Village Outskirts

Outside of the village was a heavily wooded area, with one main road carving through it. I decided to travel in the wooded area, deciding it probably would be better to avoid human contact.

Plus, I wanted to take Biggie and my curses out for a test run.

After killing a good portion of vegetation in the forest by accident with (Cain's Desolation) by trying to push branches away with my bare hands, I decided to grab some leather gloves from my travel bag and put them on. After that, the plants around me stopped dying.

Solving my herbicidal issue, Biggie and I started to hunt.

True to the warnings from the villagers, it wasn't too hard to run into a stray Void Worm here and there.

Biggie would quickly dispatch of the worms by swiftly pouncing on them, skewering them with his (calling my minion "it" all the time kind of sucks) bladed legs.

Not wanting to be left behind, I focused on learning how to use (Void Spear, curse variant). Eventually, I learned that by using some mental visualization with a bit of murderous intent, I could activate the curse. First I had to extend my arms to fire a spear, but eventually I got so used to mentally visualizing the curse that I just had to look in the direction I wanted fire it at.

It was a powerful curse, launching a spear of darkness that could both pierce multiple targets. Not only did the curse have strong piercing power, it would cause its targets to disintegrate into a black powder.

[Item, (Cursed Ashes): Inhaling this powder will strengthen the effects of a curse of the user's choosing.]

Another way to strengthen my curses? Not bad.

After getting tired of walking I set up a shoddy, makeshift camp. Biggie made a large pile of worm corpses near the fire, then went out to catch me some food.

Might as well breathe in these ashes while I'm waiting for food.

...

Should I draw a line and snort it?

I put a pile of ashes on a piece of old bark and slowly drew it closer to my face.

At an unexpected distance away, the ashes seemed to flow into my nose every time I breathed!

Oh, this is nice, I don't have to even bring the ashes that close! It feels like I'm smelling a delicious soup or dish, even if these ashes don't have a smell.

Yes, from a distance it probably looked like I was smelling a hot bowl of soup, which honestly helped me mentally. I was worried I'd have to cut lines of the ash and snort it in some hidden location.

[Cannot strengthen curses ranked DEUS or with unknown rank.]

[Choose curses to strengthen.]

My only curses that could be strengthened were (Love of Viola) or (Touch of the Old Ones). I decided to split the strengthening fifty-fifty between the two. Both were useful.

[Strengthening complete. (Curse, Touch of the Old Ones) has ranked up to rank D+!]

[Biggie has learned skills (Brain Siphon) and (Blade Rush)!]

As the announcements from the System finished, Biggie had returned. He had caught two rabbit-like animals, one skewered on each of his front legs.

"Good job, Biggie."

I removed the rabbit-creatures from Biggie and began cleaning them. Biggie immediately dived into the pile of worms he had stockpiled, tearing into his food with an intimidating ferocity.

After I finished cleaning and cooking my dinner, I dug in with an almost equal amount of aggression. As I ate, I checked Biggie's new skills.

[(Brain Siphon), active skill: when an enemy is killed with this skill, gain a point of Wis. Wis gain cap at +10. After the cap, skill will heal user when used to kill an enemy.]

[(Blade Rush), active skill: Attack that launches user blades first to target enemy at high speeds.]

These skills look useful, I want to test them soon!

Sensing my desire for conflict, Biggie barked his agreement, then resumed tearing apart his dinner.

....

We continued down the road early in the morning, the sun had barely risen.

I was hoping to travel a good distance without having to encounter anyone, maybe get to the next village or city in hopes of gaining some idea on how to kill the God-Thing. Biggie was traveling in the foliage nearby, swiftly moving through the trees and bushes, hidden from sight.

Barely thirty minutes in, I noticed a group of 4 bandits emerging from the foliage around me.

The one I assumed to be the leader of the group stepped forward with a sinister smirk of his face.

"Hey man, you look a little lost. Need some help carrying that bag you got there?"

The rest of the bandit group started inching closer. I decided to play along, maybe get some information along the way.

"Yeah, do you guys know where the nearest city is? I have a few valuable goods in this bag I'm going to sell."

The bandits eyes lit up and they began looking at each other. The bandit leader's face brightened up as he walked up to me and put his arm over my shoulders.

"Oh yeah! You just keep following this road and you'll get to Beniham in another day. Here, let me carry that for you..."

The bandit leader quickly tried reaching for my bag, but I stepped back, anticipating his actions. He scowled.

"Hey, punk. Give me the bag."

I mentally sent a message to Biggie to keep hidden but to be ready to strike. I just stared at the bandit leader quietly. Understanding that I knew what was happening, the bandits unsheathed hidden knives.

"Fine, we can do this the hard way."

The bandit leader made a hand gesture, and three arrows flew out from the foliage. There were more bandits hiding!

I dodged two of the arrows, but one caught me in the shoulder, dropping my Hp by 10 points.

I dropped to a knee, wincing in pain. A dark red pattern across my skin flashed briefly, and from the forest foliage I could hear the high pitched screams of a man.

A bandit with a bow fell from a tree behind me, blood oozing from his eyes and pores. The bandits turned and stared, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

I wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by!

"KILL THEM!"

Biggie flew out of the bushes like a rocket into the trees across the path. Screams were followed by the sounds of slicing flesh. The bandits began to look panicked.

"Hey, kill the kid and ta-"

The bandit leader never finished his orders. Biggie shot onto the bandit leader, stabbing his arms and thighs with his bladed limbs. Before the leader could scream, Biggie struck with his tail, impaling the bandit's leader's mouth shut. The bandit leader's eyes rolled back as Biggie quickly drained his brain from his skull.

As the bandits stared in horror, I made my move. Over my wounded left shoulder, two dark spear materialized. I launched in at the head of the two furthest bandits, piercing through their heads before the bandit melted into piles of black ash.

I unsheathed my hunting dagger and tackled the last remaining bandit to the ground before he could regain his senses.

I let loose a primal yell, bringing my knife down on the bandit's chest over and over again.

Die! And! Stay! Dead!

After a few minutes of some therapeutic stabbing, I finally stopped. Regaining myself, I let out a deep breathe and sat back to marvel at the work Biggie and I had made. Biggie was devouring the bandit archers, greedily stuffing himself as fast as he could.

I let out a small, chuckle, which soon became a full blown laugh, echoing in the forest. I wiped a tear from my eye, taking deep breaths but still chuckling. I was no longer powerless! I was getting closer to my revenge! I felt an odd, disgusting joy blossoming in my chest.

Well, that was a nice change in pace.