Chapter 869 – Battle of Vajra -22-

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The contents of the screen slide each time Lila carefully presses the button.

The only content written in it was a string of strings that raised doubts about the sanity of both the person who wrote it and the person who kept it, so Lila had to frown every time she moved her fingers and eyes.

“The ritual of selecting holy swords… Wasn’t just a ritual to create powerful warriors and holy swords…?”

When Lila mumbled in a slightly more serious tone, neither Dio nor Selena could say anything for a while, perhaps because they were shocked when they read what was written in the document.

Originally, the basic gist of the ritual was to recreate the process of creating the holy sword itself using the holy sword and amplify its power.

Additionally, the Holy Sword is created using the struggle of a special ‘sword’ that serves as the base of the Holy Sword, and a humanoid artificial life form created in the ‘womb’ to use the Holy Sword.

The combat experience accumulated by the artificial life form is accumulated in the sword, and the artificial life form’s personality data is gradually transferred to the sword.

Finally, 8 swords whose personalities have been transferred and the 8 artificial life forms that are their owners kill each other in a set ritual magic circle and destroy the other’s swords, resulting in the accumulated souls, blood, and swords of the artificial life forms. All knowledge and magic permeates the magic circle.

In the end, only one person and one sack are left alive.

The two remaining entities inherit the memories, experiences, and powers of all beings sacrificed in the ritual, and are reborn as true holy swords and holy sword users.

Although it is a sword that can be said to be the original holy sword and its specifications do not match those of its user.

The holy sword completed in this way achieved numerous results in humanity’s final war, and with one holy sword user and one holy sword, it was possible to secure the power of a battalion, so everyone must hasten the development of the holy sword and the production of heroes. It was like that.

At some point, humans began to call artificial life forms that survived consciousness as warriors, comparing them to legends.

There must have been a sense of sarcasm toward those who repeatedly slaughtered ordinary soldiers on the battlefield.

In any case, the war between the holy sword and the warrior changed the landscape of the final war, and naturally, battles between warriors continued on the battlefield.

Their powers were almost equal, and even when they competed against each other, there were many cases where one side won or the other was annihilated. Therefore, the task for countries at war was how to increase the survival rate of their warriors and how to control the strength of the enemy nation’s warriors. Will we suppress it?

Some scholars even claimed that they would suppress the warriors by creating an anti-holy sword that corresponds to the holy sword.

Some people argued that they simply had to make their warriors stronger.

From the beginning, a warrior is a being who acquires transcendent power in exchange for the blood of his compatriots.

So what if you repeat the ritual one more time?

Losing the eight completed holy swords and their eight users may have been a huge strategic loss simply in terms of numbers.

The madness of humanity, which had already known once that the increase in overall specifications through consciousness could range from tens of times to a hundred times in some cases, did not stop.

The problem is that the magic circle created for the ritual requires so much magic power that it can power the entire city.

Even if there was a magic engine on earth that is said to have recreated the sun, it could not create the magic circle needed for the ritual.

The leadership knew that they could not proceed with the plan due to the magic circle’s lack of magic power, even though they had both the holy sword and the warrior ready.

As a result, the worst method and conclusion is reached.

Although it is primitive, the most effective way to extract magical power is ultimately to offer a ‘living sacrifice’.

If you crush, melt, and mix all three elements of a human being – body, mind, and soul – like mixing reagents in a beaker, a significant amount of magical power is created.

The number of living sacrifices (humans) required for the ritual of selecting holy swords is at least 1 million.

The more humans are used, the more powerful the final result becomes.

Literally, the power that could be gained by replacing people created the dilemma that in order to win, one would have to sacrifice as many human beings as the victims of the war.

And, the leaders accepted the ceremony to overturn the stagnant war, but—

Ultimately, no selective holy sword was created.

This is because the golden comet ended the human war before the preparations for the ceremony were completed.

The warriors, who originally only listened to orders from above, came into contact with the golden comet, awakening their senses as if they had been mentally controlled by something, and began to reject unjust and cruel orders.

There were even some who left the military to help refugees or exterminate soldiers who were pursuing them.

If they continue like this, their country may be destroyed by the warriors they created.

Such fear spread to national leaders around the world, and eventually led to the decision that all the heroes created at that time had to be discarded.

Ultimately, the destruction of the heroes was possible, but it led to the trigger that led to the end of humanity in the original world.

This is because the golden comet, which was repeating local destruction and intrusion into the battlefield, directly appeared in the country’s mainland and began to commit sabotage.

As if they were angry at the death of the warriors who were made for them, served them, and then disappeared due to their circumstances.

None of the weapons of the primordial world worked on that being, and it ultimately burned the entire earth, leading to the conclusion that it would coexist with the enemy of mankind called the Golden Comet.

The world was destroyed because it created heroes, a history that reached the peak of irony.

If up to this point was a description of the ritual of the Selected Holy Sword that took place in the past, from here on there were some instructions written about the preparation process for Adam to later reproduce the ritual on this earth.

What he wants most now is to obtain a body of a level suitable for his use.

It was about throwing off the body of a machine, standing in front of humans, and showing a form that could dominate humans.

And as the vessel – he intended to use the ultimate hero, created through the ritual of the Holy Sword of Sorting, as his vessel.

If the plan succeeds – Adam will not only have the technological power of the original world, but will also become physically unmatched on earth.

Even if that golden comet were to appear once again, it made her question whether even she would be able to prevent its existence.

No, perhaps Adam knows that, and that is why he continues to prepare to perform this ritual.

The fact that this plan had been passed down for over a thousand years was also evident from the written records.

Since the dawn of humanity in the Succession World, there have been instructions written here and there to prepare 1 million people, prepare 8 Heroes chosen for the Holy Sword, and create a magic circle.

The process seemed to be anything but smooth.

This is because a huge event occurred in which the population that Adam had increased to use as a sacrifice periodically decreased.

For example – the feud between the dwarves called the Thunder Lords and humans.

Due to the environmental erosion of the World Tree, humans are scattered as it becomes uninhabitable.

The rise of the dark elves, the jungle of mutant man-eating insects, the era when wizards treated humans like slaves.

Therefore, Adam needed limbs that could prepare for this ceremony on his behalf.

Set the number of humans to be sacrificed, prepare the magic circle, and prepare to gather eight warriors.

We preserve the number of beings that pose a threat to the prosperity of mankind by banishing them to the gap in another dimension.

Gather humanity by building a nation with the people who can best accept your will as royalty.

A plausible religion that took elements of the Trinity, part of the doctrine of the primordial world, by adding the elements of a saint to a holy sword and a warrior, and created a religious order for the protection of saints to reduce humanity’s fear and distrust of warriors, thus reducing the antagonism between warriors and humans. Reduce.

The Saint’s Protection Order may have had the meaning of supporting warriors to increase their survival rate for later use in rituals.

And what followed would have been a time of patience.

As the kingdom experienced various events, its population would have increased and decreased.

The warriors we found often lost their lives while fighting powerful enemies for their mission to save humanity.

However, somehow, after spending that time of patience, there was a moment when Adam proceeded with the plan right up to the stage where he could perform the ceremony of selecting the holy sword.

According to the records – it was about 30 years ago.

If nothing had happened – Not long after that, an incident occurred in the royal capital where eight warriors killed each other, causing an uproar in the world.

Adam would have taken over the body of the final survivor, declared war on the continent to rule over humans, won, and the world would have fallen into his hands.

However, Adam’s plan is put on hold by an unexpected presence.

Among the vicious dark demons that exist in history, the one who is said to be the worst – the Demon Sword Emperor.

Because of the war he started, more than half of the Heroes he collected were killed, and the Holy Sword was lost.

Moreover, the kingdom’s people were on the verge of reaching the cutoff point of 1 million, but hundreds of thousands of people disappeared in the war with the empire.

For Adam, it must have been truly a disaster.

Behind it was written something that seemed to be Adam’s personal grudge against the Black Demon’s clan.

It seemed certain that the plans of the Dark Sword Emperor had been interrupted several times by the Dark Demon’s clan.

Anyway, after reading all that, Lila couldn’t open her mouth for a moment and then—

＂The ritual of selecting the Holy Sword is… Exchanging the lives of at least 1 million humans and 8 warriors… To create stronger holy swords and warriors… Is this such a crazy and ignorant ritual?＂

After Diora opened her mouth, she could only nod her head heavily.

There was no better way to express what they had just read than the expression ‘crazy ignorant consciousness.’

Who in the world would use one million people to create a weapon?

What on earth is the meaning of the victory achieved by using something like that?

If you see humans as expendable and do not believe that you are above humans, such a judgment would be impossible.

But from there, Lila strangely came to understand.

Since the other person is a machine, not a human, and he is a being that seeks to dominate humans in the true sense, he wants to bring out this consciousness that has disappeared in the darkness and reproduce it in modern times.

“But is this ritual really possible? Putting 100 people, including 8 holy sword users, on the magic circle… Even if you add up the population of El Querdo and the surrounding cities, it’s a little less than 1 million people?”

Even after Selena received all of her information, she spoke a little calmly and placed her hand on her chin as if she was observing the situation.

＂Above all, knowing that such a purpose and process will take place, what kind of hero would participate in this ritual… ＂

“Wouldn’t it be like using warriors belonging to the exiled church?”

Actually, there is a possibility that the owner of this fortress is a warrior who uses a holy sword.

As my doubts deepened, boom! And a shock occurs that shakes the entire fortress.

＂Wow…!＂

Lila, who was sitting on a chair, felt her body tilt and fell down, and others held on to objects around them to avoid falling.

[Power reduction, after 3 minutes, current altitude will no longer be maintained. Please hold on to objects around you tightly to prepare for impact.]

A voice like that echoed throughout the fortress.

＂Did you hear?＂

“Yes. It seems like Cleon did it.”

When Selena nods her head at Lila’s words, Lila speaks.

“I got what I could from here. Now, let’s join Cleon.”

“Joining? But isn’t the path to the power room blocked because the transfer magic circle is gone?”

When Riomes said that, Laila quietly shook her head and took out her wand.

“Diora. Move that machine aside. You can see the wall behind you.”

＂… Like this?＂

Diora spoke as if she had no idea what was going on and pushed her machine aside.

Somewhere along the way, something like a wire was pulled out, and the machine suddenly shut off, but Lila didn’t seem to care much.

Then the next moment.

An intense ray of flame spewed out from Laila’s staff, and it began to melt the wall behind it.

＂La, Laila!?＂

＂… No way, there is a way to join Cleon.＂

The wall, which was like a thick iron plate and seemed to be several meters long, slowly melted and finally, at the end of the part where the wall disappeared-

A cylinder containing a broken magic crystal that has lost its color.

Cleon, standing in front of him with his sword in hand, was looking somewhere into the distance.