Ch.1155Too Long a Growing Period

Isabella, who had her “Underworld Escort” thwarted in an unimaginable way, fell from being a nightmare with thousands of lives to merely a witch of archmage level.

Of course, she was still a formidable opponent, so Haschal continued to struggle afterward, walking a precarious battle as if treading on the edge of a blade.

After such a struggle, he did manage to tear Isabella to shreds and bury her at the bottom of the underground sewer, even though she desperately used “Fable” in her final moments….

“Huh…? What is that witch—no, not a witch anymore. Anyway, what is that sorceress woman doing now?”

The admiration was short-lived.

What followed was so shocking that the gods forgot to even praise Haschal for winning a battle that had been nearly impossible.

“She’s using soul manipulation? How dare she use that cursed magic before us! She should be burned alive…!”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not really before us. We’re merely looking down from here.”

“Is that really what you should be saying right now?”

Soul manipulation was originally a magic that Alfodhr had reestablished from his divine power and then taught to his followers to systematize.

Manipulating the souls of the dead was already an unforgivable sin, and it was the power of Alfodhr, their enemy from the beginning.

For the celestial gods who opposed Alfodhr—especially from Elpinel, Saulite, and Astraea’s perspective—it was an unacceptable heretical act.

They would have immediately struck her down with divine punishment had they been able to freely exercise their power.

However, due to Heaven’s Wall, they couldn’t intervene directly, and Lacy, who could have punished her on their behalf, had fainted from exhaustion.

Haschal, who was still conscious, completely lacked religious devotion and perhaps because the victim was Isabella, simply overlooked this use of soul manipulation with the logic that “this soul manipulator is our soul manipulator.”

Thanks to this, Ophelia was able to survive without being tied to a stake despite using soul manipulation, one of the continent’s greatest taboos.

—-

After that, Haschal continued to fight—no, considering how frequently he was seriously injured, it would be difficult to call it smooth sailing—but anyway, he kept fighting, kept winning, and continued to grow stronger.

“WOOOOOOOAH!”

Like her, Rurik, the King of Werebeasts who had also broken through his limits and reached a new realm, launched a major northern invasion.

The Imperial Army, which had only expected warrior-level combat prowess, suffered a crushing defeat before Rurik’s overwhelming might, and the northern wall that had firmly protected Faelrun for centuries fell.

Haschal rushed north to resolve the catastrophe and directly clashed with Rurik, who was attacking Faelrun Castle.

“He cut off his own head? And regenerated it again? Three or four times? Even for a werebeast who’s broken through the wall, that’s just…”

“When werebeasts break through the wall, one of their racial characteristics becomes prominently stronger. For that wolf, it’s his regenerative ability.”

Just as humans who break through the wall awaken abilities like mental energy, werebeasts who reach an equivalent realm first develop all their physical abilities evenly, and then one racial characteristic becomes distinctly enhanced.

Rurik was one whose regenerative ability had been enhanced, which is why he could repeatedly perform the feat of growing a new body from a severed head.

*Slash!*

Of course, this was only possible because he had blown off his own head; wounds inflicted by Haschal’s sword couldn’t regenerate.

“Oh, his arm was severed by Durandal. That will be difficult to regenerate.”

“That’s because the sword is imbued with Lord Elpinel’s divinity. At that level, he won’t be able to overcome it.”

That’s why Rurik retreated after losing an arm, and after a persistent chase, he was caught and eliminated.

Haschal earned the title “Winter Slayer” for this deed, and his companions like Demian and Millia also grew from that battle.

“Winter Slayer… She’s growing steadily, but the rest is quite ambiguous. With such a difference in skill already, it will be difficult for them to fight together.”

“It’s not that they’re slow; it’s that she is abnormally fast.”

“Since she’s been handling most crises single-handedly, the widening gap is a natural consequence. We should rather be impressed that they’ve grown even that much.”

Of course, it wasn’t comparable to Haschal’s growth.

After all, there’s nothing better for rapid growth than life-or-death battles against powerful enemies, and since Haschal was always at the forefront protecting the others, her companions rarely experienced such battles.

“The hero’s body… Demian, was it? Overprotecting him is the problem. She must be convinced he’s the key to preventing destruction because of the knowledge we implanted.”

This was a kind of side effect caused by instilling too strong a sense of responsibility in Haschal through Durandal.

“Doesn’t that body lack a proper soul to begin with? No matter how desperately she trains him, there must be clear limitations…”

“That’s not entirely true. Though he was certainly born as a soulless mass of flesh, that body has somehow been creating its own soul for some time now.”

“Is that even possible? It was already unbelievable that he had intelligence without a soul, but for the body to create its own soul…”

The celestial gods, after comparing Haschal with her other companions, naturally moved on to discussing Demian.

In terms of strangeness, Demian was actually more bizarre than the current Haschal.

Demian was originally a body created as a vessel for a soul from another world.

Having lost the soul that was supposed to dwell within it, he should normally have been stillborn or born as a mindless idiot.

However, Demian was born safely and grew up relatively normally.

Though he completely lacked anything that could be called emotions due to his soullessness, at least his reason and intellect developed to a level appropriate for his age.

For the ascended gods, it was like watching a headless body walking around normally. Since watching Haschal’s growth was far more important to them, they simply dismissed it as an oddity and moved on.

“Well… Perhaps the experiences and memories originally engraved in that body didn’t completely disappear but remained. He might be gathering these to create something that could be called a soul. Still immature, though.”

However, Elpinel, the creator of ‘Demian,’ was also carefully observing him.

After all, that body was the ‘hero’s’ vessel they had meticulously crafted with all their effort.

He thought it might be worth using as insurance in case their last hope collapsed due to unexpected circumstances.

That’s why Elpinel could tell.

Within Demian, who was certainly born as an empty vessel without a soul, something unknown had begun to sprout.

It was too small and fragile to be considered normal, and as crude as a clay figurine made by a child, but it was definitely a human soul.

Demian’s body was created by processing Carlos the Great’s corpse that Elpinel had recovered.

The remnants of memories engraved in each cell seemed to respond to Demian’s instinctive yearning, awakening to fill the empty space where his soul should have been.

Of course, being mere remnants, the best they could form was an incomplete soul, full of holes and distortions, unlike a normal one.

‘…Then we just need to fill in those missing parts.’

In other words, if properly reinforced, Demian might achieve growth equal to that of Carlos.

Of course, this would require a conduit to transmit Elpinel’s power to him—a medium like the Oath Sword—but that was already prepared.

The Sword of Wrath, Gram.

The greatest holy sword, which Carlos had called Juwaizeu, was sealed deep in the Sky Mountains, waiting for its master’s return.

The moment that sword was drawn, Demian’s soul would be completed.

Elpinel detached a portion of his divinity and processed it to fit into Demian’s soul, quietly waiting for that moment to arrive.

‘…No, when does he plan to go get it? Could information about Gram have been omitted…?’

He never imagined it would take so long.

—-

There were many more battles after that.

Most were simply crushing obviously weaker enemies, so there wasn’t much of interest, but occasionally Haschal was driven to the brink of defeat, sending chills down the gods’ spines.

In particular, the battles in the Holy State were filled with bloody conflicts that made even the gods sweat with tension, and among them were several events that left them astounded.

“Watch carefully. And never complain to me again!”

For example, during the struggle with the Church of Grimnir, “Hersella,” who temporarily took control of the body, unleashed mental techniques.

【Field of Mortality】

A wide-area killing technique that implants the curse of murder karma in all living beings within its domain, instantly killing inferior beings who cannot resist the curse.

It was a one-sided and overwhelming power that even those equal to her could only avoid instant death, while having their strength greatly reduced, putting them at an immediate disadvantage.

In terms of wide-area destructive power, it could be considered equal to the power of Bellona, the ancient goddess of death.

“That is indeed Vanirgand’s…”

“…Domain of Predation. It’s been eight hundred years since I last saw that mist.”

It was only natural.

Hersella’s Field of Mortality was qualitatively identical to the mental technique of the “Celestial Demon” who had confronted Carlos eight hundred years ago.

It was the power of Vanirgand manifested through the vessel of the Celestial Killing Star, like a ritual offering to his god as his apostle.