Chapter 50: 50

Holy water of Valtherus.

It's sacred for those who serve the sword, created by the Order of Valtherus.

When it comes to the Church's holy water, most people think of it as a healing potion first.

Because amongst the various divine miracles, curing an incurable disease is the one that can most easily capture the peoples' hearts.

Therefore, it's more widely known as a panacea, but the original purpose of the holy water bestowed by God was not medicinal treatment.

What was the original purpose of holy water?

"Demon extermination."

Originally, holy water was meant to be used to repel and purify demonic power[1].

– Guoooooooh! Urrggh!

And the secret behind the birth of the Trolls is also related to those Demons.

‘The Bastard Son of Giants and Demons.'

Half virtuous, half demonic. Half-person, half-demon.

That is the origin of the being called Troll.

Even a small amount of holy water can inflict extreme pain upon them.

Originally, this strategy would only be found out after gathering a lot of information, but…

‘Because this is how I set it.'

So I can't help but know.

"Lutheon… he fainted."

Looked like he'd lost consciousness after that last shout.

I watched the struggling Troll.

His painful screams were growing louder and louder, but things seemed to have worked out so far.

I wanted to end it with some more holy water, but I only had that one bottle with me.

The rest were with Bruns.

"Anyway, I just need to wait."

If I left him alone, the Troll will soon expire.

– Guoooaaaah!

The Troll abruptly raised himself up and started to escape.

At the start, he could only spew out blood and crawl, but that soon changed into a walking gait, while still screaming and spraying blood everywhere.

Perhaps he wanted to return to his original home.

‘Hmm…'

Callius, who'd been so desperate very recently, was feeling somewhat relaxed.

Rather, he slowly followed the Troll, thinking this might not be a bad thing.

He'd jumped down here while facing Lutheon.

Roughly speaking, the situation was already over, and Lutheon too was in a moribund state, so the only remaining problem was how to get back up to the forest.

Perhaps he could find the answer by following the Troll.

– Guoooh!! Guaaaaaa!!

As if this was his first time experiencing such suffering, the Troll was writhing in pain, his face full of tears and snot.

The nearby animals ran away at his loud screams.

He put one foot in front of the other, slow like a turtle.

Instinctive fear formed anxiety, eventually leading him to his nest, the place where he could feel the most secure.

Because of the sudden commotion, the nearby beasts did not dare approach Callius.

Thanks to that, he was able to peacefully follow behind, and finally arrived at the destination after quite a long walk.

The Troll's Oyster.

The nest of a being that had a characteristic similar to the Dragons.

The place shone exceptionally brightly compared to the surrounding areas, filled with a multitude of sparkling glowstones, and one would think ‘as expected of a Troll's den' at the first glance.

Perhaps because there were no challengers nearby, the Troll could live this kind of life.

The Oyster carved out of stone was quite huge.

The Troll's height was over seven meters, so it was only natural.

There were a number of interesting parts inside the cave, but Callius was most interested in a place with all sorts of junk. All sorts of odds and ends had piled up there for a long time, and it was full of dust.

Trolls habitually love shiny things, so they hoard this type of bits and pieces like treasures.

"This is it."

It was full of traces of the owner's long past years.

"Before the Sinking Forest originally formed, this place…"

Among the clutter, Callius picked up an object engraved with a strange pattern.

A ring, with a wing carved on it.

"It's a relic of the Vira tribe."

Vira.

Due to the nature of the local terrain, there had been an indigenous tribe living here long ago.

As it was a somewhat remote and independent location, they had their own mysterious culture and believed in their own unique faith.

The Forsaken Valley, Altara.

Its original name was the Valley of the Winds.

The Vira were a tribe of people who enjoyed flying in the strong winds that blew through the cliffs.

Using ancient tribal artifacts called Leteti[2], relics of a now forgotten faith.

The Vira, an ancient tribe who'd lived in an abyss thousands of meters below ground level.

And a Leteti, a holy relic of the now-forgotten Winged God whom they'd served, was the only way to escape from this place.

"But this one is out of power."

It was too old and tattered.

It'd probably be hard to make it work.

After throwing the Leteti away, Callius searched a bit more and found a lot of similar objects.

Most of them were in similar condition.

However, in their own way, the Vira people must have been quite strong thousands of years ago. There were so many relics just strewn around the place.

They must've had advanced flying techniques to help in their hunts and battles.

Perhaps, if it were not for the disaster that struck here, the northern lands of today might not have belonged to Carpe.

"Didn't a horde of Trolls running away from the invading Demons come here and destroy them? Ah, found it."

It was easy to find by looking with the Tricolour Eye.

When he opened the wooden box shining gold, Callius found a Leteti inside.

The ring seemed to be of a higher grade than the rest, and was still in excellent condition.

It had probably been used by somebody of high status within the tribe.

Callius immediately put the ring on his finger and injected divine power.

A lot of energy disappeared in an instant.

He was surprised for a moment, but it didn't stop there, and as he injected a little more power, the ring's wing pattern started sparkling with colours.

"Unfold."

Soon, the metal part within the ring unfolded into huge wings, crafted from steel and Callius' divine power.

As soon as he grabbed the handle that had unfolded from the ring, the colourful wings flapped with a soft beat.

Callius nodded with contentment as he felt a strange floating sensation.

"It's better than I thought."

He was holding the base of the wings with one hand, so he thought it might be difficult to hold onto without sufficient arm strength, but his worries turned out to be unfounded.

It was as if the wind itself was supporting Callius' body.

Climbing the cliff wouldn't be too difficult if that were the case.

As soon as the supply of divine power was cut off, the Leteti returned to the form of the small ring.

It was an artifact so sophisticated that it was hard to believe that it had been created by an ancient tribe.

"Originally, it's something I wouldn't be able to get right now."

At Callius' current level, it was a treasure that was completely out of his reach.

Had he been alone, he wouldn't have even considered dealing with a Troll.

Even if he created a small gap during the fight, he wouldn't have been able to injure the enemy like Lutheon had done. He was able to get this artifact only because he had been together with the variable called Lutheon.

"I only spent about an hour on this. My initial problem was how to take it away avoiding the Troll's eyes, but things went much easier."

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Originally, from the time he fell here, Callius had been thinking about how to retrieve the Leteti.

The Trolls of the Forsaken Valley were half-demons that could only be dealt with once you had at least a Vision Sword, whereas Callius only had a Half-Spirit Sword in his hands.

Of course, the reward was good, but the risk was extreme.

In addition, things would have gotten even more complicated if the Troll had company, and the expected survival rate was too low, so he had been quite worried.

“In the first place, the key was how to handle Luteon.”

But thankfully, things turned out to be easier than he'd thought.

Lutheon was lying half-dead, and if he left the Troll as it was, it would also soon perish.

"Even with that great regenerative power, a Troll can't defend against holy water."

A Troll with demonic origins has no recourse against holy water imbued with the energy of exorcism.

Even if he tried to vomit it out right away, the holy water had the innate property of being instantly absorbed into the body, so the Troll's death was assured.

"If I could look for Trolls other than this one, maybe there'll be better things…"

Perhaps not this Leteti, but something more worthy of being called a sacred object.

But Callius shook his head.

Excessive greed always leads to ruin.

In the first place, the process this time had been so smooth because the Troll was not even an adult.

Unfortunately, he'd have to wait for the next opportunity.

‘Because this alone is great enough.'

He'd been looking all over the place to see if he could find anything.

Most of the ancient relics just flashed but didn't work.

There were things like swords and bows, but they were not useful weapons.

Callius rummaged through the Troll's hoard and found a suitable bag and some old-looking pottery.

As he looked around and picked up a few more things, he suddenly saw the quest completion notification in front of his eyes.

[Sub Quest]

[The Bastard Son of the Giants, complete]

[A reward is given for the first successful Troll hunt]

[Reward – Refined Troll Potion]

[Health +4]

"Ohh!"

Refined Troll Potion!

He got an unexpected reward.

Troll blood contained demonic energy, so it had to be purified before drinking, but he got the refined end product as the reward.

He had a busted arm and bruises all over his body from his close encounters with Lutheon and the Troll, and the holy water had already been spent, so it was just what he needed right now.

Callius chugged down the purified Troll blood in one breath.

"Ugh, it's so tasteless it feels nasty."

All medicines were like that, but the Troll Potion was tasteless beyond imagination.

The bloody smell was so strong that he might've vomited if he had a slightly weak stomach.

"Still, the effect is good."

There was some pain and itching as the broken bones re-aligned.

All over the body.

For a moment, he circulated his spirit power to his whole body to check the condition, and the wounds definitely seemed to be slowly healing.

The potion was worth its reputation.

As tasteless as it was, the effect was obvious.

"But to call it the first successful hunt… It's strange."

The first successful hunt.

There must have been many other beings who had hunted the Trolls.

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Some of those who now stood in the ranks of Masters had a history of hunting Trolls.

Yet he was called the first.

‘Am I the first player?'

But the funny thing was, if that had indeed been the meaning, wouldn't that imply that there were other players besides himself?

"No."

It was probably just a quirk of the system.

“It feels like a game to me, but I still don’t know for sure.”

Is this a real world?

Or is it a game?

If neither, then what exactly is it?

Callius was lost in thought for a while, but there was something he had to do first. After passing through a huge passageway, he reached the central pit where he thought the Troll might be, and indeed he found it crouched on a bed of soft grass.

"He's dead."

Breath had stopped.

There was plenty of blood splashed all around.

Callius' lips curved into an arc.

Although they were said to have inherited the blood of the Giants, in the end they were a different race.

As the saying went, "half-virtuous, half-demonic," a Troll was a demonic hybrid.

Callius bit his index finger to draw out some drops of his own blood.

He started drawing something on the floor around the fallen Troll.

Each of the letters written in blood was imbued with reverence and filled with his divine power.

"I call on God, and may God answer with His sword."

Unlike other Pilgrims, Callius could create a Carcass without having to perform a proper corpse ritual.

Originally, it was a player's prerogative. But just for today, he decided to hold a formal corpse ceremony.

A Troll that hadn't matured yet.

Even so, he was looking forward to seeing what kind of a Carcass it might create.

Seok.

The runes, written in blood, glowed silver.

The more urgent the voice of Callius, who called to his God, the brighter the light.

As the light of divine power filled all directions, the Troll's body crumbled like burning paper. The shattered body turned into rustling ashes and was then reborn as a single sword.

A broadsword.

A large sword with a flat, wide blade.

A double-edged sword with a grayish-white colour as if made of bone.

The two edges were coloured dark red.

It was a Spirit Sword made from a Troll.

"Shit."

Seeing the sword's form, Callius immediately spat out a curse.

He'd been hoping for a Vision Sword till the very end, but no luck.

"It's stupid, really."

[Strong Sword – Gwydd]

Grade – Spirit Sword.

Infused Soul – Gwydd, the Troll.

Unique Ability – Spirit Descent[3].

"Um? Spirit Descent?"

Its unique ability, however –

Caught his attention.

Editor's Notes:

[1] 마가 (ma-ga, lit. mark) is being translated as demonic power.

[2] Leteti (/lěteti/) is a Serbo-Croatian word, meaning ‘to fly'. In the same language, Vira means belief, faith or religion.

[3] 강신 (kangshin) is a religious term that refers to a phenomenon in which superhuman or supernatural beings possess a human or object or are present in a ritual process. See encykorea article.

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