Continuous Level Up (6)

"Boy!!!... You really did it!!"

Morsan felt a surge of happiness upon hearing Tizona's voice again. He had survived.

His eyelids felt heavy, and he struggled to keep his consciousness from slipping away. He had no idea what time it was since he couldn't see any sunlight due to the dense trees. The ambient light was too dim as well. He surveyed his surroundings and saw assorted furs, meats, bones, internal organs, and various body parts from monsters he had never seen or heard of before. Even in this mess, he couldn't find even a single drop of blood from the surroundings.

'What the hell happened here?!'

he exclaimed in confusion. This was the first time he had been in such an unfamiliar setting. He should have been in the territory of the Usapils, not here. He would have fallen asleep without hesitation if he hadn't been surrounded by monster corpses in the unknown forest.

"Wake up... don't lose your consciousness. We are deep in the forest where strong monsters reside. We need to get out of here as soon as possible and don't try to pick those corpses. your inventory is already filled with full of monster corpses."

Tizona urged Morsan.

Shocked but determined, Morsan didn't waste any time. Although it was a little regretful to waste these corpses to rotten here, he did as Tizona said due to his current peculiar situation. He got up and used his great sword as a walking stick. With his eyes closed most of the time since his eyelids were so heavy and he couldn't keep his eyes open for a long time, he followed the direction Tizona pointed out. As he walked longer, he couldn't help but be amazed at the distance he had covered.

All of the monsters he encountered were eating the fallen corpse of a fellow monster, ignoring him as he walked. Some of them completely avoided him for some reason.

'Did I come here when I was under the effect of [Berserker] skill?! what just happened? How much time has passed?! What happened to the ritual? Is it success?!'

He couldn't help but ask Tizona, in his head. He felt too tired to even open his mouth. He felt grateful that Tizona could read his mind.

"Boy.. you have been fighting for three days without taking a break. The sacrificial ritual was the least of our concerns now, I didn't expect 'he' would have placed his soul fragment with my astral connection. I should have considered the possibility of Mana corruption. It's all my fault, I let my guard down when I realized I got away from 'him'."

Morsan stopped his movement for a while when he heard Tizona.

'It's been only three days?! I felt like I was fighting for a decade. And I don't know what you saying but yeah it's your fault, you should have at least warned me about that guy. Now I think of it, he also mentioned the 'Mana Corruption' thing, what was that?'

"He?!... Who did you meet?!" he heard the flustered voice of Tizona in his head.

Morsan took a deep breath before telling Tizona about what had happened, how he met a people he hated, the sudden appearance of a demon, and his frenzy except about 'the particular woman'. He told him about the adventurers and church executives without leaving anything. After Tizona heard about his conversation with 'the demon', he fell silent for a while. He also didn't ask anything, leaving some time for Tizona to process.

After walking for a few hours, Morsan finally emerged from the dense forest and entered the territory of Usapils. To his surprise, instead of attacking him as they usually did, they ran away from him. Morsan found their behavior strange, considering that Usapils were known to be non-intelligent monsters that would attack any human they met, without hesitation. The only thing they were afraid of was Grey Wolves, their natural predators.

Ignoring their strange behavior, Morsan made his way to the southern gate of the Castle Town, dragging his body along. Tizona, his sword, had returned to his arm after he left the forest. Without its support, he moved slowly with his eyes closed, like a zombie while fighting against his mental fatigue.

"Hey Tizona, do you know that demon?"

Morsan initiated a conversation after a long silence from the sword. Tizona answered with a complicated tone after a few moments of silence.

"...Yeah, I know him... very well..."

There was another silence before Morsan spoke again, "Evil God?"

"Mmm..."

"Isn't he your enemy?"

"It's a little complicated. He was neither our enemy nor ally. He is just a.... piece of shit. Usually, he wasn't someone who would pull this trick. Other gods must have pestered him to keep track of me. I bet he must have forgotten my existence a long time ago. What you met wasn't his real self, but a tiny part of his soul fragment... Even though it can't do any physical damage, I still can't believe you managed to win against it."

"There are other gods also? What was 'his' name then?" Morsan asked curiously.

"His real name is not something a human like you should be aware of. Just by knowing his real name, you will make him aware of our existence and whereabouts. But he has another name that everyone is aware of, The God of Sloth."

*Gulp*

Morsan gulped down a large amount of saliva from his mouth as goosebumps well up all over his body.

'Did I win against someone like that?! How?! And what was that Mana corruption anyway?'

Morsan heard a big sigh in his head.

"*Sigh* You just fortunate enough to escape from the Mana corruption of a tiny soul fragment of his. But still, it's an amazing feat for a human like you though. The Mana Corruption was one of the reasons, the demon race was feared. They can instill some of their demonic Mana into the victim's body, and sever their soul's connection with a body temporarily by altering their emotions."

"Huh?!"