Kret was an average person. Well, he considered himself as such. He grew up poor, struggled to survive, and did things he wasn’t proud of. Kret never knew his father, and his mom died of starvation trying to keep him and his sister alive when they were around 10. His sister caught a plague a few years later and she was ‘put down’ to prevent its spread.
He didn’t consider himself as unlucky despite all that’s happened though. Kret had seen how bad things could really get. He just does what needs to be done to survive in this terrifying world. So, when Kret was invited to join a cultist group he didn’t hesitate.
They had provided food and shelter, so he could turn a blind eye to the morally dubious deeds they performed. He was even taught dark magics and basic demon summonings. Kret even managed to summon a few low leveled fledgling imps.
Kret considered this to be a high point in his life. He went from level 21 to 13 when he switched his class to cultist, but in his opinion, it was worth it.
This was his first mission and it was a big one. Kret first thought the group numbered in the dozens, but apparently there were over one thousand members. And the mission they were on was no small task.
Travel into a previously undiscovered dungeon and retrieve a demonic artifact. That was all he was briefed on. The expedition team had about 30 cultists traversing into the dungeon, and they had been here for weeks. The monsters were quite weak, but this place was massive.
Things had been smooth sailing for most of their time here until recently. Just as they set up camp for the night, a small furry creature approached them. It was a ball of fur just about a foot in diameter and had a row of teeth sticking out the front. It had two chicken-like legs.
Kret had never seen a monster like this before and at first he wasn’t worried. It looked kinda harmless, but when he looked at the main fighters in their group, who were around level 40, they were running away. This confused Kret and it scared him.
He turned back to see this monster, which was essentially a ball with a mouth and legs, ripping through people like an arrow. When a few of us tried to attack it, it used earth magic to grab their feet and pull them into the ground. Only the hole they were pulled into was too small, so their insides were pushed upward and blasted out of their eyes and mouths.
They became horrifying fountains of entrails. This was enough to make Kret run for it. He ran as fast as he could, hearing the slaughter of his comrades in the background. Kret’s heart was pounding, he really didn’t want to die. So, he kept running until he was exhausted.
Kret collapsed on the ground. He prayed to the Devils that he got away. He lay there waiting, hoping that the monster wouldn’t find him.
He laid there until he heard footsteps approaching. He got up quickly and readied his wand only to see that they were two other cultists, and one of them was the vice captain of the expedition.
He expected to be scolded for running, but the vice captain didn’t say anything about him running. He simply acknowledged his existence and Kret joined the pair. The vice captain explained that the expedition was a failure and they were going to leave as fast as possible.
The vice captain was going to summon a demon to lead them out of the dungeon. Apparently it's the same kind of demon that was leading them to this demonic artifact, but it was killed in the attack. So, we need a new one to get us out of here.
The vice captain was a level 46 Demonic Summoner and it was fascinating watching him work. The summoning circle he was carving into the ground glowed red wherever he went over it with his staff. It was enthralling to Kret.
The vice captain stepped back and pointed his staff at the circle. As he began chanting, the circle started to glow brighter and brighter. As Kret watched on in delight he noticed something. The summoning circle shifted slightly. It was extremely subtle and Kret was lucky he caught it.
Kret had no idea what it meant, but he knew it wasn’t normal. The vice captain didn’t stop or even react so he didn’t dare to interrupt the summon. He decided to watch on as the black hands of the first devil finally started to form.
He watched in excitement as a new demon he had never seen before started to materialize. The demon was more humanoid than he expected, and on second glance he realized that it was a lot more humanoid. In fact, it was clearly a human woman.
She was thrashing around under black hands as she came into existence. I could hear the vice captain gasp under his mask as he stopped chanting. When the black hands released her she immediately turned over and vomited all over the once beautiful magic circle.
The woman had blonde hair and was wearing clothing he had never seen before. She looked around and she seemed completely dumbfounded about what happened. The girl eventually locked eyes with our group and her eyes widened.
Kret realized that they were all confused. The summoning had very obviously gone wrong and picked up some poor random woman. Kret wanted to face palm at the failure. The vice captain had decided to step forward and state the obvious.
But as soon as he said that the woman vanished. No, she didn’t vanish, but she teleported right next to the vice captain. Kret decided to immediately use Observe, but what he saw only confused him more.
(Monk / Level 6)
Monk is a rare class. He actually had never seen anyone with it before. Too add to the confusion of the situation. The woman swung at the vice captain’s head and Kret heard a snap.
“AHH, Fuck!”
The woman reeled back and revealed that she broke her wrist hitting the vice captain. Kret’s mind was racing at this point, but came up with nothing. How could she teleport at such a low level? Why did she attack someone 40 levels above her? Why did she get summoned instead of a demon?
Unfortunately for Kret, he wasn’t gonna get any answers.
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OH MY GOD IT HURTS!!!
As soon as I punched him my wrist snapped like a twig. The cultist with the mask didn’t even budge, and I would feel kinda awkward if I wasn’t in so much pain right now.
I immediately started backpedaling away from them and luckily they didn’t react just yet. It seems that the whole situation is so strange to them that they’re stunned. This gives me a few moments to process the situation.
It felt like punching steel. Is he that higher level than me? When I looked at the masked cultist again a new notification appeared.
Congratulations, you have Learned a skill
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(Observe)
Oh, that’s good! This must be a skill that lets me see the stats and stuff of other people. I focus on the masked cultist and think about the new skill.
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(??? / ???)
Oh, that’s not good! That means he’s way stronger than me right? How am I supposed to kill these guys?
Unfortunately, my thinking time has run out because the guy with the mask raised his staff at me. “Who are you!? How did you intercept the summoning!?”
This is it! An opportunity to talk out of the situation. Just as I was about to play the part of a scared, confused girl, I stopped myself. Was I going to do that? It felt wrong for some reason.
No, saying it felt wrong wasn’t right either. It was something worse than being wrong. It would be boring.
I think back to the last thing Ydri said to me. ‘Entertain me!’ I can’t help but feel irritated. I hope it knows I’m not doing this for it.
The masked guy speaks up again. “Don’t ignore me! Tell me who you are!”
I force a smile through my pained expression and put on a cutesy voice. “Hi! I’m Tiffany! I’m going to kill you now!”
I know this is a terrible idea, but in this world I’m sure I can get away with it. The masked cultist points his staff at me and an orange circle appears in front of it. I’m almost distracted by the actual magic happening in front of me, but I figure it’s bad news.
I duck out of the way as a massive streak of fire blasts by where my head was. I look back at the cultist to see the other two pulling out what I assume are wands. This would be bad if I didn’t have a plan. Unfortunately for them, I have an awesome skill!
I focus on the Obscene Presence skill the same way I did with Observe and… Nothing happens.
Why didn’t it work? I wasn’t able to figure out what was going on before a rock slammed into my abdomen. I feel a few ribs crack and blood spills from my mouth. I have never been in this much pain before.
I collapse onto the ground. My vision goes blurry as I try to hold back tears. This isn’t the time to succumb to pain! I pull myself back to my feet and refocus my gaze on the cultist. I find a red, metallic looking ball bouncing in front of me.
“Essence grenade!”
My eyes widen and the world around me slows. Am I going to die here? That’s a stupid question. I should ask, what can I do to survive? I can’t dodge this so I have to withstand it. How can I withstand this? I need higher durability. That’s right! I haven’t spent any of my stat points.
I dump every single stat point into durability as light fills my eyes. I’m sent flying into a wall and I feel more bones break. I got a new notification, but I’m in so much pain I can’t read it. I look down to see the burns covering my body. I get another notification and the pain lessens slightly.
It’s enough for me to gain my bearings again. I’m slouched against the wall I crashed into and smoke fills the cave. I can’t see any of the cultists through the smoke and I don’t think they can see me yet either, on the account I'm not dead. I need to figure out how to use Obscene Presence or I’m done.
I haven’t used Magical Aura Perception yet so maybe that gives the insight I need. I focus on the class skill and my vision shifts. The world blurs, and three red glowing fires appear in front of me. The one in the middle is slightly bigger than the others. Are those the cultists? I finally notice the bigger one is getting closer to me.
I need to think fast. I look down at my broken body and I find another fire. This one is black in color and it sits in the center of my chest. My instincts tell me to grab it and I try with my one functioning hand. My own body gets in the way and I grab onto my smoldering clothes.
I focus on the fire the same way I would focus on a skill to activate it. I give all my attention to the flames until I feel the fire flicker. As if it were a que, I pulled as hard as I can and the fire in my chest grew. The fire morphed into the shape of a person and it enveloped my whole body. I got a new notification and now I was present enough I could read it.
Congratulations, you have unlocked a class skill
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(Magical Aura Manifestation)
It felt amazing. The pain was still there, but the black fire was soothing. I couldn't revel in my power for too long as the larger red flame was now just a few feet away. The masked cultist.
He snorts “I don’t suppose you’re going to give answers, are you?”
I give him a smile, juxtaposed to my mageled body “Nah, I’m just as confused as you are!” and I activate Obscene Presence.
I can almost hear his eyes widen as he falls backward. The cultist grabs onto his mask and he starts screaming. I’m hit with several notifications.
You have slain a (Cultist/level 13)
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More experience rewarded
You have slain a (Cultist/level 17)
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More experience rewarded
You have leveled up! (6 → 7)
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You have earned (5) stat points
You have leveled up! (7 → 8)
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You have earned (5) stat points
You have leveled up! (8 → 9)
-
You have earned (5) stat points
They died? That was enough to kill them nearly instantly! My shock is then replaced by a sudden exhaustion I’ve never felt before. The flames covering my body recede back into my chest. I’m tired to a profound degree. I was about to use the screams of the masked cultist to lull me to sleep, but he suddenly stopped. I didn’t get a notification, so he’s not dead yet.
I force my eyes back open. The cultist is laid out on the floor and they’re holding on to their head. I should probably end his suffering.
I force myself back onto my feet. Thank god my legs are mostly uninjured. I limp over to the cultist and notice his mask fell off. And he is actually a she.
That’s weird. Why did I assume that this was a guy even though they’re obviously a woman? They looked and sounded like a girl the whole time, but I took one look at her and thought ‘that’s a guy.’ She even seems smaller now too. Was it an illusion?
As I’m hesitating she eventually comes to, and as soon as she sees me, she locks up. “Wha- No, please don’t kill me. Okay, I’m sorry. I wh-”
I raise an eyebrow at her pleading. She’s terrified, however I’m surprised at how potent Obscene Presence is. She’s way stronger than me, but she’s asking me to spare her. I almost laugh at the absurdity of it.
I think she saw my amusement because she started crying. Ah, now I kinda feel bad.
“Calm down, I'm not gonna kill ya.”
She opens her eyes and her face immediately softens. She raises her head to look back up at me. “What?”
At the same time a system screen pops up, but it’s different than usual. It’s grey instead of blue and the text is black. It asks the same question.
WHAT!?
It is it, isn’t it. Ydri. It’s probably pissed I'm not gonna go along with it. I don’t give a shit though. “I’m not going to kill you, because I don’t want to. Simple as.”
The once scary masked cultist falls silent at this, but Ydri? It’s anything but silent.
HUH!? What do you mean!? You just gonna stop now? WHY!? I don’t understand!
…
No … No no no. Are you saying you got bored!?
“I mean, yeah. Killing her now would be boring.” To be honest, seeing her now reminds me of my past victims. So, I already know killing her now won’t do anything for me. Ydri though… I think it’s having a mental breakdown.
hAHAHAHAH hahAHAhahahAHAHA
I don’t hear it laughing. It’s just screen after screen of text implying laughter. I think I broke it. As soon as I think that, the screens disappear. After a moment two new screens appear.
Your even more unpredictable than I thought
You have completed the objective (Entertain me!)
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Applying rewards
A golden light envelopes me. It’s sort of like my aura but different. A lot more powerful. My bones shift back into place and all my cuts and bruises vanish in seconds. The burn scars flake off and are replaced by new skin.
This horrifies the cultist. “Wh- what are you?”
I can’t help but shake my head and sigh. “You misspelt you’re.”
Judging by her expression, I think the cultist is confused.