Running through a square-shaped tunnel of stone blocks, Seji stared speechlessly at the laughing Himo.
“Himo, where are we going?”
“I felt a familiar feeling from up ahead! I think that there may be something interesting!”
“Something interesting?”
With a smile plastered on his face, Himo replied, “A cursed weapon!”
Not hesitating a single moment, Seji braked with his feet. But when his feet left the ground, he noticed that Himo had started to carry him like a sack of potatoes. “Stop carrying me, it’s embarrassing!”
“Then keep following me, you won’t touch the weapon anyway—I will.”
“But...“ Seji eyed Himo doubtfully, then sighed. “Fine.”
As Seji had accepted, Himo sped up. The farther he ran, the stronger the feeling got—it resembled the one from the Scythe of Doom more and more.
Suddenly, a familiar sound rang to his ears.
Ding!
[Special Quest: Find out what is creating the cursed area and get it!]
[No Description. Error 404.]
[Quest Difficulty: S+]
[Quest Reward(Find out what produces the feeling): 5 BS points.]
[Quest Failure Penitence(Find out what produces the feeling): -10 BS points.]
[Quest Reward (Obtain the source): 55 BS points.]
[Quest Failure Penitence(Obtain the source): none.]
Error 404?! Who’re you lying to? You just don’t want to say what it is! System, are you now stingy even on the information of a quest?
[Baseless accusation. The system is fair and just, there is no way it would ever hide a quest description from the User.]
Whatever… Himo sighed. He knew that reasoning with the system was useless, so he focused elsewhere. The quest difficulty is rated higher than the one against that old man? He raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
“Eh? What’s interesting?” Seji turned towards him.
“Ah? No, nothing, I was just thinking aloud.”
-----
“We’re being followed.” A disciple who held a weird object turned to look backward. He could see two youths just behind, less than half a kilometer of distance.
“Let’s wait for them here. We’ll ask them what they want—maybe they’re not following us, and we just happened to follow the same route.”
“What if they’re here for the cursed item?”
“Just let them be. They’re impossible to be taken anyway.”
-----
Advancing toward the source of the threatening feeling, Himo noticed three disciples just ahead of him.
The three were standing still, looking toward Himo.
The only girl of the group waved at him. “Hello, are you perhaps chasing us?” As she asked, a lock of her blonde hair lingered over her black eyes.
Himo blinked. He didn’t expect to be met by such a straightforward question. Even so, he still answered. “No, we’re just on the same path… I assume that you’re searching for the cursed weapon too?” He mentally raised his guard, expecting a hostile reaction were their aims to coincide.
However, his question was met by a smile. “Yes, we’re searching for the cursed item. We are part of the Belejar sect, the cursed branch.”
“Cursed branch?” Himo tilted his head.
“Our sect is divided into ten branches, each aiming something different, like magic spells and fighting techniques. The cursed branch is the one we are into. We study all phenomena related to curses, from cursed magic to cursed items.” She paused for a moment, then sighed. “However, such studies are hard to do, for most cursed items can easily kill most cultivators. Even just touching one may prove fatal.”
“I see.” Himo nodded. “In that case, do you mind if I take the cursed item in question?”
Those words dumbfounded the trio. Meanwhile, Seji just shook his head speechlessly.
“Are you sure?” The girl stared at Himo’s expression, trying to see if he were bragging or just overconfident. “I don’t mind, but I hope that you know the risks involved.”
This time it was Himo’s turn on being dumbfounded. Not only did they not stop him, but they were even so kind to him? First the kind receptionist, then the bandits, and now even them?
Is this really a cultivation world? He felt the world he knew slowly crumble around him. If it wasn’t that he was being stared at by the four, he would’ve pinched his own cheek just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
He closed his eyes for a second. Since they wouldn’t hinder him from taking the weapon, he felt the need to repay them. “As you don’t mind if I take it, let’s go together. There may be some traps, and together it should be easier to defend ourselves.”
After pondering for a moment, the trio decided to accept. “Sure.” They were still a bit cautious, however, as it was the first time they met each other.
Having formed a five-man party, they resumed running forward. With every step, the tunnel grew darker; the light coming from the chandelier dimming evermore. Soon enough it was all dark, only a speck of light aiding their view.
Himo glanced back. The light had brightened a whole kilometer of tunnel. How was it possible? Putting aside how it lightened such a huge hall by itself, it shouldn't be able to reach inside the tunnels, which held just a small entry shielded from the light. Could it be magic? He squinted his eyes, but the light felt just like normal light.
At his side, Seji took out a wooden torch and lit it up. The red flame brought light to the path once again. "Oh, I'm Ru Seji, nice to meet you all!"
The other four stopped in place, stunned. It was five minutes that they walked together, yet only then did they notice that they hadn't introduced themselves yet.
The girl twirled towards Himo and Seji, her long blonde hair swaying as she turned. She posed a hand on her chest as her cat-ears lazed over her head, nearly fading amidst her hair. “It's my pleasure to meet you two. I’m Lu Shela, leader of the disciples of the cursed branch; if you have any question feel free to ask anytime.”
“My name is Li Reiji.” Even as he spoke, his brown eyes didn’t leave the object in his hands. His orange tiger-tail, however, pointed at Himo curiously.
“I’m Li Serdis. I and Reiji are siblings.” Being men of a few words, the two brothers didn’t say much. His likewise orange tiger-tail, meanwhile, also pointed at Himo.
“I’m Shu Himo.”
Hearing the last introduction, Seji’s eyes shot to Himo. Usually, that fellow would use every chance he had to brag about something… to only say a few words, what was going on? Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the child held a frown.
“This is…” Himo scratched his head. “Don’t you all feel it too?” He had first imagined that the cursed weapon would emit an aura similar to the Scythe of Doom’s, but to his surprise, the aura exceeded it by over three times.
“Feel what?” Seji raised an eyebrow.
“This sort of cursed aura coming from up ahead.”
As soon as those words left his mouth, Himo found three pairs of eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, staring at him. Shela, Reiji, and Serdis darted toward the child, their gazes akin to ones looking at a treasure.
Albeit surprised, Himo knew they lacked malicious intent, so he didn’t react.
“How can you distinguish the cursed aura from the rest? We have to use a special artifact to follow it! It should be normally impossible, although some cases of this happening have been recorded previously. Could it be that you have previous experience with cursed items?” Reiji shot a word behind the other like a machine gun. He nearly seemed another person.
“Yeah. I compare it to the one I already felt in the past, but this time the feeling is several times stronger…” Goosebumps ran up Himo’s arms just by looking toward the source.
Reiji opened his mouth to shoot more questions, but his words were overshadowed by a terrifying din.
“What was that?!” They looked around, but only the usual stone tunnel came into view. Or so they thought.
A flash blinded their sight, and a different view presented to them when the light faded again. Before they realized it, they stood in the middle of a huge hall. A thick black fog enclosed on them. Ghostly sounds vibrated in the air. A heavy smell of madness pierced their noses. Walls and ceiling had vanished into thin air, only the dark stone floor seemed unchanged.
Himo widened his eyes. A chilling shiver slid down his back.
The cursed weapon was in the hall.
