Frieren: Attribute Hero Chapter 117: Altar of the Saint of the End

Fern groggily woke up under Sein's healing magic.

After the young girl opened her eyes, she frowned and let out a faint hiss.

She had been dragged by spider silk through a long tunnel, leaving quite a few scrapes across her body.

Fortunately, she was fine. Her earlier unconsciousness had only been caused by [Spider Venom] with a paralysis effect. Since she had not been poisoned for long, Sein's detoxification abilities handled it in no ti.

The two children beside her, however, were a little more troubleso.

Sein sighed. "Their bodies are too weak, and they were poisoned for too long. It will take so ti before they wake up."

Frieren nodded.

After standing up, she saw Shane staring at the enormous stone pillar inside the cave with a grave expression.

She followed his gaze.

At the top of the stone pillar was a carved magic formula. It was complex, obscure, and faintly carried an ominous aura.

It gave her a very bad feeling.

With that thought, she directly pointed her staff at the stone pillar.

[Anything related to monsters or demons should be treated as dangerous by default when its threat level cannot be confird.]

That was her experience.

Points of magical light began gathering at the tip of her staff.

But just then, Shane raised his hand and stopped her.

"Frieren, this stone pillar... can't be touched."

"?"

Shane focused his ntal strength and stared at the enormous stone pillar before him. The written information on it unfolded before his eyes.

[Altar of the Saint of the End]

Status: Intact

Attributes:

[Curse Altar (???)]: A special magic formula that can temporarily anchor a "curse" inside a stone pillar, connecting the caster to the pillar and amplifying the effective range of the curse.

[Delayed Activation (Blue/Rare)]: A distorted magic formula that allows the target spell to take effect later according to the caster's command once "a certain condition" is fulfilled.

Evaluation: A perfect setup. Guess when it will activate?

Of the two attributes, one was blue grade, while the other was an unknown grade.

The mont Shane saw that unknown-grade label, he imdiately rembered when he had first t Frieren and the two of them had explored that mine ruin. On the second level of the ruins, the crystal balls embedded in the walls that reacted automatically had also carried [Unknown Grade] attributes.

Before, he had always thought it was because his ntal strength was too weak to identify them.

Now, he had a bolder guess.

Could these [Unknown Grade] attributes be [attributes that had not been incorporated into the Sage knowledge system], originating from demons?

At that thought, he silently sighed.

He still knew far too little about the history of the [Sages]. Most of it was basically guesswork.

He also had no idea how things had gone with the request he had entrusted to Ehre's grandfather, asking him to investigate the history of the [Sages]...

Shane took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

Using [Retaining Image Magic], he imprinted the attribute information he had seen onto the paper.

Then he handed the paper to Frieren.

Frieren accepted it.

After she clearly saw the contents on the paper, her previously expressionless face slowly turned serious.

Ever since they had learned information about the world-ending curse of the [Saint of the End, Tot] from the [Corrupt Sage, Qual], they had been searching everywhere for related clues.

Their journey north, as well as their recruitnt of companions, had all been for the sake of determining whether the [World-Ending Curse] truly existed.

And now, they finally had a lead.

The world-ending curse really did exist.

Moreover, judging from the [Delayed Activation] attribute, it was very likely just as Qual had said—it would take effect twenty years later.

The demons' ambition to exterminate humanity had never changed.

The paper was passed around to each person in turn. Everyone's face showed a grave expression.

Sein frowned.

"According to the information you obtained earlier, the curse will eventually cover the entire world. In that case... could there be other [Curse Altars] hidden elsewhere? Could such terrifying things already be spread all over the world?"

Frieren nodded. "According to what Qual said, that is probably the case."

Sein looked at the two unconscious children and tightened his grip on the [Scripture] in his hand.

"If so, we must send word to the [Holy City, Strahl] and the magic city [Äußerst], and request the assistance of the church and the Continental Magic Association. We need to determine as soon as possible whether curse altars have appeared in various regions, so we can discuss counterasures..."

Hearing this, Fern raised a question.

"If we do that, wouldn't it alert the demons? What if they activate the world-ending plan ahead of ti?"

Stark nodded beside her. "Exactly. We can't alert the enemy."

Sein opened his mouth, wanting to say sothing more, but in the end, no words ca out.

He also knew that doing this might put the demons on guard. However, if they allowed the demons to keep acting freely, incidents like this would keep happening one after another.

As a priest, that was sothing he could not tolerate.

Frieren saw Sein's concern and turned to look at Shane.

She did not know when it had started, but she had already grown used to hearing Shane's opinion before making a plan.

Shane t Frieren's eyes and did not hesitate. His stance remained the sa as before.

"No matter how far the curse has progressed, capture the ringleader first."

Besides, he felt that this Swamp Spider Mother incident might not necessarily have been caused by the [Curse Altar].

"Sein, you said before that this forest never had a swamp, right? This is the first ti. On top of that, no adventurer had ever discovered so kind of demon altar here before, so I think this incident was probably a coincidence."

As he spoke, he looked down at the paper in his hand.

"According to the attribute explanation, the altar is still in an inactive stage right now. It won't pose a threat to humans yet. So... rather than following behind the demons and passively reacting to whatever they throw at us, it would be better to directly drag out the culprit and solve the problem at the source."

Sein looked at Shane, a trace of surprise appearing in his eyes. He was moved by the way Shane could make a decision without hesitation.

Indeed, eliminating the source of the curse was the most effective way to deal with a large-scale curse.

For so reason, the figure of his childhood friend Gorilla appeared in his mind once more.

Compared to himself, who was always hesitant, whether it was [Gorilla] or Shane, these people who seed so dazzling to him could always make decisions without dragging their feet.

Decisive, firm, and pressing forward without hesitation.

That was what an adventurer should be like.

He envied it.

And he longed for it.

"In that case, we'll proceed according to the original plan and head to the [Northern Plateau] and the [Demon King's Castle] to find that demon saint as soon as possible." As Frieren spoke, she turned her gaze toward Sein. "Then, Sein, will you join us now?"

Sein looked at Frieren, then at Shane, Fern, and Stark.

Everyone was looking at him with expectation.

Sein fell into a daze.

At that mont, he felt as though he had returned to ten years ago, to the mont when his childhood friend had invited him to set out on a journey together.

He looked at the traces of the battle he had just fought alongside his companions, looked at the [Scripture] in his hand, and looked at the two children he had saved...

This ti, he did not make another excuse.

He chose to follow his heart.

"All right."