Chapter 52

Haruka POV

You have helped in slaying a dragon!

Due to your minor help a penalty to gained Xp has been set upon you

-80% xp

Level up

Level up

Level up

Level up

Level up

Level up

Level up

…

For having participated in the slaying of a black dragon you gained

Fearless

20% resistance towards all mental attacks and disabilities

+15% fortitude

+500 to all stats with the exception of luck.

+5 luck for having survived an encounter with a dragon.

You have failed to meet the requirements to obtain bonus rewards for having slain a black dragon.

You have leveled up more than 200 levels at once

Calculating rewards

…

Do you wish to receive your reward now?

Y/N

I then pressed no.

Rewards shall be held for when you need them later.

I don’t have time for that, Daiki was unconscious and there is this smoke that was premating the place. The territorial skill of the dragon was lifted and even Daiki’s induced inferno was gone.

I went for him and carried him along with me, his body was covered in some black matter, probably some dirt from the ground, something I didn’t even bother with as I held him from under his shoulder.

You have been cursed.

(More information)

What? A curse? Damn it!

I didn’t think about it at first then suddenly my body began to tremble from pain, my right shoulder and my right arm, which I was carrying Daiki with began to feel excruciating amounts of pain, so much I dropped on the floor, dropping Daiki too with me and began to scream.

The girls came towards me trying to figure out what was happening when I stopped them.

“D-Don’t! It’s the ichor! It is a curse…don’t touch me…” I said while barely holding on to myself.

This was only a smidgen of this black matter that was on my body, Daiki had this thing all over him…

It was because I touched him that this happened…

I stood up, despite the pain, and grabbed at Daiki’s left leg. Most of his clothes had melted down with the exception of few parts that unluck- I mean luckily covered his privates…

I dragged him outside the cave while the girls walked forward.

Once outside I took a look at my state, the black matter was like a stain that covered the right side of my neck, down to my right shoulder and arm. Even though some places were covered in leather it still penetrated beyond it.

The pain was unbearable and I even drank a health potion that I got before we left the city, but it did nothing.

The girls both looked scared at what was going on, yet I clearly asked them to stay away…

“I can help with that…” said the voice of a woman.

Once I turned around I saw a blond elf riddled with scars and bruises standing alone in the woods, right before the corrupted perimeter of the cave.

“Can you really do that?” said Haruna

I was on guard because this elf was the same one we had met when we were caught that day, what is she doing here? How did she get here? How did she escape captivity? Was she the one that Daiki stopped and noticed to be tracking us? So many questions but the pain is clouding my mind, making me unable to properly think things through.

“Yes, I can reduce the amount of pain and subdue the curse to an extent, it is a black dragon’s nightmare right?” she said

And then I remembered that I didn’t see more information on the curse

Cursed

Black dragon’s Nightmare.

The pain inducing ichor had taken hold of you, a painful and unholy curse has been casted upon you due to your encounter with the mist of a black dragon

-80% stamina regeneration

-80% health regeneration

-80% mana regeneration

-50% combat efficiency.

All healing effects have been reduced.

The ichor will slowly eat away at your body until it is fully covered with it.

Time until Full corruption

6 hours

“It says it is the black dragon’s nightmare…what a strong debuff…what does it mean with time until full corruption? I don’t think that is something to look forward to” I said with a weak voice.

“…once the timer ends your body will have fully been consumed with the black ichor and you will die a painful and horrible death…”

“That doesn’t look very promising, what can you do to stop it?” I said

“Give me few minutes” she said and disappeared from sight.

“Well, I hope she doesn’t leave us here…” I then turned around and saw that most of Daiki’s body was blackened…no, not just most of it, I think that all of it is blackened!

I then inspected him to see this

Daiki Genkaku

(Ascendant)

The banished

Level???

God slayer

Cursed-Weakened- corrupted-unconscious.

Beware of a being that shall shake the heavens…

I then pressed to see the description of each of his current states

Weakened

For having abused the limits of his body this person is under a weakened state

-90% combat efficiency

-99% regeneration of mana/health/stamina

All personnel spells have been sealed

duration

1 day.

What! That is preposterous!

It went to look upon the other state only to have my shock rise even more

Corrupted

-100% fortitude

Your mental health has been severely compromised.

Effects last until the curse of the black dragon’s nightmare is lifted

If I remember correctly the fortitude state makes a person capable of resisting mental attacks and makes them able to correctly use their minds without fail…if it ever gets below a certain degree the person might become insane…

I didn’t have the will to check upon the other two stats…I just hope this elf will come back with remedy…

I think if I lose my fortitude things will get very bad from here on now, she needs to get us the help and fast…I don’t know what her objective is but I need her help now, I just hope she can save Daiki…thankfully I now know that he cannot die, but still he must be in so much pain that he will probably whish he never wakes up.

How did he even get that ability though...the power to reject death and come back as if nothing had happened…quite powerful…yet what price did he have to pay to get such gift…if one can consider that being a gift…

“Did you guys level up too?” I asked

They both nodded

“Quite the level up, how many levels in total?” I asked

Haruna then replied

“About three hundred levels…”

Misaka then added

“same here, I received a -80% penalty for not dealing much damage compared to Daiki, but still the level up was impressive…”

They got three hundred levels? I only got two hundred and something…

Well I was already out leveling them so it makes sense

If we received the same amount of Xp. I should still be a bit farther than them.

“Status screen”

Name

Haruka Kusanagi

Primary Class

Blade of the church

Race

Human

Gender

Female

Health

9900

Mana

3700

Level

460

Strength

2920

Agility

3725

Wisdom

1500

Intelligence

2960

Stamina

5100

Vitality

2120

Luck

55

Fortitude

27%

Willpower

2200

Honor

1400

Elemental resistance

7%

Dark resistance

9%

Poison resistance

8%

Light resistance

9%

Title

The prodigy-Blade mistress-The Unbroken

The Huntress-Fearless

Cursed.

Oh so it seems that it is like that.

“Can you show me your status screens, girls?” I asked and they did

Name

Haruna Toujou

Primary Class

Shaman

Race

Human

Gender

Female

Health

6900

Mana

4700

Level

371

Strength

920

Agility

825

Wisdom

3600

Intelligence

3960

Stamina

2200

Vitality

1600

Luck

35

Fortitude

19%

Willpower

800

Honor

600

Elemental resistance

10%

Dark resistance

20%

Poison resistance

2%

Light resistance

20%

Title

Gentle touch- Fearless

Oh not bad she has a good bas of mana and a high intelligence, though I can understand the low Health and AGI/STR, a shaman is oriented toward healing and acting like a support…her dark and light resistance are much higher than mine but it is probably related to her class.

Then Misaka’s screen showed after it.

Name

Misaka Zamehada

Primary Class

Sanguine priestess

Race

Human

Gender

Female

Health

8200

Mana

6800

Level

390

Strength

1920

Agility

1925

Wisdom

3000

Intelligence

2860

Stamina

2500

Vitality

2400

Luck

45

Fortitude

22%

Willpower

1200

Honor

2600

Elemental resistance

15%

Dark resistance

15%

Poison resistance

15%

Light resistance

15%

Title

Blood starved-Vicious-Princess

Well she has quite the balance states, she is a good all-rounder too.

This +500 to all stats was quit helpful it really boosted our base stats which were not leveling up quite well, the system is clearly making state gains harder to come by the more you level up.

They are almost level 400 and this is good to say the least. A huge power up compared to our former selves, I could even say we doubled in power…yet this is nothing…

I looked at the sleeping Daiki next to me and contemplated about what happened.

I saw it with clear eyes, that wrath and rage, yet at the same time, a smile on his face was never removed, even with that black matter eating away at him, even against the odds, and in the face of overwhelming strength and power, he still fought, he fought with conviction knowing that he will emerge victorious…at that point, I understood that deep down within him, he truly felt happy…

His movements were erratic, he used too many spells, too many abilities and at an extremely rapid pace and with the finest of precisions, his speed was mind bogging as he moved like a ghost, he was able to damage the dragon in several places in moments without it even being able to register the pain or the damage…he was strong, too strong…

One could only wonder at what he had to do to gain this strength, and even then would anyone dare take his path?

The elf came back in less than half an hour. And within her hands were numerous herbs. She place them down and went back to the forest for few more moments, this time she came back with a smooth river stone in her hand that was about the size of her palm, and on the other hand she had a bark of a tree.

She sat down near me and placed the herbs on top of the bark then began squashing them.

She started in a rough and hasten manner, then moments later the herbs began to mash well, she added more herbs and some water she had in a leather container, and kept on doing the same thing…

She probably has an herbalist profession

Once she finished, there was a dark green patty on the bark of the tree.

She then carried it with care and said

“This will sooth the pain and will slow the effects of the curse.”

I left her apply the salve and instantly felt the pain lessening considerably.

Curse of the black dragon’s nightmare has been halted

Suspension time

12 hours.

Well this is not bad

“You will need to apply this twice a day, but this will only work for one week, more than that the curse will be much too strong for the remedy to stop it” said the elf with an almost none caring tone.

“Is there no way to remove this?” said Haruna

“There are two ways, the first is that you will need someone that is close to the divines, and they must hold the highest title of piousness”

“The pontiff…” I said

“Yes, only they can lift a curse this strong”

“What is the second option?” said Misaka

They both knew that there is no way that the pontiff will help, probably if forced but I don’t think Daiki will accept asking help from him, or would even care for my survival…

“The Elf queen, she can easily lift the curse too…”

“Can she lift the curse on Daiki too?” I asked

“I don’t know…actually I never seen the case of this curse spreading this much, his entire body is covered in ichor yet he is still alive, I even fear that if I try to apply this lotion that I will be cursed too…but I think she can help…”

“Where is this elf queen?” I asked

“In the Elven kingdom, about ten days horse ride from here…”

“Ten days? Then it is impossible…” said Misaka

The elf looked filled with sorrow.

Huh, ten days…even if I applied the lotion every day at the end of the seventh day I will probably lose my mind or just die…I can’t ask the pontiff, as he will probably order my execution, the cardinal must have already told him about our ‘betrayal’ and how the summoned heroes turned against the kingdom…

“Let’s just keep this quiet shall we? I don’t want to trouble Daiki with this…he already did more than enough to help, and telling him this will only make him lose his focus, I owe him my life so it shouldn’t be unreasonable to do this” I said

“You don’t get to decide if you live or die. I own you” Said the now awakened Daiki.

The last words he said made my heart skip a beat…

His face looked pitch black as the dark spots of the curse covered him almost entirely.

He didn’t even look to be in pain, no he even seemed to be smiling.

“We will be heading to the Elven kingdom in two days, I have something to do”

“Where are you going?" Haruna asked

Daiki then answered with a smile

“You will know soon enough, and you Elf, though I asked you not to follow us you still did…wait here until I come back…I need few words with you.”