Chapter 177 (1/2)
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 times 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 bafflement.
“H-huh?”
“Is that condition normal for the body of the incarnation? He looks like he has completely avoided the flow of time.”
“Even if you ask me such things… It’s my first time witnessing the coffin opened as well.”
While we were talking, Rosuelen was gesturing to me with a bewitching look.
The place where she wanted to guide me was even further up the stairs.
“Come 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 me for the time being.
Trusting only on that, I climbed up the stairs one by one.
Then Rosuelen followed, maintaining a distance of a step away from me.
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 someone else’s message to me.
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 me how was it not obvious, Rosuelen nodded.
What did Aden, the war god, want?
‘It called me in out of the blue and told me 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 consumed the surrounding.
At the same time, 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. Immediately afterward, the corpse of the incarnation had disappeared without a trace.
However, something 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 same weapon that Aden’s sacred beast was holding?”
An entity appeared in front of me in the temple where I went to upgrade my unique skill and chose to be tried by the god of war, perfectly mimicking me 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 exclaimed 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 immediate.
Boong!
I muttered without realizing it.
“It’s amazing.”
As the light enveloped the blade and completed its missing parts, it became 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 moment was a weapon of a different class.
Furthermore…
‘Why isn’t the System message responding?’
[The Successor’s Eyes], which should’ve automatically informed me of the item’s effect when I came into contact with it, wasn’t responding.
It meant 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 me.
I remembered 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 comes, 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 same as when the magic god instigated me to find the eighth leg…
I looked at Rosuelen.