Chapter 547

All the warp gates in Serandia, a major city in the southern region of Rizeln, had been destroyed.

In the end, the entire army, and even Titan, had essentially been bait.

Ellen Artorius and Sabioleen Tana... Only deploying the units led by those two into the waves of countless monsters would have been suicide.

The monsters were capable of many things, and things like the blocking of magic such as teleportation frequently occurred, making rapid deployment and escape through magic often impossible. Therefore, others had to draw the attention of the monsters for them to survive.

Those who were weaker and easily replaceable became the bait. While those designated as bait drew the attention of monsters too formidable for even Ellen or Sabioleen Tana to handle, the two of them, with their units, executed a maneuver to break through the distracted monsters and destroy the warp gates. Ultimately, both the bait and the two core units had faced unimaginable risks.

Of course, destroying all the warp gates did not mean the battle was over. The monsters that had already been transported had to be exterminated and the surrounding areas secured before the liberation of Serandia could be considered complete.

Combatants with strong individual prowess, like Ellen, had no time to rest. Even after all the warp gates in Serandia were destroyed, they had to be called upon to exterminate the monsters swarming around Serandia.

After a grueling march, the Allied Forces had faced a horrific battle, but ultimately emerged victorious. However, those who had to fight the hardest battles still could not rest. All over Serandia, the cries of monsters and the smoke from burning monster corpses still lingered heavily in the air.

***

In war, casualties are inevitable. However, this grand army, which had gathered all the remaining strength of humanity, also included the Order of the Holy Knights.

During and after the battles, the clergy went about tirelessly treating the wounded, starting with those who had sustained near-fatal injuries.

Those with the power to heal wounds could not afford to rest even after the battles, as they had to treat the injured. There were lives that needed saving.

Like Adriana, the holy knights could heal themselves during battle and also heal the wounded. However, not all wounds could be healed. To heal those with life-threatening injuries, a priest capable of performing such a miracle was needed, and there were not many of them.

Naturally, those who died instantly could not be treated. Even those with the power of regeneration and healing were not omnipotent.

Countless people in the infirmary still died. The priests had to turn their attention to other wounded soldiers without even having the time to properly close the eyes of the deceased or lament their lack of power.

The power of healing was not omnipotent. Therefore, even those who could wield that power were prone to sustaining fatal injuries and dying.

“Ludwig!”

“What... What happened?!”

Members of the Royal Class began to gather one by one around Ludwig, who seemed to be in a daze.

“Your arm... Your arm...!” exclaimed Cristina, who covered her mouth and began to sob. Ludwig’s right arm was missing, and the stump was heavily bandaged.

Ludwig did not respond.

The snake’s venom had been a terrible thing. It had not been just a simple poison; it had gradually petrified Ludwig’s arm. Because treatment had been delayed, Ludwig had to amputate his own arm before the petrifying poison could spread further and endanger his life.

However, that hardly mattered to Ludwig. What mattered to him was the person who was not present—the one who would not be returning.

It was time to deliver the news that everyone was still unaware of.

“Delphine... is dead...” Ludwig uttered haltingly.

Those gathered around him were left speechless.

“What...?”

A moment of shock, and then silence...

“Ah... no way. No, no way...”

“She died trying to protect me and Scarlett...” Ludwig muttered blankly, as if in a daze.

The snake’s venom would have been lethal if allowed to spread. Realizing that if the poison spread from his arm to his neck, it would mean death, Ludwig amputated his arm with his own hands. After cutting off his own arm, Ludwig carried the unconscious Scarlett on his back and retreated to the rear of the battlefield to find the priests.

He had not been able to avenge Delphine Izadra, who had been crushed to death by a monster. He’d had to turn a blind eye toward the monster who had crushed Delphine, his heart bleeding as the creature that devoured her continued its rampage across the battlefield. He could not bear the thought of losing Scarlett too, and so he retreated. No—he fled.

Scarlett sat in a corner of the tent, her face buried in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Because of me... It’s because of me...” Scarlett sobbed as she caught ragged breaths.

The sight of the dazed Ludwig caused the Royal Class students to start crying one by one.

Everyone around him was crying. Ludwig, who couldn’t even cry, stood there mutely, staring blankly at the ground.

Scarlett had appeared to save Ludwig, who had been in danger. Because of that, Scarlett was put in danger, and Delphine stepped in to save Scarlett.

Ludwig then leapt into the middle of the battlefield to save Scarlett, who had fallen there.

In the end, after acting to save each other over and over, Delphine, who had gone too deep into the battlefield to provide support, lost her life after a large monster ambushed her.

No one could do anything about it, because they were all too weak. All of this was because they were weak.

“It’s all my fault for being weak...” Ludwig muttered, still in a daze. “It’s all my fault for being weak...”

Ludwig, who had lost his right arm, stared blankly into space.

***

There were indeed priests capable of performing miracles and reattaching severed limbs, but there were no priests who could perform the miracle required to restore missing body parts. Therefore, those who were physically disabled in such a manner could not be restored.

Ludwig, a talented individual, had lost his right arm, so he could no longer fight. He could force himself to fight using only his left hand, but it would inevitably be very different from before.

Many had died, including a significant number of casualties among the Temple-trained forces.

The loss of around twenty thousand lives might not seem like a significant blow compared to the hundreds of thousands in the Allied Forces. However, the battles ahead seemed daunting.

It was impossible to know how many more would die in the ongoing battles. Although the casualties had been reduced thanks to some unexpected help, ultimately, it was impossible for no one to die.

Just as there were casualties among the Temple-trained forces, there would inevitably be casualties among even the elite Royal Class members, like Ludwig, who had lost his arm. That was how terrible this battle had been in scale and ferocity.

Most of the casualties were those who specialized in close combat. Since they had to fight in the most dangerous places, they were most exposed to the risk of death.

If one was fortunate enough to die with their body remaining on the battlefield, at least they could be given a proper burial.

Even so, everyone in the army had to face the fact that the people who had died were not coming back, no matter how much time had passed.

Rudina was not in the recovery room for ordinary soldiers, but in the treatment tent for relatively more important individuals.

She was quietly looking down at the unconscious person by the bedside. Her face was pale.

The person who was examining Kaier was the teacher who had once taught Mana Attunement classes and gave lectures related to Mana Reinforcement at the Temple.

The teacher looked at Rudina curiously. “Didn’t you know...?”

“No... not at all. I didn’t know it at all...”

“It seems Kaier deliberately withheld it from you.”

Rudina did not reply. She was looking down at the pale-faced Kaier with a blank expression.

It was right after the battle, and despite the victory, the camp was filled with a grim atmosphere of death. The tent she was in was not spared from this.

How much time had passed?

“Ugh...”

Rudina bit her lip as Kaier furrowed his brow and regained consciousness.

Kaier seemed startled after realizing the situation.

“Ah... did I... faint...?” he muttered.

“Yeah.”

“I... I did my best... but... this situation... I didn’t have a choice... I didn’t mean to...”

Kaier turned even paler, thinking that Rudina, who was always nagging and scolding him, would surely yell and make a fuss this time too.

It was usually like that. It would have been even more significant this time, since he had fainted during a very important battle, which would then have hampered the proper functioning of the Arc Crystal. In fact, after sending Kaier to the medical tent, Rudina used up all the energy of the Arc Crystal and could no longer contribute to the battle after that.

Naturally, if Rudina cursed him or even tried to hit him, he would have no excuse. Who knew how many more people could have been saved if he hadn’t fainted?

Kaier felt pathetic for fainting. There was no excuse if Rudina got angry.

Rudina’s expression was indeed grim.

Kaier swallowed cautiously, afraid of what she might say.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“What...?”

Rudina was angry. But this time, it was a little different.

“That you were overexerting yourself. That you were dying. The teacher said so.”

Kaier could only remain silent.

Rudina would not give up. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked again.

Kaier still did not respond.

He had a vast amount of mana, and he recovered mana much more quickly than anyone else. However, unless his mana was infinite, there were bound to be limits. Rudina was someone who could use up mana, no matter how vast, in an instant.

There had been times when Kaier had collapsed from exhaustion, but Rudina had never suspected that that was the price of him tapping into his own life force.

She had no idea that her constant nagging, pestering, and scolding had been eating away at Kaier’s life force.

“Did you want to make me look like a bad person? You could have just told me. No matter how crazily I acted towards you, if I knew you were pushing yourself that far, I would have... I would not have continued like that! Why... why didn’t you tell me?” Rudina’s lips were trembling, and she was crying.

She realized too late what she had done wrong, what she had been forcing upon him.

Kaier hadn’t told Rudina that he was dying. He hadn’t told her that he was burning up his life force to extract mana beyond his limits.

Kaier quietly looked at Rudina. “You’re not the only one who feels sorry for people dying.”

She looked at him, shocked and speechless.

“If you knew about this, you’d start having unnecessary thoughts during battles.”

Since he could save others from dying at the cost of his own lifespan, he would do so without telling anyone else about it.

“That’s it. There’s no more to it.”

If Rudina had thought that what she was using wasn’t just mana, but mana generated by consuming Kaier’s life, she would undoubtedly hesitate.

Even without that knowledge, she had to decide which units to support and which ones to abandon. Moreover, if, in some situations, the number of casualties caused by her intervention was deemed less than the number of people it could save, she had to make that decision as well.

If she started putting the issue of Kaier’s life into that equation as well, Rudina would have to give up even more. Just as Rudina had scolded Kaier because she wanted to save other people’s lives, Kaier hadn’t told Rudina the truth for the same reason.

“Don’t worry. I won’t die right away,” Kaier said.

With her lips tightly pressed together, Rudina glared at him with tear-filled eyes. “Don’t talk bullshit...”

Their relationship had gone terribly awry. They were absolutely necessary to each other, but also resented each other.

“If you die like this, I’ll become useless. Treat your life a little more—”

“You mean the Arc Crystal will become useless,” Kaier replied, and Rudina’s eyes widened.

“Why would you say something like that...?” Rudina said.

“You’ve always said, right? That even without me, as long as you have the Power Cartridge, it’s fine. That I’m just a slightly more efficient Power Cartridge.”

Their relationship, built on resentment and bitterness, had already been broken.

The words spoken out of anger, frustration, and resentment had created indelible wounds.

“Isn’t it a good thing if a worthless guy who can’t even manipulate mana properly can save lives by shaving off some of his own lifespan?”

Kaier was unaffected by Rudina’s harsh words. His self-loathing had already reached its peak.

Rudina shed tears of regret as she saw what had become of Kaier.

“I... I didn’t mean... I didn’t mean to say that... I didn’t know. I really didn’t. I was wrong. I was too harsh on you. I’m sorry... I’ll apologize. So please don’t say things like that... don’t overdo it from now on... I’m sorry... I’m really sorry—”

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“Shut up.”

Rudina closed her mouth.

“Let’s just carry on as we always have.”

No matter what their relationship was.

No matter how they thought of each other.

“Like I said, I won’t die right away.”

The damage had become irreversible.