Chapter 864

The monsters that appeared from this rift weren’t individually powerful compared to previous ones. However, they compensated for that with overwhelming numbers and lightning-fast movement, surrounding targets in a swarm-like formation. When the tide turned against them, they scattered like dust in all directions—that was the real problem.

No matter how powerful the Awakeners were, their numbers were far too few compared to the monsters. There was a limit to how many they could face at once, and it wasn’t possible to completely block every monster that emerged. Once the number of monsters pouring from the rift began to decrease, the battle shifted—like people chasing after ants fleeing in panic.

“There! It’s running! After it!”

“Contact the outside, now! Monsters are breaking out beyond the temple boundaries!”

Signal flares lit the sky again and again. The clash of weapons and bursts of power illuminated the darkness.

And in the meantime, near the forest at the rear of the temple, in the center of a blood-soaked clearing, another fierce battle raged—just as intense as those in direct combat.

“Open his mouth—white one first, then brown, then black! Don’t tie the wound so loosely—make it tight! No splints? Break off a tree branch or something!”

Inon had set up a temporary tent to shield Yuder from the hail and cold. With him were a few members who volunteered to help, and Lusan. They were desperately working to treat Yuder.

He’d brought all the medicine he could carry, along with blankets and tools to lay him down, but even so, they lacked far too much.

The reason Inon hadn’t moved Yuder and instead pitched the tent right there was because he’d determined Yuder’s condition couldn’t withstand even minor movement. But the makeshift tent was barely functional—each time the hail picked up, it shook so violently it seemed ready to collapse. Eventually, two members had to hold the poles in place to keep it standing.

"......."

Regardless of whether the tent trembled or not, Yuder’s body lay there drenched in sweat, eyes closed, heat radiating off him so fiercely it looked like shimmering haze. The clean hailstones they used instead of ice melted instantly into water the moment they touched his skin.

“His arm! Hold it—I need to set the bone!”

“Y-yes!”

Cuts and bruises were relatively easy to deal with, thanks to Lusan’s healing power. But broken limbs were a different story. The bones weren’t cleanly snapped—they were misaligned, messy. Before healing them with divine power, they had to be properly set, and that wasn’t easy. They also had to lower his fever, stabilize his energy, and monitor the ominous black veins spreading through his body. Even ten hands wouldn’t have been enough.

Meanwhile, injured members from the temple started reporting in one after another, making them even busier.

“Pharmacist! Priest! We’ve got three more wounded! Should we gather them all in that building for now?”

“Again?! If they’re not dying, just pile them up somewhere!”

“Pharmacist! Isn’t it too dangerous for the wounded to come directly here because of the hail?”

“Use your damn eyes! This place’s already packed with this guy and your commander! Don’t ask again!”

“Yes, sir!”

“For fuck’s sake! How is it that, in this massive temple, every bastard who can use divine power just ran off?! Huh?! Rotten cowards! They’re only good for begging donations, stuffing their faces, and building temples! They can’t do shit!”

"......."

Under normal circumstances, Lusan would’ve chided Inon for that kind of vulgar outburst. But not this time—because there wasn’t a single lie in what he said.

When the number of gathered injured passed twenty, Inon frowned and barked:

“Kid! I’ve set all the bones—start pouring divine power! When you’re done, head to that building and take over that area!”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay alone with these two...?”

The ones in the building weren’t lightly injured, but at least their conditions could be handled with divine power alone. The two in this tent, however, were different. Even with only two patients, it was hard to tell where to even begin.

Honestly, if Lusan had been alone, he wouldn’t have known what to do with Yuder, nor how to handle Kishiar, who still sat silently a little ways off without proper treatment.

“I’ve done all I can with divine power. If I need you again, I’ll call.”

“Ah, alright! Please make sure you do call...”

“You think I wouldn’t? Just manage your energy well! Don’t waste too much on one guy! If I call and you tell me you’re passed out from overuse, you’ll be the one I strangle first! And take the white medicine over there when you go!”

“Yes!”

Divine power was a force drawn from the priest’s vitality and life force. If they used too much °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° at once, they could faint—or worse, age rapidly or even die early. Such cases were now mostly old legends, like folk tales.

Still, Inon warned Lusan sharply, as if he genuinely believed it could happen.

A pharmacist who wasn’t even from the temple, yet knew suspiciously much about divine power—and who also had an encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine, which the temple rarely dealt with these days. With his youthful face, it was hard to believe how much he knew. Lusan often wondered if Inon really was just a pharmacist.

But he always kept that question to himself.

What mattered was that Inon truly and honestly cared for him.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

‘And Inon doesn’t just know divine power... He knows way too much about magic, too. Maybe he used to be a magician’s apprentice working with medicinal research... Something like that. Studying herbal medicine inevitably overlaps with temple-related material.’

As an example, Tais Yulman and his apprentice Alik—both magic scholars who once researched herbs—had always clicked well with Lusan.

Clutching the white bottle Inon told him to take, Lusan dashed out of the tent. It was one of Inon’s special herbal mixes, ground into powder—highly effective for blood clotting and energy restoration.

Taking advantage of the moment while Lusan and most of the others were away, Inon carefully lifted the hem of Yuder’s ceremonial robe.

The black veins spreading from his chest had now reached down through his abdomen and completely overtaken his legs.

‘But... there’s something odd. One part around the lower abdomen has a different structure.’

Below the navel, one particular patch of black veins didn’t branch out like the rest—instead, it was tangled, densely packed. Roughly the size of an adult man’s fist, it looked less like a vein and more like a seed—no, more like the source of everything.

What mattered was that an immense vortex of power seemed to be emanating from it.

To Inon, it was obvious: this insane fever had to be coming from that thing.

“...He swallowed all the medicine you gave earlier. So, what else do I do now?”

A low, calm voice spoke. Inon looked up as he pulled Yuder’s robe back down.

Kishiar was seated in a folding temporary chair the members had brought with the tent. His face was partially wrapped in white bandages, giving him a different air than usual.

Of course, those bandages had been applied by Inon himself.

The moment the tent was up, Inon and Lusan had treated Kishiar’s injuries. His face and eyes had been badly scraped by the ground. After cleaning off the blood, it looked even worse—but thankfully, it hadn’t been poison or anything else, so Lusan’s healing worked well. His eyes would need to be shielded from sunlight for a while, but Inon judged there wouldn’t be any permanent scarring.

It was probably the best news Yuder Aile—who would likely never get tired of looking at that face—could hear.

‘Dammit. Why the hell am I even thinking about this? Whether that guy likes him or not has nothing to do with me!’

When you observed Yuder Aile, it became impossible not to notice how often—and how long—his eyes landed on Kishiar la Orr’s face. One might argue that was only natural, since he spent most of his day by Kishiar’s side as his aide.

But Inon, having learned what he had about their relationship, didn’t think so.

The Yuder Aile that Inon knew was not someone who stared unnecessarily at others, even if duty demanded it. No matter how blank his expression looked, the things in his eyes when he looked at Kishiar were unnerving—so sharp and intense that even Yuder himself probably didn’t realize it.

And Inon would very much prefer not to know. For life.

Inon glanced at the medication he’d given Kishiar earlier and finally spoke.

"How is your body feeling?"