Chapter 35 - Come to Think of It, Ism a Hero 3 (1/2)

Chapter 35 - Come to Think of It, I'm a Hero (3)

The Obsidian of Greed was originally an item used to gather power of curses.It was an ingredient used when making a more powerful curse.

This was an item for magicians who dealt in curses, and it was something they desperately wanted.It was representative of magic stones that couldn’t be made artificially.

‘Moreover, this one is Rank A.It means it can store a lot of curses.’

On the other hand, there was an obvious limitation to this item. If an item or a Mana had the property of a curse, it would all be absorbed into the stone.However, it was hard to do anything significant when the curse was already active.

A curse wasn’t like placing a load on a person’s shoulder.A portion of a person’s skin, bones, muscles, brain and heart went through subtle changes.These changes permeated into one’s entire being, and the change would become inextricably linked to one’s body.

This was why if one was rash in extracting the cursed Mana, the innate Mana within the subject would go on a rampage before killing the subject.

“If so….Come, Aena.I’ll deal with you first.”

“Y... yes!”

Of course, such limitations didn’t apply to Artpe, because he possessed a rare cheat ability called the Read All Creation ability!

If he concentrated, he could get a detailed information on the composition of plants or creatures.So how could extracting cursed Mana from affected regions be difficult for him!

“This might hurt a little bit.Endure it.”

“W...what?What did I do······.”

“Endure it.”

“Ah, hoohk!?”

Artpe abruptly placed the Obsidian on Aena’s forehead.Afterwards, Aena’s body started to shake.The townspeople who had been watching this sight immediately stepped back in fright.Of course, Artpe didn’t pay any attention to them.

“I caught it.”

He was able to pinpoint the part of her weak innate magical energy that was being dyed black with the energy of the curse.After a precise extraction, he spoke to her.

“Still, your erodibility was very low, so you didn’t suffer as much.”

“E...erodibility······?”

Aena was shaking from the pain as she asked him a question.She could immediately guess at what had happened, so her eyes opened wide.

Yes, she was sure her body hadn’t felt normal.

If one felt fine when one was being changed into a monster through a curse, that person would be the incredible one.

“Monster...Modification Curse….?Then my dongsaeng and the other children of the town…..”

“The children were rounded up by them, because of that reason.Of course, they are also the ones who placed the curse on you.”

“Eeeeeeeek.”

The girl bit her lips in anger.A small smile appeared on Artpe’s lips when he saw this.Pain usually transferred into emotion.The curse had progressed to a mere 1%, yet for a brief moment when she raged…...

“All right.You did very well.”

“Ah.”

Artpe stepped back when he saw a slightly darker light within the Obsidian.He checked her with his Read All Creation ability, and not an ounce of curse energy was left behind.Aena blinked her eyes in wonder.

“My body feels light.I thought I had merely been tired and hungry…..”

“Did the unrest in your emotions lessen?”

“······yes.”

Artpe impishly asked the question when it seemed he already knew the answer.Aena slightly nodded her head in confirmation.The townspeople who had been behind her started to crowd forward.

“W...will we change into monsters too, magician-nim?”

“I’m sorry, but could you perhaps heal us too…..”

When it came to their own well-being, they were quick to step forward.Artpe let out a bitter laugh as he shook his head.

“You guys are fine.It seems the curse was placed on children, who hadn’t matured completely yet.So the problem is with your offsprings.”

“T...then my daughter….!?”

“Curse…..A curse!”

“It’ll be fine if I’m able to find them quickly.You shouldn’t worry about them this early in the process.”

They had thought this was a simple matter of the soldiers capturing their sons and daughters.However, a Modification Curse had been placed on them!The complexion of the townspeople immediately darkened.

They were afraid of the sword carrying soldiers.However, they were more afraid of magic and curses.These were mysterious powers of unknown origin.

“What shall we do, magician-nim?We’ll do anything.If my child turns into a monster, I…….!”

“I beg of you!Please save my son!”

They were already very worried about their offsprings, but they found out there was a time limit to their rescue.The townspeople were agitated, and they went wild.If the soldiers were in front of them, they would have tried to rip them into pieces.Moreover, Maetel was also in a similar state of agitation.

“Let’s go right now, Artpe!I don’t know where the children of this tow is right now, but I’m sure the bad guys will do the same thing at different locations!”

“It is as you say.We don’t know where they are, so do you really want to search the entire region?”

“Still, we have to do something!”

In truth, old stories and legends about heroes were rife with such scenarios.

Some town would fall into crisis, and the hero would try to solve a problem with the help of the townspeople.However, a tragedy occurred when time ran out, and the hero would receive a big emotional burden.However, the pain of this event would allow the hero to mature mentally.

“However, we don’t need to mature mentally, so we can skip that step.”

Heroes who busily ran around deserts and jungles, while crying or laughing, were old news to him.Artpe couldn’t afford to waste his mental and physical energy like that.

What was so fun about searching everywhere, because one didn’t know location where the Quest had to be carried out!He was a new breed of hero where he would finish the Quest as soon as he received it!

“Everyone get out of my way.”

“Yes.Yes, sir!”

Several dozen Mana Threads turned into several hundred as they extended out from Artpe.In a flash, they exited the town to spread into the region.

“Hoo-oooh······.”

Artpe looked as if he was standing still while he had his eyes closed.However, even those that didn’t know anything about Mana could feel a pressure coming from this strange energy, and the townspeople were unable to move.Maetel, who had a decent idea on what was going on, let out a sigh of relief.

“If you had such a simple solution, you should have told me in the first place.”

“Who said this was simple?”

He took out a Mana potion bottle, and he drank it.He focused on his control as he grumbled to himself..The several hundred Mana Threads were spreading in all directions, and the radius of the search increased steadily.It increase to 500 meters, 1 kilometers, 2 kilometers and so on.

In his past life, he was level 350, so this would have been easy.However, it wasn’t easy at all right now!If it wasn’t for the Mana String spell that strengthened the Mana Thread to the extreme, it would have been impossible to attempt this move.He briefly had this thought when he learned it, but it was a very cheat-like spell.

‘Wait a moment.I could probably overlay my spell similarly to what Maetel did last time with her techniques…...’

He wondered if his spell could be used in a more effective manner if he overlaid his perception skill on top of the Mana String.

Artpe immediately put his theory into action, and of course, it came back as a resounding success.He wondered if he was stealing and using Maetel’s talent for such a trivial matter.He had been afraid….However, if he was to be truthful about it, he was thankful for it.