The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 208

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Chapter 208

"Spirit swords usually awaken in two or three stages."

"Three stages? But that sword didn’t show anything like that, right?"

Just as Luna said, the Falling Blossom I forged after leaving Labyrinthos didn’t respond to my commands or reveal its power at all.

It's not uncommon for spirit swords made of spirit energy to be temperamental.

However, for someone at my current level and experience in handling spirit swords—

This kind of disobedience is rare.

I tapped the sword in my hand, and a faint resonance echoed from it.

It wasn’t asleep.

I was lost deep in thought.

“Big brother!!”

I saw Arsha running toward me from afar, her small legs working hard.

“Arsha.”

I stuck Falling Blossom lightly into the ground and embraced her as she reached me.

“Why are you alone?”

“Arsha has a present for you!”

She showed me a flower crown she held in her hands, her face full of hopeful anticipation.

The crown, clumsily made with small flowers, showed signs of her earnest effort.

“For me?”

She nodded, still wearing that expectant look.

Ah.

She wants praise.

Then, as her big brother, I have no choice but to play along with her sweet gesture.

“Wow, this is amazing! Should I try it on?”

As she nodded with sparkling eyes, it was easy to remember just how young she really was.

Her quick recovery must be thanks to Luna.

I placed the crown on my head.

Then it happened.

Vmmm!! Vmmm!!

The Falling Blossom, which I had planted in the ground, began to emit a resonating hum.

As if finally awakening, it started to react.

Fssshhh!!

The entire blade scattered into glowing particles, transforming into something like a beam of light.

And then—

From the cracked floor of the training ground, multicolored flower buds began to bloom rapidly.

“W… wow…”

Arsha widened her eyes in awe at the sight.

That was when I realized the incantation I had recited earlier was only now taking effect.

It was like the sword, turned spirit weapon, had just awakened from slumber.

And when those buds began to bloom—

Even the flower crown on my head started to change.

“Wha… Wh-What?!”

Arsha gasped at the transformation.

The flower crown, which was made of small, hand-picked flowers, rapidly grew and turned into an unruly, oversized bush.

And it didn’t stop there.

The Falling Blossom sparked explosive growth of vegetation wherever its power reached.

Stop it.

Nope, I’ll keep going.

It became a battle of wills between me and the sword.

I remembered how, when I first handled a spirit sword, its rampage had put me through hell.

It seems unruly spirit weapons tend to share a few traits.

“M… My flower crown…!”

Tears welled up in Arsha’s eyes as she looked at the overgrown mess, and she finally burst into tears.

While comforting her, I glared at Falling Blossom.

So you’re causing trouble right out of the gate, huh?

In response, the sword made even more flowers bloom around us, as if to mock me.

Its resonance echoed.

As someone connected to the spirit sword, I could instinctively tell.

This bastard was laughing at me.

I gently set the sobbing Arsha down and yanked Falling Blossom from the ground.

“You picked the wrong person to mess with.”

The first spirit weapon I awakened in Labyrinthos’ Hall of Spirit Swords was a physical enhancement type.

Eventually, it obeyed me—but in the beginning, it constantly gave me trouble.

Spirit weapons don’t have the same concept of right and wrong as normal lifeforms.

Their power is a fusion of the user’s spirit energy and the spirit within the blade.

In other words, the more power it uses, the more spirit energy I consume, and the more its own essence is depleted.

If it rampages freely, I’ll be the first to burn out—but this sword is making a mistake.

No matter how wild it gets—

“Fine. Let’s see who wins. Arsha.”

“Sniff… Hic…”

I smiled brightly at her tear-streaked face.

“Wanna see something cool?”

And it really would be cool.

Even magic doesn’t easily achieve something like this.

“Something… cool?”

I gripped the activated Falling Blossom in one hand and lifted Arsha by the thigh with the other.

“Wanna come?”

“I’m always in favor of exciting sights.”

With a flight spell, we soared into the air.

Arsha flinched and clung tightly to my neck in surprise.

But soon enough, the joy of flying made her forget her tears, a smile forming on her face.

We flew out beyond the domain’s borders, and I began scouting for a suitable place.

The aftermath would be intense, so some distance was necessary.

I arrived at the area near the lodge where we had previously isolated the power of the divine authority Thanatos.

This place will do.

In a clearing near a scrawny, withered tree, I planted Falling Blossom upside down.

“You really messed with the wrong guy.”

I forcibly activated and controlled the sword’s power as it flowed out.

It resisted, of course—but it didn’t know I wasn’t some rookie handling a spirit sword for the first time.

Vmmm!! Vmmm!!

Its resonance rang louder.

My spirit energy surged into it, and its existence began to burn away.

It wouldn’t die from this—it’s just a figure of speech—but the pressure on it was real.

Apparently, it had pride too.

As it greedily absorbed my energy, it began to force the feeble tree to grow.

The tiny tree gradually thickened and rose higher, leaves unfurling.

At the same time, flowers bloomed from the surrounding ground.

“Wow… wooow…”

Arsha was in pure awe, watching the magical display.

“Aren’t you curious how this place will look tomorrow?”

I gently removed the overgrown bush from my head and asked her.

Her eyes sparkled as she nodded with excitement.

“Then shall we camp here tonight?”

“Sister Lu… Sister Luna too…”

“Yeah, the three of us. No—let’s invite Melissa too. A family camping trip.”

After a moment’s thought, Arsha smiled brightly at the idea.

While Luna lifted Arsha and went off to prepare the lodge, I crouched in front of Falling Blossom, still stuck in the ground.

“You really messed with the wrong person. If you want to test pecking order, do it somewhere else. Try it in front of me, and you’ll get flattened.”

It was clearly doing its best to unleash power.

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But perhaps because my spirit energy wasn’t depleting at all, Falling Blossom buzzed with clear confusion.

Even if I run out of energy, I won’t die.

I’ll just be extremely exhausted.

Still, it’s not like this sword holds malice toward me.

Spirit swords don’t even have the capacity for such judgment.

Like a newborn child, it's probably just trying to play a prank on me.

But bad habits need to be corrected early.

I slowly got up.

"Go ahead, come at me with everything you've got. Let’s see who wins."

Just know — I have far more spiritual energy than you think.

Just as muscles are torn, healed, and strengthened, spiritual energy also grows through consumption and recovery.

There’s no way someone like me, who once gathered spirit swords and tore apart even an ancient god, would have only a mediocre amount of spiritual energy.

That creature might have excellent potential.

But that doesn’t apply to a newly born spirit sword.

* * *

Melissa, who should have been busy with official work at the mansion, was now being carried like a sack by Luna, looking like a pitiful princess captured by the Demon King.

Luna was rather small in stature.

But her strength was far from cute.

"What the hell is this?! What are you doing all of a sudden...?"

"I figured, since we're taking a break, you should take one too. When was the last time you properly rested since becoming a count?"

She gathered up metals to build a large grill and placed meat on it.

Sizzle!

The mouthwatering smell of grilling meat made Melissa flinch.

"Are you eating or not? If you say no, I'll just send you back."

"I-I'm busy, so…"

"Arsha, sounds like your sister doesn't want to play with you."

At those words, Arsha's eyes welled up with tears, and Melissa shouted in panic.

"Are you crazy?! She’s really going to believe that, you psycho!"

Melissa hurriedly hugged Arsha and sat down.

A count, the young lord of the count's family, a young lady, and an archangel.

Gathered around a small campfire with a grill, enjoying a casual camping trip — it stirred up some complicated feelings.

"So, why here all of a sudden?"

"I told you, thought it was time for a family trip."

"Cut the crap and answer properly, you trilobite-looking bastard."

"I'm disciplining a brat who doesn’t listen."

I pointed to the forest beyond.

Even now, a tremendous amount of spiritual energy was being drained.

Right now, it was gleefully sucking up my power, but how long could that last?

It wouldn't be until it realized that its own existence had limits.

"Meanwhile, the people of the territory are still struggling to make a living."

"Don’t be ridiculous."

Luna interrupted, sipping from a drink she made by squeezing fruit herself.

"It's obvious that the quality of life for the people of the count's territory has gone up recently."

After all, with more money came more opportunities, leading to natural growth and prosperity of the territory.

Melissa wasn’t the type to be a stingy miser. frёewebnoѵēl.com

"Isn’t that enough? You're already fulfilling your duties. What if you collapse?"

Luna glanced at me.

"Leon wouldn’t like that."

"Leon..."

Yeah, I’d absolutely hate it.

"Exactly. If you collapse, I’ll have to take care of your work. Are you crazy?"

At my words, Melissa scowled fiercely.

She stuffed meat into her mouth aggressively and kicked my leg a few times, while Arsha giggled at the sight.

To make sure Arsha didn’t notice, I glared at Melissa and sent her a telepathic message.

-Let's talk when Arsha’s not around, you anteater-looking wench.

She responded nonchalantly by flipping me off.

To Arsha, our light-hearted bickering seemed entertaining.

Melissa had initially tried to escape under the excuse of being busy, but she eventually melted into the atmosphere and started devouring the meat I grilled, like a cheeky little glutton.

Well, when would we get to do something like this again?

Days like these are necessary sometimes.

I then opened the lid of a large smoker I had prepared next to the grill.

Inside was the culmination of many failures — a dish that could finally be called a success.

It was brisket, a famous dish from the southern kingdoms of the central continent.

I had struggled so much at first with just salt and pepper to get it right.

"What is this? The meat's all burnt black."

Melissa frowned at the charred-looking meat inside the smoker.

"Don’t you know eating burnt stuff is bad for you?"

"This isn’t burnt. It’s supposed to look like this."

"Oh, you finally perfected it?"

"When else would you get to try something like this?"

"No way... is this the southern brisket?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. I've only heard about it in stories, never actually seen it. Oh my god, the juices..."

I skillfully sliced the meat and plated it, handing out portions.

"When you have too much free time, you end up trying all sorts of things."

Honestly, part of it was me trying to enjoy a more leisurely life.

"Mmmm! Oh wow, it’s like the juices are exploding in my mouth!"

The reaction was better than expected.

I was worried the flavor might be too strong, but it seemed fine.

"There’s plenty more, so eat up, you pig."

"I’ll be a pig today."

Leaving the cheerful group behind, I stepped away for a moment.

I headed toward the spot where I had embedded the spirit sword, "Falling Blossom."

At the center stood the sword, resonating with a low hum, and a massive tree that looked to have grown at least 50 meters tall.

In my past life, I’d heard that giant sequoias could grow over 100 meters.

They also called them "great towering trees."

Even though the tree in front of me was just an ordinary tree, its size was extraordinary.

Normally, trees forced to grow so rapidly would weaken in proportion to their size.

But this tree, enlarged by "Falling Blossom," was even stronger and pulsing with immense life force.

It wasn’t just about size — that much was clear.

"This feels like a top-tier class among creation-type artifacts..."

Though I didn’t show it outwardly, accelerating the growth of plants like this was an incredible ability.

I usually classified these types of spirit swords as "creation-type," and Falling Blossom seemed to rank pretty high among them.

Right now, it could only grow a localized area of plants, but spirit swords typically don't take long to grow.

If its full power were properly drawn out, consuming massive spiritual energy...

Could it even grow a World Tree?

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