Chapter 23 - Chaotic Monsters

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

By the time Barron and Gared reached him, Albert’s state had improved considerably.

This was what made Oath Knights so terrifyingly formidable. As long as they were not completely dead, they had a million and one ways to stay alive.

“Are you alright?” Barron and Gared rushed to Albert’s side.

Barron immediately took out a healing potion and handed it to Albert.

Gard’s eyes darted to Albert.

“What serious injuries”

Albert’s situation shocked Gared. From the numerous wounds, he could tell the sort of grueling battles Albert had endured.

However, Gared soon discovered that even though these injuries looked daunting, they didn’t really affect Albert.

The injury that had debilitated Albert wasn’t external, but internal.

“This injury… you broke your oath?”

With narrowed eyes, Gared immediately noticed the true culprit that put Albert in such a miserable state.

Barron looked at Albert in surprise.

“What happened?”

Barron could not imagine what sort of situation could cause an Oath knight to break their oath.

Especially one as seasoned as Albert.

Gared then added,

“And from the looks of it, it’s a Permanent Oath you broke.”

An Oath Knight’s oath was divided into Permanent Oaths and General Oaths.

Normally, after fulfilling an oath, the power bestowed upon the Oath Knight would also disappear. But correspondingly, after the oath is fulfilled, there was no need to worry about being bound by the oath.

On the other hand, there was another type of oath that, under normal circumstances, can never be undone. And that is the Permanent Oath.

The power bestowed upon an Oath Knight from a Permanent Oath would never disappear, but its bind on the Knight was also equally permanent.

Generally speaking, Oath Knights rarely made Permanent Oaths. Although doing so would increase their strength, to spend their entire life bound by an oath was not something everyone could accept.

Albert was mentally prepared for this when he made the oath.

Just as he had pledged, he would neither retreat nor yield.

“It’s alright.” Albert waved his hand with a complicated expression as he looked at the ground beneath his feet.

If nothing unexpected happened, it should be very lively down in the cavern right now.

Albert emptied the stray thoughts in his head and forced himself to focus.

He sat down on a rock while supporting himself with both hands. He then looked at Barron and Gared and said,

“But the situation inside is indeed a little complicated.

“Master Harley’s intel was correct. The Fruit of Gifts was indeed in there, but it would seem that it has nothing to do with us anymore.”

Even if Albert didn’t say anything, Gared and Barron could tell.

“Yea, I can tell. The situation inside must be quite dangerous.”

It was then that Barron thought of George. He looked at Albert and asked,

“If that’s the case, what about the saint candidate? If you’re already like this, doesn’t that mean that he…”

At Barron’s reminder, Gared too recalled that there was a saint candidate in that cavern.

“It’s too dangerous for him if he’s still in there. Should we go in and rescue him?”

Previously, they were enemies because they were after the same prize and were in a competitive relationship.

Now that there was no hope of them obtaining the Fruit of Gifts, they didn’t mind rescuing George.

Because it was their duty as Holy Knights.

At that, Gared paused and looked at Albert.

“Speaking of which, I’m very curious as to why you’re here. There doesn’t seem to be any entrances nearby.”

Albert, not wanting to tell them too much about what had gone on down below, ignored Gared’s question.

The more he recalled what had happened thus far, the more he felt that Boneyard Range was tied to far more complicated things.

As such, it might not be a good thing to tell his two teammates too much.

As for the rescue operation Gared brought up, Albert thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“There’s no need for that for now.

“They don’t need our concern.”

Albert was speaking from the bottom of his heart. Albert had no idea how strong this saint candidate had to become in order to become something that even monsters innately feared.

In any case, the candidate was definitely stronger than him. At the thought of this, Albert felt rather depressed.

The other party was only fourteen, at most fifteen years old!

Albert didn’t know what to say.

After some thought, he said,

“We can’t say that we didn’t gain anything from this operation. At the very least, we’ve proven that this saint candidate is the real deal.”

Although Albert hid it well, Gared and Barron have been with him for far too long.

They immediately realized that something was wrong with Albert.

Gared valued his camaraderie and thus did not like to have anything hidden from him. He frowned and finally asked,

“What happened?”

He had no intention of infringing on people’s privacy, but he was worried that whatever Albert was hiding would affect those around him.

If that happens, then it wouldn’t just be one person who was in danger, but everyone present.

However, before Barron cut in before Albert could reply,

“We’ll talk about it when we get back. The way Captain is now, it’s better to get him treated first.”

He knew where Gared was coming from, but there were some things that couldn’t be resolved just by asking.

If a person didn’t want to say something, they wouldn’t say it even if you forced them. Much less if that person was Albert, someone who was both more powerful and of a higher station.

Compared to Gared, who tended to be more emotional, Barron was the rational sort.

Of course, the other reason was that he was very worried about Albert’s current state.

He looked like a sword that had lost its edge.

He could tell that Albert must have suffered quite a blow.

Then there was Albert’s physical condition.

Indeed, his situation had stabilized and his life was no longer in danger.

But that was also all there was to it. In order for Albert to truly recover, he still needed to return to the temple to receive proper treatment.

Hearing this, Gared shut his mouth and ceased his questioning.

Self-consciously, he walked over to Albert and placed one of his hands on the man’s shoulder.

Truth be told, he wasn’t any less worried than Barron was.

Just as they were about to depart, the Mirage Hawk in the sky began to cry out. Gared was stunned for a brief moment, but he quickly recovered and activated vision sharing with his contract beast

When he received the scene that the Mirage Hawk saw, he hurriedly said,

“We have to leave this place quickly!”

“What did you see?”

“Monsters. Many red-eyed monsters are rushing over from the other side of the mountain.”

“What!”