26 Chapter 25: Demonic Apostle
Roman had just currently received his reward from the NPC. He had earned a huge chunk of experience, several affinities, and 10 tokens which he could use to convert into a few numbers of equipment, and decided to convert it to a tier 1 Unique sword.
'I should give this as a gift to brother Fist. Without him, I should've probably been unable to finish the quest.'
He felt a huge amount of gratitude to Kaya who went his way to help a nobody like him. He had long thought that the majority of experts were selfish, self-centered, and arrogant but what he could tell from Kaya changed his beliefs. Despite having the habit of eating raw monster meat, it was natural for experts to have their unique personalities and tastes.
'It seems like he needed more of these weapons even though I don't see him use one but I guess it's due to some circumstances that I don't know.'
He was ready to go back when he suddenly felt a rather stingy feeling in the back of his neck. It felt like a dagger was being pointed at him even though it was in the light of day and surrounded by a bustling of players and NPC. He was sure that if he looked back, this unknown threat would strike at him even though it was unlikely it will strike inside the city without fearing the severe punishments of the system.
'Who did I mess with now? I'm confident that the Wind Rider Guild wasn't able to spot me and even if they had, they shouldn't be able to spend that much money to pay an expert to tail me. Unless..'
Thinking about it, realization struck Roman. He recalled the scenes back in the forest and he couldn't help but think of Kaya.
'Unless of course if it's the Blood Carnival Guild then they can do so! They wouldn't gain anything from killing me but if it's about brother Fist then they could extort information from me.'
Having realized the grave situation he was in, he immediately opened his message panel and sent Kaya a warning before he calmed himself down and revealed his poker face.
'Hoooooh....let's do this.'
After shifting to an aloof tone, he stopped walking to face at a garment store and watch the reflection of its glass pane which he saw a girl holding a staff. He went his way to activate a strong yet unnoticeable appraisal skill as if to fool the expert that he was checking the information of the clothes in the storefront when in reality, he was checking the girl's information out.
Ting~
[Bird???
????
???]
'As expected! To think one of the upper echelons of Blood Carnival Guild is following me.'
Roman could only helplessly smile watching the reflection in the glass. He could already tell that this girl was faking her identity and she was in fact Bird, since, unlike Kaya who had a very powerful blocking skill that not even Roman could penetrate, her blocking skill was subpar at best.
"Uhmm..hello mister, I was wondering if you would like to party up. I just thought you look very strong and handsome."
Bird as Willow said revealing cute puppy eyes and an anime girl voice. Roman smiled and tried not to break character after hearing her rather cringe and awful acting. If he didn't even realize it with his spatial awareness, just her tone alone made her very suspicious.
"Ah! Hello, I'm sorry but I'm not that strong, thanks for the compliment though! Hahaha~"
Roman said in an aloof tone. Bird simply grinned wryly and black smoke started to appear in her shadow. This black smoke constricted Roman's movement pushing his entire body farther into a dark alleyway.
"I already know you saw through my disguise..."
Bird grinned as she held Roman's cheeks, (Not his ass lmao) Roman refrained at her words.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Let me go."
"Still acting dumb?"
Her body reformed back to her original look as she licked Roman's face. Roman could only endure in disgust staring at the face of the woman who he could describe as devilish.
"You Blood Carnival bastards.."
Roman grit his teeth as he tried to free himself from the black shackles.
"Now tell me, where is Vagabond? I know you two are acquainted with each other."
"We only met once and he already left. I'm not even friends with him."
Roman said in defense. Of course, Bird didn't believe this as she held his fingers and snapped one of them. Roman could only endure the pain after his index finger was bent on the other way.
"Urgh...I don't know!"
" 'ahhh.I don't know~'"
Repeating his words, Bird snapped another finger. Roman gritted his teeth from the pain, he wondered why the guards have yet to come when his scream had already echoed in the entire alley. One or two players should've noticed it yet he could not see anyone.
"Curious why nobody is coming for your help? Then this might answer your question."
'Demonic Insignia!'
When Roman saw the red tattoo ingrained in her right bosom, his eyes widened in shock. There were many types of demonic insignia, one could acquire this by making a contract against a demon of noble blood or taken interest by pure-blood demons. These pure-blood demons stayed in the Netherworld, a realm rarely approached by players. A demonic insignia could range from its colors but it only had one design, there was a case of having different designs and this usually only happens if the player contracted one of the 7 rulers of hell. From Bird's case, not only was her insignia a bright reddish color which is one of the strongest demonic insignia a player could get, but its design was also different from the usual Pentagram tattoo. Rather her tattoo had the image of a Pigeon head and below it was the Hebrew numerals 666. It was the mark of the beast and one thing that Roman knew about the Pigeon was their greed. When he connected the dots, he could only think of one demon king. Mammon, one of the seven rulers of hell, one of the seven deadly sins, the demon of Greed.
'You guys have gone too far.'
Anger flashed between Roman's eyes, he knew how dire it meant being one of the followers of a demon king. Everybody had long known of the worldwide phenomenon last year as one of the demon kings was summoned to the real world, this demon king was none other done Belphegor, the sin of Sloth. His reign in the real world destroyed two empires and it became a continental catastrophe. It took over 2 billion players, all the guilds and sects, and tier 5 NPCs to defeat the demon king and they weren't even able to subjugate him, with the help of the NPCs, they could only destroy the summoning to seal Belphegor back to the Netherworld. That was why players resented any player that was from dark guilds since they were affiliated with demons, there was even a permanent quest that rewarded any player if they could capture any player that contracted a demonic follower and would also reward the player greatly if they could capture a demonic apostle. This was due to the backlash of the Demonic King's ire that many of the churches and temples made this quest permanent fearing that demonic followers and apostles might summon another Demon King.
"So, will you tell me or do you wish to suffer more?"
That was enough to show how powerful a demon king was and to think he'd be facing one of the demons King's apostles made him fear and furious of Bird.
"Kill me you fucking bitch! I'll never tell anything to a demonic apostle like you."
"You're a tough nut to crack aren't you? Well then, since the secrets are already out, I have to ban you from this game for quite a while."
Bird revealed a giant smile as she activated the exclusive skill of her Insignia. The dagger in her hands exudes a blood-red aura and Roman who has known a lot about this game could only click his tongue in regret. The skill she was activating was the same wide area skill that Belphegor had activated, it was a devastating skill that made players who were killed by it stole half of their immortal soul and when an immortal stole was damaged or stolen, the player would be barred on entering the game for quite a while depending on how much damage their immortal soul had received but in this case, Bird's skill was the same as Belphegor's except it only works on one player which would ban them from entering the game for 7 months in real time, that was 1 year and 6 months in the game! It was too much for a player could endure, they'd be left to dust once they get back to the game, it was better to make another account since it only takes a 1-month duration.
'Shit, there goes my virtual life.'
Roman could only blame himself. He knew that there were times that he would be put in a situation in which he had no choice but to give up. He only didn't think that it would happen in such a short amount of time, he had just played the game 2 months ago and his leveling speed could be considered top-notch as an independent player but now all of the gains and efforts he made were going down the drain. Closing his eyes, he waited for the blade to strike his heart, but suddenly, a gust of wind blew over his body.
"Don't mess with my friend."
It was a cold yet powerful voice that made Bird shiver. Before her dagger could strike Roman's chest, Kaya held her arm and activated Crunch. His entire arm turned to mush as she screamed in pain.
"Aaarrgh!!!"
Her entire arm had become a flopping flesh that had broken all the bones in it including the muscles as she tried to waddle it around. Before she could retaliate against the unknown man, Kaya grabbed her by the throat as he released all his aura from his domain unto her. Being flushed by the powerful pressure made her body immobile. She could barely lift her other arm nor could she move her entire body.
"Guild....leader?"
Bird could only mutter those words as she stared at the man veiled by his cloak. Kaya quitely removed his cloak and showed her middle-aged look to the bird who was stunned knowing that it wasn't the man she thought it would be.
"No."
Pushing his full strength over his hand, he dug his fingers through her neck and activated Botulinum Toxin releasing 5 drops from all of his fingertips instantly turning her face green as her skin and muscles slowly melt. She could only scream from the pain as her entire head including the skull to melt into a goeey soup.
[You have killed a demonic apostle!]
[Level difference: 137; experience gain +685%]
[For killing a demonic apostle, experience gain had increased by 2000%]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
.
.
.
[One of the seven rulers of hell has taken notice of your presence. The demon king is angry at your existence for killing one of his apostles and has placed a curse on you that reveals your location from all of the demon apostles and if you are killed by one of the demon's followers or apostles, a portion of your Immortal Soul will be stolen]
When Bird's headless body fell to the ground, Kaya was surprised at the number of window panels that appeared in his view. He immediately gained 16 levels from killing a player, it was much more experience compared to the mutant berserked boss monster. Roman who was released from his restraint was speechless from the shock. He had just thought that this was the end of his gaming life, to think Kaya would arrive in a pinch of the moment and display the most gruesome thing a person could do right in his face. Goosebumps immediately overcame his body after seeing the huge smile on his face as if what he had done aroused him so much.
'Experts are crazy!'
"Are you okay?"
Kaya asked the pale Roman. The reason why Kaya was able to barely save Roman from an inevitable death was that Roman had opened his GPS that made it possible for any of his friends to track his location live. When Kaya received the message that Roman was currently being followed by one of the upper echelons of the Blood Carnival Guild, he immediately hurried to save him after his name had returned to its normal color.
"Thanks for saving me, you've already done this twice and I have yet to give you a proper payment."
Roman could only be grateful to Kaya, even though it was Kaya's fault why he was under such a circumstance, he didn't blame the man, rather he felt a fire of admiration for him. He wanted nothing more but to be his companion but knowing his useless self, he removed this idea from his head, he was ready satisfied being friends with him. He pulled out a sword in his inventory and gave it to Kaya. Kaya received the sword and saw its tier and rank and immediately let the Fighting Monarch's Orb absorb it.
"That's all I can give for now, but in the future, I'll give you more, I won't ask for payment since saving my life is more than enough as payment for my debt."
"Really? Thanks a lot!"
Kaya patted Roman's shoulder and was thankful for his gratitude and goodwill. He decided that it was better for him to be his companion and hope to work with him more in the future. Roman immediately noticed a black tattoo with the Hebrew number 6 engraved on it and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Brother Fist! You've been cursed by the demon king Mammon!"
Roman said in worry. He knew the graveness of killing a demon King's apostles that's why players rarely target them and would rather confront the demonic followers. When Kaya noticed the tattoo, he only shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, this? Don't worry I'll remove it."
"Remove it how?...!"
Before Roman could ask, Kaya's tattoo on his right shoulder glowed in white light as his palms flashed with the same vibrance on his shoulder. He flashed the light to the tattoo and it slowly disappeared and burned like paper turning to ash. This skill was one of the few exclusive skills he gained from the Goddess Arianna's Stigma called, Filtering Light.
Ting~
[Dmon King's curse has been removed]
[Filtering Light- Flashes a vibrant light that removes any curse on the target's body. Can also be used on one's self. Duration of 30 seconds.
Skill Cost: 1 Light Wing]
Light Wing was essentially the holy power from the stigma. Kaya had 6 Light Wings each representing the wings in his tattoo. When one Light Wing was used, one of the wings in his stigma would lose vibrance and would turn dull. It would take approximately 20 minutes for the Light Wing to return to its bright color.
"You have a Goddess's Stigma!?"
"Oh, you know of that?"
Kaya was surprised to hear Roman's exclamation. There were a few informations he could find on the web about stigma yet Roman was able to tell it with just one glance. Now he felt like bringing Roman along with him since he was very knowledgeable about the game which Kaya who had just recently played the game needed.
"Yes, I know a lot of information and the many hidden secrets in the game including that of a Goddess's Stigma. I know that getting that is very rare and very powerful and I only know of one player who has Goddess Bernadette's Stigma and she's currently a tier 4 Saintess stationed in Bernadette's Temple of War."
"Oh wow, I didn't know that. I needed information since I just played the game, how about becoming my companion?"
"Huh!?"
Roman was rather surprised not just by his straightforward request but rather hearing that he had just played the game.
"I must be hearing things wrong, did you just say that you just played the game?"
"Yes, I've only played this game 5 days ago and after killing her, I just reached level 69. Nice right? (Real nice)"
"What!?"
Roman could only scream in disbelief. He refused to believe Kaya but seeing his reactions, Kaya removed the concealment in his body and returned to his original look. When Roman saw the drastic change in his appearance, he immediately activated an appraisal skill, and what he saw almost made his eyes pop out of their sockets.
Ting~
[Alon (1)
Race: Human
Status: Baron
Rank: Awakened (Early)
Level: 69]
"...!"
