*Clang*

Delphie and Eli return sometime a few hours later. Sophie stepped out for some of her own business and left me alone in her lair. Flipping up long black hoods over their heads, the Nephilim prince and noble stride into the room carrying black paper bags.

“Hey, Hei! Where’s Sophie?” Delphie tosses one of the bags at me. “Midas says hello!”

“Noodles?” She nods at me as I eagerly tear open the bag. Even though it’s vegetarian, I’m suddenly salivating at the prospect of getting more of that strange herby soup inside me. “Sophie said she’ll be back later.”

“Heh, that poor girl has too many responsibilities.” Eli brings his own bag of noodles over and takes a seat on one of the couches beside me. “Sophie needs to get exiled. It might teach to enjoy life a little.”

“Hey that’s mean!” Delphie protests as she goes to sit with him on the couch. I can see that whatever they did, it seems to have made them happy. “Soph has a lot on her mind. You can’t blame her for that!”

“Kidding, kidding. Anyways, Hei, how are you doing? Feeling a little less sleepy?” The Exiled Prince slurps his noodles with a refined air, making sure not to make too much of a mess. His kaleidoscope eyes sharpen and the black rings inside focus intently on me. Flawlessly, he continues to eat his noodles without looking at them.

“Better. Just tired, from some stuff. Anyways, what have you guys been up to?” I ask curiously, inhaling the rich steam coming from the takeout bowl in front of me. Unable to resist, I eat with none of the technique of the Nephilim. Screw that! You know how many meals I had to miss in the Void Prism?

“Oh…this and that. Actually, we were just going to ask you something.” He stops eating for a second.

“What?” Busy eating, I don’t pay too much attention to what he’s saying.

“Well, this is just a request. But we were wondering how effective that eye of yours is. That is, whether it works on anyone?” Eli’s question finally makes me look up from the noodles.

“You’re asking whether someone can resist it?”

“Precisely.”

“I don’t know.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Closing my mouth, I consider Eli and Delphie more closely. While it’s true that I don’t know the true extent of the Eye Of Sin, I have some idea that there is some sort of resistance possible. It probably depends on how strong the target’s Spirit Stat is compared to my Intelligence. However, I don’t really feel like discussing this, even if we’re allies.

“Sorry, this is probably a bit personal for you.” Eli wipes his mouth with a napkin and puts down the bowl. While I wasn’t looking, he has already finished eating. “The reason I ask is because I was wondering if your power would work on Delphie’s brother. It seems to have quite the painful effect.”

“You want to punish him.” I get his intentions instantly. Turning to the other Nephilim in the room, I find her eyes averted, “Delphie, is this what you want?”

“Um…” She equivocates but after glancing at Eli’s encouraging face, she nods. “It’s not fatal, right? I don’t want to kill him. Even if he doesn’t feel the same, we’re still family. But…”

“But he needs to be shown his place.” The Exiled Prince finishes her sentence for her. “That’s why I asked. I want to know if your power would be a suitable punishment. From the sounds of it, it might be a good option to teach someone a lesson.” The atmosphere becomes awkward for a bit and the sound of noodles being slurped, slows down as we all digest each other’s words. Finally, after thinking it over for a bit, I lean back in the chair. Even though I just ate a bunch of nice warm noodles, I feel a bit chilly.

“It could work. But I have to warn you all that I’m just as much a stranger to this System Skill as you are. I have no idea what the real effects could be, or whether or not it might cause permanent damage, maybe even kill. Additionally, I have no idea whether or not I’m a high-enough level for it work with Taer. I think it’s best you think of something else.” My statement is met with silence for some time. Delphie lets out a small sigh of what sounds like relief. Eli’s fingers tap on his chair, however.

“What if we helped you level up?” He asks an interesting question. I lift my head and gaze at him curiously.

“Like I said, maybe. But I’m not that interested in becoming stronger.”

“You really want to help out in the Succession, protect Delphie, and take on my father with your level as it is? Please, Hei. I thought you were a serious kind of guy. But that’s just a joke!” The Exiled Prince’s laughter cuts me to my bone. Thirty-percent survival rate. That’s what Sophie said.

“Hei doesn’t need to do anything!” Suddenly the other Nephilim who has been fairly quiet bursts out. “He can do what he wants! Hei, you’re not part of this. You don’t need to worry about becoming stronger if you don’t want to!”

Huh, it seems she still remembers my story. Damn…honestly, why am I even holding back right now? It became such a habit at the beginning of the Calamity not to level, but do I really need to worry about the rest of the world? Even if the Gray comes out right now, there are people who already have their 1st Class chosen who should easily be able to handle me. By that logic, I could…let loose a little, right? Still…it feels wrong. The other night, that voice…I probably just imagined it. Screw it, if I’m ever going to get out of here and back to the surface, I’m going to need to become stronger.

My smile grows grim as I shrug.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do unnecessary things. However, Eli is right. As I am now, it isn’t enough to accomplish my goals. I assume you have something in mind?” Turning my stare to the man on the couch, I find a pair of kaleidoscopes waiting for me.

“Thought you’d never ask. Of course, this method is not without its dangers. Once you start on this bloody path…there’s no going back. You’ll be part of my camp and live or die with my fortunes. Are you willing to accept that? Just so long as you’re in the Underworld, that is.” Eli smiles, standing up from the couch while challenging me. I follow him, leaving behind the comfy seat.

“Done.”

#

They find a black hood for me and we sneak out of Sophie’s lair, immediately leaving the ghetto. One time, a patrol of crimson-ribboned Fallen pass by, but Eli quickly spots them coming before they see us and drags us into an alleyway. We pass through ghetto after ghetto, keeping our hoods tucked tightly over our heads to avoid revealing our identities. Eventually, we leave the city through a nondescript gate. Eli pulls down his hood and the guards quickly nod and usher us through once they see who it is.

“Friends of yours?” I murmur and the Exiled Prince nods.

“Tarragon Family gate. I figure if you need to level, the public Dungeons are too risky. They’ll be crawling with Fallen. However, there is one place where they wouldn’t expect you to go.” He gives an evil grin. As we cross outside the city, Delphie shivers and draws close to us.

“Eli…this is…the way to the Goblin’s Territory. You’re not planning on…?” She realizes something.

“Oh I am. Sorry, Hei, but I couldn’t resist.” Eli seems unusually satisfied at the moment.

“Couldn’t resist what?” I bite and take the bait.

“Dealing with some of my enemies. The Goblins were one of the factions which originally pushed for my exile. It’s only fitting that I take some time to pay them back for that.” My Nephilim guide smiles and even I begin to feel bad for the goblins which are doubtless going to suffer for someone else’s sins. “You don’t mind, right? I hear you surface folk enjoy using them for training.” Thinking back to how the goblins of the Feral Goblin Dungeon were the ones originally responsible for getting me into this whole mess, I find my lips threatening to stretch into a smile as well. A little payback would be nice.

“It’d be my pleasure.”

“Good, follow me.”

We wander across the outside of the city on a dark pathway lit only by the light of fungi stars. Perhaps it is my new eye, or maybe I’m just getting used to the Underworld, but I’m beginning to find that this place is easier to see in then I expected. For their part, having lived here their whole lives, the Nephilim are perfectly at ease slipping from shadow to shadow. Their violet hair has a strange knack for disappearing whenever they leave the light. It’s kind of creepy. Delphie at least, doesn’t seem entirely comfortable in this section of the Underworld.

“Eli, is this really necessary? Isn’t this a bit too dangerous? There are other places, Hei could train.” She tries to convince our leader to change his mind. However, the Exiled Prince is not one to be denied.

“Other places, where we can raise his level without restraint? And damage my enemies at the same time? No…this is the place. The only one! Come on, we’re almost there!” For a brief second, I’m reminded of another hot-blooded youth rushing off to fight goblins. My eyes burn with a phantom pain and I have to clap a hand over my face. Don’t think about it!

“Hei? Are you okay?” Delphie asks with concern as she spots me stumble. I take one hand off my face and wave them onwards. “Do you need us to slow down?”

“Fine, fine! Just got something in my eye!” Gritting my teeth, I blink furiously to clear the tears streaming out. Looking away so the Nephilim can’t see my eye, I do my best to catch up. However, I run into an arm. When I glance upwards, Eli has a finger on his lips, blocking our way.

“Shh…” He hisses. “We’re here!”

Goddamn.

What greets our eyes is almost a city in itself. The Goblin’s Territory stretches out far, far into the distance. Closest to us are a bunch of mud-flats where goblins poke around in the mud, digging out worms and other more disgusting morsels. When they are too lazy, mutant overseer variants whip them mercilessly. It’s a vast, sprawling system, an entire colony of the damn things. If this ever appeared on the surface, the Guilds would have a heart attack. I…some people thought it was possible. But I never dreamed they would actually create…this! I mean look at them!

The craziest thing? What we see over this bluff, is not even all of them. Not even close. The Goblin’s Territory just keeps going and going. All the way out of sight. Even in the darkness where the light of the “stars” fail to penetrate, I see no end.

“How…how far does it go?” I whisper. Delphie makes a suitably similar squeak beside me. The Exiled Prince puts a hand over his eyes, as if it will help him see farther. Narrowing his half-kaleidoscope eyes, he smiles grimly.

“Only the goblins, know. And they’re not telling. My father might have a clue. But they’re always evolving so who knows? Legend has it they’re building something back there. Something big. If we kill enough of them, we might be able to find out what it is!” Eli’s voice is filled with a barely-concealed contempt for the creatures. We’re alike. On this matter…I think we also agree.

“How strong are they?” I ask. My knowledge of most goblin variants ended in the dungeon above. Whatever strange freaks they’re growing down here, I don’t think my past lives will be of much help. “Those overseers, do you know what level they are?”

“The Unawakened ones will be anywhere from Lvl. 18 to Lvl. 22. Overseer Variants cap out at Lvl. 23. As for the Awakened…they can be any level. They like to pretend they’re equal to real races. But we won’t find any here. Once goblins awaken most leave the mudflats and move to the Goblin Quarter in Meteos City. The ones here are…shall we say…fresh chicks? Is that how you surface people would say it?” Eli licks his lips, as if he can already taste the blood that is about to be spilt. There’s something troubling about the way he speaks. I’m not quite sure what’s bothering me.

Perhaps it’s the similarity to the way humans justify slaughtering the creatures of the System. But aren’t the Nephilim creatures of the System as well? It seems they call their Hunters the Awakened. I can’t see Eli or Delphie’s level, which would imply they’re both Awakened. But that would mean that all the creatures I’ve hunted in the past are…those who didn’t become Hunters? Argh, I’m going to go insane if I think about it too much. Let’s just keep it simple. They want to kill me. So, I’ll kill them. See? Easy, Hei. Don’t think too hard. Just focus on leveling. Like the old days!

Though I try to push myself to let things go, it’s getting harder to just do things without thinking. Even though my body has regressed to a younger age…my mind doesn’t feel the same. Perhaps, physically, its structure is still young, but something inside is definitely…wrong. These thoughts are really getting in the way of Hunting.

“I think the term you’re thinking of is fresh hatchlings. But that sounds about right, either way.” I draw the short sword which I took from the Fallen assassin I killed. It’s still a bit shorter than the katana’s I’m used to, but compared my cleaver, it opens up a whole different world of options. I should be able to safely get to Lvl. 25 at the very least, I think. That should be just about the limit of leveling I can get from these unawakened goblins, anyway. “I might need some help killing the first few. My level is…a little low.”

“Please, you’re one of us now, Hei.” Eli bares his teeth and I notice that his canines are like fangs. It gives him an absolutely feral look which tells me that some goblins are about to have a very bad day. “This won’t take long! Follow my lead!”

It feels weird letting someone else call the shots.

This really brings me back to the very beginning of the Calamity. The first couple times I partied with some randoms. After that miserable experience, I never worked with others unless I could help it until Sasha convinced me to join the Death Gods. However, the Exiled Prince knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t attract too many of the goblins at once. Doesn’t get greedy. Eli brings us to the very edge of a small goblin farm. A small regular goblin has wandered away from the other workers and is poking for grubs in the dirt with a stick.

[Lvl. 18 Goblin Worker]

As a Lvl. 13, this thing would have presented a slightly risky challenge before. But with a short sword and a party, I’m not worried. Eli simply throws a pebble at its head from the bushes.

*Toc*

“Eee?”

That’s enough to get it to come over and investigate. As an unevolved variant, intelligence is not the goblin’s strong suit. It’s a fine balance. Getting too cocky in goblin territory is a really bad idea if you’re not at least ten levels higher than them. But while accidentally pulling a lot of them can be terrifying, it can also be a fast way to get experience. Eli gets it to turn its back to me.

“That enough?” He yells into the bushes without turning his head. To something that doesn’t speak human language, there’s no obvious sign he’s talking to someone else. Silently, I rise from the shadows and draw the short sword back. The base of the neck. Shall I try some sword techniques?

*Tap Tap Tap*

“EEEE?!” The goblin whirls around with surprising speed. But its reaction time is still too slow. Utilizing Basic Combat Proficiency, I home in like a missile and catch it midway through the turn. It clutches its neck with four-fingers as disgusting goblin blood pours out from the hole I’ve made. Two seconds later, the System decides to award me with a level.

[Congratulations!]

Lvl. 14 now. More…we can still go a lot farther!

“Another one?” Eli doesn’t have any obvious signs of being impressed, but I catch one of his eyebrows twitching. “Ready?”

“Please!”

He pulls one after another. Things are going swimmingly. Until the Overseer of this farm notices. At this point, I’m already Lvl. 15, and the speed of my leveling has slowed down. Twirling the short sword as if it’s a katana, I face this new threat.

[Lvl. 22 Goblin Overseer: Special Ability – Organize Spawn]

“Careful, Hei. Maybe it’s best if I handle this one.” Delphie gives me a good-natured warning, but I’m feeling lucky today. Suddenly, I notice that a certain counter has been going up with each kill. Huh…wait, I’ve been gaining Sin Points? I only had 1 Sin Point before!

[Current Sin Points: 1.05]

The gain is miniscule from killing goblins, but it seems I do still gain a little bit? Even a quarter of a point was enough to put that Fallen from earlier on the ground. This is unexpected…I thought it would only be from killing or hurting other Hunters.

“Wait, Delphie.” I put a hand on her shoulder and shake my head. “Let me try something.” Off to the side, Eli watches with interest beside the bodies of two Goblin Workers he has dispatched in an instant. It seems he’s curious to see what I can do. So am I, Eli…so am I!

“Eeee!” The Goblin Overseer sees the fallen worker corpses sinking into the mudflat and cries out in anger. It raises a four-fingered fist like a child and the whip in its hands lashes out.

*Crack*

I dodge to the side from several paces away. The thick whip lashes down into the mud beside me and splatters my hair with bits of disgusting muck. How many Sin Points should I use? Does the mana cost increase if I use more Sin Points? Well…there’s only one way to find out! Last time my ability only used a quarter of a Sin Point. Out of caution, I up the output to only .3, a little worried that increasing the output any more might drain me of everything. There is a huge level disparity between me and the Goblin Overseer. Within a split second it flicks its wrist and the whip slithers out of the mud. However, the Eye Of Sin does not have a travel time. As soon as it makes eye contact with me, I feel it sting.

[The Lonely’s Hell!

Current Sin Points: .75]

*Shing*

There’s no audible sound. But inside my head, I can feel the space between us being compressed as something…something strange travels across. The Goblin Overseer frowns at first, its whip continues to come towards me. Even though it is no longer actively trying to kill me, the momentum is still enough that when I don’t lean out of the way fast enough, the tip grazes my cheek.

*Tsss*

It rips a small line across the other side so I have a matching scar for Sophie’s slap. However, that’s it. Then darkness flashes across my right eye, like I’ve blinked, though I have not. When my sight returns, the Goblin Overseer shivers violently, all thoughts of attacking lost to it. It begins patting itself all over, falling into the mud, terrified.

“EEEE! EEE! EEE!” It squeals like a pig and flops around in the filth while stomping at invisible worms. I’m not entirely sure if it’s because I added more Sin Points or because goblins have naturally terrible Spirit Stats, but the effect seems much worse than it was on the Fallen. Stepping over towards it, I stand on its whip arm while waiting for it to regain its senses. Let’s count.

One.

Two.

Three.

…

Eleven!

“Eeee…? EEE!” The Goblin Overseer awakens with a terrified start to find me standing over it, short sword centered above its right eye. Sorry. Not sorry.

*Puchi*

[Congratulations!]

*Clap Clap Clap*

Eli strides over, his boots splattering mud everywhere as he leans beside the goblin and examines its body. Turning to look at me, he can’t quite hide a smile. He takes his hand off his rapier and claps.

“Hei…that’s quite the impressive technique. I can only imagine what it cost you to obtain it, but judging from how fast you are, this Goblin Overseer was probably several levels above you, no? And yet you still incapacitated it completely. Of course, goblins have terrible Spirit Stats but even still, I can only imagine what this ability will be able to do once we get you leveled up a bit.” His dark chuckle is full of mirth and vengeance. It reminds me a little bit of myself in the past. Now I have an interesting choice to make. In my previous life, I pretty much exclusively leveled Agility as I wasn’t a Mage Class. However, The Lonely’s Hell would almost certainly benefit from increasing the Intelligence Stat. Just the one usage drained more than 70% of my mana. Additionally, I bet the effect would become stronger as well. That being said, I’m more comfortable as a swordsman type. I don’t think it would be a good idea to switch styles even with these eyes. Let’s just put everything in Agility.

My Status Page updates:

[Name: Hei

Lvl. 15 Classless

Stats-

Strength: 15

Agility: 25

Intelligence: 25

Stamina: 15

Spirit:15

Luck:15

Passive Skills: Basic Tracking, Basic Combat Proficiency, Basic Prescience, Blessing Of Yggdrasil

Active Skills: The Lonely’s Hell

Special: Demon Lord’s Devouring Hunger (When slaying other Hunters, consume all of their experience instead of half)]

We call it a day after that because my mana is too low and my focus is waning. On the way back home, Delphie suggests that we stop by Midas’s noodle shop and I agree. Those lichen noodles are addictive! I do have one concern though.

“Won’t the Fallen’s assassins expect us to visit him?” I ask. To this, Delphie smiles.

“Hah, they probably do. But after the beating he gave them last time, I don’t think they’ll be eager to return to his shop anytime soon.” She replies happily. My face becomes thoughtful. Huh, I thought the shop owner was pretty strong, but it seems I underestimated him. “So what do you say?”

“Sure.”