Chapter 86
【"Can you just be careful not to get carried away and screw me over this time?"】
Kurats was not skilled enough to estimate the amount of power that would be necessary to fuel the magic he was about to use.
He did not want to fall onto unforeseen problems by yet again following Bernst"s guidance without thinking.
Especially when he was surrounded by enemies like now.
『Worry not. The great magic king would never fail twice… Probably.』
【"Did I hear your say something horribly ominous there at the end?"】
『You must have imagined it.』
Ignoring Kurats, who was still complaining, Bernst could not hide how excited he was to get to refine Scarlett Adamant again after such a long time.
『Even though I"ve lived for several millennia, this is only the third time I will get to refine Scarlet Adamant, and I certainly did not have this much of it the first two times.』
A long time ago, he had used this very same mineral to forge his favorite magic staff, Balmer.
But that was in a distant past.
『Hehehe… Now how should I go about this?』
Scarlet Adamant had the property of storing and amplifying magic power, but depending on the way it was refined, the amplification could be turned the other way around.
Just thinking of what would happened if that was combined with Kurats" abnormal reserve of magic power was terrifying.
If Bernst had to be honest, this went against his style, but it would still be the best weapon for Kurats.
『Kurats, think of the strongest weapon you can imagine.』
【"alright…"】
『He who lives at the ends the interstellar plane, over the boundaries of time, he who governs over eternity, the king of all, commands you!』
【"He who lives at the ends the interstellar plane, over the boundaries of time, he who governs over eternity, the king of all, commands you!"】
『Bring me forth a soul-bound companion, a peerless blade that will cut through everything!』
【"Bring me forth a soul-bound companion, a peerless blade that will cut through everything!"】
The weapon Kurats pictured was a sword.
It came from a nursery-tale that his adoptive father, Kemp, had once told him.
The tale of a dragon slayer.
Kurats" mind went back to his childhood.
A memory of him sitting on Kemp"s lap.
【"―― And so, the hero shouted at the Thaknatos dragon. Fierce dragon, I shall take your life! And there, shining in his hand was the legendary holy sword, Warcry."】
【"Warcry?"】
【"A huge holy sword that only the hero can use. At first, it was stuck in a big rock in the hero"s hometown, Saliment. The legends said that the one who could pull it out would be the destined hero."】
【"Is it bigger than you sword, dad?"】
【"My sword is pretty big, but it doesn"t even compare. The holy sword Warcry is wider than a man"s shoulders, thicker than a man"s head, and longer than a spear. It"s a monstrous sword."】
Knowing that the length of a spear was (8ft) 2.5 meters, that was saying something.
This was a sword that could kill one of the legendary dragons with one blow.
A mighty but pitiful sword that stayed with the hero through his life, and then rusted and crumbled upon his death.
As he gazed at the now clear image of the sword in Kurats" mind, Bernst shouted the end of the incantation.
『―― Refine!』
【"―― Refine!"】
Kurats became dizzy
He had lost more magic than expected, his whole body felt fatigued.
However, the weapon in front of him was more than worth that loss.
For a so-called holy sword, it was quite sinister.
Unlike a knight"s shiny silver sword, this one had an ominous black l.u.s.ter, as if it was made entirely out of obsidian.
It was also too big and boorish to merely be called a sword.
This size would be more fitting of something that a cyclope would use, rather than a human.
In the first place, what kind of human would be able to wield a ma.s.s of metal that weighed nearly a ton?
However, despite those particularities, this was indeed the toughest, strongest holy sword Kurats had envisioned as a child.
『How was that?』
【"I underestimated you. I really gotta take my hat off to your magic this time around."】
『Mhm, so it"s that good, huh! Yes, of course it"s that good!』
Getting openly praised by Kurats for basically the first time, Bernst showed a very wide grin.
Finally, this meathead had understood the greatness of magic.
【"…Hop."】
Despite how heavy the sword felt in Kurats" hand, it was mysteriously a perfect fit.
As he held the weapon, he felt a strange sensation.
He felt as if he"d been wielding it since he was young boy.
If someone saw him from the side, this scene would probably look ridiculous.
The sword was absurdly long, exceeding even the height of Kurats, who was more than 2 meters (6"5″) tall.
If he raised it high over his head, it would go over four meters up.
That reach would definitely be enough to slice a dragon"s thick neck.
【"The dragon" slayer"s holy sword, Warcry, huh…"】
This took Kurats back to a long time ago.
Today, his power was beyond the hero he admired when he was young.
Even so, this did nothing to lower the joy of holding the embodiment of a power he had once yearned for.
Kurats readied his sword and slashed it forward with great excitement.
A dull sound of wind and a dancing cloud of sand.
Kurats had barely moved but a ma.s.sive rock not far from him was cracked from the ground up, as if it has been hit by an earthquake.
There was a peaceful feeling to this way of attacking, different from the way it felt to destroy things directly with a punch.
As he found it fun to slice things using minimal amounts of force rather than breaking them with raw physical strength, Kurats kept swinging the sword around.
『Hey! How long do you intend to do this?』
【"This is so fun! This must be how those sword-crazed berserkers feel."】
Kurats did not notice it, but many of the monsters approaching the location died from his blade.
Unknowingly, he ended up killing a whole company of them.
【"Gepe? (What happened?)"】
【"Doobora! (We had just gotten here!)"】
【"Bogorobo bara? (How come we"re the only ones who got attacked…?)"】
【"Pikkon?! (Don"t raise that flag!)"】
The company of monsters who were killed without even realizing it quietly pa.s.sed on with no lack of grievances.
【"What"s going on? Why are we stopping?"】
【"We"e about to find out where those rocks came from."】
Once the earlier chaos in the troops settled down, Meryl and Berta had decided to march on.
However, when they arrived…
【"Hey, you two, are we gonna do this or what?"】
Kurats slowly looked over his shoulder with his sword at the ready.