Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Holy Sword's Trial (1)
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"This way, please."
Heinz followed the archbishop guiding him deeper into the Picaol Grand Cathedral.
With the design centered around the sealed chamber where the holy sword was embedded, it was only natural that this spot was the deepest and most secluded area.
'We've gone pretty far underground already. How massive must the craters have been from that battle...'
Of course, it made sense—it had been a desperate clash between the strongest figures of their era, wagering their lives.
"As you're already aware, the trials differ for each challenger, so I have no specific advice to offer."
After passing through several checkpoints, they arrived before a stone door inscribed with glowing scriptures. The archbishop spoke softly.
Heinz nodded quietly, as it was something he already knew.
He had thoroughly studied all the relevant records during his training period.
"As such, the time it takes to face the trials varies greatly. Some have emerged in just a few hours, while others took around a week."
Of course, they all failed in the end.
The archbishop added with a shrug, turning to Heinz and gesturing toward the door.
"The moment you cross this threshold and enter, the trial begins. Compose yourself, and let me know when you're ready to proceed."
Why drag it out now that they were this far?
Heinz took a deep breath and declared confidently to the archbishop.
"I'll enter right now."
"...Understood. Then, I shall open the door."
The archbishop nodded calmly, approached the stone door, placed his hand upon it, and quietly recited a prayer.
"......That which is hidden in the box is my flesh and blood. You shall......"
The inscribed scriptures on the door began to glow in response to his words.
Holy power from the archbishop was ceaselessly drawn into the sealed door.
How much time passed like that? Before long, thick beads of sweat were streaming down his face.
'Opening this door once requires so much holy power that even an archbishop would be bedridden for days...'
Not only the quantity but also the quality mattered, making it impossible to involve multiple priests.
Heinz was accustomed to encountering them while residing in the cathedral, but in truth, archbishops were incredibly high-ranking personnel.
They oversaw temples mainly in major cities and received treatment equivalent to marquises among the nobility.
'I've grown so used to it that I forgot, but the Saintess is a figure even the emperor can't treat lightly.'
Rubbing shoulders with her in the church's heart—the Grand Cathedral—had dulled his sense of reality a bit.
Whoooosh—
As he briefly lost himself in thought, the stone door emitted a brilliant light and began to tremble slowly.
Rumble rumble groan—
The heavy stone door creaked open.
But its interior was filled with light, making it impossible to discern what lay inside.
"...Then, I wish you luck."
Leaving the archbishop's weary voice, soaked in sweat, behind, Heinz stepped forward without hesitation.
And as he fully entered the light...
Clang— boom!
The stone door slammed shut roughly.
The light around Heinz vanished in an instant, revealing an ordinary corridor.
"...Oh?"
He could instinctively sense it.
This space was a separate realm, cut off from the outside world.
Looking back yielded only more endless corridor—no sign of the stone door he'd entered through.
'Do I have to choose whether to go forward or backward?'
Heinz shrugged, channeling his holy power and Blessing: Strong Body to their limits, focusing on his eyes.
Adding Aauterika Holy Method to amplify his vision...
"...Still no end in sight."
The same held true looking back. In the end, he had no choice but to press on blindly.
He sighed and turned forward again.
For now, he'd bulldoze straight ahead.
'Of course, I can use a few conveniences.'
Concentrating his holy power to expand his vision to its utmost limit, he focused his mind.
And immediately...
Fwoosh—
He activated Blessing: Leap to skip across space.
But the destination was still just an endless corridor—no change whatsoever.
"Hup!"
Boom!
He even poured holy power to the brink and smashed the side wall with full force, but not a single crack appeared.
At that moment...
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Reach the next gateway within the time limit. A single will echoed in his mind.
'Here we go.'
But no further information came, no matter how long he waited.
He had no idea what the time limit was or where the destination lay.
'A trial of patience, maybe?'
He had noticed from the start that the flow of time here differed from the outside.
It might be impossible for others to grasp immediately, but he had multiple avatars outside.
'Roughly 10:1? Compared to Earth, it's 100:1.'
Thanks to his strengthened Mind Hub and mental fortitude, he adapted without issue—back in his early otherworld days, the time dissonance would have left him nauseous for days.
'Not knowing when or how far is the real pressure. Guess I have no choice but to push hard.'
The holy sword's trials typically consisted of several stages.
This one seemed designed to test the challenger's perseverance, mental strength, and stamina.
With time relentlessly ticking away, there was no reason to dawdle.
Heinz did some light stretches on the spot and then bolted forward.
Leveraging his overwhelmingly honed physique and skills like Super Recovery, he tore through the corridor at an astonishing speed.
'No clue what level the trial demands, so I'll just go all out.'
In this trial space, he needed neither sustenance nor sleep, so there were no real issues.
He devoted his mental resources solely to running, allocating just enough periodically for Blessing: Leap.
'This'll take a while, but no helping it.'
Heinz raced silently through the desolate corridor alone.
Just mechanically running, running, leaping with Blessing: Leap, repeat.
Three days passed, and the accumulating fatigue in his body began to outpace even Super Recovery's healing.
The space supplied the necessary energy, but recovery couldn't keep up with the sustained strain.
One week in.
Even brief slowdowns for recovery hit their limit.
He could feel his whole body creaking, but this was routine from training, so he ignored it.
Two weeks in.
As expected of a trial, mere movement wasn't the end.
Whispers stimulating his mind assailed him mid-run—urgings of surrender, despair, loneliness.
But to him, already in a state of no-mind, they were meaningless distractions.
Three weeks in.
Still no clue how much time remained or how far to go—he couldn't afford to slacken.
Short periodic rests, ignoring the mounting pain, then sprint again. Repeat.
With Mind Hub, this was no trial at all.
Just a simple repetitive task.
Under these conditions... he could keep going for days, months, forever.
Time flowed on, and on.
By outside reckoning, four days; inside, about forty...
Heinz was still running.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Tomorrow, then."
"Keh heh... Indeed. Tomorrow will be the day this continent and I perish together. Pahahat!"
In an underground hideout in the continent's south, a hulking man conversed with a diminutive old man.
"Once the ritual begins, we can't evade the church's eyes any longer. We get one shot. Everything must be finished before they reach us."
"Ahh— I know, I know. Don't worry. No chance of failure. How long have I waited for this day?"
The old man's eyes gleamed with madness as he grinned vacantly.
The man stared at him silently, then turned his head slightly, a sly smirk curling his lips.
To think the once-prodigy hailed as the continent's greatest genius, a shoo-in for Mage Tower Alliance leader, had fallen this far...
'Whatever. It's good for us. Not that I care.'
He had no interest in whatever tragic backstory drove the man to destroy the world.
They were just allies of convenience, their goals aligned.
Besides, none among their group were sane anyway.
'Heh... Anyone with normal thinking wouldn't attempt something like this.'
He scanned the interior etched with bizarre spells, then turned toward the exit.
Now, only one day remained.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Something shifted for Heinz, who'd been running mindlessly.
'...What's that?'
His returning awareness caught sight of an 'end' blocking the endless corridor ahead.
Pressing on, he finally reached the corridor's terminus—a plain wooden door.
"The destination? How long was that?"
A bit over four days outside... over a month straight running here.
'Body's in rough shape. Well, even with the space's perks, I overdid it.'
That was an understatement.
Without Mind Hub filtering the pain, he wouldn't be this casual.
His monstrous, skill- and holy power-enhanced body was in tatters—that said it all.
'Even with Super Recovery, it'd take days of solid rest.'
Too battered to continue, but he had intel to lean on.
The moment Heinz confidently touched the next gateway's door...
Whoooosh—
The ambient energy surged into his body.
Fueled by this influx, his month-abused physique began rapid recovery.
"Ngh..."
Muscles twitched ceaselessly, hot energy radiating from his entire form.
Super Recovery, hampered by overload, greedily absorbed the energy and reacted violently.
Layered with Blessing: Strong Body, it rebuilt him stronger, tougher, sturdier than before.
"Haa..."
When the process ended, his body had advanced to another level beyond his pre-trial state.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ First trial complete. Proceed to the next stage through the gateway. The will resounded in his mind again, but Heinz was busy introspecting his restored condition.
'...This is pretty good.'
Thinking about it, this place was optimized for training!
A miraculous space for pure self-improvement, no eating or sleeping required.
He crossed his arms on the spot, deep in thought.
'Time flows differently here anyway. No need to rush to the next trial, right?'
With the trial cleared and time limit gone, a day here equaled over ten outside.
The holy sword wasn't going anywhere—a short delay should be fine.
'Just a bit longer. Yeah, exactly one more day.'
Training addict Heinz turned, back to the door, squatted, and began bunny-hopping down the corridor at speed.
About an hour later...
"Huff... huff..., huh?"
Mid-training fervor, he noticed the door he'd just seen ahead again.
Reaching it once more, Heinz frowned at the door.
It was unmistakably the same one from the opposite direction.
'Why's this here? ...Yeah, I get it.'
Made for trials, the space twisting at whim wasn't surprising.
He scowled lightly, turned back...
"......!"
And startled at the brown door suddenly in his face, stepping back.
Whirling around hastily—long corridor gone; front and back both blocked by identical doors.
'Enough dawdling—move to the next trial?'
This insistent setup meant no more training time.
'Could do bodyweight exercises, but...'
No need to irk the trial's overseeing will further.
Plus, no proper heavy weights here anyway.
Heinz smacked his lips in regret, opened the door before him, and stepped inside.
Like his initial entry, the enveloping light faded...
Leaving him alone in the center of a vast worship hall.