The Knight of Silver Light

One minute before Yeon Seo's arrival.

"Ah... ugh..."

"Oh dear, are you okay?"

As the tension finally broke, Yeonhwa suddenly swayed on her feet. Sia quickly caught her before she could fall.

"...I'm physically fine, but I think the adrenaline just wore off."

"I see. Be careful."

"Haha... I said I was going to help you, but here I am, falling over like a pathetic mess."

"It happens. I wouldn't call it pathetic..."

Sia suddenly cut herself off.

"Sister?"

Before Yeonhwa could even question why Sia had frozen while holding her, Sia spotted someone appearing out of thin air just a short distance away.

Thud!

A woman with blue hair mixed with white streaks. For some reason, her face bore a striking resemblance to Yeonhwa's.

However, the aura radiating from her was entirely different.

Let's summarize the situation.

Sia had used her miracles to purify the area, but her hands and arms were once again stained red with blood from tearing apart and eating the Black Minotaur's corpse.

Yeonhwa, completely drained of strength, was currently collapsed in Sia's arms.

Now, let's look at this situation from the perspective of Yeonhwa's grandmother, Yeon Seo.

According to Manager Lee, Yeonhwa was the only hunter who had entered this dungeon.

Due to a Dungeon Overbreak, the dungeon's grade had suddenly spiked from A-grade to S-grade, turning it into a highly volatile zone where anything could happen.

And now, some crazy woman with grotesque tentacles sprouting from her back was holding her granddaughter with blood-drenched hands.

—There shouldn't be anyone else in here besides Yeonhwa.

—Look at those twisted, grotesque tentacles.

—Those grotesque tentacles are currently chewing on something.

—The woman's hands are covered in blood.

The moment Yeon Seo took in the scene, she lost her mind.

There was no time for rational thought.

"Take your filthy hands off her this instant!"

Boom!

"...Huh? Wait, Grandmother?!"

"...?"

While Sia was briefly marveling at how remarkably youthful Yeonhwa's grandmother's skin looked, a sickening cracking sound echoed as an invisible shockwave slammed into her.

In the blink of an eye, Yeon Seo folded the spatial coordinates of where she stood, teleporting directly in front of Sia.

"I told you to let her go!"

Space is like a sheet of paper with its own physical elasticity. If you crumple that paper with immense force and release it, a massive amount of mass naturally erupts outward.

With her mass replicated, Yeon Seo delivered a kick that, while looking light, carried a devastating weight as it slammed into Sia.

A force that should have been barely ten kilograms was amplified dozens, hundreds of times over.

Crash!!

"N-No! Grandmother! Wait...!"

"It's dangerous here, get out now, Yeonhwa!"

Having blasted Sia far into the distance, Yeon Seo didn't stop. She adjusted her coordinates again and teleported in the direction Sia had been thrown.

Yeonhwa watched in horror and tried to stop them, but it was impossible to get through to Yeon Seo once she had lost her temper. In an instant, both of them vanished from sight.

"Oh, seriously...!"

Left with no choice, Yeonhwa forced herself up and began running toward the direction of the battle.

She had to stop them before something irreversible happened.

Flying through the air, Sia finally realized who the woman was when she heard Yeonhwa's desperate shout.

Admittedly, seeing her granddaughter with a woman covered in creepy tentacles was a recipe for a massive misunderstanding.

'Still, Grandmother is surprisingly strong.'

Actually, it wasn't just simple strength. It was a destructive force that completely defied physical laws.

She couldn't quite grasp the exact principle behind it, but...

Well, it felt on par with Menelapie's full-power physical techniques. Depending on the circumstances, one might have a slight edge over the other.

Grab!

Creak, snap! Clack-clack-clack!

Tired of flying, Sia's tentacles wrapped around the nearby trees, anchoring her body to the ground.

Good job.

She was starting to feel dizzy anyway.

Perhaps angered by the sudden attack, the tentacles ground their teeth as if they wanted to devour Yeonhwa's grandmother whole.

"Uh-uh, we don't do that."

Soothing the tentacles, Sia looked around and realized she had been thrown quite a distance. Back where she and Yeonhwa had been, the dungeon was collapsing, so she had thought they needed to escape immediately. But here, the spatial collapse hadn't reached yet.

It seemed the dungeon's collapse was progressing slower than she had anticipated.

Suddenly, Sia felt a slight vibration in the air beside her. She raised her hand.

Ping!

"Tch!"

The moment Sia raised her hand to cast the miracle, Yeonhwa's grandmother materialized right there and threw a punch. The fist collided with Sia's miracle, throwing both of them back.

Yes, the sudden appearances and disappearances were startling, but it seemed she possessed some sort of teleportation ability. In reality, it felt more like she was manipulating or folding space itself rather than just simple teleportation, but...

"A quick-witted monster, aren't you?"

"Is that so?"

"You possess reason and high intelligence... I must crush you here before you grow any further."

Yeon Seo knew all too well what kind of horrific disasters an intelligent dungeon boss could bring. A monster with reason and intellect didn't stop at simple invasion. They sowed discord among humans, beguiled them, and sometimes even raised cults of followers to cause massive chaos.

Having protected humanity since the Great Rift, how many people had Yeon Seo lost to monsters that possessed reason?

Yes, in a dungeon that had upgraded from A-grade to S-grade, it wouldn't be strange for such a monster to appear.

Determined to completely eradicate the tentacled woman, Yeon Seo adjusted her spatial coordinates once more and vanished.

Sia, who had been hoping to catch Yeon Seo with her tentacles to subdue her, smacked her lips in disappointment.

"For the record, when I say crush..."

Thud!

"Ugh...!"

Sia gasped as a sudden impact struck her abdomen. It didn't do much damage, but it was startling to receive a physical blow out of thin air.

"I have no need to trade blows with you directly."

Once again, an invisible force rushed toward her. This time, it felt far stronger than the last.

However, no matter how strong the physical force was, if it was a simple wave-type attack, she could just neutralize it.

'I just need to resist it...'

If this were a surprise attack from a monster, she would have dodged and retaliated with a lethal miracle. But she didn't want to kill humans, and more importantly, this woman was Yeonhwa's grandmother. How could she dare lay a hand on her?

Though... for a grandmother, she physically looked like she was in her twenties.

Deciding to clear up the misunderstanding later, Sia shrouded her entire body in holy power.

Holy power was fundamentally a higher tier of energy than mana. Whether for offense or defense, it was far more versatile and easier to use. To put it simply, mana was the power of humans, while holy power was the mana used by gods or received directly from them.

With this, there was very little she couldn't block, and since her skin was harder than steel, she should be able to withstand it without much damage.

Crack...!

"Hmm?"

It was fine. It was fine. Her body was incredibly durable, even by her own standards...

Crunch!

"...Ah...?!"

Oh, it had been a long time since she felt this. She was actually feeling pain?

How many years had it been since she felt pain in this undead body?

Sia realized it had been an incredibly long time since she had experienced physical pain. As a human, she would have made a massive fuss over a tiny cut on her finger. But perhaps because her mind and body had been tempered as a deceased saintess, her pain threshold had become incredibly high.

Ten years. No, it had probably been thirty years—since she and Menelapie slew the Demon King—that she had felt this level of physical pain.

Sia had trusted her holy power. She had assumed that even a space-distorting attack would clash with her holy power and neutralize in the air. Up until now, there had never been an attack she couldn't block with her holy power. Even the Demon King's final, desperate strike hadn't been able to pierce a single barrier she made.

However, what Yeon Seo had unleashed wasn't a simple shockwave.

The moment the wave made contact, it traveled up Sia's right hand, instantly decomposing it up to her elbow. As the pain registered, her arm broke down into neat, square blocks—like Lego pieces—and vanished into nothingness.

Amidst the pain, Sia felt time slow down.

The sudden rush of pain accelerated her perception of time. Watching her arm slowly decompose in slow motion, Sia realized her holy power hadn't failed to resist the attack. The holy power was desperately fighting against ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the invisible force trying to decompose her arm. However, the wave was slipping through the gaps in her holy power, breaking her arm apart.

'The angle and method of decomposition change every single second.'

Sia thought calmly as she watched her arm break into square pieces.

This was a full-power attack from Yeon Seo, who was practically the strongest individual force among humanity on Earth. While Yeon Seo's fans and others called it by strange names like the Coordinate Decomposition Wave Cannon or the Spatial Fission Beam, Yeon Seo preferred simplicity and simply called the technique Fission Contagion.

Once you touched the wave, your fate was sealed.

This technique wasn't a slash, a blunt strike, or a piercing attack. The moment the wave touched anything, whether living or inanimate, it simply broke it down into square pieces. The most terrifying part was that this wave could not be resisted or neutralized. Once the fission began, the fragments would contaminate the coordinates of adjacent parts, spreading the decomposition.

This was a serious attack from the strongest S-grade hunter, meant to kill a wicked monster threatening her granddaughter. If anything, the fact that Sia was enduring it so calmly was the anomaly.

Sia cast a miracle on her decomposing arm. The arm, which was breaking into square pieces, instantly restored to its original, clean state.

Crackle...!

'It's not working...'

However, the spreading spatial fission began to break apart Sia's restored arm once again. Even healing couldn't stop the space from fracturing. Yeon Seo's attack wouldn't stop until the target was completely decomposed, regardless of whether they were dead or alive. It was already traveling from Sia's hand to her elbow, and if left alone, the fission would climb all the way to her head.

Realizing that regeneration, resistance, and neutralization were all ineffective, Sia opened her mouth.

'No choice, then.'

Crunch!

"...!"

Sia stuffed her own decomposing arm into her open mouth and ate it.

Crunch! Munch! Chew!

Watching from a distance, Yeon Seo's eyes widened in sheer horror as she witnessed the woman physically tear and devour her own arm with that small mouth in an instant.

Sia then used her miracle to regenerate the arm she had just eaten. Although the sleeve covering her arm was completely gone, she had stopped the fission, so she had to be satisfied with that.

'She ate it? She didn't just eat something physical; did she devour the concept itself?'

Yeon Seo let out a hollow laugh as she realized the monster-like woman had completely halted her Fission Contagion by devouring her own arm. If Yeon Seo's guess was correct and she could devour conceptual and abstract things, it meant she could eat almost any magic or attack.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

If that thing ever got out of the dungeon and invaded the human world...

She couldn't let that happen. For her granddaughter's sake, for Yeonhwa's sake, she had to stop her here.

"...Hah, you monster."

"Is that a compliment?"

Sia casually replied to Yeon Seo's voice echoing from somewhere. However, did her relaxed tone provoke Yeon Seo further?

"As if."

Thud!

"Ouch..."

Boom! Thud!

Sia couldn't hide her fluster as physical impacts struck her out of nowhere. Dropping to the ground and dodging based on her instincts, Sia finally realized that something invisible was attacking her.

'I thought her ability was just teleportation, but it's much more complex and versatile...!'

It felt as if giant spears and hammers were tearing through the air, slamming down on her. She couldn't see the spears or hammers to block them, but their mass and weight were very real.

'Isn't invisible mass just cheating...?!'

In truth, Yeon Seo was folding space and using the recoil of it snapping back, along with the physical force of the crumpled mass, to strike Sia all at once.

Since Sia didn't know the exact nature of Yeonhwa's grandmother's power, she had no choice but to dodge, grumbling about the unfairness of it all.

Crunch! Thud!

It was becoming increasingly difficult for Sia to dodge and block invisible attacks purely by instinct. Especially since the occasional waves of Fission Contagion corroded whatever part of her body they touched, forcing her to repeatedly tear off and regenerate her own flesh.

If she could at least see them, it would be easier. But just as she sensed something like a faint haze or shimmer, a massive impact would explode against her body.

She could feel a strong intent to kill in every single blow. Once again, she realized Yeonhwa's grandmother was incredibly powerful. Even in the world Sia had come from, a powerhouse of this caliber could be counted on one hand.

Thud! Boom! Crash!

But Sia was getting tired of just dodging. She braced herself and took the unavoidable blows with her body.

In a span of less than a minute, Yeonhwa's grandmother had struck her body with what felt like a giant hammer about thirty times. The genes of a good girl inside her were starting to flip 180 degrees.

Hey, Grandmother! Kids these days have scary tempers when they get mad!

Besides, Sia hated fighting. She wasn't so scared that she would run away, but she found these one-sided attacks highly unpleasant, and she deeply regretted that a minor misunderstanding had escalated into a life-or-death battle.

'She must be somewhere she can see me.'

She had to be keeping her in sight. Unless she had some sort of clairvoyance that could perceive the entire space, she would need a direct line of sight to attack her. In that case, she just had to subdue her. Even if it required a slightly forceful method.

'I'll destroy everything.'

She gathered her holy power. The Evil Nature she had accumulated from eating the Black Minotaur with Yeonhwa was instantly consumed, converting into pure holy power that surged through her entire body.

"...!"

Sensing the unusual energy, Yeonhwa's grandmother unleashed multiple spatial vibrations. She probably wanted to crush Sia before she could do anything, but...

"Too late."

A massive white explosion erupted with Sia at the center, swallowing the spatial mass and vibrations as it expanded in all directions. To an outside observer, it would look as if a nuclear bomb had detonated. Sia had only used it because she was certain there were no other humans in this dungeon, and she had restricted the range as much as possible.

The forest dungeon was transformed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into a barren wasteland around her. A clean wasteland without a single flower, weed, or rock.

And not far away, Yeonhwa's grandmother was glaring at her with burning eyes.

"Huff, puff..."

Since the forest and trees had been completely wiped out, Yeon Seo seemed to realize there was no point in hiding anymore. Although Sia had reduced the lethality of the miracle to merely subdue her, Holy Body Ruin was still her primary skill and her most destructive miracle. How did a human survive that?

Sia was quite flustered to see Yeon Seo looking relatively unharmed, as she had expected to at least knock her unconscious.

"Hah, you're quite something..."

"So are you."

As they entered a brief standoff, Yeon Seo clenched her fists. There was no need to hold back. 'That thing' was far stronger than she had anticipated.

"However..."

Creaaaaak!!!

"I have no intention of letting a bitch who laid hands on my granddaughter live."

With a sickening sound of space tearing in Yeon Seo's hands, a massive amount of mass began to compress. Watching this, Sia felt a cold sweat break out on her back.

'That's... a big one.'

For the first time since the Second Great Rift, Yeon Seo felt her power being drained to this extent. But that tentacled woman was a monster capable of neutralizing her Fission Contagion. She instinctively knew that anything less than this wouldn't deal any proper damage.

"A long time ago, I lost a precious granddaughter who was the apple of my eye..."

During the Second Great Rift, Yeon Seo had received distress signals from countless places and saved many people. Yet, she had lost her own granddaughter during that cataclysm. She had become a hunter to save people, and she had become a hunter to protect what was precious to her, but the sheer horror of losing her most precious treasure right before her eyes was beyond words.

Yeon Seo never wanted to feel that way again. No matter how much Yeonhwa refused to listen to her grandmother, she was still more precious to Yeon Seo than her own life.

'Yeonhwa, do not worry. Your grandmother will protect you, even if it costs her life...'

Even if it was overprotective, even if it was excessive, and even if she had to play the villain, she would eliminate any threat to Yeonhwa. She would leave no room for danger. Even if it was overkill, she would erase the possibility first and think later.

She would use all her strength to kill this wicked, twisted tentacle woman right here!

"Grandmother!!!"

"?!"

At that moment, Yeon Seo saw Yeonhwa, whom she thought had escaped, running toward her.

"I told you to stop!!"

"...!!!"

"N-No! Don't come over here!!"

Oh no...! It was a mistake. No, it wasn't just a mistake; it was a horrific blunder! Yeonhwa, didn't I tell you to leave! Why didn't you leave!!!

Yeon Seo desperately tried to control the compressed space and mass in her hands. However, the mass, which was on the verge of detonating, was already slipping out of her control. If it exploded now, she would end up hurting Yeonhwa with her own hands.

Yeon Seo grit her teeth, struggling to control the compressed mass. But the mass, gathered to compress, split, and detonate a vast space, threatened to trigger a massive explosion at any second. Yeon Seo bit her lip. If that tentacle woman attacked her now, Yeonhwa would get hurt!

"...!"

Just then, Yeon Seo felt a cold hand wrap around hers. As a warm, white holy power flowed along her hand and gently enveloped the massive compressed mass, Yeon Seo's eyes widened.

Before she could even ask, 'When did she get so close? And what did she just do?' the tentacle woman, Sia, spoke softly to her.

"Trigger it."

Sia spoke calmly, her face expressionless.

"......"

Without knowing where the trust came from, Yeon Seo believed her and released the accumulated mass.

Creak, groan...!

The compressed mass in Yeon Seo's hand dissipated without making a sound. The friction and the recoil of the released pressure caused a small wisp of smoke to rise from Yeon Seo's hand, but in the end, the compressed mass and force vanished without causing any damage.

"....."

"Ha, haaa.........."

Seeing that the situation had finally settled, Yeonhwa let out a deep sigh. They said the Yeon family never forgot a debt... It seemed she had accumulated quite ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a few debts today.

"Yeon...hwa...! I told you to get back...!"

"Grandmother, what were you thinking?!"

"What do you mean? I was trying to protect you..."

"The one who saved me from the Dungeon Overbreak was Sia!"

"...Huh?"

At those words, Yeon Seo stared at the tentacled woman Yeonhwa called Sia in disbelief.

"That... that tentacle woman...? Saved you...?"

"Yes! How could you attack my savior like that?!"

"N-No, but... her hands were covered in blood...?"

"That's Black Minotaur blood! Did you think it was my blood?! Didn't you see the Black Minotaur corpse right next to us?!"

"...Oh.........."

Yeon Seo's eyes began to shake violently. Come to think of it, there were too many strange things. For starters, this tentacled woman named Sia hadn't actively tried to attack her. And right now, Sia was narrowing her eyes and puffing out her cheeks, looking thoroughly upset.

'Hmph, that was really mean...!'

Having taken a beating from Yeon Seo, Sia turned her head away with her arms crossed, clearly sulking. Seeing her reaction, Yeon Seo froze.

"...W-What have I done....."

"I told you, you should have checked first and calmed down. Look at the mess you made in front of Sia...!"

".....Ugh..."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Sia! You always say the Yeon family never forgets a debt! How are you going to take responsibility for this?! You just beat up my savior!"

At Yeonhwa's scolding, Yeon Seo hesitantly approached Sia, who still had her head turned away.

"..U-Um..."

Sia ignored her. Honestly, she was a bit angry. Even though she had lived as a saintess and possessed more patience than the average person, this was clearly Yeon Seo's fault. She planned to play hard to get at least once or twice, even if she apologized.

"..Um, did you say your name is Sia...?"

"......"

Hmph, even if I lived as a saintess for decades, I don't forgive easily when I'm mad, Grandmother.

"If what Yeonhwa said is true.... I am truly, truly sorry for the misunderstanding."

"......Hmph."

"I must be getting senile in my old age. I am truly sorry......."

Yeon Seo spoke in a small, cautious voice, watching Sia's reaction.

"And, not just an apology... since you saved my granddaughter, I must properly express my gratitude."

Are you trying to get away with just words? I'm an expensive saintess, Grandmother.

".....Um, child, do you perhaps... like meat?"

"I knew from the moment we met that we would get along, Grandmother."

"..............."

Watching Sia suddenly flash a bright smile and reconcile with Yeon Seo, Yeonhwa facepalmed in disbelief. It seemed Sia...

Was a lot easier than she looked.