Chapter 18 - Next Destination
Midnight.
“Huu...”
Sneaking atop a thick tree branch and using the leaves as additional camouflage, Jae tightened his grasp on the dagger in his right hand and let out a soft exhale to steady his body shrouded by dusk.
Just below him stood a clueless goblin in the middle of a small clearing, utterly unaware of his presence.
Nevertheless, Jae remained still; only observing the creature as it warily turned its head left and right. Then, Wrath spoke.
[Are ya gonna get him or what? Stop hiding like a little rat and fight.]
Shut up. Look.
Motioning his hand, Jae gestured to a band of goblins huddled in a brush just a few metres away from the one in the open. Amid this darkness, he was only able to see them thanks to Night Vision, which had recently risen to Level 4 through Gluttony.
It wasn’t a skill humans should naturally be able to acquire, but he was making exquisite use of it.
[Ahah...! An ambush, huh? Look how terrified they have become at your mere existence in this forest! Kahaha!]
Although the sin’s words might appear baseless at a glance, they weren’t necessarily wrong; indeed, it was impossible to know for what exact reason the goblins had set up an ambush here, but to Jae, it could be for no one other than himself.
“Gii...”
Suddenly, the goblin acting as bait let out a noise and scratched its head. Perking his ears up, Jae leaned his head a little closer and to the side. Then, as what used to be meaningless grunts entered his ears, words with actual meaning formed inside his head.
“Geig, gigi. Geh.”
『For■■■ ■s e■■ty. No human.』
Not everything was intelligible, but that was only to be expected when the skill that enabled such a unique possibility in the first place, Goblin Language Comprehension, was still low-level.
“Gii. Gehehe, gig. Gieeg?”
『Human sca■■d...? Ma■be r■■? Hahaha.』
Quietly mouthing the words that reverberated within his mind, Jae was somewhat able to figure out what they were saying, or at least well enough to understand them.
Do they think I ran away...? Is it because I haven’t been hunting as many of them recently? But, they’re the ones who stopped coming out during the day, so I had no choice but to slow down for a bit...
[Bah! Classic foolish creatures. Do they have no concept to distinguish between tactical fighting and fleeing?]
Although perhaps worded unusually, what Wrath said was correct. The goblins, who had eventually noticed Jae’s tendency to only appear and hunt them during sunlight, quickly refused to venture out during these times due to his excessive hunting.
Since he needs to act with significant caution while hunting at night, the goblins' apprehension and fear of confronting him now seemed to have lessened slightly, but could it be considered a positive outcome if it meant his prey had lowered its guard?
Wow. You’re on my side? I thought for sure you’d be against my methods. What happened to the guy who was furious about me hiding in a bush for half an hour to kill a single goblin?
[Bah! Of course, acting like a rat is reprehensible... However, I cannot deny that guerilla warfare is a viable method of winning, especially when there is such a substantial difference in the number of forces.]
What...? So, are you gonna apologise for calling me a dirty rat or not? What do you want me to do, fight a whole community of goblins head-on? At my level?
[Hm. Anyway, when are you going to strike them? They have their guards down!]
“Haa...” Jae sighed at the ridiculousness but focused back on the situation at hand.
The total number of goblins was four.
Ordinarily, he would act stealthy and pick them off one by one, but that didn’t seem possible right now since they were mostly grouped together.
The most he had fought simultaneously until now was two, but could he deal with twice that many opponents at once? Fortunately, they were all quite low-level as revealed by Envy, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
He briefly checked his status.
〔Status〕
Name: Jae Kang [Cursed]
Class : Classes Available
Level 14
Race : Humanoid
Age : 16
Title : Apostle of Sin
Trait : Steadfast Mind
Distributable Points: 0
Health Points (HP) : 503 / 503
Mana Points (MP) : 568 / 568
Strength: 50
Endurance: 43
Agility: 50
Dexterity: 43
Magic: 46
Wisdom: 26
Luck: ―
Titles : 「Apostle of Sin」, 「Cursed by a God」, 「Sinful God's Affliction」, 「World Traveller」, 「Resurrected [x2]」, 「Goblin Killer」, 「Ambusher」, 「Goblin Eater」
Passive Skills : 「MP Consumption Down [Lv.3]」, 「Automatic MP Recovery [Lv.2]」, 「Throwing [Lv.2]」, 「Tough Skin [Lv.1]」
Active Skills : 「Power Burst [Lv.3]」, 「Sneak [Lv.4]」
Combat Skills : 「Close-Quarters Combat [Lv.1]」, 「Combo [Lv.3]」, 「Fighting Spirit [Lv.3]」, 「Dagger Mastery [Lv.3]」, 「Club Mastery [Lv.1]」
Enhancement Skills : 「Smell Enhancement [Lv.2]」, 「Vision Enhancement [Lv.2]」
Resistance Skills : 「Mental Abnormal Status Nullification [Lv.MAX]」, 「Pain Tolerance [Lv.3]」, 「Cold Resistance [Lv.2]」, 「Disease Resistance [Lv.4]」, 「Poison Resistance [Lv.4]」, 「Exhaustion Resistance [Lv.3]」
Perception Skills :「Charting [Lv.1]」, 「Night Vision [Lv.4]」, 「Concentration [Lv.2]」
Production Skills : 「Cooking [Lv.1]」
Communication Skills : 「Seronian Language Comprehension [Lv.MAX]」, 「Goblin Language Comprehension [Lv.4]」
Unique Skills : 「Envy [Lv.4]」, 「Wrath [Lv.3]」, 「Gluttony [Lv.3]」
“...Should be easy enough.”
Muttering to himself, he nodded and took a small stone knife hanging by his waist; it was one of many he had looted from the corpse of a goblin, and although chipped and slightly rusty, its functionality as a tool remained.
Shifting his body, he twisted his torso slightly to the right and squinted his eyes as he held the knife between his right index and middle fingers.
“......”
Taking aim with the assistance of the Night Vision and Vision Enhancement skills, Jae waited for the perfect angle.
Right... There!
All of a sudden, his arm shot forward at a speed almost inconceivable to the untrained eye.
Thwack-!
Following his actions, a small impact echoed throughout the clearing as blood spurted from one of the four goblin’s heads.
Thanks to the stealth attack bonus applied from Sneak and the bonus from Throwing, the knife was able to kill in one shot, albeit with no level-up.
Thud.
Nice!
Watching the goblin collapse like a ragdoll to the floor, Jae clenched his fist with a smile. He didn’t think he would actually be able to hit the shot from this weird angle since his Throwing was only Level 2, but he somehow made it work.
“Gigiii...!!”
『It’s ■■ attack...!!』
The likelihood of being able to hit a second knife in a row was low now that the goblins were aware of his presence, but since their numbers had thinned by a quarter, he felt much more comfortable going down to deal with them directly.
Power Burst.
Activating the skill that would temporarily amplify his status attributes, Jae jumped down from the tree with a thud.
Shiing~
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Unsheathing a refined and rather expensive-looking dagger from his waist, Jae’s dark eyes seemed to gleam under the shimmering moonlight as Fighting Spirit began to activate and surge around his body.
“Geii, giii...!”
『Human...!! Run...!』
A human responsible for causing an unprecedented uproar among the local goblin youth.
The one they had been warned about by the elders, and the one who had appeared out of nowhere one day to cleave the numbers of their kin as if it were his mission.
He was not as powerful as the metal-cladded humans they were used to, but he was someone far more terrifying.
Coming face-to-face with the source of their recent high tensions, the goblins cried.
“Gieeeehh...!”
Jae ignored the noises coming from the goblins. Ever since he acquired that damn language comprehension skill, he wanted to forget and avoid the thought that what he was hunting were, in fact, intelligent creatures.
Still, it was necessary.
They would do the same in his shoes, after all.
Wrath.
Launching himself at them, Jae activated another skill.
Fwooosh~!!
As his MP began to rapidly drain, a concentrated blaze roared from his left arm, instantly illuminating the forest and revealing the goblins’ faces whom he was about to slay.
Arriving at the goblins before they could flee, Jae grabbed one with his left arm and slit the throat of another with his right.
“G-gehh--!”
His status values, compared to the likes of these pitiable goblins, were now far too high for one or two of them to resist.
He was only Level 14, but with the additional 13 Distributable Points he had gained from levelling up, as well as the temporary amplification of his status via Power Burst, there was nothing they could do.
Furthermore, with the ultimate addition of the skill Fighting Spirit, Jae’s base stats would continue to gradually increase as the fight lingered.
“Giiiaaaaaaaaahh...!!!”
The anguished howls of the goblin held captive in his left chokehold resounded as its ugly head was engulfed with the ceaseless flames of Wrath, charring by the second.
[Make sure you roast it nice and toasty~]
Gluttony’s voice suddenly popped out of nowhere, passing through one ear and out the other.
“......”
Keeping the goblin held tightly within his grasp as it slowly incinerated, Jae dashed towards the fourth and final victim with the mindless thought that Wrath had become surprisingly useful.
Slash-!
“Gh...!”
With a single swipe of his arm, the last goblin was cleanly bisected.
After confirming its passing by watching it fall to the ground, he took the dagger into a reverse grip and stabbed the burning goblin in its right temple, letting it go as he roughly ripped the weapon out of its head.
Just like that, all four goblins had been dealt with, and with not a scratch on his body.
Jae deactivated both Wrath and Power Burst and collected one arm from each goblin as Fighting Spirit gradually began to fizzle out.
You have acquired the Title: 「Goblin Hunter」
“Hm...? Oh, there’s more than just the Goblin Killer one? Is it like a series or something...? It took quite a while to show up, didn’t it?”
Dismissing the system notification after that brief recognition, Jae thought to himself as he went around to gather an arm from each of the fallen goblins.
The Seven Cardinal Sins...
Envy, Wrath, and Gluttony; there were only the three of them at the moment, but Jae was certain they each had their mysteries and undiscovered secrets.
Growing ever curious since he had first acquired them, he thought it might be interesting to unveil their individual histories and perhaps even uncover what led them to become whatever they are right now, but... Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to go on right now.
Soul Discernment, Malignant Flame and Insatiable Devourer... I wonder what the rest will be called.
A power to examine one’s soul.
A power to generate flames with a special property.
And a power to absorb skills when eating monsters.
The three Fragments Jae had acquired thus far were, admittedly, much more than he had initially expected. Ever since he had first arrived in this unknown world, only bad things were happening to him, but now, things finally seemed to be taking a turn for the better.
Even if that wasn’t necessarily the case, at least he was now able to see the silver lining around it all.
It probably isn’t a good thing in the long term, but, well...
Of course, the fact remained that he was exploiting powers with the names of the seven cardinal sins. He had already experienced first-hand the negative side-effects of the skills when they took brief control over his emotions and mental state, so the likelihood of it all leading towards a positive future was undoubtedly slim.
However,
Does it really matter? It’s all I’ve got right now, so if it helps me, then of course I’m going to use it.
Not entirely disregarding, but putting aside all of that.
He was going to proudly use the tools he was given. What else would the point be?
If that ‘Hero’ stuff and everything packaged alongside it is gonna be counted as Chris’ own strength, then everything I started with can be counted as my own strength, too.
Therefore, since it was all his own strength, why would there be any issue with using it to the fullest?
Things were never fair from the very beginning, and he still needed to survive until the end. Although it might not mean much when his death count had already climbed to a figure higher than zero, there was a stark distinction between ‘surviving’ and ‘remaining alive’.
The difference between ‘living as a creature with life’ and ‘living as a person’.
Even if he came back from death, is an undead truly living just because they cannot die?
Jae didn’t think so, and evidence to support this was the fact that his race was stated as Humanoid in the status window as opposed to Undead.
For Jae, what he wanted to do was not just ‘stay alive’, but ‘live’.
The first step towards that goal was survival―that is, getting out of this boring, goblin-infested forest and making it to the milestone of civilisation.
He had come this far thanks to the sheer power of his own willpower and human adaptation, so he had no doubts that he would be able to continue onwards.
Well, even if he couldn’t, it didn’t matter; in the end, all it boiled down to was whether he gave up or not.
And naturally, someone with a Steadfast Mind doesn’t give up easily.
“Breakfast time~”
He collected an arm from each goblin and placed them on a fire in front of him. Forcing a mouthful of each of the four goblins’ flesh down his gullet, Jae crossed his fingers for a Gluttony proc.
Gulp.
Skill 「Gluttony」 has activated
You have acquired the Passive Skill: 「Tough Skin」
You already possess this skill
Skill 「Tough Skin」 has fused with 「Tough Skin」
Skill 「Tough Skin」 has levelled up [Lv.2]→[Lv.3]
“Oh! Nice. It’s kind of useless since I don’t plan on getting hit, but it helps make the nights more bearable alongside Cold Resistance, so it’s better than nothing, I guess.”
Gulp.
You have acquired the Enhancement Skill: 「Smell Enhancement」
You already possess this skill
Skill 「Smell Enhancement」 has fused with 「Smell Enhancement」
Skill 「Smell Enhancement」 has levelled up [Lv.2] → [Lv.3]
“Oh, another one! Oh...? Oh... No, I didn’t want that one...”
All of a sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt whiff of goblin that had become intensified.
[It’s okay! Just try again next time, it’ll work out~! Probably!]
Glaring into space as that jelly-like wobbly voice resounded inside his head, Jae bit his lip.
“......”
He discarded the lightly charred goblin arm by tossing it aside and wiped his bloody hands on his unrecognisable school uniform like usual.
His tarnished clothes were already far past the point of being simply ‘dirty’, so a little more blood and grime wouldn’t do any more harm. There was a consideration that the goblins might be able to discover him from the stench of their fellow compatriots’ dried blood, but at this point, there was nothing he cared to do about it even if he could.
After all, he wouldn’t be caught dead running around the forest naked.
[What’re you waiting for~? Eat the other ones~!]
“...You really don’t have a care in the world, do you? What even were you, to only care about stuffing your face so bad, huh? A pig?”
[Ahaha~! Not a pig, but they are delicious too! Human~ To live is to grow, and to grow requires eating! Don’t worry; so long as you keep eating, you’ll continue growing, too!]
Rolling his eyes at the overly positive voice who appeared to be imitating a trashy motivational speaker, Jae quickly gulped down the two last mouthfuls which resulted in nothing before turning away from the corpses.
Making sure the dagger was also free of any mess, he continued onwards. To kill time, as well as to attempt sating at least part of his swelling curiosity, he decided to ask a question to any one of the three voices who felt kind enough to answer.
“Hey. Can’t you guys tell me anything useful? Like why I was cursed, or why I have this Apostle of Sin title and what it has to do with all of you, or something?”
There was no response for a while, but shortly, Envy’s voice resounded.
[We cannot answer many of your questions, boy.]
[Not because they are unanswerable, but simply because it is not yet the time for you to know.]
Jae tilted his head. He was more grateful for the fact that someone was actually listening to his enquiries sincerely rather than annoyed that answers couldn’t be attained.
“What? When is it going to be ‘time’, then?”
His low, lonely voice echoing throughout the dark forest, he wasn’t worried about any creatures that may be attracted by his noise.
All he cared about, at least at this moment, was trying to see the bigger picture.
Rather than focus on the trees and shrubbery right in front of his eyes, he would instead focus on the wider scene of the forest as a whole.
[The time will come when you will know.]
[What I mean is that even we do not know when this time will come.]
[But, perhaps, it would be for the better if that time never came at all.]
Envy’s naturally screechy and ear-splitting voice―that sounded like it originated from some kind of horror flick―was the one that Jae was most relieved to listen to out of the three, despite its excessively torturous timbre.
“Wait, you don’t even know? How? And what do you mean, ‘it would be better if it never came’? Come on, you can’t just leave it on a cliffhanger like that. What do you mean?”
[We are not in a position to know such things, for we are only here to fulfil our part of the deal.]
[As for the second thing, it’s not something that merely worrying about could change. Forget what has been said.]
Hearing it as it spoke in his mind, Jae couldn’t help but be curious once more.
“...Then, can you at least tell me what you guys were before all of this, or anything at all?”
What was Envy before being rendered to nothing more than a skill and a voice inside his head?
What was he, to have such an unnatural and frankly disturbing voice that made one’s skin crawl?
Jae could accept it if he simply wasn’t ready to know the truth behind the big stuff, but that didn’t mean he was comfortable being left in the dark about absolutely everything.
He wanted something, even if it was a crumb; all he wanted to know was a smidgen of ‘why’ things were, or even just irrelevant background information―anything.
[What am I? It’s something you’ll find out eventually; the same as with all of us.]
[I can tell you one thing about us that is important information.]
[It should be fine for you to know since it will assist you in your goal.]
[Boy.]
[There exist places in this world that reflect a fragment of our past.]
[That is, our temporary domains.]
[If what you desire is to shed light on our existences, to uncover a piece of who we once were, then there will be no better place to go to find that out than there.]
Jae’s feet paused.
“...There’re seven of them, right? One for each of you.”
[That is correct.]
He nodded. Grabbing his chin to think for a moment, he soon let out an exhale. The corners of his lips ever so slightly rose, and he felt the most refreshed he had been in a while.
“Hey. Thanks.”
Those places Envy called the sins’ “temporary domains”; were they the key to figuring out this mess?
“Well, I guess I know where I should be heading now, huh?”
With a sudden burst of enthusiasm powering his steps, Jae quickened his pace.