"Please follow me this way."
Heinrich continued to follow the leading archbishop deeper into the grand cathedral of Pikaol.
From the design centered around the sealed location of the holy sword, it was inevitable that this place was the deepest and most private area.
'It seems we've come quite far underground. How big of a crater must have been formed during the battle...'
Considering it was a life-or-death struggle among the strongest of their time, it was understandable.
"As you may already know, the trial varies for each challenger, so I don't have specific advice to offer."
When they reached a stone door engraved with shining prayers after passing through several gates, the guiding archbishop whispered.
Knowing this already, Heinrich quietly nodded.
He had memorized all relevant records during his training period.
"As such, the time it takes to face the trial varies as well. Some emerge in just a few hours, while others may take up to a week."
Of course, they all failed.
The archbishop shrugged his shoulders and turned to Heinrich, pointing at the door.
"The trial begins the moment you step through this door. Once you are ready to face the challenge, let me know."
Was there any need to hesitate further?
Heinrich took a deep breath and confidently said to him, "I will enter now."
"Understood. Then, I will open the door."
The archbishop nodded quietly, approached the stone door, placed his hand on it, and softly began to pray.
"…what is hidden in that box is my flesh and blood. You must…"
The prayer engraved on the door started to glow in response to his words.
The archbishop's divine power was continuously drawn into the sealed door.
How much time had passed? Soon, thick beads of sweat were rolling down his face.
'Opening the door even once requires a significant amount of divine power, enough to incapacitate an archbishop-level priest for days...'
Not only the amount but considering the quality, it was impossible to employ multiple priests.
Heinrich, being familiar with the cathedral and occasionally encountering the archbishop, knew well, but in fact, the archbishop was a highly valuable person.
They were responsible for temples in major cities, receiving treatment comparable to that of a marquis among nobility.
'It's become too familiar over time, but the saintess was a figure not even the emperor of the empire could easily confront.'
Being in the grand cathedral, the headquarters of the church, and mingling with her had slightly dulled his sense of reality.
Whoosh—
While he was lost in thought for a moment, the stone door began to tremble slowly as it emitted a strong light.
Creak—
The heavy stone door opened.
However, the interior was filled with light, making it impossible to see inside.
"…Then, I wish you luck."
Leaving behind the exhausted voice of the sweat-drenched archbishop, Heinrich stepped forward without hesitation.
And when he fully entered into the light.
Click—
Bang!
The stone door closed roughly.
The light surrounding Heinrich suddenly disappeared, revealing an ordinary corridor.
"…Oh?"
He could instinctively feel it.
This space was a separate dimension, cut off from the outside.
Looking back, he saw a long corridor extending in front of him, identical to the one in front; the stone door he entered through was nowhere to be seen.
'Are they asking me to choose whether to go forward or back?'
Heinrich shrugged and concentrated his divine power and the "Blessing: Fortitude" to their limits, focusing his eyes.
Additionally, using the "Outerica Sacred Technique," he amplified his vision...
"Still, there seems to be no end in sight."
The same was true when he looked back; it appeared he had no choice but to proceed blindly.
He sighed and looked forward again.
His plan was to break through straight ahead at all costs.
'Of course, I might as well use a bit of convenience.'
He concentrated his divine power to extend his vision as far as possible and focused his mind.
And immediately.
Whoosh—
He used "Blessing: Leap" to jump through space.
However, the place he arrived at showed only a long corridor stretching endlessly, with no apparent change.
"Hup!"
Boom!
He tried to smash the wall beside him with all his might, filled with divine power to its limit, but not even a crack formed.
Then.
<Reach the next gate within the limited time.>
A will echoed in his mind.
'So it begins.'
But no further information was given, no matter how long he waited.
He had no idea how long the time limit was or where the endpoint was.
'Is this a trial of patience?'
He had noticed from the beginning that the flow of time here was different from the outside.
It would have been difficult for others to grasp immediately, but wasn't he a being with several avatars outside?
'About 10 to 1 ratio? The time difference with Earth is 100 to 1.'
Thanks to his "Mind Hub" and increased mental strength over time, he could handle it without issue, though it would have been quite troublesome due to motion sickness in the early days of another world.
'The uncertainty of not knowing when or where to reach is burdensome. I have no choice but to push myself.'
The trial of the holy sword was usually divided into several stages.
It seemed this time it was a test of the challenger's endurance, mental strength, and physical stamina.
With time continuing to pass, there was no reason to delay any longer.
Heinrich stretched lightly on the spot and then dashed forward.
With the help of his overwhelming physical training and various skills, including "Super Recovery," he traversed the corridor at a tremendous speed.
'Since I don't know what level the trial expects, I'll just go as far as I can.'
In this trial's space, there was no need for nutritional supply or sleep, so there wasn't really a problem.
He allocated his mental resources solely to running, using "Blessing: Leap" periodically.
'It seems like it will take some time. No helping it.'
Heinrich ran through the silent corridor alone, uncomplaining.
He mechanically ran, ran, and ran, repeatedly using "Blessing: Leap."
After three days, the fatigue accumulating in his body began to exceed what "Super Recovery" could heal.
The necessary energy was supplied by the ambient energy, but the recovery rate couldn't keep up with the continuous strain.
By the first week.
Slowing down occasionally to recover his body had reached its limit.
He felt his body creaking from the strain, but such was routine during training, so he didn't mind.
By the second week.
As expected of a trial, merely moving wasn't the end.
Whispers stimulating his mind during the run taunted him.
Invasions of surrender, resignation, loneliness, and other emotions continued to assault his mind, but they meant nothing more than nuisance to him, who was already in a state of no-mind.
By the third week.
Still not knowing how much time was left or how far he still had to go, he couldn't afford to slow his pace.
He took only brief rests periodically, ignoring the pain in his body and continued to dash forward.
With a "Mind Hub," this was neither a trial nor anything significant.
Just a simple repetition.
Under these conditions, he could continue forward for days, months, or as long as necessary.
Time continued to pass, and flow.
After about 4 days outside, which was about 40 days inside...
Heinrich was still running.
***
"Tomorrow, then."
"Keh-heh-heh... Indeed. Tomorrow will be the day I and this continent meet our doom. Hahah!"
In an underground hideout in the southern part of the continent, a large man and a diminutive old man were conversing.
"Once the ritual begins, we can no longer evade the eyes of the church. There's only one chance. We must finish everything before they reach this place."
"Ah— I know, I know. Don't worry. There will be no failure. How long have I waited for this day?"
The eyes of the old man, who laughed feebly and meaninglessly, were already filled with madness.
The man looked at the old man quietly for a moment before turning his head slightly, a scornful smirk forming at the corner of his mouth.
It was unthinkable that a great mage, once hailed as the greatest genius of the continent and who had been on a meteoric rise within the Magic Tower Federation to a point where his succession as the next leader was almost certain, had fallen this far.
'Well, it's good for me. It's none of my concern, anyway.'
He had no interest in whatever unjust story the mage had, or how much resentment he held to want to destroy the world.
They were just mutually beneficial allies.
After all, there wasn't a single sane person among those who were with them.
'Pfft... If they had normal reasoning, they wouldn't be doing this.'
He glanced around at the interior, filled with all sorts of bizarre sorceries, then turned to leave.
Only one day remained.
***
A change was detected on Heinrich's side, who had been running mindlessly.
'...What's that?'
As his consciousness slowly returned, he saw an 'end' blocking his path on the other side of the endlessly stretching corridor.
Continuing to run, he finally faced an ordinary wooden door at the end of the corridor.
"Is this the destination? How long did it take?"
Just over four days had passed...
In terms of this place's time, he had been running for well over a month.
'My physical condition isn't great. Well, I did benefit from the characteristics of this space, but I pushed myself too hard.'
That was an understatement.
If it weren't for the "Mind Hub" filtering out the pain, he wouldn't have been able to reflect so calmly.
The monster-like physique, strengthened by skills and divine power, had been severely damaged from the overexertion.
'It seems I'll need a few days of complete rest to recover fully with "Super Recovery".'
Although continuing the trial in such a state was impractical, he had faith in the information he had gathered beforehand.
The moment Heinrich confidently placed his hand on the door of the next gate.
Whoosh—
Energy from the surroundings was drawn into his body.
The energy injected from the outside began to rapidly heal the body that had been overworked for a month.
"Hmm..."
Muscles twitched non-stop, and a hot heat emitted from his entire body.
"Super Recovery," unable to exert its full power due to the physical overload, greedily absorbed the surrounding energy and reacted violently, and with "Blessing: Fortitude" added, his body was reconstructed stronger, tougher, and more durable than before.
"Haah..."
When the entire process was completed, his physique had advanced to a dimension beyond what it was before the challenge.
<The first trial is over. Move through the gate to the next stage.>
Although the will echoed in his mind again, Heinrich was busy checking his physical condition, contemplating himself.
'...This is actually pretty good.'
He realized this place was optimized for training!
A miraculous space where he could focus solely on his own enhancement without needing to eat or sleep.
He crossed his arms and fell into deep thought on the spot.
'Since the flow of time here is different, is there really a need to rush to the next trial?'
With the time limit gone after completing the trial, and a day of training here equating to more than ten days outside, wouldn't it be alright to spend a little time?
'Just a little longer, just one more day.'
The training addict, Heinrich, turned around, sitting down with his back to the door.
He then started hopping and quickly traversing the corridor.
About an hour into his movement.
"Huff... Huff..., Huh?"
While engrossed in his training, he realized the door he had faced earlier was at the end of the direction he was heading.
Reaching the door again across the corridor, Heinrich frowned and examined it.
It was indeed the same door he had faced from the opposite direction.
'Why is this here? ...Well, I think I understand.'
Since it was a space created for the trial, it wasn't surprising even if the space was twisted and turned on its own.
He lightly frowned, turned around...
"......!"
He stepped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of a brown door right before his eyes.
Quickly turning back, the long corridor had vanished, and he was surrounded by the same door, front and back.
'Is this their way of telling me to stop dawdling and move on to the next trial?'
It seemed there was no longer any leeway to continue training.
'I could just exercise in place, but...'
He didn't want to further annoy the will overseeing the trial by doing so.
Besides, there were no high-weight exercise equipment suitable for him here.
With a sigh of regret, Heinrich opened the door in front of him and stepped inside.
Just like when he first entered the trial, he found himself alone in the middle of a vast chapel as the bright light enveloping his whole body disappeared.