War of Curses

I am outta here."

After seeing a corpse brutally 'nailed' to the stone chair, Ashy turned to leave. This was clearly a "boss fight area" and he wasn't ready for this.

"Oh, poor boy…"

A feminine voice came behind but he didn't turn back. Even after he escaped from the area, the voice still reached his ears as if they were whispering right behind his ears.

"Such a twisted fate… I pity you, outsider. To come to this hopeless world from your safe world… "

Ashy halted.

"What did you say?" Ashy ran back into the area and asked with slight tremors in his voice.

The nailed woman chuckled silently. "Hope is poison, outsider… you can't leave here… you can't return to your home…"

Ashy's hands clenched, it was obvious that this mysterious woman was speaking so vaguely to rile him up.

So, he fought fire with fire. As a gamer, his tongue was rather sharp.

"And it seems you can't leave that throne either! Hahahahaha!" Ashy laughed loudly. "Don't tell me, you like staying there? A Masochist? Are you feeling good about having a dozen long, thick, and hard things penetrating your flesh and reaching places your boyfriend couldn't? That is some bloody kink you have got there, whore."

"..."

"If you have nothing but just useless talk, then don't open your filthy mouth to spew bullshit."

"..."

"Just because y—"

"Fucking enough, you little bastard!" the woman shouted curses as if her previous mysterious appearance was just a facade.

"Huh?" shocked, Ashy stepped back.

"Don't even think of running away, bastard! Aren't you ashamed? I am old enough to become your grand grand grand…. Grandmother! Why the heck are you cursing me out of nowhere? I just wanted to play mysterious, you know? But you! You damn bastard, I don't even have a boyfriend, how dare you…"

The woman spoke straight for ten minutes before taking a deep breath to continue…

"Stop! I was wrong, let's talk slowly and briefly." Ashy decided to stop this woman before he died because of boredom.

Maybe he judged this woman wrong.

"Then apologize!"

Nope, he judged this woman correctly.

"No way! You apologize, damn hag! First, you get my hopes up with your cringe 'outsider' and 'safe world' shit, and now you are about to burst my eardrums open with your fucking voice that comes right behind my ears!"

"..."

"..."

This word fight continued until both of them spent their entire cursing vocabulary and Ashy lost his breath and collapsed to the ground.

The woman could still talk, it was apparent that she was not tired, but she also stopped.

"Pheew, that was fun." The woman said with a more energetic tone than before. Her mood was obviously improved.

To this, Ashy was lying on the ground, breathing deeply. It had been a long time since he got tired this much in a word fight, this woman was a good opponent.

"Yeah…"

Ashy was also in a better mood than before. Cursing helped to let out some stress, so, he was like he got freed from his piled-up stress in a matter of an hour.

"Hey, hag—"

"Helen."

"What?" Ashy asked, annoyed that this hag interrupted him.

"Call me Helen, brat."

"Then call me Ashy, hag."

"..."

"..."

"You know, Helen," Asht lifted himself and sat on the ground cross-legged. His spine was aching like hell. "How did you find out this particular fetish of yours?"

"Brat!" Helen screamed at Ashy's ears, but her body didn't move even an inch.

"Okay okay, don't get mad. I just wanted to confirm something." Ashy lifted his hands as if he was surrendering. "Your body doesn't move but you speak well, is this telepathy or something?"

"Something like that."

"Then, can I learn it?" Ashy asked, it would be a pretty useful thing to have that kind of skill.

"Technically you can…"

"But?"

"But you need to at least become a Saint, which takes a century for many, if they stay alive that is. But, considering that you are a mere Walker, half Darkness Creature and half a human…ummm… maybe a half-century?"

In terms of power, Ashy was within the limits of Walker while there were above three and maybe more 'classes'. First, he needed to become a Seeker, then a Champion, then finally a Saint… to acquire telepathy.

"What the fuck? Is this some cultivation bullshit where people can live thousands of years?" Ashy cursed, even the thought of he could live for two centuries if he is strong enough was too fucking fantasy.

"Hahaha!" the woman laughed heartily.

"So… any shortcut? Advice? Dunno, having any thoughts about giving your powers to me?" Ashy tested his luck.

"Puhahahahaha!"

"Don't fucking laugh at my ear!"

"...alright alright…hehehe…"

"So? Is there any?"

"Ahem! Well, yes. I can give you information. That should help you a little bit."

"Nice." Ashy nodded in satisfaction. Although he couldn't get free 'level up', information from a high-ranking person wasn't a bad deal either.

Though, he was curious about Helen's real intentions.

"For what?" Ashy asked before quickly adding. "I won't give any part of my body, mind, or soul"

"Hahaha… who cares about your measly body and soul. Just give me some company here and now." Helen's mature voice echoed in his ears.

It was nice, no, it was an amazing deal he didn't want to miss. Although taking advantage of a woman who was nailed to a stone chair and suffering from possible boredom and loneliness for years or maybe even decades was rather low, it wasn't like he was the one who initiated this 'trade'.

"Okay, that is reasonable but I won't give you a lap pillow or pat your head, okay? I will only give spiritual company, not a physical one." Ashy said with a mix of tease and seriousness. He strangely warmed up to this woman after having a cursing fight.

"I don't want that anyway!" Helen screamed again before whispering flirtatiously. "Though I don't mind if you use my body however you want~ I can't feel anything anyway."

Ashy would swear that Helen would wink right now if she could move her body. Well, maybe this was for the better…

"No thanks, I don't fancy older women. Now, can you give me some information you have promised?"

"Information is power." Helen declared suddenly.

"Yes, I know—"

"No, you don't." Helen interrupted Ashy before saying. "Information is literally the power. If you don't have the necessary amount of information, you can't rank up."

"Huh?"