‘Damn it…!’

In the moment Sched grasped his sword with his damp hands.

Slash!

The flashing blade shattered the tough scales and severed the dragon’s tail.

“Are you alright, my lord!”

Looking up, Carlyle was watching him, holding his sword.

It wasn’t just Carlyle.

Hedrick and the other knights and soldiers were engaged in battle surrounding the fallen dragon.

Hedrick, who could use aura to some extent, broke the scales, and the regular knights and soldiers rushed towards the dragon, aiming inside the broken scales.

“My lord…!”

Carlyle reached out his hand to support Sched, who looked to be in pain.

However, Sched shook his head.

“I’m fine now.”

The pain squeezing his heart gradually subsided.

“I made you worry.”

Sched corrected his posture and spoke with his usual indifferent expression.

At that, Carlyle nodded.

“Finish it.”

On Sched’s sword, which had lost its light for a moment, a blue light rose once again.

He had to end this fight.

There was only one way to kill a dragon.

Sched gripped his blue sword and charged towards Gelevan’s head.

Feeling the threat, the dragon opened its huge mouth and breathed fire again.

But Sched knew.

Breath was slow until invocation.

He willingly jumped towards the dragon’s head, which contained the scorching heat.

And the bright blue light powerfully struck from top to bottom.

Crack, the tough scales shattered and fragments flew up.

“Kwaaaaaaak!”

Soon the huge head fell off the body with a roar.

Gelevan’s body struggled and squirmed for several minutes, then stretched its heavy body on the ground.

With a thud, ripples spread, and for a moment only the sound of wind swirled in the air.

The cold silence was brief.

“Woohoooooo!”

Finally cheers erupted.

Gelevan had fallen.

The disaster that seemed to crumble Paradel disappeared.

People embraced each other in joy or bravely touched the corpse as if to confirm the dragon’s death.

But instead of rejoicing in victory, Sched ran to the earlier spot.

“Louise!”

Louise was still alone at a distance from people.

She, only she was needed.

But.

“Don’t come close, Sched…!”

Louise stopped Sched, who was running towards her, and stepped back far away.

“Louise…?”

He stopped at her cry and saw the black power coiled around Louise’s body like a bug.

Around it, the grass and trees had withered and died black.

Louise was frightened as if she had seen a monster.

‘Please…!’

Louise closed her eyes tightly and crouched down.

Was it because she had used too much power in the battle with the dragon?

The power poured out once was bursting out as if a hole had been punctured.

The wrist that Dietrich had stigmatized was as hot as if it had been burned.

The nightmares that had faded for a while came back vividly as if they were unfolding before her eyes.

That day when her father forcibly poured drugs into her mouth.

The day when the unwanted power killed her loved ones and ruined everything.

The nightmare repeats.

The dream she feared most.

‘No. This can’t be…’

Louise swallowed and swallowed the rampaging power like a monster.

“Cough!”

Blood poured from her lips.

The bright red blood spread on the snow-covered ground.

“Louise!”

As Sched tried to approach Louise, who was staggering greatly, she hurriedly shook her head and met his eyes.

On the eyes like glass beads that would shatter if touched, tears mixed with blood dripped.

Please, don’t come near.

I don’t want to hurt you.

More fearful than the pain that seemed to shatter her body was the fear that she might hurt him.

Louise stepped back, desperately holding on to her flickering consciousness so as not to lose it.

Sched could do nothing in front of Louise like that.

The sound of teeth grinding came from his tightly clenched jaw.

He could only watch.

The black and purple bruises spreading from burst blood vessels.

The body convulsing in agony.

The whites of the eyes turned bright red from burst capillaries.

The scabs on the bitten lips to hold back groans and the cold sweat soaking the body.

The nails digging into the flesh of the clenched hands.

His heart was torn to shreds with a devastating helplessness.

It hurt more than the pain taking his life.

If he could take that pain, he wanted to do so.

If only he could bear her fate instead…

Sched clenched his fists.

He couldn’t just stand still like this.

“Giselle Marlhein!”

He called out to the proxy minister with a determined voice.

Giselle’s head, which had been paying attention to Louise’s abnormality, turned towards him.

Sched took out an old book from his chest.

“I will purify Louise.”

He handed the book to Giselle as if embracing her.

“This is…!”

A brown, worn cover with nothing written on it.

But she, who opened the pages, could see at a glance what the book was.

The lost second part of the Desiderata Book.

‘Don’t tell me you really found this? In just a few days?’

As Giselle stood there with a perplexed face holding the book, Sched opened one of the latter pages to show her.

“You can do it.”

On the page he presented, a barrier written in complex formulas was drawn.

“Wait a minute! This needs research. You’re going to do it right now?”

“Just set up the barrier.”

As if there was nothing more to discuss, he moved his steps quickly.

“Carlyle! Hedrick!”

“My lord!”

Where he stopped was the place where Gelevan had fallen.

“Take out the dragon’s heart.”

Sched picked up his sword again.

At that moment, the priests watching from behind stopped him.

“Are you trying to use the dragon’s heart now?”

The priest looked at him with a deeply furrowed brow.

The dragon’s heart was a precious treasure specially treated in the empire because it contained divine power.

No dragon slayer ever used that heart recklessly.

The dragon’s heart was always attributed to the empire according to proper procedures.

In the empire, they made special sacred objects such as protection tokens or imperial treasures with the power contained in that heart.

If you wanted to use the heart privately, you had to get permission from the imperial family and the temple and receive it as a reward.

“I know Count Lester’s merit is great, but using the dragon’s heart without permission is against the imperial family and the temple… Ugh!”

When the priests tried to dissuade him, Sched boldly shook off the hands of the priests holding him.

He did not ask the priests for permission, attempt to negotiate, get angry, or threaten.

He just walked to the dragon’s corpse with big strides and stabbed his sword.

“Count Lester!”

It was not the time to waste time with noisy priests and chattering.

He stabbed the sword wrapped in aura and carved out the dragon’s chest.

Breaking the razor-sharp, hard scales and opening the tough skin, blood flowed out.

The dragon’s blood, much hotter than human body temperature, was still so hot that it could cause burns.

But Sched didn’t care and cut off the huge ribs with aura.

As he cut off the tough muscles and tendons, a red glowing gem-like object was seen at the center of the dragon.

Unlike humans or ordinary beasts, the dragon’s heart was in the form of a red gem.

He tore out the heart, which was as hot as flames, from deep inside and pulled it out.

The dragon’s heart exposed under the light shone with a light more seductive than a diamond.

The cold wind brushed the heart and spewed out white steam.

“Count Lester, I warn you again, but no matter how great your merit is, that’s…!”

“Can’t you shut that damn mouth!”

Sched, who had run out of patience, shouted irritably and turned to look at the priest.

At that moment, the priest unknowingly swallowed his breath and shut his mouth.

Because he faced the body covered in dragon’s blood.

The blazing murderous intent shining in those purple eyes.

The eyes filled with madness, ready to cut down anyone who stood in his way.

“If the emperor or the pope is dissatisfied, tell them to come find me. I will gladly face them…!”

Sched ran to where Louise was, holding the dragon’s heart, passing the priests.

The snow-melted muddy ground splashed.

Her figure, darkly stained with water in the distance, was clearly reflected in his eyes.

“Louise!”

“Sched, Louise’s condition is…!”

Giselle, who had been watching over Louise, pointed to Louise, who was becoming more and more black.

Around Louise, who was crouching on the ground unable to endure the power, the black light had become thicker.

Still, she was enduring.

She was confining herself to endless pain to imprison the rampaging power within herself.

Sched’s face contorted at the sight.

“The barrier.”

“Are you really going to do it now?”

Giselle asked, looking at him who had finally brought the dragon’s heart.

It was a short time, but Giselle was second to none in barriers and gore.

If it was a barrier written in the Desiderata Book, she would surely be able to construct it, albeit slowly.

But the problem was Sched.

The barrier Giselle created was limited to just setting up a perfect space for purification.

And what was needed for the purification of a demon was…

“If you use more aura, your body won’t be able to take it.”

The second part of the Desiderata Book.

It contained the details of how Desiderata purified the demon Mephistopheles.

To completely purify black magic, special power was needed.

And in the world, there were three powers that transcended human limitations.

The divine power bestowed by God upon the world, aura, and its variant, black magic.

However, among them, divine power could not be directly used for purification because it would harm the body of the demon Louise.

In the end, the only energy needed to purify black magic was aura.

That was why the great holy knight Desiderata, who could use both divine power and aura, was able to purify Mephistopheles.

Therefore, Sched intended to purify Louise with his own aura.

“It’s reckless! Your body is not normal, right?”

Giselle recalled the moment when he had wavered for a moment during the battle with Gelevan.

Although he didn’t show it on the outside, his body was clearly weakened.

It was natural.

After the battle with Dietrich, it hadn’t been long since he became the lord and left Paradel.

Then he found the Desiderata Book in just a few days.

She didn’t know what had happened in between, but he certainly couldn’t have rested and relaxed.

“At least get treated first…”

“Construct the barrier.”

Sched cut off her concern and pointed to the Desiderata Book.

At the resolute command, Giselle glared at him with narrowed eyes.

“You could die.”

Her eyes reddened.

But Sched replied with a cynical smile.

“If someone dies, it’s me, not you.”