The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 255

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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As soon as I arrived at Abner Castle through the portal Grandmother had opened, screams rang in my ears.

“Kyaaaaaaah-!”

“Save me! Save me…!”

The rose garden that Mother had tended all summer was being mercilessly trampled under the trolls’ feet.

Before I could make any judgment, someone’s blood splattered right in front of my face.

A servant who worked in the laundry room, who always greeted me with a shy face, was collapsing before my eyes.

My body stiffened.

Owen, who had been behind me, suddenly leaped forward.

He was heading toward where Awin was in the distance.

“Awin-!”

Everything around me, every scene before my eyes seemed to be playing in slow motion.

Awin was fighting several Cobaluts alone.

The sword I had given him as a gift 5 years ago drew urgent lines.

But when he cut down one, two more came at him, and when he cut down two, three others rushed at him.

“Brother! Are you crazy! Don’t come here!”

Awin turned his head and shouted angrily, but Owen didn’t stop running and grabbed a spear.

Then he swung it wildly at the Cobaluts rushing toward Awin.

“Lia, snap out of it!”

Then Father grabbed my shoulder.

Only then did I realize that I had almost collapsed to the floor.

“We need to find Bell.”

Father grabbed my hand and started running quickly.

Wherever they came from, monsters rushed at us with every step we took.

Father wielded magic with his fingertips and easily cut down the monsters.

After passing under the arched castle tower, the main castle finally came into view.

[Annellia.]

Lasandra appeared in mid-air.

She was looking at me with a serious expression.

[Use it. My final magic formula that you completed.]

There were two of Lasandra’s incomplete summoning circles that I had completed.

One was to summon an army of ancient soldiers, and I hadn’t used the other one yet.

It was because it consumed a lot of mana and put great strain on the body.

[Use it quickly! Crookiatus is in the main castle!]

I fixed my trembling eyes forward again.

I could see the broken windows of the main castle.

Black magic was flowing out like waves from within.

The situation outside the castle wasn’t much different either.

“No, no Marenese! Marenese, sob…”

Just then, my gaze stopped at one place.

In front of the side door leading to the main castle kitchen.

Phil, who was the head chef of Abner Castle and Marenese’s husband, was kneeling and sobbing.

I could see the butcher’s knife in his hands.

The blade was soaked with monster blood.

And in front of him,

“Marenese! Marenese… please!”

Marenese, already pale as a sheet, was lying there.

No matter how much Phil shook her shoulders, she didn’t move a finger.

Through her unclosed eyelids, I could see pupils that had already lost their light.

[I told you to snap out of it! If you can’t deal with the monsters outside, everyone will die! Summon them quickly!]

Lasandra shouted again.

I stopped awkwardly in place.

And I let go of Father’s hand.

Father looked back at me with a hardened face.

“…Lia?”

I concentrated my mind.

Then I felt tremendous magical power gathering at my fingertips.

Seeing my fingertips turning black, Father grabbed my shoulder.

“Lia! Don’t!”

But I didn’t stop.

The gathered magical power had already formed a huge sphere of light in my hands.

I gritted my teeth and drove that light into the ground.

Kuguuuuuuuung-

Immediately, the earth convulsed.

The monsters that had been mercilessly attacking tumbled over, and the Abner forces launched a counterattack in that gap.

When I turned my blurred vision, I saw Phil looking at me with a dazed expression.

It was also then that giant golems rose from the ground.

Thud-!

When one brought down its thick arm, the Cobaluts collapsed helplessly.

“Kieeeeek-!”

Then several wyverns flew up as if trying to escape, but six tree roots extending from another golem’s back caught them.

When I turned my head, I saw Father looking at me with a dazed expression.

Father was staring at my blackened hands.

“Lia, you…”

“Let’s go. We need to find Mother and Grandmother.”

This time, I took Father’s hand.

And I began to quicken my pace.

I could feel Phil’s gaze following me.

But I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.

It would be more accurate to say I didn’t have the courage to see Marenese’s corpse.

We reached right in front of the main castle.

Just as we were about to climb the few remaining stairs.

Kwaaaaaang-!

The half-destroyed door burst open explosively.

My face turned pale at the sight of those who came tumbling out.

“Armin! Dimas!”

Armin and Dimas were supporting someone.

It was Mother, bleeding from her forehead.

“Bell-!”

Father ran to Mother.

Mother looked at Father and blinked as if she couldn’t believe it.

Meanwhile, four more people rushed out through the open door.

It was Soya supporting Miel, and Grandmother supporting Teacher Ann.

“Lia-!”

I looked at Grandmother and closed my mouth.

Grandmother had a large crossbow slung over one shoulder.

The problem was that I couldn’t see the lower part of the arm extending from that shoulder.

Fresh red blood flowed continuously through her tattered clothes.

“Grandmother, why is your arm…”

“Lia, run away, it was all a trap! What Crookiatus showed you was fake! He was from the beginning, from the beginning…!”

Grandmother sat down on the ground, gasping for breath.

Ann, who Grandmother had been supporting, also collapsed with her.

‘…It wasn’t real.’

My heart pounded violently.

The pitch-black demonic energy had already covered the entire sky.

Goosebumps rose along my arms, neck, and back.

I had already noticed it at Michaeliann Gorge.

That the Crookiatus before my eyes was fake.

The countless hordes of demon beasts charging toward the Imperial Capital, and even Crookiatus who seemed to notice my presence and change direction toward the gorge.

Everything had been bait and a trap.

Crookiatus’s real destination was this place.

Abner Castle.

The words that Crookiatus’s afterimage had said came back to me.

“I’ve reached a conclusion. I cannot simply kill Theo, kill you.”

That meant he wouldn’t give us a peaceful death.

It meant he would inflict pain worse than death before slowly cutting off our breath.

It meant he would harm our family members, then leisurely watch us suffer in agony.

My eyes burned hot.

I could feel blood rushing through my entire body from rage.

The uncontrollable outburst of magical power grew even more intense.

The spots that had consumed my fingertips climbed up my forearms.

The golems around me were also growing stronger by that much.

I turned my body toward the Duke’s Castle.

“…Come out.”

However, there was no answer from inside the Duke’s Castle where demonic energy was flowing out.

There were only screams and groans, and the sound of Grandmother whispering to Mother that it would be okay, that everything would be fine.

“I’m going to kill you…”

My vision blazed bright red.

The East Wing that had turned to ashes.

The burning warehouse and Grand Assembly Hall.

Everywhere my gaze reached, I saw familiar faces.

Fallen knights.

Lady Larienne crying while shaking Butler Roger.

“No-! Awin-!!!”

Even Owen’s desperate scream coming from behind me.

I couldn’t turn my head.

Because I felt like I knew what scene would be unfolding there.

I staggered and took a step toward the Duke’s Castle.

“What you want is me. What you want to kill is me… So why, why on earth…!”

Tears fell drop by drop to the floor.

That was the moment.

“…I’ll acknowledge it. That you are different. I thought you would deny reality or lose your mind around now.”

Crookiatus revealed himself through the overflowing demonic energy.

Standing there draped in demonic energy like a black curtain, he looked more like a demon lord than an evil dragon.

‘…It’s real.’

This time it was real.

I blinked my throbbing eyes and took Crookiatus into my field of vision.

The one before my eyes was emanating a pressure several times stronger than what I had seen at the gorge.

He looked at my golems and smirked.

“Impressive. To block my army by burning your own body.”

“Shut up! You demon!”

At that moment, Dimas suddenly stood up and began charging toward Crookiatus.

As Dimas’s sword cut through the air, sharp stones erupted from the ground along a horizontal line.

“How presumptuous. To dare face me.”

But when Crookiatus raised one hand, Dimas stopped in place.

Blue veins bulged on the forehead of Dimas, who had stiffened as if caught by an invisible force.

“Let go of my brother!”

Armin, who had risen from his spot, placed one hand on the ground.

Then a crustal movement much larger in scale than Dimas’s occurred.

As the stairs where Crookiatus stood began splitting into several branches, the demonic energy binding Dimas scattered.

The freed Dimas urgently looked at Armin.

“Armin, you-!”

“Hah… Brother, Lia… It’s okay, it is okay, right.”

Though he had succeeded in blocking Crookiatus, Armin’s complexion had turned deathly pale.

Bright red blood dripped steadily between his hands pressed against the floor.

It was the price for using Hegatan’s ability to its limit.

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