“Hey, Yuri, why go to such lengths?”
The little evil god’s crimson eyes flashed, a playful smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
To be honest, the question Iris posed was exactly what she was pondering herself at this moment.
Why?
They were just people she had met by chance, having only seen them twice. The help she had previously given in the form of bread and copper coins should have been enough.
Taking it a step further, buying the children the things they wanted as a thank-you for Alyosha helping her avoid the knights should also have been enough.
Why did she lead the children to the orphanage? To ensure they could stay there, she hadn’t even hesitated to pull a significant amount of money from her already meager wallet, all just to let those children escape a life of wandering and have a stable home.
Why did she go this far?
She had even made a promise to Alyosha.
Clearly, her original plan was to leave Iron Anvil City as soon as possible.
Why was she doing all this?
Her gaze fell upon her own hands. They were the hands of a young girl, with fair skin and slender fingers. There were no visible traces of the hardships she had endured in the past, nor were there any calluses left behind from swinging a blade countless times for survival.
The marks of her past were invisible, but everything she had personally experienced was deeply etched into the depths of her mind, impossible to forget.
Yuri closed her eyes and subconsciously clenched her fists. In her heart, she seemed to have found the answer.
Even though that answer sounded a bit hard to believe—even to herself.
“Perhaps it’s just because I saw a shadow of my past self in that child, and I wanted to give my past self a helping hand.”
“Ha? Just for that reason?”
A look of confusion appeared on Iris’s small face, and she waved her hand at the answer.
“Yuri, should I call you kind or should I call you stupid?”
“Suit yourself. They sound about the same to me.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk… My, my. If you ask me, though, you should worry more about yourself, Yuri.”
Iris looked up at the distant horizon, where a thick mass of dark clouds had gathered.
“Something is probably going to happen in this broken city.”
Iris’s words reminded her of what Clayton had mentioned earlier—that something big would happen today.
For now, the city still seemed peaceful on the surface, but it was hard to say what was lurking in the shadows.
As for the “big event” Clayton mentioned, there was no sign of it yet. Based on what she had discovered, could it be that many Abyssal monsters would suddenly emerge from the alleys or directly from beneath the streets?
If that really happened, all of Iron Anvil City would likely descend into chaos, which certainly fit Clayton’s description of a big event.
If that were the case, why would he know?
Where did he get this information? If that really was the situation, it could only mean the worst-case scenario had occurred.
It was also the scenario Yuri was most reluctant to believe: that the reason Iron Anvil City was being infiltrated by the Abyss was due to human interference.
If that were true, the severity of the situation would likely be beyond imagination.
That blonde woman had also told her to investigate everything behind this and solve those problems.
She was probably overestimating her.
Her gaze shifted to Iris beside her. If she were alone, this would indeed be a dead end, but with Iris, it was a different story.
“It’s fine. Even if a danger I can’t handle really appears, you’ll help me, right, Iris?”
“Ha?”
Like a white kitten that had its tail stepped on, she suddenly cried out.
“I’ve emphasized this to you many times, Yuri! I! Never! Said I would help you!”
To this, Yuri only gave a faint smile.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll probably have an answer when the time comes.”
“Hey, hey, Yuri, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about me? Or do you think the price you’re currently paying is too low? If you’re counting on me to step in and help you at a critical moment, you’d better pray that you don’t run into anything dangerous.”
The little evil god suddenly closed the distance between them, their faces almost touching.
Their eyes met. Iris puffed out her cheeks, looking furious.
“Listen up, Yuri! I am an evil god! An evil god who wants to steal your body!”
“Yes, yes, I know.”
“Ha?”
Yuri’s casual tone made Iris stomp her feet several times. “Realize the seriousness of the problem, hey!”
Faced with her tantrum, Yuri simply walked straight through her body.
To find out more information about Iron Anvil City, she had to go to the guild to ask Clayton.
She was currently in the northern part of the city, while the Adventurers’ Guild was in the east. If she walked quickly, she could reach the guild in about half an hour. However, on the way from the north to the east, the atmosphere in the city changed significantly.
The originally bustling streets were now deserted. The shops that usually stayed open until nightfall had closed early.
What happened?
She had only gone to settle the children. How could the situation in the east have gone wrong in the blink of an eye?
Yuri could only continue toward the Adventurers’ Guild. Just then, she heard a familiar sound—the noise made by knights.
It came from behind her, and there were many of them.
With so many knights appearing, could it be…
Yuri instinctively grasped her pendant, but the knights merely brushed past her without even sparing her a glance, running toward the eastern gate.
The knights’ target was not her.
While feeling relieved, Yuri also realized that with so many knights heading to the gate, something must have happened.
Combined with the current state of the city, Yuri quickened her pace toward the gate.
By now, the size of that dark cloud on the horizon had expanded considerably, and it was steadily pushing toward Iron Anvil City.
***
The city gate, which had been surrounded by residents in the morning, now only had knights holding weapons, standing guard in strict formation.
Occasionally, a resident would appear, their face filled with terror as they struggled to run toward the city center.
What exactly happened?
Yuri stepped forward to stop a passing pedestrian who was fleeing. The man looked terrified; even after being stopped, he still tried to keep running.
“I want to ask, what exactly is happening here…”
“Get out of the way! You might want to die, but I don’t!”
His tone was incredibly anxious. “Run! Run! The Abyss is coming! The Abyss is coming!”
He bypassed Yuri and continued running toward the center of the city, as if he could find safety there.
The Abyss is coming?
Yuri arrived near the city gate and looked up. Many knights holding bows were now standing on the city walls, while others were operating city defense machinery, all looking ready for battle.
A familiar scent drifted through the air. There was no mistake; it was the aura of the Abyss.
Just then, she heard a voice coming from the city wall.
“Fire!”
The moment the command fell, she heard the roar of artillery. It was the sound of the cannons on the walls being discharged.
It wasn’t just the roar of cannons; there was also the vibration of bowstrings. Several mages holding staves could be seen on the walls, chanting incantations and releasing area-of-effect attack magic toward the outside of the city.
Amidst those noisy sounds, Yuri heard the most familiar roars.
The roars of Abyssal monsters.
The sounds were layered and dense, enough to make one’s skin crawl.
Yuri was certain of one thing: the number appearing outside the city this time was likely far greater than the number she had killed when she encountered the nest…
On the horizon, that heavy dark cloud had already arrived in front of Iron Anvil City. Even though it was still early and the red sun was still high in the sky, the light before her eyes had dimmed.
The Abyssal beast tide was laying siege to the city…