Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 393

The smell of blood made his stomach turn, but Salem did not give up.He sorted through the dead to find the injured, and began treating the wounds of those who seemed to have some chance of survival.

It was a moment when the medical skills he had learned while living as a successor to a healing shaman in the Elf Kingdom came in handy.

But it was more difficult than he thought.

Salem, who was trying to concentrate on the treatment somehow, suddenly looked down at his bloody hands.

His hands, which were just beginning to develop calluses, were covered in sticky, slippery blood.

“Ugh…”

For a moment, Salem felt like vomiting, but he somehow suppressed it. Tears filled his large eyes, but Salem wiped them away roughly with his sleeve.

He chose this path, so he didn’t want to act foolishly.

Even while treating a considerable number of injured, not a single person woke from their sleep.

As time passed, some began to let go of the fragile thread of life they had been clinging to. Yet even in their final moments, they remained peacefully enveloped in slumber.

‘Wake up.’

Salem pulled himself together and pressed down on the wound of the sleeping person, staunching the bleeding from their severed arm.

The sharp, metallic scent of blood suddenly felt overwhelming, and the tears he had been holding back began to well up once more.

The cool sensation of a corpse, the eyes that had forever lost their focus, those who were soundly sleeping were all frightening.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

But Salem didn’t stop moving, even as his tears fell drop by drop.

Because saving them was something only he could do right now.

After some time had passed, one of the spirits that had been sent out to explore approached from afar, flapping its wings.

“Luna?”

As Salem looked up, Luna landed gently on a nearby body, using it as a perch.

“Did you find anything? What about Ray?”

Luna tilted its head, locking eyes with Salem. Salem could easily read Luna’s intentions.

“…Is Ray still looking around a bit? Or did you come to get me first?”

The little bird nodded as if to say yes, then flew up again and grabbed Salem’s collar as if to urge him to follow.

Salem, who had gotten up awkwardly, followed Luna with heavy steps.

But he didn’t go very far before he looked back with regretful eyes.

“…”

There were still many people who had not been treated.

If he left his place like this, it was almost certain they would die.

Luna didn’t urge Salem any further and just waited quietly.

As if to say that all the choices rested solely on Salem.

After a brief moment of inner conflict, Salem bit his lip and turned away from them.

“Where should I go?”

Rescuing the wounded was not his only mission. He had come to the palace for another reason.

Luna began to lead the way, flapping its wings lightly.

Stepping over corpses and occasionally ignoring the wounded who could not be treated, Salem followed Luna’s lead across the battlefield.

The spirit led him to a palace located in a secluded place.

Even having moved quite far from the battlefield and stepping into a well-manicured garden, the surroundings remained as silent as a mouse.

“Where is this place?”

Salem looked around, but he was not yet fully accustomed to human culture, so he could not immediately judge the purpose of this building.

Luna, naturally, just shook its head as if to say it didn’t know either.

“It doesn’t look like a place for work… Could it be where a high-ranking person used to live?”

Salem guessed as he looked at the ornate sculptures that decorated various parts of the garden.

The beautiful statue of God Luce surrounded by well-trimmed trees stood out.

But he couldn’t stare for long.

As he slowed down, Luna pulled on his collar again and urged him to follow.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

Salem hurried his steps.

Luna led him into the quiet palace.

As he walked down the empty hallway, Salem kept looking around nervously.

It was because he couldn’t relax even though he knew there was no sign of life.

The unfamiliar silence made him feel even more uneasy.

“…Luna, where are you going?”

The spirit showed no sign of stopping and led him further and further in. Eventually, Salem reached a section that seemed to have been seldom visited by anyone.

Unlike the other places that were decorated extravagantly, it was a rather bleak place.

The carpet on the floor was faded, as if it had not been maintained well, and the sculptures and decorations of God Luce that were often seen in other places were barely visible here.

It seemed like it had been cleaned to some extent, but even that wasn’t thorough enough, as there was still a bit of dust settled between the windowsills.

‘But it doesn’t seem like it’s been completely abandoned either…’

Luna led Salem down a secluded staircase. The cool, damp air and the smell of mold typical of basements hit him all at once.

Even the faint light that had seeped in from outside was completely blocked, and darkness pooled all around. In this place, the only being carrying light was the spirit, Luna.

‘You found it at last.’

Salem swallowed dry saliva.

As he descended, his steps grew increasingly cautious. Finally, Salem reached a space that looked like an old warehouse.

But other than being old and dusty, there wasn’t anything particularly special about it.

Because there was just old furniture and stuff piled up haphazardly.

“What’s here?”

At Salem’s question, Luna flew further in. The light contained in its small body illuminated the front faintly.

Salem followed Luna, moving forward little by little. He stayed alert, carefully observing his surroundings without letting his guard down.

But before he could even take a few steps:

An ominous sound came from the rotten floor.

“Huh?”

Salem looked down without realizing it. There was a large crack right under his feet.

His amber eyes widened.

But there was no time to properly assess the situation.

“Ah…!”

The wooden floor shattered completely.

He instinctively tried to flail his arms back and forth as his body was sucked downwards, but he was helpless.

“Ahh!”

With a crash and the sound of splintering wood, Salem plunged into the pitch-black darkness.

“Don’t you think it’s a little cold?”

Rider, who had been walking for a while, muttered to himself. Then, a sarcastic reply came back from his junior who was walking right in front of him.

“It’s all a lack of mental strength.”

“I knew you’d say that, you bastard.”

Even as Arendt spoke, the tips of his nose and ears were dyed red.

But Arendt either didn’t notice it or just ignored it, and just walked ahead with an indifferent expression.

After walking for some time, the muddy ground had dried up.

Perhaps because they had reached a well-ventilated area, the stuffy air had become lighter. The bricks surrounding the area had also changed in material.

The biggest change was that the ominous explosions that had been erupting every few steps suddenly stopped.

“Have we entered Lord Lexion’s barrier?”

“Yes. We’re probably somewhere deep underground in the palace. Ah.”

Arendt, who had been answering, stopped walking.

Rider also noticed something similar and stopped dead in his tracks.

The two of them had already reached a dead end.

“What? It’s blocked?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Arendt answered without showing any sign of embarrassment and strode towards the wall again.

“What are you doing?”

“There’s no way Stellar would have taken us to the wrong place, and it’s not like we would have taken a wrong turn along the way.”

The proof was that they had safely entered Lexion’s barrier.

“This is something that seniors who have no interest in cultural life would not know about…”

Arendt lifted one foot and kicked the wall in front of him.

. A heavy echo filled the air. It meant that the other side of the wall was empty.

Arendt added simply to the wide-eyed Rider.

“This kind of thing is more common than you might think. It often appears in adventure novels.”

“No, putting that aside, do you have ten bodies or something? You were so busy you didn’t even have time to breathe, so when did you find time to read something like that?”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Arendt nodded, dismissing Rider’s absurd question.

“Just break through the wall. It looks pretty thick, so do your best.”

“…Hey. Let me ask you one thing. Do you know that I’m your senior?”

“So what do you want me to do about it? Must be nice being older. I grew up sheltered, so I can’t handle rough stuff like that.”

“…”

In the end, Rider, unable to reclaim his losses, let out a deep sigh and had no choice but to draw his sword.

With a few swings of his sword, the solid wall was cut down in an instant.

The wall collapsed behind him, making a heavy sound and creating a cloud of dust. Arendt frowned and took a step back.

“Ugh, these gloomy bastards.”

Perhaps because it was a closed space, the dust did not clear away easily.

But even in the haze, they could clearly see that the scenery before their eyes was completely different from before.

“Oh!”

A gasp burst from Rider’s mouth.

This was because, unlike the dark and dirty waterways, a well-cleaned corridor appeared before his eyes.

It was a space hidden deep beneath the palace for a long time, unknown to anyone.

“I guess this is what the fanatics were desperately trying to get their hands on.”

Arendt, muttering softly, stepped into the dark hallway first.

An overwhelmingly dreadful darkness lingered there. Yet, thanks to their training with magic, the two moved forward without hesitation.

Rider, looking around nervously, asked in a shaken voice.

“What the heck is all this?”

“We’ll have to go in to see for ourselves, but it’ll probably be an ancient temple. It’ll probably be similar to the one Nikephoros blew up along with the territory from the Nephele Kingdom.”

Arendt took a short breath and continued.

“They said that almost all traces from before the Great War had been erased, but… there were still a few left.”

“And its existence was only passed down to the Chernion Cult?”

“That could be true, but there is another possibility.”

Rider frowned at Arendt’s response.

“Another possibility?”

“It’s too long to explain now. I’ll tell you later if I feel like it.”

Arendt responded dryly.

Rider felt a little annoyed, but just kept his mouth shut.

It was because he knew full well that once that damn junior decided to keep silent, no matter what he did, he wouldn’t change his mind.

“Once things settle down, we should have Llewellyn investigate. He’s an expert, so he’d know better than the rest of us.”

“You are probably the only person who can control the prince of a kingdom at your fingertips.”

Arendt shrugged in response to Rider’s grumbles.

“He volunteered for this. He was the one who insisted on being friends first, so he owes me at least this much.”

“…Do you even know the true meaning of the word ‘friend’?”

“One thing is for sure. That guy is a sucker.”

“The prince will cry if he hears that.”

The two of them exchanged useless words as they advanced deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Soft, steady footsteps echoed quietly through the deep darkness.