Chapter 24
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Episode 5 - Hunting Festival [4]
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The roar of a Class 6 wild beast made half the mountain tremble.
A Class 6 wild beast is called a walking Calamity.
Due to a restraining magic, these Class 6 wild beasts are incapable of descending the mountain.
'Shit, that was close.'
It's impossible for me to escape from a Class 6 wild beast.
Starting from Class 5, all wild beasts undergo a complete evolution.
The mana within their bodies condenses and merges with the flesh, bones, and organs of their bodies.
Their physical capabilities increase by more than three times; the amount of mana they can release is at least 170% greater than before.
'Not to mention a Class 6, unless I risk my life, it would be impossible to injure them.'
As I climbed the mountain, Class 5 and Class 6 wild beasts began appearing more and more frequently.
Using my senses, I was able to avoid all the wild beasts, although because of that, it's also taking me longer to reach the cave where the witch lived.
And that is one of the places where the Item I'm searching for is most likely to appear.
According to the game, it was a cave filled with curses from the outside, but due to the magic restraining the wild beasts, the curses within the cave have been suppressed by at least 80%.
'Even so, they are curses created by a Class 9 witch.'
Someone who was on the verge of reaching the Transcendental level.
A Class 9 is known as a Primordial, while those with 9 Stars are known as Souls of Ascension.
However, both Class 10 and 10 Stars are known as Transcendentals.
These titles begin from Class 5 and 5 Stars onward.
In general, it would be as follows.
Class 5, Evolution.
Class 6, Devourer.
Class 7, Absorption.
Class 8, Infusion.
Meanwhile, for the Stars, it would be similar.
5 Stars, Reformation.
6 Stars, Integration.
7 Stars, Assimilation.
8 Stars, Infusion.
Both wild beasts and villains are classified using the "Class" system, while humans and other races use the "Star" system.
While avoiding a Class 5 wild beast, I was finally able to see the cave in the distance.
At first glance, it didn't look like anything out of the ordinary, but when I used Mana Sense, I was quickly able to perceive the Power of Chaos.
The Power of Chaos appeared dark gray with purple tones; the air around it seemed to be corrupted.
The curses floating around the cave were easily visible.
Small auroras, similar to Earth's northern lights, floated like clouds.
'I'll have to ask Rinna to use her magic on me afterward.'
Naturally, I have no way to counter those curses.
And fortunately, they are curses that take effect slowly so that the afflicted person gradually begins to die little by little.
As I walked toward the cave, I took a deep breath and finally entered it.
Since curses cause immense pain, I don't know whether it was luck or not, but I couldn't feel anything.
However, when I looked at the skin of my body, small black swellings and crack-like lines appeared all over me.
The cracks meant that the curses were entering my body.
The black marks indicated that the Power of Chaos was corrupting and eroding me.
Basically, it was destroying my entire body.
'It's a shame that my Heart Force is passive rather than active.'
If it were active, it would mean I could use the effects of my Heart Force on myself.
But since it's passive, I can only use it on someone else, not on myself.
That is why my blood is the way it is.
As I entered the cave, traces that someone had lived out their final days here soon became visible.
'Well, I don't know which witch died here, but it doesn't matter anyway.'
According to the story, the Class 9 witch who died had been wounded by Bernice to the brink of death and managed to escape all the way here.
Of course, back then the Holy Academy did not exist.
Since the Academy was founded a little over 700 years ago, alongside the current empire.
A few more minutes of walking later, there were some pieces of furniture created through basic Sorcery and a small laboratory.
On the other side was a room.
As I entered the room, there was a bed made of branches and leaves, then a small table.
'Even if they are no longer human, villains still keep the common habits of any human.'
A villain is only different because they possess the Power of Chaos.
Of course, many of them completely erase their emotions and feelings.
Looking at the small table, there was only a book and some notes.
I grabbed the book, and as soon as I touched it, a burning smell reached my nose.
"What the hell, a Burn Curse, and a high-ranking one at that."
This witch was truly insane.
While my hands were being burned, I opened the book and, as expected, it was a grimoire.
I briefly skimmed through the grimoire; it contained all the Sorcery created by the Witch, and at the end of the grimoire was her name.
"Belinda Carlisle, that was probably her name when she was human."
The title she held was Witch of the Black Spring.
Her Sorcery was based on fire and Erosion, nothing more than that.
She also had several Original Spells, and her strongest spell was…
"Nullification Curse."
It allowed the user to literally destroy anyone's mana for a brief period of time.
For anyone, that brief period of time could mean their own death.
'If she had been Class 10, she probably could have injured Director Bernice.'
Anyway, I stored the Grimoire in my Inventory, although it would be useless to me.
Who knows, maybe I could find some use for it, like bribing a Witch into working for me for a while.
'If you know how to use promises through false actions, they can be very useful.'
And this Grimoire would help make things easier.
I checked the entire room, but there was nothing else. The skeleton had probably crumbled into dust, so only a few clothes remained.
Then I went to the laboratory on the other side.
"This is… a Charm Potion, why would a Class 9 witch want this?"
〖A person's power means nothing if they are in love.〗
"She's a witch, at least 99% of them have their heads in another world."
〖Well, that's true, I've killed several witches who were simply insane〗
Alice probably shrugged.
Aside from this potion, there were several others.
"Potion of Deception, Masochist Potion… Wait, what the hell."
〖So she was a perverted and masochistic witch〗
"That's not the important part anyway… how much is all this worth?"
In reality, these potions might be far too strange for anyone with common sense.
But it is undeniable that there are people who would buy them.
'Still… how exactly does the Masochist Potion work…? No, it's better to forget about that.'
With a sigh, I continued looking through the potions.
Some were meant to cause pain until death, others to make someone bleed out, and some altered mana to produce the effect of Mana Reflux.
That last one is actually pretty useful for me.
"Mhm, and this potion."
Shortly afterward, I noticed a potion; from the signature of the Power of Chaos, information about the potion entered my mind.
'Emotional Erosion Potion, I've never seen something like this in the game.'
A potion never seen before, it was related to emotions, and that is something quite rare to find.
Normally, when we talk about magic or Sorcery that attacks emotions, they are so scarce that they are almost nonexistent.
'What exactly does it do?'
Since the signature of the Power of Chaos contained no further information, only its name and the creator's name, I could not learn anything else.
'Fortunately, these potions have signatures.'
Mana signatures or Power of Chaos signatures are a way of storing information about an item or anything else.
That way, I can know the names of these potions.
Anyway, after a few more minutes of looking through everything, maybe I got lucky, but I soon picked up the Item I was searching for.
The Item was just a ring.
In the game, the ring was black with a piece of obsidian set into it like a diamond.
That obsidian was where the Curse was contained.
'The Curse of Weakening is a Curse that weakens the overall strength of any living being.'
At the very least, this Curse weakened a target by 45%, which was the safest way to get through the first part of Chapter One.
However, it was a shame that the ring could only be used once.
Naturally, it was only a single Curse; it was impossible to gather several Curses into a fragment as small as this piece of obsidian.
"It's time for me to leave…! Cough…! Cough…!"
〖You must hurry, otherwise you may die within the next few hours〗
A violent coughing fit made me spit out several mouthfuls of blood.
When I looked at my body, I noticed that the cracks had spread across almost all of it.
'Since I can't feel pain, I also don't know how badly I've been affected. I need to go to Rinna.'
Snapping out of my thoughts, I walked toward the outside of the cave.
Soon, I started descending the mountain.
Meanwhile, the coughing only got worse, and the cracks, which looked like white lines in my vision, spread even further; some of them had even reached my heart.
***
A wild beast fell to the ground; blood and flesh were scattered everywhere.
Clementine looked at the wild beast for a few seconds before turning away and leaving.
The entire path behind her was filled with wild beasts.
So far, she had killed at least 20 Class 3 wild beasts.
Naturally, her body was already at its limit; however, she still persisted in killing more.
'My goal is to become the first-year Representative.'
Naturally, the competition was extremely fierce right now; all the first-year cadets had rushed into the Golden Forest.
But she was only truly concerned about three people.
Those three were Adel, Lumina, and Veronica.
From Clementine's perspective, they were considered the strongest first-years.
Clementine tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword.
'I don't know how many wild beasts those three have killed, but it's definitely not fewer than me.'
However, what Clementine did not know was that the others...
Had barely hunted many wild beasts at all.
As she ran through the forest, Clementine suddenly came to an abrupt stop.
"Cough…!!! Cough…!!!"
Someone was coughing violently while large amounts of blood slid from his mouth.
When Clementine saw the person in that state, she thought:
'Adel, what happened to him?'
It did not take long for her to notice the black cracks and stains covering his body.
'He fought against some witch; besides, those stains… there's a place here where Power of Chaos is concentrated.'
Clementine knew that exposure to Power of Chaos caused those stains, and those cracks meant he had been afflicted with extremely severe Curses.
Adel dropped to one knee for a few seconds, letting the intensely red blood fall onto the ground.
Then he stood back up and kept walking as if it were nothing.
As he walked, he muttered something that Clementine managed to hear.
"Ugh, I need to… go to Rinna…"
He was clearly looking for help from Rinna, the Saint.
Clementine watched him until he soon disappeared from her sight.
Then she looked at the blood scattered on the ground, and her eyes could not help but widen.
"W-what the hell…!? How is that possible?"
Before her was a rather strange scene, one where Adel's blood was doing something to the plants and grass around it.