Chapter 452 – The Holy Sword and the Arena (23)

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We poked our heads at the wad of paper.

“… Week 152 carry-on items. 5 adult goblins, gender undetermined, in good condition. 1 thorn wolf semi-adult, minor injuries, but acceptable.”

“What do you mean by paying?”

“You must have sent it to the arena. Maybe.”

It was a list of sorts.

The monsters brought in by date, their condition, and the contents of sending those monsters somewhere again. There were also supplies for people in the middle.

“30 days of food for the 155th week…And the 163rd week… Are damaged. The 170th week is… An order from the master. Increase delivery items overall. Hmm…”

Most of the documents were brief about the monsters brought into the facility and how to deal with them.

A base for stably securing monsters. The document hinted at that fact.

“I don’t think there’s anything special about it?”

“Right…”

This is roughly what I expected so far. However, the important thing is not the general supply of monsters, but the content behind them. I couldn’t find anything like that in the documentation.

“Huh…”

Yuri let out a low-pitched snort as if he had lost interest in her. I agree. She expected something like a secret document that would reveal everything at once, but it’s not like that. I’m about to lose my pulse too.

At the point where you thought it was meaningful to see this, new content began to appear.

“Order from Master. Take it to the next level. One volunteer will enter.”

“What is this? Master? Volunteer?”

“For now, let’s continue reading.”

“Week 180, 1 volunteer died. The cause appears to be infection and deterioration of energy. Call for next volunteers… 2 volunteers died at 182 weeks. Cause unknown…”

Several times volunteers came in and it was repeated that they had died. Just as I was about to get bored again, a catchy word appeared.

“Order from Master. Make contact with the altar.”

From the moment the word altar came out, my personal opinions began to stick to the list that had only dry numbers and facts listed.

[ Volunteers contacting the altar begin to produce significant results. I also had to use it in the first place. ]

[Volunteer previously contacted has died. Send the next volunteer to the altar. ]

“I think the way you speak has changed a bit.”

I didn’t care and continued reading.

[The volunteer who touched the altar showed a markedly different will and ability than before. Above all, the physical problem was solved. Self-control seems to be slowly fading away. Increase the number of experiments. ]

[Some of the volunteers have started making suggestions for testing methods after contacting the altar. For unknown reasons, his intelligence seems to have increased. Aside from that, self-control seems to be getting weaker and weaker. It is difficult to detach the volunteers clinging to the test subject. ]

There is no direct mention of what was done in the journal, and too many were omitted. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the words on the next page.

[The survival time of the result increases as the number of repetitions increases. Even if the supply of internal feed is cut off, there is no particular abnormality. At this rate, it seems possible to have them reproduce on their own outside the dungeon. Mating is a success. ]

“Mating…? What did you breed with?”

“…!”

Ariel’s incomprehensible words. But I got goosebumps.

Mating.

If you haven’t solved the mission the goddess asks you to, you won’t understand what the word breeding means.

But now you know.

The one who was driving a skeleton, the one who was driving a goblin, the one trying to drive a pedo. Some even got eaten by slimes. I didn’t deal with it directly, I just saw the research journal he left behind.

Anyway, I’ve been dealing with those guys, but when the word mating came up, it meant only one thing.

The crossbreeding of humans and monsters. That hybrid.

This is not a coincidence, it is an inevitability.

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Once I realized it, the rest of the puzzle pieces felt like they fit.

Realism. Leni’s words that the divine power rebelled. Deja vu.

The abilities given to me, the buff skills, and the overall system were based on the divine power of the goddess.

A system of goddesses close to cheats. It’s because I heard that I was trying to avoid conflict and spend time with my kids, but if I had made up my mind to use it properly, I wouldn’t have had any trouble taking down people or monsters.

However, the goddess’ system, which was thought to be a cheat key, occasionally caused an error of unknown cause.

I’ve experienced it before coming to the West Keep, when dealing with a goblin-bred, and when dealing with Ariel’s ex-fiancée, Pig Tentacles.

But here again, I’m experiencing a system error. Something is invading the divine power of the goddess.

It was clear what had that effect. A monster with thorns on top of the altar, unbelievably from this world.

The journal said that there was an increase in the volunteer’s morale after contact with the altar. It must have been something similar to the way he showed me fantasies of becoming a tentacle monster and raping women all over the world.

If so, maybe.

“Could that monster create eccentrics?”

At my words, Ariel frowned.

“Strange. So, are you saying that all of the erratic people you’ve dealt with have stopped here?”

“I don’t think so. But…”

“But?”

“What if there are not one or two such monsters?”

“…”

It feels like the question about the goddess has been solved a little.

Lenny said that goddesses do not interfere in human affairs. Although she puts on the packaging that what she does respects individual choices.

It was strange for her that such a goddess would be entrusted with the trivial task of dealing with abnormal sexual desires, and it was also strange that she gave her cheat-like abilities to deal with such people.

But what if that was all to deal with these monsters?

“This is dangerous.”

That monster is out of specification.

She couldn’t even defeat the Holy Sword that awakened the combat support system, and she was a guy who could cause errors in the goddess system itself before that.

Lenny’s body trembled at my words.

“She interferes with the blessings of the Goddess, that can’t be…”

“I can’t do that. But if that’s possible, that’s…”

Ariel blurted out her words as if she was afraid to speak.

If she can interfere with the Goddess’ system, it will be something that rivals or surpasses the Goddess. Does she have to deal with that?

“Well, then what do we do?”

The words of the trembling glass. It would be impossible to face the same monster as before. Besides, if you do it wrong, you might become a maniac who wants to drive it into a monster.

“What are you so worried about? It is not difficult to deal with such a small child with the strength of this body.”

Yuri muttered while looking at the two bottles while raising her nose.

“With a weapon…”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Certainly, it is true that the 2nd graders can handle both weapons and their own strength. Maybe I should keep dragging this guy around… Then how do I buff the kids?

After thinking for a while, I said.

“Anyway, the risk is too great to deal with something like that. You can’t compete No matter what mission the Goddess gave me. Even whether the mission is right in the first place is now the realm of speculation.”

Lenny hesitantly said at my words.

“Hey, can’t I ask the goddess directly?”

Come to think of it, the Holy Sword also told me to directly ask the Goddess about the identity of the monster.

‘Hey. Is there?’

‘…’

This guy is quiet again. However, the function seemed to work normally. It feels as if only the conscious part was intentionally turned off.

“…For now, let’s deal with the things right in front of us.”

At the point of capturing the aphids in the first place, the quest we were assigned to was completed simply by returning.

In addition, the location of the secret laboratory and the research journal were obtained, so this was not enough, so it was overflowing. The cave is destroyed and the research log is missing too many parts, but we can’t do anything about it.

I said, waving the bundle of papers recovered by the second grader.

“Since you’ve done this far, you should ask the guild to do the rest. Because he seems to be quite sincere. Let’s go back and think about the mission of the Goddess. Because there are so many uncertainties.”

Everyone nodded at my words.

Everyone was greatly relieved by the fact that there would be no immediate encounter with the monster and that all they had to do was return.

Yuri, who had been stretching for a long time, opened her mouth.

“Then can I go back now… Huh?”

Yuri, who was about to get up while brushing her butt, suddenly tilted her body.

“What’s the matter? Where did you get hurt?!”

No way? In an emergency, you may not even know you are hurt. Did he get scratched or torn somewhere while running away from the cave?

I turned around and inspected Yuri’s body, but I didn’t see any wounds.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. No, not that…”

Yuri took her body away from my hand, as if embarrassed.

“It’s just that I feel like I’ve lost all my strength in my body…”

“Did you suddenly feel tired? Things like that happen, too. It was a pretty risky journey, so the tension has eased and the response has finally arrived.”

Yuri shook his head at Ariel’s words.

“No, it’s not like that…I suddenly feel like my body is getting heavy…Ah.”

“Ah?”

Yuri let out an exclamation as if he had suddenly realized something. Soon he was staring at me.

“What’s the matter?”

“…”

Cheer. As the corners of her eyes go up, they begin to gain strength. Ugh, I know that face. He used to make that face when he was dissatisfied with me. Whether it’s teasing me, asking me to do it but not doing it…

“Pick me up.”

“…Uh?”

The kids reacted before me to Yuri’s sudden words.

“Suddenly, what do you mean?”

“Yes. It’s not night yet, shouldn’t we cover the time and place?”

However, Yuri tugged at my ear with a face full of displeasure as if he didn’t care.

“What, why are you doing that?”

“…Because of it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Profit…”

Yuri quickly whispered to me with her angry face.

“The amplification is gone! That’s why my body got heavy!”

“Ah.”

Has it already been that time? When I checked, Yuri’s buff time was definitely over.

“Mmm…”

But I can’t ask Yuri to do it right away.

“Sorry. Can’t we be patient for a bit? As you know, there are many eyes that see in many ways now…”

I was sorry, but I also looked cute separately. Did you want to do that with me?

“It makes me feel bad to laugh.”

“Omg.”

Yuri tugged at my cheek with her angry face.

“What thoughts did you create in her head? Who asked you to do it? I can’t walk because it’s hard, so ask me to carry you!”

“No, isn’t that enough?”

Yuri doesn’t get psychotic when her buff disappears like Lenny, and she doesn’t suffer from mana shortage like Ariel.

However, Yuri had an expression that she would die because she was unfair.

“Because my brother treats me like shit, it’s natural for that to happen!”

“Is that so?”

She might feel that her body is heavy when the buff is always on and then suddenly disappears.

Yuri whispered quickly, narrowing her eyes.

“Then what do you do here? We’ve seen each other anyway. Don’t you think it’s unfair that everyone else did everything but I wasn’t?”

Yuri put her hand on her collar as if she really wanted to do it. Uh, really? Really? I don’t really want to play with the concept exposed!

“What the hell is going on? The two of you are just whispering.”

I heard Ariel’s low voice. Although pretending to be normal, the tone is slightly dissatisfied. When I turned around, Lenny and Ariel were both looking at me with sullen faces.

“…Uh, that.”

I can’t repeat what I’ve been told.

When I told her that Yuri’s buff was gone and that she might need some support, the two nodded. Although the expression seems a bit unappealing.

“Tsk.”

I think I just heard someone click their tongue.

Having nothing more to say, I calmly turned my back, and Yuri immediately rushed at me while giggling.

“Ouch.”

“Why? Is it heavy?”

I didn’t waste my time enough to fall into this obvious trap. It wasn’t really heavy either.

“No, no, it can’t be. It was so sudden that I was just a little surprised.”

“Hehe…”

A gentle, yet soft touch on the back. I thought it was a little annoying, but once you feel it, such dissatisfaction will quickly disappear.

Wait, did you say the buff was cut off?

Yuri has a sensitive butt, so if you tease her a little bit, won’t she get a buff?

Where once…