The grass is wet and the air is humid and cold. I deeply breathe in the fresh crisp air as I walk alongside Eva. I look over to her. Her mask engraved with a golden star and her long ears poking out of the sides of her head for all to see.
Despite seeing her ears clearly and knowing she’s an elf, I find myself assuming that she is a human every time I look at her. Eva’s mask changes her identity to anyone who sees her.
I’m wearing a mask as well, the mask that once belonged to Toulif before he died. I got the mask to work and I changed my identity as well. The mask is able to change only two things at once, but I’m only using it to hide my class.
My class is now seen as a Knight.
Eva now has her class displayed as a Cleric and me and her walk through the dewy woods in the early morning. The cracks in the sky become less and less visible as it turns to day. I look back towards the sun as we walk away from it.
A brilliant ball of gilded white light. The light reflects off the wet air to create a holy halo through the trees. Light isn’t the only thing irradiating off it however, I feel the specks of mana wash over me like sprinkling rain. They don’t call it the sun in this world.
It’s called the source-
I look directly at it with my single eye. It doesn’t hurt at all since my durability is so high!
I turn back and keep walking with Eva in a seemingly random direction, except it isn’t random. We have a plan on what we're going to do next. The goal is to achieve one thing. Freedom!
Eva wants to, unsurprisingly, escape from the Zeta Empire and we’re heading to the Holy Kingdom of Soteria. I didn’t really get why at first, but after she explained it to me, it made sense.
She explained the whole thing about the potential heirs and all that. Right now since she is a potential heir, Eva has some degree of autonomy, but if they found out that her life-span had shortened to such an extent, she would most definitely be enslaved for the rest of her life.
They don’t know that her life-span is greatly reduced or even if she is still alive from the expedition which will work greatly in our favor. The hope is that Eva simply disappears in the expedition and any elves sent after her would have to investigate the entire dungeon and find that there is no body, which is unlikely.
The one that was supposed to keep track of her was Toulif and since he is dead, anyone looking for her would have a very difficult time.
Despite everything working in our favor to fake Eva’s death, she still wants to get off the continent entirely. I agree that’s our best course of action, but there is a problem with it.
Eva doesn’t have much time left.
She only has a decade left to live and the journey between continents takes years. Apparently in this world the distance between continents is absolutely massive, to the extent that it doesn’t make sense. So we can’t leave the continent, not if Eva wants to live the rest of her life on a boat.
Fortunately, I came up with a solution.
“We need to extend your life-span.”
Eva scoffs, “And how do you suppose we do that?”
“Good… Question…”
Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. If there was an easy method to extend life-span, immortality would be commonplace. Still though, it should be possible right? We’re in a world full of magic and crap, and if the rumor about the zetan emperor being over 2000 years old is true, then there has to be a way around aging at least.
“Hey Eva, is it true that the emperor has lived for over 2000 years?”
Eva tilt’s her head before checking our flanks. She then turns back to me and says, “Yes, but I wouldn’t call that thing ‘living’.”
“Oh? What do you mean by ‘thing’?”
“I’d… Rather not talk about it.”
I frown at that. It definitely doesn’t seem that whatever method they used to keep the emperor alive for so long is pleasant. So that’s out.
I look up through the treetops as I think about what to do. Anything that could maybe give more life to Eva. And I thought about it for a long time as the day quickly passed on our walk through the forest.
We found a spot to camp out for the night next to a large boulder with moss growing over it. Eva effortlessly jumped over two dozen feet and landed lightly on top of a tree branch to pick a fruit. It caught me off guard.
I nearly forgot that, even though she didn’t fight directly in combat, Eva was still level 51. The physical abilities of anyone that level would be absurd, no matter where they distributed their stat points.
Eva chucked a fruit at me without warning, but I still caught it easily. It looked like a peach if someone colored over the whole thing with blue highlighter.
(Abominable Berry)
This is a fucking berry! Why is it abominable?!
“Uhh… Eva, is this safe to eat?”
Eva jumps down and barely bends her knees to soften the impact with the ground. She steps towards me while tossing the berry between her hands. “Was eating the Abominable Moles safe?”
I blink at her, “Good point.”
I guess it was kinda stupid of me to just start eating monsters without a care in the world, but it was either that or starving. Eva starts eating the berry and I follow suit after I finish gathering firewood.
“Mhh. Tastes like- a sort of sweet coffee. Strange. Why is it abominable though?”
Eva flicks her wrist, sending a small sputtering of fire into the bundle of sticks I gathered and it lit ablaze. She yawns as she grabs another stick to stoke the flames so they don’t immediately go out. “It’s the curse that Soteria supposedly put on this land when she reached apotheosis.”
I lean my back against the boulder as I listen to the elf woman. “A curse?”
“Yes. She cursed this land to turn any creature within it into abominations. They say if you stay here long enough, you will slowly be turned into a monster, simply because Soteria didn’t want anyone to follow her into godhood. In her selfishness, she condemned her own home. That’s what I was taught at least.”
I tilt my head, “That doesn’t sound…”
“Right? I know. Regular animals were turning into monsters because of a literal fucking demon king was trapped beneath the ancient city.” Eva sighs, “Now with him gone, maybe this place will become livable again.”
Eva tilts her head towards the fire and I look down at the ground. Abatu The Abomination was the most terrifying being I encountered so far. He nearly killed Eva, he actually killed me! I’m still a little confused on how I’m still alive right now.
I replay the events of that night in my head. The way he made Gent vanish. The sound it made when he broke Toulif’s neck. That stupid game of house he forced us into. I grin as I glance at Eva who played as my mother for that short period of time. Okay, maybe that game was a little fun in retrospect.
Toulif was my dad and Geltor was just a straight up dog. Now that was funny. The horrifying demon king, Abatu, was my brother…
Wait, he called me sister even after we played house. No, he even directly mentioned Bogodhan.
Abatu was a Monk?
My eye widens as I finally made the obvious connection. How did I miss that?! It was right in front of my face! Will I be able to do those kinds of things when I reach his level?
He was able to manipulate the souls of others easily. Abatu had created an entirely new world with his soul. He survived in that cube for 2000 years.
“How long do demons normally live Eva?”
Eva’s head jolts up from almost falling asleep, “Hum, yes.” She takes her mask off to rub her eyes. “Depends on the race of demons, but usually a few hundred years or so.”
Interesting- “Alright, don’t worry Eva, you can sleep, I’ll take the first shift.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
She sighs tiredly, “Yes, okay.”
Eva puts her mask back on and lays down next to the campfire. Don’t worry Eva, the solution was sitting in front of us the entire time. I’ll do everything I can to save your life, as you did mine.
But to do that, we’re going to have to find more Monks-
---
The night was uneventful.
Throughout the course of the night I realized something about my abilities, specifically about the soul-weapons I make. The Terrifying Presence class skill applies to them as well.
Anyone who sees the Dark Soul-SledgeTM strapped to my back would freeze up the first time they saw it. Having a weapon made from a demonic soul hanging out and about seems like a bad idea too, so I decided to use the cloth of my armour to wrap the soul-sledge completely to hide it from view.
After I woke Eva up so I could go to sleep, I showed it to her and it worked at stopping the effects of Terrifying Presence. She said that it still made her slightly uncomfortable looking at it however, but I think I can live with that.
After I woke up, we continued walking towards the Holy Kingdom of Soteria, the air being considerably dryer today, and trees have slowly become more crowded as we moved through them.
Honestly, the slow walk through the woods seems quite peaceful. I shift my gaze to Eva and I look at her for a moment. Her silver hair flowing listlessly past her ears and the way she holds her wrist in front of her with her other hand. Eva tilts her head as if she is always in deep thought about something.
I get lost in my thoughts for a moment, but suddenly Eva reaches out and grabs my arm, “Tiff-”
I feel my face go beat red from the sudden excitement, but she yanks me to the side and I feel something fly by me. I snap out of it and I turn to look at what it was that almost hit me. The smell reaches me before I see it.
I scowl, “Who’s throwing shit?!”
Leaves start falling as the trees shake. Shadows of some sorts of creatures fall around us. I look up to see the bastard that threw shit at me.
A large humanoid creature covered in black fur and beady red eyes are haphazardly placed around its chest. The face is blank except for a fang filled mouth. It hangs upside down from a tree branch with two black tails. It holds onto its leg with its left arm and has two arms on its right side, one scratching its face, the other scratching its junk.
(Abonimable Chimp / level 29)
I grab the sledgehammer from my back and immediately throw it at the disgusting monster. The monkey shrieks and swings out of the way before the hammer reaches it. Once I realized I missed, I pulled the hammer back to me with Magical Aura Manipulation.
“Woo- whoo- WhaAA, AAAH!”
The trees start shaking as other chimps jump around the branches surrounding us.
(Abonimable Chimp / level 27)
(Abonimable Chimp / level 31)
(Abonimable Chimp / level 32)
---
(Abonimable Chimp / level 29)
I can’t believe I let them get this close. I focus on Magical Aura Perception as their souls appear all around me. Their souls are small for their level and burn with an orange flame.
I grimace as they start throwing more excrement at us. I create a wide soul-shield to block the monkeys' gross attacks. A shield of that size took about 20% of my mana to create.
Summon’s Sense (2/3)
I swing the shield in front of Eva with Magical Aura Manipulation, just barely blocking the monkey's projectiles.
“Alright! Time to start getting rid of these fuckers!-”
I Instant Position behind one of the Abominable Chimps, leaving the black flaming shield with Eva. I swing with the soul-sledge at the back of its head and its brain matter splatters against the tree. Its tails unfurl around the branch then falls to the ground with a thud.
You have slain a (Abominable Chimp / level 29)
-
Less experience rewarded
The monkeys that were assaulting us suddenly became quiet. They look down at the dead chimp with shock in their souls. Witch obviously turns into rage as they start shrieking at the top of their lungs.
I grin as I land on top of the tree branch and manifest my aura to activate Titanic Presence.
The Abominable Chimps are so enraged that they completely ignore Terrifying Presence and charge straight at me. One of the chimps bursts into flames as it is launched at me with a boost of sudden speed.
It closes the distance incredibly fast, but I blow Frost Breath at it and the flames get extinguished. The beady eyes on its chest blinked at me as it slowed down at the worst possible time for it.
It stops in mid-air directly in front of me-
I headbutt the monster as hard as I can and its head caves into its chest. The chimp is sent careening into the ground with a splat. The other monkeys continued directly at me, even more enraged by their comrades' death. Not a hint of fear in their shrieks. I drop my hammer-
I’m gonna make them regret not fearing me.
My face breaks into an unhinged grin as the next monkey reaches me. I grab onto its arm as it swings and I jump off the branch, causing it to explode, and drag the chimp with me through the air.
I feel the Abominable Chimps arm break as I swing it at another monkey. They crash into each other and I let go to send them flying into another tree. Their impact causes the tree to explode from the force.
Another chimp gets behind me, but I pull on my soul-sledge with Magical Aura Manipulation. The hammer slams into the side of the monkey and blood bursts from its mouth. It launched high into the air from the impact.
One of the monkeys grabs onto my wrist and swings with a flat hand towards my neck. Its fingers shatter against my throat as I manipulate my aura to block it. Finally, for the first time since the battle began I felt fear coming from a chimp.
It lets go of my arm, but I grab its wrist before it could pull away. I extend a tendril of black soulfire from the remains of my right arm. I wrap it around the chimps neck and it starts screeching as the fire starts to burn away its flesh.
The other Abominable Chimps stop as they watch me torture their comrade. I start by ripping off its arm. I inject flaming soul spikes into its eyes as all the souls around look at me with terror filling them.
I deactivate Titanic Presence as I finish disemboweling the monster.
The other monkeys stayed frozen staring at me. Some of them were shaking while others began slowly stepping back. All at once, the Abominable Chimps start running away from me in all directions.
Unfortunately for them, I just finished maxing out Excessive Momentum-
---
You have slain a (Abominable Chimp / level 27)
-
Very little experience rewarded
---
You have slain a (Abominable Chimp / level 32)
-
Less experience rewarded
(Excessive Momentum) has leveled up! (5 → 6)
(Terrifying Presence) has leveled up! (3 → 4)
“Aww, I didn’t level up!”
I was really hoping that this would get me to level 50. Getting my skills to level up is nice though. I guess I shouldn’t expect creatures nearly twenty levels under me to give much experience.
I noticed that after killing four or five creatures at the same level is usually enough for a single level up. The higher level the creature is compared to me the more experience I get. Experience is kinda finicky though, I’m not sure about all the factors that go into it.
Eva sighs as she looks around at the carnage I created, “That was a bit much.”
“Hey, at least you didn’t faint this time!”
“I’m not sure if getting even further desensitized is a good thing.”
I grin at her behind my mask, “Just be glad you didn’t get hit by their… Um, projectiles.”
Me and Eva start talking about inane topics, but I stop mid sentence and swivel my head in the direction we were walking. Now more wary from my previous mistake, my Magical Aura Perception picked up two souls traveling towards us.
One of the souls is a metallic blue ball of sparking electricity, and the other is a dark green ball of flames similar to the roaches but distinctly different.
“Eva, somethings coming.”
Eva snaps to attention as she looks the same way I am. I pull my dark soul-sledge to me and ready myself.
Two figures step out behind a tree in the far distance. The blue soul reveals a Petite girl wearing a grey pointed wizards hat and robes. The green soul sits in a tall man with a dark green hood covering light leather armour and circular glasses sit loosely on his nose.
(Wizard / level 46)
(Hunter / level 54)
Humans-
