Chapter 96 |
[EP.96] The Saint
After Kraush lost consciousness, Lilish blankly gazed down at her brother.
When Kraush said he had a plan, her dread was triggered once more.
Kraush was clearly going to do something dangerous.
But Lilish trusted her brother more than her sense of dread.
He was a brother who had lived a life where he could only become stronger by facing danger together.
In order to move forward, she couldn’t refuse her brother’s request, even if it meant swallowing a curse.
And she thought she could protect her brother.
However, Lilish realized she had underestimated her brother too much.
Kraush fought stubbornly for the single goal he had set.
When Lilish, who had avoided the falling arms after collapsing the legs, belatedly climbed up the spine, Kraush came into her view.
Kraush, who was madly thrusting his sword into Agares’s cloak as it tried to escape after unleashing Sky-Thundering Annihilation.
Although his eyes had already lost focus as if half his mind had flown away, Kraush recklessly drove his sword into the cloak with a tenacity surpassing madness.
That sight was overwhelming enough to make even Lilish hold her breath.
As a result, the cloak was finally crushed, and the darkness within it disappeared.
Kraush’s relentless sword had finally severed Agares’s life.
But the price was gruesome.
Kraush’s insides were ravaged by the heat of Annihilation Erosion, which even Lunar Body couldn’t suppress.
So much so that his outer skin was melting from the heat.
That wasn’t all.
As Ignis disappeared, curses randomly permeated Kraush’s body.
He now had dozens of overlapping curses.
In the midst of it, he had stubbornly offset the curses that could kill him, barely clinging to life.
The curses were eating away at Kraush in real-time.
Lilish hurriedly poured all the potions she had onto Kraush.
When he couldn’t swallow due to his scorched throat, she held them in her mouth and pushed them inside somehow.
But this was only emergency treatment.
Proper healing was needed.
Lilish, who had jumped from the collapsing bones, hurriedly took Kraush and descended to the ground.
“Muriel! Come here right now!”
Then she called for a Sky-Piercing Knight who had mastered recovery magic.
The Sky-Piercing Knight who hurried over was dumbfounded at Kraush’s horrific state.
Even to him, who had saved people through numerous world erosions, Kraush was in a gruesome condition.
“Li-, Lilish, this is beyond what I can handle.”
He had a dark expression while somehow pouring recovery magic onto Kraush.
Kraush’s current state was considered a miracle that he was even breathing.
The only consolation was that the embers of Ignis inside his body were burning away some of the curses.
But that wasn’t visible from the outside, so to Muriel, it seemed Kraush would die at any moment.
He also wanted to save Kraush.
Even during the battle with Agares, Kraush had saved the Sky-Piercing Knights several times.
In order to defeat Agares, if the Sky-Piercing Knights decreased, the force to face world erosion would diminish.
He had no intention of letting a single one of them die.
The battle with Agares was essentially no different from hell itself.
In the midst of that chaos, the Sky-Piercing Knights sincerely respected Kraush, who had saved them countless times.
Not as a direct descendant of Balheim, but as an individual named Kraush.
So Muriel also poured recovery magic with all his might, but it was insufficient to save Kraush’s life.
“Stop talking nonsense. Keep healing while running.”
Thus, Lilish immediately carried Kraush on her back.
She had no intention of losing her brother again.
She was determined to take him to the saint, as Kraush had said.
“I’ll take him.”
At that moment, a figure arrived in front of Lilish.
“Who are you?”
He was clearly the guardian beside Serang.
When Lilish, who saw him, had questions, Blavi spoke.
“Questions later. Isn’t that more urgent?”
Due to the fierce battle with Agares, Lilish was also at her limit.
Her trembling legs were proof of that.
Blavi had also been running without rest, but that was nothing compared to the stamina drain from battling Agares.
Although she didn’t know his identity, she knew he was Serang’s guardian.
So Lilish trusted him and handed Kraush over.
“I’ll go ahead.”
After saying those words, Blavi instantly kicked the ground and disappeared.
Lilish was amazed by his incredible speed.
It was a speed that could rival her own when at full stamina.
Just then, a crow in the sky flew after him.
Stagger-
Seeing that, Lilish barely endured nearly collapsing to her knees.
Although she tried to maintain composure, her heart sank when she saw Kraush.
But she couldn’t only worry about Kraush.
The Sky-Piercing Knights, who were in a mess everywhere, were all awaiting her orders.
The Green Wave Knight Order, who had been fighting erosion species in the distance to reduce Agares’s sovereign command even slightly, was also coming.
They had finally started coming after Agares died.
She was the commander here.
She had to carry out her duties to the end.
Believing Blavi would take good care of Kraush, she straightened her back.
A commander remains a commander until the very end.
“Everyone, join up with the Green Wave Knight Order and return immediately.”
It was time to go back.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Sigh, this life in a birdcage. I’m sick and tired of it.”
Inside a temple dyed in an excessively white color, a woman moved her steps and let out a quiet sigh.
Inside the white dress embroidered with golden thread, a prominent figure unfitting for her age was revealed.
On her beautiful face, she slowly brushed up her hair, reminiscent of the sun.
Then, the stigmata imprinted on the back of her hand shone clearly in the light coming through the window.
That stigmata indicated her identity.
The pride of the Holy Kingdom, monopolizing the love of the gods.
Astria Stigma Freeman.
The saint of the Holy Kingdom Freeman.
Born as a saint, she had attained an adult body faster than anyone else, but her face was bored again today.
“Diona, nothing fun today?”
“If there were, you would have found it first, Saint.”
“Look at this one. What kind of way is that to talk to the Saint?”
The holy knight called Diona, who was following behind her, smiled bitterly.
Until last year, she rarely grumbled like this, but recently, her tantrums had noticeably increased.
The reason was simple.
After hearing about Rahelrn Academy, where many of her peers gathered, she abruptly wanted to go there, but her request was rejected outright.
After being rejected without even the slightest consideration of her opinion, she had been frequently grumbling about being in a birdcage.
‘The Saint is also at the age of puberty.’
It may be irreverent, but even if the church tries to raise her as the perfect saint every day, she is also human.
Holy Knight Diona, who had been attending to her for a lifetime, knew that fact very well.
So it was also heartbreaking.
She was in a position where she couldn’t freely enjoy what she wanted to do.
“Come to think of it, I heard about a strange incident recently.”
“If it’s about a new saint appearing, it’s nonsense, so it’s better to ignore it.”
“Why? That’s exactly what I should pay the most attention to. I’m the world’s only saint, you know.”
Even though she knew it all, she made a face full of playfulness.
Diona sighed inwardly.
“As you said, Saint, you are the only one in the world.”
“With so many gods in this world, saying there’s only one saint. In fact, shouldn’t everyone who has received a god’s blessing be considered a saint?”
“No. In the entire world, there is only one person who can receive the blessings of multiple gods. That is you, Saint. A new saint is ultimately a fake saint. They cannot replace you.”
Hearing those words, Astria squinted her eyes.
“Do you really think a saint is such a noble being, Diona?”
Diona didn’t answer.
No matter what she said, it wouldn’t be the answer Astria wanted.
“I’d be fine even with a fake saint. If I’m not the one and only saint, wouldn’t I be able to fly freely outside this birdcage like a canary?”
“Saint.”
When Diona advised that she was going too far, Astria smiled bitterly.
Then, as if out of habit, she slowly twirled a lock of her hair with her fingers.
“Well, I should learn how to get out first.”
Leaving those words behind, Astria moved her steps again.
It was because prayer time was approaching.
“Saint!”
At that moment, before entering the chapel, a figure appeared behind her with urgent footsteps.
He was a middle-aged man, one of the high priests of the church.
Seeing him, Astria had questions.
He was originally in charge of foreign affairs for the church.
For him to come running like this, sweating profusely, meant some incident had occurred.
“The scent of an incident.”
The moment Astria’s eyes sparkled, Diona gave her a look.
It meant not to do that in front of others, even if it was fine in front of her.
Astria had no choice but to compose herself and soon put on a saintly, benevolent smile.
“High Priest Melfiore, what’s the matter?”
Please let it be a new matter that can relieve today’s boredom.
She desperately wished inwardly.
“La-, Lady Serang Sephira, no, a direct descendant of Balheim.”
Perhaps because his thoughts weren’t properly sorted out, he kept stumbling over his words.
Seeing that, as Astria was gradually losing patience, Melfiore finally blurted out.
“Anyway, there is someone who needs the Saint’s healing!”
“Really, you should have said that from the start. Please guide me.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Astria urged Melfiore to lead the way.
Relieving boredom or whatever, it no longer mattered.
If it was someone who needed to request healing from her, their condition must be serious.
So when a healing request came, she put everything else aside and ran there first.
Astria was that kind of person.
That was also why she could be called a saint.
Bang!
“Where is the patient?”
Astria, who had opened the door to the room usually used as a treatment room, asked.
Having run here forgetting her dignity, she was breathing roughly.
Inside, several figures entered Astria’s view.
Most of them were people she was seeing for the first time.
On one side, a girl with white hair was crying and struggling, almost to the point of exhaustion.
A Sephira 3rd-tier officer barely holding onto the girl.
And next to them was a suspicious-looking guardian with black hair and a woman with a peach-colored hair wearing a veil.
And Astria knew well who she was.
“Serang.”
“Astria.”
Since they were acquainted, she briefly greeted her verbally and moved inside.
Then, the moment she drew the curtain that had been closed, Astria unconsciously covered her nose with her hand.
The thick scent of curses flowing out from inside was strong enough to make her grateful she didn’t frown.
The potent scent of curses, tingling her nose, was enough to make her head hazy.
On the bed lay a boy.
But the boy’s condition was serious.
From his outer skin to his insides, it was as if everything had melted after being completely burned by fire.
The only fortunate thing was that the influence of the flames was reduced because of Lunar Body.
But his body’s condition wasn’t normal, as if he had been continuously overworking himself for a long time.
Above all, the problem was the amount of curses.
‘What on earth did he have to do…’
For a human to harbor this many curses in their body.
She thought that instead of herself, the one who should be called here first was an exorcist.
She could resolve low-level curses, but for curses of this degree, an exorcist would be more suitable.
Everyone has their area of expertise.
‘Enough. Stop thinking.’
At this point, what she had to do was already determined.
Healing the boy who looked as if he had fallen into a pit of fire and came out.
She immediately closed the curtain again and placed her hands above the boy’s body.
Then she began to draw out her holy power.
Abundantly imbued with the blessings of the gods, she was evaluated as the world’s only multi-skill user.
She used a total of seven skills.
All seven were related to healing and were attained solely for the purpose of saving people.
Some among the priests had said she should possess at least one skill to protect herself.
But she paid no attention and only learned skills related to healing.
With so many guardians to protect her, she saw no need to waste effort learning offensive skills.
Thus, she was assessed as the top specialist in healing among the saints in history.
‘Regeneration of softened skin, reassembly of broken bones, need to check the internal organs too. Have to continuously supply stamina, and weaken the curses as much as possible. How many potions did they pour? Emergency treatment is done, but the bones and muscles are in disarray. This part is soft too, again.’
She examined Kraush’s condition while simultaneously using holy power and skills.
Drip, drip-
As the boy’s condition was worse than she imagined, sweat drops fell from her forehead.
And gradually, she began to realize one fact.
The curses embedded in the boy’s body weren’t harming him.
They were just flowing gently like an aura.
It was a situation she had never seen before, so even she was startled, but it was rather fortunate that it didn’t interfere with the treatment.
The large curse that made up his body was concerning, but she barely finished the treatment after many twists and turns.
Wiping the sweat running down her face, she could finally properly see the boy’s face.
Black hair with a tinge of blue.
Thick eyelashes and distinctly sharp features.
Although he looked mature compared to his peers, through the healing process, she noticed he wasn’t much different in age from her.
‘He’s handsome.’
She was surprised to find herself evaluating someone else’s appearance.
Even when seeing holy knights her attendants whispered were handsome, she felt no impression.
But to say a boy her age was handsome.
‘Was this my type?’
If you think about it, his sharp features were so intense that they detracted from his appearance.
Feeling unsure about what she was thinking towards a patient, she let out a fake cough.
With this, the treatment was finished.
She had also placed blessings related to stamina recovery, so he would recover soon.
Feeling her stiff shoulders, she was about to inform the people outside of the boy’s condition.
“A-, Astria.”
Suddenly, a voice calling her name came from the boy’s mouth.
They weren’t even acquainted, and he casually called the saint’s name, which was absurd, but she glanced back at him.
Although he shouldn’t be in a state to regain consciousness yet, the boy was gazing at her with faintly blue eyes.
It was tremendous willpower.
“The da-, te, I didn’t miss it on purpose.”
And the moment she heard the boy muttering, questions filled her eyes.
Date? He didn’t miss it on purpose?
What was he suddenly talking about?
She blinked her eyes, then soon brushed her hair aside, seeing him breathing raggedly.
‘Must be sleep-talking.’
What were the odds of her name randomly coming up in sleep-talk?
She shifted her gaze from the boy and pulled back the curtain.
There stood the white-haired girl she had seen earlier.
Seeing her eyes completely bloodshot from crying so much, Astria smiled.
It was also her favorite moment.
“The patient is safe. Go see for yourself.”
The most rewarding moment when she could give relief to the family members who were worried about the patient more than anyone else.
