EP.75 Side Story, Apostate (3)
Sarah is a saint. She was raised as a saint by the Delohim Church, which worships stars as gods. As a priest in the Order of Delohim, Sarah learned a lot as a saint.
Some dogs even had a way of eavesdropping on prayers.
Originally, eavesdropping on prayers was a miracle granted only to high-ranking priests. High priests also cannot hear everyone’s prayers. I could only overhear the prayers of people with strong religious beliefs, such as cardinals or knights. And that’s limited to very close distances.
However, Sarah is different.
She is a saint born with blessings.
Even if Sarah had the faith of an ordinary paladin, not a leader, she could overhear their prayers.
-So, you’re saying you can hear it from that distance?
Even in remote places.
-If it’s that far away, you can hear it if you stand in the field. But now I feel like something is blocking me. Well, it’s hard to explain this…
“Ah,” Sarah clapped her hands.
-In the first place, eavesdropping on prayers means seeing light, right? Listening to light as sound… it’s a bit of a concept. The light is very dim now. It was as if I had been swallowed by fog.
She nodded.
-Yes, I can’t hear it properly, but it’s definitely alive. I keep hearing the sound of prayer. What do you pray for? I told you earlier, Raniel.
Sarah recited a prayer expressionlessly.
-God, forgive my apostasy.
-Oh my God, do not forgive my apostasy. Please punish me with heavenly punishment.
-Lord, oh Lord…
-I am, am I, am I?
-Who am I?
Sarah, who was calmly reciting a prayer, made a very mysterious expression.
-···Hmm, I guess everyone is a little mentally ill? I know I’m going to go through a lot of words, but if I were to summarize it in one word, it would be this.
Sarah said.
-Please kill me.
Remembering those words, Raniel opened his eyes.
“Tsk.”
Raniel clicked his tongue briefly. He wasn’t very happy with the situation. I don’t know what’s going on in there…
‘Well, it won’t be something worth seeing.’
Because it’s always been like that when I’m involved with the Demon King’s army.
As Raniel was thinking that, Remia, who was standing next to him, suddenly opened her mouth.
“human.”
“Well, you idiot.”
She frowned and pointed to the floor. There was a sewer line leading to the fortress.
“So, you went down here?”
“uh.”
“It’s dirty. very.”
“Then will you go through that road?”
Raniel stretched out his finger and pointed forward.
There is little fog where they are standing now. This is thanks to the Sword Master Kuntel cutting down the fog.
However, the place Raniel pointed to is different.
The place is completely covered in fog. Thanks to the fog surrounding the fortress, you can’t even see an inch ahead.
Numerous eye lights flash through the fog.
They just wandered around the fortress, immersed in fog, but did not rush in first.
Raniel asked, pointing at it.
“Can you get through all of that?”
“···If Kyle is there.”
“Yeah, if Kyle was there, we could get through it all night. But, you’ll be exhausted while digging through it. “We’ll have to go back before we catch Gletus.”
Raniel grumbled and opened the sewer cover with his tiptoe. There is fog even inside the sewer. However, if it is a straight passage, it is easy for opponents.
“I go first.”
“···ha. okay.”
Raniel, wearing a hood, jumps in first, followed by Remia. As soon as he set foot in the sewer, Raniel folded his fingers. The spell is released.
Silence.
Stealth.
A spell surrounds Remia and Raniel. The sound of their footsteps and their presence became faint. Remia muttered in a low voice.
“It stinks.”
“Because it’s a sewer.”
“Why do you have to go here?”
“Safety aside, I looked at the blueprints of the fortress, and there is an underground passage leading to the fortress.”
Rodimel Fortress is a fortress built by remodeling an old castle.
The secret passage that the owner of this castle would have used is connected to this sewer.
‘Actually, it seems like some knights knew about it.’
After walking a few steps, I see the corpses of the knights.
It looks like it was bitten by demonic beasts while trying to escape through the sewer.
Crack, cluck.
The sound of something being crunched is heard.
Raniel looked where the sound was coming from. Giant beasts resembling rats were devouring the corpses of the knights. There were a lot of them.
“It’s less than outside.”
“huh. “It’s a bit of a waste to shoot my arrow.”
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“···I will do it, so just save it for now. “There might be a lot of use for sniping inside the fortress.”
Raniel claps his hands.
Accel.
Increased strength (Muscular).
Enhance-Strength.
A spell that strengthens the body surrounds his body. Don’t take that long. It’s enough to cover the passage from end to end right now.
A physical strengthening spell cast beyond its limits.
Raniel replaces the cost with mana. Ash rose over Raniel’s body.
He bent his knees.
Due to the overlapping reinforcement spells, the floor of the sewer he stepped into began to crack.
“Follow when I give you the signal.”
Raniel kicks the ground.
The bottom of the sewer caves, but no sound is heard. Everything happens in silence.
-Gooooh?
The demon beast does not notice Raniel passing right next to him. He only reacts weakly as he sees the ashes flying everywhere he passes.
widely.
And then, Raniel arrives at the end of the sewer.
Raniel let out a short breath and snapped his fingers.
Ignite.
Tick, and sparks fly.
The moment the spark catches the ashes, flames engulf the sewer. Heat fills the sewer.
-······!
The demonic beasts burn to death in silence.
It didn’t take long for the demons that filled the sewer to burn to death.
Chi profit.
The heat doesn’t last long.
As soon as there is nothing to burn, the heat subsides. Remia took her steps among the demonic beasts, where only ashes remained.
“Here.”
They arrive at the end of the sewer and pull out the iron bars. This is a passage connected to the upper level of Rodimel Fortress.
“Ugh!”
The moment the passage was opened, Remia frowned. Clutching her nose, she absentmindedly took a step back. It’s not because she has sensitive senses.
“···what’s this.”
Raniel also shows a similar reaction.
The stench stings my nose. The fortress is filled with a stench that makes you faint just by smelling it.
That is not the body odor of a demonic beast.
It is not the smell of a rotting corpse or the smell of death.
Remia doesn’t know that smell. However, Raniel, the next Ash Tower lord, knows this smell.
‘···drug.’
A drug used in alchemy.
Although there was a foul odor mixed in, it was clearly the smell of drugs. Raniel also knows the type of drug.
“···Anesthetic, melting solution.”
Two medications. Raniel didn’t really want to imagine what it was used for.
2.
“Wait a moment.”
As we were in the middle of talking, Cardi suddenly cut me off and opened her mouth.
“It was the scent of anesthetic and melting liquid?”
“uh. Because I often saw it at the Magic Tower. But it was a little different from normal. “Because there was a bad smell mixed in.”
I nodded and drank my drink.
Cardi massaged her chin and took something out of the display case.
“By any chance, is this direction similar?”
Pong, he handed me the uncorked potion bottle.
I leaned back with a frown.
“Hey, you’re drinking…!”
“So, was this heading similar?”
“Oh shit. Oh, it was just this smell.”
“hmm.”
In response to my answer, Cardi put the stopper back on the potion bottle. And then, with a bitter smile, he muttered.
“You’ve gone as far as you can, Gleria.”
“···What on earth is that?”
To be honest, I didn’t know its identity there either. All I could tell was that it was used to melt something.
‘I don’t know what that stench is.’
I pointed to the melt on the table.
“Is that melted liquid?”
“First of all, it is a melting liquid. However, it is not the melting liquid currently used in the Magic Tower. “What kind of melting liquid do you know, Raniel?”
“…Isn’t it used to melt demonic beasts? “It could be used on humans too, but at least it wasn’t like that in our magic tower.”
“I guess so, because it’s taboo.”
Muttering, Cardi placed the molten liquid on the table and brought an iron bar from somewhere. The iron cage contained a small-sized demon.
‘A magical beast used for experimentation.’
It’s useful, but I know it’s very difficult to get permission. It’s also very difficult to obtain.
“Did you get permission?”
“Why should I bother receiving something like that?”
“Oh···.”
“I accepted it. “A very long time ago.”
Cardi shrugged and opened the cage.
He took out the magic beast and placed it on the table. He then placed a piece of fruit that had been placed as a snack on top of it.
“···What are you doing?”
“It will be quicker to take a look. What you smelled was the scent of melted liquid. However, meltwater in past times was a bit different than it is now.”
With a tap, he dropped a drop of melted liquid on the magical beast that resembled a rat.
“like this.”
He lifted up the twitching rat cub.
Its appearance was different from that of the first rat.
“It’s a drug that aims at fusion rather than melting.”
Apple slices and mouse babies are mixed together.
It was a rather terrifying sight that is difficult to describe in words.
“···hey.”
I spoke to Cardi while covering my mouth.
“You idiot, you’re carrying snacks right now…”
“Oh my, that wasn’t enough consideration.”
“Clean it up quickly, damn it! Ouch!”
I have a good stomach, but it’s still not that good. Maybe it was because I was reminiscing about the past, but the ‘thing’ I saw at Rodimel Fortress came to mind.
“Whoop, whoop…”
A feeling of nausea came along with the intoxication.
“Don’t throw up on the desk.”
“Shut up, you idiot!”
3.
There was no need to fight after invading Rodimel Fortress. More precisely, he shouldn’t have fought.
The number of magical beasts residing in the castle is very small.
However, its level cannot be compared to the demonic beasts outside. Above all, they are all directly connected to Gletus.
‘A shared state of sensation.’
They are the eyes and ears of Gletus.
“You can’t fight.”
Raniel declared that.
They slowed down their pace and explored the castle. The inside of the fortress was strangely quiet.
It is a fortress where dozens of knights and soldiers were stationed.
However, no bodies remain. It’s empty. All you can hear is periodic clanking and clanking sounds.
Clap.
Remia and Raniel walked following the sound. The more I walked, the closer the sound got. Eventually, they arrived at the hall in the center of Rodimel Fortress.
“·····.”
The stench gets stronger.
Raniel lowered his head. The blood stains were long. The blood trail continues to the center of the hall.
Clap!
A sound is heard from the center of the hall.
Raniel was about to take a step without thinking, but stopped. He turned around and he met Remia’s eyes.
Eyes exchanged.
They took a few steps back in silence and picked up a small piece of stone.
Then, with a swish, he threw it into the hall.
This is the moment when the stone is about to touch the floor of the hall. The air trembled. Something huge moved. At a very fast speed.
Ka-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!
Something passed.
Even though it passed by at high speed, it was caught in the sight of Raniel and Remia for a long time.
Ka-ga-gag, ka-ga-ga-gag.
Eventually it stopped.
Raniel saw what filled his eyes. It is the skin of a demonic beast. However, it is different from an ordinary magical beast.
It’s like looking at a steep canyon.
It is a magical beast with rough skin that protrudes here and there. Raniel slowly raises his gaze upward.
The huge magical beast resembles a snake.
A snake-like beast is coiled in the hall. It protects the hall by inserting itself between pillars, hiding itself very cleverly.
It slowly lowers its head.
-······.
Something resembling a dragon’s head comes down to where Raniel and Remia are. They hid behind the pillar, holding their breath.
The slitted eyes look around, then throw their head back again. Looking at the skull, Raniel had to hold back the cursing he was feeling inside.
‘Holy shit, that…’
It’s a black dragon.
It is the skull of a black dragon that was cut down and killed about a month ago.
‘···I said I missed it because I was attacked.’
I never thought I would meet you in a place like this, like this.
So, what’s in that hall?
suddenly.
In Raniel’s mind, things that were not recovered after being attacked by something immediately after defeating the black dragon come to mind.
‘···Hatchling’s body.’
While clinging to the pillar, Raniel peeked his head out. He checks the inside of the hall guarded by a demonic beast resembling a crustacean dragon.
Clap!
There is a woman in the center of the hall.
Her hair was pure white. Her pure white hair was caked with blood. She is tearing at something.
Clap!
Raniel narrows his eyes.
I see it piled up next to the woman. It’s a person. However, he is no longer human.
Clap!
The woman uses it like an ingredient.
What is created through him? Raniel narrowed his eyes a little more. Eventually, it caught my eye.
‘f*ck.’
Hechling’s body.
And, a skeleton made of human bones. Imagine what the framework will look like when it is completed.
‘Bone-Dragon.’
Also, this is a bone dragon created based on a black dragon.
The horror doesn’t end there. There is something slimy crawling on the floor.
Clap!
The woman pulls something slimy and entangles it in the skeleton. Looking at that scene, Raniel held his breath.
Why were the knights’ prayers heard?
The answer was right in front of my eyes.
‘Really, because he’s alive.’
Raniel confirmed the sign of the Holy Knights in the writhing slime. His expression rots. Those slimes were paladins whose bodies had been melted.
Gletus is an alchemist before he is a summoner. And, alchemists have one taboo.
‘Do not use living humans as a medium for alchemy.’
In fact, it is a problem related to the laws of the world before alchemy. The star considers physical mutation a taboo. The Delohim Church, which worships the stars, considers it a sin.
If you are an alchemist.
If you’re a wizard.
A sacrilegious act that no one living under the stars should ever have done before.
Even the non-religious Raniel considers it blasphemy. I think it’s something that shouldn’t be done.
‘Breaking a taboo.’
to commit sin.
In the Delohim Church, such beings are called this.
Apostate.
Pure white hair flutters.
The woman’s face is revealed. She is infinitely expressionless. Since she is someone who breaks a taboo, she is incredibly calm.
Raniel feels controlled madness there.
I feel an instinctive repulsion in the woman’s shiny green eyes.
Gletus, the apostate.
One of the four plagues that destroyed the kingdom.
The disaster we encountered was madness in the shape of a woman.
A word from the author (author review)
“Hehe, Skebal, that guy is the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings…”
