The Jungle Scamp was faster than before, its berserk form granting it newfound speed. But Julien’s party still had the upper hand.
Because Celeste was nearby.
"Miss Celeste…" Julien called and the mage appeared before them.
With a swift incantation, Celeste cast a movent spell and a surge of energy rushed through their bodies. Their steps beca lighter, faster.
The monster’s lead shrunk instantly.
It bolted into its cave, disappearing into the dark maw of the underground.
Without hesitation, Julien and his party followed.
Inside, the cavern expanded into a vast underground network. Twisting tunnels, jagged rock formations, and the faint scent of damp earth filled the air.
Had Celeste not been there, tracking the monster would’ve been nearly impossible.
The narrow passages were deceptively winding—so leading to dead ends, others filled with hidden traps.
But with Celeste guiding them, they avoided every pitfall, maneuvering through the labyrinthine cave with ease.
Finally, they reached the deepest chamber.
A massive underground hall stretched before them, the air thick with the stench of rotting flesh and dried blood.
Celeste put herself away from the three, so as to not trigger the hidden quest herself, and kept watch.
Julien and his party could see the Jungle Scamp again.
It was on the ground and licking a stone slab near an altar like a thirsty dog.
There were many skeletal bones around and at a corner of the chamber, lots of mangled corpses could be seen.
Judging from their clothes and bodies, the corpses seed to be a mix of Tower Players and tribal folks of this mountain.
’This monster brings the dead here to feast on them.’
Though such was the case, it currently seed uninterested in its food and was instead licking the slab with great fervor, as if it was monts away from devouring it.
"It’s strange…" Alia broke the silence and said in a low whisper.
"What is strange?" Julien asked in a similar tone.
"There’s two unsettling auras here. One is familiar to and the other… it’s probably the monster?" Alia answered.
"No… it’s definitely not the monster’s…" She said under her breath.
"Hm? You said sothing again?" Julien asked.
"Nothing." Alia shook her head. It was probably her imagination as the second aura she was feeling was very faint.
"I just want to warn Master to not be rash. There’s a strong demon’s aura here."
"Noted." Julien nodded.
"Miss Celeste, can you feel soone else’s presence other than the monster?"
Celeste shook her head. There was just the monster and a lingering demonic aura in the chamber.
"Good." Julien’s grip on his sword tightened. "Then we end this now."
But they didn’t rush in. Not yet.
The trio watched the Jungle Scamp carefully. It was clutching the altar, breathing heavily, its tongue flicking against the stone as if drawing strength from it. Siphoning sothing.
Minutes passed, and when they were sure it wouldn’t pose a major unexpected threat, they moved in.
Jackie, with her lightest steps, tried to sneak behind it.
The mont she got too close—
The Jungle Scamp shrieked.
Its head snapped toward her, eyes glinting with cunning. It charged.
But Julien was faster. He dashed in from the side and his sword flashed before getting hacked deep into the monster’s shoulder.
The Jungle Scamp shrieked in pain and staggered back. But it did not retreat. Sothing was different about it as it hesitated.
This was its place of retreat, its sanctuary. There was no deeper hole to crawl into—nowhere left to run.
A single realization dawned in its mind and its eyes began spinning.
Fight to the death was what went on its mind as it entered a frenzied state again.
Its muscles bulged, doubling in size. A violent, ear-piercing scream tore through the chamber as it went berserk.
It charged at Jackie again.
Alia stepped forward at this mont.
With a flash of blue light, she activated a spell.
The monster’s leg seized up, paralyzed. It stumbled and barely managed to keep its balance.
Alia knew this monster was intelligent. She figured that it wouldn’t fall for the sa trick twice, so instead of trying to stun its body, she stunted one of its legs, catching it off guard.
The Jungle Scamp shrieked in frustration as it struggled to fight on one crippled leg. It lashed out and began defending itself desperately while retreating.
"Jackie, slash the other leg! Alia, heal!"
Jackie had a visible cut on her arm that was bleeding. Julien had a minor scratch, but he noticed that his bleeding wasn’t stopping.
This wasn’t a good sign for them both.
Alia clasped her hands and prayed, trying to heal them both.
The healing spell did not work.
She prayed again.
The spell once again did not work.
’O lord, have I let you down? Are your blessed spells not working because I lost my purity? Is this your punishnt?’
Alia couldn’t tell why her spell wasn’t working and began blabbering nonsense to god.
anwhile, in Julien and Jackie’s vision, they could see flickering light as they suffered from a grainy vision due to loss of blood.
Their vision was starting to dim, but they could hold out for a while and not fall unconscious.
’O lord, please forgive this child of yours if it had sinned. Please be benevolent and bestow healing! O lord…’
Alia was starting to panic from the back lines and continued to pray harder.
…..
In a large eting hall, filled with beautiful Valkyries, a raven-haired lady sat disguised as a Valkyrie and listened to their conversation.
They were talking about sothing important, but right then…
-Oh lord, have I let you down?
’Hm?’ El was taken aback by the question.
She could clearly tell this was Alia’s voice and her attention imdiately diverted from the eting to her.
She closed her eyes and had a look at the situation Alia, Jackie, and Julien were in.
They seed to be fighting a monster and…
’…eh? That is…’ El was slightly startled. But right then, ’…never mind. I shouldn’t interfere too much and let fate do its thing. For now, I can only help them indirectly…’
Before El could help them, she heard Alia’s voice again.
-Are your blessed spells not working because I lost my purity? Is this your punishnt?
’…’
El was sowhat speechless.
By the ti she took to process the things Alia had said, another of her comnts landed in her ears.
’O lord, please forgive this child of yours if it had sinned. Please be benevolent and bestow healing! O lord…’
’Haiz, this girl! Has she lost it?’ El couldn’t tell.
’I think I need to intervene or she’ll keep spouting nonsense…’
With that, El jumped into Julien’s situation and decided to indirectly help him.
…..
’Oh lord, please—’
’I have heard you.’ Alia heard a lodic voice, one she had been dying to listen to.
’My devotee, the spells you cast are failing to due a demonic interference. Do not let doubt cloud your judgnt. Losing purity is no sin. You are no longer bound by the vows of a nun—you are free to serve with all your heart, and still forge a life of your own.’
El’s divine gospel shocked Alia and she stood still for a solid few seconds.
Since El was speaking straight into Alia’s soul, their communication did not take long and was over in a few seconds.
In this ti, Alia realized why her spell wasn’t working and the threat she and her Master and Jackie were under. She also got to know that losing purity wasn’t a sin as she wasn’t a nun anymore. She could start a family if she liked and still serve god with all heart, god wouldn’t mind.
With this cleared up, Alia cast a new healing spell learnt straight from God’s divine gospel.
Julien and Jackie’s vision was dim. They had more wounds on their bodies that weren’t healing and they were just monts away from falling unconscious.
However, at this mont, they both felt warmth envelop their bodies and soon enough their wounds began closing and the bleeding stopped.
With renewed vigor, they charged at the monster who was now licking the slab hungrily.
The monster was in a crazed state and did not pay any attention to them charging. It kept licking and licking. Its wounds healed as it did so, and it got high on the power gained from the slab.
Julien and Jackie appeared right behind it at this mont.
Jackie went for the neck, Julien went for the back.
One slashed her dagger and the other hacked his sword.
In one swift motion, they attacked the monster.
It couldn’t even screech or struggle this ti as its head flew off.
Its body fell forwards with a loud thud, and a few instances later…
[Ding!]
[Hidden Quest (Kill the Jungle Scamp) — Cleared!]
Reviews
All reviews (0)