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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 254: Intimidation (1)
***
Damien followed the Holy Empress to a place that was none other than the underground of the Church.
In the underground, there was a massive door made of thick iron.
The Holy Empress placed her palm on the door. As she injected a bit of divine power, the door slowly began to open.
“Let’s go in.”
Damien followed the Holy Empress inside the door. A wide space appeared before him.
It was a barren room with no decorations. Instead, various murals were painted on the walls.
What was most peculiar was that the entire room was filled with light, even though there was no source of light.
“This is the sanctuary you requested.”
Damien looked around the room with a curious expression.
According to legend, the first Holy Emperor was the first to awaken divine power in a cave.
The headquarters of the Church was built on top of that cave. And this room was the one that was endlessly expanded and renovated from that cave.
“I didn’t know you would ask to use the sanctuary.”
The sanctuary was not just a symbolic place.
For some reason, divine power was constantly pouring out of the sanctuary.
That is why it was also a popular training ground for high-ranking paladins.
This was because the divine power pouring out of the sanctuary not only allowed their bodies to recover more quickly but also increased the effectiveness of their training.
“It’s because I was badly injured in the battle against Sla.”
In fact, there was another reason why Damien had borrowed the sanctuary.
He was thinking of trying to metamorphism in the sanctuary.
No matter how much Damien knew, there was not much he knew about metamorphism. That’s how mysterious and secretive metamorphism was.
The fortunate thing was that he had a general idea of what to do.
‘Divine power has the effect of healing the human body. If I take the elixir and then use the divine power of the sanctuary…’
Damien might succeed in metamorphism as he wished.
That’s why Damien asked to use the sanctuary.
“I don’t know if I’m asking too much.”
“It’s okay. The sanctuary is an important place, but it’s not something you can steal outright… There won’t be anyone in the Church who will object right now.”
After thanking the Holy Empress, Damien carefully examined the murals painted on the walls of the sanctuary.
The murals depicted seven men and women fighting all sorts of monsters.
Damien soon realized the identities of the seven men and women.
“These murals are all about the Salvation Squad, aren’t they?”
“That’s right. You’ve got a good eye.”
Before the Empire and the Church were founded, the continent was a land teeming with monsters and demons.
At that time, humans were such insignificant beings that they were barely able to survive by hiding in caves and forests, hunted by monsters.
There were seven heroes who united these humans and fought the monsters.
The Salvation Squad.
They killed the monsters and demons and reclaimed the continent. Only then did the history of mankind begin.
The leader of the Salvation Squad at that time was none other than the First Emperor of the Empire.
“I understand that these murals were painted when the Church was built.”
“Then they must be very old murals.”
The Church was built around the same time as the Empire. These paintings were artifacts of immense value.
“Hmm…?”
Then, suddenly, Damien noticed something strange. There were scratches on the wall under the mural of the Salvation Squad, as if someone had scratched them with a knife.
Damien bent down and examined the scratches. Surprisingly, this was not just graffiti. It was a picture of two men and women.
“Who carved this graffiti?”
“Oh, you mean that. Nobody knows.”
“You don’t know?”
The Holy Empress said with a wry smile.
“It’s graffiti that’s been around for ages, so no one knows who drew it.”
Damien couldn’t take his eyes off the graffiti.
“Then I’ll go ahead and take a look. I’ll come back to see you tomorrow morning.”
The Holy Empress said so and left the sanctuary. The door closed again.
Left alone, Damien looked at the graffiti again. To be precise, he looked at the greatsword that the man among the two men and women was holding.
“Erebos.”
Damien extended his hand into the air. The tattoo on his wrist disappeared and Erebos appeared.
Thanks to absorbing the fragment given by the Imperial Supreme Sword, Erebos was much longer than before.
Damien looked back and forth between Erebos and the mural.
“……Somehow it looks like Erebos.”
The workmanship was rough, so it was hard to tell, but the characteristics of Erebos were evident here and there.
Damien raised his head and looked at the mural of the Salvation Squad.
There were seven people in the picture.
The two men and women were carved below.
“Somehow I feel like there are two more.”
Damien turned back Erebos into a tattoo.
It was interesting, but it was just graffiti. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
Damien took out a fragment of Dragonheart and Elysian elixir from the subspace.
Damien first took the Elysian elixir. The Elysian elixir flowed down his throat sticky.
When it was in the bottle, it felt cold, but when he drank it directly, it was hot like a fireball.
‘It’s like drinking molten gold.’
As soon as the Elysian elixir touched his stomach, it was converted into vitality. In that moment, Damien felt like his body was expanding and about to explode.
‘What an incredible amount of vitality.’
Damien calmly suppressed the energy of the Elysian elixir. And he put a fragment of Dragonheart in his mouth.
Just a 1/20th piece.
But as soon as he consumed Dragonheart, a vast amount of mana burst out. It was as if he had fallen into an ocean of mana.
The vitality of the Elysian elixir and the mana of Dragonheart.
The two were rampaging inside him. It was like putting a whole living beast inside his body.
Damien desperately held onto his sanity. This was the real deal from now on.
Damien started absorbing the divine power around him.
As Damien suppressed the two energies, he absorbed the divine power that filled the sanctuary.
The two energies had now increased to three. The burden Damien felt also grew heavier.
He opened all the mana channels with Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle and completely pushed his body to its limits with the Art of Sacrificial Raging Demon Manifestation.
The reason Damien could attempt metamorphism was thanks to the two mana cultivation techniques.
Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle could manipulate the mana channels, and the Art of Sacrificial Raging Demon Manifestation had the function of increasing the limits of the body.
Damien constantly used the two mana cultivation techniques.
Woosh.
A strange sound came from Damien’s body. At the same time, several huge blasts of energy erupted.
A long time had passed like that. Damien slowly opened his eyes.
“Phew…”
Damien got up. Then something fell off from all over his body.
As if eggshells were piled up neatly on the floor. Damien looked down at them and smiled with satisfaction.
“It was easier than I thought.”
***
Damien remained in the Church for some time afterward. This was because it took time for the Dawn to be completed.
“Sir Damien! He’s going there!”
“Sir Damien! I’ve admired you for a long time! Please give me just one thing to commemorate you!”
“Sir Damien! Please give us just one word at today’s prayer meeting!”
“Oh! Hero! Our hero!”
Staying at the Church was much more difficult than he thought. This was because he was pestered by countless paladins and priests.
So Damien had to hide all day while staying at the Church.
Even on the day he left the Church, he came out before dawn to avoid people’s eyes.
“You don’t have to come out and see me off…”
Damien looked at the Holy Empress. The Holy Empress smiled and said.
“To see off an honored guest. How can I not see you off as the host?”
“Thank you.”
“Other people wanted to come out too, but the circumstances worked out in a way.”
Radiant Light and Black Snow were not at the Church because they had taken on a new mission.
Green Wind remained, but she did not come out to this place because she disliked Damien.
“Sir Damien…”
Agnes stood beside the Holy Empress with a regretful expression.
“Where do you plan to go when you leave the Church?”
“There are places I want to look around for a while. I may not be able to hear from me for a long time.”
“Are you going to a dangerous place?”
“Isn’t everywhere in the world dangerous?”
Damien prevaricated because he couldn’t say he was going to catch the Weapon Master.
“Sir Damien, may I ask you a favor?”
“Please speak.”
“If you happen to get information about Victor the Woodcutter during your travels, please contact the Church. I would be grateful.”
“Victor the Woodcutter?”
“Yes, he is a dark mage that the Church has been paying attention to recently… We are having difficulty tracking him because we have no information at all.”
Damien had a strange expression on his face.
No wonder, since the real identity of Victor the Woodcutter was Damien.
When he sometimes had to use dark magic in front of people, Damien used the name Victor to hide his identity.
‘I didn’t realize the Church is after my hidden identity all this time.’
It was the first time he had been asked to investigate on his own.
Damien couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of irony.
“It’s not a difficult request.”
“Thank you. If you get the information, you can just go to a local branch of the Church. All local branches have a way to contact the headquarters.”
Damien nodded to indicate that he understood.
“In return, may I ask you a favor as well?”
“Of course.”
“I would be grateful if you could let my family in the Apple Kingdom know that I am safe.”
To protect his family, he had to kill the Weapon Master as soon as possible. He didn’t have time to stop by the Apple Kingdom.
However, he hadn’t been in contact with his family for a long time, so he wanted to send them a message in this way.
“Trust me.”
Agnes said with a confident face. Damien gave a brief thank you.
“Sir Malta.”
Damien turned his gaze to the side. Malta was standing there with a sullen expression.
“Let’s give it to me since I need to leave soon.”
Damien held out his hand to Malta. Malta grumbled with a displeased expression.
“Damn it, I have to send Dawn off like this again…”
“Hurry up.”
Malta closed his eyes tightly. And he handed Dawn over to Damien.
Dawn was different from before in every way, even the hilt and scabbard.
“Draw it out.”
Damien took the hilt and slowly drew it. The moment the blade emerged, a dazzling light burst forth.
When Damien pulled out Dawn, it completely lit up the surroundings. Damien looked at Dawn with a surprised expression.
Originally, Dawn was a sword made of meteorite iron.
Because of that, it didn’t melt properly before, so the surface was rough. But now Dawn was different.
The surface was smooth as if looking at a mirror. Wave-like patterns filled the entire blade.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
Malta said with an excited face.
“I mixed Dawn with an alloy made of divine metal and rare metals. Cutting power, strength, elasticity, all aspects have been greatly enhanced compared to before.”
Malta enthusiastically explained about Dawn.
“Without exception, all Holy swords that contain divine metal have left their names in history. I guarantee that Dawn will be the same. No, it won’t just leave its name. It will be recorded as the most outstanding Holy sword.”
Malta explained diligently, but it didn’t reach Damien’s ears properly.
It was because all his senses were focused on Dawn.
“……You’re really amazing.”
“Right?”
“I thought you were just weird, but you’re also very skilled.”
“Ehehe, who am I, of course… What? What did you just say?”
Damien put Dawn back in the scabbard.
After saying goodbye to the three of them, he left the Church.
***
After leaving the Church, Damien headed west.
I don’t know exactly where the city of Hammerfell was.
But he knew what region it was in.
He heard it was in the Hukmak mountain range.
The Hukmak Mountains were known for their rugged terrain.
A vast land the size of a small kingdom was made up entirely of mountains.
On top of that, there were many dangerous monsters that inhabited the area, so few people approached it.
Damien headed towards the Hukmak Mountains.
Before he knew it, the sun was high in the sky. The bluish air of dawn had completely disappeared. The Church was out of sight.
Suddenly, Damien stopped walking. And he shouted into the air.
“Come out now.”
Damien said into the air. But there was no answer.
“I told you to come out.”
Only then did a man walk out of the bushes nearby.
“What is it? Have you already noticed me? It’s not fun this way.”
The man grumbled briefly. Damien stared at the man with an expressionless face and asked.
“What does the Weapon Master’s disciple want with me?”
The man tilted his head.
“What? How did you know that? That’s amazing?”
“You can’t help but know when you’re carrying a Demonic sword like that.”
Damien looked at the greatsword the man was carrying on his back.
“Heh… You can tell a sleeping Demonic sword? You’re a real deal. No wonder you’re the one who killed Sla.”
The man stuck out his tongue and exclaimed in admiration.
“Since I’ve been caught, I’ll introduce myself formally. My name is Jeremy Demag. I studied swordsmanship under the Weapon Master. I’m recognized as one of his disciples…”
“Who asked you who you were? Answer me why you were following me.”
Damien cut him off sharply. At that, Jeremy’s facial muscles twitched slightly.
“You’re a bit quick-tempered. I came to find you to deliver a message from my master. It wasn’t hard to track you down since you’re such a famous person…”
“Answer.”
Jeremy’s expression twitched even more.
“My master wants to see you. Come with me.”
At that, Damien fell into thought for a moment.
Offers from Giant Evils in Pandemonium were usually high chances of being traps.
Even if it was a trap, it was an advantage if he could meet the Weapon Master.
“I’ll take that offer…”
“Well, it’s good that you’re not refusing.”
Jeremy said bluntly.
“You’re from the Apple Kingdom, right? Your family is there too?”
Damien’s expression hardened. On the contrary, a smile appeared on Jeremy’s face.
“Don’t misunderstand. I haven’t sent anyone to your family yet. But if you don’t come with me, I don’t know what will happen then…”
At that moment, a wave erupted from Damien’s entire body.
An immense amount of killing intent poured out towards Jeremy. At that sight, Jeremy’s expression hardened.
Then Jeremy twisted his lips into a smile.
“It seems like this is your reverse scale. If you want your family to be safe, you’d better come with me…”
At that moment, Damien stomped on the ground. His body shot forward. And without hesitation, he kicked Jeremy in the stomach.
Jeremy’s body flew backward. He crashed into the ground, smashing trees one after another.
“Sorry, I lost my temper for a moment and didn’t hear what you were saying.”
Damien stared in the direction Jeremy had flown off.
“So what were you babbling about just now? Can you say it again?”
Killing intent overflowed from his eyes.
***
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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