by Cobyboy
'Hmm, what to do, what to do…'
He pondered for a while before saying "You can come with us to Wolfenstein as long as you carry your own weight and don't cause any kind of trouble to my troop. Feed yourself, protect yourself!"
Feihren courteously nodded in response
Marvin just sighed inwardly 'This conniving old fart…'
Chapter 5: Pistol vs. Beast
The path going back to Wolfenstein was quite peaceful…
'Too peaceful, perhaps? It feels ominous'.
Feihren thought as he was cautiously inspecting the surroundings. According to this knight commander Marvin, this part of the woodlands had been cleared about a year ago, and has been used as a path for adventurers and those who wanted to go to the Jujelei River.
With that being the case, these knights around him seem confident enough for them to tread this path with ease and calmness. But as for Feihren…
'Every time one of these knights talk about this place being "safe," it feels like they are begging for bad things to happen'.
Feihren was way too familiar with these kinds of scenarios. At first, all this was only evident in dramas and novels, but real karma was just as harsh in real life. Being confident is one thing, being complacent is another. This is not a video game, where respawn points exist. In here, if you die, you die!
Feihren was confident in his own safety, but as for these guys… He consciously opened his Equipment tab, under it was 'Secondary weapons'
[Dark Horse Co. Five-Seven Pistol] (Epic)" "Custom feed system"
"Damage: 200 (+500)" "Recoil Damage: 20"
"Effective Fire range: 90 m (compensated)"
"Magazine size: 30 rounds (extended) (Available rounds: Approx. 500 rounds)"
'Ah, my good ol' Five-Seven. This should be enough'. As a handgun, fire rate does not matter. Damage was also heavily compensated by Feihren's base damage. And as for the recoil damage, he doesn't mind. As a player with thousands of HP, a measly -20 recoil damage wouldn't bother him.
'Equip'
The handgun cozily hid inside one of the deep pockets on the leather-jacket style clothes Feihren was wearing.
'Better safe than sorry.'
It was about noon the day after Feihren joined the Wolfenstein troop on their way back. The path they are taking is proceeding smoothly, similar to yesterday. If this keeps up, they'll arrive before dinner!
"We are proceeding smoothly, sir. If nothing unexpected happens, we should arrive before sundown." A knight near Marvin concluded. Marvin replied with a satisfied nod. But Feihren, on the other hand, just shook his head bitterly, 'Bad juju, bad juju indeed'.
...
Not long after, a heavy killing intent was felt near the part of the path they were heading towards. They were only 50 or so kilometers away from Wolfenstein kingdom! Why do things like this happen!? The ground trembled and the trees shook as a gigantic figure appeared in front of the cavalry.
Everyone except Feihren gasped as they saw the towering figure in front of them. Aside from their knees, that were shaking uncontrollably, they were literally frozen in place due to shock, unable to move a single muscle. They were trained to fight wars against other humans, and occasionally some low-level beasts, but to face this kind of danger was far beyond anything they had to deal with before.
'King Kong?' Feihren jokingly thought.
A red-eyed beast similar to an ape appeared in front of them. The beast was approximately 10 meters in height with a heavily muscled form, but something was off about this ape beast... Looking closely at the ape's head, tiny horns were starting to protrude from within its skull, as the body hair of the ape-beast gradually shifted from dark brown to black. The eyes of the ape-beast were shining with an ominous red glow.
'Lesser Magic item: Assess'
Without a single hint of hesitation, Marvin secretly activated his magic item as he stared at this frenzied beast up ahead. Being in a clearly distressed and frenzied state, the ape-beast mind seems to have been mostly lost as it looked around in all directions. But then his attention landed on the group of knights on the road in front of him. A blast of heated breath could be clearly felt in the area as the beast roared!
...
[Corrupted (?) King Ape]
"Power Level: (Rare-Epic (?) Grade beast)"
"???"
"???"
...
Marvin unconsciously took a step back due to confusion 'Again, what's with all the unknown factors?' The knights had already gotten down from their horses, and their mounts were petrified by fear. As they hesitated to move or even budge, the slight movement that Marvin made attracted the beast's attention and in the next instant.
'Bam!'
Flesh and blood flew from the sudden crater that appeared on the ground! Luckily this was not Marvin, but his horse was not so fortunate. But even the aftershock of the blow caused Marvin's left leg to take some heavy damage! He was slowly crawling away from the ape-beast. He can feel the hot, billowing breath of the beast behind him as well as its slow yet heavy footsteps which drew closer.
The other knights that were scattered about behind the beast took this window of opportunity to save themselves and escape. The other knights followed suit as they noticed that the frenzied beast did not pay them any attention. Within a few seconds, all the knights mounted their horses once more and ran with all their might. They hit their horses with riding crops and heels to spur them on to greater speed. Although the horses were in shock as well, their instincts were also screaming at them to run away in fear.
Within the next minute, the whole area was emptied out, with the once hard packed road filled with chaotic horseshoe marks as 16 knights can be clearly seen running on the horizon.
'Cowards' Both Feihren and Marvin bitterly thought...
"Wait" Marvin blankly said, "You're still here?"
"Yup!" Feihren cheekily replied, "Well well, this is really getting troublesome..."
'Bam!' 'Bam!' 'Bam!'
Those thunderous noises were heard again! Although the sound seems a little different this time… Marvin instinctively closed his eyes accepting the fate that he would be crushed by this random ape beast alongside some stranger and not ever find out.... 'Wait, how can I still think of all this... Shouldn't I be dead?'
Another loud thud resounded, as if a gigantic tree has fallen down in the middle of this vast woodland, as clouds of dust flew into the air, obscuring the situation. Marvin slowly opened his eyes as he saw the gigantic figure face down at his feet, already lifeless, without any of the rage and killing intent it was emitting mere moments ago.
"It's... Dead?! Dead?" Marvin was in shock, but is in no way ignorant of what just happened. He glances immediately in the direction where he last saw the hermit guy, Feihren.
What he saw was the calm looking figure of a man holding something unusual, as it was pointed to the direction of the ape-beast. The tip of the object was still emitting some kind of smoke. 'Banana?' It was a dumb and impulsive conclusion, but it wasn't like it had no resemblance to a black banana. 'Some kind of magic weapon I guess? But...' He once again took a glance at the lifeless beast at his feet as he thought to himself, 'This beast would have taken at least the full force of a kingdom to take it down... And it was killed… just like that…?'
...
[Demonized King Ape] (Frenzied state)
"Power Level: (4 star Epic-Grade beast)"
"HP: 1,000 (+1,000) [0]"
"Damage: 100 (+100)"
"Status: Dead (Slayer: Gama)"
...
With a much better way to scan, Feihren can clearly see every bit of information on the creature. His scans are especially more powerful on beasts/ people with a lower level than him. Naturally, this covers almost everyone and anyone he might meet here. But it was still unknown to him if there might be someone with the same or greater level than he has. For now, he was confident in his own strength.
But what caught his attention this time was th
e term 'Demonized'. So it is apparent that demons and demonic beings really do exist in this New World he was in. Being vigilant and cautious about these kinds of things would bring more benefits than harm for him so he decided to do so. As for this beast...
As he approached and touched the ape-beast, it suddenly turned into a white and yellow radiance before dissipating into thin air.
'Congratulations on killing [Demonized King Ape]'
'Dropped: Kings Aura (Skill Book)'
'Dropped: Demonic Essence (Item Ingredient)'
'Level Maxed: Battle Exp voided' 'General Exp +1,000'
'Oh! I gained something?!'
Feihren was ecstatic at seeing the drops in front of him! It brought back the same feel-good vibe he had when he was still grinding items and destroying enemies back in Gaia's Paradox. As it was not the greatest time and place to review the drops, he just silently closed the tabs for now and approached the seemingly crippled Marvin.
But in his mind, he was still bothered by a deep sense of curiosity, 'Item Ingredients?' 'General Exp?' Seems like there is more to this Nuwiell world than he had hoped for!
Chapter 6: New World: Nuwiell
The world of Nuwiell, which was currently divided into 11 continents, was not in such a state due to some racial or human agreement, nor from the division caused by wars and disputes. In reality, it was related to a cosmic event that occurred at the very core of the planet which was dated thousands of years ago.
Humanity in Nuwiell had blossomed to the same state as humans were on Earth a hundred years ago (circa 2,000's).
Technological advancements were evident amidst the existence of divinity, and the widespread use of magic. Every advancement was bent towards the purpose of providing an easier life for the humans that made them. But as the great endeavor of 'Success for humanity' slowly germinated, the greed of humans grew as well, overriding proper reason and judgment.
A Saint level expert, Dr. Ahriman, was one of the most influential people that were blinded by their greed. The greed that influential people fell into were along the lines of wanting greater military power, absolute wealth, quenching their lustful desires, and many other selfish goals in which they abused the power of magical technology to succeed.
"Everything can be done through the way of the sword. None of the greed can be quenched with the pen."
But Dr. Ahriman, on top of being a person with great influence, he was also very intelligent and well-respected. But under all these pretenses of fame and glory, something was still lacking for Dr. Ahriman. He wanted everything, and to gather everything he needed 'time'. The entire scope of 'time' was needed for him to have achieved everything.
As a Saint level expert, he was as powerful as he was smart. With this ambition, he achieved a minor understanding of arts forbidden to man by the gods, Chronomancy.
He started establishing an empire with a solid foundation through the works of time-altering magic. He conquered all empires and kingdoms he laid his eyes upon, leaving even the greatest military powers on their knees. What good is a man against the tides of time? Halted in their paths by time spells, slaughtered with the blank faces of disbelief for they can do nothing, absolutely nothing.
Dr. Ahriman's crazy plan had run completely unchecked up until he himself noticed that something seemed off. As he was about to conquer the entirety of the Jujelei Continent [1], something unexpected happened. Dr. Ahriman let out a strong cough as a mouthful of blood was seen on the floor. It was apparent that the use of chronomancy had a huge impact on the current state of his body.
'How foolish was he to think that such power doesn't have a huge price to pay?' Dr. Ahriman grinned, and let out a huge maniacal laugh as blood flowed from his ears and nose, his face visibly aging more and more by the second.
"Do I look that stupid? I have known that this time would come. I would have preferred not proceed with this plan, but it seems like the gods above want to know how far I can go. I'm not even near to what I've always wanted!" An eerie laugh could be heard on top of the castle in which Dr. Ahriman was residing.
Immortality
A topic that is taboo in the world of Nuwiell. Even lesser gods die and perish, but this… Dark arts were and had always been the forte of Dr. Ahriman. It may have seemed that he was proficient in the Divine Magic of healing and medicine, but all of it was a big farce. The dark arts he knew just drew pure life force from the core of Nuwiell itself and used it for "healing" people.
A void-like runic gate appeared as Dr. Ahriman incanted... "L'appel du vide"
A formidable spell of the dark arts, 'Call of the Void'. It enables the user to traverse places through the help of the dark void. The higher one's strength, the deeper and further one could go'.
The location Dr. Ahriman was aiming for is none other than the Core of Nuwiell itself. The energy of every life and death within the layers of past, present, and future is contained in this seemingly endless plain.
In the middle of it was a glorious looking fountain that would awe anyone who could lay their eyes on it.
'Mana Pool'
The source of what beings on Nuwiell call 'magic'. Strength drawn from the cumulative and seemingly endless cycle of life and death through the passage of time drifts on the surface and fuels the plant resting in the center the fountain.
'Tree of Life and Death, the Good and Evil'
"The source for my immortality!"
An evil face with an unsightly joyous grin rushed towards the tiny looking tree. A wrinkled hand grabbed the plant.
Energy started gushing from the choked plant as the wrinkled hands started glowing. Within them, a sense of youthful life force can be felt. More than the hands, his whole body seemingly reacted and started returning to its youthful state!
"It is working! I knew that it would grant immortality!" Just as Dr. Ahriman revealed a proud expression and started to turn the other way, to return to the runic gate he came from, he realized that he cannot let go the tiny plant that was being clenched in his hands. Struggling to let loose, Dr. Ahriman started putting force into trying to uproot the entire plant. But in the next moment…
Faint cries could be heard emitting from the entirety of the core, with one particularly audible.
"The life you need is the time you take; the life you took is the time I need."
Vine-like tentacles started wrapping the body of Dr. Ahriman, not allowing him to let go as it was slowly trying to drown him in the fountain. Every single time Dr. Ahriman got the water of the fountain in his eyes, he felt like living a different person's life, until they were killed… Over, and over, and over, again, with different people appearing at every dip he can feel that he could not resist before painfully dying! These people were all the victims of his chronomancy!
Time passed as the fountain was divided into two mystic colors, clear blue and blood red. This chance began to distort the balance of time and space on the surface of Nuwiell.
Chaos was evident on the surface of the planet. Human beings started mutating into humanoid beasts. Animals from above and below started changing from normal animals to ferocious beasts. Trees mutated to become sentient, some becoming way too big while others possessing life-threatening attributes. It was total madness! The death toll on the humans was totally unprecedented!
The religions for the 11 True God's were the sanctuaries for humanity. Their temples, which were built in different areas on the continents, held divine attributes that seemed to normalize the effect of the crazed life force within the planet.
Within is catastrophe, humanity had been reborn as if they went back to their roots. Magic was usable, but it was never the same. The risk of using magic in their daily lives was far greater than the benefit they could gain from it. Being impaired by not being able to utilize magic properly, the entire technological advancements of those who still remained on Nuwiell were regressed to the point of infancy, to the point that even after thousands of years passed they were still nowhere near the techn
ology they had so long ago.
Up until this day humanity was struggling in Nuwiell. The 11 continents were established with each temple in mind. This was the symbolic representation of how humanity, in this desolate place, had survived.
...
"So what you're saying is" Feihren inquired, "A psychotic greedy old man plunged humanity into near extinction and the 11 churches saved them?"
Marvin nodded in disbelief…
Feihren: "…"
"Then you could have just said that!"
[1]"The entirety of Jujelei River until the edge of Wolfenstein Kingdom (Present day)"