I Obtained Sword God Level Talent

35 – 035. The Holy Grail (2)

“Kieeeek!”

*Fwoosh!*

What exactly was the sword Maria had gifted me?

“Kiiiiiiii!”

*Chwaaak!*

The sword cutting through the battlefield was unimpeded.

Whether it was because the enemies were goblins exposed to hellish energy… ‘Magi’, or simply by touching the blade to them, their bodies were cleaved apart.

*Jiiiing! Kwaaa—!*

The sword aura sliced through space. With a mere flick of the wrist, countless goblins met their end.

But.

‘Tsk, tsk. This one is not yet properly honed.’

‘…….’

There was a problem. The unknown voice continued to pierce my ears amidst the battle.

*Swish!*

‘Aha! There, you must enter the trajectory, not slash with your aura!’

‘…….’

‘I had high expectations, seeing as you are the descendant of the Tyrant, but this one has a long way to go!’

The sword, mid-swing against a goblin, froze.

“Huuu.”

I, standing still, let out a deep sigh. The voice wasn’t significantly hindering the fight, but having to listen to it for almost an hour had my patience wearing thin. I was human, after all, irritation was inevitable.

‘Just shut up.’

‘Wh-what did you say?! Look at the impudence of this wretch!’

*Chwaaak!*

Honestly, figuring out the identity of this voice wasn’t a particularly hard puzzle.

Recalling the conversation with Ceres, the goddess of life and death from before.

A form that doesn’t exist, yet able to converse with the existence of the underworld through a medium; an act only a god could accomplish.

Meaning that voice potentially belonged to something far more significant than I’d first realized.

“Kieeeek! More! More! Charge! Until he’s exhausted!”

The goblin, speaking human language, was atop a rock, raving.

Is it truly just to punish the one who killed their kin? His rage was incomprehensible.

*Thwack!* *Swoosh!*

Once again, the sword carved a beautiful path. Simultaneously, the heads of about ten goblins encircling me flew off.

‘Strangely sloppy and strangely precise. It’s amusing.’

And so, time passed.

Now, I no longer knew how much time had gone by. I just mechanically cut down the enemies.

Occasionally, there were those who shot arrows made from carved stone, but under the control of my heightened senses, they were nothing more than childish games.

*Thud!* *Zzzzzip!*

This method worked well against the goblin archers. Picking up the weapons left behind by the fallen goblin warriors, infusing them with mana, and throwing them.

*Thwack!*

“Kiiiiek…..!”

I turn again. I swing the sword. I cut down an enemy, then release a sword aura into the next one’s mass.

Thankfully, the mana flowing through my entire body supported my stamina. Unlike before, I didn’t collapse, exhausted by my own efforts.

And so, once again, after much time passed.

‘……Huh. Look at this? You fight better than I imagined?’

Once again, the voice rang in my ears. The voice that seemed to have been quietly observing my battle was now emitting a considerably excited admiration, unlike before.

“…….”

Ignoring the voice, I slowly scanned the battlefield.

The goblins, who numbered close to a thousand, were no longer moving. The mountain of corpses created by them was quite gruesome.

“Ki, kiiiiek!”

Now, only about a hundred goblins remained.

But they dared not move first. They had witnessed my incomprehensible endurance and my impossibly sharp blade, so they couldn’t dare to take action.

“Kieeeek! Run! Run away!”

It was then that the goblin chieftain, who had been staring vacantly… at my overwhelming prowess, yelled.

He had come down from the protruding rock sometime ago. Perhaps thanks to his plumpness, his escape speed was laughably slow compared to the other goblins.

‘Ah, ah, no!’

‘……?’

As the goblin chieftain slowly moved away, the owner of the voice suddenly wailed loudly.

‘Go, go kill ‘Gobkov’! It’s time to reclaim the relic!’

So, that fat goblin chieftain’s name was Gobkov?

The voice must have spent quite some time with the goblin chieftain. Unlike his previously relaxed tone, the voice was now trembling violently, proving it.

‘Hurry!’

At the renewed urging, I tossed out a nonchalant reply.

‘Why would I?’

‘Wh, what?!’

‘I think you’re mistaken. I have no intention of granting requests from people I don’t even know.’

‘……!!’

The voice was silent for a long while.

But one thing was clear. The face of that unknown god must be trembling with anger.

‘P, p-p-please, I beg you.’

I almost burst out laughing.

The voice, which had been so irritatingly patronizing until now, had become calm and subdued. With a hint of desperation added, I could tell just how earnestly he felt it.

Thump, thump.

I started walking toward the direction the goblins fled. At the same time, I muttered to myself.

“A relic…”

A ‘relic’ was one of the items appearing in ＜Silvering＞.

‘Mythical’ or ‘Legendary’ grade items boasted options that were practically insane. But relics were slightly different from those.

To use an analogy… they weren’t unique or particularly distinctive, but. Their basic boosts, like attack and defense, were incredibly high.

The reason was simple. From the outset, ‘relics’ were things imbued with divine blessing. In a word, the item’s existence itself was something the god had created.

‘First, please tell me. Who are you?’

‘I… weapon… war… Aldehain.’

‘……!’

Aldehain?

The name of an unexpected bigwig popped up.

Moreover, the medium for this voice seemed to be a relic.

The artifact must have gotten further away, because its voice had become considerably fainter than before.

*Tap!*

I increased my pace.

No, now I was channeling mana into my legs, pushing the Heavenly Cloud Step to its limits as I hurtled forward. Because of that, Althea’s voice became clear again.

‘Hurry! I cannot bear to see my artifact, getting stuck to that thing of his, not again!!!’

…Ugh.

I’d thought he desperately wanted his artifact back, but now there’s this disgusting behind-the-scenes story. Even for a low-intelligence goblin, this is a pretty filthy hobby.

What was he even doing with a bracelet on his arm?

“Keeeeeek!”

Chasing after one fat goblin wasn’t difficult. I hadn’t even touched the ground a few times before I saw his massive form.

*Tap!* *Whoosh!*

I kicked off the ground with legs flowing with mana. My body shot upwards, like a bullet aimed at the waddling creature.

*Shick!*

“Keeeek!”

“Kieeeeeeek!”

It seemed the sudden loss of their leader shocked them. The goblins, who were running away with the chief, scattered in a panic.

*Thump*, the chief’s head rolled across the floor. I immediately lifted my sword, to rummage through his corpse.

‘That’s it! It’s a bracelet that I bestowed upon the former [Tyrant]! Hurry, recover that bracelet!’

His excited voice grew louder.

Just how many long years had it been buried in this underground? It felt divine.

*Zzzzt!*

I sliced his arm with the sword. And with a deft swing, I managed to recover the dark bracelet without getting a single drop of blood on my hands.

‘This?’

‘Finally! Finally my artifact has returned!’

The recovered bracelet had a distinctly crude feel to it.

All sorts of weapons – swords, spears, polearms, and the like – were embossed on the surface of the bracelet. It looked like an item of extraordinary value at first glance.

‘…’

*Thud!*

My subsequent action was simple. I casually tossed the bracelet nearby. Like one might toss a clump of weeds.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“My goal isn’t this bracelet. And I wouldn’t want to be tainted by possessing a god’s object for no reason.”

I muttered that to myself, stepping away again. Just like that, I hadn’t even moved a few paces when—

“Waaait a minuteeeeee—!”

A scream, almost a shriek, echoed in my head.

“Take it! Take that bracelet! If only you can extract this holy relic from this filthy demonic rift! If you’re a descendant of the [Overlord], it’s no problem at all! With my authority, I will recognize you as the owner of this holy relic!”

*Smirk.*

At the urgent tone, a smirk crept onto my face before I realized it.

I immediately turned back, trudging over to where I had tossed the bracelet. I’d thrown it right in front of me, just in case I was unlucky and couldn’t retrieve it.

*Swoop.*

I picked the bracelet up again.

Examining it once more, I asked what I’d been wondering.

“How in the world did a ‘holy relic’ end up this deep underground?”

“Explaining it would take too long. Let’s just say it’s the aftermath of war.”

“Is that so? I have another question.”

“Speak. I’m in a good mood, so I’ll answer you this once.”

How funny. This guy had been practically begging me to take the bracelet back a moment ago.

“How can you transmit your voice to me? Shouldn’t you need a powerful medium, like a holy grail, unless you’re someone who walks the path of faith?”

“I consumed divine power. I temporarily designated that holy relic as my symbol.”

So that’s what it was.

…It seemed they really did lose sleep over a holy relic becoming a goblin’s plaything. Who would’ve thought they would use divine authority in such a way.

“Mortal.”

“Yes.”

“I, too, have a question. From what I’ve seen, I realized your descent into this dungeon wasn’t for the retrieval of the ‘holy relic’. So, why did you come to this pit of hell?”

Aldeheine’s voice was unusually grave. Perhaps he realized the situation was more serious than he had thought.

“I received a request from Keres, the goddess of life and death.”

“…Huh!”

“The Chalice of Life is asleep here. I intend to find it and return.”

“I see. So, that’s how it is.”

Aldeheine replied curtly. He remained silent for a while, and then mumbled quietly, as if to himself, one last time.

‘It’s fine to just let it pass you by. But I’ll give you advice, new owner of the holy artifact. It’s best not to get too close to the Goddess of Life and Death. She’s inherently too dangerous a being for mortals.’

‘…I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for the advice.’

I gave a small nod.

‘And. Drop by the Church of War sometime. Something good might come of it….’

With those words, the faint light that had been flowing from the bracelet had already vanished.

Just as Aldehain had said earlier, the holy artifact, temporarily designated as a ‘medium’, seemed to have returned to its original form.

“Dangerous, but the rewards are just as good.”

To encounter such good fortune on an adventure to find the Holy Grail. Perhaps this is also an effect of the ‘tumultuous’ nature of things.

*Click!*

I muttered lowly and put on the bracelet.

*WHOOSH-!*

Then, an incredible thing unfolded. A pure white light burst from the bracelet, and the size adjusted to fit my wrist perfectly!

…

..

.

–

[ Holy Artifact : Saint Tail of Aldehain, God of War ]

Category : Bracelet

Grade : Holy Artifact

Effects : ＜Strength＞ / ＜Agility＞ / ＜Dynamic Vision＞ are greatly increased.

“The life of a tyrant is accompanied by destruction and solitude. That is the teaching of Aldehain.”

–

“…Oh.”

I felt it the moment I put on the bracelet.

Something had changed. I could immediately feel the power and the lightness of my body. It was as if the scenery flowing in my sight had become brighter.

“Hoo.”

I took a breath and gave a small nod.

The quest to find the ＜Holy Grail of Life＞ was an extremely dangerous one. Just after entering this place, I already couldn’t even count the number of monsters I’d defeated.

But.

Now, that danger has been lessened, even if just a little. An unexpected stroke of luck has made me stronger once more.

‘For now… it’s best to get some rest.’

I gauged my surroundings, and took slow steps. I didn’t know how much time had passed since I’d entered the rift of hell.

The only thing certain was that preserving my strength was absolutely necessary. Even with mana bolstering me, I couldn’t spend several nights searching without sleep.

After that, time flowed on.

While searching for a place to rest, I came upon a massive structure nestled in one part of the underworld.

“A temple…?”

The structure was a massive temple. Judging by its style, which I didn’t recognize, I figured it wasn’t built by humans but by a ‘demon race’.

*Shhhlick.*

Drawing my sword, I slowly scouted the temple.

Surprisingly, there was no sign of life within the enormous temple. There were only stone formations, no furniture like chairs or doors.

‘Looks like it was built at least a few centuries ago.’

After confirming it was safe, I soon found a hideout. It was a hollowed-out space behind the temple. I planned to catch some sleep there.

I lay down.

“…”

My whole body was drenched in fatigue, but my eyelids grew heavy. I didn’t resist the oncoming sleep and closed my eyes.

*Clack.*

…It was a sweet, sweet rest.

*CLACK!*

Until, that is, that bizarre metallic sound echoed.