Chapter 10: Unhinged Soldier (2)
'The chieftain is going to massacre everyone?'
That information is quite much for Liam to handle for despite meeting the chieftain a couple of times, the man still has enough time to care about this village rather than just abandoning it.
The chieftain was not the first in our village to become a Spirit Bearer, but he is the first to spend time here regularly and provide the village with food and drinks from the Empire.
'It's hard to believe it.'
Seeing Liam was skeptical about it, Jessie continued to tell more of the story.
"Astella Terra has coupled himself with a fanatic group known as the Executioner, whose goal is to cut short the number of humans within this world. He and those from the Executioner have managed to kill a Monarch within the Wisto Empire and massacre his ruling district, along with other heinous acts, but in the end, he was executed."
"Killed?"
But I just saw him a while ago, so how could he be called killed when he is alive?
"The fact that he is still alive right now comes as a shock to me as well, for I have seen him getting his head chopped off. I was supposed to be the one to take care of this village, but the moment I stepped into this place, he ambushed me and—"
"Okay, stop right now."
Liam couldn't bear this news anymore; the more he heard it, the more far-fetched it became.
The worst part is that he somehow trusts this absurd information! He just met this woman a few minutes ago, and she's from the belly of a monster, so how could he already begin to believe her words?
Is this a mental ability? Or is this a technique?
And the fact that she keeps calling and treating him like someone else is also suspicious; it could be a psychological move used to make him drop his guard.
"As expected of my lord, you are cautious of everything, but I have no reason or desire to lie to my idol; trusting me or not would be your decision."
"...Fine then."
'Despite her action, she really has sharp eyes and tongue.'
For now, he believed her words not because he fully trusted her but because he was starting to doubt Astella's motive for staying here, even with all that power.
"Now, where was I? Ah, right. In order to save myself, I materialized myself into a statue that is tough enough to defend against any attack from him. But to think that he would feed me to the spirit residing in this lake, I was real close to undoing my ability, but then, it died."
Jessie moved her eyes toward me and then toward the axe lying on the ground.
She seemed to manage to sew the clues together, and then Liam saw lights sparkling within her void-like eyes.
"As expected of the lord, even with that…body, you still managed to kill a Tribe-Level threat."
"Yeah…"
The achievement of killing such a thing was great, and so is the stress he is enduring.
Yet, after hearing all this news, those thoughts and worries about it were all put at the back of his head.
Well, how could he not when his life is being threatened once again and not just his own but all of the village?
So Astella was not only a bastard, a criminal who committed many heinous crimes in the past and probably in the future too, but also a zombie? An undead?
'But does all of that matter? Zombie or not, from her words, I have no way of defeating him!'
He doesn't know how strong those at Pioneer rank are, but seeing that he managed to defeat Jessie and managed to stuff her into that spirit stomach, he believed he was no match for the chieftain, even if he's working with Jessie.
But something isn't quite right.
"Why did he decide to go out to the ceremony so openly? If I were a criminal who had risen from the dead, I would be hiding somewhere and making my plans."
"You're corrected, my lord. I believe he is planning something, but sadly, I don't know what it is, but…"
"..."
Jessie's black eyes remained darker than the night, but for some reason, he felt like her eyes suddenly became even more sparkling while looking at him.
"Do you have anything to say?"
"I believed in the lord's wisdom, so the lord should be able to figure out a way to find out."
"Oh, I see."
Playing the lord card right now when you just completely disregard my word, huh? Is this how a hypocrite acts?
But it's not like I don't have any ways to gain some information; there's a particular person in my mind who seems to be the closest to Astella.
"We could ask for his daughter, who is still within the village; she probably knows a thing or two about her sketchy father."
"As expected of the lord, let me interrogate her and—"
"Woah, woah, woah."
Why does she sound extreme all of a sudden? Is this her true personality?
Women outside the village sure are scary!
"Let me talk to her since she did give me a look before. You, on the other hand, just keep hiding inside the forest. Who knows where Astella will bury you next once he finds out that you're alive?"
"...That would be the optimal option, my lord, though I wouldn't want to lead you to danger, but I guess that's what makes you you."
"...Yeah, I still don't know what you are talking about."
In the end, he never knew who Lord Xyrus was; the man was supposed to look like him and have a voice like him.
Is Xyrus his father? Not that he really cares, since what kind of father leaves their child inside a cave?
'I should go back to that cave when I have the chance.'
He could have asked Jessie more about it, but he's already tired; he doesn't want any information bombs coming out of her right now and just wants to go to sleep.
His top priority right now is to deal with Astella; he needs to strategize a plan on killing the chieftain if he were to fight him.
And to do that, he needed more strength, and there's only one way to obtain it.
"Right, there's the raise in attainment reward."
All these troubles in the future have made me forget the things that I have now, let's see what exactly this raising in attainment is.
With a single thought, I summoned the blue screen of the system.
*****
| The Path Of Spirit Destroyer |
[Stat]
Title: Blood Axe, Gravemaker, Source Of Fire.
Age: 18
HP: 100%
Status: Alive
Rank: Master
[Spirits] (7/7)
Spirit Of Conspiracy (True Spirit)
Spirit Of Vision (Great Spirit)
Spirit Of Hardships (Grand Spirit)
Spirit Of Self-Torment (Avatar Spirit)
Spirit Of Achievements: (Grand Spirit)
Spirit Of Names (Pillar Spirit)
Spirit Of Spark (Fragment Spirit) (Unification Started)
[Ability]
Axe Enthusiast: You are an expert with axes.
Rotting: You could cause things to rot or decompose faster than they should.
Fire Dreaded: All fire fears you.
Fool's Deduction: Deductions about you will be misleading.
Alternate Vision: You could see what happened if the other person were in your situation.
Mission: You will be given a mission that, when solved, will reward you.
Cycle of Torment: Every week, you will suffer intense pain that may kill you.
System: An All-knowing system is with you.
Title: Your title gives you the ability.
[Quest]
| Defeat the Spirit Of Four Tusk |
Reward: Pain relieved, received title: Butcher, tendons replacement
Failure: Removal of all teeth and nails
Deadline: Two months left
| Find clues about yourself |
Reward: Restoration of the Spirit Of Spark
Failure: The Destruction of the Spirit Of Spark
Deadline: A year left.
*****
It appears that my rank has been upgraded to Master, and with that comes a title.
"So you gain a title when you become a Master?"
And the title was Flame Bearer, too, the very thing that was mentioned with this Lord Xyrus.
"Wuahh"
Unknowingly, Liam's mouth opened as he was about to yawn.
He had been staying for too long after a tiring fight and in the middle of the night; no wonder he got tired.
Jessie hesitated for a moment before she decided to end this conversation and discuss this problem at another time when he find more information about Astella.
It's not like we have any leads about him or have any power to fight against him, so talking right now would be pointless.
Besides, what Liam wanted to do right now was end this tiring day and sleep soundly somewhere cozy and warm like his own bed.
'It's Thomas's, but I could just kick him out of it. He just has all the riches in this town while I am here, soaking wet.'
Yeah, that sounds nice, kicking him off his bed.