Chapter 75

EP.75 Side Story, The Heretic (3)

Sarah is a saint. She was raised as a saint in the Delohim sect, which worships the stars as gods. In the Delohim sect, Sarah learned much as a cleric and a saint.

There was a method among them to eavesdrop on prayers.

Originally, eavesdropping on prayers is a miracle only permitted to high priests. Even high priests cannot hear everyone's prayers. They can only eavesdrop on the prayers of those with strong faith, such as cardinals or the leaders of the Holy Knights. And even then, only at very close distances.

However, Sarah is different.

She is a saint blessed by nature.

Even with the faith of a regular Holy Knight, Sarah can eavesdrop on their prayers.

-So, you mean you can hear them at that distance?

From far away as well.

-At that distance, I could hear them if I stood in a field. But, I feel something blocking it now. Hmm, it's hard to explain...

Ah, Sarah clapped her hands.

-Originally, eavesdropping on prayers is like seeing light. Hearing light as sound... it's a bit like that. Right now, the light is very dim. It's as if it's being swallowed by fog.

She nodded.

-Yes, I can't hear them clearly, but I can definitely tell they're alive. I keep hearing their prayers. What are they praying for? I already told you, Raniel.

Sarah recited the prayer expressionlessly.

-God, please forgive my heresy.

-Oh, my God, do not forgive my heresy. Please bring divine punishment upon me.

-Lord, oh Lord...

-I am, I am, who am I?

Sarah, who had been reciting the prayers calmly, had a very peculiar expression.

-...Hmm, it seems everyone is a bit mentally unstable. Their words are all over the place, but in short, it comes down to this.

Sarah said.

-Please kill me.

Thinking of those words, Raniel opened his eyes.

"Tsk."

Raniel clicked his tongue. It wasn't a situation he liked. He didn't know what was happening inside, but...

'It's probably not something worth seeing.'

After all, things involving the Demon King's army were always like that.

Just as Raniel was thinking this, Remia, who was standing beside him, spoke.

"Human."

"What, you annoying thing."

She frowned and pointed to the ground. There was a sewer leading to the fortress.

"So, you want to go down there?"

"Yeah."

"It's dirty. Really."

"Then, do you want to break through that?"

Raniel pointed with his finger. The place they were standing had less fog thanks to the Sword Master cutting through it with his sword.

However, the place Raniel pointed to was different.

It was completely shrouded in fog, a path where not even an inch ahead could be seen due to the fog surrounding the fortress.

Numerous glowing eyes flickered in that fog.

They were circling the fortress, hidden in the fog, but they didn't attack first.

Pointing to them, Raniel asked.

"Can you break through all of that?"

"...If Kail were here."

"Yeah, if Kail were here, he could break through it all night. But, you'd be exhausted before you even caught Gletus. You might have to turn back."

Raniel clicked his tongue and kicked open the sewer lid. The sewer was also filled with fog, but a straight passage would be easier to navigate.

"I'll go first."

"...Sigh. Alright."

Raniel, wearing a hood, jumped in first, followed by Remia. As soon as they stepped into the sewer, Raniel folded his fingers. The spells were released.

Silence.

Stealth.

The spells enveloped Remia and Raniel, making their footsteps and presence faint. Remia muttered in a low voice.

"It stinks."

"It's a sewer."

"Why are we going this way?"

"Besides safety, I looked at the fortress's blueprints, and there's an underground passage leading to the fortress here."

Rodimel Fortress was a fortress remodeled from an old castle.

The secret passages used by the castle's owner were connected to such sewers.

'Apparently, some knights knew about them too.'

After a few steps, they saw the bodies of knights.

They seemed to have been torn apart by monsters while trying to escape through the sewer.

Crunch, crunch.

The sound of something being chewed came from nearby.

Raniel looked in the direction of the sound. Giant monsters resembling rats were devouring the bodies of the knights. There were many of them.

"It's less than outside."

"Yeah. I'd hate to waste my arrows."

"...I'll do it, so save yours. You might need them for sniping inside the fortress."

Raniel clapped his hands.

Acceleration.

Muscle Enhancement.

Strength Enhancement.

Spells to strengthen his body enveloped him. He didn't prolong the duration. It was enough to last from one end of the passage to the other.

The enhanced physical spells pushed beyond their limits.

Raniel compensated for the cost with mana. Ash rose from his body.

He bent his knees.

With the overlapping enhancement spells, the sewer floor began to crack under his feet.

"Follow my signal."

Raniel kicked the ground.

The sewer floor crumbled, but no sound was heard. Everything happened in silence.

-Grroo?

The monsters didn't notice Raniel passing by. They only showed a slight reaction to the ash scattered in his wake.

Thud.

Raniel reached the end of the sewer.

He exhaled and snapped his fingers.

Ignite.

A spark flew.

The moment the spark touched the ash, flames engulfed the sewer. Heat filled the space.

-...!

In silence, the monsters burned to death.

It didn't take long for the monsters filling the sewer to be consumed by the flames.

Sizzle.

The heat didn't last long.

Once there was nothing left to burn, the heat subsided. Remia stepped through the ash-covered remains of the monsters.

"Here."

At the end of the sewer, they pulled open an iron grate. It was a passage connected to the upper levels of Rodimel Fortress.

"Ugh!"

The moment they opened the passage, Remia frowned. She pinched her nose and took an unconscious step back. It wasn't because her senses were overly sensitive.

"...What is this?"

Raniel also showed a similar reaction.

The stench was overwhelming. It was enough to make one's mind fuzzy just by smelling it. The fortress was filled with this foul odor.

It wasn't the smell of monsters.

It wasn't the smell of decaying bodies or the stench of death.

Remia didn't recognize the smell. However, Raniel, the future Master of the Black Tower, knew it.

'...Drugs.'

Alchemical drugs.

The smell was mixed with a foul odor, but it was definitely the smell of drugs. Raniel also knew the type of drug.

"...Anesthetic, fusion agent."

Two types of drugs. Raniel didn't want to imagine what they were used for.

2.

"Wait a moment."

While we were in the middle of a conversation, Cardi suddenly interrupted and spoke.

"The smell of anesthetic and fusion agent?"

"Yeah. I've seen them in the tower before. But, they were a bit different. They were mixed with a foul odor."

I nodded and took a sip of my drink.

Cardi stroked his chin and then brought something from a display case.

"Is this similar?"

Pong, he uncorked a potion bottle and handed it to me.

I scrunched my face and leaned back.

"Damn, while I'm drinking...!"

"So, is this similar?"

"Ugh, damn. Yeah, that's exactly the smell."

"Hmm."

With my answer, Cardi recorked the bottle. Then, he let out a bitter laugh and muttered.

"You've gone too far, Gleria."

"...What do you mean by that?"

Honestly, I still didn't know what it was. I only knew that it was used for melting something.

'The foul odor... I don't know what it is.'

I pointed to the fusion agent on the table.

"Is this a fusion agent?"

"It is a fusion agent, but not the kind used in the tower now. What kind of fusion agent do you know, Raniel?"

"...It's used to melt monsters. It might be used on humans too, but at least in our tower, it wasn't."

"Right, it's taboo."

Muttering, Cardi placed the fusion agent on the table and brought a cage from somewhere. Inside the cage was a small monster.

'A monster used for experiments.'

It's useful, but very difficult to obtain permission for. It's also very hard to get.

"Do you have permission?"

"Why would I bother with that?"

"Ooh...?"

"I do, from a long time ago."

Cardi shrugged and opened the cage.

He took out the monster and placed it on the table. Then, he put a piece of fruit on it.

"...What are you doing?"

"It'll be faster to see once. The smell you detected is correct. But, the fusion agent from the past was a bit different."

Thud, he dropped a drop of the fusion agent on the monster.

"This."

He lifted the convulsing rat-like monster.

It looked different from the initial one.

"It's not for melting, but for fusion."

The rat-like monster and the piece of fruit were mixed together.

It was a horrifying sight, hard to describe.

"Damn."

The corpse of a hatchling.

And a skeleton made of human bones. Raniel imagined what shape it would take once completed.

'Bone Dragon.'

A Bone Dragon based on a Black Dragon.

The horror didn't end there. Something slimy was crawling on the floor.

Thud!

The woman pulled the slimy substance and wrapped it around the skeleton. Seeing this, Raniel gasped.

Why could he hear the knights' prayers?

The answer was right in front of him.

'They're really alive.'

Raniel saw the emblem of the Holy Knights in the writhing slime. His expression soured. The slime was the Holy Knights whose bodies had been melted.

Gletus is a summoner, but before that, he is an alchemist. And there is one taboo for alchemists.

'Do not use living humans as a medium for alchemy.'

In fact, this is more about the laws of the world than alchemy. The stars forbid the mutation of the body. The Delohim sect, which worships the stars, considers it a sin.

For an alchemist.

For a mage.

For anyone living under the light of the stars, it is a sacrilegious act that should never be done.

Even Raniel, an atheist, considers it sacrilegious. He believes it should never be done.

'Breaking the taboo.'

Committing a sin.

The Delohim sect calls such beings this.

Heretic.

The white hair fluttered.

The woman's face was revealed. She was expressionless, almost to the point of being unbelievable for someone who breaks taboos.

Raniel felt restrained madness there.

He felt an instinctive repulsion from her gleaming green eyes.

Heretic, Gletus.

One of the four calamities that destroyed the kingdom.

The calamity he encountered was madness in the form of a woman.

Author's Note

"Hehe, Sevbal is the weakest of the Four Kings..."