Chapter 49 – Village of Oblivion

After numerous battles against the orcs, this village was finally devastated.

Only the rough shapes of the houses' foundations and the piling up rubbles remained. It looks more like a mountain of rocks and soil due to years of corrosion by the weather.

Is this where that enemy even Myne considered to be strong resides? I really don't think so.

Walking ahead, she turned her head around and said.

[This is where I was born. I was immediately brought to the imperial city soon after my birth, so I barely have any memory here. Regardless, this is an important place for me.]

[Wow…so this is, Myne's birthplace?]

Nhnn!? Isn't this strange? Thousand of years seemed to have passed since the village was destroyed. On the other hand, Gallia was destroyed about 4000 years ago.

According to what Myne had said just now, the village was still functioning when she was born.

In other words, Myne's actual age is more than 4000 years old.

This must be wrong…..because, she had that childlike look.

By the way, when she did said that she's [A ghost that is not allowed to die] to Aaron back then. From that I knew that she had lived for a very long time, but I never expected that it had been more than 4000 years.

The numbers was too surprising. If that's the case, not to mention me, she could even consider Aaron as a kid.

Still, 4000 years..... I had lived for 16 years. I felt that getting to this point was a very long period already. And yet, Myne had already spent more than 200 times of that period.

Since she had lived since a very distant time, it's no wonder that some details in memory became lost or fuzzy.

Also, Greed told me that he and Myne knew each other. Does that mean he'd already existed 4000 years ago?

Greed also said that he and Myne shared some sort of relationship in the past, but he had given up on it since he can't turn back to his former appearance.

I suppose there was a certain driving force that kept Myne going for these past 4000 years. I think I'll find out about it in the meantime. If, by chance, it had something to do with the Mortal Sin skill, I shouldn't act as an outsider.

[Myne, is there something we need to defeat in this village?]

[Un, it's a bad match for me. That's why, I need Fate's power.]

[What kind of creature is that? Is it okay for us to walk around like this?]

[It's fine. You'll find out what kind of creature it is when we actually meet it.]

Apparently, it's not the kind of enemy that will ambush us.

I kept my hand on Greed's handle since I was still worried.

Even so, there were no monsters here at all . It's frighteningly quiet.

At the center of the desolate village, there were grave markers. Sides by sides, with some of them damaged due to the changing weather.

A white cocoon of unusual size sat above those grave markers.

What the, is that really a monster!? Is it okay to approach something that big!? Without much thought I drew Greed out from his scabbard.

Greed's bitter voice could be heard via "Mind Reading"

『Chi, to think this thing is still alive...damn bastard』

[Greed, what is that?]

『An angel chimera. Back in ancient Gallia, it was an experimental project of the imperial kingdom's guardian. It was supposed to cease all of its function years ago.』

[You mean, this is an ancient weapon?]

『Good guess. This was Gallian Military biological weapon. It was made by splicing together various kinds of monsters. In my viewpoint, this was the worst failure ever.』

A failure!? That doesn't sound good.

Watching from here, it stayed quietly inside its cocoon, so I suppose it's better to leave it be. I gave Myne a glance.

[We'll defeat that. Fate, are you ready?]

Aaaaa, as expected she's planning to defeat it.

Even so it's huge….almost 15 times my height. Moreover, it was covered in cocoon so I can't see its real appearance.

This was the first time for me to fight something of this scale, so I don't really know what I should do.

Myne then told me with a bitter smile.

[It's not in adult form yet. So the current Fate should be able to fight it. The problem is, it won't die as long as its soul remained. That's why we're going to need Gluttony skill.]

[The ability to eat its victim's soul?]

[Right, since your mortal sin skill is the most sinful of all]

I don't want to have a quarrel with God though.

I was born with Gluttony skill. Thanks to this skill, I was overlooked by the Gods that I'm unable to level up regardless how many monsters I had slain.

Thus I had to rely on Gluttony skill to grow stronger. Even so, it doesn't mean that I'm in control of this skill.

If I ever show any gap, this ridiculous skill will try to devour me.

Wait a minute, she said that the Gluttony is the most sinful of all mortal sin skills.

[Did you just said that Gluttony is the strongest among all mortal sin skills?]

[Yes. It's the only sin skill that can theoretically break through the concept of level which Gods have created. However, before that happened, the user usually already got swallowed by the skill itself.]

[Because of it's progressively growing sense of taste, I knew that well. What is Wrath's rank among the mortal sin skills?]

[Wrath is in 4th place. Under both Lust and Greed. Actually, all of them are actually evenly matched to a degree. Only Gluttony is on a different level.].

When Myne mentioned Greed, my mind inevitably wandered to the black sword in my hand.

Greed sniffled in response to that.

『Sinful weapons depended on their wielder. Such hierarchy is meaningless.』

[Could it be, your abilities depended on me as your wielder?]

『Of course. If Fate doesn't serve any use for me, I would've killed you long ago. Come on, unlock my next rank faster!』

I wouldn't be struggling if it was easy. The next rank isn't available even after I absorbed the Lich Lord's stats. To think that it's not enough, Greed is really too greedy.

Well, not just stats, mental attitude of the wielder is also taken into account, so I guess my mentality isn't matured yet. Ah, I wish I can be like Aaron as fast as possible.

While sighing, I glanced at the cocoon. Let's use"Appraisal"on it before fighting.

Machine Angel Haniel Lv1

Durability: 26000000

Strength: 29000000

Magic: 24000000

Spirit: 28000000

Agility: 14000000

Skills: –ERROR-

Strooooooong! And it's not even an adult yet.

Apart from Agility, all of its stats were twice of my own.

Moreover, there was only ERROR written on the skill, I wonder why.

If I attack it from the front like this, I'm afraid it will counter attack immediately.

This is a strong enemy. Myne shrugged her shoulder and told me.

[You're not going to fight it alone. I'll help you. From how you fought the Orcs, I can guess that Fate isn't used to this kind of battle yet. That's why, I'll help Fate to adapt.]

[That'll be appreciated. Anyways, what is this ERROR on its skill means? ]

[The Machine Angel Chimera is a combination of various monsters. The appraisal skill cannot read it properly because its skill is unstable due to it being artificial creature created from forcibly fusing monsters, so you don't have to worry about it.]

Nono, that's not the case. Even if you say so, it's still an important piece of information.

That only means that the machine angel Haniel hold numerous but incomplete skills.

Up until now, I always had this sense of security since I knew my opponents' skill in advance. But it's not the case now against this machine angel Haniel.

This battle is far off from my comfort zone..

I can feel the tension rising even from just watching it. Greed then said to me through "Mind Reading".

『This is a good opponent for you. If you fail here, then you can forget about beating Tenryu/Heavenly Dragon. Now wield me properly!』

[I know that already even without you telling me to.]

I drew out the black sword.

Upon seeing that my preparations were completed, Myne brandished her black axe and started attacking.

One heavy blow later, the cocoon started to crack. It's broke like the shell of an egg.

As the thick cocoon crumbled down, the chimera angel showed its appearance. As I thought, it was huge.

Its form seemed to be forcefully sewn together with metallic pipes. All of the different parts of the monster that constituted it eerily had the same color..

All of it were colored in white as though it was bleached. At its core――I was stunned when I looked at the center of its chest.

[is that….a human!?]

[That is the core of the machine angel.]

The view of long silver haired girl entered my eyes. The color of her eyes were unmistakably crimson.

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