Chapter 209: SFDI: Chapter 209
"Drake’s New Creation" A wave of discontent swept through Orario following the Guild’s announcement: the Hephaestus Familia had decisively d
"Drake’s New Creation"
A wave of discontent swept through Orario following the Guild’s announcement: the Hephaestus Familia had decisively defeated the Ishtar Familia, resulting in the goddess Ishtar’s expulsion back to the heavens.
Consequently, members of the Hephaestus Familia found themselves the target of angry stares from male adventurers wherever they went.
Even after Freya had defeated the Ishtar Familia in the original storyline, she had been met with widespread resentment, so the reaction towards the Hephaestus Familia was hardly surprising.
These adventurers... every single one of them was a lecherous pervert.
However, the members of the Hephaestus Familia were completely unfazed by this hostility. As long as those adventurers still desired to continue adventuring in the Dungeon, they would inevitably come crawling back to them one day, seeking their assistance.
The animosity of the adventurers was inconsequential; the most significant impact on Hephaestus was the Guild’s response.
The Guild strictly regulated conflicts between Familias, mandating that even the most serious disputes had to be resolved through the means of war games.
The Hephaestus Familia’s direct and decisive defeat of the Ishtar Familia was a serious breach of these regulations.
Therefore, not only did the Guild confiscate all of the Ishtar Familia’s assets, which would normally be considered spoils of war, they also imposed a mandatory task upon the Hephaestus Familia to provide the Guild with a large quantity of equipment.
However, the Guild had not been excessively unreasonable in its demands; they had only requested equipment suitable for novice adventurers, specifically Level 3 equipment, and had not demanded any high-level items.
After all, Ishtar had been the one to initiate the conflict, and the kidnapping of members from other Familias was a transgression that demanded severe punishment.
Most importantly, Drake had submitted the cursed weapon as irrefutable evidence of the Ishtar Familia’s collusion with the Dark Faction to the Guild.
The Guild had chosen not to publicly release this information, instead transferring a portion of the Ishtar Familia’s confiscated assets to the Hephaestus Familia as compensation.
To Drake’s delight, he had discovered some highly unusual documents within the Ishtar Familia’s collection of books and scrolls.
Ishtar’s confidence in her ability to defeat Freya’s Familia stemmed not only from her collusion with the Dark Faction and the Kali Familia from outside Orario, but her greatest trump card was actually Sanjouno Haruhime .
While Sanjouno Haruhime’s "All-Treasure Hammer" spell was undeniably powerful, before she had awakened the "Ninefold" enhancement, she could only use it to enhance the level of a single target at a time.
Therefore, Ishtar had planned to use Sanjouno Haruhime’s life as a sacrifice, combining it with the Killing Stone’s ability to absorb the fox-person’s magical power, in order to achieve a mass level enhancement for her entire Familia.
In this plan, the Killing Stone, a rare and special material, and Sanjouno Haruhime herself, the wielder of the "All-Treasure Hammer" spell, were of paramount importance, but the sacrificial ritual itself was also an indispensable component.
The documents that Drake had obtained contained a detailed description of the various rituals, including the sacrificial ritual itself.
In essence, various rituals could be considered a third form of power, existing alongside magic and cursed techniques.
However, the procedures for performing these rituals were incredibly complex, and some were subject to various strict limitations or required specific materials.
For instance, the sacrificial ritual had to be performed under a full moon and required rare materials such as the Killing Stone.
Therefore, for practical adventurers, the question of whether or not to study rituals was not even worth considering.
However, for a possessor of [Mystery] skills, especially someone as imaginative and inventive as Drake, the situation was entirely different. And that is precisely what led to the creation of Drake’s new masterpiece.
What Drake hadn’t anticipated was that the experience he gained from completing this new creation would directly result in a level-up of his [Mystery] skill.
Five days after the decisive defeat of the Ishtar Familia, when Drake updated his ability values, his [Mystery] skill had ascended to the G-rank.
Drake’s current dilemma was finding a suitable subject to test the capabilities of his new creation.
This was Drake’s first foray into the realm of rituals, and it was also his first attempt at integrating ritualistic techniques into the development of his abilities.
Although the successful level-up of his skill served as undeniable proof that he had indeed succeeded, there were still many unknowns and potential problems.
Drake had attempted to test it on himself, but perhaps due to his status as a visitor from another world, he was unable to activate the ritual.
Drake found himself in a state of considerable frustration. He wished he hadn’t chosen this particular ritual in the first place. However, it had been this ritual that had sparked his initial inspiration, and, to be perfectly honest, it was simply too cool to pass up!
Just as Drake was wrestling with this dilemma, a knock echoed at his door.
Snapping out of his reverie, Drake made his way to the door and opened it, revealing Bell, Welf, and Lili standing on his doorstep.
Welf waved cheerfully. "Hey! We’ve come to express our gratitude for your assistance the other day!"
Upon seeing Bell, Drake’s eyes lit up, and he immediately pulled Bell into the room.
"Bell, you’ve arrived at just the right time. There’s something I need your help with."
Welf and Lili quickly followed them inside, their gazes immediately drawn to the object displayed on Drake’s workbench.
Welf, being a blacksmith himself, instantly became engrossed in the object.
It was a battle standard, a three-meter-long flagpole with a banner that resembled a flowing ribbon.
The flagpole itself was intricately carved with bas-reliefs that resembled ancient murals, and the dark red banner featured an elegant golden border, but strangely, the center of the banner was completely blank, devoid of any pattern or design.
Welf exclaimed in admiration, "The flagpole is crafted from orichalcum, and the banner itself appears to be made from the hide of a strong dragon, possibly a Cadmus. These are incredibly high-quality materials!"
Upon hearing Welf’s assessment, Lili’s jaw dropped in astonishment. Both orichalcum and strong dragon hide were materials that she could only dream of ever possessing.
The mere materials used in the creation of this battle standard were already so incredibly valuable that Lili, in her characteristically money-obsessed state, was completely lost for words, her mind rendered incapable of rational thought.
"Your eye for detail is quite impressive!" Drake complimented Welf’s sharp observation skills, before picking up the battle standard and handing it directly to Bell. "Let’s not waste any time on pleasantries. I need your help in testing my new creation."
Bell accepted the battle standard, speaking with a tone of eagerness. "If I can be of assistance to you, Drake-san, then I would be more than happy to. However, I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to proceed."
Drake explained, "Hold the battle standard with both hands, and then offer a prayer to it. If you feel a response, the battle standard will absorb your magical power and activate."
Following Drake’s instructions, Bell grasped the battle standard with both hands, holding it upright in front of him.
Despite the complete absence of any breeze within the workshop, the battle standard began to flutter gently in the air, and then, intricate patterns resembling lightning bolts began to appear on the surface of the banner.
Drake watched with keen anticipation, and he observed countless particles of light gathering behind Bell, who was still holding the battle standard, coalescing into the form of a figure wielding a longsword that crackled with electrical energy.
The face of the figure was strikingly similar to Bell’s own, and the figure was clad in armor that was so ornate and extravagant that it appeared to be more of a decorative accessory than actual protective gear.
Drake sighed, "As expected of Bell. It’s actually him!"
The original hero, Argo. Although he had never personally met the hero, Drake was certain of the identity of the figure that had manifested behind Bell.
As if emerging from the very depths of time itself, the hero of a thousand years past had revealed his presence in this era.
Bell, of course, possessed no such power. This was the ability of Drake’s new creation, the Spirit Banner.
In this world, the souls of adventurers did not dissipate upon death or journey to some world of the dead; instead, they ascended to the divine realm of their respective patron gods.
Summoning rituals were based upon this principle, serving as a means of communication with the deceased.
This had led Drake to recall the most famous Servants from the Fate series, and thus, the Spirit Banner was born.
Drake had inscribed a summoning ritual into the battle standard. The wielder only needed to offer a prayer to summon a spirit with whom they shared a connection, absorbing the wielder’s magic power to unleash the spirit’s attack.
The Spirit Banner had three modes of operation. The first mode used divine grace as a catalyst to summon ancestors from the same Familia.
Since members of the same Familia’s souls resided within their patron god’s divine realm, the cost of summoning would be significantly lower.
The second method was through bloodline. If a blood relative was a member of a different Familia, and the patron god of that Familia did not object, it would also be possible to summon the blood relative’s spirit.
Drake had also been curious to see if Bell would be able to summon the spirit of his aunt, the embodiment of talent, 〈Silence〉, but unexpectedly, Bell had directly summoned Argo using the third method.
As was widely known, the concept of divine grace did not exist in ancient times, so the existence of the souls of ancient heroes was uncertain.
However, Drake believed that the spirits of ancient heroes who had been celebrated in legends for a thousand years would undoubtedly still exist.
Whether it was through the power of their unwavering will, similar inherent qualities, or even the concept of reincarnation, there was certainly something more mystical at play that allowed for the summoning of the spirits of ancient heroes.
This had initially been merely Drake’s conjecture, but now, Bell had provided irrefutable proof of its validity.
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