Crunch! Crunch!
He bit into the roasted meat.
'I'm in heaven!'
Crunch!
It's been 3 days since Zephyr completed the challenge, and he was eating a piece of meat like a maniac.
"I'm not sure you're human yourself"
A little to his right, Victor sat, illuminated by a campfire in front of them.
Zephyr glanced at him, then returned to munch into the meat.
He still didn't trust him. But he now knew much more about the mysterious man.
Starting with his age!
Victor looks like he's in his twenties, but he was actually 50 years old!
That's about six times more than when the beasts first took over the land.
The suspicion about him being immortal like Zeph was even bigger now.
Second, it was certain that Victor was abnormally strong. Well, it was obvious, but it was much more than Zeph had expected.
He went to the boat during the day and always returned with meat he had obtained by slaying some entity.
The chance of him winning a battle against that monstrosity was close to zero.
He knew nothing about his ability... or abilities, perhaps.
It was also a mystery why Victor hadn't attempted to kill Zeph yet.
Third, he didn't know why, but Victor always seemed tired at night, and his nosebleeds never happened during the day.
Zeph suspected that the bastard was allergic to the night.
Did such thing even exist?
He didn't know.
'Maybe the black sun...'
Well, in conclusion. Zeph still didn't know anything about Victor
Victor glanced at him
"I think I could finish the boat by tomorrow"
Zeph continued to gnaw on the meat, seemingly not paying attention, and then said
"Good, should I go with you tomorrow?"
Victor got up slowly
"No, It's too dangerous during the day. I'll come pick you up after finishing the boat."
Zeph remained silent, the man didn't seem to care about his ignorance and walked away.
After some time, he finished eating and shifted his posture
Then, he gestured with his hand to summon the system menu.
[Name: Zarvian]
[Race: Huma-
Skipping his profile, he locked his eyes on the inventory section.
There were 5 items, each glowing with a different light.
One appeared to be armor, though it contained no metal at all. It was made entirely of silk.
It didn't offer any protection, yet it was… indestructible.
The second one was a rusty steel sword he had summoned earlier.
The third one, however, was a simple knife made of bone. He had obtained it after accidentally coming into contact with the skeleton of a dead beast.
And then... the fourth.
Zeph had obtained it in the challenge he completed 3 days ago, but it wasn't the [Honored Petals]. It was a weapon.
A cursed one.
…
After gaining consciousness, Zeph immediately rushed to his inventory!
He had obtained the silk.
His inventory read:
[Nevermore Cloak]
[Steel Sword]
[Margid's teeth]
[???]
[Honored Petals]
'Wait... what's that'
His eyes focused on the unfamiliar name.
[???]
'A question mark?'
His eyes narrowed, and he tapped on the mysterious name with his index finger.
Name: [???]
'Nameless? How could the system not know its name?'
[Weapon: Longsword]
[Origin: Nature]
'Created by nature? interesting...'
[Type: Holy]
'A holy sword!'
Zephyr couldn't even believe his eyes. Holy weapons are known to be the best due to its effectiveness against magic beasts.
Those weapons were rare, and held only by chosen warriors that's worthy of protecting people.
For someone that only fed on long rusted and destroyed deeds, it was absolute win!
[Moniker: ???]
Zephyr didn't know what moniker meant, so he ignored it
[Weapon Tale: Once a tool to worship Gods, now cursed by the fury of the Essential celestial. This blade is bound to suffer with the will of prophecy.]
Zephyr clinched his jaw, thinking,
'…Cursed by celestial…bound to suffer…yeah, absolute win indeed...'
Enhancements:
[The eternal Wrath]
[Starvation of Vitality]
[Cursed Subordinate]
[Final Blow]
He took a deep breath, those were heavy names.
One would not doubt that those were enhancements even the gods themselves possessed.
Good deeds had one or two enhancements at best, but this cursed weapon had four.
[Enhancement description]
[The eternal wrath] "The blade is cursed by the indescribable wrath of the Essential deity."
He really disliked this detail.
The greatest find in his life turns out to be cursed by one of them damned gods!
[Starvation of Vitality] "The blade is in extreme hunger of mana."
He remembered the moment the sword touched him.
'…So that's, what happened.'
Reminded of the feeling from when he blacked out, he shivered slightly.
Also, he felt relieved that he had not fainted, Instead, he had just died.
It was too early for him to worry about uncontrollable faints.
[Cursed Subordinate] "The blade refuses to die without its subordinate."
'Huh'
He got confused, was it really his eyes tricking him or
'…isn't it supposed to break'
The description indeed read "die",
Zephyr didn't understand exactly why.
But he did get hint soon after, that the blade was "alive" rather than lifeless object. It was similar to his armor, or rather clothing. It could not be destroyed and wouldn't get dismissed even when he died.
[Last Blow] "The blade doesn't forget its last meal"
He had no idea what it meant, and he paid no attention to it, cause something below caught his eyes
Weapon skills: [Sucker]
'…four enhancements, and a skill?'
His eyes glimmered
[Skills description]
[Sucker: Passive]
[Passive] "Once activated, the skill continuously consumes mana to remain active. This can come from either: The user's own mana pool or the life force it draws from its surroundings, reducing strain on the user. The sword will prioritize draining external vitality when possible, only using the user's mana when necessary."
A slow grin spread across Zephyr's face. His expression was radiant.
He was smiling, biggest smile in the world.
Looking around, suspicious that Victor might be spying on him.
After declaring it was him alone, he lifted his hands.
And summoned the cursed sword.
Blasts of light tore through his palm and took a form of long sword.
Then, it turned dark.
The longsword stretched long and disciplined.
Black veins crawled along its surface, engraving it like shadows.
The crossguard was sharp and winged.
It didn't reflect light, but had a gray shade around it's blade.
'Beautiful...'
Before he could admire the sword, his vision suddenly blurred.
He fell to his knees, the sword fell under his palm as well.
At the edge of fainting, the system resounded in his ear...
[You have proved your worth to the "???"]
'Huh...'
He couldn't understand what was happening.
…
After that notification, the sword seemed to stop draining mana from Zephyr, which was a good thing, but he didn't feel like summoning it ever again.
The sword was... dangerous.
He was scared.
He kept the longsword a top secret from Victor.
The cursed sword was a top secret from Victor, however, he told him about the Honored Petals.
That it was inside the knight, not including that he touched the sword.
Victor simply apologized about it.
'Liar bastard...'
Zephyr got up and left the campfire.
It was nighttime, the black sun hovered above the sky, thousands of stars supporting its light.
They were still inside the ruins, so they were safe, almost.
Even if something found its way here, Victor could most likely get rid of it. For that reason, Zeph didn't worry much.
[Danger Sense] was quiet too.
It was peaceful.
The night was peaceful.
…
Zephyr was sleeping on the ground, Victor only had one bed, sleeping above wasn't option.
Victor was standing near the table, looking at the map.
He glanced at Zephyr for a long moment before walking out.
Probably heading for the boat.
Several seconds after Victor left, Zephyr's eyes opened.
Sharp and seemingly awake, he wasn't sleeping at all...
Actually, he was. But he woke up after Victor got out of his bed and hadn't moved a thing since then.
Today was the day they would begin their journey by sea.
Which also meant, it was the last day of Victors test. Whether he would try to kill Zeph, or not.
If he did, Zeph could do nothing.
Victor would make him his food source for the rest of his life.
If he didn't, then they could actually become allies...
Zephyr was pretty sure Victor wouldn't, because traveling by the sea alone won't be easy.
Victor had said it himself...
Rubbing his face with his hands, he muttered
"I'm such a fool."
Zeph had to prepare, he needed to ensure that it would be either just him or him with Victor crossing the sea.
He had to cross the sea, no matter what.
Gesturing his hands, he summoned the bright letters once again...
Soon after, he was holding the cursed sword.
'Heavy... too heavy'
He could only lift it few centimeters above the ground, but could not wield it.
Zephyr was really upset about it, he was too weak. He bit his lip and punched the wall of labyrinth with all his fury.
'Shit'
…
After several hours of frustration and thinking, Zephyr was now sitting against wall of the church.
Staring far into the distance, he noticed that the Sun was turning grey and hazy...
A dim lights of the brightest stars could be seen
He threw a glance at the sun and smiled a little. And continued to stare into the distance.
'Did the bastard ran away?'
As he thought, a human figure began to take shape in the distance.
If it weren't for the reflexes Zephyr had sharpened over years of survival, he wouldn't have noticed it.
Victor was arriving, the morphing beast friend of Zeph...
His heart raced, fear had grip over him already.
'At least danger sense is silent.'
He stood up slowly, stretching his shoulders and neck,
He waited...
After a short period of time, Victor was standing not too far away from him.
"Are you ready to go? young man"
Zephyr shook his head, indifferent.
Old man looked at him with unreadable expression for a bit, then asked again
"Why? are you scared?"
Zephyr shook his head again, but this time, he replied
"Are you scared?"
Victors eyes narrowed slightly
"No... What made you think that?"
Zephyr smiled a bit
"Isn't it obvious? you bastard"
'Shoot, I might actually die.'