The church of Finlad.

Since the villagers had been relocated, the church had been repurposed as a place to house the wounded. Those afflicted with Blood Poison were confined separately, restrained within partitioned rooms.

The priests had not abandoned them. They had instead notified their families, hoping that perhaps one or two might be saved.

But today, the stench of blood within the church was several times stronger than usual.

The wounded were being carried in endlessly, most of them gravely injured.

“Ugh—let me go!”

Without constant suppression by holy light, the Blood Poison patients were growing ever more frenzied.

Apprentice priest Malvin struggled to pin one thrashing man down, while his companion tied the ropes tight.

“This won’t do. They need [Holy Light] to suppress them. Where’s Priest Glanen?”

His companion glanced nervously at the other howling patients and shook his head.

“He’s still outside treating the wounded. Two more critical cases just arrived. I doubt he has the strength left to deal with them as well.”

“I’ll go ask him.”

Malvin stepped outside. Sure enough, he saw the priest forcing a soldier’s intestines back into place with one hand while channeling healing magic with the other.

When the soldier finally stabilized, Malvin hurried forward.

“Priest Glanen, the Blood Poison victims must be suppressed with [Holy Light]. Otherwise they won’t hold out much longer.”

Glanen turned, and Malvin immediately noticed the dullness in his eyes, exhaustion etched across his face.

The signs of mana overdraw.

Malvin realized the truth—there was no [Holy Light] left.

Sure enough, Glanen said, with deep reluctance:

“Malvin, take a sword inside. Give release to those beyond saving.

I cannot abandon the ones I can clearly heal just to cling to faint hope for the poisoned.

I will bear whatever comes of this decision.”

“…Understood.”

Taking a fallen soldier’s sword from the wall, Malvin returned to the partition.

Several more had already slipped into madness.

His companion saw the blade in Malvin’s hand, understood immediately, and quietly left the room, unable to watch.

Approaching the man struggling most violently, Malvin drew a long breath.

He knew this one—a patrol captain, poisoned after unknowingly drinking from a tampered stream.

“I’m sorry. May Ikseon, Lord of Light, receive your soul.”

The sword pierced his throat, ending the man’s torment.

Malvin sighed heavily, moving to the next.

This one was a young female adventurer, said to have been bitten during a commission.

Half her eyes were already blood-red—a sign of complete transformation, and the most agonizing stage.

Yet she bit her lips and made no sound, enduring with only low groans.

Malvin could not help but feel admiration.

But it was such a pity.

The woman smelled the blood on his blade. She did not resist. She only closed her eyes, trembling slightly, resigned to her wretched end.

“May Ikseon, Lord of Light, receive your soul.”

Bang—

The door burst open. Malvin froze mid-strike, sword halted above her.

A cloaked figure rushed in, charging at the woman like a madman, bowling Malvin to the ground.

“What are you doing? I’m helping them—”

Malvin thought the man had misunderstood, clutching his side as he tried to shoo him away.

But then he saw what the intruder held, and his eyes widened.

“A Reversal Potion!”

The cloaked figure, of course, was Dylan. He paid no attention to Malvin’s words, only staring in anguish at his daughter’s suffering.

With his good right hand, he carefully tipped the potion to her lips.

“Father?”

“Bella, don’t be afraid. Papa’s here. This potion will save you. You’ll be fine.”

Bella could hardly believe her father would appear at such a moment, yet she obediently drank.

The potion burned through her body, stabbing pain spreading everywhere.

“Ahhh!”

The agony made her scream before she finally collapsed unconscious.

“What—what’s happening? Is the potion faulty? What do I do now?”

Panic seized Dylan. If this one hope was false… then he would return and slaughter that goateed merchant’s entire family!

Seeing this, Malvin quickly explained:

“Don’t panic. That’s normal. The Reversal Potion forces the changed flesh to revert, so it drags them back through the pain.

It’s better she passed out. When she wakes, she’ll be fine.”

“R-Really?”

Dylan seized Malvin’s hand in desperation, his grip so strong the apprentice priest grimaced in pain.

“Really, really! Now let go!”

Realizing his outburst, Dylan quickly released him, muttering an awkward apology.

“It’s alright… I understand.”

Malvin picked up his sword again and turned to another patient on the verge of change, resuming his grim duty. Not everyone had the fortune to be saved.

Bella lay frowning, even in her sleep still wracked by pain.

Dylan stroked her face, tears glistening in his eyes.

At last, he had saved his daughter.

Outside, the sounds of battle had dwindled. The Blood Feeders had been few, relying only on surprise.

The commander here must have had some skill—Dylan had seen him rallying soldiers before the church, forming squads to fight back.

Dylan himself had smeared blood across his face to hide the mycelium, which was the only reason he had been allowed inside.

Order would return here soon enough…

“Fortunate girl. You must be very close, for him to charge into the village like this.”

Having slain the rest of the frenzied patients, Malvin sought conversation to ease his own shaken heart.

But Dylan stiffened, suddenly remembering something.

In a rush, he stood and bolted from the church.

“Eh—huh?”

Malvin blinked, baffled. He didn’t want to chat, sure, but did he need to run away?

Dylan scanned the surroundings outside. With no sign of Blood Feeders and the church safe, he slipped away from the village before the soldiers had fully restored order.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be there when Bella awoke. He was afraid.

Flexing the fingers of his restored left arm, the fusion of flesh and mycelium reminded him of what he had become.

He wasn’t afraid of Bella rejecting him. Quite the opposite.

As that apprentice priest had said, their bond was deep.

So deep that even if Bella knew her father had turned into this, she would stand by him without hesitation.

And that was exactly what he feared.

His mutation being discovered was only a matter of time. When that happened, whether he faced judgment or execution remained unknown.

But Bella—gifted, with a bright future ahead—he could not let her destroy it for his sake.

He had to stay away from her.

But where could he go now?

For a moment, Dylan even thought perhaps the best choice was to end himself.

But people always cling to life. For his daughter, he had risked everything. Now that she was safe, he found he could not throw away his own life so easily.

If possible, he still wanted to hide somewhere, occasionally learning news of Bella, just to know if she was well.

After much thought, Dylan decided to head to one place.

Somewhere, somehow, he felt he might find a way to live.