Chapter 133: A Mother’s Growing Madness

After Lucian left, Seraphina remained seated for a long while.

The couch she was sitting on had been slightly pushed toward the shattered window, the table tilted in front of it like a makeshift barricade—carefully arranged by Lucian so that nothing could easily enter through the broken frame.

But even with the house completely closed, even in that fragile sense of “safety”, she didn’t feel safe at all.

Her fingers clenched tightly against the fabric of her nightgown, the cloth wrinkling under her grip.

And within every few minutes, her gaze kept drifting toward the clock on the wall.

In the absolute silence of the house, every tick of a second sounded unbearably loud.

Time moved forward.

First minutes passed, then hours.

And yet, during all that time, she never moved from her spot.

Not even an inch.

But her body betrayed her calm exterior in small, subtle ways.

Unknowingly, her nails pressed against her teeth as she began biting them under the growing unease.

Her heartbeat grew faster, growing restless each time the clock ticked forward.

When Lucian went out to find and bring Lia back, it was around five to six in the morning.

And it had already been past noon. Bright daylight spilled through the gaps in the house.

Seraphina’s thoughts slowly began to fracture under the weight of silence.

Why hadn’t he come yet?

Where was he?

Was he hurt?

Was he trapped somewhere, or was he still finding Lia?

Did something happen to him?

Each question layered over the other until her mind felt like it was drowning in them.

A few more hours passed before she finally stood up and went to check the door again—still locked, still unmoving.

She began pacing through the living room, back and forth, her nails constantly finding their way to her lips once more.

A quiet madness seeped into her movements despite her naturally cold expression.

“Uh…!”

A sudden sound escaped her as she pulled her hand away, staring at the blood on her fingertip.

She had mistakenly bitten too hard without noticing.

But after a moment of silence, she ignored it and continued pacing through the room.

Until she was exhausted, until her legs finally gave out, she sank back onto the couch.

Outside, the sky turned orange, its light slowly creeping in through the windows.

Her vision blurred faintly. Confused, she rubbed her eyes, only to realize tears were already falling, streaming down her cheeks without control.

She tried again and again to wipe them away, forcing herself to calm down—but they wouldn’t stop, not until even her tears began to dry.

She hadn’t eaten anything the entire time. Not a bite. Not even a sip of water.

Eventually, her eyelids grew heavy. Exhaustion—both physical and mental—finally dragged her under.

And before she even realized it…

She fell asleep.

…

The moment she woke up—

Morning light filled the room again.

Her breath caught instantly.

“Lucian…”

Her voice came out hoarse as she immediately stood up and rushed to the door—

But it was locked. Still locked.

Her heart sank so sharply it almost felt painful.

Her legs nearly gave out, but somehow, she forced herself upright.

She went to the washroom and quickly splashed water onto her face, trying to steady herself.

Then she moved again.

Down to the basement, she retrieved a sharp knife—the only one Lucian had left there for her, kept in case of emergencies.

She hid it beneath her dress and walked back toward the door.

But the moment her hand touched the doorknob and she tried to turn it, it was locked.

Her eyes furrowed slightly as she remembered Lucian locking it from the outside before leaving.

After several seconds of thought, she returned to the living room.

Seeing the couch and table barricading the window, she moved forward and dragged them both aside.

It was a little straining, but not as much as she had expected.

Once cleared, she pushed the window open and jumped out.

…

Now, Seraphina stood on a cracked road, the ground beneath her fractured in unnatural lines, like veins spreading across broken stone.

Right before her, the road had dipped downward, as if some meteorite had been struck and dragged forward. Buildings stood damaged, walls torn open, windows shattered.

And beyond it all, only destruction stretched as far as her eyes could see.

Seraphina’s gaze moved across the ruins, each glance revealing something worse than the last.

Her already pale face drained even further as she noticed large red stains smeared across broken walls, crushed corpses faintly visible despite the distance.

Her heartbeat thundered violently in her chest, but she forced herself to remain standing, forcing herself to breathe.

‘Lucian… Lia…’

Her fists clenched tightly, nails digging into her palms.

She took an unsteady step forward.

But before she could take another—

Distant noises began approaching from behind her.

Footsteps.

Getting closer.

Seraphina froze, then slowly turned her head—only to see a group of men in the distance.

Three of them looked like civilians, dressed in casual but slightly reinforced clothing, each one’s weapons strapped at their waists. The other two were police officers, their uniforms clearly visible, firearms raised slightly in caution.

“How much until we reach there?” one of them, Ron, asked the officers, their eyes darting across the ruined streets in fear, as though something might leap out at them at any moment.

“We’re close, sir,” one of the cops replied, his tone noticeably more respectful than what one would expect from an officer, as if addressing a superior.

The three men in civilian clothing scanned their surroundings cautiously, looking a bit more confident than the cops.

The cracked road beneath them grew increasingly unstable the further they went, and all of their expressions shifted the moment they noticed it.

“A monster that came from the underground…” one of them assumed.

“But it looks like it has used its affinity too,” another added—and the moment those words left his mouth—

The expressions of the other two darkened instantly.

“That means it must be at least E rank, but seeing how the cracks are extending… it could even be a D rank monster.”

Monsters typically only manifested their affinities after reaching E-rank.

And once they did, they became far more dangerous than those without any affinity at all.

The two police officers exchanged awkward glances, clearly not understanding the terminology being thrown around.

To them, it sounded like words their children used while playing games during their childhood.

Except for the cops, the other three were Awakened—people who had already killed monsters and gained access to their status windows, using monster cores to grow stronger.

Two of them were E-rank Awakened, while one was D-rank—though he had only recently increased his rank.

“Hey, I don’t think we’ll be able to take care of the monster,” Marcus, an E-ranker, said with a grim expression.

As they moved deeper into the ruined district, the cracks in the ground grew wider. Based on the cops’ descriptions, the place felt even more dangerous the further they went.

“We aren’t here to fight the monster,” Ron replied immediately, walking beside the officers who were guiding them, his eyes scanning the surroundings in unease as they headed toward the site of destruction.

Both of them turned their heads toward him with questioning frowns.

They had clearly expected they were here to kill the monster, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Ron continued calmly.

“Our job is to rescue civilians. That’s it.”

He glanced faintly toward them.

“Within that time, high-ranking Awakened will arrive soon.”

“It’s their task to deal with the monsters. We just have to save anyone who needs help or is on the verge of death.”

The two Awakened exchanged a glance and nodded in understanding.

Relief and frustration mixed in their expressions at once.

Neither of them wanted to risk fighting a monster they weren’t capable of handling.

“After all of this is over… the Awakened are going to be ruling the world.” One of them muttered under his breath.

The other scoffed lightly.

“Isn’t that obvious? We are stronger than the ordinary unawakened people.”

Ron snorted without even looking at them.

“Don’t act like you have a very high talent.”

The two Awakened glanced at him flatly.

‘You only have a C rank talent, just one rank higher than us.’

But of course, none of them said it aloud.

The police officers didn’t utter a word during this time, but unease lingered in their expressions.

Since the emergence of monsters, many organizations had begun deploying Awakened—individuals already far stronger than ordinary humans, wielding strange abilities entirely beyond the understanding of those who had never even seen such creatures firsthand.

And all these Awakened already seemed to possess enough knowledge about monsters, their cores, and affinities, as if they had been hiding their strength in plain sight—waiting for the right moment to reveal it.

After a few more minutes of walking—

“Hey, is that a woman…?” one of the Awakened asked uncertainly.

Instantly, all their eyes snapped forward, focus sharpening as they advanced cautiously.

Standing amidst the broken road and fractured ruins was a woman, alone and unmoving.

Until they were only a few meters away, a sudden voice broke through the tension.

“…Fuck, she’s hot.”

One of them blurted it out without thinking, only realizing too late that he had spoken his thoughts aloud.