[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 141
The Old Man of the Mountain guided Zeke and Boris back down the long, maze-like corridor.
After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the room where his youngest disciple was.
The Old Man of the Mountain only allowed Zeke to enter the room.
Before opening the door, he looked at Zeke and said,
"I'll accept your request if you can do it. But if you fail..."
"That's for you to worry about."
Zeke's voice was quite confident.
The Old Man of the Mountain was doubtful of Zeke's attitude, but he wanted to believe in Zeke.
It was an unavoidable choice, as the desperate one was at a disadvantage in negotiations.
The Old Man of the Mountain slowly opened the door.
At the same time, a strong fragrance wafted from inside.
Incense was burning from braziers placed in every corner of the room.
[Detected soporific incense containing narcotic substances.]
[Constitution All Poisons Immunity detoxifies the soporific incense.]
Zeke pretended not to know and asked the Old Man of the Mountain,
"Why is there so much incense burning?"
The Old Man of the Mountain frowned and said,
"You'll see when you go in."
On the bed inside the room, a young man was lying down.
He seemed to be around the same age as Zeke and appeared unconscious.
Just by looking at him, he didn't seem to be cursed.
Then, the Old Man of the Mountain lifted the blanket covering the young man.
"Hmm."
Zeke let out a low groan.
The young man's body below the neck was horrifying.
Dozens of hideous faces were wriggling as if monsters were embedded beneath his skin.
His skin was necrotic, with pus and blood flowing from various places.
It was clear at a glance that he wasn't suffering from a simple skin disease but a terrible curse.
"What did the healers and mages say?"
The Old Man of the Mountain sighed and said,
"They said they've never seen anything like this before. It's not a disease, and it's not magic."
If it wasn't a disease or magic, it was highly likely that he was afflicted with an ancient curse, like Angelina.
Zeke looked at the Old Man of the Mountain and asked,
"Have you ever heard of a place called Abyss?"
The Old Man of the Mountain nodded at those words.
"I don't know them directly, but I've heard of them through others. I heard they're quite a despicable bunch."
"I have a feeling that this curse was probably cast by Abyss."
The Old Man of the Mountain said with a suspicious expression,
"If you're trying to use your cunning to sow discord, stop it. The Assassin's Guild isn't swayed by such tricks."
"No, it's really highly likely that it's them. Angelina, the young lady of the Graham clan, was also cursed by an ancient warlock from Abyss who was hired."
"There are ancient warlocks other than those in Abyss. It's quite suspicious that you're specifically pointing at them."
"Well, if that's what you think. I just said what I thought, so judge for yourself."
Although the Old Man of the Mountain denied it, he had a troubled expression after hearing Zeke's words.
Ancient curses were a difficult and mysterious area.
Although there were some warlocks in the Northern Continent, there were few who could cast such a powerful curse.
The Old Man of the Mountain clenched his fists as he looked at the traces of the curse on his youngest disciple's body.
'Abyss.'
The two words were deeply imprinted in the Old Man of the Mountain's mind.
Zeke's intentions had partially worked.
Zeke, examining the unconscious young man, asked the Old Man of the Mountain,
"What's your disciple's name?"
"Iraman."
"Is Iraman unconscious all the time?"
"No, I deliberately put him to sleep with soporific incense. If he wakes up, those hideous things will wake up too."
"Those things move alive?"
"Yes. They slowly suck the host's flesh and blood from the inside and grow their bodies."
It sounded like a terrible curse just by hearing about it.
'Hmm, I wonder if Purification will work.'
In Angelina's case, it was possible to remove the cursed spirit with just Purification, but Iraman's situation was different because the curse parasites were growing directly on his skin.
Zeke asked the Old Man of the Mountain,
"Have you tried cutting them off his skin?"
"I tried, but I gave up. The mages said that their roots are embedded throughout his blood vessels, so if I remove them, my disciple might die."
It was a troublesome curse in many ways.
Zeke said to the Old Man of the Mountain,
"Prepare hot water, dry towels, sterilized surgical knives, and restraints. Leave when you're done."
"I'll watch from the side."
"No. The treatment process can be painful. If you see it and try to stop me, your disciple could be in danger."
The Old Man of the Mountain was anxious about leaving Zeke alone in his disciple's room, but he had no choice.
He left after preparing what Zeke wanted.
When the Old Man of the Mountain left, Zeke first restrained the unconscious Iraman's arms and legs with restraints.
"It'll be troublesome if he wakes up and moves, so I'll leave him like this."
Zeke put on Agamemnon's Mask.
First, he tried using the power of Purification.
Woooong!
A golden aura flowed into Iraman's body.
Then, the parasites attached to his skin started to wake up, making strange noises.
"Ugh..."
As the parasites woke up, Iraman, as if in pain, twisted his body and tried to wake up.
Zeke withdrew the Purification aura.
Then the parasites calmed down again.
'It seems difficult to remove them with Purification alone.'
Unlike Angelina, where the curse was attached in the form of a specter, these were directly attached to his body like parasites, so it seemed that surgical removal would be necessary as well.
Zeke picked up the surgical knife that the Old Man of the Mountain had prepared.
"It's been a while since I've performed surgery."
When Zeke was active as a Highlander in his previous life, he sometimes carried out missions with other Highlanders.
Each Highlander had a unique personality and skills.
Among them was a Naga mage whose specialty was, strangely enough, surgery.
Zeke, who believed in learning everything he could, learned simple surgical techniques from him.
Zeke picked up various sizes of surgical knives and sterilized them once more by creating pure fire.
Then, he imbued the surgical knives with the power of Purification.
Woooong!
The surgical knives were also imbued with the Purification Blade, emitting a golden aura.
"Okay, let's try this."
Zeke lightly touched a parasite on Iraman's arm with the Purification Blade.
Tsss —
As soon as the blade touched it, the parasite suddenly opened its eyes wide.
Screech!
The parasite opened its mouth wide and let out a terrible scream.
Then, the other parasites that were asleep started to wake up one by one.
Zeke panicked and cut off the screaming parasite with the knife.
Slash!
The severed parasite fell to the floor, let out a stench, and melted.
However, a new parasite began to wriggle and grow from the severed spot.
"What the hell are these things?"
It seemed that they would continue to grow unless he removed the roots as well.
"Ugh..."
Iraman, who had been unconscious, groaned as if he was waking up from the pain.
Zeke took out the Sandman's Sand from his inventory and put Iraman back to sleep.
But the parasites seemed to have fully awakened, wriggling on his skin and making hideous noises.
Zeke pondered and then recalled the Holy Flame he had used to torment the demonfolk Griesmodal a while ago, and immediately summoned it.
Whoosh!
White flames bloomed in front of Zeke.
Then, one of the parasites exposed to the light of the Holy Flame twisted and screamed.
"It seems to be working."
Zeke removed the parasite that was trying to regenerate from his arm with the Purification Blade and shone the light of the Holy Flame on the spot.
Sizzle!
This time, the roots couldn't regenerate due to the power of light.
Zeke checked Iraman's pulse with Dragon Eye.
There was no problem even after removing the parasites.
"Okay, I get it now."
Zeke first removed the parasites attached to Iraman's arms and legs with the Purification Blade and burned the roots with the light of the Holy Flame.
When blood spurted out occasionally, he used Healing with Area of Effect Buff.
The wounds on Iraman's body were cleanly healed, and the bleeding stopped.
Zeke, wiping the sweat off his brow after battling the parasites for over an hour, said,
"Whew, Lady Angelina's curse was bad enough, but this one is really something else."
He had removed almost all the parasites on Iraman's body, with only one remaining.
It was the one attached to Iraman's heart.
Zeke, examining Iraman's body with Dragon Eye, realized that this one on his heart was the source of the other parasites.
'That's the culprit. If I remove that, it'll be solved.'
Conversely, it meant that if he couldn't remove it, the parasites could spread again at any time.
Zeke took a deep breath and placed the Purification Blade on Iraman's left chest.
He prepared Healing and potions so he could heal Iraman at any time in case the knife accidentally pierced his heart.
Pierce!
The Purification Blade cut into the lower part of Iraman's left chest.
Zeke, cutting through the ribs, found the hideous parasite clinging to the heart.
"Oh dear..."
The situation was more serious than he thought.
The parasite was almost completely integrated with the heart, pulsating along with it.
Zeke frowned and pondered what to do.
'If I just cut it off, half of the heart will be gone.'
He didn't know if Healing could even restore the heart, so his worries deepened.
'It would be great if that parasite could come off on its own...'
Just then, an idea came to Zeke's mind.
'What if I use the Hydra's Poison...?'
Parasites were beings that inhabited a host and sucked their blood and flesh.
But if the host's body was filled with poison that could kill it, there was a high chance that it would decide it could no longer live there.
After some thought, Zeke created Hydra's Poison on his fingertip.
A few drops of deadly poison formed on his fingertip.
Zeke made the poison act as slowly as possible.
Then, he dropped a few drops of Hydra's Poison into Iraman's mouth.
Zeke could see the Hydra's Poison slowly spreading with Dragon Eye.
A while later, the parasite curled up in the heart seemed to sense something strange and twisted its body.
Screech!
It extended roots from the heart and started creating other parasites.
And it tried to expel the Hydra's Poison from Iraman's body.
But Zeke immediately cut off the parasites that emerged with the Purification Blade.
Cough!
The parasite, failing to expel the poison, felt the poison increasingly filling Iraman's body.
The poison slowly circulated even in the heart where it resided.
The effect of the poison was slow but certain.
Iraman's body was gradually dying.
The parasite attached to the heart panicked and wriggled its whole body.
Then, one of its roots detached from the heart.
And surprisingly, the root flew towards Zeke as soon as it detached.
Whoosh!
The sharp root stabbed Zeke's hand.
Then, it wriggled and entered Zeke's body.
"Oh, look at this."
It seemed to be an instinct to find another host instead of the dying one.
The remaining parasite attached to the heart slowly detached from Iraman's heart.
The roots that were almost completely integrated were separated from the heart.
As soon as the parasite's roots detached, Zeke immediately used Healing on Iraman.
Then, he fed the potion he was holding into Iraman's mouth.
Iraman's wounds gradually healed.
Zeke immediately extracted the Hydra's Poison from Iraman's body.
Then, he dropped a few drops of the poison on the parasite that was crawling up his hand to his wrist.
Screech!
Zeke grabbed the parasite with his hand and shouted,
"Purification."
Woooong!
A golden aura enveloped Zeke's body.
The parasite let out a scream and turned to ash, disappearing.
Zeke dusted off his hands and gritted his teeth.
"This is truly horrifying. What kind of bastard would cast such a curse?"
Perhaps the Old Man of the Mountain would find out himself with burning eyes.
Zeke checked Iraman's pulse again.
Fortunately, everything was normal.
Just in case, Zeke used Purification on Iraman's body a few more times before finishing the treatment.
"It's finally over."
Zeke informed the Old Man of the Mountain, who was anxiously waiting outside the room, that the treatment was finished.
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]