Ch.918How Weak.

The Dragon Kingdom’s Celestial Palace was preparing to subjugate dragons, the Empire and Hestella were pouring all their efforts into strengthening national defense, and the Dwarf Council was facing catastrophe.

What were the fairies doing during this time?

“…How is Subject 34’s condition?”

“The body itself is complete… but the blessing output remains unstable.”

Deep within Alvheim, near the World Tree, stood the Life Magic Research Institute.

The elders and researchers gathered on the second floor looked down at the first-floor laboratory through glass walls, reporting and receiving updates on the experiment’s progress.

“Is there any chance of stabilization?”

“The compatibility is too low. To reach a stable state, we would need to transplant at least one more ‘branch’…”

The fairy elder with long white hair looked down at Subject 34 bound in the center of the laboratory with eyes that regarded trash, letting out a faint sigh.

“It’s not worth it. Subject 34 is to be disposed of. Extract the ‘branch’ and then incinerate the body.”

“…Understood.”

The researcher nodded calmly.

Disposal, extraction, incineration.

These were terribly ominous words to use about one’s own kind.

However, such expressions had become commonplace for them. Neither the elders nor the researchers had any concern for the “test subjects'” human rights.

“What about Subject 33?”

“That one has stabilized. It will take some time to adapt to the dramatically increased physical abilities, but the contract with the high-level spirit has been completed.”

Unlike Subject 34 who was marked for disposal, Subject 33 could be deployed immediately once the adaptation process was complete.

“Excellent. That makes ten now, doesn’t it?”

The white-haired elder nodded with a satisfied smile.

He judged that this would be more than enough to replenish the number of guardians that had been drastically reduced after the devastating defeat in the Nidhogg subjugation battle.

Yes, the true nature of the experiments being conducted in this laboratory was to create Alvheim’s elite force… the “Fairy Guardians.”

They did this by transplanting branches of the World Tree into the subjects’ spines, artificially injecting them with vast blessings.

About half of the test subjects couldn’t withstand the power bestowed upon them and either exploded or became invalids. Even among those who survived the transplant, most were failures like Subject 34, whose power fell far short of a true guardian’s…

“Considering the number of remaining ‘branches’… we can create ten more.”

Such failed subjects were simply disposed of after extracting the branches.

The twenty branches bestowed by the World Tree remained undamaged even when experiments failed, so the researchers simply needed to repeat the experiments until they succeeded.

They could procure test subjects in unlimited numbers.

Remember the reformist fairies who opposed the will of the Council of Elders?

Those with exceptional beauty were imprisoned as slaves in the elders’ mansions, but ordinary ones were sent to research facilities like this one to be used as test subjects.

Through prolonged torture and brainwashing, their very sense of self had been completely shattered, reducing them to loyal tools and pets of the elders.

They brainwashed dissidents and used them as test subjects to create twenty artificial guardians of absolute loyalty.

To protect the Great Forest from the dragon threat, and further, to serve as vanguards to expand the glory of the World Tree.

And ultimately…

“Do your best. Even twenty guardians may not be enough to subjugate that monstrous human female whom the World Tree has declared Alvheim’s enemy.”

Alvheim’s enemy. The blade of the human god. Dragon slayer.

The being who would become the calamity of fairies.

The one who breaks the “Sword of the Starry Sky.”

That was the ultimate goal of Alvheim’s mass production plan for artificial guardians. Though it was still just in the preparatory stage.

======[ Haschal ]======

It had been a week since I handed over the dragon’s inner core to Ophelia and warned her not to attempt absorption until after crossing the wall.

During that time, I engaged in intensely practical combat training with my core forces, which I had divided into two groups.

As I mentioned before, I had them compete in team battles, and then the losing side would face me in a many-against-one mock battle.

It was brutal training where blood splattered, flesh tore, and bones shattered. This wasn’t a metaphor, but reality.

“Haaaaaah!”

The blue-haired female knight with short hair threw a javelin at me with a fierce battle cry.

Around Eberond’s holy spear, which shot toward me like lightning, five longswords orbited like satellites, all flying at me simultaneously.

This was Nigel’s awakened Tale of Heroes. What was it called again… valse d’acier, Steel Waltz?

A heroic tale ability that allowed her to float multiple weapons in the air and wield or shoot them freely through mental control, as if by magic.

It was a technique similar to the Karma of Murder tentacles I frequently used, but more efficient.

My Karma tentacles had short range and would break if struck hard, but the weapons Nigel shot would regain their balance in mid-air and immediately shoot back even after being deflected.

“Still not there yet.”

Well, it was still just a flawed technique with plenty of weaknesses.

If a deflected sword came back, I could simply pulverize it. Besides, while activating her Tale of Heroes, Nigel herself could barely move properly.

Handling multiple weapons simultaneously seemed quite challenging, as she became ridiculously slow while concentrating on it.

It was ultimately a matter of proficiency, so she would gradually improve with practice… but not yet.

“Your trajectories are too predictable!”

Boom!

I stomped the ground with my toe, causing a rock formation to erupt and block the five swords, while simultaneously swinging Durandal upward at an angle to send Eberond’s holy spear flying far into the sky.

“Then how about this!”

Taking advantage of the opening, an arrow pierced toward my flank like lightning.

Millia’s heroic arrow transformed into a massive stone pillar in the blink of an eye as it rushed toward me.

A Tale of Heroes called “Eternal Rain” that compressed surrounding objects into arrow form and shot them.

The countermeasure was simple.

“Hagalaz!”

As I extended my left hand toward the stone pillar and manifested the rune of collapse, the massive pillar turned to dust and scattered in all directions the moment it touched my palm.

I couldn’t eliminate the impact itself, so my shoulder jerked and my body was pushed sideways, but this was no different from being hit by a child’s fist.

“Haaaah!”

“Dieeeeee!”

A demon-slaying sword and a saw-bladed sword came swinging as if they’d been waiting for this moment.

A greatsword tempered with the dragon’s reverse scale aimed for my waist, while a blade bristling with saw teeth quite openly targeted my face.

“What, ‘die’? Is it proper for a grand duchess to use such language?”

I reversed my grip on Durandal and drove it into the ground to block the demon-slaying sword, then grabbed the saw-bladed sword aimed at my face with Frosting.

Jahan clicked his tongue and kicked off the ground to retreat, while Frider, on the contrary, closed the distance further.

“It is with you!”

With an expression like she’d encountered her parents’ murderer, Frider gritted her teeth and tried to headbutt my face.

“That’s harsh.”

To prevent her forehead from cracking in this reckless challenge, I kindly grabbed Frider by the collar and flung her toward Jahan.

“Kyaaak!”

“Ugh!”

Jahan fell backward after being hit by the human projectile, his waist bending forward sharply.

Frider, who had struck Jahan’s abdomen with her back, rolled on the ground before springing up and charging at me again.

“Just one hit! Just let me land one hit!”

It was a cry so desperate it could bring tears to one’s eyes.

How had this woman, who had seemed so dignified during the Militia Island raid, ended up in such a state?

“How pitiful.”

At my inadvertently spoken words of sympathy,

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Frider let out a bestial howl like a werebeast with rabies and swung her saw-bladed sword and chain axe like a storm.

Her attitude suggested she really was determined to land just one hit as she had shouted.

…Even if I deliberately let her hit me, she probably couldn’t even scratch me.

A knight who had reached the realm of heroes might somehow manage to inflict a cut, but Frider, who hadn’t yet crossed the wall, had no chance.

In the first place, if I hadn’t been going easy on her, she wouldn’t have even had the opportunity to swing her weapon.

“Not yet!”

Nigel charged in step with Frider as if to support her.

Unlike before, she now floated only Eberond’s holy spear in the air while rushing forward with another spear in hand.

She must have realized that trying to float five blades would only slow her movements, so she decided to engage in close combat with just two spears.

It was a wise decision.

“A wise decision, but… no, this is probably the best option right now.”

I was about to offer some critique but stopped myself, instead taking a deep breath and spreading the power of Karma throughout my body.

I wasn’t planning to use a Tale of Heroes.

My purpose was to train these people in combat, not to utterly destroy opponents who couldn’t resist with a single blow.

So, this was just—

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

With a fierce battle cry, I rotated my body widely and swung Durandal toward everything in sight.

A slash combining the transcendent strength contained in my evolved body with the power of Karma that had grown even stronger after slaying the dragon.

Clang!

In an instant, the barrier of my sword deflected everything around me. Holy spears, lances, saw blades, and axes alike. All of them.

Then.

“Oh come on!”

Frider, who shouted as if bursting with frustration, was kicked by my right foot and flew away like a soccer ball.

“Can’t even touch…!”

Nigel’s breastplate was struck by Frosting’s iron fist as she let out a sigh mixed with both admiration and frustration.

“Keehak!”

“Kuk…!”

The two flew away with short cries and crashed into the ground.

I had controlled my strength appropriately, so they wouldn’t die or have their internal organs ruptured, but the impact was enough to make standing up immediately impossible.

Jahan, who had just gotten up and swung his crimson-scaled sword, met a fate not much different.

Thwack!

“Kuaak…!”

Jahan, who took a direct kick aimed at his abdomen, flew back several dozen meters with a groan that sounded like his last breath, rolling on the ground.

“Huu…”

After subduing the three, I let out a faint sigh and shook my head.

They’re too weak.

I couldn’t help but sigh.