Hard Carried by My Sword-Chapter 108

The ominous part wasn’t just the color. The shape of the marker itself resembled a skull, clearly warning that it was a dangerous place to approach.

The color black and the skull shape were both symbols of death. There was a reason pirates flew black flags with skulls on them. It was a symbol meant to instill fear and serve as both a warning and a threat.

“Ah.”

Just then, as Leon brought his finger to hover above the marker, a semi-transparent window appeared over the black icon.

[Warning! Difficulty: Untouchable!]

[Would you like to view the quest ‹Dimensional Fissure›? Y/N]

He pressed Y for Yes. The window expanded, displaying information tied to the marker.

Dimensional Fissure

Difficulty: Untouchable

Scale: Unmeasurable

Threat: Unspecified

Overseer: Giant King Kasim

A catastrophic dimensional breach hidden deep within the Titan Mountains. It is teeming with otherworldly beasts rejected by this world’s physical laws—monsters unable to adapt to this world’s gravity or atmospheric composition. Their average threat level exceeds S-rank, and some possess powers comparable to high-tier demons or mature dragons.

As Leon finished reading, a chill crawled down his spine. If everything he’d just read was true, then mere meters from the waterfall where he and Kasim trained, there had been creatures lurking that were strong enough to destroy the entire continent.

With disbelief etched on his face, he turned to Kasim, who gave a calm nod of affirmation.

“It’s true. Inside the fissure roam entities even our chief warriors can’t guarantee to survive against.”

Only the Giant King could enter the dimensional fissure. It wasn’t a matter of privilege, but a grim declaration that Kasim was the only one powerful enough to survive a battle within.

Even the drake that Leon and Karen had defeated would’ve been little more than background noise in the hierarchy of the fissure. If just one monster escaped from it, it might take a whole platoon of chief warriors to bring it down.

“Why else do you think we’ve been holed up inside these mountains for centuries? If not for the strength of the Titans and myself, the creatures in that fissure would’ve overrun the world long ago.”

“Not even your strength is enough to seal it completely?” Leon asked.

“Nope.”

Leon stared at Kasim with uncertainty. After countless sparring matches, he’d gotten a sense of the king’s level. He was simply unparalleled.

Kasim was a being who could scatter clouds with a punch or trigger an earthquake with a step. He was already born into a race with overwhelming power, yet even with that advantage, he stood at the pinnacle of martial might.

If even Kasim can’t deal with it, there’s no way I can at my current level.

The black marker was out of the question. With that lesson etched in his mind, Leon looked over the rest of the map, but there were no other black markers outside the Titan Mountains.

The place he was currently standing in truly was the most dangerous place in the world. Leon reevaluated everything he thought he knew about these mountains.

“One black, two red, four orange, nine yellow... And way too many blue and green to count.”

As he analyzed the markers, El-Cid finally broke his silence.

—Think of the colors as difficulty ratings. Black’s far beyond your current strength. Red is nearly impossible. Orange is doable, but extremely dangerous.

What about yellow and the other two? Leon asked.

—Yellow’s risky but manageable. Blue and green are both safe.

Now that he understood the color system, it seemed pretty intuitive. Effectively, the issues Leon could address were those marked yellow and below.

Avoiding danger entirely wouldn’t be fitting for a Hero, but charging in blindly knowing he wasn’t ready would also be foolish.

His eyes darted across the map, scanning the markers. One red marker was in the capital of the Clyde Continent, and the other was in the southern region’s monster zone, the Forest of Darkness.

“I guess we’ll have to leave black and red off the table for now,” Leon said.

It was a rational call. What good was it to fight an unwinnable battle in a place that was already hard to reach? It was basically suicide.

Then, El-Cid added, —Ah, but don’t let the low difficulty fool you. Even blue and green markers can worsen if ignored. Sometimes their true difficulty rises several levels.

“Then we should probably deal with them while passing by.”

—Yeah, it’ll be a hassle, but, oh, well.

He trailed off, sounding like someone speaking from experience. Just then, Karen rested her chin on Leon’s shoulder from behind.

“Hey, Mr. Hero, where should we go first?”

Her whisper and warm breath by his ear made him tense. She stretched her arm past his ear like a teammate buddying up, pointing to the map.

She continued, “Looks like we can’t touch black or red yet, and most of the orange ones are too far. Oh! Here’s a yellow one nearby. Want to start there?”

“Hmm...”

“Or we could warm up with a few blues and greens? Swing by a town first, restock some gear, refill the wallet?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.”

Leon wasn’t paying attention at all. His gaze was caught by the side of her face and the way her gray hair brushed her ears.

A beauty so striking no one could look away—dusky, lightly tanned skin that proved her dark elf blood, sweat glistening on her face, and even the pale blue-gray eyes—and here she was, laughing and chattering at whisper-range.

“Ah.”

Sensing his lack of response, Karen turned to look at him, and their cheeks brushed. Startled by the touch, Karen leaped back like a cat and landed nearly ten meters away.

It was nothing, really—just a brush of skin—but both of their eyes went wide. Karen touched the cheek they’d bumped, then covered her face with both hands and bolted.

Leaving Leon standing there, frozen in place. That was when El-Cid chimed in, sounding exasperated.

—Good grief. She grew up in the slums and still turned out this innocent? I thought you guys were finally making some progress, but I guess we can forget about that for a while.

“...”

—And you. I don’t even expect anything from you anymore.

“Shut up.”

Leon’s mutter made Kasim chuckle faintly. He knew exactly who that was aimed at. And with his long experience, he could probably guess the conversation too.

Kasim spoke gently.

“No need to rush. You’ll be traveling together for a long time, so you’ll have plenty of chances to grow closer. Especially with matters of the heart, nothing good comes from rushing it.”

“K-Kasim? You too?”

“Don’t listen to the nonsense of sociopaths like Rodrick. When in doubt, seek counsel from someone wiser. Understood?”

Right on cue, El-Cid’s hilt vibrated in rage.

“Oh, you lump of lard! I’ve been too nice to you these past few days, huh? You’re lucky I’m stuck in this sword! Want me to carve an X into your back next?!”

“What’s a ghost stuck to a sword even gonna do?” Kasim said with a smirk.

“Wanna find out?! Leon, lend me your body for a sec! Just gotta dice up this lunk. Promise I’ll give it back!”

Leon sighed, long and hard. Here they were, the greatest hero in human history and the mightiest living warrior in the world, about to come to blows over a childish squabble.

Having zero intention of lending his body, Leon turned away. Still hovering in midair was the glowing world map. And from the corner of his eye, a single point of light caught his attention.

“Hmm?”

It was a golden hammer. Unlike the black skull, it was a positive-looking, even unfamiliar marker.

When Leon activated Rodrick’s Vision and focused on it, he noticed the golden hammer was moving slightly across the map. It was definitely different from the other stationary markers.

“El-Cid,” he called out to the still rambling Holy Sword.

“You fat lunk of lard, I’ll peel your scalp and roast it till you’re bald... Huh? You callin’ me, Leon?”

“Yeah. What’s this marker? There’s only one, and it’s moving.”

“Hmm?” El-Cid shifted his attention from the insult match to the map. After a few seconds, he replied, “Ah, that’d be the Saintess.”

“The Saintess?”

“Yeah, no one else has Holy Power on that scale. You could combine all ten cardinals and still not get half that. Wait... That’s weird. Even for a Saintess, her power shouldn’t be this strong.” El-Cid, startled mid-explanation, muttered, “Over five times the power of the First Saintess? What the hell has the Church been doing? If she’s operating at that level without a Divine Amplifier, she could probably cast Divine Judgment without any penalty.

“Divine Judgment?” Leon asked, not understanding any of what El-Cid was saying.

“And if you can see her moving at this zoom level, that means she’s running at subsonic speed... without stopping.”

El-Cid didn’t hide his amazement, wondering if this was the difference in generations.

He continued, “Looks like the Saintess who’s destined to be your ally is a real powerhouse. Lucky you, my damned disciple.”

“A Saintess, huh... Didn’t think she’d be coming to us.”

It was obvious what the Saintess’ goal was. She was barreling straight toward the Titan Mountains in a perfectly straight line.

Among all the Hero’s allies, the Saintess was the most essential. A master of both prophecy and combat, able to foresee the future through Revelation and support the party with Holy Law. She must have used an application of that Revelation to pinpoint Leon’s location.

“Then this is the perfect spot to head next.”

Leon pointed to a yellow marker on the map. It was the spot that sat right at the intersection of their path and the Saintess’ trajectory.

The Kingdom of Jugend was the next land they would visit. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

***

Two days had passed since the drake party. The Titans had sobered up by now, having flushed out the killer liquor—strong enough to drop a bear in one sip—in half a day.

As soon as their heads cleared, they went right back to their usual routines. Hunters gathered their weapons and set off to find monsters. Off-duty giants locked themselves back in the Hell’s Club to train. If toughness were a sin, then these giants would have suffered a life sentence in prison.

At the village gates, Leon and Karen stood fully prepared to depart. They’d rested up after the exhausting battle and were ready to hit the road.

“So, how do they feel?” asked Balkan, standing with them at the gate for a send-off.

He eyed their gear with satisfaction evident on his face. They looked quite different from when they first arrived. Everything they wore now was made from the remains of the drake.

Beneath Leon’s coat shimmered a cuirass of drake leather. His shoulders were covered with pauldrons made of its scaled hide, and even his gloves, reinforced with unknown metal, were crafted from the membrane of its wings.

“It’s amazing,” Leon said in awe.

Compared to his previous armor—which wasn’t bad, but far from great—this was a world apart. How could an armor that could withstand Aura Weapons still be so light and flexible? Once word got out, every knight in the land would be dying to get their hands on it.

To block what even full-plate mail couldn’t, while moving completely unimpeded. Such armor was a dream. Karen was just as ecstatic.

“Woah! I don’t need to buy any more daggers!”

They’d forged over a hundred daggers from the drake’s bones and fangs and still had more than half the materials left. Her bodysuit was made of interwoven wing membrane and scales, reflecting light with a deep, glossy hue like onyx. Apparently, some residual primal magic lingered in the suit as well.

Leon, pulling his gaze away from the shiny new armor, said to Balkan, “I didn’t think you’d go this far for us....”

The skill of the Titan blacksmiths had far exceeded expectations. Despite their massive, clumsy-looking hands, they’d crafted human-sized gear with flawless precision. “Master” was almost too small a word.

Waving off their thanks, Balkan said, “Don’t get all sentimental. You’re the ones who took the drake down. Even after making your stuff, we’ve got enough materials left over to flood the market.”

Even with the spatial magic bracelet packed to its limit, more than half of the loot stayed behind in Titan Village. Balkan wanted to say that it hadn’t exactly been a losing trade for the Titans.

Still, Leon and Karen shared a grin as they looked at Balkan. His dark green Titan skin was tinged a little reddish.

“No need for teary goodbyes. Wherever you go, I’ve no doubt you’ll protect yourselves just fine,” Balkan said.

“Chieftain Balkan...”

“If you don’t die, we’ll meet again someday. When we do, I hope we can raise a glass together. Hunters of the drake. Mighty warriors. Friends of the Titans!”

As Balkan shouted, all the gathered giants stomped their feet with a thunderous boom. The earth shook, kicking up dust.

Some things didn’t need words. Some things didn’t need to be seen to be felt.

With the Titan thunder behind them, Leon and Karen turned their backs on the village they’d come to love. And without looking back, they walked forward with pride. Just as they began their march, Leon looked up, and Karen followed his gaze with her mouth agape.

“Ah...!”

The sky above them, once full of clouds, now had a clear path carved straight through. It was as if someone had punched the heavens and blown them all away. Strange.

Brother Kasim...

He hadn’t come to the village gate, but even from afar, Kasim had cleared their path. Leon silently thanked him again and hoped that next time they met, he’d be strong enough to shoulder the burden Kasim carried. Having shed another layer of inexperience, Leon made a firm vow.

“Let’s go,” he said, solemn.

“Yeah.”

As the sun rose behind them, two long shadows stretched out ahead. It was a quiet departure, and the Hero Party’s humble beginning.