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Chapter 37
The reason I came here is simple.
To experiment with the new skill I gained from the desert expedition — the Curse of Frailty.
Since I’ve acquired this new technique, I need to properly understand it.
“Grrrrk…”
— There are snakes here.
The chieftain of the Gray Mane Wolf tribe said he’s been troubled lately by the appearance of black-striped snakes in this mountain range.
Even the sharp-eyed and swift Gray Mane Wolves were being threatened — these snakes are that fast and dangerous.
The venom they spit seeps into the skin on contact and causes fatal wounds.
‘People who travel around here have been suffering because of these things too.’
Lately, more and more hikers have been attacked by these snakes.
The damage is serious, and there have even been quite a few deaths.
‘I came to this monster-infested mountain range to study the Curse of Frailty…’
And of course, I have to deal with these things now too.
After the Black Wolf incident, I started learning the wolves’ language and even listening in on their conversations — somehow, I got a little attached.
I can’t just ignore this and move on…
‘Sigh.’
Might as well use this chance to test the Curse of Frailty and take care of the snakes.
“Their leader is over there?”
“Krrahrah.”
— That’s right.
Fine, whatever.
How hard can it be to kill a few snakes?
“Let’s go.”
I have to head back to Brillant once the sun rises anyway.
Better finish this quickly.
Shing—
The Soulcall glinted coldly as it reflected the moonlight.
At the entrance of a cave, a large black-striped snake appeared, flicking its tongue.
The Forest of Black-Striped Snakes.
A cave entrance leading underground, surrounded by trees.
Vines growing between those trees looked like snakes in the darkness.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
The black-striped snakes moved between the ground, trees, vines, and branches, threateningly.
“Tch, the leader’s really in that cave?”
“Krrrrah…”
— Yes.
According to the Gray Mane chieftain, if I take out their leader, they’ll be able to handle the rest of the snakes on their own.
So I pushed into the thicket.
HISSSSS!!
Just then, a snake lunged with its jaws wide open, fangs bared.
Slash!
With a light swing of my sword, its head separated from its body and sailed past my shoulder.
Thud.
“Hey, hey!”
The Gray Mane Wolves rushed to eat the snake’s corpse, so I grabbed the chieftain’s mane.
“Can’t you control your kids? I told you not to eat the bodies.”
“Krrrahrah! Krarrarrak!”
— Have some dignity! What are you doing in front of the others!
“What about my dignity? I’m out here chopping heads off your enemy snakes for you. What, you think it’s funny? Wanna try me too?”
“Grrrr…”
— You little…!
“Krarah! Urararak!”
— Father! Don’t!!
Suddenly, one of the wolves from earlier jumped out and held the chieftain back.
It’s the one I smacked around before.
“Krararak? Urukrkrarak!”
— Father? I told you to call me chieftain in public!
“Karakararak! Grrrrrk!”
— That’s not the issue! You’ll get your butt kicked again!
“Karrararararak!!”
— You dare disrespect me?!
“Grrrgahhh!”
— Like you weren’t scared stiff just a second ago!
“Karararak!!”
— Watch your mouth with your father!!
“Grkarkkararak!”
— You stayed quiet when I got beat down but now you're brave?
Suddenly, the two wolves broke into a full-blown father-son shouting match.
It was a ridiculous scene to watch from the side.
These crazy wolves clearly don’t care about status or family when they’re pissed off.
Well, considering how they casually curse at their parents daily, I guess that checks out.
“Garkararark!!”
“Grararararak!!”
They were now yelling so loud, it was echoing.
The son was spewing vulgarities at his father, and the father was hurling back equally foul insults.
I couldn’t take it anymore, so I smacked both of them on the back of the head.
The son shut his mouth, and the chieftain glared at me with bared teeth.
“So you wanna go?”
“Grrrrrr…”
If you don’t firmly establish dominance with wolves, this is what you get.
I had let it go earlier because the son had come in with his head down after getting beaten, but…
Vmmm—
My Soulcall, sensing my intent, began to hum.
“You want to taste wolf blood again, don’t you?”
I ran my finger along the blade and licked my lips.
“Grrrrrrrr…”
As I approached, the chieftain began to back away.
“Come on. It's getting chilly anyway — maybe I’ll make a coat out of wolf hide.”
“Urukrarak! Karararar—!”
— I was wrong! Let’s just stay calm—!
Tap!
Then, I pushed off the ground and lunged forward in an instant.
Two steps, then a jump.
“Go! Rararak!!”
— Get away! I was wrong!!
Before the chieftain could react, I channeled energy into the Soulcall and swung.
Slash!
Thud.
The chieftain collapsed to the ground.
Strands of his mane floated gently to the forest floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Krak?”
— Am I alive?
He slowly opened his tightly shut eyes — and in front of him lay the black-striped snake, neatly sliced in two, its sharp fangs bared even in death.
“Damn it, your yelling drew the snakes right to us.”
Two more snakes dropped from the trees above.
I leapt off the chieftain’s back and sliced them mid-air.
Thud.
After landing, I turned back toward the chieftain — who suddenly darted off behind me.
“Ah, damn it–!”
“Krurararak! Ku! Karak! Krur! Kirik!”
– I told you bastards not to touch the corpses!
When I turned around, the chieftain was furiously beating two wolves who had been licking their lips.
The wolves flinched and backed away in fear.
“Yeah, that’s more like it.”
The chieftain approached as if nothing had happened.
As expected, when it comes to educating creatures like this, a good beating is the best method.
I realized that fact after only my second encounter with the wolves.
“Stay here and block the snakes. I’ll go take care of the head.”
I immediately headed toward the cave entrance.
After killing a few snakes, I found they weren’t too difficult to deal with.
Maybe that meant I had already gotten stronger.
Hiss!
A snake guarding the entrance hissed menacingly as it threatened me.
It was much larger than the others—if this one wasn’t the boss, then the actual boss must look terrifying.
It raised its head high and lunged at me with tremendous speed.
But it wasn’t fast enough to catch me off guard.
Slash!
My Soulcall sliced through its head.
Purple liquid splashed from the severed head onto the blade’s surface.
Hisss—
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The liquid melted the grass on the ground, indicating it was a powerful venom—but my Soulcall remained unharmed.
“As expected.”
I shook off the venom clinging to the blade and entered the cave.
After going down a sloping path for a short distance, the darkness swallowed all light, and I couldn’t see a thing.
The tunnel wasn’t that deep.
After a while, my eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I began to make out a faint shape.
A massive, pitch-black beast.
It was clearly the boss of the striped snakes.
“That you?”
Thanks to my enhanced senses, which had grown sharper due to my spiritual energy, I could barely detect it.
Only the creature’s stark white eyes were visible in the dark.
I had to track its movements using nothing but its presence.
‘This is doable.’
Sssss—
The friction of its scales against the cave’s rough floor echoed.
I should’ve brought a torch if I’d known it would be like this.
The energy I sensed was ominous.
This one was in a different league than the snake guarding the entrance.
“So that’s why the wolves had such a hard time.”
This creature was very cautious.
Taking this long to attack a lone human in the dark—maybe it had a sense of my strength from how far I’d come.
‘Come on.’
It’s easier to strike when the enemy charges rather than attacking first. The odds of landing a hit go up.
Just once.
One clean slash would be enough.
The striped snakes didn’t have much defense.
If I infused my blade with spiritual energy, I could cut it down in one strike.
Ssss—
‘Now!’
I felt a strong killing intent from behind, to the right.
Something terrifying was rushing at me.
Hissssss!!
Something hot cut through the air.
But as I swung my blade, I realized the sensation wasn’t from the creature’s flesh.
‘Venom…?’
I immediately twisted my body and knocked my blade upward.
Sizzle—
The end of my garment brushed the venom and melted.
If that had touched my skin, it wouldn’t have been just a burn.
‘You’re not going down easy, huh?’
It had some intelligence.
I shouldn’t treat it like a mindless beast.
I immediately ran back toward the entrance along the cave wall.
Ssssskkk—
Apparently, it hadn’t expected me to flee so suddenly, and it rushed after me in a panic.
I left myself wide open while running, and the creature followed quickly, spitting venom again.
Splat! Sizzle—
I ducked low to avoid the spray.
The sound of the wall melting was vivid.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
After dodging the venom repeatedly, the snake gave up on spitting and closed the distance.
‘Got you!’
I sharply turned, pushed off the wall, and leapt toward the creature’s barely visible figure, slashing.
My blade caught on thick scales.
‘Yes!’
I channeled my spiritual energy into my blade and sliced through it.
Slash!
Fssshhhh!
Blood sprayed over me.
Luckily, the blood didn’t seem toxic.
Good thing I hadn’t cut the venom sac.
Though it was hard to see in the dark, I could feel the creature’s enormous thickness with my blade.
This might even be a mouthful for the gray-maned wolf chieftain outside.
“Carrying it out is out of the question.”
I immediately went outside and called the wolves.
Since the gatekeeping snake was dead, the other striped snakes didn’t attack the wolves.
The blood soaking the ground seemed to suppress their aggression.
“Go in and bring out the body.”
The chieftain and wolves hesitated, so I raised my Soulcall.
“Karak kararak!!”
– Move it!!
A moment later, the wolves who had gone into the cave came back out.
“Krrkara!”
– We brought it!
“Grrr.”
– Impressive.
“Grrrlrk.”
– As expected of the human our chieftain respects.
“Gurkaruk!”
– Shut up!
The snake boss’s massive body continued to spill out of the cave endlessly.
It looked to be at least 10 meters long.
“Dig.”
“Gruk?”
– Why dig?
“We need to make them a grave. So get to it.”
“Krrrraak.”
— Why the grave?
“Just dig.”
“Karak!”
— Hurry up and dig!
As my expression grew more threatening, the chieftain quickly ordered the wolves to dig a massive pit.
I placed the alpha into it, built a grave, and set up a tombstone.
“May you be reborn as a stronger monster in your next life.”
With a light bow, I completed the burial.
“Awaken.”
[Using spiritual power to forcibly awaken the wraith.]
A crimson soul burst from the grave.
Its eyes rolled back as it lunged at me, but unfortunately for it, spirits have no physical power.
‘It’s completely red.’
Spencer Trevis, the eldest son of the Trevis family who was unjustly killed by a dark mage, also appeared red at first.
The goblin shaman once told me about revenants.
Spirits tainted by hatred and malice are called revenants, and they take on a red appearance, unlike ordinary souls.
‘He warned me to be careful of revenants. What are you trying to do now… Hm?’
The serpent leader’s spirit tried to force its way into my body.
It felt just like when I practiced necromancy—a suffocating sensation began pressing down on me.
‘Is it trying to attack my soul?’
Now I finally understand what this feeling is.
This is how revenants torment those who can see spirits.
If I lacked spiritual energy, I might have had my soul devoured by them.
Wooooong—
At that moment, Soulcall began to hum.
‘You want me to use you?’
Spiritual energy flowed through my right hand and into Soulcall, the green gem embedded in the guard glowing brightly.
“Come in.”
Whooom—
As Soulcall sliced through the revenant, the tormented creature was sucked into the soulstone embedded within.
“Oh…”
An involuntary expression of awe escaped me.
I didn’t know Soulcall could do that.
Somehow, it feels like it’s gotten even stronger.
‘Maybe I could even use the Curse of Frailty now?’
The Curse of Frailty sends out nearby spirits to sap an enemy’s strength.
Since that spirit is now inside Soulcall, maybe I can use it.
“Hm…”
Then, I spotted the gray-maned wolf chieftain.
“Ururuka!”
— Why are you looking at me like that!
“Like that?”
“Uruka!”
— My bad!
For a moment, I almost cast the Curse of Frailty on him.
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[Translator - Night]
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