Chapter 168 - 160

Cursed weapons existed on Earth. Mostly, it was cursed swords passed down through the centuries, but Nick had encountered daggers, knives, and even a gun on one occasion. With the dearth of mana plaguing the planet, people had to resort to other means of killing each other. While a normal blade usually sufficed, that wasn't always the case when facing a mage. They had all sorts of tricks to protect themselves, which is why cursed weapons were so common, despite being reviled by the general magical community. The best way to craft one was to summon a spirit from the astral sea and bind it to an object to which you already had some attachment. That was what Nick had done with his dagger, and with how much mana he could now wield, he hadn't even considered settling for the lesser methods. However, when one didn't have that much power at their disposal and lacked easy access to a spirit to bind, people turned to the older ways. Killing an enemy and using their soul as fuel to enchant the blade that committed the act was the most common method. It created an angry object, equally likely to harm the user and their enemies, but it worked; more importantly, it was sufficient to circumvent most protections. The second way was to find locations of a massacre and use the leftover spiritual residue. It was the safest option, but Nick knew it resulted in scattered blades. They were powerful at first, yes, but they couldn't grow and lacked special powers. His family, Earth's Crowleys, had several such blades at their disposal, often used as ceremonial daggers. Still, the lack of focus among the amalgam of spirits ensured they wouldn't taint any ritual, which was a quality in itself. If one wanted to obtain something they could bring into battle against monsters, however, they had to find ancient blades, those whose spirits had gained a consciousness of their own over time. If Nick had a chance at anything like that, he wouldn't have bothered forging a new one. Unfortunately, there was no convenient legendary blade available, at least as far as he knew. And even if there had been, he might have passed it on to his family, since those were more often swords—something that wouldn't suit his style. On the other hand, his dagger was small enough that it could go unnoticed, and apparently, powerful enough to kill a troll, if with some help. Grabbing the hilt, Nick pulled gently, and the blade released with almost no resistance, despite being embedded deeply in the monster's chest. A spurt of blood followed it, but it splattered harmlessly against Nick's [Wind Armor]. He felt a sensation of satisfaction coming from the dagger. It almost purred, content with its meal and eager to digest it. Considering how few Exp I got from the kill, it must have eaten its fill, huh? I wonder if cursed weapons grow faster here. I haven't found anything about them in my books, not even in Semreh's chronicles, which is a bit weird given that it's very old magic. But then again, it may have been that, with the sheer amount of mana readily available to anyone who put in even a little effort, the practice never took off. Nick doubted it, knowing his ancestor had been an Occultist, and an Occultist who didn't dabble in ritual sacrifice even a little was a very poor one. However, it might be unknown to the general magical community and reserved more as a niche practice. I need to find a way to hide its signature. It was fine when it was weak, but if it's going to grow as fast as I think it will, I need to keep it from any snooping priest. His reputation with the temple was already difficult enough, and now, with the increased tension due to the domain's expansion… Yeah, he didn't want them to discover he was wielding a cursed blade. Sparing a glance at the troll, he had to admit that it was a pretty interesting specimen. It was slightly smaller than the one his father had killed during his first trip in the grasslands, but it had managed to conceal its presence, whereas the other one had announced itself to the world. It suggested a more significant variance between the species than he had previously considered. It made him want to dissect the monster and uncover all its secrets, but unfortunately, he could sense almost no magical residue in its flesh. The dagger had consumed the innate power that made trolls so resistant, and all he was left with was a very large, foul-smelling corpse. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Next time I find a troll, I want to see if I can use it to empower [Vitality Drain]. The ritual would need to be quite focused since I don't want to acquire any of its other qualities, and bypassing its resistance would require some effort, but I think I can do it. I just need time and to be alone. Turning back toward the camp, Nick silently cleaned the dagger's hilt with a bit of conjured water, noticing that the blade itself was perfectly unblemished. "So you are thirsty too, huh? Well, as long as it's not my blood or those I travel with, I don't care." Another pulse of acceptance flowed from the dagger, though it was weaker. It was tired and would probably take a while to digest its meal. Nick smiled, feeling almost like he did as a kid on Earth when he had a ball python as a pet. It had a tendency to eat too much, and it took a very long time to shrug off its lethargy. "Any trouble?" he heard as he returned to camp and saw Elia sitting near the cold fire pit. Her amber eyes glowed in the dark, reminding him once more that she wasn't just a normal girl. There was a predator lurking within her, even though she didn't often bring it up. I'm sure I'll see more of it before this adventure is over. "Just a troll, but it was pretty weak," he shrugged, sitting next to her. He noticed how her nose twitched, probably searching for blood, and her eyes fell on his dagger as he put it back in its hidden strap. "I tried looking for a core, but there wasn't one. As I said, pretty weak," he explained, and fortunately, she nodded, not prying further. There were benefits to being held in such high regard. If this had been his parents, Nick was sure they would have asked more questions; however, Elia simply accepted his words. "Should we wake her? It's almost dawn," she eventually murmured, looking at Rhea's sleeping form. The girl had much less situational awareness than he would have thought someone trained by Ogden should have, but maybe the old man wasn't as harsh a teacher as he had imagined. Or maybe it is the super comfortable bedroll. I bet I wouldn't want to wake up if I had one either. "Let's give her another half-hour. We can get breakfast started in the meantime." He replied. "Ugh! I want the moles back!" Rhea yelled, splashing a bubbling red liquid all around her and causing the swarm of rat-sized crickets to screech as their exoskeletons melted, turning them into puddles of melted goop. "They were certainly cuter," Nick agreed, casting another [Spark] to thwart the flanking attack the swarm was attempting. He could have easily encased the crickets in a [Force Barrier] and dealt with them from a distance, but Elia had asked him to let her fight the bulk of the attack, and he didn't mind being relegated to the backlines for once. This was a good growth opportunity for her, and he wouldn't earn much Exp anyway. *Thwooom* A pulse of blue flames exploded from the site of the major confrontation two hundred feet from them, as the foxgirl released another wide-area attack to stop the crickets' preferred method of dealing with anyone who dared enter their territory: entombment. "It's just so many! And they keep coming!" Rhea yelled, stomping on one of the lucky ones who had avoided instant death from her brew. "You'd think they would have some sense of self-preservation after we killed more than a hundred!" Insects generally didn't behave like other animals. They didn't particularly care if the enemy was too big or powerful for them to handle. If one died, then more would follow until the threat was extinguished or the swarm was gone. But even then, Nick would agree that these crickets were a bit too aggressive. They had skirted far from where he had sensed them hopping around, yet the swarm immediately declared all-out war the moment Elia had dared to speak within five hundred feet of their presence. That might explain why she took such pleasure in burning them all to a crisp. Elia was a pretty chill girl, but she didn't like being interrupted, and she especially didn't appreciate being attacked without reason. "HA! Take this! And this! And would you like some of that?! How about more fire! AHAHAH!" Nick shrugged, waving his hand and blowing back a particularly large cricket that had jumped from a hole in the ground. "At least she's having fun." Eventually, even the seemingly relentless swarm had no more bodies to throw at them, and the grassland fell silent as Nick stared at the literal mountain of insect corpses they had fought. CONGRATULATIONS! You have defeated [Grassland Crackler] x49 [Lv. 7-15] + 7.230 Exp Following his senses, he walked until he reached the edge of what appeared to be a normal hill, but was actually a colony disguised as one. Admittedly, I've never studied the habits of crickets, but I didn't realize they lived underground in such large swarms. He tried to break it with [Minor Elemental Manipulation], not wanting to make an even larger mess or attract more monsters from afar, but the mound rejected every effort. It wasn't the first time that had happened. Nature magic didn't come easily with the Green Ocean so close, at least when the Summer Court presided over the dungeon. Hm, I might have to give it a try once I'm back in Floria. It might be that now it's easier, and there are a few things from Roberta's diary that I would like to try. That thought led him to another, and Nick decided against using his more destructive magic to blow up the hill, as he had a subtler, though still dangerous spell at his disposal. [Structural Weakness] wasn't something he had used much. In fact, he would go so far as to say he had forgotten about it. Nick was almost embarrassed, as he had gotten too caught up in the flashy magic he could now use and had left behind something he knew could become a very powerful tool. Resolving to remedy that promptly, he drew upon the spell's matrix, tweaking a few components, as both his instincts and understanding of magic had grown significantly since his last attempt. The spell resolved into a sleek, efficient circle, and once he had empowered it with memories of watching controlled implosions of buildings and the collapse of a bridge in his youth, he felt it take hold of the hill. Slowly, the packed earth began to groan. It didn't exactly tremble, as there was no active force pushing against it, but the bonds between pebbles, clay, and what felt like organic compounds he really didn't want to think too deeply about started to fray, until the top of the hill collapsed onto itself, revealing what lay within. As he had expected, there was one last enemy to defeat before they could claim to have vanquished the swarm. Slowly revealing itself as it dug out of the collapsed hill was another bug. "Fucking Fuck! Why is it so big?! And why is it so ugly?!" Rhea yelled. For a girl trained in butchering monster corpses without batting an eye, that was a big reaction. Looking at the bear-sized cricket that was revealing itself, Nick couldn't help but agree. It was truly quite ugly, with its pasty white carapace and thousands of tiny bugs crawling all over it. "I'm going to burn it with fire," Elia uttered with dead eyes, and Nick felt the temperature rise sharply.