Chapter 120 Explosion
The soldiers moved in unison at Killion’s command. He looked at the nursery teachers this time.
“I need your testimony. I want you to testify in detail about the behaviour of the Director for the past ten years.”
“And.”
Veronia added as Killion finished.
“I want you to talk to the children who came to the asylum yesterday and were recommended for hospitalisation. Apparently, they’ve fallen victim to the madman’s research.”
The teachers’ faces contorted at Veronia’s words, and tears formed in their eyes.
“That’s impossible…!”
“How could such a thing be done to those young children’s bodies…!”
***
“Stop dithering and move!”
The soldiers dragged Lars roughly out of the building. Even as they dragged him, he kept clicking, on his collar, trying to avoid their eyes. But nothing happened.
‘Why isn’t this working? I haven’t activated it in ten years, but it was the most painstakingly installed device when I got here! What the hell is wrong with it?’
Like the teleportation scroll, the secret button on his necklace, which he’d left behind as a last resort, wouldn’t listen. But he didn’t give up and kept pressing it.
Click, click, click.
“Uh… ugh!”
The soldier walking ahead of him, carrying a crate full of evidence, stumbled over a rock and tilted off-centre. The soldier leading Lars from behind quickly pulled his hand away from him and steadied the falling soldier.
“You should be careful.”
“Thanks. You saved my life.”
Lars didn’t waste the opportunity; he left his cuffs on and took off running. At first, he ran as fast as he could, aiming to hide somewhere in the dark woods.
But the old man was no match for the younger soldier, and after a short time, Lars was caught again and pushed to the ground by the force of the charging soldiers.
“Ugh… ouch! Let go of me! Let go of me!”
“Stop fussing and behave yourself, or you’ll be gagged!”
“I’m not guilty! Let me go!”
Lars struggled with all his might, but his movements were futile against the strong soldiers. The soldiers easily subdued Lars and eventually gagged him.
“Shut up and walk!” they shouted.
“Woo… woo!”
Rolling on the ground, covered in dirt, Lars was dragged away by the soldiers. But he didn’t give up and kept pressing the secret button on his necklace, because it was all he could do.
‘Huh? That’s it!’
But then something happened. The necklace, which hadn’t reacted at all, finally lit up with a red light and started blinking. Lars’s face lit up with maddening joy.
He didn’t know if it was because the scroll had fallen off his back during the tussle with the soldier earlier, but it didn’t matter. It worked, so that was good enough.
“Ugh… ugh! ugh!”
Lars suddenly started laughing maniacally as he was being dragged away by the soldiers. The gag in his mouth prevented him from laughing louder.
Then, just a moment later, he heard an explosion behind him.
Boom, boom!
“Ah!”
“W-what!”
The explosion startled the soldiers, who fell to the ground, clutching their heads. Lars, now free from their grasp, began to run towards the forest.
***
Veronia and Killion, having thoroughly inspected the laboratory, were about to leave the basement with the teachers.
Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out from the depths of the cellar. The tremendous vibrations caused Veronia’s body to sway precariously, but Killion’s firm grip prevented her from falling.
“I don’t know what they’re doing, but they must be trying to blow up the building to destroy the evidence!”
“The children, they’re in danger, we need to get them out of here!”
Veronia shouted to the teachers as they ran up the stairs at full speed.
Finally, they emerged from the secret passage and reached the Director’s office. Killion stood there, unmoving. Veronia looked at him, puzzled.
“What’s wrong? We need to get out of here.”
“You go first. There may be demons that survived the explosion. I’ll stay here for a while and deal with any rampaging demons. You go and save the children.”
“Ah…”
Veronia hesitated. She didn’t like the idea of leaving Killion alone. But it wasn’t as if her staying would do him any good.
The more urgent the situation, the better to focus on what each of them could do. Veronia looked up at him for a moment, then nodded.
“Okay. I don’t want you to get hurt, ever.”
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry, there are many children to save. We have to hurry, and you take care of yourself.”
It wasn’t easy to let go of her grip, but she had no choice, so Veronia let go and started running with all her might.
Klangg! Boom!
The explosions continued.
***
“Oooooh!”
“I’m scared, Miss!”
A series of explosions shook the building. The children woke up in a panic, gasping and looking for their teacher. Running at full speed to the third-floor dormitory, the teacher called out to the children.
“Kids, calm down, your teacher is here, don’t worry!”
Tears streaming down their faces, the children rushed to the teacher.
The teacher smiled as she spoke, even though she was breathing heavily. She was a veteran teacher who knew that the more urgent the situation, the more important it was to calm the children down before rushing in.
“There are lots of knights outside the nursery to protect our friends, so don’t be afraid.”
The children soon wiped away their tears and looked up at the teacher with sparkling eyes.
“Now, if you listen to me carefully, we’ll be able to get out safely, so why don’t you line up in order of your number, and tell me if you don’t have a friend with your number.”
The children had learnt their lessons well, so they quickly moved to line up, until one of them raised his hand and shouted.
“Teacher! Amy and Julie are missing! I think they went to the bathroom together, because they always go to the bathroom together.”
At that, Veronia stepped forward.
“Miss, I’ll go to the bathroom and bring them back, and you can go ahead with the other children.”
“Then please do me a favor. When you leave this room, turn to your right and go straight ahead, you’ll see the main staircase, and the bathroom is right next to it.”
“Yes, I see.”
“You should escape by the back door. I think it’s safer than the main entrance, which is closer to the basement. The children who went to the bathroom will know where the back door is. You can come with them.”
“Yes!”
There was no time to delay. As soon as the teacher finished explaining, Veronia took off running.
As she ran down the corridor, the walls shook all around her. Explosions continued in the distance and rocks fell from the ceiling, but Veronia didn’t stop, she ran and ran.
“Raarw!”
“Kaaaah!”
She could hear the howls of the creatures mixed in with the explosions. Her heart sank as she thought of Killion, alone against the creature.
‘Killion, please don’t hurt yourself! Please! I trust you, so please don’t betray my trust!’
Tears threatened to fall from the sudden rush of fear, but she fought them back. After running through her worries, Veronia finally reached the bathroom.
The bathroom was very large due to the large number of children in the orphanage. But it wasn’t hard to find the girls.
They were crouched in the corner, shivering, with terrified faces. The girls, who looked to be about eight or nine years old, burst into sobs as soon as they saw Veronia.
“Girls, it’s okay now!”
Hugging the girls tightly, Veronia patted their small, trembling shoulders. She gave a brief explanation of the situation.
“There was an explosion in the basement, but don’t worry, we’ll all be safe if we run now and get outside. Here, take my hand, let’s go!”
The children clutched Veronia’s hands tightly, tears stinging the corners of their eyes.
With a firm grip on the small, sweaty hands, Veronia walked briskly forward. One of the girls hesitated, then tugged on Veronia’s hand and said.
“By the way, Ted went to the bathroom too.”
“Ted?”
Veronia recognized the boy from the clinic the day before. The one who had first noticed the suspicious needle marks.
“Ted must be in the men’s bathroom, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then wait here for a moment.”
Veronia ran straight to the men’s bathroom, where there was no sign of Ted or any other boy in the large bathroom.
“Ted! Where are you? Ted! Come out here!”
She scanned the bathroom, but there was no sign of him. She called out at the top of her lungs, but there was no answer.
“Ted! The building is collapsing! We have to run out of the building!”
It was clear he wasn’t in the bathroom. Maybe he had already gone back to his room. Returning to the girls, Veronia explained the situation.
“I don’t think Ted is there, maybe he went back to his room first?”
“… Yeah, I think so.”
The girls nodded at Veronia’s question. There was no time to waste now. The building was shaking until it was hard to stand upright. Veronia grabbed the girls’ hands again and started running.
“We need to go through the back door, not the main entrance. Do you know which way is up?”
“Yes! That’s the way!”
Veronia ran down the wobbly corridor and down the stone-filled staircase towards where the girl’s little finger pointed.
“Ah… there!”
Finally, at the end of the corridor, a back door stood wide open. Veronia and the two girls ran as fast as they could toward the small door.
