Chapter 48: ‘What exactly did I pick up?’

“Aaaagh—!”  

Blena screamed in place of Seth as his right arm was torn from his shoulder.  

Alois, witnessing the scene in clear view, collapsed, trembling with a pale face.  

“R-Rita… w-what do we do… Seth’s arm…!”  

Blena wailed, and Rita, belatedly registering the situation, rushed forward.  

“Blade of Azure Light!”  

She deliberately moved to the side, aiming at Satan, but the damned lizard swung its tail, taking the hit instead.  

“Get out of the way! Move!”  

Blocked by the lizard, Rita couldn’t even see Satan’s shadow, making teleportation impossible.  

Even as a supreme-rank, she needed to calculate positions. 

Furious, Rita unleashed a barrage of spells at the lizard.  

“Ahh… I feel it. The anger for you. The sorrow for you.”  

Satan, reveling in the chaos behind it, cupped its face with both hands in ecstasy.  

To savor the thrill further, it deliberately moved the lizard aside.  

With the view cleared, Rita and her group were stunned.  

“This is more like it, right?”  

Satisfied with their shocked expressions, Satan smirked, tauntingly waving Seth’s severed arm before tossing it away.  

Rita charged in rage.  

“Path of the Shadow…”  

But as she prepared to teleport, Mikael grabbed her wrist.  

“Calm down. First, retrieve Seth’s arm. It’s not too late. I can restore it.”  

His calm persuasion cleared Rita’s mind.  

Realizing who stood before her, her eyes widened.  

Right. 

We have a saint. 

A saint can…  

She needed to stay composed for Seth’s sake.  

Taking a deep breath to quell her anxiety, Rita glanced at Eilin, a child of the forest.  

Caught off guard by the sudden look, Eilin hesitated but soon understood what Rita wanted. 

Though surprised, she nodded reluctantly after a moment’s thought.  

While the two exchanged silent understanding, Seth, despite his state, clung to consciousness, panting heavily.  

Though already satisfied with the humans’ reactions, Satan couldn’t hide its irritation at Seth’s stubborn defiance.  

“You can’t be numb to pain. Why hide it? Pride? Or don’t want to provoke me?”  

Likely the latter, but Satan was starting to get annoyed.  

“Scream! Show it!”  

At its furious roar, Seth’s tightly shut lips trembled.  

His pale face shot Satan a look of contempt.  

“I won’t submit to scum like you.”  

“What?”  

“I despise you.”  

“Despise?”  

“Yeah. I utterly despise trash like you who crush others with force.”  

Satan’s lips twitched as it kicked Seth’s shoulder.  

With blood pouring from his torn arm, even that small impact caused immense pain.  

Yet Seth bit his lip, refusing to cry out, fueling Satan’s rage to its peak.  

“This won’t do. I was trying to go easy since you don’t seem sturdy, but I’ll just rip it all off.”  

Clicking its tongue, Satan grabbed Seth’s remaining left arm.  

At that moment, winter weeds at its feet rapidly grew, wrapping tightly around its arm.  

“Huh?”  

Satan glared, puzzled.  

The thin stems, infused with mana, were surprisingly tough.  

They began pulling its arm, tilting Satan backward.  

Irritated, Satan scanned the human group, assuming it was magic. 

To its surprise, the caster was Eilin.  

“Power of the Forest?”  

Floria muttered, astonished.  

The forest’s power was a secret ability reserved for Nashapur’s leader, forbidden without the Sacred Tree’s permission.  

Breaking her race’s rules, Eilin gave a wry smile.  

“I’ll face the consequences later.”  

With a light reply, her gaze turned to Rita.  

Rita nodded in thanks and raised her staff.  

“Path of the Shadow!”  

Satan’s shadow, pointed at by her staff, quivered slightly. 

Rita sprinted, leaping into the giant lizard’s shadow.  

As her body vanished and reappeared from Satan’s shadow, its eyes widened.  

But its arms were bound by Eilin’s weeds, immobilized.  

It tried to move its tail, but Rita was faster.  

“Seth!”  

Crouching, Rita grabbed Seth’s body, pulling him out of Satan’s reach.  

She picked up his severed arm and stepped back into Satan’s shadow.  

“Path of the Shadow!”  

Just before its enraged tail struck, Rita and Seth safely returned to their allies.  

The heart-pounding rescue succeeded, and everyone cheered.  

“Be careful. It might snatch someone else,” Valery warned.  

Non-supreme-ranks quickly gathered in the center, while the supreme-ranks surrounded them, wary of Satan.  

Furious at losing Seth without a proper fight, Satan licked its fingers, glaring at him being healed by the saint.  

“I really wanted to see that guy’s expression change…”  

The red-haired mage in a white robe.  

Satan etched his image into its mind, vowing to savor his pain someday.  

With obsessive eyes, it stepped back, licking its lips.  

“That’s all for today. I’ll be back.”  

Though it was a chance to taunt its retreat, no one dared.  

Even knowing Satan would return with a larger force, the group silently hoped for its departure, and Rita held her tongue.  

“It’s a bit sad to leave you, but what can I do? I can always spawn another, stronger one.”  

Glancing at the giant lizard, Satan spread its wings and flew off without looking back.  

The greatest threat was gone, but the group couldn’t relax.  

The mysterious, poison-spewing lizard still loomed.  

“This is tricky. How do we deal with that?”  

Eugène frowned, looking at the group.  

Despite his plea for solutions, everyone shook their heads.  

“Should we call for archers?”  

“That’s our only option for now.”  

“But what if it moves?”  

“We’ll have to hold it somehow.”  

As Valery and Felix sighed, the sound of thundering hooves echoed.  

Sercia’s eyes widened, recognizing the sound.  

Moments later, a deep horn blared.  

“The First Holy Knights?”  

Felix, puzzled, looked at Mikael.  

The trumpet signaled the Lihanes Order’s knights marching to battle.  

Mikael, assuming the knights had retreated to safety, was equally confused.  

Though their arrival was welcome now that Satan was gone…  

“But the knights are all melee fighters…”  

Valery clutched his forehead, noting no one could attack the lizard physically from a distance.  

Soon, knights clad in the Lihanes Order’s emblems arrived.  

A leading knight leaped off his horse, removed his helmet, and ran forward.  

A veteran in his sixties, like Valery.  

“Saint! We’re here to assist!”  

“Sir Eimon? How are you here…?”  

Mikael knew Eimon was a key force guarding the temple.  

It was odd for a knight tasked with protecting the Pope to be on the northern front.  

Eimon’s gaze shifted behind him.  

“My mission was to escort that child…”  

Before he finished, someone jumped off a horse among the aligned knights.  

Unlike the armored knights, he wore a simple blue cloak.  

Mikael, following Eimon’s gaze, tilted his head, unable to identify him.  

But when the figure removed the blue cloak, Mikael couldn’t help but gasp.  

“You…!”  

Silver hair fluttered from the cloak. 

Sharp purple eyes gleamed on a revealed face.  

It was a starkly different impression from what Mikael knew.  

Unable to continue, he turned to Rita.  

“Yann…?”  

Rita uttered his name, stunned.  

Then she faltered.  

Gleaming silver hair. Amethyst-like eyes. 

Features as refined as a saint’s.  

It was definitely the boy she knew, yet in just a month, he’d become a young man.  

Even from a distance, Yan towered over the knights dismounting behind him.  

Though lean compared to the burly knights, his broad shoulders and muscled frame were evident.  

Is this even possible?  

Teenagers grow fast, but Rita couldn’t comprehend this.  

Meanwhile, Yan strode toward her.  

As she called his name to confirm, Yan flashed an unfamiliar smile and bolted forward like lightning.  

“Wait! Stop! The poison…!”  

Rita shouted, and everyone tried to stop him.  

But Yan ignored them, charging at the giant lizard.  

As if waiting, the lizard’s slime oxidized.  

The sinking fog enveloped Yan’s body.  

Yet he showed no reaction, spinning and striking the lizard’s body with a powerful kick.  

A loud bang echoed, as if hitting a wall, but Yan was unscathed.  

Kieeeek—  

The lizard’s body caved in. 

The onlookers were speechless at his absurd strength.  

Rita, noticing Yan’s exposure to the fog, kept calling his name.  

But he was fine, showing no signs of poisoning. 

Valery glanced at Eugène.  

“Didn’t you say that fog was toxic?”  

“Apparently not for him?”  

Eugène muttered, baffled, as they’d all seen the fog blacken the ground.  

Though strange, Yan was undeniably a savior.  

Immune to the poison that barred physical attacks and unaffected by magic, he wielded supreme-rank-like strength.  

With basic kicks and punches, Yann easily pushed the monster back.  

“It’s hilarious that a beast that size is losing to one person.”  

Valery gave a dumbfounded look.  

Sercia, meanwhile, cheered, demanding to know who he was.  

But Rita, Mikael, Loen, and Felix, who knew him, were stunned.  

In less than a month, a boy who could barely speak or move properly had transformed.  

‘Was he hiding it? Or did some shock make him forget how to fight…?’

Confused, Rita tried to rationalize it.  

But it was undeniably strange.  

She gave a strained smile.  

‘What exactly did I pick up?’

In minutes, the giant lizard collapsed. 

There was no need to point out its weak point.  

Its battered body tore easily, weakening rapidly until it finally died under relentless blows.  

“With just his bare body…”  

Despite facing a monster, the one-sided violence felt overwhelming.  

Ironically, it reminded Rita of Satan, who had just left. 

Her eyes wavered, overlapping the two.  

‘Is he watching me now?’

In that brief moment, Yan, covered in blood, turned and smiled.  

Like a child awaiting praise.  

He strode over, towering over Rita with his newfound height, beaming brightly.  

Beyond his shoulder, the monster’s corpse lay.  

This is the Saint’s Shadow…  

Alternating between Yan and the corpse, Rita hesitated before smiling softly.  

The priority now wasn’t suspicion but strength.