Chapter 31: Kill the Original Protagonist, Me?

“Enter.”

Latifah’s voice came from behind the door.

Dounia pressed the doorknob and slipped into the office.

She deliberately left the door open, to prevent this seemingly moody instructor from getting angry with her.

“Close the door,” Latifah said.

“Ah?” Dounia blinked. “Is that… a good idea?”

‘Closing the door during our very first conversation? Don’t tell me you’re a lesbian too…?’

‘Eww~ You people at the Anomaly Bureau are really something else.’

“Hmph.” Latifah sneered and said irritably, “My mind is perfectly normal. I won’t have any sort of accidental relationship with a Pleasure Follower.”

Seeing the hidden meaning in the other’s words, Dounia had no choice but to silently close the door.

Latifah stretched out her palm.
Magical energy surged between her slender fingers, and a heatwave erupted from her palm, instantly engulfing the entire room in raging flames.

‘What the hell!?’

Dounia’s eyes widened slightly.

The flames spread wantonly, licking every corner, yet they didn’t harm any of the items in the room.

The entire room was cleansed as if it had been incinerated by fire.
A mottled protective ward flickered with a faint light, seemingly able to block out sound and surveillance.

“Let me introduce myself. I am the ‘witch’ you were looking for, the one who escaped from the antique shop deep in the alley,” Latifah’s lips curled up slightly, revealing a dangerous smile.

‘It was her?’

‘The evil witch who induced the transformation of Linda, the blacksmith’s granddaughter!?’

A chill ran down Dounia’s spine.

‘This freaking Anomaly Bureau has been infiltrated like a sieve!’

‘If your energy tower doesn’t explode, whose will!?’

‘Chief Fia, what in the world are you doing!’

Dounia tried her best to control her expression, not to show a trace of fear despite being a blank slate with no combat ability.
Yet, she saw Latifah nod with considerable approval.

“Mmm, that expression of desperately trying to hide a trace of fear is quite convincing.”

Pfft—

Dounia, who was trying hard to keep a straight face, felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards.

“To think that the infiltration I spent years setting up would be so easily joined by a Pleasure Follower who played her hand so openly. As expected of you madmen,” Latifah praised.

‘What is she…?’

A flash of lightning streaked through Dounia’s mind.

She keenly noted Latifah’s choice of words, her attitude, and the reason she had singled her out as an “apprentice”…

‘Latifah has mistaken her for one of her own!’

‘In other words, the Pleasure Followers are indeed involved in this energy tower incident, and are at least at a “neutral” level with the other factions under the evil gods.’

‘There’s a possibility for communication, which means I can avoid an instant-death battle ending!’

Her acting skills came online in a second.
Dounia, giving a true-to-life performance, seductively curled her lips, her eyes not smiling as she clapped her hands in praise, “Compared to big sister Latifah’s years of planning, my efforts are still far from yours~~”

Latifah’s face instantly turned cold, her gaze sweeping over Dounia as if it could kill.
But not only did Dounia not flinch or dodge, her eyes even held a hint of provocation.

‘This passive-aggressive, infuriating tone, this insincere and punchable demeanor, and this fun-seeking attitude that disregards death…’

‘She really is a genuine Pleasure Follower.’

Combined with Dounia’s exquisite acting in the lecture hall, Latifah was thoroughly convinced.

‘What sane person would play their hand so blatantly? Drawing so much attention, is this how infiltration is supposed to be done?’

“So… how do you prove your identity?” Dounia’s lips curled, her gaze as fiery as flames.

She casually sat on Latifah’s desk.
Her snow-white hair cascaded down like a waterfall, lending a trace of seduction to her delicate, flushed face.

“How about… you let me test you personally… hehe?”

Dounia’s light laughter sent a current of electricity through Latifah’s body.
She bit the nail of her index finger, a sight that made Latifah’s heart tremble.

Latifah’s breathing quickened slightly, and the rise and fall of the fabric near her chest became more pronounced, like waves on the sea.
Feeling her mouth go dry, she felt certain parts of her harden.

Her fists hardened.

‘Damn it, I’m actually feeling attracted to the same s*x… these Pleasure Faction people are really no good.’

Latifah secretly clenched her fists, a hint of killing intent in the sulfur-yellow eyes under the large, pointed witch’s hat.

“That’s about enough, Pleasure Follower.”

“Get off my desk,” she snapped.

“Aiya, don’t be so fierce~” The smiling Dounia’s eyes narrowed into a thin line.
The sliver of red pupil showing looked dangerous and charming, like the hidden serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Latifah looked at Dounia with a complex expression as she leaped nimbly off her desk.
The small and cute girl’s pure appearance at this moment made it completely impossible for her to imagine that this was a Pleasure Follower.

Under the young girl’s expectant gaze, Latifah slowly spoke, “Blood offered to slay the gods, bones presented in an ossuary.”

At the edge of the room, the flickering, faint red barrier suddenly became a deeper crimson.
Under the fiery gusts of wind, it burst forth with tiny sparks that fell to the ground with a sizzling sound.

The smell of smoke filled her nostrils.
Dounia trembled all over, not a single part of her body under her control.

A surging desire for slaughter filled her ruby-like eyes with killing intent.
Dounia uncontrollably and secretly grabbed a fountain pen from the pen holder, aiming the sharp, pointed end at Latifah.

One step, two steps.

She moved forward uncontrollably, feeling as if the person before her were the enemy who had murdered her closest kin, an enemy she had to kill no matter the cost.

In the midst of an extreme craving for blood, Dounia stepped on the soft red carpet, yet it felt like she was falling into an abyss of blood and fire.

Dounia abruptly raised the pen and thrust it forward!

Only to see a huge white bone blocking her path.

It was a terrifying, thousand-mile-long bone dragon!

Its massive skeleton was like a moving fortress of death.
Its bones were as white as jade, yet they exuded a sinister aura, as if stained by time and slaughter.

The spacious office couldn’t even contain its entire skull.
The exposed empty eye sockets were cruel .

Fwoosh—

Two clusters of profound, dark-red flames, like blood, ignited and shot up, seeming to instantly pierce through Dounia’s soul and set it ablaze!

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Dounia’s heart resonated in rhythm.
She felt some cold liquid slide down her cheeks.

‘What is it?’

‘Ice water?’

In a daze, she saw a dark red liquid drip down from the edge of her lips.

Only then did the blood-red scenery gradually fade…

Latifah easily gripped her wrist.
The tip of the fountain pen in Dounia’s hand still glinted with a dark golden, cold light.

“Your first mission is to kill Alicia Alvarez,” Latifah said, as if about to snap her wrist, a cruel smile playing on her lips.

“She is currently trapped on a Snow Country Express train, and thus has avoided the trap we set. You can find out the specific intelligence yourself.”

‘Kill the original protagonist, me?’

Dounia’s eyes widened.