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W… when did this happen?
Hiroshi stared at the window before him.
Wh—The snake. It must be the snake. I remember its eyes glowing, but it didn’t do anything. That must have been it.
I need to find out more.
His finger touched the window on “Cursed”.
The system came on.
“Cursed: Challengers Curse; Afflicts the target with a deathly malady, causing them to lose health points slowly. Effect is paused when in combat with the caster. The target cannot regenerate health while this effect is active.”
The voice disappeared as quickly as it came.
Hiroshi’s eyes were trembling, fixated on the last line.
So… unless I kill it, it won’t disappear.
“Boss. Okay?” Gobu tilted his head, curious.
“I am completely fine, Gobu,” he stated.
His eyes shifted to his health; it dropped by one point.
HP: 1099/1100
Okay… so I have to figure out how long I have left… before it reaches zero.
Hiroshi sat down on the ground, staring into seemingly nothing from Gobu’s point of view.
A while passed. It dropped by another point.
Okay there it is… I’ve counted 18 minutes and some seconds… this gives me…
He scratched his head.
About two weeks left to live.
Fine, chimera… I’ll beat you in half as long.
Hiroshi stood up with a long face.
“Gobu. Get up. We’re moving.” He ordered.
Gobu’s snot bubble popped as he suddenly woke up.
“Y-yes. Boss.” Gobu grunted out, still sleepy.
You want a challenge? I’ll give you a challenge.
Both of them walked onwards as the dark sky turned a light blue color.
A tall mountain slowly revealed itself as sunlight slowly washed the tip of it.
Sunrise already?
Hiroshi noticed the tall mountain’s sharp peak changing color.
It’s been an action-packed night… I’ve lost my sense of time.
His eyes looked over to the moons.
“Gobu. Why are there two moons?”
Gobu laughed at the question, then stopped as he looked up at Hiroshi, who was serious.
“Red moon. Goddess Lythia. Green moon. God Oihter.”
So, gods exist here as well. That’s new.
“And? They belong to them? Elaborate.” he demanded.
“Lythia. Mana. Oihter. Life.” Gobu said excitedly.
“Lythia favors monsters.”
“Oh? So, she’s responsible for the mana in this world?”
“Yes.” Gobu confirmed.
“Lythia favors monsters? State why.”
“Monsters. High. Mana. Humans. Small.”
I see. In this world, creatures are born with much higher mana than regular humans.
“Why does she favor monsters?” Hiroshi asked, curious.
“She. Monster. Too.”
Hiroshi’s eyes widened.
She’s a monster and a god!? If that’s true, she must be the most powerful one to exist.
“And Oihter?”
“Oihter. Favor. Humans. Balance.”
Balance? The two exist because without the other, one side would completely dominate the planet?
“Thank you, Gobu. The information is valuable.”
“You. Already. Knew.” Gobu laughed
“Mhmm.” Hiroshi responded, smiling.
He doesn’t know I’m not from this world. He seems to think I was testing him maybe.
After traveling for a while they came to a stop at the edge of a cliff. Ahead of them, the ground turned steep, with a massive forest stretching out before them, mountains in the distance clearly seen.
Gobu’s body tensed.
“Gobu?”
He looked up at Hiroshi, with a worried expression.
“Travel. Wrong. Direction.”
Damn it, we’ve been going in the wrong direction the whole time? The sun is coming up as well. We need to find shelter for the day.
Hiroshi let out a sigh.
“Point where we need to go then.” he demanded.
Can’t this body ask nicely for once? Even just to my friend, Gobu? He was annoyed.
Gobu looked at the mountains in the distance, slowly turning his head to one side where the mountain descended, forming a valley between two mountains and pointed.
“There. Valley. Of. Death.”
Oi, seriously!? Who named that!?
Gobu noticed Hiroshi’s body twitch and laughed.
“No. Worry. Mostly safe.”
“Right.” Hiroshi replied.
“Mostly,” he sighed.
“Anyway, let’s backtrack a bit. There was a large tree we can use as camp.”
Gobu nodded in agreement and the two of them walked back, leaving the cliff’s edge to the sunlight.
They arrived at the large tree. The base had been hollowed out near the ground. Hiroshi climbed atop of the trunk and looked down.
Wow, this thing is old. There are just over seven hundred rings on this trunk.
Gobu sat at the edge of the trunk.
“Boss. Rest. Gobu. Guard.” He stuck out one of his three fingers, giving a thumbs-up.
“Thank you.” Hiroshi smiled at Gobu.
I haven’t slept in a while, and this is as safe as it gets. I’ll leave the rest to Gobu. I trust him.
Hiroshi lay down and fell asleep almost instantly.
Gobu turned to watch the silver-haired vampire curled-up sleeping form, her clothes ripped and tattered all over from all the fights he’d been in. He smiled. All this time Hiroshi was the one protecting and watching over Gobu, now it was his turn.
Hiroshi felt a tug on his shoulder. His eyes slowly opened to a blurred figure before him.
His eyes shot open suddenly, claws extending, ready to fight.
“Dire. Wolves. Nearby.” Gobu spoke, looking back.
Oh… it’s just Gobu. I couldn’t make out his form for a second…
Long howls pierced the night’s silence.
Hiroshi stood up and hopped down to the ground and looked up.
It’s nighttime already… I slept through the whole day. Status, open.
He glanced at his HP, which was down a tiny bit.
Curse is still active. Status, close.
It vanished.
“Where are the noises coming from, Gobu?”
“There.” He pointed at a nearby bush, then hurried inside the hollowed-out tree.
“Whatever you do, stay here. Understood?”
“Gobu. Stay.” He nodded.
“Good, I’ll be back before you know it.”
Hiroshi leapt forward into the bushes and disappeared.
The howls became louder as he got closer. Hiroshi stopped and stuck his head out of a bush.
A large hole in the ground was surrounded by trees and bushes. Bones lay scattered about in various places on the ground.
A massive thick blood trail led into the hole, disappearing. It was fresh. Five lesser dire wolves were outside, near the entrance. One of them was gnawing on a bone between its paws. Two of them had a slightly lighter coat.
A hole? Is that their den? There’s a massive blood trail coming from the bushes roughly where me and Gobu came from. That can’t be…
One of the wolves turned and almost spotted Hiroshi. He quickly pulled his head back. The wolf walked forward and reached the bush Hiroshi was at and began sniffing.
His arm grabbed it by the shoulder as his other hand drove his claws deep into its neck, pulling it into the bush. It let out a faint whimper.
A bone-cracking crunch escaped the bushes.
“Lesser Dire Wolf Defeated,” the system announced, indifferent as always.
“Level Up. Please choose two skills.”
Alright, the others haven’t noticed yet, but I think I could take them on.
For now, I’ll choose some skills, who knows what I’ll find in that den.
Choose skills.
He began to search through them. Some of them were greyed out, with question marks for names, only stating higher levels.
I can’t choose those. Seems like they’ll unlock later.
He spotted some ominous skill names.
Woah, these sound pretty dark... Raise Dead, Raise Skeleton Knight, Despair, Rotting Flesh…
They do sound powerful, though… I need to protect Gobu with the best of my ability so I think I should take them.
His eyes flicked to another skill.
What’s this?
Sunlight Resistance? Human Form?
His eyes sparkled, then looked at the cave.
These are amazing… but I doubt wandering into the cave as a human will help.
He looked for a moment then tapped the screen twice.
“Skills added,” the system spoke to his thoughts.
Alright, that should bump up my strength quite a bit. Let’s try them out in a bit.
He rustled the leaves of the bush he was hiding in. Two of the dire wolves postured up and turned their heads. They approached.
Two hands burst out of the bush, striking deep into their throat, their yelps quieted.
As their bodies hit the floor, Hiroshi burst out of the bush, the remaining two charged at him.
He ran forward and jumped over the first one, stabbing the wolf’s head before him. The wolf behind him leaped forward.
Hiroshi spun around and in a single swing of his arm, the wolf’s head dropped to the ground, dark red liquid gushing out in pulses from the body.
The system announced twice again.
“Dire Wolf, Defeated.”
They weren’t lesser wolves. Didn’t seem much stronger than them. Maybe I’ve just gotten stronger?
He looked at their lighter coats and moved on, approaching the entrance to the cave. Kneeling, he touched the blood trail leading deeper inside.
Still fresh.
He glanced back at the dire wolves that had not been decapitated.
But first…
A little while later, he was walking deeper into the den. It formed into a cave as it flattened out, not going any deeper.
It’s like… something dug this out.
He observed the walls; light claw marks covered them as he trotted in further.
The walls began to open up and eventually formed a large chamber.
Just as I thought.
He stopped at the entrance to the chamber.
The large, elegant white dire wolf was lying down, licking its bloodied paw. More blood covered her white body, large cuts and scrapes littered its coat.
We meet again, white wolf.
She noticed Hiroshi standing at the entrance. It stood up, posturing itself towards Hiroshi, almost as if she were guarding something.
Status Inspect!
Feodra, Greater White Dire Wolf.
LV: 39
HP: 2300/4500
MP: 600/1500
Skills: Lightning Strike, ???, ???
Hiroshi’s eyes widened.
It has a name!?
Looks like she survived the fight with the chimera, but it’s gravely hurt.
Hiroshi jerked his hands once and claws shot out.
I should try conserve my health, using too many abilities will cut down the time I have left.
Lightning crackled around her snout; its eyes locked onto Hiroshi.
“I’m sorry, Feodra.” He stated, as he burst into a run along the wall.
Lightning exploded behind Hiroshi, dust flying everywhere. Feodra turned her body to face Hiroshi as he ran.
One trick pony huh? In that case…
Hiroshi pointed toward the other side of the chamber as he ran.
“Raise Skeleton Knight!” He shouted.
A tall, armored skeleton rose from the ground, wearing rusted dark armor, it pulled a long, thick blade out of the ground with it and began to charge at the white dire wolf.
It turned its head towards the skeleton.
She noticed it. Now’s the chance. Shadowstep!
Seeing the skeleton knight charging toward her, she looked back to where Hiroshi had been.
Hiroshi jumped and kicked himself off the wall on top of the white dire wolf’s back, digging his claws into its neck.
It let out a whimper at the feeling of sharp claws sinking deep inside.
Turn!
“Turn, failed,” the system announced.
Damn it… Paralysis Claws!
“Paralysis Claws, failed.” It said once more.
Poison Claws!
A window popped up above the wolf’s head.
<< Poisoned >>
Its health began to drop slowly.
Feodra smashed her back into the cave wall, pressing Hiroshi against it. His HP dropped a little bit while his grip loosened.
The skeleton knight almost reached Feodra when it looked at it, sending out another bolt of lightning, hitting its dark rusted shoulder pad and ricocheting, hitting the wall.
It continued, running out of the cloud of smoke, its long, giant blade dragging behind.
The greater white dire wolf crashed back down onto her front legs, Hiroshi finally losing his grip and falling down to the ground.
The skeleton began its swing when Feodra swiped her claws at the skeleton, blasting it into the wall. More dust billowed upward.
Seriously!? She’s below half HP and she’s still this strong?
Hiroshi got up and leapt a few paces back. Feodra stood still, then let out a long howl.
He covered his ears from the loudness.
Shit… is she calling for reinforcements?!
If this chamber is full of them, I don’t know if I’ll even get to face the bear.
Her fur shifted into a light blue color.
Oi oi… is she powering up!?
A light blue flame appeared above her head and blasted toward Hiroshi, who was now running to the side away from the skeleton knight.
Blue flames!?
A lightning bolt shot past his head.
AND lightning!?
Status inspect!
The window appeared before him as he ran, blue flames trailing behind him.
Her MP is draining quite fast. I just have to hold out…
As Hiroshi turned his head, he faced a wall.
Damn it… this is bad… The blue flames are closing in…
It’s going to—
A loud “whoop” pierced the air. The blue flames came to a stop just before Hiroshi.
He turned his eyes from the fading blue flame to Feodra. Her head fell to the ground with a loud thump.
The skeleton knight’s massive blade stuck in the ground opposite him, with the white dire wolf’s body between them.
The system came to life.
“Feodra – Greater White Dire Wolf.”
“Defeated.”
“Level Up,” it stated coldly, five times.
Hiroshi was frozen, staring at the armored skeleton knight hunched over, holding its giant blade embedded into the ground.
He opened his mouth for a second, then closed it.
Skeleton Knight, dismiss.
It fell to the ground as the magical energy holding its bones together vanished, slowly beginning to turn to a dark mist.
He walked over slowly to Feodra’s corpse and stopped. He put his hands together in front of his face for a moment, a tear forming at the corner of his eye before he turned to leave.
As he took a few steps forward, a high-pitched bark caused his ear to twitch.
“Huh?” He turned back.
It’s coming from behind Feodra.
He climbed atop the white, bloodied fur and looked around where the sound was coming from. His eyes froze on a tiny crater in the wall.
He dropped to his knees and took a quick, sharp breath as tears began to stream down his eyes.
A small, tiny white wolf, eyes barely open, was barking in its cradle.
What have I done…