Free Web NovelChapter 19: Blood Crazy
The party moved forward without resting. Killing four Steel Wolves was only a warmup for them. For Nuri, however, it was anything but.
He didn’t show it, but those two perfect kills had taken an insane amount of concentration, which drained his stamina quickly.
’Balance and XP.’
[Balance: 950 LC]
[XP: 108/1000]
’Hm. Not bad! I need around... 70 kills? Dang, my math skills are trash.’
Nuri lamented.
In any case, there was a serious problem Nuri had to reflect on: he could not freely use Rosaria’s Blessing out in the open because Rosaria was considered an Outer God, a divinity outside the Pantheon.
As the Labyrinth’s status window showed, the Labyrinth was what allowed the gods to grant mortals Blessings. Those blessed by the gods of the Pantheon were called Protégés, and they would be given Blessings alongside their Imprints.
The masses were taught that receiving an Outer God’s blessing was the greatest sin of all. It even had a name — Defiled. Unlike Protégés, who were revered by the people, a Defiled’s only path in life was death.
Outer Gods were essentially seen as demons. If you were blessed by them, you were considered possessed and Defiled, and torture was the only exorcism.
And yes, there were many Outer Gods besides Rosaria, but she was a special case. Though she refused to tell him her origins, Nuri could tell she was different. Between reincarnating him and being stuck in purgatory for some unknown reason, she felt like far more than she let on.
For example, Rosaria possessed extreme hostility towards the Pantheon. Again, she never told him why, but he suspected it was one of the reasons he got reincarnated into this oppressed world.
The most damning evidence, however, was the name registered under the Patron category of the status window.
Patron: <Unknown>
Even Outer Gods were recognized by the Labyrinth and named, but Rosaria? Unknown. He knew asking her was pointless because she always refused to answer.
Anyway, what mattered was Nuri and this family. When Diana sang a prayer in the Pantheon’s name, he knew they were at least followers of these imitators.
If they saw a boy, still wet behind the ears, summoning creatures at will, rest assured their friendly attitude would turn one-eighty into fear and disgust.
To his knowledge, there were no Essences that allowed someone to summon minions. It might exist among higher-Star Essences, but information asymmetry was a pain in the ass, and Nuri had introduced himself as a First Constellation. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
He could pretend to be sponsored by one of the gods whose domains touched on death, but he didn’t want to risk word spreading. That could invite all sorts of trouble: the Investigative Unit, the Explorer Guild, and the Inquisitors.
Even thinking about running that gauntlet made his skin crawl.
Also, a god couldn’t grant sponsorships inside the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth blocked the gods’ eyes and ears — except for Rosaria, who lived inside Nuri’s soul, of course.
Everyone was a mundane human until the Labyrinth registered them as an Explorer. Even gods couldn’t bestow their Blessings on anyone the Labyrinth hadn’t recorded.
He had already told the family it was his first exploration, so that excuse wouldn’t work.
So until Nuri could hunt solo in the Labyrinth, where the gods’ eyes and ears couldn’t follow, he had to accept that he couldn’t use his Painted.
He sighed quietly and let the thought settle. For now, Kiki would have to stay in her frame, and he would fight like any other Level 1 swordsman with a single Imprint.
’Wait... I don’t need to hide that I have two Imprints.’
The path ahead had narrowed again, and the pearls overhead were spaced wider apart.
Then, a low growl rolled out somewhere ahead. Murray raised a fist, and the party halted. freёweɓnovel.com
"Two more," he murmured. "Or three. Hard to tell."
Hugo shifted his shield forward.
"Same drill."
Diana glanced back at Nuri and gave him a reassuring nod.
He nodded back at Diana and slid past her to take his spot beside Hugo. Hugo adjusted his shield to make room without looking.
Three pairs of yellow eyes appeared from the dark ahead, padding forward at a low, hunting trot.
"Three," Murray confirmed under his breath. "You two know what to do. Diana, light them up."
With the terrain much narrower than the previous chamber, the situation was more controlled. Diana sent a fireball flying at the glowing eyes, and it exploded on impact.
Fire roared through the passage and lit it up in a hot orange flash. One of the wolves yelped sharply and dropped in a smoking heap.
The other two burst from the smoke at a dead run, eyes wild as their fur scorched.
"Two coming," Hugo grunted, planting his shield.
Just as he was about to unleash the wave of energy, a hand landed on his shield.
"Hugo," Nuri spoke softly. "I’ll deal with them."
"Huh?"
Nuri didn’t give Hugo or the couple a chance to question his stupid decision. He wanted to test his capabilities. What could he achieve by hiding behind veterans?
The wolves closed the gap. Nuri set his stance, then triggered the second Imprint he hadn’t shown the party.
[Skitter Lunge]
His body burst forward in a low dash, blade swinging with the motion. The lead wolf was still striding forward when the edge caught its throat, spraying blood across the passage as its body crumpled beneath his step.
The dash carried him straight into the second wolf, and the blade struck its shoulder.
"Shit."
The impact rang up his arms with a hard, sickening jolt. The edge skidded across the steel hide with a grating screech and bit no deeper than scratch.
The wolf snapped its head around and clamped its jaws on his off-hand wrist.
"Nuri!" Diana screamed in horror.
Pain overwhelmed Nuri’s mind. It drowned out what they had to say.
But he wasn’t afraid in the slightest.
With his bitten hand, he clamped down on its snout. If that damned wolf wanted to escape, it would have to bite his hand off clean!
The wolf struggled to break free from this crazy man. It was too late to turn back, anyway.
Nuri drove the blade up into the wolf’s eye, sinking deep until the tip reached the inside of its skull. The body convulsed once, then went slack.
"Phew!"
He yanked his bleeding arm free and saw that notifications had popped up.
[Your party has slain three Steel Wolves (1★).]
[XP +36]
