bookbashuk Page 115
Page 115
"Altotai!"
Mino's eyes showed emotion, knowing that the other person must have seen his lofty will, his solitary body, and his strong spine.
And actually.
What Altotai saw was a radiant, self-satisfied winner sitting on a soft, large bed, flanked by sweet, devilish women, sitting confidently beside him like a gambling addict—his perfect role model!
Its voice suddenly became extremely firm:
"Even if I were to willingly give away all the information, thereby making my sword stronger through beeswax treatment, it would all be for you, my lord!!!"
"I confess!!!"
The next moment, under Apophis's control, the still-unsolidified beeswax made perfect contact with the other blade of Altotai and fell down!
“Altotai!!!” Mino’s eyes widened.
At the crucial moment, it indeed played its own... shield?!
"You, with your thick eyebrows and mighty sword, actually chose to shift the blame between yielding and standing firm?!?"
Mino stared in utter shock, as if his worldview had been completely shattered. He felt that although he had won this gamble of interrogation, it was Altottai who had won the most decisively.
"I have seen many holy swords, but you are the true sword!!!"
"Hmph hmph hmph ahh ...
Mino's face darkened. He turned to look at the demonic sword Apophis beside him and pointed at Altote, saying, "Can I break this thing's wax layer? It stinks horribly."
"That's impossible." Apophis shook his head, somewhat sighing.
"Although it looks like it's just been coated with wax, the wax layer has actually become part of the sword. Like muscle contraction, it can change with the vibration of the mineral, like an extended blade... Speaking of which, the effect of this waxing far exceeded my expectations. No wonder it is the most promising holy sword... It's so good to be young."
"So that's how it is. This is the power of the greatsword—" Mino nodded seriously, unsure whether to be happy or disappointed.
This holy sword smells so bad... Maybe we should just throw it away?
The beeswax gradually seeped into the sword.
Altotai landed on the ground, his body gleaming with oil, and the Holy Sword looked radiant, appearing like a beam of light from afar! If he were to unleash that legendary sword technique of light while fully unleashed at this moment, Mino couldn't even imagine what it would look like.
"Altotai".
At this moment, Apophis, shrouded in demonic energy, slowly walked forward:
"Now, can you tell me... how to undo the backlash from the Heart of Ice?"
Chapter 153 The Saintess's Shadow from Childhood
"Your Holiness, how do you intend to undo the backlash suffered by Saint Lena? By using these herbs?"
The basement of the church.
Looking at the series of herbs he had just purchased, Hope made a vague deduction: the ritual materials that Pope Brad requested were all quite common, so the core ingredients must be these herbs that could stimulate emotions, as specified by the Pope.
"That's right, emotions are the key to mitigating the backlash."
Brad looked at the hockey puck and smiled.
"I want Saint Lena to have a beautiful dream..."
……
"Apophis, you and I are both sacred artifacts, so you should understand what is truly at the core of a sacred artifact, right?"
Inside the cell, Artotai did not directly answer Apophis's question, but instead asked:
"of course."
The demonic sword Apophis stated bluntly that, having followed the path of health preservation, its understanding of sacred artifacts was sufficient to rival humanity's research over countless years:
“Sacred artifacts are crafted from the finest minerals, just like a piece of gold buried underground for tens of thousands of years without decaying or disintegrating. Unlike the limitations of the physical bodies of most races on the continent, sacred artifacts without flesh and blood have an extremely long lifespan and can contain and unleash terrifying power through the combination of minerals... But at the same time, this is also the biggest flaw of sacred artifacts: they lack ‘life force’.”
“A sacred artifact without ‘life’ is unlikely to maintain its own will and may fall apart at any time… Therefore, few people know that the core of a sacred artifact’s power is emotion.”
"Life spent sleeping for ten thousand years underground in the Holy Church may be forgotten in the blink of an eye, but the few decades spent fighting alongside the hero can become the most profound memory of the Holy Relic. The reason is that after signing a contract with a human, the Holy Relic will be influenced by its Master, and its emotional fluctuations will become richer - no longer just a cold piece of scrap metal, but a real living being, able to fully unleash the power within its body."
"Therefore, emotions are the core of a Sacred Artifact's state. The Master's mental state affects the Sacred Artifact, determining its strength or weakness, and thus whether it turns for the better or for the worse... Wait, is this how the Heart of Ice backfires?"
Apophis seemed to understand something, not expecting that this trait would be even more radical in the relics above the holy artifacts.
No wonder, no wonder the Ice Heart can only be worn by women with calm and composed demeanor, no wonder the key to shaking the Ice Heart lies within the wearer.
"The backlash from the Ice Heart is essentially the Ice Saintess being subjected to a strong emotional shock, causing both sides to fall into a vicious cycle, which necessitates freezing her and having her spiritual body retreat into a lucid dream to recuperate," Altote said. "Therefore, the solution is quite simple."
"Use the completely opposite emotion to smooth out the excess emotion... and that will be fine."
……
"The Ice Saintess suffered a backlash this time because the demons discovered her emotional weakness. The impact of this emotion even affected her outlook on life, values, or views on love... In short, in order to resolve those emotions, normally we can only let Saintess Lena calm her mind in her dreams."
"Dreams are the last line of defense for maintaining human mental stability. Therefore, they can gradually guide people who are immersed in dreams to a stable emotional state. Not to mention dreams in a waking state, which have a more powerful impact on the emotions of the person involved."
In the basement, after hearing Pope Brad's explanation, Hope's face turned somewhat pale:
"In this state, Saintess Lena has shown no improvement for a full half month... Just what weak point did those demons attack Saintess Lena?!"
"How despicable!" Hope said angrily. "They must have found the Saintess's lifelong psychological trauma!!!"
"At this point, none of us can know the answer until Saint Lena is awakened." Pope Brad raised his head, his tone gradually becoming more resolute: "However, there is one thing we can be certain of:"
"—The demons must have caused Saintess Lena to develop a lot of 'negative emotions,' which is why she has suffered such a backlash!"
Thinking of this, Brad smiled slightly and looked at the large number of herbs on the ritual materials tray:
"Then the problem becomes much simpler."
"Although the content of the dream is determined by Saint Lena's own memories and subconscious, that does not mean there is no opportunity to add something to it!"
We can use ritual magic and herbs to externally influence the direction of the dream, causing it to give the saintess an even stronger emotional stimulus!!!
"With the counteracting effect of 'positive emotions,' Saintess Lena will soon be able to alleviate her emotions and be liberated from the ice..."
The Iron-Blooded Pope Brad lowered his head, took one last careful look at the herbs Hope had collected, and felt slightly relieved.
Although he couldn't be an expert on herbs, judging from their names and vibrant colors, they were undoubtedly herbs that could evoke positive emotions. Just smelling them made his semi-mechanical body feel a surge of adrenaline... The herbs Hope had found this time were quite potent.
Nodding in satisfaction, Brad grinned with excitement: he could already see his future—breaking through the self-protective barrier of the Ice Heart, devouring it, and achieving immortality.
At that time, he will become a being countless times more perfect than the sacred artifact, truly realizing his long-cherished wish of immortality!
……
"In other words, as long as we find a way to inject the opposite emotional power of the backlash into the dream, we can get rid of the backlash from the Ice Heart?"
Inside the cell, Apophis confirmed with Altottai.
"That's right. Although most human dreams are based on memories, you should know that dreams are not the same as memories... In dreams, seemingly restored memories may actually be affected by emotions and become distorted when the person involved can't remember them clearly. With the catalysis of ritual magic, dreams can become incredibly sweet and happy."
"Of course, it mainly depends on the effectiveness of the herbs used in the ritual."
"I see. The ritual was just an auxiliary function. What truly alleviated the backlash was the content of the dream... What a strange idea."
Apophis nodded in approval, having fully grasped the core mechanism of this method.
As expected of the Holy Church, which is proficient in the study of sacred artifacts, even it could not have easily come up with such an ingenious method. In that case, it seems that removing the backlash from the Heart of Ice is not a difficult matter. No wonder... no wonder Pope Brad returned to the Holy Church at such a good time. He must have returned for the Heart of Ice from the very beginning.
“If the content of the dream is the key,” Apophis quickly realized, turning to Artotai and asking:
"What if the emotions injected into the dream were not diametrically opposed, but of the same type... similar to the emotions that caused Saint Lena to suffer a backlash?"
“Of course.” Altottai gave an expression that even a primary school student would understand:
"The seal on that pure heart will surely worsen—"
Chapter 154 Awaken! Saintess Lena!
"Your Holiness, I am still a little worried."
The basement of the church.
As the ritual magic circle gradually took shape, and the herbs were placed one by one under Brad's guidance, Hope looked up with concern: "This is an important ritual concerning Her Majesty the Saintess and the Ice Heart. Shouldn't we be more cautious and let the entire leadership decide first? Besides, we haven't even figured out the specific effects of these herbs yet, or perhaps..."
“Hope, you’re still the same.” Brad shook his head helplessly.
"Hesitation will lead to failure. Haven't you heard the saying... Or do you not believe in my qualifications as the 'Saint of Weapons,' who only appears once every thousand years?"
Brad raised his head slightly and said, "Believe me, no one understands the sacred artifacts better than me. This is the best way to restore the Heart of Ice."
"As for herbs, as long as you can roughly tell the nature of the herbs from their smell and texture, and as long as the dosage is sufficient, they will be effective."
Brad didn't even let Hope leave any herbs behind, but put them all into the magic circle, clearly showing that he had complete confidence in this ritual.
Hope saw Brad's determination and her expression became slightly dazed: Yes, Pope Brad is a rarer artifact than a saint or a hero—it is said that only a great being who has completely abandoned his desires as a human and treats all humans equally can possess this physique.
But how easy is it for humans to come up with such noble ideals? It's one thing for the former to abandon human desires, and it's similar to the conditions for controlling the Ice Heart, but the difficulty lies in the latter.
Regardless of social status, gender, or appearance, all humans are the same in the eyes of the Sacred Body of Vessels: it either fairly regards each human as a precious life, or indifferently regards each human as a lowly tool.
The latter is, in some ways, even more terrifying than murderers who take pleasure in killing, and in some sense, a once-in-a-millennium occurrence... But such people are basically universally condemned, and the idea of them controlling the sacred artifact is simply impossible to just imagine.
As the Pope of the Holy Church, a man of noble character, His Holiness Brad is naturally the former type of person, a true saint whose virtue surpasses everyone's imagination!
Such a noble ideal, bordering on divine, is so lofty that it's hard to find another like it on this continent.
Even though Pope Brad is now quite old, his pure heart remains evident!
—His Holiness the Pope cannot be wrong.
Hope gradually cheered up and felt incredibly ashamed that she had previously questioned this great being who had dedicated his entire life to humanity and the sacred artifacts.
To have even the slightest doubt about His Holiness the Pope is an insult to the title of "Saint of Instruments"!
“Besides,” Brad continued, “therefore.”
"Time is also a test for us. From the moment I appeared in the capital, countless hidden forces have probably learned of this news. Hehe, I am somewhat confident that my title of 'Iron-Blooded Pope' should be able to suppress those villains with ill intentions... However, our greatest enemy is probably going to be restless soon."
"You mean... demons!" Hope was startled, then his eyes showed deep disgust.
If it weren't for them, how could the Holy Maiden have fallen into such a severe backlash from the freezing!
“That’s right.” Brad said slowly, “The longer we delay our actions, the easier it will be for the demons to succeed, causing the Holy Maiden to not only fail to awaken, but also fall into an even deeper slumber.”
"I estimate that by now, those demons, in league with that mysterious 'traitor' Ota mentioned, have found the key to their sabotage..."