Chapter 425 (2) – The Academys Weapon Replicator

The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

The first day at Machia came to an end, and that night, Frondier sat alone in his room, reviewing his gains.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve acquired a God’s weapon.’

Frondier realized that after a certain point, obtaining a God’s weapon wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. That point, as expected, was with Ares. He knew his weapons would be replicated. That’s probably why he turned all the options into question marks.

In other words, even if he couldn’t prevent them from being stolen, he took measures to make sure they couldn’t be used.

Next was Odin. He didn’t even show his weapon and only possessed Sale instead of manifesting himself. He must have known about Frondier’s ability beforehand. Well, most of the Gods had shared information about Frondier’s abilities since Hestia.

‘Poseidon was really close.’

Poseidon had no prior knowledge of Frondier, he had manifested himself, and he was even holding his trident.

However, Frondier was the one who avoided fighting Poseidon.

‘The Gods can sense when their weapons are being stolen from their past. It’s been like that since Hephaestus.’

Hephaestus, from whom Frondier stole his first weapon. He immediately realized that Frondier had peeked into his memories and was outraged.

So Poseidon would definitely notice. At the time, Frondier had no intention of fighting Poseidon, so he couldn’t look into his eyes.

‘Therefore…’

That’s why it had been a while.

After a long time, Frondier held a God’s weapon in his hand.

[Aegis]

• Rank: Divine (Unresolved Myth)

• Description: The shield owned by Athena. It was crafted by Hephaestus. Imbued with Athena’s nature, which aims to protect humanity, this shield boasts the most outstanding ability among her weapons. However, not all of its stories have been weaving into it yet.

Detailed Abilities >

– Blessing of the Goddess of War: Absorbs most physical attacks. Additionally, weapons below Legendary rank cannot damage this shield.

– Ma-Reflect: Magic that touches this shield is reflected back to the caster. It doesn’t bounce off, but returns, so it ignores the laws of physics and always hits the caster.

“As if just saying it’s Divine means anything.”

In short, it was a shield that boasted perfect defense against both physical and magical attacks. It was a shield that seemed like it belonged in a story about “contradictions.”

Its performance was simply absurd. However, this shield had one more problem.

“It’s small.”

Frondier didn’t need to replicate it to estimate its rough size based on what he had in the workshop. It was even smaller than the shield Renzo possessed, the ‘Lynotoros’, Ares’ shield. That shield was large enough for Renzo to plant it in the ground, but this one was too small for that.

‘It boasts the ultimate ability to block anything that touches it, but it’s useless if you can’t block with it. That’s the feeling I get.’

In other words, it was a shield that was the complete opposite of Lynotoros. While Lynotoros could block most things just by holding it up, leaving the defense to the user, Aegis didn’t require any defensive capabilities from the user but had to be used to block.

‘If the enemy had this, I could deal with it to some extent using ‘Falling edge’.’

However, if he used Mana Sword ‘Bombing’, it was more likely that Frondier would be the one losing his life. He was truly grateful that the shield Renzo possessed wasn’t this one.

But there was one more thing that bothered Frondier about this shield.

“Unresolved Myth…”

The description also mentioned, “Not all of its stories have been weaving into it yet.” This was probably the reason why it was labeled as an Unresolved Myth.

‘The fact that Carla is Medusa is a strange situation in itself.’

The mythology Frondier knew was, of course, a story from a very long time ago. Well, it was knowledge from his previous world.

But here, it was currently in progress. And this option’s description was telling him that.

‘Medusa was originally a monster slain by Perseus. In my previous world, she was treated as nothing more than an evil monster.’

Then, as a hypothesis,

Could the people related to Medusa also be currently active?

In other words, there was a possibility that Perseus still existed.

‘Originally, Perseus was the one who was supposed to slay Medusa. He was able to defeat Medusa without looking directly at her thanks to the shield he carried, which reflected like a mirror. If that shield is Aegis…’

Slaying Medusa would be the way to conclude the myth of this shield.

In other words, it meant killing Carla.

“That’s absurd.”

However, the myth was currently labeled as “Unresolved” not “Incomplete”. It meant that nothing had been decided yet. Just as the word suggested, there might be another way besides killing Carla. It was just wishful thinking though.

‘Anyway, it’s an excessive shield even now. I’ll have to put it to good use… Hmm?’

As Frondier was thinking, looking at the Aegis he had placed in the workshop…

From a different space than where Frondier was looking, a loud noise rang out once again.

“…Right.”

Surprisingly, he had completely forgotten.

Frondier shifted his gaze to look at another part of the workshop.

There, numerous overturned metal pieces, connectors, bodies, and more were scattered about,

and in the center stood a man.

[Huff, huff, huff…]

Bune was breathing heavily and looking around. His aura was almost completely depleted, and his body was covered in wounds. Nevertheless, he had avoided any fatal injuries.

‘Amazing. He defeated them all.’

Frondier was impressed.

This was Antero’s body, already torn to shreds by Frondier. Moreover, Antero had foolishly wasted his aura trying to land a single blow on Frondier.

‘He must have fought for a very long time to recover his aura. That’s why the battle dragged on until now. Amazing judgment and patience.’

Frondier had deactivated all the traps in the surroundings to observe Bune’s skills.

But even so, to think he defeated all the prototypes in that condition. Of course, he could make more, but the number of golems he had initially sent was excessively large. He had sent them with the intention of calling them back if Bune was in danger.

But he had completely forgotten.

“Congratulations. You defeated them all.”

Frondier said, not showing any sign that he had forgotten.

He was utterly shameless.

[You, bastard. You really just watched until I defeated them all?]

“I believed you would defeat them all.”

The lie came out so smoothly.

But because he hadn’t canceled it midway, he knew for sure now.

This was a Paladin.

If they were to be the 12 representatives of the kingdom, this was the level they should be at, as Frondier had thought.

[What are you mistaken about? I’m a devil, not a God. You’re relieved that I’m a Paladin?]

“Yes. I’m more afraid of an incompetent ally than a brave enemy. It’s a common saying.”

[Even if that enemy belongs to the most powerful group among your allies?]

“Yes. I don’t know what your goal is, but…”

Creak

Just then, Bune heard the sound of a door opening.

Frondier had flown over at some point and created a door in the workshop, opening it.

Frondier opened the door, faced Bune, and continued speaking.

“Until you achieve your goal, you will continue to play the role of a Paladin.”

[….]

“It’s better for the System to be maintained. No matter who does it.”

Bune, with his bruised face, tried to say something to Frondier but closed his mouth again.

He seemed to be in a better mood for some reason.

“Now, shall we get down to business?”

[I feel like my business just ended.]

“That won’t do.”

Frondier erased the door he had entered through.

The workshop was completely sealed once more.

The only difference was that Frondier was now inside.

Frondier, looking very pleased with Bune’s state, said with a smile,

“You made a promise, didn’t you? Devil.”