Natida ventured deep into the snowy mountains, and Lac followed her with a hint of hesitation.
‘We couldn’t find a trace even when the knights searched, right?’
When Belnoa and Chloe arrived in the North, they had scoured the snowy mountains with the knights. But ultimately, they couldn’t catch a glimpse of the beasts leaving behind bizarre traces. The warriors were just the same.
The fact that even the warriors who grew up here and roamed the snowy mountains as if it were their backyard couldn’t find anything meant that there were probably no more traces left in these mountains.
However, there was no hesitation in Natida’s steps as she led the way. It was a confident stride, as if she was sure something awaited her at the destination. As Lac cast a curious gaze at Natida’s back, she turned and smiled as she spoke.
“If you’re worried about my blood-soaked clothes, no need to glare. I’m perfectly fine.”
She tilted her head as she said that.
“Even though I’m a saint? The divine spells I use might put some strain on me, but… I recover fully, so you don’t have to worry that much.”
“…Really?”
“Yes?”
Lac blinked in surprise.
Natida blinked back. Lac thought to himself that the saint in front of him seemed to be seriously misunderstanding something.
“I’m not particularly concerned about the clothes.”
Lac, unable to beat around the bush, replied directly.
“I thought since you moved with such conviction, there might be something in this direction.”
That was all, he nodded, as if that should explain it. There wasn’t a hint of lie on Lac’s face.
“Uh… really?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not worried that your clothes are soaked in blood?”
“Isn’t that just a common occurrence when training your body?”
Lac rolled up his shirt sleeves.
Pointing at the scars etched into his forearms, Lac revealed them proudly.
“Scars and wounds are a warrior’s pride.”
“Ah, yes…”
Natida made a somewhat uncomfortable expression.
Realizing she had misstepped, she scratched the back of her neck sheepishly and started walking again. After a while, Natida halted before a sheer cliff.
A cliff that seemed to drop off sharply.
Below it lay the scattered corpses of fallen beasts. As Natida glanced over, she pointed to a particular part of the cliff’s wall.
“There it is.”
Lac narrowed his eyes.
The spot Natida pointed to jutted out oddly from the cliff, as if a rock had sealed off an entrance. It was a trace that would be unrecognizable unless one knew to look for it.
“…How do we get there?”
“There’s always a way.”
Natida shrugged and gestured with her chin.
“Let’s go. It seems there’s a trace left over there.”
Just as she mumbled about how to get there, she rummaged in her robe for a rope.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Lac lifted Natida with one hand.
Startled, Natida stuttered, “Uh,” but before she knew it, Lac had draped her over his shoulder. The moment of excitement in Natida’s eyes quickly turned cold.
“…Young master?”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t there a different way to carry someone in a situation like this? That’s what they do in fairytales.”
“Isn’t this safer?”
Lac blinked as if confused. Natida sighed and tapped Lac’s arm, which was holding her.
“Sure, let’s go.”
Suddenly, with a thud, Lac jumped from the edge of the cliff. It was a light leap, and the landing was smooth. Lac halted in front of the protruding rock and set Natida down, placing his hands on his hips.
Swish, crunch!
With a slick motion, he swung his axe down toward the rock.
The rock was quite thick, but upon impact with Lac’s axe, it shattered like a dry twig.
“Wow.”
A brief admiration.
As the rock broke apart, what lay revealed was a long tunnel. The air inside was thick with the stench of blood, and Natida pinched her nose as she stepped inside.
Just as she moved forward, a blue flame flickered in the darkness.
It took a brief moment to understand that it was the light emanating from a beast’s eyes, but that moment was ample time for the beast.
Slash!
The beast’s claws lunged for Natida’s eyes.
*
Thud!
Before the sharp claws could pierce Natida’s eyes, Lac’s arm shot out from behind her, snagging the beast’s wrist. Immediately, a silver flash carved a rough arc as it struck down on the beast’s arm.
Thump! followed by a splash.
Black ichor sprayed forth before falling to the ground. The beast let out an eerie scream and staggered back, while Lac shoved Natida behind him and stepped forward.
“Stay back.”
Lac lightly shook his wrist.
By now, the axe in his hand was smeared with the viscous ichor. Lac frowned. It didn’t feel like he was cutting into something alive. It felt more like he was striking a corpse.
Flash!
The light orb summoned by Natida illuminated the depths of the cave. Lac confirmed the sight of the beast, now missing an arm. The beast stood on its two feet, bizarre in appearance. It ooze ichor and its body was collapsing. It resembled a corpse more than a living being.
“……”
Lac observed the beast’s claw groaning softly. The sharply honed claws were almost like blades. Comparing the claw marks on the ground with the beast’s claws led Lac to take another step forward.
The beast screamed and swung its remaining hand.
Its gaping maw was stuffed with flesh, and the last hand was not composed solely of ichor. Its claw seemed assembled from the corpses of beasts and the demon lord’s army.
Roar!
Lac deflected the claws and slipped into the beast’s grasp. Then he thwack—lowering his stance, he slammed his axe into the beast’s knee. With a clank, the beast’s leg severed, tilting its body.
Whirl!
With a single spin, Lac used his axe to remove flesh from the beast. The silver arc traced sharply and fiercely.
“————!”
Although it lost its limbs in an instant, the beast still tried to resist, awkwardly opening its mouth to bite at Lac’s arm. But Lac seized the upper and lower jaws of the beast with both hands and tore them apart.
Crash!
With the beast’s spine impaled upon the axe, Lac let out a breath. Natida, who had been watching him with her mouth agape, finally spoke.
“Thank you for saving me. And you deliberately left it alive, didn’t you?”
With that, Natida approached Lac, pointing at the beast sprawled on the ground. It dripped black ichor from its torn maw, yet it still twitched. A testament that it was still alive, though it wouldn’t last long.
The body had been collapsing since their encounter.
Natida’s duty was to extract information before that body disintegrated completely.
Natida removed her gloves. Bringing her pale palm to the beast’s head, she drew a dagger from her robe. Then she plunged it into the beast’s skull while simultaneously piercing her own palm.
Divine magic, a form of miracle.
Natida’s blood mixed with the beast’s ichor.
2.
The miracle, divine magic, cultivated by the Deloheim Church.
Most saints, blessed by the gods, could use a variety of divine magic, and among those areas, some possessed powerful divine spells that others could not replicate. The first saint was known for the realm of ‘creation of life’…
The saint from the previous generation, Sara, specialized in the ability to enhance another’s physique and healing capabilities, as well as their mana strength. Aside from the first saint, Sara was considered the most outstanding saint in the church’s history, possessing a wide array of skills.
Such saints blessed with various attributes and vast amounts of divine power rarely appeared.
When Natida was decided to be the next saint after Sara’s retirement, the older members of the church sighed. The type of divine magic Natida displayed did not align well with how the church intended to utilize her.
Thus, the church attempted to erase her talents and artificially implant new ones through relics. The results of that experiment were half successful and half failures, as they couldn’t erase the side effects.
“Ugh, ahh.”
Natida groaned, her body trembling.
Bright red blood spat from her slightly parted lips. Seemingly in a dangerous state, Lac placed a hand on Natida’s shoulder, but…
“Please let go. I don’t want to do it a second time.”
At Natida’s cold voice, Lac withdrew his hand. After a moment of vomiting blood, Natida extracted the dagger that had pierced her hand. Thick blood trailed down as she slumped to the ground.
“Ow, my head.”
Leaning against the cave wall, Natida lightly tapped the back of her head and, with trembling hands, extracted a cigarette from her pocket. Trying to light it with a flint, she struggled as her shaking hands faltered.
“Haah…”
Natida sighed, glancing over at Lac.
“U-Um, young master?”
With a bitter smile, Natida offered the flint to Lac.
“Could you light it for me?”
Without a word, Lac ignited the cigarette for her.
With the cigarette in her mouth, Natida muttered her thanks and took a deep puff. Gradually, her trembling hands began to stabilize.
“The investigation is complete. We can leave the corpses here for now or call someone later to clean them up. It seems we just need to go back and write the report now.”
“…You finished the investigation?”
“I have some talent in this area.”
Natida tapped her temple with her trembling fingers. The bloodshot corners of her eyes quivered. Unable to stand by, Lac questioned her.
“You seem to be in bad shape.”
“Well, I do get a little tired after using it, but… today feels worse. Thinking back, I suppose it makes sense, since it wasn’t just one or two things I had to read.”
Natida let out a forced laugh.
As she gazed at her completely drained legs, she finally looked up at Lac. Pointing at her legs, she spoke.
“Excuse me, young master, but…”
She seemed a bit awkward as she said,
“Could you carry me? Not like earlier—properly this time. The way you had me slung over your shoulder made my stomach turn.”
It wasn’t a difficult request.
Lac carried Natida on his back as they exited the cave. Despite breaking into a cold sweat, Natida was already unconscious by the time they reached White Night Castle.
3.
A report from Natida arrived.
Rania examined the report carefully.
It contained analysis on the being that left bizarre traces in the North, as well as the fact that they had secured the beast’s corpse.
“Using divine magic for detection, confirmation of the Betrayer’s intervention has been made. It has been determined that the beast was ‘created’ by Gletus the Betrayer.”
“Immediately attempted ‘interference’; from the outset, the Betrayer referred to the beast as the ‘King of Beasts’. It has been assumed that what was discovered in the North was a failure, and that a ‘successful product’ has likely already been completed.”
Certainly, Natida was a capable aide, and based on the information she uncovered, Rania pieced together the puzzle. What was astonishing was that the beast found on the frontlines had made its way into the North.
“The traces discovered in the North were left by a failure, then.”
Although Rania had suspected when encountering the King of Beasts, it appeared to indeed be the case. They would need to send new support. Rania turned to the next page of the report.
“Escaped from the laboratory that seemed to be the workshop.”
“Due to the subject’s unstable state, there are parts where memories have faded, but it is presumed that after arriving in the North by some means, it has resolved its body’s collapse through consumption.”
A failed product that should have died within three minutes of the hose being pulled out had remained intact, reassembling its crumbling body with the corpses of the beasts it hunted.
“The will to survive is exceptionally strong.”
“When interference was attempted, the only thought that could be read was a pure obsession with survival.”
Obsession with survival.
“Hmmm…”
Rania stroked her chin at those words.
Even if it was a failed product, the base creature was none other than the King of Beasts. A bizarre beast that evolves by learning, growing, and fighting for survival. Had it retained even that will?
A failed product that shouldn’t have lasted three minutes without the hose had survived for more than several days.
Thinking of this fact caused Rania to shudder. If a failed product was this formidable, then what kind of monster would the completed product be when they encountered it? She couldn’t dare to guess.
“This has become troublesome.”
The whereabouts of the King of Beasts had become elusive.
The results of the pursuit through Kalt only indicated that it had vanished into the depths of Phantom Territory. Beyond that, further tracking was impossible, and Rania pressed her temples tightly.
The birth of a new calamity.
Unfinished calamities, and the domains they would reach once they completed their evolution. Considering all of these, she saw this as a significant variable. A colossal variable that could shake the plans she had built.
“Haah…”
With a long sigh, Rania leaned back. The report wasn’t over yet, so she quickly skimmed through the remaining content.
“Overexertion in using divine magic has caused my condition to worsen, can I take some time to recuperate in the North, Hero?”
“No, not quite recuperation.”
“It might be better to keep observing the situation in the North for a while more…?”
In short, it was a request for some time off.
Rania pondered on Natida’s divine magic in her mind. Certainly, unlike Sara, who had no problem consuming copious amounts of divine power, Natida’s usage had side effects.
“Is the flow of her body tangled?”
Unlike previous saints, who possessed pristine divine power resembling clear water, Natida’s was clouded. The result of exposure to various drugs and artificial procedures. While her output of divine power was outstanding…
“Her self-recovery is slow.”
That murky flow often endangered her health.
Unlike other saints, who could purify their tangled energies quickly, Natida required a considerable amount of time for that, and during that time, she often found herself bedridden.
There were three methods for recovery.
One was to wait for natural healing; two, someone like Rania, who could skillfully handle starlight, could help alleviate the flow.
“And the last…”
Untainted holy relics.
Being exposed to sanctified relics with pure energy for an extended time. Given that no such relics remained in the present era, the third option was virtually non-existent.
“Before the church fell, a relic from hundreds of years ago should exist, but where would that be?”
While she was in thought, Rania blinked suddenly.
“Huh?”
What exactly was a holy relic?
A miraculous object that encapsulates sanctity.
In short, it possesses power related to gods and stars, and any object that has been touched by a saint can be considered a holy relic. If so, could ‘that’ also be a holy relic?
“It should still… exist?”
Even close to Natida.
Thinking about it, nothing else could compare to that holy relic.
The most sacred being in history, the relic they had used the longest. Rania quickly penned a letter.
“Tell Lac I asked for this.”
“Just show me the great sword you possess.”
The first hero, Ganikalt van Galatrick.
The first holy sword used by that being hailed as a saint. Rania reckoned it would be hard to find a holy relic more significant than that.
