Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of their feet rushing down the staircase filled the area. However, the swordmaster Hannah's scream that appeared every so often drowned it all out.
"Bin, didn't you say that she was still in the beginning stages?"
Bin urgently responded to Cale's question.
"Yes sir. She was in the beginning stages when we received the message last night."
Cale, as well as Litana, had left plenty of highest-grade potions for Hannah to remain at the beginning stages for as long as possible.
Cale could hear Tasha starting to speak from behind him.
"She is reaching the intermediate stages, but she is not there yet. However, it is still dangerous."
There was a sense of urgency in Tasha's voice.
Cale recalled his conversation with Mary as he continued to run down the stairs. This was a conversation they had while traveling on the ship.
'You said that there is a way to help her?'
'Yes. It is possible if she is a swordmaster.'
'…Mary, I don't want her to just be alive.'
'I know, Cale-nim. I will help her recover back to normal.'
Mary had sounded confident.
Although Mary might seem like a bit of an airhead, Cale knew that she meant the things she said.
Tap. Tap.
They could see a door at the bottom of the staircase. The door was open.
There was a reason the screams made it out of the room.
The servant was standing there, uncertain as to whether he should close the door or keep it open.
"What is going on?"
"Ah, Bin-nim!"
The servant's face brightened up after seeing Bin. Cale and Bin immediately headed for the door. They could see a hallway and a room through the open gap.
"Aaaaaaah!"
The scream was coming from that room.
The servant quickly reported to Bin.
"The guest started to seize starting about two hours ago. The guard is currently in the room waiting for any potential emergency situations while I couldn't decide who to report to."
The guest that the servant referred to was the swordmaster, Hannah. Cale could hear Tasha's shocked mumbling.
"..She's held on for two hours. Her endurance is amazing."
Cale tried to turn to look at Tasha but ended up making eye contact with the black robe.
"She's barely holding on. We need to hurry in."
Cale did not respond and instead turned his gaze toward the door. Bin and the servant were chatting by the door.
"The seizures are so serious that we cannot calm-."
"Move."
"…Excuse me?"
Someone walked between Bin and the servant.
The servant took a step back in surprise. A man who had an oppressive aura about him had walked in front of him.
That man was Cale.
"Young master-nim."
Bin called out to Cale and tried to walk in front of Cale. However, his body froze for a moment after making eye contact with Cale.
At that moment, Cale pushed the large door with both hands.
Screeeech- Bang!
The door opened with a loud noise and Cale walked inside. Mary, Tasha, the two Dragons, and Ron naturally followed behind him.
Bin observed this for a moment before giving the servant an order.
"Inform her majesty that an important guest has arrived."
"Ah, yes, yes sir!"
Bin verified that the servant left before urgently rushing behind Cale. Cale had already arrived at the open door inside the hallway.
Cale stood on the luxurious carpet as he stood in front of the door.
The door was wide open.
The room was well-lit, making it easy to see. Ron, who was right behind Cale, saw into the room and started to frown.
'…How terrible.'
It was a terrible sight, even for Ron.
"Ugh, aaaahhh!"
They could see Hannah on a bed twisting in pain.
Honestly speaking, it was difficult to even tell that it was her.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Black veins throughout her body looked ready to burst. Her nose, eyes, ears, and every other orifice on Hannah's face was currently bleeding.
There was also a black smoke rising out of her body.
"Ah. Ah-."
She was screaming with a hoarse voice. She seemed to have held back from screaming for a while as her lips were bleeding from where she had bitten down, and her eyes were red.
"Hannah, Hannah! Please, oh, lord!"
The Saint was at the edge of Hannah's bed, crying and unable to even say a prayer. He could not pray as he was worried that praying to the Sun God would harm Hannah, who was infected by the dead mana.
"Please. Hannah, just a little more strength! Please!"
The Saint pleaded while looking at Hannah. They would have a way to save her if she persevered a bit longer. Tens of empty highest-grade potion bottles were rolling around on the floor.
Hannah suddenly started seizing about two hours ago. The highest-grade potions did not help.
"Sniff, sniff."
The Saint cried while looking at the red eyes that were looking at him. His eyes were red as well. He felt like he was about to go crazy.
'I want to purify her.'
Seeing his younger sister continuing to generate black smoke made his thoughts as her brother and his thoughts as a Saint clash against each other. As a Saint, he wanted to purify his sister with his healing powers in order to get rid of the dead mana and the affected girl from this world.
However, doing so would kill his sister as well.
That was why he clenched his hands together and desperately pleaded while looking into his sister's eyes.
"Hannah, hold on a little bit longer! If you do!"
"Then she'll get better."
Tap.
A hand was placed on the Saint's shoulder. The Saint realized something once he felt the hand on his shoulder.
He thought that his sister was looking at him, however, she was looking past his shoulder. The Saint slowly turned his head after hearing the familiar voice.
It was Cale Henituse.
Cale was looking at Hannah as he continued to speak.
"Good job holding on until now. Hold on just a bit longer."
The Saint could let out a sigh of relief. However, he felt a pressure that clenched his heart at that moment.
The Saint's gaze headed toward the door.
There was someone wearing a black robe as well as another woman.
His hands started to shake as soon as he saw those two people.
His instincts, his powers given by the Sun God, were telling him about them.
'…A human who uses dead mana and a Dark Elf.'
For someone who grew up in the church as a Saint of the Sun God, these people were his enemies. Although he was a Saint who only had healing powers, his mind was still overcome by his natural instincts.
'…Must get rid of them. Must purify them.'
His divine powers given by the Sun God started to surround his body. The Saint's eyes turned red for a different reason.
It was at that moment.
Squeeeeze.
The hand on his shoulder clamped down. The Saint turned his head toward the person who was squeezing his shoulder with so much strength that he was about to groan. (Is Cale strong or is the Saint weak? )
He made eye contact with Cale.
Cale started to speak.
"They have come to save your sister while knowing that it may be dangerous."
The Saint could hear Cale's serious tone.
"Don't you want to save Miss Hannah, no, don't you want to save your sister?"
The Saint clenched his fists and bit down on his lips before slowly standing up. He then moved to the back. His body was shaking as he moved away while not looking at Mary and Tasha.
He then answered Cale's question.
"I can handle it."
He could force himself to not act on his instincts.
The Saint could see Cale start to smile for the first time today.
"Resist."
Cale gave that short response before immediately giving Tasha and Mary the order.
"Start."
"Yes sir."
"Got it."
The two of them immediately headed toward Hannah. Cale also headed toward the bed and lowered his body toward Hannah, who was still looking at him. He then got close to her ear so that she could hear him better before he started to speak.
"Hannah."
Mary had said that it was possible because she was a swordmaster.
'It is impossible to get rid of it completely, but her aura should be able to fuse with the dead mana. However, she will have the darkness attribute once the two fuse together and will also need to constantly maintain the balance between the two. There may also be some side effects.'
'But she will be able to live.'
'And I will be the one to fuse the two together.'
Cale continued to speak to Hannah.
"Raise your aura to the highest level. There will be a power helping you fuse the dead mana with your aura. Follow the path created by that power."
"Ugh, ugh."
Hannah opened her mouth to say something, however, only blood and black smoke came out of her mouth. Cale looked at her before saying one more thing.
"Make sure that you survive."
At that moment, Hannah closed her eyes and a golden aura started to come out of her body.
Mary pulled up her sleeves to reveal her hands that were covered in what seemed to be black spiderwebs. A black aura started to rise from her hand.
Tasha sat Hannah up while Mary placed both of her hands on Hannah's back. Mary then started to speak.
"Please direct your aura following my guidance."
Tasha created a black fog that surrounded Hannah and Mary at the same time.
Cale stepped back.
There was nothing left for him to do. Ron and Bin had already stepped out of the room with the highest-grade warrior as soon as Mary pulled up her sleeves.
Cale turned his head to one corner of the room.
The Saint was shaking while looking toward them. Eruhaben was standing next to the Saint with his arms crossed.
– Human, the Golden Dragon and I will watch the Saint.
Eruhaben and Raon did not have anything to do right now as they did not have the darkness attribute.
Since Cale was the same way, he just walked over and stood next to the Saint. Cale and Eruhaben were standing on either side of the Saint.
Cale could hear Eruhaben starting to speak.
"I haven't seen a proper necromancer in a long time."
The room was slowly filling up with a dark aura. Cale did not care about it that much as it was not poisonous like the dead mana, however, this was not true for one person in the room.
"Huff, huff."
The Saint was breathing roughly. This would be difficult for the Saint of the Sun God. Cale looked at the Saint for a bit before looking toward Eruhaben and starting to speak.
"She is the first necromancer since the death of the final necromancer."
"I see. Anyway, she is amazing. It should be painful for her to guide the dead mana in someone else's body."
Cale could see the Saint flinch after hearing Eruhaben's words.
Tasha had stealthily approached him during their ride over to the Jungle.
'Mary will be in the most pain during the fusing process. It will be even worse on her than on the Holy Maiden. However, she is adamant about helping the Holy Maiden out.'
'I'm sure that you know about her good nature, young master Cale.'
Cale started to speak.
"That necromancer, Mary, was crossing through the, 'Desert of Death,' with her poor parents when she was poisoned by dead mana. The rest of her family died and she was the only survivor." (I'm guessing the Land of Death has become the Desert of Death. )
The Saint slowly turned his head toward Cale.
"However, because of the poison, the only way for her to live was to absorb the darkness attribute. That was how she ended up as a necromancer. She came here to save Miss Hannah."
Cale's words sounded like thunder to the Saint. At the same time, he could hear the black-robed woman start to shout.
"You need to persevere! Push all of the dead mana toward me."
The black-robed woman's scarred hands were shaking seriously as she said that. Tasha was next to her providing black smoke for her.
The Saint could not take his eyes away from them.
Cale then started to speak to the Saint again.
"Saint-nim, Miss Hannah will also have the darkness attribute if she survives."
Cale closed his mouth without saying anything else.
The room was filled with Hannah's screams, Mary's shouts, and Tasha's desperate voice. However, a quiet voice managed to reach Cale's ear through all of that.
"…Young master Cale."
It was the Saint.
"Thank you very much."
Cale looked toward the Saint who was trying very hard to smile.
"I know how to differentiate between good and bad intentions."
At that moment, Eruhaben interjected into the conversation.
"That is what it means to be a Saint."
Eruhaben's words slammed against the Saint's heart. He closed his eyes and clenched his hands together. His nails were digging into his skin and making him bleed, however, he did not let go.
He now learned that there were somethings that were more important than the justice that the Sun God had taught him.
At that moment, a cold aura started to form around his hands. The Saint opened his hands to see that a potion was flowing onto his hands.
"It's good to resist, but you cannot get hurt in the process."
Cale was pouring a potion onto the Saint's hands. The Saint suppressed the emotions that were rising up inside him and nodded his head.
"Goodness was not elsewhere as I had thought."
It was very very close to him.
The Saint felt like he finally understood what true goodness meant. That made him feel more relaxed.
Seeing that the Saint seemed okay, Cale turned back to look toward Hannah and Mary. At that moment, Raon started to speak in his mind.
Raon sounded a bit hesitant.
– Human, I am sorry.
'What nonsense is he going on about now?'
Cale started to frown a bit.
– You had your scamming smile when you said that you would heal her, so I thought that you were lying. Human, you really are a good person. You are weird sometimes, but your foundation is good.
Cale ignored Raon.
– I was wrong. But human, that swordmaster will get better, right?
'Of course.'
Hannah, the fake Holy Maiden, needed to live.
The Holy Maiden who was poisoned by the dead mana bomb was able to overcome the darkness and continue to use her gold aura. Together with the just Saint who had healing powers, the two of them would be able to fill the hearts of the believers of the Sun God with admiration.
The Saint and the Holy Maiden will become real and be able to shake the core of the Empire.
Cale could hear Mary's voice again.
"Yes, just like that. Use your aura to create a path."
"Keep it up! You can do it!"
Tasha encouraged Hannah from the side.
Cale recalled the promise he had made with Hannah in the cave located within the, 'Path of No Return.'
Regardless of her involvement with Arm or her relationship as the Holy Maiden and the fact that they were being chased by the Empire, Cale had said the following.
'I will bring someone who can heal you, so wait for me.'
Cale was someone who kept his word.