Chapter 739

It took three days to develop the Nidhogg tracker, they said.

During those three days, the rest of us, including me, were busy preparing to hunt Insect-Dragons.

Except for Ferne, who had devolved from a competent alcoholic to an incompetent one, and Hersh, who was busy taking care of Ferne.

“So, you’ve awakened to a Heroic Tale? What’s its name?”

I mostly spent time with Damien and Milia. If a conflict with the fairies were to arise, these two would undoubtedly be the core of our combat power.

During those three days, I met with Asha to discuss Ferne’s situation, but unfortunately, it wasn’t something she could decide on her own.

The idea of providing dwarven technology to traitorous fairies was certainly intriguing, but to get a definitive answer, she said she’d have to consult her father—the clan chief.

So, the only hero-level combat power I could currently mobilize was Damien and Milia.

In other words, I had to make sure these two were as strong as possible.

“I named it Sky Step. It’s more like flying than walking, but when I suggested calling it Sky Flight, Milia vehemently opposed it, saying it sounded tacky…”

“Tacky? It seems like a simple yet accurate name to me.”

It’s as simple and good a technique name as ‘Sword of Certain Death.’ Though, thanks to all the high-level enemies figuring out how to counter it, the ‘Sword of Certain Death’ has become more like a ‘Sword of Certain Death for the Weak.’

“Right? I knew I wasn’t wrong—”

“You were wrong, so shut up, Damien.”

Milia cut Damien off with a stern tone and turned to look at me.

“Ha-shal-leur, you should stop making jokes like that. Damien’s naive enough to actually believe them.”

…It wasn’t a joke.

But no matter how you looked at it, her expression didn’t seem like she was joking.

[Good grief. These country bumpkins with no naming sense have multiplied from one to two. Truly, the end times are upon us.]

Herschel also expressed strong disdain for Damien’s naming sense.

‘You’re exaggerating. It’s not that bad.’

[Not that bad? These are the kind of people who’d name their kids ‘Whitey’ or ‘Baldy.’]

As if you’re any better.

‘Oh, really? And what would you have named it? ‘Twin Wings of the Holy Sky’ or ‘Heavenly Forest of Light,’ or some other pretentious nonsense?’

[Those are quite splendid names, aren’t they? To think you’d praise something like ‘Sky Flight’ while being able to come up with such names—have you lost your mind?]

Look at that. The fact that she genuinely thinks those pretentious names are cool just proves she’s still stuck in her fifteen-year-old self.

And yet, she dares to criticize others’ naming sense.

—

“So, what’s the effect? I heard something about wings sprouting.”

After listening to Milia’s argument that Sky Step was much better than Sky Flight, I asked Damien about the exact effects of the Heroic Tale he had awakened.

Since Heroic Tales vary greatly from person to person, and what you see isn’t always what you get, it was best to ask the person directly for the details.

“I can ignore forces that try to hold or pull me and fly around. Like a bird—no, even more freely than a bird.”

Though his analogy was vague, typical of a rural commoner with no scientific knowledge, a few more exchanges helped me understand the ability he had gained.

Inertia- and gravity-defying free flight.

The wings were just for show; the true essence of Sky Step wasn’t about generating lift through wings but about continuously shifting his spatial coordinates.

A far more advanced ability than simply flying.

“After all that jumping around, you ended up manifesting an ability to jump around without limits.”

I sighed and grumbled.

I had a feeling he’d awaken a Heroic Tale related to leaping, given how much he jumped around, and sure enough, it turned out as expected.

Of all the Heroic Tales, it had to be a support-type one.

For someone like me, who can overwhelm opponents with sheer skill and strength, it might not matter, but for Damien, who hasn’t reached that level yet, it’s a rather ambiguous technique.

Spatial coordinate movement, inertia-defying flight—Sky Step.

It’s a good ability, sure… but without significant improvement, it won’t boost his actual combat power like an offensive Heroic Tale such as ‘Giant Hunting Sword’ or a defensive one like ‘Indestructible Body.’

It might be useful for escaping when surrounded or fighting giant flying monsters, but in one-on-one combat, it’s pretty much meaningless.

Even if you can fly high, what good is that in a duel?

Without proper ranged attack options, Damien would still have to descend to the ground to swing his sword.

So, the only real advantage in duels would be hovering like Asha or descending from a height to increase the power of his strikes.

Compared to the feats of those with attack-focused Heroic Tales, it’s a rather modest effect.

Still, I only grumbled because it’s Damien. If it were anyone else, I’d have cursed them out.

…Why do I give Damien a pass?

Well, because it’s Damien.

For others, it might be impossible, but Damien can compensate for the lack of offensive and defensive power with other means.

The Holy Sword and Holy Armor. Equipping him with those would be enough.

The Holy Sword would supplement his lack of attack power and ranged capabilities, and the Holy Armor would provide significant defense, even if not on the level of Indestructible Body.

…Nidhogg is hiding in the Sky Mountain Range, right?

Then, while we’re at it, maybe we should go look for the Holy Sword too…

The Holy Sword is hidden in the northeastern part of the Sky Mountain Range, which is a bit far from Nidhogg’s location… but given how the world’s been lately, if we don’t retrieve the Holy Sword now, we might not get another chance.

It’ll be tough to find the Holy Sword buried somewhere in the mountain range, but once we do, we can wield it immediately.

Since Damien has reached the Realm of Heroes… with a few materials prepared, awakening the Holy Sword’s true name shouldn’t be too difficult.

Carolus’s sword, Juwaiyoz?

That’s just a false name Carolus gave it.

According to the original setting, Carolus gave the Holy Sword a false name so no one could trace its origins and sealed its true power, which normally doesn’t manifest. I don’t know why, though.

Maybe there was a reason the Holy Sword’s true identity had to remain hidden… or perhaps even Carolus found it burdensome to keep the Holy Sword’s full power active at all times.

Well, the reason doesn’t matter now.

What matters is that the Holy Sword Juwaiyoz is sealed, and I know how to break that seal.

The seal engraved alongside the false name. When the seal is broken, the Holy Sword will finally reveal its true power. Along with its true name, unrecorded in history.

The greatest divine artifact forged by Elpinel, its true name is—

“Ha-shal-leur?”

“Huh? Why are you calling… oh, right, we were in the middle of a conversation.”

Snapped out of my thoughts by Damien’s voice calling my name with a puzzled expression, I returned to the original topic.

—

“Ah, right. I was going to suggest a direction for improving your Heroic Tale.”

Though it’s not suitable for duels now, it can change significantly with the right improvements.

Take my ‘Reversed Heaven,’ for example. At first, it was just a simple technique where the sword arrived faster…

But after repeated improvements, it’s now a transcendent technique where I move at normal speed in a world where time has nearly stopped.

“Improvement direction?”

“Right. In my opinion, the core of your Heroic Tale isn’t the ability to fly but the ability to ignore inertia… meaning you can change your flight path drastically without any recoil or resistance.”

The inertia-defying nature of spatial coordinate movement. Compared to that, flying is just a side effect.

Not even mages, or those like me and Orhan who gained flight through bizarre methods, can free themselves from inertia.

Both Orhan and I could make sharp turns or sudden stops, but that wasn’t ignoring inertia—it was using enough force to counteract inertia’s effects.

In other words, to reverse direction while moving forward, we had to apply nearly double the thrust to slam our bodies in the opposite direction.

And we had to endure the shock and strain with our tough bodies.

If anyone else tried it, they’d at best pass out… or worst, explode mid-air.

But Damien doesn’t need to do that. Instead of countering inertia with force, he simply nullifies it.

It’s one of the top-tier movement abilities.

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