Disqualified as a Villainess - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#80.

“So here’s the thing.”
I asked the question after waking up, still bound to the Admiral—we’d even slept together, though that wasn’t intentional.
He’d kept his arm as a pillow all night—not by choice—and now his arm was numb. He looked at me with a slight frown.
“What is it?”
“Are you going to participate in the suppression? Things are in chaos out there right now.”
“In principle, I cannot. The Emperor has ordered non-interference.”
It was only natural that as the ruled domain enjoyed more freedom, the aid from the ruling nation decreased proportionally.
“I think I need to go.”
“Why?”
I put on a solemn expression like someone with a grand purpose.
“I need to see the Chaos entities.”
I hadn’t gotten a proper look before.
Unfortunately, the Chaos entities that first appeared had vanished without leaving corpses behind.
I was desperately curious about where Chaos entities came from, their composition, and how they functioned. I wanted to secure at least one biological specimen.
‘If I do nothing, the situation will only grow worse. I need to find a clue to resolve this crisis as quickly as possible.’
Beyond the minimal intervention of saving me when I was in danger, it was to prevent that man from overextending himself.
The Admiral, his brow slightly furrowed, stared at me with eyes as if observing a non-human entity.
Strictly speaking, I was an alien, after all.
“Will you unlock these so I can bathe?”
“No.”
I rattled the connected handcuffs and presented them, but he refused in a tone that made clear he didn’t trust me at all.
“From my perspective of constantly stopping a human who keeps trying to commit suicide out of curiosity, I cannot unlock them. You might run away like last time.”
“You’re willing to degrade yourself into a filthy human alongside me?”
“We could simply bathe together, couldn’t we?”
A brief silence fell.
The man, who had spent years in group military life as an officer, reconsidered his own words. He quickly realized the implication and pulled his lips tight.
“That wasn’t my intention in saying so.”
With an awkward expression, he unlocked the handcuffs.
We were no longer filthy humans.

***

All assembled members of the unit gazed upward at the Domain Erosion Gate, which bore the harbingers of tribulation.
“Who knows what Chaos entity will emerge this time. We can’t even predict when a higher-tier or Chaos ability user might appear.”
Since both the difficulty and type of dungeon zones generated were random, there was no room to devise strategies in advance.
Beyond the merciless waves of Chaos entities and dwindling provisions, this unpredictability was one of the primary reasons the Domain Erosion Gate had such low survival rates.
“The Saint of the Empire won’t grant us any divine powers beyond protection, and the Admiral will merely observe. Unless support authorization comes down, we Kingdom soldiers must resolve this ourselves.”
Someone suddenly gripped the shoulders of those who kept dampening the atmosphere.
“Do you know why Acedia is the most independent and prosperous among the Seven Kingdoms?”
It was Ewain, the commander of the Holy Knight Order.
“Despite possessing the scarcest resources, we overcame that deficiency through magitech industry and achieved overwhelming growth—precisely because of the strong spirit such adversity forged in us. Crisis is what made us strong.”
The respected Holy Knight commander’s encouragement was more than enough to kindle patriotism and pride in his soldiers’ hearts.
“That’s right! We must protect our homeland with our own hands!”
“Uooooh!”
Logan, watching the fervor ignite in an instant, made a grimace of distaste.
“Is he a cheerleader or something?”
Kugugugu—
The gate shifted its form progressively, announcing the beginning of the trial.

“Wretched children bearing the yoke of sin.”

Soon a gentle voice echoed from within the gate.
“Damn it, here we go with the psycho sermon again.”
Logan rubbed his ears and muttered in exasperation.
Sending gates and higher-tier Chaos entities to deliver sermons was the Chaos Faith’s method of proselytization.

“Abandon your suffering flesh and return to the embrace of the liberated Mother.”

Essentially telling everyone to die, just dressed up beautifully.
“Everyone drank the potion?”
At Logan’s question, his subordinates nodded in affirmation.
If this were merely a matter of enduring blows or overpowering through force, it would have been far simpler.
Combat against Chaos entities demanded above all the ability to withstand immense curses and mental assaults.
Soon, through a cross-shaped fissure spreading open, an eerie prelude seeped outward.

“On the first day, the sun’s spear closed, and pale shadows descended upon all the earth.”

“What is this?”
A creeping chill permeated the air as breath began to mist from people’s lips. Snow instead of rain began to fall from the darkened sky.

“Beneath the calamity, all living things vanished beneath white purgatory.”

In an instant, a brutal wind swept through, and the trees, ground, and buildings froze solid.
“C-c-cold….”
People began shivering uncontrollably as the temperature plummeted in seconds.
Someone unable to endure the cold rushed toward a building entrance, but their hand froze to the handle and they screamed.
“Cold? What are you talking about?”
Logan and his subordinates exchanged bewildered glances.
Only those of high rank or those who had consumed Octavia’s potion remained unaffected by the cold.
Ewain huddled his body and spoke while watching the trembling people.
“It appears they’re experiencing hallucinations from that mass suggestion just now.”
“Those bastards didn’t drink the potion beforehand? It’s all hallucination, snap out of it!”
Those suffering from the extreme cold couldn’t possibly hear Logan’s voice.
“If a Chaos entity appears like this….”
Suddenly, Logan felt something amiss and turned his head.
Crash-!
Chaos entities with the bodies of massive birds and human upper torsos were descending, shattering the roof.
“I spoke it into existence.”
Fortunately, they weren’t high-grade Chaos entities, but the numbers were the problem.
Roughly hundreds were pouring in, while only about a dozen personnel remained unaffected by the hallucination.
“Captain, protect the people. I’ll handle the ones coming through the entrance.”
After Logan rushed off in the opposite direction, screams of Chaos entities echoed out. Ewain narrowed his eyes as he took a defensive stance.
“M-my body is frozen….”
“Ugh! My legs won’t move!”
I had to fight while protecting those trapped in hallucinations, unable to escape as their bodies froze.
I couldn’t understand why they hadn’t followed instructions and consumed the potion Octavia had created.
The real problem was that even those who had drunk the potion had fallen into hallucinations.
‘The resistance to hallucinations shouldn’t be so low that the potion wouldn’t work. Did someone switch them out?’
There was no time to think further.
Boom-!
Ewain swung his greatsword to block the claws of an incoming Chaos entity.
After a brief assessment of their combat strength, he realized there were few capable of ranged attacks, so he quickly climbed onto the roof.
It was to draw the attention of the flying Chaos entities.
“Parrying.”
Deep blue mana coiled around the greatsword in Ewain’s hand.
Clang-!
At the sound of the greatsword tearing through a Chaos entity with a counter technique that multiplied the attack several times over, some of those who had collapsed thinking their bodies were frozen flinched.
“Huff, huff.”
Febrien, who had barely gathered those trapped in hallucinations and created a dome-shaped protective barrier, trembled with exhaustion.
She was simultaneously operating a district-wide protective barrier, so she was already consuming significant amounts of holy power.
Matteo, who had been observing the situation, casually asked her.
“Didn’t you establish a barrier centered on the Central District previously?”
“It’s a protective barrier preventing the Chaos entity from escaping into the city. Layering a purification domain over it would be impossible.”
“I’ll compensate for the insufficient holy power, so please prepare the Book of Truth.”
Febrien maintained an outward appearance of detachment while her gaze fixed intently on Matteo, who kept offering assistance.
“Why do you help us? Besides, I… in truth…”
“Almighty Saint, do you believe you have forfeited your qualification as a Saint?”
Febrien bowed her head deeply.
“Yes. Even now, I live shamelessly deceiving the world.”
“All humans are sinners, and none are born without sin. Whether one possesses sin is irrelevant. The only difference is whether one can maintain and uphold order, or cannot.”
Matteo continued speaking while fingering his sacred earring.
“A new order has been established. Since the next Saint’s qualifications have been revoked, the Saint’s mission will fall to you, who have passed the trial.”
Febrien’s sky-blue eyes widened at words she never anticipated.
“This calamity will be your final trial.”
Matteo offered her a gentle smile.

***

“Hmm.”
Standing deep in the forest, I wore a slightly troubled expression.
Most of the soldiers had fallen victim to hallucinations, and it was obvious someone had tampered with the potions, so I’d instructed Kelsedny Admiral to prepare for an ambush before heading into the Supply Warehouse.

“But something seems to be inside…”

The Admiral standing before the door spoke, and light erupted beneath her feet—in an instant, she was warped to this location.
Ethan and the members of Chloe Squadron approached her with knowing smiles.
‘If I’d possessed warp generation abilities, I could have escaped quickly when the Gate ruptured.’
A high-tier ability, though it seems to have a limited range.
The superior ability users that Dominic had practically forced upon Chloe Squadron had instead aligned themselves with Ethan, forming their own faction.
In a disaster, the actions of contemptible people were always predictable.
“Hey, hand over the remaining warehouse keys. You always carry them, don’t you?”
It was plunder.
Ethan extended his hand with a sinister grin.
They had apparently swapped out potions removed beforehand, reduced combat personnel to a skeleton crew, and now sought to steal supplies under the cover of chaos.
“We’ll just grab some provisions and leave, yeah? The strong ones will handle everything anyway, and we’ll just hide out and slip away when it’s over.”
“And if I refuse?”
“You’ll have a very unpleasant time.”
Octavia, who had been pretending to search her pockets, exhaled with a sigh.
“But when did you get the key? Don’t underestimate Ludovisi’s advanced security technology.”
“It’s not a key? Then how do you open it?”
“Only I can open it.”
Crack—!
Ethan punched the tree beside Octavia’s face, growling.
“Where’s the lie? You want to die?”
“If you kill me, you’ll never open it, and besides, I can handle the consequences.”
“You’ve never been hit before, have you?”
Ethan rolled up his sleeves, his lips twisting into a contemptuous sneer.
“That girl who’s been beaten by me since childhood is obedient, you know. She’s gotten a bit mouthy since recently taking the position of Saint, but still.”
‘He’s even more of a beast than I thought.’
I knew well of the atrocities committed by Chloe’s shackle—her trash family—but the violence wasn’t documented in the original work.
So Octavia, unaware of this fact, let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s remarkable you didn’t go dark. I would have killed him long ago.”
My gaze passed over Ethan toward the members standing there with knowing smiles.
“By the way, besides supplies, there are quite a few extremely valuable things in there.”
“If there was something like that, you should have brought it out already.”
Ethan watched her rummage through her coat pocket with eager eyes.
Then he tilted his head slightly as he saw her pull out a rectangular object with buttons.
“What’s that?”
“Turn around and look.”
Octavia held up the remote control with a subtle smile.
Whoooosh—!
At the eerie sound, similar to the wingbeats of a swarm of bees, Ethan and his members turned around, their faces draining of color.
“W-what is that!”
“Something expensive.”
Dozens of unmanned drones equipped with mana rounds hung suspended in the air, their targeting systems locked onto them.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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