Grave of Incarnations (2)
Terrifying silence enveloped the place.
I murmured lowly.
“It’s been more than a thousand years?”
Even though no one touched it, the lid of the previous incarnation’s coffin opened by itself, and a body floated into the air as if an invisible thread lifted it.
It was a strange sight.
What was made it even more strange was that the body had no signs of aging.
Because of the intangible energy surrounding him, the golden hair covering his physique swayed ever so softly.
No matter how many tis I looked at him, his condition was good enough that it wouldn’t be weird if he opened his eyes right then and there.
I asked Briam a question.
“Is this how it’s supposed to be?”
He stuttered in bafflent.
“H-huh?”
“Is that condition normal for the body of the incarnation? He looks like he has completely avoided the flow of ti.”
“Even if you ask such things… It’s my first ti witnessing the coffin opened as well.”
While we were talking, Rosuelen was gesturing to with a bewitching look.
The place where she wanted to guide was even further up the stairs.
“Co closer to that place, chosen one recognized by the god.”
I grumble inwardly.
‘I have no idea what is going on.’
There was no reason for either Aden or the incarnation that received its power to antagonize for the ti being.
Trusting only on that, I climbed up the stairs one by one.
Then Rosuelen followed, maintaining a distance of a step away from .
Bishop Briam didn’t dare follow us and just looked at us from below.
We both reached the top of the altar, which was elevated like a garden. The body of the incarnation was floating in front of my nose.
Rosuelen whispered.
“He wants you to reach out your hand.”
She was delivering soone else’s ssage to .
It wasn’t hard to guess who the other party was.
“Is that the god’s word, too?”
Giving a glance as if to tell how was it not obvious, Rosuelen nodded.
What did Aden, the war god, want?
‘It called in out of the blue and told to touch the incarnation’s corpse that died ages ago.’
I turned my head again and saw the dead.
The divine power he was emitting was heavy and dense.
Whoong!
Similar light leaked from the god of war’s seal left on the back of my hand.
I reached out to the incarnation without further hesitation.
As I did that-
Boosh!
Glaring flashes consud the surrounding.
At the sa ti, there was an indistinguishable sound from the bottom of the stairs.
It was Briam.
He urgently raised his voice and shouted.
“W-where did he go?”
As soon as my hand touched him, a brilliant flash exploded. Imdiately afterward, the corpse of the incarnation had disappeared without a trace.
However, sothing else appeared in exchange for the missing body.
My back was blocking the view, so Briam wouldn’t be able to see it from where he stood.
“This is…”
I had a sword in my hand that wasn’t there before.
It was simple without fancy decorations.
The blade was rusty, and it was broken in half.
And no matter how I looked at it, it felt familiar.
I had seen a weapon that looked just like it.
“Isn’t this the sa weapon that Aden’s sacred beast was holding?”
An entity appeared in front of in the temple where I went to upgrade my unique skill and chose to be tried by the god of war, perfectly mimicking and becoming my doppelganger.
Its true identity was the god of war’s sacred beast.
The sword it was holding looked just like the one in my hand.
It seemingly wouldn’t be able to function as a weapon at all, but…
“Ahh!”
Rosuelen exclaid in a voice full of glee.
“That is a weapon that only those with the permission of a great being can hold. The Holy Sword!”
I pushed Mana slightly into the weapon.
The reaction was imdiate.
Boong!
I muttered without realizing it.
“It’s amazing.”
As the light enveloped the blade and completed its missing parts, it beca impossible to notice that it was actually broken.
The speed at which the weapon sucked and amplified my Mana was incomparable to the devil’s sword I used before or to the [Mass-Produced Energy Sword] I currently used.
They were also excellent weapons, but the one in my hand right at that mont was a weapon of a different class.
Furthermore…
‘Why isn’t the System ssage responding?’
[The Successor’s Eyes], which should’ve automatically inford of the item’s effect when I ca into contact with it, wasn’t responding.
It ant that the System didn’t classify it as an item.
Rosuelen’s eyes twinkled.
“The Holy Sword is not in its complete form right now.”
I could tell without her having to tell .
I rembered what “Rom,” the god of life, said.
– The sword of ‘War’ is rusty and broken.
“Only when you find and attach the other piece that had been broken and separated can the Holy Sword regain its complete authority and power.”
She continued, with weight in her voice.
“That way, it can be reborn as a complete weapon of the god. Until that day cos, the great being wants you to be responsible as the master of this broken sword.”
I looked at the Holy Sword emitting a brilliant light.
Since it already showed performance comparable to an SSS-Class Imperial Heritage while it was still broken, how powerful was it when it was still in its full form?
Well, it had to reach such a point at least to be worthy of being called a ‘weapon of a god.’
However, Rosuelen’s words didn’t end there.
“And it wishes you to contribute in reviving the sword.”
‘Huh? Wait a minute.’
Wasn’t that a similar situation to when Igras-Sho employed my aid through the church?
It felt the sa as when the magic god instigated to find the eighth leg…
I looked at Rosuelen.
“Then where are the pieces of the broken blade? The location of the other half…”
“The god is telling that right now.”
She imdiately told the coordinates of a certain dinsion.
I laughed bitterly.
“It happens to be a coordinate that I know. It mustn’t be a coincidence.”
Not long ago, Adam had investigated and inford of dinsional and planetary locations that the Adgons had seized and restricted the accessibility of for other species.
Of course, I rembered the list clearly thanks to [The Successor’s Eyes].
The place that Rosuelen spoke about was among them.
“They blatantly want to be their errand boy, don’t they?”
As an outco of Igras-Sho’s hiring of resulting in great success, it seed that other gods wanted the sa for them as well.
Well… It wasn’t bad for the mortals or to build up the gods’ influence anyway.
I gave Rosuelen my decision.
“Alright, I’ll do as the god instructs.”
However, I couldn’t fly into the Adgons’ front yard to find it imdiately.
Before that, there were things to be dealt with first.
*
We teleported back to the area governed by Bishop Briam.
When I got there, the first thing that I did was contact Bachurka, one of the supre commissioners.
It was due to the thought that I would leave her to take care of the captured Adgon commissioner so I wouldn’t have to take him to Earth.
– What? Is that true?!
When Bachurka heard what I had found out from interrogating the Adgon species, her face showed her disbelief.
It would indeed be a shocking story.
I asked her a question after I finished my explanation.
“Did your species know about the concept of a System Administrator? And the fact that Adgons were in contact with them.”
– No, I’ve never heard of that…
Of course, the tribe that Bachurka belonged to wasn’t one of the five races that founded the Union.
It was natural for them to be unaware of the Adgons’ secret.
“What do you think the aftermath would be like if this were to be revealed to the Union?”
Bachurka spoke with determination.
– Just by looking at what has been confird so far, the Adgons have already broken countless Union laws. They won’t be able to avoid racial censure.
It was as I wanted.
– Perhaps… They may even lose their rights as a mber of the Union. Of course, the level of punishnt may how they respond, but… The aftermath of this is expected to be huge.
As long as the Adgons remain in their current stature, it was difficult to uncover their plot.
For the ti being, it was better to drag them down from their high horse, place them as a suspect, and investigate their dinsions.
I didn’t need to go to war with them all by myself.
“A witness has already been secured, and the testimonies were recorded through magic. If we want to make full use of these, political maneuvering will be needed beyond re ard demonstrations and…”
That’s why I had to reach out to Bachurka.
I picked the one who excelled in such politics.
– For now, I’ll be sending individuals who will secretly retrieve the witness.
It was only after handing over the Adgon commissioner to the ones that Bachurka sent that we prepared to return to Earth.
Bishop Briam and Rosuelen bowed deeply to and paid respect.
“Oh, chosen one, I do not know how to repay the kindness you have gifted us with. If you hadn’t co, we would’ve beco toys in their hands without knowing that the Adgons were plotting in the shadows.”
Rosuelen, beside the Bishop who greeted several tis, also spoke up.
“Thank you…”
With her head bowed down, she looked at the broken sword attached to my waist, the incomplete Holy Sword.
“I will do my best to be qualified to receive the sword from the great being one day as well.”
Rosuelen couldn’t take her gaze off of .
Her eyes were sared with feelings of respect and admiration.
*
“The god of war handing down a Holy Sword to a mortal, who isn’t even a real incarnation… I keep seeing all kinds of things.”
As if he felt extrely unpleasant due to the Holy Sword that I got to wear on from that mont on, Genograche disappeared as if to run away as soon as we returned to Earth.
He said sothing about taking a breather since he was feeling violated by the intense divine power.
It was obvious what his stress reliever was. He was going to raid dungeons right away and cut down monsters.
Of course, he couldn’t enter by himself, as he wasn’t an Awakened, so he had to pick a pushover hunter walking around the guild and get judged as a ‘possession’ to enter.
Usually, he moved with Nate or Hibiki, but they had left to carry out the Main Quest in an alien world and had yet to return to Earth.
By my assumption, they would have already co back by that ti, but they were taking longer than expected.
‘Still? They’re taking quite a while.’
There was one thing that felt strange.
I couldn’t see the first person I should see welcoming when I returned from leaving my place.
‘And where’s Secretary Kim?’
As soon as I ca back, news about my return was shared throughout the guild. He should be running into the room soon.
Since I had the ti, I shared what happened on the Darion dinsion with Adam.
And what we both agreed to was that digging more in the Adgons’ ‘restricted’ zones should be done after the Union had taken a asure against them.
Due to Igras-Sho’s magic resurrecting, the securities on such areas’ boundaries had already reached their peak.
Hence, it was only natural that things would be much easier to move after the Union carried out its attack.
After sharing so more information and ending the communication with Adam, I heard soone call for .
“Guild Masteeeeer!”
The office door burst open without so much as a knock.
There was no need to look up and check who it was.
I couldn’t mistake who the owner of that voice was since I had heard it one too many tis.
“Have you been well?”
I answered back with my eyes fixed on the docunts, not giving a glance at him.
The things I had to deal with had piled up while I was away, after all.
“Guild Master!”
However, Secretary Kim urgently called again without greeting .
What could it be?
Only then, when I raised my head, did I see Secretary Kim’s frightened and pale face.
Presuming that sothing unusual had happened, I asked.
“What’s the matter?”
Then he spoke in an urgent tone.
There was a reason why he didn’t see when I returned.
Secretary Kim was in charge of acting on behalf of external affairs when I was away, which included being an official communication channel with other dinsions.
After the Earth joined the Union, a device that could connect with other mber dinsions was officially distributed to us, and he had been talking with soone through it.
His face beca more distorted as he replied.
“It’s about Ms. Hibiki and Mr. Nate.”
Those kids who were still in the alien world?
My expression froze, too.
“What’s with them? Could it be that they had an accident while on the quest…?”
Secretary Kim said with an anxious look.
“The multi-racial party that the two of them joined… Had gone missing while carrying out the quest in the alien world! The Union hasn’t still haven’t found them!”
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