Journey

I wandered the village, shuffling through the remains of buildings and corpses.

I was disgusted by the smell of the smoke that rose from the bodies of the villagers. The effects from (Curse, Mark of the Dragon) had apparently vaporized the insides of the villagers, leaving smoking and shriveled piles of skin and bones strewn about.

Strangely, as disgusted as I was, I didn't feel an impulse to gag like I normally would have. I stood still amid the smell of burning flesh and still silence. I was strangely calm. But one thought dominated my mind.

There wasn't anything left for me here in this place. I need to leave.

I need to kill that Thing that calls itself God. I need to make it suffer.

And I needed to find a way how.

Didn't I hear the System earlier, talking about some forced changes? I should probably check my status in detail, find out what what exactly changed.

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[Name: Charon]

[title: Disciple of the Fallen Angel]

[Title details: Following the teachings of the bearer of all of humanity's evils, the Disciple of the Fallen Angel is able to be inflicted with special curses reserved for the most wicked in existence.]

[Class: Evil of Humanity]

[Class details: Every 10 levels, a powerful curse will be inflicted upon the user of the class. Active curses gained by the class will increase in rank depending on usage and clearing conditions. Class user will gain a bonus to all stats per level]

Hp: 20/20

Mp: 40/40

Lvl: 18

Str: 40

Def: 35

Res: 20

Mag: 25

Wis: 20

Luck: -99

skills: none

status conditions:

Curse, Eternal Suffering (rank: DEUS)

[Curse inflicted by the Supreme Deity. Upon death of the inflicted, The inflicted will resurrect at corpse's location with full HP after 5 minutes. The inflicted is also unable to go insane, and will vividly experience every pain in life.]

Curse, The Powerless (rank: DEUS)

[A curse inflicted by the Supreme Deity, the inflicted is unable to learn or invent new skills. However, if a skill will transform into a curse, then the curse will apply.]

Curse, Extreme Misfortune (rank: DEUS)

[Seeking death but unable to die, this curse reflects the severe misfortune of the inflicted, setting their base luck to -99]

Curse, Cain's Desolation (rank:???)

[Damage dealt upon the inflicted will be reflected to the attacker multiplied by 5. Curse causes all plant life touched by the inflicted to rot.]

Curse, Touch of the Old Ones (rank: E)

[inflicted by coming across knowledge of the Old Ones. Curse allows the inflicted to summon and host a minion of the Old Ones at the cost of their sanity, costs 20 Mp to permanently summon 1 minion. Inflicted can currently host 1 minion max.]

Curse, Mark of the Dragon (rank: ???)

[Actions made by the inflicted that are deemed to be taboo, sacrilegious, heretical, etc., will charge a meter. Expending the meter will unleash a powerful wave of destruction from the inflicted. Deals more to targets with the "blessed" or "holy" attribute. Curse will cause hostility to immediately arise from individuals with or associated with the "holy" attribute.]

[Meter: 0/100]

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What is all this?

More curses? Wait, looking closer at the details, these aren't all that bad....

The description of (Mark of the Dragon) makes me feel uneasy. Acts considered taboo? Heretical? Despite living in this world for 18 years now, I still had no concrete idea of what the moral and religious standards were. No matter what I did, the villagers would beat me, so I often avoided being around them as much as possible. Plus, all the book I read living in the village had only basic information, such as information about the System. They had all been buried and destroyed by my attack earlier.

I guess I'll have to figure out what is "wrong" in this world as I go on.... either way, the devastating effects of (Mark of the Dragon) were clear. I'll probably end up saving it as my last resort attack, in case I ever get caught in a tight situation.

I decide to focus on a curse that I'll probably be relying on more often.

The curse (Touch of the Old Ones) seems very interesting, and it works well with my (Eternal Suffering) curse. I can summon a minion, but the sanity drain will be negated, rendering the drawback of the curse pretty much pointless.

Hah! That idiot God-Thing ended up helping me in the end. I guess It never thought I would ever be in a situation to use His curse in a meaningful way.

All right, I guess I should test out this curse. But how do I activate it? My other curses activate on their own, and I ended up triggering (Mark of the Dragon) through the System....

I started pondering deeply while browsing through my status, trying to figure out a way to get the curse to activate. I paced around the village, wracking my brain to come up with ideas until I somehow ended up tripping over a large pile of villager corpses, accidentally sending limbs and torsos flying as I fell.

Then the System activated.

[Corpses sufficiently defiled by the inflicted. Prerequisites met to summon "Lesser-Hound of Hastur". Activate (Touch of the Old Ones)?]

[Yes/No]

I was dumbfounded.

I had to defile corpses to summon a minion? What was this weird occult shit?

I sighed deeply.

Well, might as well go ahead I guess... beggars can't be choosers...

I select [Yes].

[Ritual activated. "Lesser-Hound of Hastur" will be summoned.]

[Ritual Rites to summon "Lesser-Hound of Hastur" have been recorded.]

Blue mana coursed down my legs and arms. Almost instinctively, I knew how to manipulate the mana into the proper shapes, runes, and symbols. Soon, an arcane circle built from my mana had surrounded the corpses I had tripped over. The mana began to turn into a sickly purplish-black, and the corpses began to melt into the soil.

From the center of the ritual rose a creature.

Despite being called a "hound", the thing that stood there was nothing like a dog. The Lesser-Hound of Hastur was the size of a large tabby cat. With a lean, grey, almost serpentine body, it stood on four thin, stick-like legs that were tipped with sharp blades. It had no neck, but instead its eyeless head was fused to its torso. A large, toothy maw stretched across its entire face, reminding me of an angler fish's mouth. It also had a tail that moved around like a snake. The tail was covered in sharp spikes, and at the end it looked like it was tipped with a sharp, hollow needle.

[Mental corrosion from "Lesser-hound of Hastur" has become active]

[Mental corrosion negated by (Curse, Eternal Suffering)]

[Mental link established with minion.]

Mental link? I looked at my minion, feeling a pull coming from it. I closed my eyes, and let my mind follow the pull.

<Hello?>

<mM-MmmMA-astEr>

Quickly I withdrew my mind. Sharing thoughts with that thing felt uncomfortable, its mind was too alien.

I looked at my minion for a bit, observing it. It didn't seemed bothered at my reaction, and soon wandered to a nearby corpse and began devouring it. Seeing my minion tear into the corpses with such ferocity was both disturbing and yet oddly impressive.

I chuckled slightly, as viscera and bone flew around the air.

"Big eater, huh? Your species name is way too long for me to bother with, so maybe I'll call you... Big E. Short for Big Eater. Biggie. You'll be Biggie."

My minion continued eating, but I could feel a mental message coupled with a feeling of satisfaction being sent from it.

<BBBb-BiGgGiEeEeeeE....>

"I'll take it you like the name then. All right Biggie, finish eating. We need to gather supplies and prepare to leave this shithole."

Biggie began to whimper exactly like a dog, but left the corpses and came to my side.

I began walking and looking straight ahead, disturbed that such a cute sound came from such an ugly thing.

Biggie and I scoured the village for hours, search for food, clothes, items, anything useful. Biggie attempted to haul corpses to me. After I rejected the fifth corpse, Biggie seemed to get the idea I didn't want them and began digging through the rubble of the destroyed buildings.

By the end, I had a clean set of clothes, some leather boots, a knife, a large travel sack full of mostly dried meats covered in dust, and a canteen for water.

I also managed to find a magic infused necklace chain from the rubble of a what I think was a shop that sold rare magical items. Using it, I fashioned a necklace the remains of Viola, looping the chain through the bones of Viola's hand so it dangled like a pendant. It was macabre, but it was all I had left of her.

As I stared at the necklace, the mana in the necklace chain coursed through Viola's hand. A bright glow shone out, blinding me for a second and forcing me to shield my eyes. When I could see the necklace again, Viola's hand was coated in a black metal, fused to the necklace.

As I stared in awe, a status menu popped up.

[Item: Viola's Embrace (Unique), (Cursed): A necklace, fused from a Jotun silver chain coming into contact with the pure agony and love of a young woman. Wearer will be inflicted by (Curse, Love of Viola).]

[Curse, Love of Viola (rank: B): inflicted by the lingering love of Viola that has been corrupted by Viola's hate, the curse allows the inflicted to cast (Void Lance, curse variant) by spending 10 Mp. If the one inflicted is not one loved by Viola, the curse will rapidly drain their hp. Curse causes tragedy and misfortune to gravitate towards romantic endeavors involving the inflicted.]

I quickly put on the necklace. After the System notifies me I've been cursed by the necklace, I feel a faint smile develop on my face.

No Hp drain. Viola is still looking out for me.

Feeling a strange mix of happiness, love, grief, and sadness, I begin to walk towards the village gates with Biggie trailing behind, yipping in excitement.