Hero without Blood or Tear

[Chapter 26] Hero’s Hunt (5)

“Kheeakk!”

Philip screamed as the longsword stabbed his flesh. He struggled in the puddle of his own blood, thrashing like a fish that was thrown onto the shore, drowning in the air.

But he couldn’t last long. After an eternity of suffering for him, but only a few seconds for me, his strength gave out and he lay in his own life’s blood and could only twitch feebly.

“Ugh…. You have to be… the best… of the Empire…..”

Phillip looked miserable. My vengeance was complete. I need mock Philip no longer. I unsheathed my longsword and rested the blade on my shoulder.

“Philip. Your destruction brings joy to three people. To your uncle, Frederich, the Devil Pajemut, and to Jim here. To be honest, you were hopeless. But there is another way. In life, you failed to become the great man you could have been, but after death, there’s still hope….”  *

“…Wh..what… do you mean?”

Philip asked me in a faded voice.

“It’s simple. You are going to serve Jim after you are dead just like the others here. In your life, you’ve managed to defecate on your name, your rank, your subjects… however after your blood cools down after your heart stops beating, maybe you could finally be useful, right?”

“…You are demon, you are evil. No matter how wicked I am…don’t insult my death. You really… are without blood or tears….”

I was surprised by Philip’s resentful words and smiled. The man without blood or tears, he said!

“Philip, hahaha! You are amazing as I expected! Maybe you have insights that even Jim doesn’t have. But this is what Jim has declared.”

These words are for Philip, but also for me.

“I would do whatever it takes to see the good ending for this game.”

Pho-ok!

The sword I wielded shattered Philip’s forehead. That was the end of the Guardian of Iron,  the Prince Elector Phillip.

<You have killed the Iron Prince-Elector Philip!>

System Message is opened. The amount of experience and achievements have gone up sharply. When I saw it, I just turned off the achievement alarm. It is a score which has far surpassed the second place. For me though, the good ending for this game was much more important than those.

“This….!”

Now, there was something that caught my attention at once.

<A hidden scenario opened. You can start ‘Killing the Guardians’.>

Killing the Guardians? Even when I see it, it is obviously a bad scenario. I realized that somehow I had reached a special point that I had never experienced before.

“Clean up around you.”

First I gave the command clearly, then I sat in a corner and looked at the message.

<You have killed one of the Guardians, who are the pillar of the world. The player can absorb their abilities and power by killing the Guardians.>

No, what?

It said that because I am a player, so I can get the power when the Guardian died. Oh, I guess this is the real privilege of the normal character. It seems like nothing, but in reality it has the potential to take away the power of each of the Guardians. *

For example, my character ‘Valler’ in Imperial Language means ‘the harvester’.

Literally, it is the perfect surname of a bachelor from a village. I introduced myself as Valler from Spandau, and Spandau is famous for its farming villages and Valler meant harvester, so it is advertising everywhere that I am literally a country bumpkin.

But in THIS Game World, this harvester was born with the potential to be a true cheat character more than any possible Guardian character. I felt the wickedness of Aquila, the Artificial Intelligence who ran this game. THIS was why all the Guardians appear in the world when  the player chooses to be a regular character.

Even if it was an ordinary character, the game world’s main character is the player. There is no way that the game is not going to revolve around the player.

So, I thought this could be the solution. But was it killing the Guardians and taking their power? It was extremely hard, but there was definitely a way.

<Would you like to see the skills you gained from the Iron Prince-Elector?>

Of course. As soon as I checked it without hesitation, five new skills appeared.

*Der_Mondschatten_Schwert(S-grade)

Only the chosen figures of noble lineage are permitted to be trained by the Palatinate Prince-Elector’s bequeathed swordsmanship.

It is a mysterious gem, gleaming in the shadow of the moon.

*Prinzessin Koralle (A-grade)

The swordsmanship used by the Coral Princess, Palatinate Prince-Elector’s famous swordswoman. The successor was lost but even the remaining heritage was a great sword school.

If you restore the actual successor, you can surpass Der Mondschatten Schwert.

*Imperial Propaganda (SS-grade)

You can dominate the masses by a brilliant speech.

As it becomes proficient, you can pull all who listen to you into your web of words.

If it reaches this point, you will become a demon, controlling the destiny of empires.

From the emperor to the people, all of them will become your tools.

* Mephistopheles’ acting (SS-grade)

Cheat, mock, and deceive your opponents by using devilish acting skills.

As the proficiency increases, you become an existence more than a demon. Even the wisest  will be deceived.

The world falls for your gambits.

*The Dignity of the Great Leader (SS-grade)

The higher the proficiency, you can wear the majesty and charisma of the very gods themselves.

You will receive the fanatic devotion and love of your knights, and the great beauties of the land become your worshipping slaves, craving your touch endlessly.

You will receive the respect of all your people.

There were five skills, but these five skills were merely the representative skills for the Iron Prince-Elector, among the many skills that Phillip had.

“Wonderful….”

I am at the highest level for the class of Hero without Blood and Tears, and once I leveled up, I will get the SS-grade skills from the necromancer series. But apart from that, the Iron Prince-Elector’s SS-grade skills are too good to be missed.

If I proceeded this way, I would become an unprecedented being. SS-grade skills are the yolks (TL Note: the good part) of the classes allowing for an Over Powered existence.

It was the Power of the Prince-Elector that could never be reached even if the power of a warrior or a swordsman is strong,

The Iron Prince-Elector is very powerful in the later stages of the game, however currently his armed forces are sagging among the Guardians.   Despite his military weakness,  I had come to think of the Iron Prince-Elector as one of the most powerful Guardians because of the Imperial Propaganda skill. But I’ve cut off his dangerous treachery early in the game.

“Fiuh….”

Even great figures like Dragons cannot avoid death and even they cannot avoid the grave. In fact, Philip hasn’t gotten ten of those SS-grade skills yet. His level didn’t reach that high.

“Khekhkhekheh….”

It’s actually a tragedy.

But, it’s a lot of joy for me.

But the biggest reward was not killing the Guardian and the powerful five skills I received. I couldn’t resist my heart beating as I check the next message.

<You have obtained one Essence of the Guardian. If you collect five of them, you will become a transcendent being.>

My breath was gone. Now this excitement was more than the first time when a beautiful heroine appeared in the game.

The transcendent. Did that level even exist in this game? If we could get that power, wouldn’t it be possible to wipe out all the numerous devils?