14. Survived!!

"Did I die?" When Hilda realized she had two legs in addition to her two hands, that was the first thing that came to mind. "Or…"

[HP: 15.1/126]

The HP bar remained a ticking time bomb. Hilda had no sensation in her body, but she knew things were not looking good because of the steady decline in HP. The rate of decline had slowed, but it was still declining.

"He might have really given me an extra life." Hilda couldn't help but think of the elder God. 

Luckily, she has always had the habit of saving free points. The last few days were such shit that the idea of the free points never even occurred to her. If it weren't for this thing in her mind, she would have really died.

"It is not over yet." She reminded herself before noticing that something was wrong with her mental space. The inheritance circles were still there, but…

"Why is it so bright?" No matter how often she returned to her mental space to study, it was always dark. Now, it resembled the bright white room where she had met God. 

"Could it be a joke from that God?" She would have thought so unless she had noticed another mana circle at the corner of the mental space. Hilda couldn't see it clearly from a distance, as it constantly oozed white smoke like a thermal vent on a winter day.

"It is light mana." Moving closer, she felt like she was standing in bright sunlight. It was too bright, and it felt like it would give her a tan.

That wasn't all. Hilda also noticed that the mana circle was sucking her when she was closer to her. It wasn't sucking her; the rate of decreasing HP also increased when she was close to it.

"That thing…" The only thing she could think of was that it embodied the cruse in a mana circle. "What a shitty way to die!"

The mana circle was like a pump pumping light mana inside Hilda's body, which was affiliated with dark mana. It was like shoving peanut butter down the throat of someone with a peanut allergy. 

"Nah! It is a hundred times worse. The other beast of darkness would poop like a balloon the moment they did." Hilda paused momentarily, wondering, "Then why am I alive?"

There was not much lead she had. She was unconscious when it happened. Even if she was, when the prompts appeared in front of her eyes, she was not in a position to read them. 

"System!" Hilda shouted out loud. "Do you know why I survived?"

She was sure no one would answer. Still, she asked. After all, something suggested using the free points when she needed them most.

"Can you show me the last few notifications, at least?"

Still, there was yet to be a response. 

"Think, Hilda, think." Hilda couldn't wait for the system to rescue her again. "I should have died. Is it because I have no dark mana?"

As soon as the idea appeared, she denied the possibility. After all, if that were the case, her body shouldn't be decaying constantly.

"Yet, it is. And something is stopping it from doing so." Hilda had no problem understanding that it was the effect of the new skill.

[Light Healing (III)

Type: Passive

** Increase the natural body recovery by 40%.

** Increase body healing by 80% in the presence of light mana.

** Increase body healing by 200% in the presence of Primordial Light mana.]

Being in the body for so long, Hilda knew that Hyena's natural recovery was much faster. 

"Still, I couldn't stop my body from decaying…" It really stunned her. But what shocked Hilda most was that she could use a skill related to light mana.

[Hilda]

Age: 1/34

Race: Gnoll

Grade: White

Level: 19 (5.7/20)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Virtue:

Sin: . .

Condition:

Strength: 23.9

Dexterity: 29.2

Constitution:40.8

Intelligence: 100

Wisdom: 100

Charm: 12.1

Free point: 0

Element: Earth/Water/*****/*****

Skill: [*****]. [Bite]. [Claw]. [Night Vision]. [Dominance]. [Mana perception (Violet)]. [Ancient language knowledge (11.5%)]. [Earth Breathing]. [Water Breathing]. [Aqua Bind]. [Ground Spike]. [Light Healing (III)]. [**********]]

There were many things she was curious about. However, she looked at the usual suspect first. As soon as she touched the exclamation sign beside Patience, it expanded.

It was the only change she could think of that could enable her to use the skill related to light.

Knir had explained that one couldn't absorb eternal mana from the surroundings, like other elements. 

However, to acquire one, one would need some kind of trigger. Those who triggered their sins would be able to control dark mana. Those who want to use light mana…

[Patience

Core Condition: Courage in pain or adversity.

Essence Skill: [**********]

Supplementary Skills: [Light Healing (III)] [???????] [?????]...]

Before anything else, she touched both [Lust] and [Gluttony]. She hoped it would show her the core condition, but nothing appeared.

She had no time to worry about that but understood that she had activated the light mana. She wasn't concerned about the [?????] and [**********].

Hilda was already aware of what the star skill does, as she had similar skills in her skill tab from the beginning. The ability would activate automatically when the conditions were satisfied, unlike the one question mark she could not activate no matter what.

"Because of it, I can contain light mana without exploding. But how should I stop it from eroding my body?" No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't think of a way.

[HP: 9.6/126]

"Damn it! Give me something. Why is it even destroying my body? This is just mana; I ought to be able to utilize it without being destroyed." Hilda stopped and repeated what she said, "It is just MANA. I should be able to use it."

She ran towards the pair of inheritance circles. She couldn't put her faith in the mana circle she had inherited from that fraud. So, she concentrated on the intermediate one. 

Hilda had thoroughly studied the circle, which had also increased her understanding of ancient language and mana sense. 

The mana circle could combine not just two but three elements with the eternal mana. Although Hilda didn't have three elements, she didn't care. She had already decided to use 2 part earth and one part water while…

"I have to replace the darkness with light."

However, there was a small problem. Knir had already provided the dark mana gathering circle in the inheritance circle. Hilda didn't know any light mana gathering circle.

"I think this could work." She stood a little distance away from the curse circle. "I can just use it. It is already gathering light mana, right?"

[HP: 8.1/126]

Hilda couldn't waste more time as her white aura gathered around her. She couldn't use the mana from the core, so she used light mana. Luckily for her, the light mana had no corrosive effect on the needle and string she had created using her aura.

"If you create a core in your central core, it will be tough to create a core in your sub-core, like in your limbs, later." Knir had reminded her quite a few times in the past.

"If I don't do it, I might not even be able to see that day." She reminded her before she closed her eyes. 

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes, and the needle started to move. She pulled the mana from her core to connect it to the new circle. 

If the mana circle was a clock, there were four big circles at 3, 6, 9, and 12. A triangle was in the first three, with a five-point start inside the last circle. It was the one with a star that would gather dark mana. Hilda replaced it with the curse circle.

[HP: 6.2/126]

The HP counter turned red again. Hilda wanted to hurry, but she was already at her limit. It was like her head was being split in two.

She connected the circles at 3 and 9 with the core in her tail and the one at 6 with the water core. The reason is that the recovery of earthen mana was 10 MP per minute, while water's was 6 MP per minute.

[HP: 3.9/126]

It took a lot of work for her to divide the earthen mana equally and divert it in two directions. The one with water mana was easier to do.

[HP: 2.5/126]

The larger circle surrounding the entire thing was hard to finish, but she tried her best. The moment she connected the circle, all of her strength vanished from her body, and she lost consciousness.

[HP: 1.1/126]

[HP: 1.2/126]

[HP: 1.4/126]

[HP: 2.9/126]

[HP: 7.8/126]

…

************

Two weeks later.

"How many days do we have to look for that thing? It has already been a couple of weeks." Blik, the adventurer, said to Rene.

Rene, a guard from the city of Olmo, was equally frustrated. "Do you know what frustrated me most?" As they walked through the forest, Blik looked at him and asked for an answer. "We don't even know what we are looking for."

"That is understandable. They didn't know what had killed the young saint. All they knew was that it was a creature of fallen faith, and it was severely injured."

"Then why are we here? If that thing had killed the saint and the paladins protecting them, do you think we would be able to stop it?"

"Shhhh…" 

At Blik's signal, Rene fell silent and grabbed his spear. When Blik pointed at his nose, Rene also smelled the rotting smell.

They cautiously walked out in the clearing and…

"Pull out the horn." Blik didn't need to repeat himself twice before Rene had blown it. Blik slowly walked closer, checking the bodies. 

"All of them had been sliced in the same way."

"Something has sliced them off with one clean sweep. Their inner organs…"

"What a horrible way to die! It must be that thing. But why didn't it eat it?"

"I don't know." Blik shook his head, asking, "Why didn't the wild animals eat them? There is no way they could let it go to waste."

"Could it be that thing is still close…"

*Bam*

Both of them jumped up, fearing that something was there. 

"What is it?" 

"May the light guide you." They immediately greeted the woman when they realized she was the church's representative.

"Don't waste my time."

Rene moved and showed the bodies.

"This…" Bevin was a little shocked. She looked around to find the wall of the settlement, which was still there. It has changed. "No wonder I didn't notice it the first time."

"What is it, my lady?" Blik was a little curious.

Bevin frowned and waved her hand, "Go away. There is nothing to see here."

"But this."

"That thing does not do this."

"Are you sure?" Noticing her glare, Blik was quick, his head hanging low, before voicing his thought, "If not that thing, what could kill them so viciously?"

"Do you want to see?" Bevin was already agitated as weeks-long searches yielded no results. Yet, she has to go out every day and look for it. She was already at her limits. Just when she was about to raise her hand…

"Bevin." With a voice, Emer walked out of the forest. 

"May the light guide you." They were quick to greet the archbishop.

"You have done a great job." Emer smiled, adding, "But you should leave now. If that thing is close…"

Emer didn't need to end his words, as the pair had already gotten the message. They were quick to bow and leave without turning back.

Emer walked to her, and after they left. "It looks like your holy fire has energized the ground."

"But for a tree to grow to such a degree that it didn't just cover the entire settlement, also grew prop root…"

"It is because of the holy light. Surely you can sense the faint light mana emanating from the tree, right?" As she nodded, Emer added, "With time, it might turn into a holy tree in the future. We should inform the church about the discovery."

Bevin sighed; she didn't want to worry about something like this. "What about the search?" It was her main worry.

"I think it has already been long enough. There were no more cursed light pillars in the last two weeks. So, we can safely assume it is dead."

Bevin kicked the head of the dead body, snorting, "This leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"I can understand. But even Her Highness had already expected such a result."

"So, it's time to return." Bevin didn't even wait a moment more before taking flight.

Seeing her impatience, Emer shook his head and vanished the next moment.