Chapter 159
Chapter 159
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Plateau
Plateau.
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What is training?
Repeatedly practicing your weak points until they fit together seamlessly.
In that sense, I'd never truly trained properly.
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'Let's keep it simple.'
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Filling in my deficiencies.
I decided to discover those shortcomings in the process.
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Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And the Storm Giant's Heart.
The Hero's orthodox swordsmanship.
And the sword styles representing each race.
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Truth be told, the order was already set.
It had to be.
Out of those four.
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'Start with the most dangerous one first.'
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Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
The Heavenly Demon had helped me this time.
But would it happen again next time?
Or if I were in danger, it might operate the Heavenly Demon Divine Art just like in this incident and put me at even greater risk.
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'Though the chances of that are slim.'
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If by some fluke it acted that way, my life would be in jeopardy.
So I needed to properly investigate the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
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Bzzz!
A single circle rotated inside my body.
As the technique named Heavenly Demon Divine Art surged through me.
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The purple power of the Extreme Thunder God within me subsided.
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Whoosh!
Dark flames began to flicker in my grasp.
My swordsmanship blurred hazily in my mind, while fist techniques etched themselves clearly into my thoughts.
To the point where I felt like I could go a few rounds in close-quarters combat with Volkan right now.
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'Strange.'
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Replacing the Extreme Thunder God's power with black flames.
And swordsmanship with fist techniques.
This was certainly good for concealing my identity.
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'But what kind of mechanism causes it to change in this form?'
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That was what intrigued me.
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-It is peculiar...
-Well, since it's those demonic fiends, they probably twisted it into something like that somehow.
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The Holy Bow dismissed it casually.
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-Still, seeing it like this, I think I get it a bit.
-Yeah, the power called Heavenly Demon Divine Art and these black flames are both external forces.
'External?'
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Did external mean those things called beasts?
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-To begin with, we are invaders from outside... weapons made to combat those externals. Divine artifacts forged from the Goddess's power by grinding stars. To counter them without divine artifacts of their own, the externals must have borrowed external powers with that mindset of fighting fire with fire, right?
'Externals?'
-Um... sorry, but it's still hard for me to say more. Since I haven't formally received a master yet.
'......In the end, I have to go to the Church.'
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I'd have to visit the Church at least once to perform the master recognition ritual.
The outcome would be decided after the Sword Hero was chosen.
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'Too many things to do.'
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Relocate the clan, meet the Mage Hero.
If the Sword Hero turned out to be So Yeonhwa or Ermé, then Veronica would join us, making four of us heading to the Church for their official recognition.
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'Receive the Goddess's recognition and use that to unseal the divine artifacts, right?'
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The Holy Sword was still sealed, and though the Holy Bow's seal was broken, it couldn't exhibit its full power without the master ritual.
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In that case.
That future I witnessed... when So Yeonhwa became the beast called Oblivion Light, would I learn how it happened?
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Or.
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Could I discover what that demonic entity was that destroyed the Cradle?
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Well, that was something I'd only know when they arrived.
I focused on investigating it while using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
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I lightly snapped my fingers.
The black flames danced freely.
A sensation similar to wielding the Extreme Thunder God's purple power.
But this held a more savage force and the properties of flame.
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'Powers of the externals, made to kill externals.'
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That was why these black flames were underwhelming.
Weak compared to Extreme Thunder God, strong compared to Thunder Palm technique.
The black flames themselves were powerful, but their offensive output was lacking against Extreme Thunder God.
That had made it a bit regrettable when pushing back the defensive formation.
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So, the way for me to use it was.
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'To understand the principles of the black flames and apply them to myself?'
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If so, then there'd be no need to even learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
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-And you'd achieve that result?
-......Well, with you, it might actually work.
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The flustered Holy Bow.
And the Holy Sword, harboring faint expectations that maybe I could do it.
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'I think I know how to approach it.'
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I ignited the black flames.
And closed my eyes, pondering.
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'Steal Strike.'
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My ultimate move that could steal anything.
It was even called the devil's supreme technique that materialized concepts themselves.
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The Holy Sword called it a technique that could reach the gods.
Whenever it tried to bail me out of a crisis, this skill had one notable trait.
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'I can appraise the item I intend to steal.'
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An idea sparked from that.
Then, couldn't I disassemble and steal martial arts or whatever here?
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I executed Steal Strike with exquisite precision.
My head throbbed. A sensation like something snapping with a pop.
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'Not easy.'
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Black flames.
I didn't know what they were, but it felt like it would still be a bit difficult for now.
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However.
In other words.
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'It's only a bit difficult for now.'
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But to grow stronger, I had to disassemble these black flames at least once.
To protect my sanctuary.
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Swish.
My hand turned pitch black.
A sensation of it being sucked somewhere.
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And then.
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Whoosh!
I felt intensely burning black flames.
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Black flames.
As they broke down into individual components.
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Sss...
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"Huh?"
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They just dissipated.
Vanishing in an instant, like flames doused with water or sand.
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'What phenomenon is this?'
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As I focused to figure it out, I soon realized something.
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'......The Heavenly Demon Divine Art released itself.'
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I didn't know the reason.
But the moment I tried to disassemble the black flames, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art deactivated.
That was why there was no backlash.
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"......"
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I quickly pulled out the Heavenly Demon's soul stone.
This guy must have done something.
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I glared at the Heavenly Demon's soul stone.
I had no idea what this thing wanted.
It could emerge but acted as if bound by some constraint, which was frustrating as hell for me.
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-What's wrong?
-What happened?
'......The moment I tried analyzing the black flames with Steal Strike, it released the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
-......Wait, you were trying to steal the black flames with that?
-??
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The Holy Sword spoke in a bewildered tone, while the Holy Bow reacted as if clueless.
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'I'm talking about the gift I used when I stole the Holy Bow and the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings' immortality.'
-Wait, that was stealing?
-It's not for nothing he's recommended as a Thief. He's exceptional in swordsmanship and rivals the greats in other areas... but his true genius lies in theft.
'......'
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It was clearly praise, but why didn't it feel like it?
Well, since it's something like "damn good at gaming," I'll take it as praise.
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-Hmm... so when you tried to steal the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, that Heavenly Demon bastard just bailed?
-Pretty much.
'Whoa, at least this means he can't take over my body and do whatever.'
-Don't worry about that. If I sense anything, I'll push it out.
-The girl is here too!
'Yeah, yeah.'
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I casually responded and eyed the Heavenly Demon's soul stone askance.
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'It definitely intervened.'
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Still, after this incident, I had a strange feeling it wouldn't mess with me needlessly anymore.
Time to move on to the next.
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Over the next month, I thoroughly reviewed everything I possessed.
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A month later.
I sensed a commotion outside.
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'......Took longer than I thought.'
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Had Ermé finally arrived?
Honestly, I was curious.
If Ermé became the Sword Hero.
How she might have beaten So Yeonhwa.
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'Honestly, I'd prefer Ermé.'
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Ermé drew the Holy Sword.
She avoided it because gaining the true power she sought would be nullified by obtaining the Holy Sword.
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'Then I could stay with the Holy Sword longer.'
-Heh, you pretend otherwise, but you do enjoy being with this body.
-That's a misunderstanding.
'......Come to think of it, I should pass it to the Sword Hero. I've already mastered all the swordsmanship.'
-Arrrgh!
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Ignoring the Holy Sword's howl of anguish.
I headed outside.
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-How does it feel?
'Well......'
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I glanced at the training grounds.
They were supposed to be indestructible no matter what.
But now they were cracked everywhere, on the verge of collapse at any moment.
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'......I kept restoring them with Synthesis.'
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Synthesis wasn't omnipotent, so this was the inevitable result.
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-Well, you used Paecheon, so it's unavoidable.
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As the Holy Sword said.
I looked at the training grounds.
A single strike that seemed to bisect the entire field.
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'......Not bad.'
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A lot had come together over the past month.
The Storm Giant's Heart.
I calmly reviewed my swordsmanship.
Made the Hero's orthodox swordsmanship viable.
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And I even concocted some fairly effective poisons.
I'd given clan members living expenses and necessary funds from my own pocket.
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I could have handled it by borrowing, but since I'd delayed Ermé's choice, I didn't want to go that route.
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So the clan members had few complaints.
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'About time to head to the Labyrinth.'
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They were on the Eastern Continent, but it wasn't like we had no way to communicate.
Letters.
We exchanged them and prepared in advance.
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'Orcs.'
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A race cursed entirely into orcs.
The orcs' holy site called Giant's Plateau.
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That was where our clan was headed this time.
'So much to do.'
We had to go to Giant's Plateau.
And stop by the Church too.