The bastard child becomes the empires royal consort Chapter 48

The inn was a shell of its former self, the wooden beams Alan remembered from his stay were now blackened, collapsing under the weight of the flames.

He didn’t care about the build, but the presence he felt was unmistakeable, it was faint and under the building.

Whoosh

Alan didn’t waste a second, he stomped his feet on the ground, pouring a wave of white flames over the burning building and those nearby, extinguishing the fire.

Then rushed through the charred door, the simple action tore the damaged wood into pieces.

Soot stuck to his boots as he made his way through the entrance, it didn’t take long for him to stop, as he stood before the reception table.

The presence he sensed was coming directly under the burnt reception table, so Alan just kicked the table aside, crumbling the burnt remains.

Then paused, raising a brow with a confused expression.

"Why’s this even here?" He was looking at an iron trapdoor stuck to the floor, leading to somewhere he didn’t know.

He could definitely sense people down below him, he didn’t really understand why an inn had an underground access like this, but well, he wasn’t going to ask.

Grasping the handle, Alan ripped the trapdoor open.

"Huh?" A perplexed gasp greeted him the moment he pried the doors open.

The one at the very front was the innkeeper, she was standing close to the trapdoors with wide-open eyes.

Behind her were unfamiliar people, about twenty in number, all huddled up in the tight space, there were some injured and bleeding amongst the group.

"Why are you here...?" The innkeeper asked slowly.

"Why are you?" Alan lightly smiled. "I’m pretty sure I told you to retire with the money I gave you."

"Hah..." The innkeeper sighed, rubbing her eyes, and looked up with a faint smile. "It’s great to see you again... just not the greatest timing, you see."

"Yeah, I kind of figured."

"Which begs me to ask, why did you open the door?"

"Ah." Alan let out a small sound.

Truthfully, he rushed in for no real reason, just sensing someone alive after running through empty streets for a while overrode his rational decisions.

"My bad..." Alan apologised. "But why do you have an underground in your inn?"

"Aha, it’s for a situation like this." She nodded to herself. "And it ended up actually helping, right? While you’re at it, mind telling me what on earth is happening up above?"

"Oh, just like you know... a lot of killing...?"

"...I see..." She sighed, as if disappointed by something. "The royal castles truly don’t care about us, huh?"

"About that... I came from the castle, and, uh, well, it’s safe to say you won’t be seeing the castle for a while." Alan stroked his chin. "And you’re not wrong, I guess the knights are prioritising the other districts over this one."

"So the entire capital is under attack, is what you’re saying...?"

"Yup."

"Why...?"

"Because—" Alan closed his mouth.

He was just about to state it was due to the emperor’s buffoonery experiments relating to abyssal creatures, after all, every creature he encountered so far, he noticed them previously while roaming the undergrounds of the castle.

But held it back, informing someone their ruler was dogshit while the situation was already as bad as it could be, didn’t seem like the best idea.

"No clue..." So he just lied through his teeth.

"Why is this happening to us..." The innkeeper grabbed her head with frustration.

The atmosphere within the place wasn’t great, as the small group listened to Alan’s conversation, the air grew gloomy, with obvious despair etched across their faces.

"What are the chances of other survivors?" Alan quickly changed the subject, comforting others wasn’t his strong suit.

"Well..." The innkeeper thought for a moment. "There could be a lot that survived."

"Hmm?" Alan tilted his head, not understanding.

"Just before the attack, there was a district-wide announcement, telling us to evacuate to the emergency bunkers."

"Bunkers?" It was his first time hearing about such a thing.

"You don’t know?" The innkeeper shook her head. "Every district has an underground escape for situations like these."

"Oh." It seems the emperor gave the absolute bare minimum care. "Then why aren’t you down there?"

"Too far." She shrugged.

’Well, I’ve gotten the general gist of it.’ Alan was satisfied, there still hope that there were survivors.

"Alright, time to go then." Alan stood up from his crouched position and grabbed the entrance of the iron trapdoor.

"Wait!" The innkeeper called out just before he shut the door, concern evident on her face. "Where are you going?"

Alan paused and tapped his chin for a moment, before breaking into a bright grin.

"I’m going on a little hunt."

...

Crunch

With a loud crunch, Julia pulverised a creature’s head with nothing but her bare grip, black blood exploded like fireworks, painting her arm with vicious liquid.

Twitch

Even with an entire brain structure missing, the creature refused to die, its body spasmed, and dark, oily tendrils sprouted from its jagged neck, trying to knit a new head into existence.

Julia frowned, the mere display of the scene ahead disgusted her, she stretched her arm to the side, allowing arcs of crimson lighting to coil around her palm.

With a swipe of her hand, she unleashed a burst of red electricity, in a split second, the creature’s torso was erased, leaving behind nothing but scorched air.

She stared ahead without any particular change in expression, she stood on the rooftops of the charred buildings barely holding together.

Just like before, abyssal creatures circled her but also kept a certain distance from her, hesitating before they acted, like they were afraid of something...

Julia didn’t get the chance to dwell on the odd feeling.

Tremble

Because the ground started trembling, it wasn’t a small tremor but a deep vibration she clearly felt, she turned her head to the centre of the capital and halted.

In the distance, the royal castle was crumbling, the very symbol of the Northern continent was now falling to the ground.

Countless enormous tentacles, the size of skyscrapers, erupted from the earth, wrapping around the sides of the castle, pulling and tearing the walls down, the sheer force of falling debris caused a tremor through the whole capital.

"What is going on..." Julia whispered, her tone sounding genuinely baffled.

The four strongest humans on the continent suddenly vanished into thin air, their very absence left the capital in a dire state.

Amidst her thoughts, a blinding flash of radiance appeared, an abyssal creature that’d just been lunging in Julia’s blind spot was suddenly intercepted by a streak of gold.

Iris landed beside Julia, her boots across the soot-slicked roof, her extravagant dress was torn at the shoulder, other than that, Iris was relatively unharmed.

Her appearance was a mess however, just like Alan, Iris was soaked in black blood staining her dress, yet her scarlet blindfold remained untouched.

Ignoring the creatures, Iris gazed at the deteriorating castle in the distance with a deep frown. "The castle..."

Iris stole a glance at Julia, observing her reaction, after all, the royal castle was Julia’s home, where she spent her entire life living in, she even raised an entire garden over the course of seven years.

Julia’s expression didn’t betray any sadness, only utter bewilderment, as if she didn’t understand anything.

"It’ll be fine, I doubt that man would die that easily." Julia muttered, referring to the emperor, looking away from the castle, she turned to Iris. "Have you found anything?"

"Yes." Iris nodded. "There was an evacuation just before everything went to hell."

"Evacuation?"

"There is an underground security bunker, which was built to protect citizens from, well, things like this."

"So there are survivors." Julia sighed in relief. "I’m assuming it’s not safe to open the entrance."

"...Obviously not."

"So we just need to kill every last one of these abyssal creatures to save them?"

"Correct."

"Alright then." Julia replied, she lifted her arm, crackling violent sparks of blood-red lightning in her hand, summoning her soul weapon.

"Kill them all."

Julia blitzes forward, leaving behind a trail of crimson.