Chapter 33: Sloth (1)
~Mash B. POV~
[Ding!]
[Due to your courageous actions today everyone has given you the title in recognition of eliminating the threat of the White Whale!]
[Title earned [White Whale Slayer]!]
Interesting seems like I got a title for this. I pressed it to see what kind of effects I would get obtaining this.
[Title: White Whale Slayer
Description: By doing the impossible assisting in vanquishing the White Whale the bane of the Re: Zero world has now been slayed by your and others' hands. When equipped with this title you gain the passive skill [Demon Beast Slayer] dealing extra damage against Magical Beast by 25%!]
Meh. I'll still keep my [Spirit User] title on. The [White Whale Slayer] isn't worth it currently.
After speaking up with Wilhelm and reconvening with Crusch group I saw Rem come towards me with Patrasche with the little Oni hugging me, "Mash-san! Thank goodness you are alright my hero!"
I blushed at her words as Wilhelm chuckled at my actions. Holding my Katana I frowned seeing it chipped and damaged sighing out loud as Rem let me go, "Thanks Rem for coming for me. And you too Patrasche but it seems like I lost my weapon in the process. It was a gift."
Looking at the chipped broken katana I must thank Silva for giving this to me in my journey so far. I have to thank the guy in the Fairy Tail world when I have the chance to possibly get some Magic Weapons from there as well.
"Here catch this hero!"
Huh?
Suddenly I was tossed an ordinary sword that the knights used to see Crusch tossed me one smiling as she thanked me for helping against the White Whale, "Here. Seeing you lost your weapon you'll probably need this one to replace your old one. Consider it as thanks for helping us end that monster plaguing our land. It's our Kingdom's latest Magic Swords consider it yours along with the Earth Dragon."
I blinked surprised by the updated sword that Crusch handed me. [Observe].
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Item: Lugnica Military Sword
Rarity Item: B
Type: Empowered Sword
Description: A basic sword enchanted by the best Mages of the Kingdom of Lugunica most durable and sharp sword produced by the Kingdom's forces made with the finest material of this world. Enchanted with [Yang Magic] to increase its speed and attacking power by 15%.
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I thanked Crusch for the weapon as we went towards the backup who promised to arrive after the merchants managed to arrive. I stood near the main road and talked with Rem for a bit before seeing the merchants come over a hill.
With them was Anastasia's backup consisting of a small number of young knights and Julius – ahem! I mean 'Juli' considering his knightly honor wouldn't make him work as a mercenary. Knights and their honor or whatever.
Julius noticed my approach waving over a couple of the younger knights before coming to greet me with a light grin on his face, "I'm guessing you are Mash Bastion?"
I replied twirling my new sword back my sheath belt in a chipper tone, "Yes I am, and I'm guessing you are Julius correct?"
He then gave a light cough at the name before looking past me as if searching for someone before pointing towards himself, "Ahem! I have no idea who that is, I am Juli a mercenary."
Observing his antics I curtly nodded in understanding before my expression changed into seriousness my gaze at the people behind him, "Alright then Juli, can you gather all of the people under you?"
Seeing my expression, he just nodded before sending a glance toward a young Knight by his side. The Knight seeing his glance went off to collect everyone including Riccardo and his band of the Iron Fang.
Waiting till Ferris and Wilhelm arrived as promised Rem's gaze hardened with Ferris landing on my back as I spoke to Rem with a smile, "No worries, Rem this Trap has nothing on you. Rem is the best girl. Oh, and be sure to be by my side for this, okay?"
I don't want to forget Rem. And neither will anyone else because she's that important to me. I can only just hope that Crusch doesn't end off worse because of my decision but I remained focused on the objective ahead.
She smiled happily standing by my side and holding her hand Ferris responded with Rem backing him off his words, "No need to worry Rem, Ferris won't take Byastion from you. Ferris loves Lady Crusch after all."
Rem chilled out holding my arm apologizing to Ferris with a light grin on her face, "I forgive your transactions Ferris-sama."
Ferris merely waved back nervously. Man, I got such a defensive girlfriend… I don't know if I love it or not yet…
With our hands interlocked I looked over at the groups which are now gathered. All of them were staring at me. Rem some showed no visible interactions, but Riccardo and some others gave me a teasing grin with the werewolf speaking out giving me a thumbs up, "Heh. Nice my man."
Feeling a bit embarrassed by his comment I coughed to clear my throat before turning my gaze back to them with a serious expression of the next hurdle to handle, "Alright, now it's time to discuss my counterattack against the witch cultist plans. Today is the day we kill a Sin Archbishop of Sloth and set an example to the rest of the disgusting scum in this world."
Mentioning the words of the Witch Cult and Sin Archbishop, many people reacted by stiffening up in rage or fear. Considering the Witch Cult has no doubt killed many people men, women, or children it's going to invoke those reactions.
This caused a lot of hate to form between the common man and the cult with Julius' gaze turning serious as he spoke out clearing the murmuring from the background, "Excuse me Mash, but you mentioned a Sin Archbishop of Sloth, correct?"
Curtly nodding my head, I pointed my finger at Julius who was a backup plan needing his skills explaining to him, "Yes, the Sin Archbishop of Sloth is going to run the attack on the village. And YOU are going to be the one to kill him. By using the knowledge, I possess."
Everyone was quiet taking it as a signal to explain my plan to all of them carefully and answer any questions they had, "So let us begin with what I know. I know that the Sin Archbishop of Sloth is going to be leading the attack on the village, and I also know of his ability to possess his 'fingers' as vessels."
Julius soon spoke out asking his question his arms crossed in a curious tone, "What do you mean by 'possess' his fingers?"
I answered in a serious tone crossing my arms our gaze locking between each other, "His fingers are vessels for his soul to run to. When his body dies, he'll destroy the finger's soul before making a home inside it effectively being reborn."
Hearing me, everyone went silent for a moment frustration in the air that one can almost taste the unfairness of it all. Riccardo soon spoke out with a complicated look at me seeing how calm I was in a serious tone, "Cut it out, you guys! Mash here clearly has a plan for this like he did for the White Whale! Right? You do got a plan for this right...?"
Smiling was what I returned as I explained the plan with everyone's focus now directed at me raising my hand to point at Julius, "In fact I do. We need to destroy or weaken his soul enough to where possession is impossible. The best way to do this is 'Juli' here is a Spirit Master. That means he can damage the Sin Archbishop of Sloth's soul with his spirits, right?"
Everyone looked at Julius before nodding his head giving his agreement to all present. Good at least we cleared that up now comes the serious part, "But besides that we have another issue to deal with first which will help us immensely if solved with any information related to the fingers."
Everyone collectively focused on me and what I said next in a serious tone explaining to them the precautious step, "We have some 'spies' hidden within our merchants. I've learned that they have a bag full of Firestone's hidden away underneath one of the carriage boards. This could cause some severe damage to both us and the village giving them a chance to slaughter all of us while confused. But remain calm not to signify them of your suspicions."
Their gazes sharpened but upon hearing my last words remained calm. I don't want to give those Witch Cultist bastards any means to give any tips.
They understood this immediately some of the people here showed uncomfortable looks probably because of having potential witch cultists being so close to them. I began to [Yin Make] skill to write names and commands to them.
They followed in understanding them as I began to explain as they read my instructions to my counterattack, "I've already figured out who the spy is. I went ahead checking the merchants in secret. That one has a Meteor the Conversation Mirror so I want you to ambush him and take him out silently when he finally reports to his superiors. Once done will use his Meteor to track down all the fingers and slaughter them along with any traces of witch cultists. Only then we will have Juli and I go take down the Sin Archbishop of Sloth. Any questions?"
None. They all remained stoic at my plan laid out as they all grinned at the idea of taking down these crazy bastards for good.
When everyone stood beside me in this mission, I could only feel satisfaction. Having all these numbers would help speed things up significantly as we placed our plans teaming up with whom.
Of course, I offered our forces a few minutes to catch a break. Rushing in after fighting a giant ass whale would certainly take some stamina much less continuing forward without any rest is suicide.
They appreciated the offer to rest as it was time for our forces to move. Everything has been set and everyone's roles have been played.
All I need to do now is wait and participate in dealing with these monsters in human skin then… shit. My rematch against Elsa.
Despite all the advantages I gained strength and leveling was one of the lacking criteria I didn't gain much in this course of time.
Welp. I know what to do with my remaining stats now. Put it all in LUCK to hope for better odds. Please let me gain a good skill out of this… I need it…
Placing the important bonus stats all in LUCK I could only hope I get something good out of this deal…
With everything done, I checked my allocated stats hoping to gain a bonus effect. I can always grind my other stats later through training LUCK is slowly going and what better way than to boost it when I need it?
Status.
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Name: Mash Bastion
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: Spirit User
Level: 10 Exp: 0/20%
HP: 520/520
MP: 515/515
STR: 20 (+15)
AGI: 20 (+15)
VIT: 18
INT: 20
SEN: 25 (+15)
LUCK: 8-> 53
Stat Points: 45-> 0
Cash: 0
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[Ding!]
[Your LUCK stat has reached a 50-point mark!]
[Passive Skill
Skill List.
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Description: This passive skill can be unlocked once reaches 50 stats in LUCK. Described as the user is slightly luckier than other people. On average good things happen to them more often and bad less often. Random chances tilt slightly in their favor.
-This passive skill grants the user protection from [Minor Misfortune].
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Any bit helps. Now… time to help out by taking out the Cultist. At the very least taking a human life would be these vile bastards that would help me ease into killing another life after all…
They are perfect walking EXP points ready to be collected. Might as well gain some EXP assisting the other members bloodying my hands. It's time to give these Witch Cultists a small taste of their medicine being outwitted and out-manuevered.