Chapter 133

Matheos felt a firm grip on his wrist.

He could easily shake it off with force.

His body, strengthened by divine power, was now on par with a Sword Master. No matter how much Valencius had undergone the Rite of the Dragon, he was still no match for him.

However, the scales adorning his claw-like hand and his vertically split golden eyes conveyed an irresistible, powerful will.

“Your Excellency. If we do not capture him now, he will escape. Then he will do this all over again. At that time, it will be uncontrollable.”

Matheos listened to the screams echoing from the alleyways.

“Mom, Mom! Mooooom!”

“Someone cut off my leg!”

“Hey, hey! Don’t you remember me? We… Aaaaah!”

Strength surged through his sculpted body.

His muscles strained, and he moved.

“Duke Valencius. People are dying over there right now. If I go, there are those I can save.”

“I know.”

“No. You don’t understand. Valencius. If we have time to talk like this, we could save at least one more…!”

Valencius was also hearing the same voices.

He tried hard not to tremble as he held onto the Saint.

“I know I won’t be able to return until all one hundred are purified. You wouldn’t refuse a person reaching out for help, would you?”

Matheos couldn’t understand why he was stating the obvious.

“How can I refuse? If I can save them. That is the miracle bestowed by the Lord of Light. If it’s possible, don’t we have to do it?”

The Saint shouted like thunder.

Divine power surged, distorting the light and shadows in the area.

A righteous fury arose in his manly, intense face.

His determination and will were firm and just, filled with a compassionate regret.

Even if he were not a Saint, he seemed to have a gaze that would capture any human heart.

Yet, Valencius did not let go of his wrist.

“That’s right, Saint! If we can do it, we must! Only we can capture that pestilent monster!”

“!”

“Sir Barbatos is dealing with those Infiltrators, my sister who wields thunder has grown tired, my knights and your holy knights cannot attack from a distance, and the priests take time just to move.”

If they can do it, they must.

The options to do something were increasing.

They had to choose what to do.

“Right now, only you and I can kill that horrifying monster!”

Valencius shouted, his vertically split eyes shining.

An unusual desperation appeared on his face.

“Saint!”

“Please, save our child at least.”

The body transformed by divine power could hear even the smallest cry, an obligation and a right bestowed by the Lord of Light.

Matheos asked, hearing that voice.

It was a terrifying question to answer.

“Then are you telling me to give up on them, Duke Valen?”

He looked into Valencius’s eyes.

The wise, black eyes and the inhuman yellow eyes met.

Valencius did not turn his gaze away until the end.

For a moment, his voice trembled, but soon he regained his composure.

“If we do not, who can give up?”

“!”

“If you do not, who can give up?”

“Valencius!”

“If I do not, who can give up? If we must do it, we simply do it! Do you think some are doing this because they are happy? If you do not give up now, next time, it will be about ten thousand of them changing. If there are ten thousand Infiltrators, damn it, the population of the capital will be cut in half. That cannot be allowed!”

Valencius shouted fiercely.

“Someone must give up. I’ll just say it. If not us, who can kill one hundred? Who can decide that and bear the responsibility?”

“!”

“I am of the royal family, and the Saint has been chosen by God, so it is we who must decide and bear the responsibility! Right now, we have the obligation and right to leave them and go kill that monster!”

Just as the Saint possessed the power of divine strength, he held the power of experience gained over forty years of life before his return.

Not saving those who could be saved felt like negligence, neglect, and a sin of indifference.

Not stopping something when the future is clear also felt like negligence, neglect, and a sin of indifference.

Valencius held Matheos’s wrist as if looking at a young beast heading toward a trap, like coaxing a child trying to touch the fire.

People say experiencing the heat is how one becomes mature, but ultimately, that’s how one grows.

‘Rudi.’

Valencius knew that the teacher of experience charges a very high tuition.

The phrase “you have to experience it to understand” felt like the irresponsibility of someone who did not want to be the bad guy dissuading a person acting on goodwill.

‘We cannot lose the capital.’

And he was already someone who had resolved to become the most notorious bandit.

* * *

With his flamboyant platinum hair, inhuman golden eyes, and a stark white suit that created an atmosphere separate from his surroundings, Crown Prince Valencius stood out.

Matheos thought of him while looking on.

He truly was incomprehensible.

To say he was merely seeking personal gain and rights, he had a strangely self-sacrificial and sympathetic side, and to say he was pursuing the public good, he was aristocratic and arrogant.

To call him an evil man seemed off, for he had a subtle dedication, yet he could not quite be called a good man either.

“… Are you really going to let a hundred die?”

“Yes.”

The cold answer came back.

Matheos loosened the strength in his arms.

His previously flushed body cooled.

He knew the name of this dreadful, terrible, and sticky sensation.

It was helplessness.

To anyone else, it would seem absurd, an emotion unworthy of one like the Son of God.

“Your Majesty Valencius!”

“Lord Valen!”

At that moment, a knight cloaked in red and a maid rushed from afar.

Seeing them, Valencius smiled.

A single thought crossed his mind.

Even he thought it was crazy.

Shiiiiiiiii-!

The massive Infiltrator began to release steam and fluids, reducing its size.

If it returned to the size of a human head, there would be no way to catch it or find a solution.

“Yeah. That’s how it should be, right?”

A meaningless laugh lingered on his lips.

He had not hesitated at the crossroads but did not hesitate to turn back when a new path emerged.

Since he was not a Saint, he could not perform miracles, and when it came to imitating such a feat, there was no time to choose means and methods.

“Saint! Perhaps we should not let it die.”

“Are you mocking me? What is that suddenly…!”

Valencius shouted toward Lady Trentia.

This was also something he should not do.

It may have been shifting the burden onto the friendly Trentia instead of dealing with the difficult Saint.

“Lady Trentia! This is an order! Find the parts of those who have begun to change and cut them out entirely. Whether it be eyes, arms, legs, or bellies, just cut them off!”

“What? Lord Valen, what did you just say?”

Rudi opened her green eyes wide in shock.

She had seen Valencius’s antics for the longest time, but this was completely out of her expectations.

“Please stop him!” She looked at Trentia with a pleading gaze.

Trentia shouted at the top of her lungs.

Her voice resonated through the helmet.

“I will carry out that order, my Lady Trentia!”

“Whaaat?!”

Rudi stared at Trentia in disbelief.

Trentia was the knight of knights.

She believed in the long-standing adage that when knights start using their heads, the territory is doomed.

That’s why they cultivated knights at such a high cost, to be prepared for situations that couldn’t be resolved by intelligence.

In other words, if a knight had to take action, it meant it was a situation where outstanding martial power was required rather than exceptional strategy.

What if people ended up dying?

Were they prepared to get innocent blood on their hands?

If they weren’t, they should not be knights.

No, the purpose of a knight was to do such things.

She instinctively assessed the situation, looking at the dejected Matheos with the expression of a defeated soldier who lost his country, Valencius clasping Matheos’s wrist, and the massive Infiltrator that was on the verge of escaping from the encirclement of the hundred or so potential Infiltrators and priests.

The hand gripping the sacred sword ‘Hwanhan’ tightened once again.

Rudi urgently said to Trentia.

“If we stop the corruption like that, if they bleed too much, they will die.”

Trentia pointed to the roof as she replied.

“Rudi, there are priests all around. This space is filled with divine power. The bleeding will stop quickly.”

Rudi was also positioned to catch the gaze of those above.

She nodded, reloading the magic arrow into her magic crossbow, and infused mana into the dagger ‘Saengdong’ that Valencius had given her, wrapping the blade in frost and ice.

“We cannot let them die. Lady Trentia, I will protect those who have already been completely corrupted. Just leave those who can walk here to me. I appear more friendly than you do, and since my daggers are smaller, it will hurt less.”

These were words said by someone adorned in a blood-stained blouse, gripping a magic crossbow and a magic dagger, her green eyes gleaming with frenzied loyalty.

To anyone, she appeared to be the most trusted aide of a notorious Crown Prince, a mad maid.

“I don’t trust you.”

* * *

Matheos thought as he charged toward the massive Infiltrator.

Valencius was truly incomprehensible.

First, they would remove the corrupted parts to slow the rate of corruption, then defeat the giant Infiltrator, and finally treat properly.

It wasn’t an impossible idea.

In fact, he had heard of a similar operation before.

The Holy Knight Angeros reportedly did something similar when closing the Magical Realm.

It wasn’t such a foreign concept as to startle him.

Just do emergency treatment and treat properly after the battle was over.

Matheos pondered.

Then why could he not give such orders to the holy knights?

Of course, removing flesh like peeling a potato was far from general medical practice, but if given the choice between dying, being corrupted, or having a piece of flesh removed, most people would choose the latter.

Why had Duke Valencius proposed a new solution as soon as his subordinates arrived, and yet he was still struggling with a moral dilemma of saving or sacrificing a hundred people?

‘Lord of Light.’

The Saint soon found the answer.

Matheos sought the right answer, while Valencius sought the solution.

‘Perhaps because he was a saint who had been raised on the scriptures, which contained answers.’

In fact, the scriptures stated, “I alone am the truth.”

‘Other than not doubting him, nothing in this world is the answer; it’s just a solution.’

Thinking that way made Valencius seem somewhat different.

Matheos had thought he was insane when he kidnapped him and took him to Wyvernfit, and to some extent continued to think that way, but now he felt a bit differently.

It was merely a compromise to solve the problem, as the clergy should not choose to ride a wyvern on their own will when they must head to the monastery as soon as possible.

The Infiltrator had now reduced from 20m to about 8m.

As its body diminished, its steps quickened, faster than the speed at which the priests and holy knights could restrain it and hold it down as it escaped the encirclement.

The upper part, like a flower bud, was shaking as if something was about to burst out.

“What’s with this thing that only has three legs, going so fast!? I’ll chop it to bits and rub it with vinegar and garlic; I’ll dip it in boiling oil and fry it! It’ll be eaten alive by crows!”

Valencius hurled a flurry of hearty curses.

Even that was quite mild, considering Matheos was beside him.

Matheos was convinced that those curses were everyday raillery.

“Duke Valen, are you ready?”

“Yes, Saint.”

Matheos gathered divine power into both hands.

Whoooooouuummm-!

As the surrounding light and shadows distorted and gathered, a wave of white light burst forth in a narrow fan shape.

“Griiiieeeek!”

Enveloped in divine power, the Infiltrator screamed as its body began to ignite.

The area that had once burned opened once again, melting away.

Inside were clumps that looked like seeds or eggs.

Valencius shuddered in disgust as he summoned the power of incantation.

Those things definitely had to be eradicated.

“Piercing flames! Sticking flames!”

A thread of magic was woven into the ‘Lance of Fire.’

A soft golden light surrounded Valencius like a halo, and he shot forth the Lance of Fire.

The blazing flames, tracing a comet-like trajectory, entered directly into the Infiltrator’s ‘mouth.’

Flrrrroooom!!

The flower bud, now reaching 8m, ignited from within.