“They said they would come when we’re all eaten and other cities are attacked.”

Abel said this while looking straight into Bellota’s eyes. His eyes showed anger at being abandoned by the empire, but also confusion towards those who came to save them.

Bellota slowly walked up to the boy, bent down, and met Abel’s eyes.

“Then that means they were wrong. Right?”

“……”

“The talk of a monster that no one can oppose is wrong too. Do you remember the person who blocked you earlier? That person is the Commander of the Holy Knights.”

Abel, recalling Seiden who had blocked him, saw Bellota’s eyes shining with solid trust.

“There’s no monster that person can’t face. You’ll see if you look.”

At those kind and gentle words, Felton glanced at Bellota. Bellota, unaware of his gaze, looked at Abel with a determined face and promised.

“So we will definitely defeat those monsters.”

“……”

“I promise.”

As Bellota reached out her hand as if to shake hands, Abel’s eyebrows twitched since he had been crossing his arms all along. The boy seemed to ponder for a moment and instead of taking her hand, he turned around and said brusquely,

“Come this way. There’s someone hurt by it.”

Bellota’s eyes widened. She turned to Felton with a relieved smile, and he too looked back at Bellota with a relieved smile.

* * *

“I can’t wait any longer.”

The forest gradually darkened, and Geril, who had been waiting with an unpleasant face, finally lost his temper. Waiting for hours in such a dangerous forest with the extermination team. Geril sharply turned to Seiden, as though all of this was Seiden’s responsibility.

“I guess we have to go inside, so please move aside.”

But, Seiden, who was blocking the entrance, didn’t move an inch.

“She’s with a priest, so there should be no problem. Please wait a little longer.”

Seiden said this with an annoyed tone, and Geril’s insides boiled. Even though it was about to get dark.

“What if the monsters come after the sun sets? Will you take responsibility then?”

Seiden let out a snicker at that. It was impossible for Geril not to feel that his laughter contained scorn towards him. The serious man glared at the arrogant knight. Seiden leisurely met his gaze and opened his mouth.

“What do you think I came here for?”

No laughter could be found on Seiden’s lips as he spoke. His red eyes shone chillingly cold, making Geril’s neck tingle with a sense of intimidation. He instinctively felt that provoking the temper of the man known as the Mad Dog of Kambremes would bring no good in this situation.

But I didn’t come here to sit idly by waiting for Bellota with this arrogant knight.

“I will just check on the saintess’s safety and leave.”

Geril asked with a voice that had become calmer and more polite, but Seiden didn’t move an inch, not even giving Geril a glance anymore, and simply closed his eyes in clear disregard. Heat rushed to his face at the blatant disregard. This bastard…

As a suffocating silence settled in the quiet and eerie forest, it was clear that all eyes from not only the holy knight order but also the knights he had brought were on them. Retreating now would surely make a fool out of Geril, so he straightened his shoulders and stepped forward, puffing up his body.

“Look here, Commander!”

Then Seiden, who had been standing motionless in front of the entrance with his arms crossed, suddenly unfolded his arms and drew his sword. Startled by his action, Geril hastily stepped back and reflexively drew his own sword as well.

“What, what are you doing!”

However, Seiden’s gaze was not on someone like Geril. Staring fiercely into the dense forest where nothing could be seen, Seiden suddenly jumped onto the horse standing next to him and sharply commanded,

“It’s them. Get ready!”

* * *

“The wound bitten by its teeth is not cursed, saintess.”

After treating the wound of a man who had barely survived being bitten by its teeth, Felton spoke while sweating profusely. Bellota’s expression darkened further as she too was sweating coldly.

“There’s no curse in the wound made by its claws either. No trace can be seen on the wound.”

After treating a wound deeply gashed by the monster’s claws that tore off flesh, Bellota wiped off her sweat and looked around.

There were about a dozen or so people lying down in the place Abel had led them to, barely keeping their blood stopped with herbs and dying. After examining all their wounds, it was hard to guess what kind of monster it was from their wounds alone, and no trace of a curse was found on any of them.

Normally, high-level monsters always accompany their attacks with curses, and identifying the type of curse to infer the monster’s identity was Bellota’s most exceptional ability. Even if it wasn’t a curse-accompanied wound, Bellota could tell what kind of monster inflicted it just by the shape of the wound caused by an attack.

But in cases like this unidentified monster, that was useless. If she couldn’t find any curse, she couldn’t guess anything about the monster’s identity or weaknesses without knowing its name or appearance. The fact that neither the wound from its teeth nor the scratch from its claws were cursed was confusing and despairing for Bellota as she looked at the flesh turning back to its normal color.

A giant monster walking on two legs with a spiny shell on its back.

As Bellota was reciting the information Abel had given her, Abel quietly approached her and suddenly showed her his palm. Bellota looked up at the boy with surprise to see his palm turning black with necrosis.

“Maybe this? I got this while trying to pull out its spines by hanging onto its back. It happened just by touching it, not even being stabbed. It doesn’t hurt but it feels bad to look at it. I barely escaped when it thrashed around.”

Hearing his words, Felton also hurried over and grabbed Abel’s hand. Although Abel seemed displeased, he didn’t pull away and quietly waited. Soon Felton and Bellota’s eyes met with serious expressions.

“It’s a curse, saintess!”

Bellota quickly nodded and reached out her hand over Abel’s palm. As Bellota’s touch reached the skin, which was turning black with rot, Abel twitched.

Bellota closed her eyes tightly and tried hard to guess the curse lingering on Abel’s hand. Soon, the form of the curse emerged in her mind like a magical circle, forming complex patterns and spinning around. The curse on Abel was a difficult one. It wasn’t common. But she definitely had studied this form of curse before.

Then, Abel’s water bottle passed by in front of Bellota’s eyes, along with the sight of Abel gulping down water with a wound at his throat end and his face looking somewhat in pain. Finally understanding the identity of the curse, Bellota’s breath quietly stopped.

It was thirst. The curse manifested from the palm of his hand was slowly eating away at Abel’s insides, and as the curse took over Abel’s body, a burning thirst manifested. Once the curse completely took over his body, he would be enveloped in immense pain and endless thirst, eventually drying up and dying.

No matter how much water he drank, the painful, burning thirst could not be quenched.

Bellota clenched her eyes shut and struggled to grasp at the faint memories floating in her foggy mind. She knew, for sure, about the monsters related to the curse that induced thirst. Monsters born from the salty sea that dry people to death.

The only way to quench that endless thirst. And at the same time, the weakness of the monster causing the thirst…

With a face twisted in agony as she searched for a way to break the curse and the monster’s weakness, Bellota suddenly opened her eyes.

“Holy water.”

At Bellota’s trembling voice, Felton’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I’ve brought holy water!”

But Bellota shook her head.

“That’s not it.”

With a choked voice, as though she was suffocating, Bellota suddenly stood up and took out a small bottle of holy water from her pocket. Then, she urgently opened the bottle and poured the water, emitting a bluish light, onto Abel’s palm.

“Ugh.”

Abel twisted his shoulder in pain unlike any he had felt before, but Bellota did not let go of his hand. The black skin frighteningly absorbed the holy water and quickly returned to its original color. Realizing her hunch was correct, Bellota urgently turned to Felton.

“We need to get out and deliver these holy waters!”

Then, Abel, looking at his cleansed palm as if it were something marvelous, said to Bellota,

“The path is complicated, so I need to guide you. Follow me.”

After finishing his words, Abel turned around without delay, and Bellota and Felton quickly followed him.

“Did you find out what kind of monster it is?”

“It’s just a guess, but since Abel’s wound healed, it must be correct.”

“Is holy water its weakness?”

Bellota shook her head.

“It’s water. The curse on Abel induces thirst. But just any water won’t solve it. We need clean water that isn’t salty like seawater. It has to be natural water untouched by human hands and imbued with magic, and it has to be water that has been touched by moonlight on its surface.”

Felton furrowed his eyebrows as he followed Bellota, who was walking so fast it was hard to catch his breath. Was the holy water such water?