The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 254

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

“What happened?!”

I urgently asked Father who had come out.

The space beneath the ritual altar had shrunk back to its original size.

Father sat down on a nearby stone, breathing heavily.

“I don’t know. How much time has passed?”

Father’s voice was filled with deep confusion, just like mine.

As I stood frozen, Father continued speaking.

“I sensed Crookiatus’s presence near the third gate. Not strongly, just small traces. But I wasn’t supposed to go alone…”

Father’s eyes trembled.

“I can’t remember where my memory cuts off. When I opened my eyes, I was trapped in that interdimensional space, and I couldn’t understand what was happening…”

That’s when I threw my arms around Father.

Both my hands touching Father’s back trembled violently.

“…I thought you were dead.”

I felt Father stiffen in shock.

“Mother too, Grandmother too, everyone thought you had left us…”

My voice shook so much I couldn’t continue speaking.

“Thank goodness, really thank goodness…”

Father slowly pulled me away from his body.

Then he asked with an incomprehensible expression.

“You thought I was dead? What do you mean by that?”

I calmed my breathing and wiped away the tears that had fallen.

“Actually, I saw something strange at the Marque Archipelago. Crookiatus was…”

“Lia! The evil dragon is almost here!”

At that moment, Euriko shouted.

I jumped up from my seat and looked at Father with tense eyes.

“Let’s talk about it later.”

Father had a confused expression.

“The magic amplifier you created, the one meant to draw power from the Heavenly Realm to kill Crookiatus. We’re going to use it now.”

But at my following words, his eyes widened.

This place was filled with power that had flowed in from the Heavenly Realm.

We were here, and we were going to use the amplifier Father had created.

“Crookiatus is coming here…”

Father quickly stood up.

Then he turned his body toward the direction the evil dragon was approaching from.

The next moment, dark purple flames blazed up from both of Father’s hands.

It was another ability of Father’s that I was seeing for the first time.

“Miss.”

Shasha held out the reconnaissance device to me.

The white dot in the device was now really close, right in front of us.

“…Alright.”

I released the reins on the magic power raging in my heart.

I felt something flowing out from inside my body, and Shasha’s right arm shone brilliantly.

“I’m ready!”

Owen, who was operating the magic amplifier from behind, also

“There! Over there-!!”

Euriko, with one hand stretched toward the sky, shouted in succession.

Finally, the black dot rapidly approaching came into view.

Kwaagwang-! Kwagwang-!

The city walls of the Imperial Capital crumbled from the incoming fireballs.

Smoke rose from the debris of destroyed buildings, and startled horses ran between fallen soldiers.

“Focus! Reorganize the formation!”

Logrio relentlessly cut down demon beasts in the chaos.

In the distance, I could see Tian facing three wyverns alone.

Light footwork, and a sword moving even faster.

Tian’s sword energy was precisely cutting the necks of demon beasts like a hurricane wind.

But even Tian couldn’t handle all the flying demon beasts swarming like a swarm of bees.

The moment Tian hesitated, sudden cannon fire filled the town square.

“Fire! Don’t leave a single one alive!”

The artillery from Viktor Regiment, who had just arrived at the Imperial Capital, were firing cannons at the demon beast horde.

In an instant, three or four wyverns crashed to the ground.

Dozens of goblins crushed beneath them screamed.

“What are you doing! Your back is exposed!”

At that moment, someone shouted at Logrio from behind.

When he turned his head, a large man was splitting a big lizardman in half with a double-bladed axe.

It was Takai, the tribal chief of Barkin and Euriko’s father.

Logrio regained his focus and looked back at Tian.

He spotted a cobalus stealthily charging at Tian from behind.

He pulled a spear from a nearby demon beast corpse and pierced exactly through its head.

Takai shouted again.

“Yes! Stay focused like that! It seems like my daughter Euriko’s side is fighting well too!”

At those words, his gaze went to the magic mirror floating in the air.

The magic mirror showed the situation in the Michaeliann Forest.

“What is that…!”

A massive dragon that couldn’t possibly be considered an ordinary demon beast, breathing fire and burning the entire forest.

‘Could that be the evil dragon?’

Logrio gripped his sword tighter with a tense expression.

The dragon had its wings bound by purple chains created by Theo, with its head raised.

Between the black scales, demonic energy flickered along with flames.

The demonic energy was so dense that just breathing near it seemed like it would poison and kill you.

[Euriko!]

When Annellia shouted, Euriko struck down lightning.

The dragon, hit by lightning in the middle of its back, staggered.

Then an enormously thick beam struck its head hard.

It was a magic cannon fired from Shasha’s right arm.

The dragon’s wing joints twitched, and its massive body rose about 3 meters.

But the creature trying to escape to the sky was soon dragged back down.

Theo could be seen gritting his teeth as he pulled the purple chains.

[Kiheeeek-!!]

The dragon roared sharply.

Pitch-black demonic energy gathered in the sky, and demon beasts were born from within it.

They immediately charged at Annellia’s group, but

[Master! Quickly!]

They too were no match for Annellia’s group.

The Ancient Soldiers wouldn’t allow the demon beasts to approach.

The forest was, in a word, in a state of chaotic battle.

“They seem to be holding their own against the evil god pretty well-!”

When Logrio said this while striking down two skeletons with his sword, Takai also responded while swinging his axe.

“Annellia was right! There was an effect in dispersing their forces!”

As he said, the situation in the Imperial Capital was manageable, though bad.

With just the rear support forces arriving, victory seemed within reach.

Tian, knowing this fact as well, swung his sword faster and more powerfully despite his exhaustion.

“Now if we can just properly target that device amplifying the Heavenly Realm’s magic power…!”

Kwaaaaang-!

At those words, the area beyond the Magic Mirror turned completely red.

Through the rising dust clouds, the massive body of a dragon falling backward came into view.

Below its neck was a gaping hole of considerable width.

Thud-

The dragon collapsed into the sea of flames with a heavy sound.

Logrio unconsciously froze in place.

However, he narrowed his eyes at the scene that followed.

In the billowing black smoke.

Someone was slowly revealing themselves in front of the dragon.

[Kuk.]

Soon an unidentifiable sound echoed from within the Magic Mirror.

Takai also stopped swinging his axe and stared at the Magic Mirror.

[Kuk… Keuk, hahaha!]

A man was looking at Annellia’s group with a sinister smile.

Human flesh and black hair, with bright yellow pupils gleaming menacingly.

[It’s been a while.]

At the sound that followed, Logrio covered his ears.

Bright red blood trickled down through the gaps between his fingers.

I held my breath as I stared at Crookiatus.

He stood before me in perfect human form, unmistakably there.

With an intact body, clean and without a single wound.

“Did you expect this? Did you think you had killed me?”

At that moment, Crookiatus asked in a languid voice.

I quickly gathered magic power in one hand.

Drawing a diagonal line, Ancient Soldiers born from the earth charged at Crookiatus.

Sharp spears pierced through his chest, but Crookiatus didn’t even flinch.

He simply continued to stare directly at me with that same smile.

I gritted my teeth and swung my hand once more.

Another Ancient Soldier behind Crookiatus swung its sword toward him.

However, the blade crumbled into dirt just before touching Crookiatus’s body.

“Your expression when you thought Theo was dead was quite entertaining.”

My face went blank at his next words.

“You could have given up then. You could have just collapsed, but the way you struggled so desperately…”

When Crookiatus raised one hand, even the Ancient Soldier’s spear embedded in his body scattered.

Dark magic energy had gathered around him before I knew it.

“How was my gift, Annellia.”

“…”

“I kept Theo alive for you, didn’t I.”

The aura emanating from Crookiatus made my breath catch.

Looking around, no one seemed able to easily approach him.

“Actually, I was conflicted too. What to do with Theo, the child I created with my own hands. I thought countless times whether it was right to let him live after he betrayed me.”

To me, frozen stiff, he said.

“But I soon reached a conclusion. That I couldn’t simply kill Theo, couldn’t simply kill you.”

“…What are you talking about.”

“Do you really think this is the entirety of the army I possess? What you’ve seen should be far more than this.”

My heart sank.

The moment Crookiatus burst into loud laughter, another Magic Mirror appeared in the air.

[Ah… Lia! This place, Ab…!]

The first thing that caught my eye was a spire engulfed in flames.

I saw the garden in chaos, people scattered about, and hordes of Demon Beasts.

[Retreat from there immediately-!]

It was a place where nothing had been detected by reconnaissance.

Even the detection device Father had created showed no reaction to this place.

“…No.”

Abner Castle was under attack.

My home was burning.

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