Chapter 79-

Elric stumbled his way to the waiting hall, wheezing and coughing as he clutched his side.

“Damn that bastard.” Elric muttered as he coughed up some blood. “Making me look like a fool… with that petty trick.”

He looked at the wound that Tim left on him. Thanks to the healing properties in the elixirs that he drank, the wound had closed. But he felt the wound in his lung was taking longer to heal, resulting in him constantly coughing up the blood that was leaking into his lung. He may be closer to his original strength, but this wound was making him dizzy and weak from the amount of blood that he lost.

“Why does everyone have to look down on me?” Elric muttered. “No matter how strong I get, I keep finding fools that look down on me. Just like my old life.”

*Crack!

Elric slammed his large fist against the wall, blowing a hole through it and nearly caving in the room behind it. The surrounding area rumbled from the blow. He then noticed a few members of the cultists rush up to him when they saw the state he was in.

“Where are the others?” One of them asked.

“Dead.” Elric said as he shoved the man aside. “Those idiots got themselves killed.”

The man that was shoved noticed the wound on Elric’s side. But he also noticed that the skin around the wound was starting to turn purple.

“You've consumed almost three times your daily limit of the elixir! You have any idea what you’re doing?!” The man asked.

Annoyed, Elric grabbed the man by the neck and brought him close to his face.

“I drank them because I needed them. Blame your friends for getting themselves killed.” Elric said, hand tightly gripped around the man’s neck.

“P-Please.” The man said, choking from the grip. “F-Forgive… me.”

For a moment Elric’s vision pulsed red as he saw a glimpse of himself from long ago. When his vision returned to normal, he saw that he was holding the man’s broken neck in his hand. He then tossed the man’s body to the side as he looked at the next cult member.

“What’s so special about this ritual?” Elric asked as he approached him. “I’ve been in the dark for so long about what you guys are doing.”

“It’s what we agreed on, remember?” The man said as he took steps back. “You provide the muscle and protection for our ritual. In exchange for your services, we provide you elixirs to mend your damaged body and freedom to let loose in the tournament.”

“I’ve taken wounds for you all and I have drunk those elixirs you’ve told me to drink.” Elric said as he pointed to the scar on his side. “But I don’t feel fully healed as you all promised and I realized that I don’t know what your main goal is. Why keep these people alive and how will this ritual of yours fix my damaged body?”

He then grabbed the man by his head, nearly crushing it.

“If I could tolerate the pain of a damaged body and the appearance of Frankenstein’s monster, then why should you act like your ritual is more important as you sit here muttering your chants?” Elric asked as he looked at something past the man. “What’s stopping me from smashing that thing if I don’t get answers?”

Behind him in the middle of the arena, there was a large shattered green crystal being held together with magic and pulsating with a sickly gray glow. Cultists surrounding it chanting, guarded by dozens and dozens of Devil Lovers. Hearing this, a few nearby cultists looked like they were readying to rush in. But one cultist who was overlooking the others stopped them.

“Don’t! He is right to be concerned when we don’t give him all the info.” The man said as he approached Elric. “When this is all over, a few elixirs and men would be a small price to pay. Those fools would be idiots for getting themselves killed before the ritual was complete.”

He then pulled his hood back, revealing a face that looked too clean and of someone that would be the last person to find in this place. The man had a calm and empathetic look, brushed back hair, an old book that he was holding obsessively, and a uniform that signaled that he was a higher rank than the others.

“Who the hell are you?” Elric asked.

“Nobody of importance compared to you.” The man said with a bow as he held out a handkerchief. “But you may call me whatever you like.”

Noticing that he had some of the previous guy’s blood on him, Elric tossed the guy he was holding aside and accepted the handkerchief.

“Whatever, I don’t care.” Elric said as he wiped most of the blood off. “I want answers, and I want my wounds treated so I could have my revenge on the one that gave them to me. So, tell me what that rock and these prisoners have to do with it?”

Laid out around the arena were contestants and members of the arena staff, whose hands and feet bound together. Some of them were dead near the Terra Shard and it looked like their blood was pooling around it as if the cult was watering it like a plant.

“You’ve felt it before, right? That feeling that you got when you snapped that man’s neck and those you’ve killed recently.” The man explained. “How inflicting pain and wounds onto others gets rid of the pain?”

While it was concerning that he killed that man without realizing it, he felt that some of the pain faded when he did. In fact, it made him feel a tiny bit stronger. If killing one person helped alleviate his pain, then what would happen if he killed a whole bunch more?

“What about it?” Elric asked.

“Because you have been selected to have our lord’s blessing. With him, pain and wounds are the last thing you need to worry about.” The man said as he opened his book. “He’ll grant you your strength and more, as long as you fulfill your duty with this ritual of ours.”

“I’m assuming it has something to do with that large rock?” Elric said as he looked at the Terra Shard.

“That is correct.” The man said as he flipped to a page in his book. “It's because we’re near a site where we believe a strong power resides. But that power is trapped in a location that nobody knows and we wish to collect this power in the name of our soon to arise lord. But as you see…”

He gestures towards the many dead bodies leaking blood around the ritual and the many people that’re still bound. He then showed a page in the old book to Elric. It looked to be written in something that was most likely not red ink or fruit punch. It was an image of people kneeling towards a strange crystal and bleeding in a prayer position.

“Our means of finding and acquiring it involves performing a certain ritual with this shard. But that ritual needs the essence of life.” He explains as he showed the image of a man bleeding in front of the crystal. “It’s said that one must offer the essence of life in front of the crystal that lies hidden beneath the earth. It also said that one must suffer many great wounds to accomplish such a thing. So when we find you in your state, we believe that you are the one that must lead us to our goal. So you see, we couldn’t heal all your wounds because we want you to be that man we need.”

Elric couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He felt both confusion and disbelief, but also a sudden feeling of joy. He believes that he might fulfill some great purpose and that his life might lead to something far greater than his current situation.

‘Then was my pain in my previous life and this one leading me to this purpose?’ Elric thought to himself as he remembered his encounter with an angel.

After his early death, Elric found himself crying in the corner of some paradise. A woman sat with him and offered for him to be sent to a new life with a gift. Wanting a better life, he chose the Godly Strength gift thinking that he could be like Hercules and help people. But ever since he came to this world, he was only met with fear and a hunger that returns every hour.

He couldn’t make a living using his strength for a pay that doesn’t cover his hunger. He heard that those who chose the same gift as him lived isolated in a mountain. He refused to live like that, so he chose to hunt in the wilds and to use his power to live as free as he wanted. This involved taking what he wanted from passing by merchants, hunting many monsters as if he was living a video game, and killing those that threatened to mess with his new life.

But his encounter with that swordsman changed everything and left him feeling as helpless as his old life. So, if this ritual would give him the strength to kill that man and anyone who threatened this new life of his, he doesn’t care how many others have to die in the process.

“Finish your damn ritual or whatever! I need to rest a moment before any more annoyances come our way!” Elric said as he walked to the side.

He passed by the many prisoners, uncaring how most of them weren’t humans from his old world. But the few Travelers that he did saw cursed at him for working with such people. He smiled as he ignored their words, knowing that he’ll live a life better than them soon. Many of them had already lost the will to fight after seeing so many of them massacred, while some were waiting and hoping for an opportunity for them to fight back.

Whatever opportunity that the hopeful ones were waiting for, it needed to happen soon. Because in the center of the arena, the gray light on the large shattered green crystal was glowing brighter the longer this ritual was taking place. The cultists surrounding it chanted as more blood was being added, guarded by dozens and dozens of Devil Lovers. Some being old friends of some of the still alive contestants. Who knows how long the remaining contestants have until the cultists finish whatever they’re working on.

*****

Toshio and Bob rushed into a room where they saw many cultists were lying dead on the ground with their heads chopped off. He looked around and saw traces of a fight that had taken place there.

“Looks like this is where Tim and that hill giant fought each other.” Toshio said as he walked past the dead bodies. “I hate seeing dead people.”

Bob glared at Toshio after he said that.

“Other than you.” Toshio said as he inspected a strange trail of blood.

The blood on the floor showed signs of someone being dragged off to the side. Toshio followed the trail to another headless corpse. Beside the corpse was a torn open satchel and some empty shattered bottles.

“Looks like someone looted this guy and drank everything inside his bag.” Toshio said as he picked up one of the bottles.

Inside the bottle was just a small amount of a purple liquid that had been left. It looked like it was enough for a single swig.

“Guess this is that elixir that Adleth and Nagishi were talking about.” Toshio said as he swirled the liquid.

Toshio sniffed the liquid and made a disgusted face as it smelled like the combination of cheap perfume, vomit, and sulfur.

“Please don’t sniff, taste, or put that anywhere near your mouth.” Bob said as he looked at Toshio.

“Why does every potion or medicine that I’ve come across taste or smell awful?” Toshio said as he corked the bottle and stored it in his inventory. “This smells like a gas station bathroom.”

“Did you expect it to smell like fruit juice? Or maybe one of those soft drinks back in your old world?” Bob said with a look that Toshio could tell was mocking. “That elf did say that they used devil blood in it. What else did you expect?”

“Shut up or I’ll make you possess this headless corpse.” Toshio said as he looked at the item’s description.

When Toshio clicked the item to open up its description, he was greeted with a loading screen.

[Loading…(5%)]

He waited for it to finish loading.

[Loading…(40%)]

Toshio tapped the screen a few times as it was taking a while to load the information.

[Loading…(88%)]

Toshio was now tapping his feet as two minutes had gone by.

[Loading…(99%)]

“Is it me or is my system acting slow?” Toshio asked as he tapped the screen again.

Then finally the description popped up.

*Ping!

[Elixir of Demonic Essence(1 dosage): This elixir was made by mixing Elixirs of the Archmage with large doses of demonic blood of an Archdemon. Drinking this grant you a 20% health and Mana regeneration, 20% strength boost, and a 20% damage resistance for 1 hour. Effects could be stacked ten times, but not the time.]

[Side Effects(Per dosage): -2% Wisdom and Intelligence, and +2% aggression.]

“I could now see why they said that this stuff was dangerous. Its benefits are impressive, but the side effect sounds problematic if ignored.” Toshio said as he reread the description again. “This probably explains why that hill giant was acting like that.”

Then Toshio saw that there was a warning under the description.

[Warning: The more you drink this elixir, the weaker your mind gets and the more your soul gets connected to the Lord of Slaughter, Siluurzuzal. Additionally, if you go over ten dosages you gain a 5% chance to suffer a heart attack.]

Toshio then remembered Adleth’s words about the corrupted elixirs.

“This turned a remarkable breakthrough of medicine into a drug that creates monsters who eventually goes on berserk rampages if they take too much. And it certainly sounded like that hill giant was taking too much.”

Toshio did the quick math in his head as he multiplied the number of doses in each bottle and the number of empty bottles that were on the floor. Toshio doesn’t know the exact amount of dosages this hill giant had drunk by now, but minus the one serving he acquired, Toshio counted eleven servings that were gone.

“That can’t be good.” Toshio said to Bob as he finished working out the math. “Even if that hill giant was at thirty percent of his max strength, this amount of the elixirs he drank would bring him close to his five thousand strength.”

“But only for an hour. Since he isn’t dead nearby, that means he didn’t have a heart attack from that eleventh dosage.” Bob said as he looked at the description.

“Wait…” Toshio asked as he pointed at the floating screen. “You could see this?”

“I am connected to you, so it’ll make sense that I could see your gift.” Bob explained.

Toshio then remembered that Alice was able to see his status window sometime after he entered the world.

‘Does that mean Alice is connected to me?’ Toshio thought to himself.

His thoughts were cut short when he heard the sounds of many footsteps approaching. Toshio saw three cultists leading a large group of people. Toshio was horrified to see that the people behind them were other competitors that were now acting like devil lovers. Some of them were acting fidgety and groaning like freshly made zombies. The three cultists in the front saw Toshio and Bob standing near a dozen headless cultists.

“They killed our brethren!” One of them shouted. “Get em!”

The hoard of the freshly made devil lovers ran towards Toshio and Bob. Bob was about to fight them, but Toshio grabbed him and shoved him past the large door behind him.

“Nope!” Toshio shouted.

Toshio then backed up past the doorway and channeled a large amount of his own mana with a combination of earth mana into a rune that he placed on the wall. This caused the surrounding stone to create a combination of pillars and chunks of stone to create a seven-foot-thick barricade of stone to block the door.

[MP: 762/4,803]

Toshio could hear orders being called out and the sound of the devil lovers clawing and slamming their fists against the wall from the other side.

“Could you stop wasting your mana to avoid fights.” Bob said angrily to Toshio.

“We’re not hurting those guys.” Toshio replied. “They might be devil lovers now, but it looked like they were turned that way recently. There might be a way to get them to their old selves if we stop these guys? But for now, let's get far away from here before they manage to break through that.”

The two started running to get far away from the barricade.

“So are you going to waste all your mana just before our big fight with the juiced-up hill giant?” Bob asked.

The closer they get to the waiting hall, the louder the sound of combat gets.

“It might sound crazy, but I have a rough idea on how to deal with this guy.” Toshio said to Bob.

“You’re right, it does sound crazy.” Bob replied.

“Just listen.” Toshio angrily said to him. “Here’s my idea.”

*****

Running through the hallways Zarele was making her way to the waiting hall, avoiding patrolling cultists and hiding her coughs whenever she felt the urge to. Her condition seemed to worsen the more she had to fight, so she had to avoid fighting any cultist or devil lover she came across.

‘This is so stupid. Why am I even doing this alone?’ Zarele thought to herself when she had a few close calls.

This was her second time getting into danger ever since Toshio joined her party. She was used to simple delivery jobs, gathering requests, and exploring jobs for the guild. But now she found herself delving into danger to help a friend. Zarele hid behind a large planter when she heard footsteps getting close to her location.

A few seconds later, a small group of devil lovers ran past down the hall. Zarele breathed a sigh of relief when the footsteps got further away. But this was to trick someone else. Zarele grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it behind her. The moment she heard it pelt something midair, Zarele immediately kicked off the planter to tackle the invisible person behind her.

The two of them fell on the ground and Zarele pinned the person, elbow to their throat and readying to punch the person. But she stopped when she saw who it was.

“I’m impressed that you noticed me.” Adleth said as she looked up at Zarele.

“You!” Zarele angrily whispered.

Zarele got off of Adleth, who sat up as she rubbed her throat.

“That was pretty rude of you. You do this with all your friends or am I special?” Adleth said as she dusted off the dirt Zarele threw at her.

“You aren’t my friend, b*tch!” Zarele snapped. “Especially after threatening to kill me and my friends.”

“I’m not surprised that the guys told you about that.” Adleth replied with a shrug. “Can’t blame them.”

“What the hell do you want?” Zarele said, then noticed Adleth’s condition. “Also why do you look like you lost a fight to a landslide.”

“I’ve had a day.” Adleth replied as she stuck out her tongue towards Zarele. “Unlike you playing around in silly tournaments, I’ve been busy with work.”

“Oh really? What kind of work? Hide and let this place get attacked.” Zarele asked. “I thought you were supposed to stop things like this from happening?”

Adleth got annoyed with Zarele’s attitude. She was about to say something, but got interrupted by Zarele’s sudden coughing.

“Ew. Don’t get our sick germs on me.” Adleth said as she took a step back from Zarele.

Adleth then noticed some blood that was coughed onto Zarele’s hand. She noticed it before Zarele hid it.

“This isn’t a normal human sickness, is it?” Adleth asked, before noticing a familiar scent and a glimpse of a tiny piece of a herb that was stuck in Zarele’s teeth.

“None of your business.” Zarele said as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

Adleth ran the info in her mind and in just a few seconds, she realized what Zarele was.

“You’re Ravii’shu, aren’t you?” Adleth said with a grin. “And Lura has been helping you with your people’s curse?”

The moment she said that, Zarele immediately went for a punch. But Adleth easily caught her fist.

“Guess I was right.” Adleth said. “What is one of you doing in a place like this?”

“Shut your f*cking mouth, b*tch.” Zarele said with a snarl.

But Zarele fell back to her knees and started coughing and wheezing.

“I see your people’s attitude hasn’t changed.” Adleth said as she crouched next to her. “You do know that the more you fight, the more your curse kills you, right?”

“It’s not a curse.” Zarele said. “It’s not going to kill me.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Adleth said as she patted her back. “You’re the one fighting in a place like this in your condition.”

Adleth then grabbed Zarele’s chin and took a moment to observe her.

“Your breath smells like the All Cure, but why isn’t your condition lessening?” Adleth asked. “Was it because you took a small amount?”

Zarele shoved Adleth away and stood up.

“None of your business.” Zarele said as she slapped the sides of her own face to regain focus. “Unlike you, I need to help my friend. So piss off and bother someone else.”

Zarele was about to run down a hallway, but got yanked back by her ponytail.

“H-Hey!”

“Don’t go that way.” Adleth said to her. “I came from that path and it’s where most of the danger is at. Some highly skilled adventurers are on their way. So you’ll be better off helping the people at the medical hall until they get here.”

Zarele felt a rush of anger when Adleth said that. Adleth suddenly felt a chill, then a blur as she felt something strike her from under her jaw.

*Pow!

Adleth stumbled and fell on her back. When she looked up, she saw Zarele lowering her foot and staring at her with the look of pure hatred. Another thing she noticed were the pink, blue, and green glowing markings around her wrists and neck.

“I don’t need you or those adventurer’s help! In case you forgot, you threatened to kill us not too long ago!” Zarele said angrily, while keeping her voice down. “So I don’t need you giving me advice! So let me go help him deal with that, so you could buzz off and leave us alone!”

Zarele then stormed off down the hallway towards the arena, leaving Adleth there. Adleth rubbed her jaw and poked around her teeth with her tongue to look for any serious damage. She slightly bit the inside of her cheeks a bit and would definitely get a bruise from the strike.

‘You could’ve crushed my windpipe if you aimed a bit lower. But you knew that, so you settled for my jaw.’ Adleth said to herself. ‘Those markings, that deadly aim, that chilling feeling I felt. There’s no doubt about it.’

She then let out a sigh of pure bliss.

‘Maybe this job won't suck as much as I thought it would?’ Adleth thought to herself as she stood up and dusted herself off. ‘I’m just finding so many interesting people here.’

*****

Down in the tunnels underneath the coliseum, one cultist was walking through the darkness with only a lantern to light his path. Following behind him was only one devil lover. The devil lover was a former competitor in the tournament, now serving as a puppet due to the piece of succubus leather in the cultist’s pocket.

“Stupid idiots. Making me look for people trying to sneak in or out. Not like anyone could see sh*t down here.” The man angrily muttered to himself. “Didn’t even give me a decent amount of devil lovers to protect myself with.”

The man was arguing with the mindless devil lover as if he was listening. But when they walked around a corner, a spear pierced through the cultist’s throat.

“Ack!”

The devil lover was about to attack the person holding the spear, but immediately stiffened and collapsed on the floor. Standing behind the unconscious devil lover was Nagishi.

“I thought we were just knocking them out?” Nagishi asked.

“The devil lover, yes. But I don’t enjoy the thought of this guy having the chance to walk away from this after the sh*t he and his group have done.” Thomas said as he twisted the spear, finishing the cultist off.

Elisa took out the piece of succubus leather from the cultist’s pocket and used her white flame to remove its evil energy. To the others it looked like it started releasing smoke as it withered in her hand, turning into dust.

“That looks like a useful skill. Are we in the presence of a holy lady?” Thomas asked.

“Not really. I’m striving to become a royal knight.” Elisa said as she dusted her hands off. “As long as you didn’t kill that guy, he’ll be fine now that the item is destroyed.”

“Princess’s vomit only kills small things like rats and rabbits.” Nagishi replied as he sat the unconscious man against the wall of the tunnel. “How much longer until we reach the equipment storage?”

“Not long. Just a little bit more walking.” Thomas replied.

As Nagishi and Elisa were following Thomas, Nagishi felt creeped out by the fact that they were traveling in darkness and having a gentle gust of air blow past them. The only light they get are from the few grates that they pass by.

“... You know in most stories, this would be a perfect time for a killer or monster to jump out and attack.” Nagishi said to Elisa.

“This is the worst time to talk about such things.” Elisa said as she stepped away from Nagishi.

“I’m just saying that it’s a dark creepy tunnel, there’s been death recently, and we’re following an old guy that’s holding a blood covered spear.”

Thomas stopped the two and pulled out the keys that they were given. There wasn’t any sign of a door until Thomas pulled a brick out of the wall, revealing a lock. After using the keys, he pushed the wall to reveal that it was a door. Behind the door was a large room filled with crates and equipment.

“Wow.” Nagishi said as he looked at the equipment on the shelves and walls.

The room looked like it had enough weapons and gear to take down a small group. There’s spears that are a higher quality than what blacksmiths sell, four sets of armor that looked like they would protect the wearer from almost anything, special crossbows and arrows, blades sharpened to perfection, nets with steel wires woven in, capture equipment that looked to be enchanted, and a few of those light barrier shields. It was indeed everything they needed to take on a tough opponent.

“We could definitely fight back with these.” Nagishi said as he grabbed one of the special crossbows to inspect it.

*Bang!

The group was caught off guard by the sound of something hitting against a large metal door on the other side of the room. The sound of muffled voices could be heard on the other side.

“Looks like observing time is over kiddos.” Thomas said as he quickly started putting on one of the armors. “Grab as much as you can and get out. I don’t want to stay here to find out if they could break that door down.”

Nagishi and Elisa didn’t say anything as they also started putting on the armor and grabbing as much gear as they could. Nagishi had to take Princess out of her spot in his backpack to make room for the rest of the gear.

“Sorry girl, but I’m gonna have to find another safe spot to hide you until we’re done with bringing these items to help Toshio.” Nagishi said as he tucked Princess into his hood.

Thomas was about to ask about Princess, but decided against it as he grabbed a small crate and ran out of the room. Elisa shoved a few of the sharp weapons and spears into Nagishi’s bag, tearing a few holes in it in the process.

“H-Hey!” Nagishi said as he saw this.

“I’ll buy you a new one after this! Just go!” She shouted as she stuffed a few more things inside.

She was about to toss out a rolled up cloth with some strange metal objects inside. But Nagishi snatched it from her and tucked it under his arm. As soon as they left the room, Thomas shut the door and locked it behind them. They then ran as fast as they could, following Thomas down the tunnel.

“It feels like we’re running away from a robbery.” Nagishi said as he did his best to not drop any of the gear he took.

“It’s not stealing if we're using it to help your friend.” Thomas said with a chuckle. “But don’t let it slip that I helped you guys. My boss would probably fire me if he knew that I let you two take these items from his clients.”

“As long as you’re helping us, I won’t have a problem with breaking a few rules.” Nagishi said.

The three kept running until they found a spot to stop at to catch their breath. Thomas took this opportunity to check the items that they snatched.

“Three shields, four spears, four swords, six manacles, twelve pouches of crossbow bolts, three crossbows, two nets, twelve first aid kits, three sets of armor, and twelve bottles of capture foam.” Thomas muttered as he inspected them. “We got ourselves a good haul. You think it’s enough to help your friend?”

“It’ll have to do. I doubt we could go back for more.” Nagishi said as he attached two of the crossbow pouches to his belt. “I never expected this to be the moment to bring this out?”

Nagishi rolled out the cloth that he snatched from Elisa and started assembling his pipe rifle.

“What is that?” Elisa asked.

“This is what happens when you give someone like me two years and… a lot of time… between jobs.” Nagishi said as he tried to connect two parts together.

He had to use his full body weight to click them together.

“There you go.” Nagishi said as he started screwing everything together. “This is essentially a mini cannon based on the ones in my world. I don’t think it could stop a hill giant, but it could definitely be loud and annoying. Still up for helping us, Pops?”

“This was supposed to be my last tournament and delivery before my retirement.” Thomas explained. “I was gonna have one last thrill before going to the countryside. I could’ve died if you and your friend hadn’t shown up. I would be a coward to leave before paying that kindness back tenfold.”

*Boom!

The group heard the sound of a loud impact in the distance, followed by shouts and orders.

“That sounded like it came from the arena.” Elisa said to the others. “Did those adventurers arrive yet?”

“I don’t know? But we shouldn’t stay here asking stupid questions.” Nagishi said as he loaded his pipe rifle and heard that satisfying click. “Lets kick some butt.”

“Looks like I’ll be paying my kindness back sooner than expected.” Thomas said as he gathered his things.

The group quickly made their way towards the arena.

-----

AN: Sorry for the long time for an update. PC wasn't fireproof and it took a long while to get the new one. It was also difficult balancing work with writing for a while. Those still interested in reading this story, please bear with me as I do my best to finish this ark of the story.