In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 38

Chapter 38: The Shattered Barrier and the Return of Killing Intent

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(Alto’s POV)

Thud thud thud…!

From down the corridor, the sound of multiple rough footsteps drew closer. They were the physician and the royal guards, having sensed something amiss.

“…Alto-sama, quickly!”

Margaret shouted in a heartrending voice. She swiftly straightened the disheveled bedding and stepped in front of Lilianna’s body as if to hide her.

“I will hold them here. If I say that ‘she’s having a seizure,’ they’ll focus on treating Lilianna-sama. …While they’re distracted, please escape.”

“But—!”

“Even if you stay here, there’s nothing you can do right now! If you’re captured and executed, who will save that child!?”

The sharp rebuke of the head maid rang out. She was right. If I stayed here driven by emotion, I would be captured, and any future in which I saved Lilianna would be sealed off forever. I looked at Lilianna, her face twisted in agony as she gasped for breath.

The ring had shattered. An overwhelming violence that even my magic power could not fully block. That man who called himself the “Demon King” intended to keep Lilianna alive but not let her live. He was keeping her as a living captive.

…Staying here won’t work.

Just wanting to protect her wasn’t enough to accomplish anything. He could freely control his output. Even if I created a stronger ring, the enemy would simply activate even greater power. Then there was only one solution.

I need to physically crush the “main body” that is striking us.

“…I will come back. Without fail.”

I swore this to the head maid.

“Not just to protect her. …I’ll defeat that ridiculous ‘Demon King’ and free her from the curse.”

With tears pooled in her eyes, the head maid nodded firmly. I ran to the balcony and vaulted over the railing. Wrapped in the wind, I fell into the darkness of the night. Behind me, I heard the door to the room burst open and angry shouts fill the air, but I did not look back.

Once again, I ran across the wasteland at full speed. My destination was north, the Forest of No Return to Sage Gideon. My body was screaming in protest. But pitch-black rage became new fuel that drove me forward.

That bastard…!

Those cold, reptilian eyes I had seen through the hologram. The arrogance with which he dismissed Lilianna as a mere “terminal,” as a mere “tool.” It was him. He was the root of everything. Unless I erased that man who called himself the “Demon King,” any magical device I made would be meaningless.

The forest drew near. The pre-dawn air had transformed into something even more ominous than yesterday. The trees rustled, and countless red eyes glared at me from the darkness. The Demon King had noticed that an “anomaly” called me was trying to interfere with his plan. The entire forest was trying to eliminate me with clear killing intent.

“…Fine by me.”

Without slowing down, I plunged into the forest. It was at that moment…

Rustle rustle rustle—!!

The ground heaved, and with the sound of trees splitting apart, an uncountable horde of grotesque creatures poured forth. A massive bear whose entire body had hardened like steel. A giant spider sprouting multiple eyes at random. Monstrous birds with metal blades instead of wings. All of them were hoisted by thin “threads of light” falling from the sky and surrounded me with unnatural, puppet-like movements.

There weren’t just a hundred or two. The forest’s very ecosystem had been rewritten for the sole purpose of killing me.

“Grrrrrr…!!”

“Gishaaaaa!!”

Ear-splitting roars echoed. Waves of mindless killing intent surged toward me, becoming a physical pressure. But my feet did not stop.

“Get out of the way.”

I casually swept my right hand aside. No holding back. No concealment. No calculations for magical efficiency. I simply converted the overflowing “killing intent” directly into magic power and slammed it out.

BOOOOOOM!!

A sound rang out as if space itself had been gouged away. Dozens of wolves at the front, frozen mid-leap, were swallowed by black mist and annihilated. There wasn’t even a spray of blood.

Flesh, bone, even the threads of light controlling them, my darkness reduced everything to “nothing.” Yet the puppets that knew no fear did not stop. From behind, a massive serpent over five meters long lunged at me, spraying acid from its fangs.

“Out of my way!!”

I thrust out my left hand as I turned. The unleashed torrent of darkness swallowed the serpent’s head in an instant. The enormous mass of flesh, its body gone from the neck up, collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud. From above, flocks of monstrous birds rained down blade-like feathers. I did not deploy a defensive barrier.

Instead, I filled the very space around me with magic power.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

The falling blades dispersed into black particles just before touching my body. I kicked off the ground and closed in on the birds in midair. It wasn’t even magic. With a fist merely clad in magic power, I smashed apart flying lumps of iron.

CRASH!

The monstrous bird burst apart, metal fragments and flesh scattering like fireworks.

“There’s no end to this…!”

As I landed, even more reinforcements filled the area around me. From deep within the forest, red eyes surged forward in numbers that covered the horizon. It was the Demon King’s will.

He was trying to crush me with sheer numbers and break my spirit. But that was precisely the wrong move. The more I saw this grotesque spectacle, the more vividly the bad taste of the one tormenting Lilianna stood out, and the more it poured oil onto my rage.

“All of you… Disappear!!”

I sank my consciousness into my chest and removed the limiter. I detonated uncontrollable “darkness” in all directions.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble…!!

The world was dyed black. The space within dozens of meters around me was forcibly “deleted.” The monsters that had been about to attack vanished outright, collapsing like castles of sand without even time to scream. All that remained was an eerie silence and a portion of the forest reduced to bare ground.

Several thousand monsters had turned into nothing but void.

“Hah… Hah… Hah…!”

I breathed heavily, my shoulders heaving. My vision flickered, and a pounding headache rang through my head but I did not stop. I stared at my own hands, not a single drop of blood on them, and clenched my fists. I passed through the forest and emerged into an open area.

There stood, unchanged, a silver dome… The ancient ruin. I stood before the ruin’s door. Steam of killing intent rose from my entire body as I slammed my magic-reinforced fist into the thick metal door.

DOOOOOON!!

Ignoring the security system entirely, I forced the door open. The sound of metal warping tore through the still air.

“Gideon!!”

My roar echoed through the laboratory. At the back of the lab, an old man sat deeply in his chair, gazing at a monitor. Even upon seeing my battered state and my demon-like expression, he didn’t move an eyebrow.

No surprise. No panic. As if he had precisely timed my return, he slowly turned his chair to face me.

“…You’re back. Judging by that face, it seems you failed.”

“Yeah, a complete defeat!”

I shouted, rage and despair at my own powerlessness mixed together.

“The ring shattered! The moment I blocked him with my power, that bastard doubled his output! There’s no way something like that could be withstood by a single small ring!”

“I thought so.”

Gideon replied briefly, as if he had known all along. I froze. My thoughts went blank for an instant.

“…What did you say?”

“I said it went exactly as expected. There was never any chance that a ring of that level could completely block the interference of that man playing at being a god.”

Snap.

I heard something break inside me. I rushed up to Gideon and grabbed him by the collar.

“…You knew, didn’t you? You sent me out knowing it would fail from the start!?”

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