Chapter 96
After Kraush lost consciousness,
Lilish blankly looked down at her brother.
When Kraush had said there was a way, her Id had activated once more.
Kraush was certainly going to do something dangerous.
But Lilish trusted her brother more than her Id‘s judgment.
He was a brother who had lived a life where strength could only be gained through facing danger together.
Determined to move forward, she couldn’t refuse her brother’s request, even if it meant swallowing curses.
And she believed she could protect her brother.
However, Lilish realized she had underestimated her brother far too much.
Kraush’s actions had gone beyond a dangerous level.
It was as if he wasn’t even considering his own life from the start.
Kraush fought solely for the one goal he had set.
After smashing down Agares’s legs and dodging the flailing arms, Lilish finally made her way up his spine.
In her eyes, Kraush shone like a beacon.
He was furiously plunging his sword into the cloak of the fleeing Agares, who had just unleashed a Destruction Flame.
Though his eyes seemed to be halfway dead, lacking focus,
Kraush was stabbing wildly into the cloak with an obsession that surpassed mere madness.
Even Lilish found the sight overwhelming enough to catch her breath.
As a result, the cloak was ultimately torn apart, and the darkness within it vanished.
Kraush’s relentless sword had finally severed Agares’s life itself.
However, the cost was disastrous.
Inside Kraush, the heat from the Annihilation Erosion had turned his body into a turbulent mess that even World Erosion couldn’t suppress.
Not to mention, his external skin was blistering from the heat.
And that wasn’t all.
With Ignis disappearing, curses flooded into Kraush’s body like a chaotic torrent.
Now, he was afflicted by dozens of overlapping curses.
While he had managed to offset the deadly curses that could kill him, he was merely surviving.
The curses were eating away at him in real-time.
Lilish hurriedly poured every potion she had onto Kraush.
Since his throat had burned up, she had to hold it in her mouth and somehow push it down into him.
But this was only a stopgap measure.
What he truly needed was proper healing.
With her collapsing bones, Lilish swiftly brought Kraush down to the ground.
“Miriel! Get here right now!”
And she called for someone from the Jukcheon Order who was skilled in recovery magic.
The member of the Jukcheon Order who hastily arrived was frozen in shock at the sight of Kraush’s tragic state.
For someone who had traversed through countless World Erosion events and saved lives, Kraush was in a truly pitiful condition.
“L-Lilish, I can’t handle this!”
He was desperately casting recovery spells on Kraush but looked pale.
At this point, Kraush’s survival was considered a miracle.
The only good thing was that Ignis was reigniting within his body, burning away some of the curses.
But that was invisible from the outside, and to Miriel, it seemed like Kraush was on the verge of death.
He too wanted to save Kraush.
Kraush had saved members of the Jukcheon Order multiple times during the fight against Agares.
If they lost Kraush, the strength to face the World Erosion would greatly diminish.
Not a single one of them was willing to let him die.
The battle against Agares had been nothing short of hell.
In the chaos, they had genuinely respected Kraush, someone who had saved them several times over,
not just as part of Valheim but as an individual.
So, despite Miriel pouring every effort into recovery magic, it was still not enough to save Kraush.
“Quit your whining. Keep healing while running!”
With that, Lilish instantly threw Kraush onto her back.
She had no intention of losing her brother again.
As he had said, she was determined to take him to the Saintess.
“I’ll take him.”
Just then, a figure appeared in front of Lilish.
“Who are you?”
He was clearly one of the guards who had been beside Seirang.
Upon seeing him, Lilish wondered, and Blavi replied.
“Let’s save the questions for later. This is more urgent.”
Given that Lilish had been in a fierce battle against Agares, she was clearly at her limits now.
The tremors in her legs were evidence of that.
Although Blavi had been running without rest, his stamina loss from the fight against Agares was nothing compared to hers.
Lilish didn’t know his identity, but she understood he was one of Seirang’s guards.
So, trusting him, she handed over Kraush.
“I’ll go first.”
With those words, Blavi kicked off the ground and swiftly disappeared.
Lilish was stunned by his incredible speed.
It was a pace that was on par with her normal state of fitness.
At that moment, a crow flew high in the sky, chasing after Blavi.
Whoosh
Seeing this, Lilish barely managed to keep from collapsing.
Though she tried to maintain her composure, her heart sank when she glanced at Kraush.
But she couldn’t focus solely on Kraush’s condition.
The rest of the members of the Jukcheon Order, in varying states of distress, were all waiting for her orders.
In the distance, the Green Malign Order was also approaching, having dealt with the erosion creatures to reduce Agares’s dominion.
They were only just starting to arrive now that Agares had fallen.
She was the commander here.
She needed to see her duties through to the end.
Trusting that Kraush would be fine under Blavi’s care, she straightened her back.
A commander must remain a commander to the very end.
“All members, join the Green Malign Order and return immediately.”
It was time to head back.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Hah, being cooped up in this damn cage is irritating.”
Inside the temple, which seemed excessively white, a woman strolled while letting out a quiet sigh.
Within a dress embroidered with gold thread,
a body that was strikingly enhanced for her age was on display.
She gently swept back her hair, which resembled the sun on her beautiful face.
At that, the stigmata marked on the back of her hand gleamed vividly, catching the light that streamed in through the window.
That stigmata indicated her status.
The pride of the Holy Kingdom, which monopolized the love of the gods.
Astria Stigma Freeman.
She was the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom Freeman.
Having been born a Saintess, she possessed an adult’s body at a speed faster than anyone else but wore a bored expression today.
“Diona, anything interesting happening today?”
“If there were, the Saintess would have already found out about it.”
“Watch your tongue! What do you mean by that to the Saintess?”
The knight escorting her, Diona, smiled wryly in response.
She hadn’t complained much until last year, but lately, she had become particularly whiny.
The reason was simple.
After she had expressed a desire to attend the Rahelrn Academy that’s filled with her peers, her request was swiftly denied without consideration.
Since then, she had started grumbling about being trapped in a cage.
‘It’s around the time the Saintess would also hit puberty.’
It was sacrilegious, but the Church aimed to raise her as the perfect Saintess every day, yet she was still a person.
Diona, who had served her assiduously her entire life, knew that fact all too well.
Thus, she felt a twinge of pity.
Astria was someone who couldn’t indulge in what she wanted freely.
“By the way, I’ve heard there’s been some interesting news lately.”
“If you’re talking about a new Saintess, it’s probably just rumors, so you might want to ignore it.”
“Why? That’s something I should be paying the closest attention to. After all, I’m the world’s only Saintess.”
Though she was aware of the truth, a playful grin spread over her face.
Diona inwardly sighed.
“As the Saintess said, there is only one Saintess in this world.”
“A saintess is just one of the many gods. Isn’t it possible that anyone blessed by the gods should be seen as either a Saintess or a Saint?”
“No. Only the one person blessed by multiple gods is recognized as the sole Saintess across the entire world. Any new Saintess would ultimately be a fake and couldn’t replace you.”
Upon hearing that, Astria’s eyes widened.
“Do you really think the Saintess is such a noble figure?”
Diona didn’t respond to that remark.
No matter what she said, it was unlikely to match the answer Astria sought.
“I’d be fine with a false Saintess, you know. If I’m not the unique Saintess, then couldn’t I become a canary soaring freely outside its cage?”
“Saintess.”
When Diona cautioned her for speaking too recklessly, she only smiled bitterly.
Then, as if it were a habit, she slowly twirled her hair around her fingers.
“Then again, I first need to learn how to act like one.”
Astria continued her walk while leaving that remark hanging.
She was approaching the worship time.
“Saintess!”
Suddenly, just before entering the worship sanctuary, she heard urgent footsteps behind her, along with someone rushing toward her.
It was a middle-aged man, one of the high priestesses of the Church.
Upon seeing him, Astria felt a sense of unease.
He was supposed to be in charge of the Church’s diplomacy;
the fact that he was sweating profusely as he rushed here meant that something serious had gone down.
“There’s an aura of trouble around.”
The moment Astria’s eyes sparkled, Diona subtly cautioned her.
While it was fine in front of her, behaving that way in front of others wasn’t advisable.
Astria helplessly straightened her posture and put on the Saintess’s sign of benevolence.
“High Priest Melpier, what brings you here?”
She was desperately hoping it could be something that would relieve her boredom today.
“Se-Seirang! The Freeman direct line.”
It seemed his thoughts were all jumbled, as he kept stumbling over his words.
When Astria began to lose her patience, Melpier finally shouted out.
“Regardless, someone’s in need of the Saintess’s healing!”
“Really? You should have said that from the start. Lead the way.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Astria urged Melpier to guide her.
No longer concerned about her boredom,
she believed that anyone requesting healing from her must be in a serious condition.
Thus, she darted toward the location of the healing request, leaving everything else behind.
That was the kind of person she was.
And it’s what allowed her to be called a Saintess.
Thud!
“Where’s the patient?”
Astria flung open the door to the room typically used for healing and asked.
Amidst her hasty breath from having run, she quickly scanned the scene inside.
Most of the faces that entered her view were unfamiliar.
One side featured a girl with white hair, nearly in tears, struggling to hold on.
Holding the girl was a Sevira class officer, a woman.
Beside them stood a suspicious-looking man with black hair and a veiled woman with peach-colored hair.
Astria recognized one of them immediately.
“Seirang.”
“Astria.”
Since they were acquaintances, she casually nodded her head as she walked further inside.
When she pulled back the drawn curtains, she instinctively pinched her nose.
She was grateful that her expression remained neutral because a thick scent of curses spilled out from within.
The potent stench of curses was so strong it left her dizzy.
On the bed lay a boy.
Yet, the boy’s condition was grave.
From the outer skin to the insides, it appeared he had been burned away by fire and was melting.
Fortunately, since he was under World Erosion, the damage from the flames had lessened.
But, it looked like he had been overworking his body for far too long, and his overall state was not normal.
Above all was the issue of the quantity of curses.
‘How is it possible for a human to have so many curses within them?’
She pondered if it was more appropriate to summon a high priestess rather than herself.
While she could handle lower-tier curses, this level of curse was more suitable for someone with a higher rank.
Everyone had their area of expertise.
‘Enough! Let’s stop overthinking.’
Once she arrived, what she had to do was already clear.
It was to heal the boy who seemed to have fallen into a fire pit.
She immediately placed her hands atop the boy’s body, drawing her miraculous power.
Blessed by the gods, she was acknowledged as the world’s only multi-skill user.
She wielded a total of seven skills.
All seven were healing-related skills, mastered only for the sake of saving lives.
Some priests had commented that she should have at least one skill to protect herself.
But she had ignored that, focusing solely on healing skills.
After all, her many knights were here to protect her.
Thus, she thought there was no need to waste time learning offensive skills.
That’s precisely why she was considered the top specialist in healing among all past Saintesses.
‘Reconstruction of the burned skin, reassembly of the shattered bones, and I need to check the inner organs as well. I have to keep supplying stamina, and weaken the curses as much as possible. How much medicine has been administered? Even if first-aid has been done, the bones and muscles are misaligned. This too needs to be softened and set right once more.’
As she checked Kraush’s condition, she used her holy power and skills simultaneously.
Drip, drip—
Despite the state of the boy being beyond imagination, beads of sweat began to fall from Astria’s forehead.
As she continued, she started to realize something important.
The curses dwelling within the boy were not harming him.
They were merely flowing gently like aura, coexisting peacefully.
Although she was bewildered by seeing such a sight for the first time,
it turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it didn’t interfere with her healing.
Even though the larger curse remained troubling her mind, she ultimately completed the healing process after various twists and turns.
When she wiped the sweat from her face, she finally got a good look at the boy’s face.
He had black hair tinted with a hint of blue.
His lashes were thick, and his sharp eyes stood out prominently.
Despite appearing mature for his age,
she discerned that he was perhaps not much older than herself during the healing process.
‘He’s handsome.’
Astria was surprised by the realization that she had judged someone’s appearance.
Usually, she felt indifferent when the maidens whispered about how beautiful a knight was.
Yet here she was, acknowledging that this boy was handsome.
‘Is this my type?’
When she thought about it, sharp features usually detracted rather than enhanced attractiveness.
She cleared her throat, wondering what she was doing thinking such things about a patient.
With that, the healing was complete.
Having set up the blessings related to stamina recovery, he should heal up quickly.
Just as she felt the fatigue settling on her shoulders, preparing to inform those outside about the boy’s condition,
“Astria.”
Suddenly, the boy called out her name, which he couldn’t possibly have known.
She was taken aback that he, not even fully conscious yet, could directly call out to her.
“I swear, it’s not that I didn’t mean to miss our date.”
As the boy muttered these words, doubt clouded Astria’s eyes.
Date? He didn’t intentionally miss one?
What a sudden and bizarre comment.
In surprise, she blinked a few times, distracted by the peculiar sounds coming from him.
‘Maybe he’s sleep-talking.’
Even though the chances of someone mentioning her name while sleep-talking were slim,
she turned her gaze away from the boy and pulled back the curtain.
There stood the white-haired girl from earlier.
Her eyes were bloodshot, likely from crying too much.
Seeing her, Astria smiled.
This was also when she felt the most fulfilled.
“The patient is safe. Feel free to check.”
It was a moment of great pride to provide relief to family members who had been fretting more than anyone else.
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