CHAPTER 22.

Holding the d*ldo Again

* * *

Growl… Growl, growl…!

The white wolves ran with all their might and arrived at the Ice Castle. They were covered in various wounds from frantically dodging the flying d*ldo.

This was the most humiliating battle they had ever experienced. Swallowing their bursting resentment, they struggled to climb to the top floor.

The Wolf King Krita, who had just woken up and was eating, frowned at the sight of the returning search party.

Hadn’t he organized the search party with only trained soldiers among the grown white wolves? Yet, they returned injured without capturing a single human.

“What happened?”

“Well, you see, Lord Krita…!”

The soldiers’ subsequent words were astonishing. Krita raised his eyebrows in interest and lifted his goblet.

A white glowing club. A human woman wielding it. Soldiers turned to dust.

When was the last time he had faced such power? It had been a distant memory since the fall of the Moir.

“What is that light, Lord Krita?”

“It was a power we had never seen from any human!”

Krita savored his drink slowly and then responded with a curved smile at the corner of his mouth.

“It is the reason for our existence.”

And,

“It is the power I must reclaim.”

Krita stopped eating and donned a white shirt that human nobles might wear.

The enormous beast, over 5 nirno (meters) tall, slowly transformed into its human form.

Suppressing his magic and taking on a human form, he appeared no different from a human male, except for his excessively pale skin.

No, he was far more beautiful than any insignificant male dogs.

The females strived to mate with him not just because of his power. He was an exceptionally handsome male even among his kind.

“Bring that human woman before me.”

Krita licked his slender lower lip as if savoring the thought.

The white wolves glanced at each other and then knelt on one knee before their king.

Though fearful, the king’s command was absolute. They responded with tears in their eyes.

“We obey, our great king.”

* * *

“Hiyah!”

Thud!

“Yah!”

Thud!

“Hiyah!”

Thud!

Raiden exchanged glances with Emmett without a word. His eyes seemed to ask, ‘Am I dreaming right now?’

Unlike Raiden, who couldn’t hide his bewilderment, Emmett remained composed. As they say, a craftsman does not blame his tools. The Black Cloak simply did not discriminate between weapons.

“Hiyah! Hiyah!”

Thud! Thud!

Even so…

It was an incredible power.

Even Raiden, who constantly blushed, had to admit that.

Thanks to that tremendous ability, they didn’t have to fight any monsters while climbing the mountain. Wherever they went, monsters would flee at the sight of that light.

Occasionally, some monsters would attack without knowing, but they too turned to dust with a single swing of the club.

“Huff, huff. I see the castle.”

Rosé said, reaching out to Emmett after threatening the monsters with the d*ldo.

Emmett helped her onto the saddle, habitually checking her body for any injuries.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course!”

Rosé nodded cheerfully. She had never felt this refreshed.

But from now on, she had to pretend to swing it as much as possible. The durability had already dropped to 17.

“Then let’s run to the top.”

Rosé raised the d*ldo high from the running horse. For some reason, wherever the d*ldo’s light reached, the magic weakened.

Mid-tier monsters hesitated to approach just at the sight of the light. It was thanks to this that they had been able to climb the mountain so easily.

“Look, everyone. There it is!”

Soon, the Ice Castle came into view. Rosé dismounted with a stern expression.

“I’ll take the lead and deal with the monsters. You two cover me from behind.”

Both men looked dissatisfied for different reasons.

Emmett seemed worried, while Raiden looked ashamed to hide behind the d*ldo. Rosé shrugged and passed them.

What could they do now? She worried that Raiden might later give an interview to reporters about the miracle of the d*ldo, but rescuing the missing people was their priority now.

“The entrance is here.”

It wasn’t hard to find the entrance connected to the castle’s interior with the bright light of the d*ldo.

Rosé opened the giant ice-carved door with a tense hand. The main hall on the first floor was guarded by skeleton sentinels.

Rosé signaled with her eyes to the two men and raised the d*ldo high.

“Kakihan, that’s what you mentioned…!”

One of the skeleton soldiers, startled, looked at his identical comrade.

The comrade was a skeleton soldier who had lost his comrades to Rosé’s d*ldo. He shouted desperately to his comrades.

“Everyone run! That woman is a monster!”

“Aaaah! It’s the light club!”

“Run if you don’t want to die!”

The first floor hall was emptied in no time after Rosé wielded the d*ldo. This was the power of the light club, or rather, the light d*ldo.

Rosé pointed to the stairs to the two men, who still looked bewildered.

“Up there! The 10th floor!”

Rosé ran up the stairs, followed by the still-dazed men.

2nd floor, 3rd floor, 4th floor. In the floors mainly inhabited by mid-tier monsters, none appeared. They must have evacuated after hearing the skeleton soldier’s scream.

“Huff, huff, are you guys okay?”

Rosé asked, holding the railing as she climbed the stairs, looking back at the two men. Unlike her, who was breathing heavily, the two men seemed calm.

Rosé glanced at their thighs. The muscles in their uniform pants looked like they were about to burst.

‘What kind of thighs are those…’

Assertive thighs that could rival those of a running horse.

Rosé cleared her throat and turned her head. Indeed, the first criterion was the face, and the second was the muscles.

“Intruders!”

“Capture them alive!”

“We must bring them to Lord Krita!”

When they reached the 9th floor, servant wolves wielding maces rushed at them.

The white wolves’ orders left them no choice but to ignore the d*ldo. They either had to fulfill the command or die. If death was inevitable, it was better to die honorably.

“Oh, oh. There are too many!”

Rosé, panicked, forgot she was on the stairs and walked backward. Whoa! Sure enough, her body floated.

She flailed her arms to regain balance, but someone quickly grabbed her waist.

“Pathetic.”

It was Raiden, who grabbed her with a disdainful expression. Emmett frowned momentarily, also having tried to catch her.

Raiden scoffed at Emmett’s change in expression and pushed her behind him.

“Just cover me.”

With that, Raiden raised his shield and quickly climbed the stairs. Despite his ability being specialized in defense, he could handle those monsters with his strength alone.

Raiden struck the heads of the charging servant wolves with his shield. Even without any hex, the monsters fell helplessly over the railing.

The 9th floor was cleared in no time by Raiden’s solo effort. The synergy of the location advantage of the stairs and the weapon advantage of the shield, which could both defend and attack, was at play.

Rosé, under the pretense of covering, closely watched Raiden’s thick arm muscles.

Perhaps because he always carried a heavy shield, his arms were as thick as his thighs, compared to his slender frame.

She felt like drooling. Just in case, Rosé wiped her mouth and climbed the stairs over the bodies of the servant wolves.

Finally, the 10th floor. The floor where the human detention center began. Rosé tucked the d*ldo under her arm and took out a bunch of keys from her inventory.

“The keys are all different shapes. It might take some time.”

“Go ahead. We’ll guard this place.”

Rosé nodded with a determined expression and entered the detention corridor. She shined the d*ldo between the iron bars to check for people.

― Every few days, monsters come and take a few people to the top floor. It seemed like they were deciding their use there.

Some rooms were empty. Perhaps the monsters had taken some of the missing people to the top floor.

After several more checks, she turned a corner and walked down another corridor, spotting a woman collapsed between the iron bars.

Rosé was startled and banged on the door.

“Are you okay! Can you get up?”

Rosé put the cumbersome d*ldo back into her inventory and took out the bunch of keys. She kept an eye on the woman while her hand moved towards the keyhole.

The keys were red, blue, and green. The probability was high that each floor had a different color. If she could find the key for this room first, it would save time thereafter.

“Ugh…”

“Hold on! I’ll get you out soon!”

Rosé reassured the woman who barely managed to sit up and hurriedly tried the keys.

Not this one, not that one. Her heart pounded.

The woman’s face was pale, devoid of any blood. It wouldn’t be surprising if she lost consciousness at any moment.

“Please… help me…”

The woman crawled to the door with difficulty and sobbed. Her urgency doubled.

“Just a little longer, just a little longer. I’ll… Ah!”

Finally, the key turned. It worked. The door opened. Rosé flung the door open and entered the room to support the woman.

“It’s okay now. We’ll help you get out….”

‘Huh?’

Rosé’s steps halted for a moment. The woman’s body was as cold as ice. Could a person be this cold?