I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN)

Chapter 5

I accidentally pasted Part 3 into Part 4. Thankfully, it wasn’t very hard to fix. Almost half way done. I’m pretty much on schedule.

It’s been four days since I reincarnated as a sword.

『You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What color is your magic crystal~!』

Today I had just sacrificed twelve demonic beasts to myself.



I checked my Status Window.

Cla.s.s

My Magic Crystal Count was over one hundred.

『Huh? Isn’t that too soon?』

When I checked it this morning, my Magic Crystal Count was only at 80.

『Hmm, all I did that’s different from yesterday was hunt in a different area…』

I had moved farther away from the ruins because the monsters inhabiting the ruins were easy to beat.

The farther away from the ruins I got, the stronger my opponents seemed to get. The area was infested with Crash Boars, wild pigs with hammer-like snouts; Iron Ants, demonic ants that chewed on and swallowed rocks; and other somewhat large monsters like Rock Bison, beasts with hard, rock-like sh.e.l.ls on their bodies.

Their levels were higher, they had more skills, and their magic crystals were a lot bigger.

『I see. The size of the magic crystals… Could stronger demonic beasts’ magic crystals add more than just 1 to my Magic Crystal Count?』

That was probably it. A 2 meter tall (tn: might be long. idk) Crash Boar isn’t like to give the same amount as a small-fry goblin in the first place.

『I’ll need to check this more thoroughly.』

My stats had gone up as well. Up way more than I imagined.

Attack: 162 MP: 300 Durability: 200

『Whoa! This is awesome! If I keep absorbing magic crystals, then my dream of becoming the world’s strongest sword might not just be a dream! Hahaha, I want to do that now! My Memory went up a little as well.』

Great. I should aim to max out my stats.

『Also…what does Points 10 in Cla.s.s mean?』

I’m pretty sure I got it when I ranked up. I investigated that further.

Huh? Lots of lines appeared. Is this a Skill Browser?

Point Bonus Browser

Attack Boost [weak], Durability Boost [weak], Telekinesis Boost [weak], Telepathy Boost [weak], MP Boost [weak], Memory Increase [weak], Skill Level Up, Demonic Beast a.n.a.lysis, Object a.n.a.lysis, Mineral a.n.a.lysis

Huuuh? There’re lots of choices, but is this what I think it is? Is it letting me pick bonus skills? I selected MP Boost [weak], the one I was most curious about.

Can I really acquire it? I answered “Yes” in my head.

My Cla.s.s Points went down by 5, and I gained MP Boost [weak] in my Skills column. In addition, my MP had increased by about 100. Cla.s.s-sensei is amazing! Wha-what should I do next? I want everything, but I don’t have enough points.

This time I selected Skill Level Up. Surprisingly, it seemed that I could level up the Memory Skills I currently had in my possession. But I had to pick each skill individually.

I chose Sword Wielding to test it out, and I needed 2 points to level it up. I tested all my skills and they were almost all at 2. Venomous Fangs and Floating cost about 5 points to level up.

What could be the cause of this difference? Could it be because Venomous Fangs and Floating don’t have a level number next to their names?

Hmm. A lot of things weren’t clear, but I decided to pick Attack Boost [weak]. Because it’ll likely be the most effective choice against the demonic beasts.

And after Attack Boost [weak] was added to my skills list, my attack stat rose by 50.

Excellent. Just like that, increasing my Magic Crystal Count became a lot funner.

『Great, I’m starting to get motivated! I’m going to hunt the demonic beasts, then hunt them some more, and hunt them even more!』

Having decided to do this, I acted with alacrity.

I glided triumphantly across the plains.

And if I found any demonic beasts while I was in the sky, I attacked them immediately.

Like a bird of prey, I would dive onto any monsters I found and sink my blade into them.

Most of the demonic beasts died from my aerial a.s.sault, and the ones that survived would be in critical condition.

All that would be left is a scene of carnage.

And after I made sure that I had absorbed the magic crystal, I’d go back to flying in the sky and looking for prey.

In other words, I was a blood parched magic sword. It was a Search and Destroy mission.

I didn’t feel any guilt at all. Should I call it hunting for my survival? Or maybe that this was kind of like searching for food?

I mean, besides, collecting skills was fun.

『Nice. I got a new skill.』

I was steadily gaining more skills. Though there were some that were absolutely no use to me.

How am I supposed to use Enhanced Digestion or Enhanced Taste?

I think these skills will be useful to my future wielder, but right now they’re all perfectly useless.

Without a doubt, collecting these skills was stoking the flames of my inner otaku. It was funner than watching my Magic Crystal Count increase.

I want to fight against demonic beasts that have lots of skills I could use but…

As I was thinking that, a demonic beast showed up.

『The truth is, I wouldn’t mind more goblins.』

Goblins usually gather into groups a lot so my Magic Crystal Count goes up by that amount. And best of all, they have all kinds of skills.

Some of the goblins acquired skills through their daily lives, so they had a lot more skills than the animal type demonic beasts.

『Looks like I have to hunt some goblins.』

Thankfully, there were lots of them near the pedestal so finding them wasn’t difficult.

I’ll hunt them for a while and increase my Magic Stone Count.

But my plan didn’t even get off its feet.

『There’re no goblins!』

There were still a few goblins, but they were by no means numerous.

『Hmm… I know!』

I had a genius idea!

『I just have to find the goblins’ den and annihilate them all at once!』

First I have to find their den.

Well, in an empty place like this plain, it’s almost certain that they dug a den somewhere. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find their den from the sky.

So there was a time when I used to think that.

『I don’t see it at all.』

I haven’t been able to find the goblins’ den for two days.

It seems I underestimated the goblins.

My only choice now is to have the goblins lead me to it themselves.

I let the mob goblins live and used them to guide me to their den. It was a beautiful operation, a goblin raid.

I flew low and followed behind the goblins.

I walked quietly.

No, I don’t have legs, but that’s what it felt like.

Has it been an hour since I started stalking them?

The goblins wasted a lot of time as they would suddenly start dancing on the spot or s.p.a.ce out while watching a line of ants.

In the first place, I’ve never spent such a long time observing goblins, but bit by bit they were starting to get on my nerves.

I thought about killing them multiple times because of their slow walking.

『Since the ideology “Swift Death to Goblins” is so engrained in me.』(tn: a reference to Saito Hajime of the s.h.i.+nsengumi’s credo, aku soku zan or “Swift death to evil”)

I want to praise myself for holding back this long.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter while I was secretly intruding into their den hidden in the forest.

『Kukuku. Now I can let loose, right?』

I decided to release all my pent-up anger and desire for magic crystals on the goblins.

『Hand over your magic crystals!』

“Shugyagya!”

“Gyuha!”

『This is a really nice den.』

I knew I could slack my thirst or hunger or whatever by absorbing the magic from the magic crystals.

I erased any traces of myself the best I could and found more goblins.

I continued this a.s.sa.s.sin play for maybe an hour.

I must have slain over 30 of them already. Despite that, it was still quiet here.

Have they still not found me?

『Oh. Now I’m in a wide pa.s.sageway.』

I continued through there.

After going down the pa.s.sageway, I entered a large room, big enough to be a gymnasium.

I could see many goblins crowded in there. There must have been over 50 of them.

Even if they’re small fries individually, that many of them together is a threat.

I could probably destroy any medium sized, normal monster.

And inside the room was a conspicuous creature.

There were lots of scars on its face and even its body was nearly twice as big as the other goblins’. In other words, it looked like a veteran.

It had iron armor on its body, perhaps taken from heroes, and propped next to him was a ma.s.sive sword.

『Whoooa! Bingo!』

Name: Goblin King

Race: Demon

Lv: 21

HP: 97 MP: 26 Strength: 57 Agility: 26

Skills: Intimidation 2, Aurablade 2, Sword Wielding 4, Command 4, Boost Morale 3, s.h.i.+eld Wielding 2, Taunt 1, Throwing 1, Spirit 1, Energy Manipulation

Other goblins don’t even compare to its status. It was a Goblin King.

『Are they protecting the king because they noticed there was an intruder?』

Checking its status sent quivers of joy through my body. It was the same happy feeling as seeing a buffet laid out before your eyes.

I was also able to see multiple variants among them. Prominent members among the goblins were there: soldiers, knights, mages, thieves, warriors, monks, medics, and shamans.

『This is perfect!』

I charged up my strength. It was possible to control the strength of Telekinesis by creating an image with my mind. By loading it up with as much MP as possible, I could make Telekinesis have explosive acceleration.

It’s name is the Telekinetic Catapult Attack!

Kukuku, I’m coming for you! Goblin King!

I entered the room in a flash and unleashed my power, aimed directly at the Goblin King.

I landed at top speed and attacked the sitting king’s face with terrible force.

Telekinesis is silent.

So the Goblin King didn’t react at all.

Stab!

After bursting the Goblin King’s head, I was stuck like that in the wall.

It may have been my attack, but it’s power was intense. It’s like a cannon.

The Goblin King’s body belatedly began to tip and slowly collapsed.

Along with a loud thud was blood flowing on the ground.

“————.”

The room was deadly silent for a single moment.

And then the goblins began to scream, perhaps from fear or perhaps from anger.

“Gyawooooooo!”

“Guruuaaaaah!”

“Goruruuaaah!”

Some were confused and panicking.

Some were running to the king’s corpse.

Some stayed where they were and simply screamed.

They reacted in many ways.

Then the goblin that was by the king’s side—it seemed like the king’s lieutenant—shouted at its fellow goblins what seemed to be directions. Five goblins reacted to its words and began to run for the entrance.

It seemed like the goblins didn’t even think that a sword could move on its own and were leaving the room to find whoever threw the sword.

All the goblins turned to look at the hallway.

What a bunch of fools! Go there and you won’t find anybody!

I fell from the wall, disguising this movement as if it was natural.

Using that momentum, I attacked the lieutenant.

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said my real targets were these guys.

『Hand over your spells!』

Though I targeted the king first as was my plan, the ones I most wanted to defeat was this goblin mage. I couldn’t get my eyes off them after Appraising its skills.

Name: Goblin Mage

Species: Demon

Lv: 9

HP: 27 MP: 36 Strength: 14 Agility: 20

Skills: Mineral Knowledge 1, Command 1, Staff Wielding 1, Combat Staff Wielding 1, Flame Magic 3, Magic Boost [weak], Mana Manipulation

『Uhahahahaha! Now I can use magic too!』

Other world magic. This must be something otakus dream of.

I really wanted to use it.

I just laid my hands on that magic. There was no helping getting a little carried away.

『Before I test out the spell, I’d better clear out these guys first!』

From then on it was entirely one-sided.

Maybe it was because the goblins lost their king who had the skill Boost Morale, but they panicked and started shrieking.

Because their commanding mage was gone, there was no one to get them to calm down.

The higher ranked ones tried to counterattack, but they acted without any cohesion and were unable to combat me.

Normal goblins couldn’t even hit me so I was completely undamaged by them.

They lost any semblance of organization and the goblins devolved into an unruly mob. They were even getting in each other’s way because they were all packed in the room.

『Great. This guy’s the last Archer!』

I first cleared away any of the goblins that could use long range attacks. All the remaining goblins could do was look at me as I remained out of reach by floating near the ceiling. Now it was time to gain lots of exp.

I flew around the crowd, killing off the goblins.

While taking care to preferentially target any goblins that tried to run away.

Many of them were able to run away, but despite that I must have hunted 30 of them.

What really surprised me was that my skills had leveled up.

It looks like I can increase the level of any skills I already have by absorbing magic crystals. Or maybe the level correlates with my enemies’ skill levels. Either way, I was extremely happy at seeing that my skills had leveled up.

『Uhahahaha! Give me your exp!』

After I absorbed the remaining goblins’ magic crystals, I left the den feeling something similar to satisfaction.