing as if they owned the place. Just as they ascended a set of stairs, they encountered people.

Soldiers stumbled about as if drunk, moving back and forth, left and right, and shouting incoherent words. They were still under Nina’s curse, the Curse of the Mirror Maze.

“I-Intruders!” one of them shouted upon spotting the girls.

That shout served as a signal, and the others began drawing their weapons, confronting the four. Just because intruders stood before them did not mean they could escape the curse’s effect.

They moved, attempting to surround the intruders slowly. However, each step they took in one direction led them to a different one. When they tried to correct their course by taking a step in the opposite direction, they ended up even further away. They were unable to close in!

“Regular soldiers aren’t part of the hit list, right?” Nina sighed. “Then I’ll handle them.”

With a wave of her staff and the use of a standard Voodoo Doll from her Bag of Holdings, a black smoke wafted over to the soldiers. Initially, they swung their weapons in a panic before succumbing to the mist.

“Zzzzz….”

They crumbled to the ground, falling asleep instantly.

Seeing that no one else remained standing, the girls continued marching forward, unperturbed, as if nothing had happened. Only Sophia, Tiffany, and Rico, trailing behind them, couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.

“To think the Empire’s prized troops would fall this easily…” Tiffany muttered, gulping in fear.

She recalled how, due to a “misunderstanding,” she had almost faced the girls in a fight. If it had truly come to blows, she knew she definitely wouldn’t be standing there now.

After turning a corner, climbing another set of stairs, and leaving the “basement” floor…

“Oh, now this is quite a lot…” Arianne whispered, whistling softly to herself.

The Empire’s prized First Army, led by their General, stood in formation right outside. Hundreds of soldiers, armed with both melee and ranged weapons, faced the stairs where the girls emerged.

“An ambush?” Eve tilted her head, puzzled.

They had anticipated someone would come to block their path after being discovered. However, they hadn’t expected an actual “ambush” against them!

“Ingenious,” she said, nodding. “But you’re lacking in numbers. Next time, bring a thousand times more to face us.”

Eve didn’t even need to lift a finger; Nina and Ria had already taken action.

They waved their staffs, chanting in hushed tones, as a thick black fog enveloped the hundreds of soldiers before them.

“D-Don’t breathe it in! Fire! Fire!”

The General panicked, abandoning his prepared speech to issue orders quickly. But he was already too late. The “black mist” didn’t require inhalation to take effect; it worked upon contact.

A moment later, all the soldiers collapsed into a heap, emitting soft sounds of sleep.

Eve approached them and noted, “Oh, this general man… He’s on the hit list.”

BANG!

With a casual pull of the trigger, she took a life. Blood splattered lightly across the granite floor. Her expression remained almost unchanged; she had already made up her mind.

They would kill everyone who needed to die.

None would be spared.

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