Chapter 145
The energy that had filled the space of the tower vanished in an instant.
The only thing remaining was a faint sensation of heat.
However, that had long since turned to ash and settled on the floor.
A sword thrust only once.
With that, he achieved it.
It was not a sword thrust recklessly.
A single strike containing everything I had.
During the execution of that strike.
His time had momentarily stopped.
Unified energy.
Now, the things he possessed had unified and become one with the sword.
Since the sword and I became one, my mental image gained will, manifested according to my intentions, and fused with new energy.
A phenomenon like magic.
The fire blooming from the ash burns the inside.
"The Dragon grasps and swings nature."
The Fairy alters and wields nature.
The God makes it one.
The Human becomes the vessel and strikes.
What was contained in the single strike he unleashed was so much, so convoluted, and so unfathomable that it was difficult to express in words.
But that was Kalias.
Wrapping the sword qi of Bahwaro in sword gang was the will of his mental image, changing its nature was fairy power, and tearing things apart was dragon power.
The ash created by Kalias took the form of Bahwaro, but it was different.
It possessed a sensation of heat, but in terms of attributes, it did not possess that of fire.
It was a technique where highly compressed sword gang, fairy power, and dragon power mixed to relentlessly tear the opponent apart from within their body.
As the cells were torn apart at high speed, a sensation of heat arose, making it appear as if they were burning.
"As expected."
He had simply contained Bahwaro and Baekmyo, and moreover, the Higanbana and Baekjeolhwa all together.
All of that in a single strike.
All energy in a single strike.
The will contained within them in a single strike.
He had simply contained it all in a single strike.
Having transcended his limits like that and constructed his own mental image, Kalias.
He became a Transcendent and a Master.
Transcendent because he transcended the limits of his species.
He would be called a Master because he was worthy of everyone's respect.
He became a Seeker because he was limited to the sword.
Kalias opened the world.
He finally looked straight at it.
Having stepped into the world of transcendence, he was quite satisfied.
[Transcended the limits of Qi...]
[Transcended the limits of the Body...]
[Mind has grown rapidly...]
[The balance of Mind, Qi, and Body has been achieved...]
[You have reached the realm of Transcendence.]
[You have defeated
[You have conquered the darkness of the tower. Rewards for this will be given.]
Kalias swiped away the notification windows and walked forward with steady steps.
The throne where he had been seated had long disappeared.
The only thing there was a sword floating in midair.
Kalias sheathed Roas and stared at it for a moment.
A slightly large bastard sword.
The blade was well-balanced, and the dark red edge was chilling.
The crossguard was a bit unusual, with only one side being long and spread out like a wing, which he thought might represent Titeo's severed hand.
However, there was no problem using it.
《Lord of Iron》
Grade - Rak (Fall)
Imbued Soul - The Weeping Corruption
Unique Ability - Salvation of Corruption.
《Salvation of Corruption》
-The corrupted one who became a sword himself will reach out a hand of salvation. If there are bones and a soul of the dead, he will revive them as an Iron Knight.
《Iron Knight》
-Saves the flesh and soul to raise them as an Iron Knight. Having just been born, they can only exert half of their strength from when they were alive. If they are given an item from their lifetime, they will gradually regain their strength.
《Growth》
-Iron Knights are capable of growth.
《Demonic Sword》
-A sword made of the corrupted. It is a demonic sword that eats away at its user.
[List of Owned Knights]
Grand General —
Commanding General —
Vice General: 2
General: 12
Elite Knight: 241
Regular Knight: 932
"As expected. They remain."
The corners of Kalias's mouth went up.
The reason he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land was as follows.
His own growth.
He knew he was only a few steps away from Master, and to prepare for the war that would break out a few years later, Kalias knew he had to be stronger than he was then.
Because he knew the Empire would now truly set its mind to eradicating Carpe.
He considered Master to be the minimum qualification and set out on his pilgrimage.
And next was the Lord of Iron.
The Weeping Corruption.
Obtaining Titeo.
Titeo was a rarely generous corrupted one, and had a kind heart.
It was the easiest sword to acquire among those worthy of being called true demonic swords.
A true demonic sword.
Means a sword made by killing a corrupted one.
One must hunt a demon.
But how could one who hasn't even become a Master catch a demon? True demonic power is never an easy force to encounter.
'Unless it was a thousand years ago.'
Back then, without discriminating, they corrupted everything and turned them into demons.
Inferior and lowly things were everywhere.
But not now.
After the Dragon-Demon War.
The demons cast out the inferior ones.
They numbered themselves, holed up in the Land of Corruption, and decided to fight among themselves to increase their power.
There is only one demon remaining on the current continent.
The Weeping Corruption.
Titeo was the only one.
He had been waiting for someone to hold him and his comrades, and all one had to do was prove themselves, not defeat him.
Moreover, the 《Lord of Iron》.
What was contained within the sword were veteran heroes who had been active a thousand years ago.
"Now I'm not afraid of the war with the Empire either."
With the Lord of Iron, the war with the Empire had now become quite manageable.
Of course, the odds of winning weren't high.
It was only now that they could finally be considered equal.
'War isn't fought alone, after all.'
Anyway, he felt quite good.
Kalias immediately tried summoning the Iron Knights.
"Wake up."
Thud.
As he held the sword in a reverse grip and pierced the ground.
A black air current eroded the area.
Soon, soldiers rose from there.
'They don't look much like iron.'
However, they didn't look the same as before.
Maybe it was because what was injected wasn't demonic energy.
"It's better than before."
Their appearance was that of knights armed in black steel.
At least they didn't look like walking skeletons.
Like Black Knights?
They just looked like regular knights.
A gray energy could be glimpsed through the gaps in their face-covering helmets and armor, but it wasn't a big problem.
"As expected, maintaining them is burdensome."
Maintaining over a thousand knights itself was quite a burden.
However, it seemed possible to maintain them for about half a day, and since his divine power had evolved as he broke through his limits, there was no major problem.
[I greet the new Lord.]
[I greet the Lord.]
He was surprised when they suddenly spoke, but he didn't act rashly.
"Vice Generals, I presume."
[That is correct. I am Niol.]
[I am Garcia.]
Niol and Garcia.
Since they were Vice General-level knights, their skills would certainly be outstanding.
"What is the extent of your skills?"
[If we have time to adapt and a proper sword, we are confident we would not fall easily even against a Master.]
Time to adapt and a proper sword.
Meaning, without them now, they couldn't face a Master.
Even with them, they were only saying they were confident they wouldn't fall easily, so it seemed they possessed slightly better skills than the Orc Warlord he had met in the North.
Come to think of it, most of the Iron Knights had swords, but they were just ordinary weapons.
'I'll have to get them weapons.'
It seemed he would have to find swords to give them whenever he had the chance.
It was a shame that they didn't have the weapons they used in their lifetime, but this was enough.
"If the two of you join forces, you'll be able to hold off one Master."
[That depends on the opponent...]
[It is possible.]
Their personalities were a bit different.
Niol was cautious, and Garcia seemed hearty.
'As expected. They're not different.'
Just as expected.
Niol and Garcia were people Kalias somewhat remembered.
Those who protected and stayed with Titeo until the very end.
Like most General-level knights, they were extremely skilled among them.
Those who had reached Master in their lifetime.
Now, although their power was inferior to when they were alive, he didn't mind that at all.
They could grow.
And.
'They don't die.'
If they fought and exhausted their strength, they would simply return to the sword and fall asleep for a bit.
This was a very big advantage.
Not dying meant they could fight life-and-death battles multiple times and grow.
Not to mention regaining their strength from when they were alive.
They could even aim for higher than that.
"You are Vlad."
[That is correct.]
He answered, but perhaps because he was a General-level, it felt like his emotions were removed.
The other Generals gave a similar feeling.
"Take it. It's yours."
[This is...]
Four-Sided Sword - Laituba.
When he handed him the sword he had obtained on the 2nd floor, an exclamation mixed with emotion appeared.
[Thank... thank you.]
"A little better."
It seemed he had lost some of his memories from his lifetime because his sword was taken from him.
Since it was returned to him, he would grow more.
After that, he tried talking to the Elite Knights and Regular Knights, but there was no difference.
The Elite Knights couldn't speak, but they seemed to understand what Kalias was saying, nodding and expressing themselves through actions.
The Regular Knights couldn't even do that.
"Are the Regular Knights meaningless?"
They were more trouble than they were worth, only consuming the maintenance divine power and just taking up numbers.
Kalias immediately tried to free their souls but then stopped.
'They are not the ones I took in.'
So he couldn't do as he pleased.
Even if he wasn't satisfied with their skills, they were all ones who had followed Titeo.
At least these ones.
'Are they the ones I must carry to the end?'
For Titeo, who had entrusted himself to him.
Kalias had an obligation to take responsibility for them to the end.
"It can't be helped."
He only released their summoning.
Naturally, the Elites and Regulars, and even the Generals, were unsummoned, and they seeped back into the sword.
Whenever he called them again, they would appear and fight the enemy bravely.
"Niol and Garcia, stand guard."
Niol and Garcia were not much different from humans.
Bound to the sword, they could never betray Kalias.
There was no need to doubt them.
[Understood.]
[As you wish, my Lord.]
He roughly understood the sword, so now it was time to examine what he had gained and his body.
A lot of rewards had come in from the quest, and since he had transcended the limits of his species and become a Master, he needed to take a deep look at how much he had grown.
《Kalias von Zervan》
《Title》 - Hero of the Nation
《Class》 - Pilgrim
《Divine Power》 - 2nd Class
《Divine Energy》 - 17905/32104
《Talents》 - 【Bard's Blessing】 【Instinctive Intuition】
《Traits》 - [Grace] [Noblesse Oblige] [Death of Yesterday's Wrongs] [Prodigal Son of the Order] [Glutton] [Three-colored Eyes] [Fairy Fragrance] [Fairy Power] [Dragon Power]
《Constitution》 - 『Bone Fusion』
《Stats》
Strength – 102 (30) ▶ 201 (30)
Agility – 86 (30) ▶ 186 (30)
Dexterity – 22 ▶ 52
Health – 89 (30) ▶ 232 (30)
Faith – 95 ▶ 100
The quality of his divine power had become 2nd Class.
His overall stats had increased by nearly twofold.
In particular, his Health had increased dramatically.
Also, the Dexterity part was quite dazzling.
'Is it because of Dragon Power and Fairy Power?'
It seemed they had an influence.
And the Trait section.
'Did Fairy Power and Dragon Power become Traits?'
It seemed to be because they were influenced by Bone Fusion during the process of mixing Fairy Power and Dragon Power.
There was not a single trace of the fairies' presence that had filled his dantian.
Instead, they had become one of the buds of the Six Peaks of Ten Thousand Flowers.
If the buds had colors, the ones that would have just been silver had changed to purple and red, one by one.
And the giant bud that sat above them had turned gray.
'Did it change as soon as it reached the Fourth Peak?'
He didn't know in detail.
Because his memory of breaking down the wall was vague.
He had simply entrusted his body to his senses.
If he had to guess.
"In the process of mixing, they dyed each other one by one and became the foundation for the Fourth Peak."
That was probably correct.
From the lowest dantian, going up slowly through the First Peak, Second Peak, and Third Peak, the Fourth Peak bloomed in the middle dantian, but...
'It's a mess.'
Divine power and Fairy Power,
Dragon Power were mixed up in a jumble.
Barely at a level where they didn't repel each other.
In terms of Mind, Qi, and Body, the Qi was too large and unbalanced in itself.
It was no different from having a bomb planted inside his body that could explode at any time.
The Six Peaks of Ten Thousand Flowers had a total of six buds.
Since he had now bloomed the fourth bud, increasing the proportion of Fairy Power and Dragon Power to achieve harmony seemed to be the top priority.
'Even if Fairy Power is okay, Dragon Power is too scarce.'
Was Dragon Power the urgent one?
He had one Dragon Bone, so extracting Dragon Power from it and absorbing it wasn't a bad idea.
However, that probably wouldn't be enough either, so it seemed he would have to stay close to dragons and fairies for a long time to grow his Fairy Power and Dragon Power.
Honestly, it was good enough that there was no recoil from using Dragon Power due to Bone Fusion, but... his intuition rang an alarm that he shouldn't leave it like this.
'Still, it's good that I don't have to worry about the recoil of Dragon Power.'
The gray divine power.
This would be an energy that only I possessed in this world.
"I'll have to organize my energy for a while."
Originally, the Tower of the Holy Land.
The basement of Agathod was originally the tip of a giant's spear. With Titeo gone, this place was filled with divine power more abundantly than anywhere else.
A perfect place to train.
Time quickly passed, and a month went by.