episode_0111

The Grand Cathedral located within the Academy grounds. It is a place where those dispatched from the 교단 (Order/Church) reside and appear for treatment whenever there are Academy assignments or sparring sessions.

Naturally, there are hospital wards and operating rooms inside. Since they can heal any wound quickly, the wards were often empty, but today was an exception.

The day after Gerbil’s attack. Those who were exposed to his sagi or injured in the struggle with the corpses lay on beds, convulsing wildly.

“It’s the sagi of a high-level sorcerer! It’s on a different level from mediocre corpse sorcerers! It won’t heal by just pouring holy power blindly!”

“Bring all the remaining painkillers and stimulants immediately. Priest Piola, you are to carefully observe the patient’s condition and continuously suppress the sagi.”

“Yes, Sister.”

“Saint Candidate, Saint Candidate, where on earth have you gone?!”

“She entered the operating room!”

“Damn it. The surgery that started yesterday still isn’t finished?”

“They say they’re having trouble with the surgical procedure on a high-level mage. Moreover, it seems he has a unique constitution, so the anesthetic isn’t working well either…”

“Oh, my God!”

The wails of patients and the voices of the clergy burst out from all directions. It was a very alien scene for a cathedral that was usually quiet.

“……”

Frieren covered her left eye, hidden by a bandage, with her hand and let out a long sigh.

It was a headless corpse that called itself Katarina. She had been injured while fighting her. It wasn’t deep, but it was enough of a wound to cause an abnormality in her vision.

Fortunately, she received treatment and recovered, but opening her eye was still difficult. It was because Gerbil’s sagi had not completely disappeared.

A terrible sagi that is hard to completely erase even with the holy power of priests and the mana of elves.

Frieren clenched her teeth and lowered her head deeply.

‘What’s so great about a woman who can’t even properly handle one corpse he controls, that she’s in charge as dean?’

Frieren’s face distorted with self-reproach that constricted her entire body.

Gerbil, who brazenly attacked a place teeming with distinguished guests from outside. A useless dean who couldn’t stop him properly and struggled with just one corpse.

That the corpse was a powerful Archmage in life was irrelevant to the distinguished guests. What was important was that the dean had not done her job.

That there were many injured but not a single casualty was purely due to Gerbil’s will. For some unknown reason, he didn’t kill anyone when he attacked the Academy.

Thanks to this, there were almost no people openly criticizing or looking at Frieren askance, but that didn’t make her incompetence disappear.

In fact, objectively speaking, Frieren did do her best.

Criminals like Gerbil and a few others were already classified as natural disasters beyond the scope of humans. It meant that it was practically impossible to stop them, no matter where or how they appeared and committed slaughter. They could only hope for them to disappear quickly.

Continental Extermination Targets are like that. Because it’s impossible to even imagine how many victims there will be if they aren’t dealt with quickly, they are 人災 (man-made disasters) who must be killed as soon as possible by making everyone aware that they are public enemies.

In their wake, only pity and comfort remain. Only a tiny minority blame those who couldn’t cope.

But… but still…

“……Hoo.”

Frieren stopped blaming herself for now and slowly raised her head.

This was not the time to be lost in self-reproach. The first priority was to resolve the situation.

After splashing some water on her face, she grabbed a nun passing by and asked.

“Sister.”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to know when Asel’s surgery will end?”

“Ah… I don’t know well.”

The nun looked at the two men and five women who had been sitting in front of the operating room since yesterday and replied.

“They said the situation is a little… serious.”

***

“Continuously check his heart rate. Let me know immediately the moment it becomes even slightly abnormal.”

“Yes.”

“Everyone else, focus on organ restoration. Half are to perform the task of removing the sagi, and the rest are to focus on life support.”

“Yes, Archpriest.”

The cold air unique to operating rooms brushed past his cheeks. The Archpriest cut open Asel’s chest, who was lying on the operating table, with a knife imbued with Severing Magic. At the same time, Gerbil’s sagi surged like a liquid.

‘After pulling out the sagi for an entire day, this much quantity is still left?’

Just how terrible a sorcerer was he, that it wouldn’t disappear no matter how much they erased it? The Archpriest clicked his tongue and gradually incised Asel’s corrupted liver and stomach.

It wasn’t easy. For an ordinary person, the organs would have been cut just by bringing a knife to them, but Asel’s mana was automatically reacting to external interference and deploying shields, even though its owner was unconscious.

Thanks to this, the Archpriest could only touch the organs after cutting through all the shields. Even then, they regenerated again after a short time, so from the perspective of the one performing the surgery, it was maddening.

A surgery that had already gone well over 24 hours. The presence of people outside was getting stronger, and the people inside the operating room were long exhausted. The Archpriest performing the surgery was also the same.

But the surgery couldn’t be stopped.

‘I’m the only one here with medical knowledge. I have to finish it somehow.’

The moment they gave up, Asel would die.

As a servant who serves God, abandoning a life that can be saved is unthinkable. Perhaps the other clergy felt similarly, as they were all forcing themselves to circulate holy power to shake off fatigue, despite being exhausted.

“Internal bleeding has occurred again. We will restore it.”

“The anesthetic isn’t circulating in his body. It seems his mana is forcibly dismantling it, and he’s starting to develop immunity. Perhaps we should call someone who can use Sleep Magic…”

“The electrical signals inside his body are being adjusted by minute lightning. It seems his regenerative power has been boosted to an extreme degree, but he’s not seeing the effects due to the remaining sagi. We need to concentrate more personnel on the task of removing the sagi.”

Reports came in from all directions. The Archpriest wiped off his sweat and issued appropriate instructions to them.

“……Archpriest.”

At that moment, the Saint Candidate, who had been silent until now, called the Archpriest. He slightly turned his head to look at the Saint Candidate.

“Yes, Lady Irene.”

“……Is surgery originally this difficult? When I was doing practical training in the Holy Kingdom, it certainly didn’t take long…”

“Mana or aura. The higher the level, the more difficult surgery becomes.”

The Archpriest did not get annoyed at the Saint Candidate’s question. Instead, he replied in a calm voice while cutting Asel’s shields.

“The poor efficacy of medicine is the first reason, and the difficulty in harming the body is the second reason. No matter how much holy power you imbue in a knife, it is very difficult to literally ‘disassemble’ a superhuman who can single-handedly annihilate a city and face a great army.”

“……”

“However… this mage has gone one step further. While he was being brought in, his empty mana suddenly recovered, and not only did he start expelling the sagi accumulated inside his body on his own, but when I extended my knife, he deployed shields on his organs.”

“……Even though he’s unconscious?”

The Archpriest nodded. He completely incised the liver, which was about half rotten, leaving only a part, and poured holy power into it to allow it to recover.

……Zzzzt.

The Archpriest looked down at the liver that had slowly begun to grow and let out a long breath he had been holding.

This task had taken 5 hours.

“An unconscious mage usually cannot use any magic. However, this young mage is unconsciously deploying magic that can defend his body. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this. Perhaps all Archmages are like this.”

“……Archmage?”

Irene asked with wide eyes.

“Surely he was only 6th Circle?”

“He is a mage who used Extreme Magic. Being 6th Circle is out of the question.”

But the Archpriest dismissed her words with a firm voice.

“As you know, Lady Irene, one can only use Extreme Magic from the 8th Circle onwards. Below that, it is absolutely impossible to use Extreme Magic.”

“……But.”

“That is common sense. More importantly, Lady Irene.”

The Archpriest said placidly, looking down at the small lightning sparks rising from inside Asel’s body.

“How far has the restoration of the severed hand progressed? I saw that the bones, blood vessels, and nerves were regenerated, but…”

“Ah, we are currently regenerating the muscles. However, the process is being delayed because his mana is causing a rejection reaction.”

“The situation is similar in other places, so you don’t need to worry too much. Please keep working hard.”

“Yes.”

The Archpriest turned his head away from Irene, looked at Asel’s empty left eye, and wiped the blood from his clothes.

“The eye is the most sensitive organ, so we will postpone its regeneration until last. For now, focus on restoring the organs necessary for life support, and when the organ you are in charge of is finished, please move to another area.”

“Arch, Archpriest!”

At that moment, a priest who had been continuously administering anesthetic to Asel’s body shouted.

“T-The mage’s missing eye has begun to absorb holy power!”

***

“……님!”

“……”

“Lady Ena!”

“……!”

Ena suddenly opened her eyes at the voice calling her name.

The first thing that came into view was a wooden ceiling. Five candles hanging below illuminated the room brightly, and the flames flickered in the wind that blew in from the slightly open window.

The blowing wind carried a mixture of ash and the smell of blood. And faintly, there was a floral scent.

The scent of forget-me-nots, which she had smelled to the point of being sick of it when she lived in the Magic Kingdom.

Ena realized from the scent that this place was the territory of the ruined Magic Kingdom. Yufia must have probably made one of the somewhat intact houses a base and entered.

“……Yufia.”

Ena called her name in a cracked voice and struggled to raise her body.

But due to the aftereffects of the battle, her body had already reached its limit. Even the slightest movement caused her entire body’s muscles and nerves to scream.

Intense pain she had never felt since becoming an Archmage. Even though she had only moved a finger, Ena winced at the pain that felt like her arm was being completely severed and lay back down. Yufia wiped her body with a towel and spoke.

“You’re finally awake. It’s already been a day since you fainted.”

“……A day?”

“Yes. I can’t tell you how surprised I was when you came back covered in blood after going down to Somigung.”

Yufia roughly threw the towel stained with blood, bodily fluids, and sweat into a bucket and let out a deep sigh.

“What on earth… happened to you?”

“……”

Ena was silent for a moment, then closed her eyes slightly and mumbled.

“I went and fought the Saint and Birsia.”

“……”

“I almost killed both of them, but I couldn’t stop the Ritual from activating. I managed to somehow twist the Ritual, trap the two people in Somigung, and escape, but…”

She looked up at the ceiling with empty eyes.

“My rank was reduced.”

“……Pardon?”

At the unexpected answer, Yufia asked with wide eyes. Ena forced her unmoving arm to move and roughly covered her eyes with her hand.

“I’m not an Archmage anymore.”

“……What do you meanㅡ”

“5th Circle? No, maybe around 4th Circle? Anyway, my level has decreased to that extent. Because of the Ritual, everything else was stolen into Somigung.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes.”

Ena let out a long breath and let her arm fall weakly.

“I broke the growing demon’s ego, erased the Saint’s soul, and completely blew up Birsia’s lower body. Thanks to that, I bought a little time.”

“……You did all that by yourself?”

“Yes. I know. It was a bit lacking.”

…Is it okay to describe that as ‘lacking’?

Yufia momentarily harbored such a doubt. But Ena’s subsequent words snapped her to attention.

“Anyway. For now, the demon and those two are incapacitated. But if their goal from the beginning was to steal my rank through the Ritual. If it was to accelerate the demon’s growth with that.”

“……”

“I have to re-enter as quickly as possible, reclaim my rank, and completely destroy the demon’s mind.”

As soon as Ena finished speaking, Yufia said with a serious expression.

“We will dispatch an extermination squad. When should we set the date?”

“Sending them is useless.”

“……I know you think our Holy Kingdom’s power is insufficient. But if it’s something related to a demon, we cannot stand byㅡ”

“No, that’s not it.”

Ena said in a voice mixed with a sigh.

“The entrance to Somigung closed at the same time the Ritual activated. It won’t open until at least winter. Even if it opens, only one-way entry will be possible.”

“……Oh.”

“If you force it open, the demon’s mind that I barely broke will be forcibly awakened. Then there’s no going back.”

“……That means.”

Yufia looked down at Ena with a worried face.

“Until at least winter comes, you have to stay in your weakened state?”

“……That’s how it turned out.”

“Oh, my God.”

“It can’t be helped. I just have to accept it as the price for buying a little time.”

After saying that, Ena groaned and raised her upper body to lean against the wall and sit up.

“It’s not like I can’t use magic at all anymore. I still have the knowledge in my head.”

“……But.”

“That’s enough. Let’s stop talking about this now. I’ll leave the reports to the Holy Kingdom and Weihim to you. I think I need to rest a bit for a while.”

“……Understood for now. Please rest well today, and I will accompany you to your residence in Weihim tomorrow. As for transforming your body into lightning…”

“I can’t. It’s not like my uniqueness and mental image are gone, but if I use Lightning Transformation (雷化) with the mana I have now, that part will completely evaporate. Besides, I can’t even withstand the power of lightning anymore.”

“I understand.”

Yufia nodded and poured a glass of water into an empty cup, handing it to Ena. Ena thanked her and slowly drank the water.

At that moment, as if something had occurred to her, Yufia took out a small letter from her pocket.

“By the way, a letter arrived from the Aurora Magic Tower. It seems to be about your disciple.”

“Asel and the Magic Tower? That’s not a very fitting combination. Let me see.”

Ena said so, but couldn’t erase the smile from her face.

Her face brightening the moment her disciple’s name was mentioned. Yufia gave her the letter with a wry smile at her love for her disciple.

Ena’s lips twitched, and she managed to open the letter with trembling hands.

She then read the contents.

There weren’t many sentences written. But it was enough to make the expression disappear from Ena’s face.

[My disciple and your disciple are planning to hold an engagement ceremony, Ena.]

[Let me know if you have a convenient time?]

[Angelina.]

Tear!!

Ena ripped the letter and threw it on the floor. The moment Yufia was startled by her sudden action.

“Yufia.”

Ena’s voice was filled with killing intent.

“Go to the Academy, not Weihim.”

“Pardon? Why there…”

Ena sneered at Yufia’s question.

“I think I need to educate my disciple a bit.”