Chapter 177

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.

"Then where are the pieces of the broken blade? The location of the other half..."

"The god is telling me that right now."

She immediately told me the coordinates of a certain dimension.

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 informed me of dimensional and planetary locations that the Adgons had seized and restricted the accessibility of for other species.

Of course, I remembered the list clearly thanks to [The Successor's Eyes].

The place that Rosuelen spoke about was among them.

"They blatantly want me to be their errand boy, don't they?"

As an outcome of Igras-Sho's hiring of me resulting in great success, it seemed that other gods wanted the same for them as well.

Well... It wasn't bad for the mortals or me 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 immediately.

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 supreme 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 confirmed 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 member of the Union. Of course, the level of punishment 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 time being, it was better to drag them down from their high horse, place them as a suspect, and investigate their dimensions.

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 mere armed 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 me and paid respect.

"Oh, chosen one, I do not know how to repay the kindness you have gifted us with. If you hadn't come, we would've become toys in their hands without knowing that the Adgons were plotting in the shadows."

Rosuelen, beside the Bishop who greeted me several times, 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 me.

Her eyes were smeared 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 extremely unpleasant due to the Holy Sword that I got to wear on me from that moment on, Genograche disappeared as if to run away as soon as we returned to Earth.

He said something 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 come back by that time, 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 me when I returned from leaving my place.

'And where's Secretary Kim?'

As soon as I came back, news about my return was shared throughout the guild. He should be running into the room soon.

Since I had the time, I shared what happened on the Darion dimension 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 measure 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 some more information and ending the communication with Adam, I heard someone call for me.

"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 times.

"Have you been well?"

I answered back with my eyes fixed on the documents, 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 me again without greeting me.

What could it be?

Only then, when I raised my head, did I see Secretary Kim's frightened and pale face.

Presuming that something 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 me 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 dimensions.

After the Earth joined the Union, a device that could connect with other member dimensions was officially distributed to us, and he had been talking with someone through it.

His face became 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!"