CHAPTER 150
Aranseol draws the sword. Her mind breaks.
After death, I resurrect her.
This repeats over and over again.
At some point, Aigis and I began our training. We couldn’t just spend our time waiting endlessly.
With every moment precious, we began training on the mountain.
As our training continued, the time Aranseol could hold the sword grew longer.
In exchange, it started taking longer for Aranseol’s mind to return, even with Resurrection magic.
“Aranseol.”
“...I’m… going to continue.”
I tried to stop her several times, but Aranseol was resolute.
“Just a little more.”
Was she overcoming the geniuses’ trials one by one?
Aranseol’s mind was being worn away, but the spirit in her eyes was different from before.
What in the world was she experiencing in there?
I couldn’t know, but Aranseol was steadily growing stronger.
My job was to trust Aranseol and wait patiently. To help her stand up steadfastly.
Flash—
Once again, Aranseol was revived by Resurrection magic.
I had already lost count of how many times it had been.
But this time, there was a different atmosphere about her.
She got up much faster, too.
“Harua.”
This time, it was Aranseol who called my name.
“I might not be able to get back up this time.”
What kind of trial was she facing?
This was the first time Aranseol had said something like this.
Did that mean the trial was that difficult to handle?
As I looked at her with a hardened face, Aranseol turned to me.
“But this time, I will definitely pull it out.”
Aranseol had finally reached the last trial.
“I’ll be back.”
She smiled at me.
Should I stop her?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment.
The Aranseol who overcame the trials would surely be stronger than she was now.
The process of overcoming the trials was itself part of her growth.
So, she didn’t necessarily need to endure the trial until she drew Danmyung.
But right now, I couldn’t stop her choice.
Because if it were me, I would have pulled it out no matter what.
If Aranseol was thinking the same way I was, trying to stop her would be useless.
Aranseol has a dream.
A dream similar to my own, and she had declared she would do anything to achieve it.
Stopping her would be the same as stopping myself.
“Aranseol.”

So, I forced down my hesitation and smiled back at her.
“What are you getting so worked up for? Hurry up and get back.”
With a final smile, Aranseol gripped the handle of Danmyung.
In that instant, her consciousness flew to the other side once more.
This time, I decided to wait patiently for Aranseol as she challenged the final trial.
Time flows.
Summer arrived, and the vegetation turned a vibrant green.
I could see why Aranseol and the other Oegak Tribe members were weak to the heat.
The summer in Wolun, built in the mountains, was incredibly cool.
Thankfully, Aranseol wouldn’t be hot.
Partway through, Rapiel came up the mountain.
After finishing various lessons related to Holy Magic, she patted my shoulder and went back down.
Time continues to flow.
Aranseol was still with her hand on the sword.
She didn’t move an inch.
Normally, she would have let go of the sword long ago, but that time had long since passed.
Aigis quietly entered a state of meditation.
She said that Divine Power could be amplified through meditation.
I had tried it a few times myself, but my personality wasn’t suited for it, so I gave up.
Before I knew it, the end of summer was approaching.
The green vegetation slowly began to change into its autumn clothes.
Aranseol’s physical body was being maintained without any problems.
Was it one of Danmyung’s unique abilities?
It was a relief that I didn’t have to cast Holy Magic on her.
But because of that, I had no way of knowing what state she was in.
Could it be that she might never wake up?
The thought was enough to make me worry, as Aranseol showed no signs of waking.
Autumn passes.
Rapiel was supposed to send word if anything happened regarding Black Dawn, so it seemed things were still quiet.
Autumn is faster than the other seasons.
In Wolun, being a mountainous region, the weather changed even more rapidly.
The leaves fell, and the trees began to go bare.
Before long, snow clouds formed in the sky and began to fall.
Snow started piling up on Aranseol’s shoulders and head, so I brushed it off and set up a tent.
The tent nearly collapsed under the weight of the snow, but with Aigis’s help, we managed to deal with it.
Aranseol still had not let go of the sword.
“Lord Harua.”
Aigis called to me, her face slightly worried.

I must have been a mess, having been here for months.
“It’ll be soon.”
But my answer was always the same.
Aranseol would be back soon.
Time flows again.
The long, long winter.
That winter, too, was slowly beginning to show its end.
The ice melts.
The snow disappears.
Leaves began to sprout little by little from the desolate branches.
The sun began to rise over the mountain ridge.
The sun embraced Aranseol.
“Lord Harua!”
Just then, Aigis called out to me.
I was already looking where she was.
I hadn’t taken my eyes off Aranseol for a second.
Aranseol’s hair began to turn pure white.
It started to fade as if her life was coming to an end.
I felt something drop with a thud.
If I had a heart, it would have surely just dropped.
I rushed toward Aranseol.
“Aranseol, pull it out.”
I roared at her.
“You said you’d pull it out. So pull it out!”
There was nothing I could do, but I shouted.
“You left with a promise, so pull it out!”
The moment my desperate cry echoed through the mountains.
Just before Aranseol’s hair turned completely white.
The color stopped.
Creeak—
A sound like muscles twisting came from the arm Aranseol used to grip Danmyung.
“That’s right.”
Light slowly began to flow back into her eyes, which had been devoid of any light until now.
“I… pro-mised… Harua.”
Gritting her teeth, power surged through Aranseol’s entire body.
With it, Danmyung began to be pulled upward by Aranseol’s hand.
But she simply lacked the strength.
She had been holding onto Danmyung for a long time.
Thanks to the sword’s strange power, her body wasn’t damaged, but she had been unconscious for so long that she couldn’t properly exert her strength.
This was, in effect, her last chance.
However, I couldn’t help her pull it out from here.
But if it was Aranseol’s own power…
Holy Magic began to spread from my palm.
The Holy Magic I had mastered so far was added to Aranseol’s body.
With it, vitality began to bloom throughout her.
The corners of Aranseol’s lips, which met my gaze, turned up.
It was quite a welcome sight to see her smile after so long.
“Harua, you’ve gotten more handsome while I was away.”
“I’ve been taking good care of myself.”
“Even while I was facing the trials alone, I could always feel your gaze on me.”
It was rewarding to hear that my vigil to keep her from being lonely had paid off.
“Thanks to that, I was able to hold on even when I felt like I was going to break. If you hadn’t called out to me, I wouldn’t have been able to get up.”
Strength began to flow back into Aranseol’s arm.
With it, Danmyung, which had seemed completely immovable, slowly began to rise.
“So, I didn’t pull this out alone.”
Aranseol wore a powerful smile.
The moment she pushed with the last of her strength.
Drrrrk, KWANG!
Danmyung was finally drawn, displaying its magnificent majesty.
For a moment, it looked as if a dragon was soaring into the sky.
Accompanied by a natural phenomenon that words couldn’t describe, Aranseol, holding Danmyung, looked up at the sky.
The spring sky hanging above was full of life.
Aranseol collapsed into my arms.
Having pushed herself to the limit and poured out all her strength, there was no way she could stand.
Aranseol still held Danmyung tight, not letting go.
She had pulled it out with all her might.
She would never let it go.
The moment I touched Danmyung to help her hold it in her arms…
Crackle—
A blue spark suddenly shot out from the sword.
For a moment, I thought it was a spark to protect its owner, but it shot straight into my arm.
“Ugh.”
I tried to push it away, but the spark had already passed through my arm.

“Lord Harua?”
Aigis, reacting late, rushed over in surprise, but it was too late.
The spark that had dug into my arm passed through my body and reached my heart.
But there was no heart there.
In the instant the spark faltered, the three types of Divine Power I possess shot out, swallowing and tearing it apart.
The spark scattered and disappeared.
What was that all about?
A look of confusion spread across my face.
At the same time, I realized what the source of the spark’s power was similar to.
‘This… it’s similar to Divine Power.’
Why was the spark that flowed from Danmyung similar to Divine Power?
“Lady Aigis, was that just Divine Power?”

Aigis looked at Danmyung with a strange expression.
“If Lord Harua felt it was Divine Power, then it must be Divine Power, no matter what anyone says. There is no one in this world as sensitive to Divine Power as you, Lord Harua.”
Through a long process, my body now contained a greater amount of Divine Power than anyone else.
So, as Aigis said, if I felt it was Divine Power, there was no other explanation for it.
“Could the person who made Danmyung have been involved with a Transcendent?”
“Yes, that is certain, but…”
There was another reason why Aigis was hesitant to speak.
“There is a legend that the 1st Sword Lord possessed the status of a Quasi-Transcendent.”
A Quasi-Transcendent.
Not a Transcendent, but a being who had achieved a certain status.
Hearing that rumor, my eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me Danmyung is…”
“It might be an Apostle left behind by the 1st Sword Lord.”

An Apostle left behind by the 1st Sword Lord.
At that fact, I stared at Danmyung for a moment before asking.
“Is it possible for a human to become a Transcendent?”
“I do not know.”
A fact unknown even to Aigis, who had been part of the Holy Church. And yet, Black Dawn was trying to make it happen.
Looking down at Aranseol in my arms, I let out a breath.
It was as if I had indirectly felt the ordeal she had gone through.
So, I held her tightly in my arms so she could rest even a little more comfortably.
“Lady Aigis, you’ve worked hard. Let’s go back.”
“Yes, you as well, Lord Harua. You’ve been through a lot.”
The long, long year of mountain training.
It was finally time to finish and return.