Danmachi : Strongest Supporter

Hiss—

Because the output had exceeded expectations, Noah's arm was now undergoing an unnatural change.

His muscles had tangled together until they were as hard as stone.

His veins bulged, blood vessels were webbed with red lines, and even Crowfeather had begun to crack, as though it might shatter in the very next second.

The sound just now had come from his muscles tearing, with a pillar of blood spraying from his arm like a wine barrel punctured from the inside.

Feeling the unbearable pain, Noah furrowed his brow deeply and immediately activated the healing formula he had prepared in advance.

At the same time, he used Weaver to calm the mana surging violently inside his body.

The Forest Dragon's power was far too enormous. It had drawn in his mana, and in a single instant, it had inflicted this degree of damage on his body.

But the result was not bad.

Looking at the enormous crack stretching more than a hundred meters across the cliff face, a mark left behind when the high-pressure water jet swept past, Noah thought that against an attack like this, even an army of thousands could be swept away completely.

"In terms of power, this can be considered flawless."

The corner of Noah's mouth curved faintly.

The water blade he had swung had extended past a hundred meters in one breath, and its form had grown flexible like a whip.

Unlike Black Nightmare, he intended to infuse this special weapon with consciousness and make it a true Teigu in every sense.

"Noah-senpai!"

Taeko quickly ran over.

She asked with concern, "Senpai, your arm is bleeding!"

The girl anxiously grabbed his wrist to inspect it, but when she looked, she froze in place.

There was no wound on his wrist, not even any blood.

"Huh?"

Taeko was confused.

Had she seen it wrong?

"Where's the wound...?"

The girl checked again and again in astonishment, but no matter how she looked, she could not find any trace of it.

Seeing her reaction, Noah said, "It's already healed."

"Eh? It healed in such a short time?"

"Yes. As you can see, it's fine now."

Noah pulled his arm back and moved it a few times in front of her.

Then, as if thinking of something, he stared at her for a while.

Only when Taeko noticed his gaze did he stop.

"Is there something strange on my face?"

"No, nothing. It's very normal."

Yes.

Very normal.

But that depended on what one was referring to.

He had altered the memories inside the girl's soul, rewriting her precious memories into information favorable to himself.

Because of that, it was normal for her to show great goodwill toward him, the enemy who had killed her master, even affection and admiration.

If one judged it according to the facts before that alteration, however...

For a girl to care so much about the safety of the enemy who had killed her teacher and foster mother was so absurd that it was not even funny.

The experiment on Taeko could be considered more or less concluded.

To test how powerful Weaver's manipulation of the soul truly was, he had deliberately allowed Chelsea and Taeko to live together for a time.

There was no need to guess.

Chelsea had definitely told Taeko the truth.

That was exactly what he wanted to see: whether Taeko would show any reaction when facing her true past.

The result was that until Chelsea escaped, Taeko had never once believed her words.

She showed not the slightest resonance with the memories from before they had been altered.

She had even believed instead that something was wrong with Chelsea's head, so firmly convinced was she of the rewritten memories.

To be honest, he did not have any grudge against this girl.

Or rather, from his side, he did not hate or despise this girl at all.

But from the girl's perspective, he was the existence who had killed her master and foster mother.

She should have hated him more than anything, shouldn't she?

The power to manipulate souls—every time Noah used it, he could not help sighing at how terrifying it was.

It did not care about emotions or will.

It stood above both, a power capable of corrupting the human heart.

...

Suzuka walked beneath the waterfall and observed that terrifying wound from close up for a long time, her heart deeply shaken.

Because of her surveillance mission, she roughly knew what Noah was doing.

This man was actually trying to create a Teigu!

Although she was not a Teigu user and had no abnormal yearning for Teigu, Suzuka knew how powerful Teigu were.

She had fought Teigu users more than once, even killed several of them, taking their Teigu and handing them over to the Minister.

Precisely because they had witnessed the power of Teigu, everyone among the Four Rakshasa Demons knew that Teigu had become the symbol of the Empire's strength because their abilities were genuine.

At the same time, they all knew the Empire's history.

Several hundred years ago, an Emperor had invested an enormous cost into creating Teigu, even causing the entire Empire to fall into famine and leaving behind hidden dangers for the Empire.

Even so, what had been created then was only a batch of "Shingu."

Compared to Teigu, Shingu were nothing but inferior scraps.

That had been the judgment of the Emperor at the time.

Since then, due to unrest, more than half of the Teigu had been lost.

Otherwise, the Empire would still be as solid as a fortress today, and the people at the bottom would never have developed thoughts of resistance.

The loss of the Teigu was almost like an omen, and also like a symbol.

The Empire itself had likewise declined.

Many nobles with long family histories believed that the Empire's decline had been caused by the loss of its Teigu.

That was how powerful and important Teigu were.

And yet this man actually dared to attempt creating new Teigu?

Suzuka's view of this was uncertain.

Rationally, she felt it was impossible.

But after personally experiencing "flight," she could no longer flatly deny that the other party was merely daydreaming.

Now, her thoughts had changed completely.

Perhaps this man really could do it.

He... might truly be able to create a weapon no inferior to a Teigu.

If he truly succeeded, wouldn't that mean he had accomplished something comparable to the first Emperor's greatest achievement aside from founding the nation?

Thinking of this, Suzuka could not help swallowing, cold sweat seeping from her body.

She suddenly realized that this was absolutely not something that could be hidden from the Minister.

She had to notify the Minister immediately!

Just as she was about to move, a sharp shout interrupted her actions.

"Tornado!"

Whoosh!

In a flash, the girl's figure arriving before Suzuka in an instant, the long blade in her hand slashing out without the slightest hesitation.

"Kōfū!"

Clang!

The sound of the blade leaving its sheath and tearing through the air alarmed Suzuka.

Startled, she hurriedly leaned backward, even deliberately loosening her spine so that her upper body rapidly folded back as if it had snapped.

The blade passed almost right against her eyeball, causing Suzuka's adrenaline to surge.

She manipulated her body to reconnect itself, supported herself on the ground with one hand, flipped backward, and immediately regained her footing.

Seeing Taeko so aggressive, Noah sighed.

Just before the two were about to clash, he raised his voice and said, "Stop."

When Suzuka heard this, she still did not dare relax at all.

She watched the girl not far away, who was releasing sharp killing intent, with great vigilance and felt an immense threat.

There was no doubt.

If she dared move her gaze away from the girl, then in the next second, her head would separate from her neck, and she might even see her own body still standing there.

This girl... was strong!

She looked only fifteen or sixteen, yet she had already trained her swordsmanship to such a level.

'Phew.'

Suzuka sank her breath and prepared to counterattack at any time.

Although this girl was strong, Suzuka was still one of the Four Rakshasa Demons and had confidence that she could defeat her.

However, the two were destined not to go that far today.

Because after hearing Noah's voice, Taeko released her stance.

Only, she did not put away her long blade. Instead, she confirmed with Noah again, "Senpai, is it really okay to let her leave like this? If what just happened becomes known to others, won't that be very bad?"

Hearing her question, Noah paused and blinked.

"How would it be bad?"

"You'll be targeted by many people!"

"So that's what you were worried about..."

Noah gently shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it."

After calming Taeko down, he turned to Suzuka and said, "Although I don't think Minister Honest will be very interested in this kind of thing, if you want to report it, do as you like."

Noah said it with great ease and naturalness.

As for what would be so bad about it...

As long as he still held the secret of longevity, the Minister would absolutely never leave their shared front.

As for everything else, the Minister would naturally handle it for him.

If he had to say who might view him as a threat, it would probably be the Revolutionary Army or the foreign tribes.

The foreign tribes were the Empire's irreconcilable enemies and a potential threat to the Empire.

Once they learned that someone in the Empire could create Teigu, they would definitely spare no cost to send assassins to eliminate him.

However, the reality was that the population of the foreign tribes was hardly enough for Esdeath to enjoy herself with.

That madwoman enjoyed war and slaughtered the foreign tribes like livestock.

Rather than placing their attention on Noah, the foreign tribes first had to consider how to survive Esdeath's massacre.

On the other side was the Revolutionary Army.

As a rapidly growing anti-Empire force, the Revolutionary Army had assassination plans for important figures standing on the Empire's side.

For example, Esdeath, or Minister Honest.

As long as such people lived, they would influence the entire Empire through their enormous power.

Only when they died could the shackles in the people's hearts be released.

However, even without this matter, Najenda had already clearly stated that she would place him on the kill list.

Adding one more reason to kill him would not change anything.

Moreover, the Minister would most likely help him keep this secret.

If the secret was exposed, it would mean there was a spy by the Minister's side.

At that point, there would be no need for Noah to interfere.

The Minister would deal with it himself.

...

On the third day after Suzuka left, Noah stood before the enormous sleeping mass of flesh and poured a recovery potion over it.

When the medicine, which emitted a dense aura of life, was absorbed by the flesh, the originally quiet meat began to wriggle in a strange way.

Then that lump of flesh actually started moving slowly.

The originally limp limbs were supported by the operation of Orichalcum bones.

The writhing flesh gradually solidified, becoming firm and muscular.

The eyes that had been sealed shut for several days suddenly opened.

The huge, round eyeballs contained not the slightest emotion as they coldly swept across the surrounding environment and objects.

At last, its gaze fell on Noah, and it abruptly froze.

"Oh, you're awake." Noah calmly met its gaze, his face showing no particular expression.

He ordered the enormous creature before him, "I made some modifications to you. Now, stand up and move around."

The pitiful Magical Beast whimpered, then rolled its eyes, seemingly trying to recover the feeling of controlling its body.

After pausing for roughly two or three seconds, Hekatonkheires, which had just been nothing more than a lump of meat, finally supported itself against the ground with its front limbs, and its upper body slowly rose as its limbs pressed down.

Seeing this, Noah already knew that the bones and meridians made of Orichalcum could be used.

The huge body took a full ten seconds before finally standing.

Unlike its former height of five or six meters, the current Hekatonkheires reached seven meters and seventy-six centimeters when standing upright.

Because Orichalcum bones had been implanted, and while this kind of bone was both tough and durable, its flexibility was relatively poor, Hekatonkheires's height had been raised considerably.

Aside from that, it was now like that twin-tailed maid from Oarburgh, with a completely new pair of arms separated from its shoulders.

Four arms.

Although it did not have a hundred arms, these two newly born arms were ones Noah had deliberately added.

"Good. It seems there are no problems with movement. Then, my command: enter combat form."

Noah gave the biological Teigu before him a command that left it confused.

'Not "Berserk," but combat form?'

Hekatonkheires did not know how to execute this command.

However, in the next second, it became even more confused.

Because after Noah said "enter combat form," its body suddenly underwent a violent change.

From its skin, armor resembling scales rapidly grew out, covering seventy percent of its massive body in the blink of an eye.

Its ferocious beast head was completely wrapped in dark armor.

Aside from its joints and back, the rest of its body was covered in armor that gave off a dark sheen.

"Mm. Activation successful."

It seemed the modification to the core had also succeeded.

Even if the Teigu's own consciousness could not understand the command, the order had still been successfully executed.

As expected, within the current Magical Beast Transformation: Hekatonkheires, there were two consciousnesses.

One was the Teigu's original consciousness, originating from the dog-type Danger Beast used as material.

The other was the newborn soul he had cultivated through Spell-Weaver.

Although for now it could only execute simple commands like low-level AI, it could evolve through later "updates."

This was the first generation of "artificial soul" he had developed.

"Let me think. I should give you a name."

Noah thought for a moment, then said, "Let's call you Oranides!"

The moment it received a name, Oranides became excited.

This allowed its existence to be clearly recognized by the original consciousness inside the Teigu.

In the giant eye, an emotion called "fear" could be seen.

Noah sensed it too.

After receiving a name, Oranides seemed to have become complete.

However, it was still far from the level he expected.

"Then next, Oranides, choose."

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