Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 28
Whether it was an interrogation or torture, it wrapped up without dragging on too long.
The heretic foamed at the mouth and rolled back his eyes.
Not out of rage, but because he had gone limp and passed out.
In the process, Versia successfully extracted a wealth of information.
Most notably, the exact number of heretics gathered here, what tasks they were handling, and a rough layout of the place.
"Corrupted entity experiments, huh."
"...I can't even muster a hollow laugh."
Their goal was to create a new type of corrupted entity.
Or, to be more precise
"Artificial witches? How could they even conceive of something so depraved...!"
Asher felt a surge of revulsion.
No matter that they were heretics, this crossed every line.
Wasn't a witch supposed to be a proxy chosen by their god?
To fabricate one themselves and turn it into an idol...
It was incomprehensible, no matter the reasoning.
This place deserved to vanish without a trace.
Of course, with missing people still unaccounted for, that would have to wait until after rescuing them.
Swallowing his anger, Asher turned to Satern.
"Sir, let's get started right away."
"Understood. I'll head out."
Satern rose from his seat.
He had already memorized the rough layout.
This spot was in the middle layer of the underground complex. Above were a hall guarded by corrupted entities and the heretics' living quarters.
The deepest layer held the labs and residences for key personnel.
So Satern's job was to infiltrate the depths, draw out their forces, and clear the upper levels.
The moment Satern moved to step away
"Hey...!"
"Yes, Saintess."
Lubena called him back.
She hesitated, swallowing whatever she wanted to say, then approached and whispered urgently.
"I-If it seems too dangerous, just run? Make sure to grab me on your way out...!"
Her anxiety was palpable.
But it wasn't the hysterical outburst it might have been before.
Ever since arriving here, she'd been hiding behind Satern, and perhaps that had built some rapporther tone carried genuine worry.
"Your health comes first, got it? If you get hurt, I'll just...!"
"No need for concern. This Satern won't fall to mere heretics."
"You idiot...!"
She ground her teeth in frustration.
Unable to hold back her irritation, she nearly let a curse slip but clamped it down.
Lubena's eyes brimmed with tears.
Satern said,
"Thank you for your worry."
"That's not it!!!"
Lubena whipped around and hid behind Asher, clutching his cloak.
Glare she shot Satern could kill.
Asher gave an awkward smile as Satern bowed his head.
"Then I'll be off."
Right after, Lubena spoke up.
"...Hey, are you sure you'll be fine alone? Shouldn't we send your guards too?"
"So you are worried after all."
"I said it's not that! It's just... without him, who's going to protect me now...!"
"Truly needless concern."
Asher smiled helplessly.
Then again, saintesses like them never had to fight heretics or train with escorts.
They might overlook it without realizing, thanks to their own uniqueness.
Things like just how elite a saintess's escort knight had to be.
"Sir Hyzenberg is a 1st Class Knight."
"So what!"
"Do you know the requirements for that rank?"
Lubena clamped her mouth shut.
Her face showed she had no clue.
Asher chuckled softly and explained.
"To defeat a hundred mana-wielding knights single-handedly, without a scratch."
"...Huh?"
"That's the baseline for a 1st Class Knight."
And that was the minimum.
Moreover, Satern was the ultimate shield, with defenses even the captains couldn't match.
That's what he meant.
"Worry about yourselves."
No matter what lurked belowor even if a witch appeared in personSatern Hyzenberg wouldn't die.
He might not win, but he could hold out until reinforcements arrived.
* * *
The first thing Satern saw after exiting the door was a long corridor.
Unlike the haphazardly dug prison bars beyond, from here on, the walls and ceiling were lined with neat rectangular stone blocks, forming a tidy passage.
Asher might have raged at such abomination, but not Satern.
He wasn't the type to waste emotions on every little detail.
He just strode forward with heavy steps.
At the corridor's end, beyond the door, he sensed presences.
They noticed him too, and a voice called out.
"You're pretty late? Any escapees this t"
Bam!
Satern's hand burst through the door, clamping precisely onto the heretic's head.
Then crunchhe crushed it.
The wide space amplified the sound.
Screams followed.
"Enemy attack!!!"
Satern kicked the door flying.
The iron gate crumpled like paper and soared away.
In the open area stood heretics gripping weapons, with two corrupted entities on the ceiling.
About twenty in number.
Passages branched everywhere, suggesting this was the sector's hub.
As Satern's gaze fixed on the red flesh blobs clinging to the ceiling
"A Holy Knight! Kill him!!!"
"Raaagh!!!"
The heretics unleashed grotesque divine power.
Satern walked on silently.
Neither slow nor fast, he thrust his fist into the air.
Craaaack!
Space buckled, obliterating heretics in its path without a trace.
Another swing, and the ones on the opposite side fell.
Mere rabble of twenty wasn't enough.
Next, the two corrupted entities lunged,
but
"Hm."
Satern grabbed the one gaping its maw and slammed it into the floor.
They burst with a splat, losing all form.
The devastation took mere instants.
Without a flicker of excitement, he descended the stairs to the lower level, where traps began triggering.
Whoosh!
Iron bars coated in poison and curses targeted him.
Arrow barrages and lava filled the corridor, assailing him.
But all for naught.
None pierced Satern's skin.
Clang!
Of course.
His defenses were unmatched across the entire Order.
He reached the core.
And realized it was time to go all out.
"A lot."
Hundreds of heretics, five among them radiating unusual auras.
Thirty corrupted entities, each a product of unimaginable sacrifices, drooling malice.
Clearly different from those above.
Deeper evil, greater power.
Without doubt, tougher than that grueling mission hunting his life's hardest twenty corrupted entities.
Yet Satern felt no fear.
Instead, he exhaled deeply, bulging his muscles.
At that instant, the heretics charged.
Satern punched out, divine power crystallized around his fist like a gauntlet.
Craaaash!
A charging corrupted entity crumpled.
Crystals of divine power scattered into the air.
One heretic finally recognized him and screamed.
"H-Hyzenberg! He's here! Form up!!!"
Goooonnng!
A bell tolled.
It echoed through the depths, swelling into a massive clamor.
Satern thought blankly,
'The Saintess won't like this.'
His own voice could shake the rafters, yet he couldn't stand others being loud.
When shopping in the streets, he'd curse out merchants hawking their wares.
If this were outside and the noise hit this level, she'd have exploded, demanding the place razed.
Mid-thought, Satern scratched his scalp.
All those times reining in her antics had stressed him into this.
And she'd mocked his baldness, laughing gleefully despite causing itthinking of that face stung.
As he lingered in sentiment,
heretics swarmed, their numbers more than doubling.
The rear sealed offthey'd come from above as planned.
Among them, one exuding exceptional power stepped forward with a sneer.
"Heh, didn't expect to hook a big one like this."
His face was hooded by robes.
But his voice marked him male, with waist-length hair visiblebrown and glossy.
"Doesn't match the intel... Heard you had a lion's mane, but you're bald? Change of heart?"
Satern's eyebrow twitched.
He retorted without thinking.
"...It's not missing. I shaved it myself."
"Huh? What're you on about?"
"No eyebrows either. Shaved 'em off myself. They got in the way of fighting."
The heretic tilted his head, baffled.
Satern tamped down his irritation and stepped forward.
The heretic grinned wickedly and shouted.
"Whatever! Kill him! Bring me his corpse!!!"
The heretic had reason for confidence.
Fifty corrupted entities filled this vast space.
Per intel, Satern Hyzenberg had teetered on death's edge against twenty.
Forces doubled, plus a hundred curse-wielding followers.
An unwinnable fightor so he thought.
Glaring oversight.
Kaboooom!
His sole mistake?
Underestimating the weight of Satern Hyzenberg.
Failing to grasp the source of his power.
"...Huh?"
A dazed sound leaked from the heretic's mouth.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
All attacks were cursesacidic, scorching, malicious.
Yet Satern stood unscathed.
Precisely, 'scales of divine power' sprouting across his skin nullified them all.
The scales gleamed radiantly.
Layering on, they swelled his frame.
His form shifted, evoking something primal.
'A dragon...?'
Dragonsthe pinnacle of all species, said to roam this land millennia ago.
How could a mere human evoke that shape?
To understand, one needed the history of House Hyzenberg.
Long ago, at the continent's northern fringe, explorer noble Juan Hyzenberg delved an icy crystal cave in the snowpeaks.
There, he found it.
Dragon blood, thought extinct, and dragon bones.
The remains held will.
Sealed in ice for eons, awaiting rebirth, biding time.
Juan perceived this and accepted the contract with the lingering spirit.
-Bestow my blessing upon your bloodline, and show me your world.
Thus, the bloodline secret Dragonscale was born.
A heavenly armor blocking all physical and magical harm, inherited by his descendants.
Satern was that heir.
And a Holy Knight blessed with divine power.
In his generation, a change occurred.
The dragonscale began resonating with his divine power, evolving.
Early scales were frail.
They shattered easily, regenerating slowly via divine power.
But repetition strengthened them, birthing a unique evolution.
That was the intel the heretic missed.
Why Satern surpassed old records.
His struggle against twenty corrupted entities? Years-old history.
A knight who grew endlessly if he survived.
The Order's unbreakable shield against any evil.
Thus his bestowed Sword Name: Whitescale.
Thud!
Whitescale's knight, Satern Hyzenberg, stomped the ground.