Sitting in front of the corrosion zone, Syradil narrowed her eyes with a frown since the Queens were hiding once more. None of them dared to even look at her so she couldn’t find them.
‘Tch, what a load of cowards.’ Syradil gritted her teeth.
When her world was transformed into a garden, she could remember how volatile the Queens were. Destroying cities that didn’t submit to them with a casual wave of a finger.
She could still remember her days as a new Queen. Much like Shiro, she did try to surround herself with friends and allies. She saved those that needed to be saved and created sanctuaries to protect them from danger.
With her control over dragons, she had even trained up dragon knights that rode on the back of dragons into battle.
There were Queens that refused to make alliances and she was forced to kill them in the end since they were a big danger. But once her power was known, more Queens accepted her offer. She was on track to clearing the garden.
But she gave them too much trust and they betrayed her in the end. Even with her power and friends that could stand with her, they were overwhelmed in the end due to the difference in the number.
Watching her army fall, they decided to die by her hand instead so that she could reach a higher level.
Closing her eyes, Syradil remembered the faces of everyone she had killed in her own world. Their looks of entrusting hope to her was imprinted clearly in her mind as she gritted her teeth.
After killing everyone, she reached the mythical level 1000 and was able to push back the assault.
She could remember their desperate faces after realising that they couldn’t kill her after she reached level 1000 because of a single skill that she had obtained as a reward.
[Dragon Demi Goddess Physique]
+70% Damage Nullification
+70% Elemental Resistance
+60% Divine Energy Generation
+50% True Damage Nullification
+50% Adaptive Defence
There was more to the skill but these were the main benefits. With her getting 50% Adaptive defence, it meant that as long as she could hold out against a certain attack long enough, it’ll become less effective on her.
Unfortunately, even if she couldn’t be killed by them, she couldn’t kill them either.
They avoided her like a plague and no matter what she did, she wasn’t able to get rid of them and was forced to watch her world be engulfed by the flames of war.
As the world collapsed in front of her, she was given a single offer by the system.
[Would you like to participate in the next garden selection?]
This question caused her heart to pound in anger as she realised that this was just one of many casualties in the universe under the pretence of garden selection.
Remembering the Queens that destroyed her world, she refused to let them live happily after everything they did.
After she accepted the offer, she was given information about everything she needed to know. How to ‘win the new age’ along with the rewards.
The promise that she could potentially bring back all those that she had killed pushed her on along with the wish of killing the Queens that destroyed her world.
However, no matter how many times she killed them, they would always come back in the next garden.
She tried to train people to become strong like her so that they could follow her to the next garden but unfortunately, no one was able to keep up with her destructive power.
Repeating this process over and over again, Syradil was always so close to victory but it was always just out of reach.
Then it happened.
[Adaptive Defence has activated.]
All of the erased memories came flooding back.
When she manages to become the final victor, the world will be destroyed.
The Queen that appeared in that host world was the only one given a chance at the rewards. Everyone else participating was just to act as a trial. The system had tricked her, she never had a chance to begin with.
She spent the next few garden runs trying to help the new Queen but they were never up to standard. They tried to surround themselves with allies and forgot to cultivate their strength to the limit then they died.
It felt hopeless. No matter what she did, good path, neutral path, evil path, everything ended in misery. The completion of the garden seemed to be impossible.
Then she had an idea.
If they couldn’t kill the other Queens, why couldn’t she do it? She’ll take all the EXP, boost her level to the highest degree then let the Queens kill her so that they could end this cycle.
But that didn’t work out.
After allowing a Queen to kill her, they became drunk on their power, thinking that they were number one after slaying the Dragon Empress and died to the alliance of multiple Queens.
She tried to make it so that they were the only two Queens left but at that point the other Queen couldn’t kill her even if she stood there and did nothing.
She tried to avoid obtaining the Dragon Demi Goddess Physique by limiting her EXP gain but without her killing the more dangerous Queens, the Host Queen died and the world ended.
She didn’t know how many gardens she had entered but this one was going to be no different. She had already located the Host Queen. A girl named Shiro had her video broadcasted to the world, showing the sight of her saving people.
Seeing the same actions being taken, Syradil felt hopeless again.
Behind her façade of a battle loving maniac that slaughters everyone, she just wanted the system’s cycle to end. Everyone had parts of their memory erased so each Garden felt fresh but for her it was just torture. She was watching the same thing happen over and over and over and over and over and over.
She didn’t know how many years she had been stuck in this loop but the moment she pressed yes to the system’s offer, she was bound.
The only one that could break the chain was the Host Queen. Or so she thought.
Then she found out a piece of news. This was the last garden, the last cycle. Before everything is reset.
It was either this Queen succeeds or everyone died.
She could remember what she had done that day. She laughed. She felt freed, a sense of joy washed over her mind as she could finally end her torture.
Even if she died for good, it was ok. At this point she didn’t care anymore.
‘Let the world end for all I care!’ She laughed.
For the final run, she would do whatever she wanted. Do anything that came to mind. Kill the Queens that harmed her in the most painful way so that she died with pleasant memories. Deny the plans of eldritch beings that wanted to invade.
Nothing mattered anymore, it was the last run after all.
There was just one regret though, she was never able to figure out the system nor could she get rid of it.
Thinking about the system, Syradil could only describe it as a Venus Fly Trap.
It taunts you with its sweet scent before trapping and eventually killing you.
The moment you say yes to its offer, you have already signed your soul away.
‘Ah… I do wonder what the day after the end looks like. I’ve seen nothing but dark skies and destruction now.’ Syradil thought to herself while looking at the clouds that covered the sky.
Sighing softly, she stood up.
She was going to cause some more trouble.
However, just as she stood up, she felt a spike of mana from the twin peaks.
Tier 7 magic circles started to appear as fragments of tier 8 runes appeared around the magic circle.
Widening her eyes, Syradil paused in shock since it was arriving much earlier than expected.
‘Tch! There are still too many Queens around.’ Syradil frowned.
Before she could do anything, she felt a presence behind her and glanced back.
While her level was lower, the aura was similar in strength.
‘Chimera Empress, she’s someone that came from one of the more recent gardens. She’s an annoying one to deal with.’ Syradil thought to herself. However, eliminating her now would be helpful since she becomes annoying to deal with later.
“Arnea, seems like you want to fight. Why else would you reveal yourself in front of me?” Syradil smirked while cracking her knuckles.
“I thought it was someone else. You can fight other’s if you want, I have a different target.” Arnea glanced away with disinterest.
“Ah is that so. Have fun then.” Syradil smiled.
But just as Arnea turned around, Syradil flickered behind her and formed a claw with her hand.
Suddenly, a dragon scale appeared behind Arnea as she blocked the strike.
“Fine I’ll fight you.” Arnea turned around with a frown but Syradil had lost interest.
“If you sent your main body away then this is nothing but a punching bag. F*ck off.” Syradil clicked her tongue before snapping his finger.
*BANG!!!
A tiny orb of fire appeared in front of her as the body was charred to ash within a single instance.
Ignoring the Empress that had left, Syradil looked at the Twin Peak with a frown.
‘This is abnormal…’
