Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Saintess
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After Krash lost consciousness.
Lilish blankly gazed down at her younger brother.
When Krash said there was a way, her instinct had activated once again.
Krash was surely about to do something incredibly dangerous.
But Lilish trusted her brother more than her instinct.
He was the brother who had lived a life where he could only grow stronger by facing dangers together.
She couldn't refuse the plea of the brother who had even swallowed a curse just to press forward.
And she had thought that as long as she protected her brother, it would be fine.
However, Lilish realized she had gravely underestimated her own brother.
Krash's actions had surpassed mere danger.
As if from the very start, he hadn't even factored his own life into the equation.
Krash fought with desperate ferocity solely for the one goal he had set.
The moment Lilish shattered the leg bone and dodged the arms raining down, then belatedly scaled the spine.
Krash came into her view, shining brightly.
It was Krash madly thrusting his sword into Agarez's cloak—the demon who had unleashed Annihilation Heavenly Thunder and was now trying to flee.
His eyes were unfocused, his mind half-gone already.
Yet Krash stabbed wildly into the cloak with an obsession that transcended madness.
The sight overwhelmed even Lilish, leaving her breathless.
In the end, the cloak was torn to shreds, and the darkness dwelling within it vanished.
Krash's unrelenting sword had finally severed Agarez's life.
But the cost was devastating.
Krash's insides had been ravaged by the heat of Annihilation Erosion, to a degree that even his Lunar Yin Body couldn't suppress.
The outer skin was burning from the heat—what more could be said?
And that wasn't all.
With Ignis gone, curses had seeped chaotically into Krash's body.
Dozens of curses now overlapped on him.
Amid it all, he had desperately offset the ones that could outright kill him—but survival was all he had achieved.
The curses were gnawing away at him in real time.
Lilish hurriedly poured every potion she carried onto Krash.
His throat was scorched, so he couldn't swallow; she even held them in her own mouth and forced them down his.
But this was only emergency aid.
He needed proper treatment.
Lilish leaped from the collapsing bone and hurriedly brought Krash down to the ground.
"Miriel! Get over here—right now!"
She called out to one of the Aurora Knights who had mastered recovery arts.
The knight rushed over and froze at the sight of Krash's condition.
He had traversed countless World Erosions and saved lives, yet even to him, Krash looked utterly wretched.
"Lil... Lilish-nim, this is beyond anything I can handle."
He poured his recovery arts onto Krash desperately, but his expression darkened.
Krash's state was miraculous simply for still clinging to breath.
The one silver lining was that Ignis had reignited as an ember within him, burning away some of the curses.
But since it was internal and invisible, to Miriel's eyes, Krash seemed on the verge of death.
He wanted to save Krash too.
During the battle with Agarez, Krash had saved the Aurora Knights multiple times.
To take down Agarez, they couldn't afford to lose any combat strength to World Erosion.
He had no intention of letting even one of them die.
The fight against Agarez had been hell itself.
In that chaos, Krash had saved them time and again—they truly respected him.
Not as a direct descendant of Valheim, but as Krash the man.
So Miriel poured everything he had into his arts, but it still fell short of saving him.
"Don't spout nonsense. Keep treating him while we move."
With that, Lilish hoisted Krash onto her back without delay.
She had no intention of losing her brother again.
Just as Krash had said, she planned to take him to the Saintess.
"I'll take him."
In that instant, a figure appeared before Lilish.
"Who are you?"
He was unmistakably the guard who had been at Seylang's side.
As Lilish regarded him questioningly, Blavi spoke.
"Questions later. You look like you need the rest more."
After the brutal clash with Agarez, Lilish herself had reached her limit, teetering on exhaustion.
Her trembling legs were proof enough.
Blavi had run nonstop too, but it paled in comparison to the toll of battling Agarez.
She didn't know his true identity, but she knew he was Seylang's guard.
So Lilish trusted him and handed Krash over.
"I'll go on ahead."
With those words, Blavi kicked off the ground and vanished in an instant.
Lilish was stunned by his speed.
It rivaled her own at full strength.
Just then, a crow overhead took flight in pursuit.
Stagger—
Watching it, Lilish barely kept herself from collapsing.
She had forced herself to stay composed, but seeing Krash had made her heart plummet.
But she couldn't afford to worry only about him.
The battered Aurora Knights everywhere awaited her command.
From afar, the Verdant Knights—who had been battling Erosion Beasts to whittle down Agarez's domain—were finally arriving.
Only now, after Agarez's death.
She was the commander here.
She had to see her duty through to the end.
Trusting Blavi to handle things, she straightened her back.
A commander remained one until the very last.
"All units, rendezvous with the Verdant Knights and return at once."
It was time to withdraw.
"Haa... This damn birdcage existence. I'm so sick of it."
Inside the temple, dyed an excessively pure white.
A woman sighed softly as she walked.
Beneath her white dress, intricately embroidered with golden thread.
A figure strikingly developed for her age was revealed.
She slowly swept up the hair on her beautiful face.
Hair that evoked the image of the sun.
Then, the stigmata etched on the back of her hand gleamed vividly in the light filtering through the window.
That stigmata proclaimed her status.
The pride of the Holy Kingdom, monopolizing the gods' love.
Astraia Stigma Freeman.
The Saintess of the Holy Kingdom Freeman.
Born a Saintess, she had matured into an adult body faster than anyone, yet her face today was one of boredom.
"Diona, anything fun happen today?"
"If there had been, you would've heard first, Saintess-nim."
"What is with that tone? Mind your manners with the Saintess."
The Holy Knight called Diona, following behind her, smiled wryly.
Until last year, she hadn't grumbled much, but lately, her tantrums had spiked.
The reason was simple.
She had heard about Raheln Academy, brimming with her peers, and suddenly wanted to attend—only to be flatly denied.
After that rejection without even considering her opinion.
She had taken to muttering about her "birdcage" more and more.
'The Saintess is hitting puberty too.'
Blasphemous as it was, the church strove daily to mold her into the perfect Saintess, but she was still human.
Diona, her lifelong attendant Holy Knight, knew that better than anyone.
Which made it all the more heartbreaking.
She was in a position where she couldn't freely pursue her desires.
"By the way, I heard something intriguing recently."
"If it's the rumor of a new Saintess, best to ignore it as nonsense."
"Why? That's precisely the sort of thing I need to pay closest attention to. As the world's one and only Saintess, you know."
She knew full well, yet wore a face full of mischief.
Diona sighed inwardly.
"As you say, Saintess-nim, there is only one Saintess in this world."
"With so many gods in existence, only one Saintess? Shouldn't everyone blessed by the gods be considered saints or saintesses?"
"No. The only one capable of receiving blessings from multiple gods across the entire world is you, Saintess-nim. Any 'new Saintess' is a fake. None can replace you."
Astraia narrowed her eyes at those words.
"To Diona, is a Saintess truly such a noble figure?"
Diona offered no reply.
Whatever she said wouldn't be the answer Astraia sought anyway.
"I'd be fine as a fake Saintess. If I'm not the one and only, I could be a canary soaring free from this birdcage, no?"
"Saintess-nim."
As Diona cautioned that her words went too far, she smiled bitterly.
Then, as was her habit, she slowly twirled a lock of hair by her temple.
"Well, first I'd need to learn the laws, I suppose."
Leaving those words behind, Astraia resumed walking.
Worship service was approaching.
"Saintess-nim!"
It was then.
Just before entering the chapel, urgent footsteps echoed from behind her, accompanied by a figure.
The middle-aged man, seasoned in years, was one of the church's high priests.
Astraia regarded him quizzically.
He was normally in charge of the church's diplomacy.
For him to come running, drenched in sweat, meant some incident had erupted.
"The scent of an incident."
As Astraia's eyes lit up, Diona shot her a warning glance.
Fine before her, but not in front of others.
Astraia reluctantly composed herself and donned the benevolent smile befitting a Saintess.
"Priest Melpiorre, what is the matter?"
She hoped fervently it would be something to dispel today's tedium.
"Se... Seylang Sephira-nim—no, a Valheim direct descendant..."
His thoughts jumbled, he kept stumbling over his words.
As Astraia's patience began to wear thin, Melpiorre finally shouted.
"In any case, someone in dire need of your treatment, Saintess-nim!"
"Really, you should have led with that. Take me to them."
Astraia urged him on without a second's hesitation.
Boredom or whatever else be damned—it no longer mattered.
Anyone requiring her treatment was in critical condition.
Whenever such a request came, she set everything aside and rushed there first.
That was Astraia.
And that was precisely why she was called a Saintess.
Bang!
"Where's the patient?"
Astraia flung open the door to the usual treatment room and demanded.
Having run without decorum, she was breathing heavily.
Several figures entered her sight within.
Most were strangers to her.
On one side, a white-haired girl thrashing and sobbing near collapse.
A Sephira third-class officer struggling to restrain her.
Beside them stood a suspicious black-haired guard and a veiled woman with peach-colored hair.
And Astraia knew exactly who she was.
"Seylang."
"Astraia."
Acquaintances both, they exchanged cursory greetings and she stepped further in.
Parting the drawn curtain, Astraia instinctively pinched her nose.
She hadn't wrinkled her face—that was fortunate enough, with the thick stench of curses wafting out.
The potent curse aroma stung her nostrils and clouded her mind.
A boy lay on the bed.
But his condition was dire.
His skin had melted away, as if his entire insides had been seared by fire.
The Lunar Yin Body had mitigated the fire's effects somewhat, fortunately.
But from prolonged self-abuse, his body was far from normal.
The real issue was the sheer volume of curses.
'What the hell happened...?'
Could a human even harbor this many curses?
She wondered if the healer should've been called first instead of her.
She could handle low-level curses, but this magnitude suited the specialist more.
Everyone had their expertise.
'Never mind. No more thinking.'
From the moment she arrived here, her task was set.
To heal the boy who looked like he'd crawled out of a fire pit.
She immediately placed her hand on his body, alongside the acupuncture needles, and began channeling holy power.
Blessed abundantly by the gods, she was acclaimed the world's sole multi-skill user.
She wielded seven skills in total.
All seven were healing-related, mastered solely to save lives.
Priests had suggested she learn at least one for self-defense.
She ignored them, honing only healing skills.
With so many guards to protect her.
No need to waste time on offensive ones.
Thus, she was hailed the greatest healing specialist among all past Saintesses.
'Regenerate the softened skin, reassemble the shattered bones. Check the internal organs too. Sustain stamina infusion continuously. Weaken the curses as much as possible. How many drugs did they dump on him? Emergency care done, but bones and muscles are haphazardly set. This part's mushy too—redo.'
Assessing Krash's state, she deployed holy power and skills in tandem.
Drip, drip—
His condition was worse than imagined; sweat beaded on her forehead.
As she worked, she gradually realized one thing.
The curses dwelling in the boy's body weren't harming him.
They simply flowed calmly, just like aura.
A situation she'd never seen before left her flustered, but since they didn't interfere with treatment, it was a relief.
The massive curses comprising his body nagged at her, but after much toil, she finally completed the healing.
Wiping the sweat from her face, she could at last see the boy's face clearly.
Black hair tinged with blue.
Thick eyelashes and sharply defined eyes.
Mature beyond his years in appearance.
But during treatment, she had noticed he was roughly her age.
'He's handsome.'
She startled at herself for appraising another's looks.
She'd always been unmoved by maids whispering about handsome Holy Knights.
Yet here she was, calling a boy her peer handsome.
'Do I have a thing for this type?'
Not that those sharp eyes didn't somewhat mar his features, truth be told.
She cleared her throat—what was she thinking about a patient?
Treatment complete.
With recovery blessings applied, he'd bounce back soon enough.
As she felt her stiff shoulders and turned to inform those outside of his status.
"Ah, Astraia."
Suddenly, the boy's lips parted, calling her name outright.
Not even an acquaintance, casually addressing the Saintess—absurd, but she glanced back.
Not yet fully conscious, yet he gazed at her with faintly blue-tinted eyes.
Incredible mental fortitude.
"The da... date wasn't something I skipped on purpose, okay."
At his mumbling words, a question mark arose in her eyes.
Date? Not skipped on purpose?
What on earth was this out of nowhere?
She blinked, then saw his breathing even out into soft snores and swept her temple hair aside.
'Sleep-talking, I guess.'
The odds of her name popping up in random sleep talk were slim, but.
She averted her gaze from the boy and parted the curtain.
There stood the white-haired girl from before.
Her eyes bloodshot from endless tears.
Astraia smiled at her.
This was one of her favorite moments.
"The patient's safe. Go ahead and check."
The most rewarding time: reassuring family who cared more than anyone.