Chapter 91: Tip of the Iceberg - I

Watching the fire melt through the writhing mass of flesh and limbs, burning their insidious cries to ashes, Clementine and Taylor found themselves... lost.

What just happened?

What did they do, and what did they help achieve?

Clementine had made several choices in a row to trust a stranger whom she had never met, simply because his scouting abilities were exquisite. The deal was that he would help her find Taylor—which he did—and that she would help him in return.

A collaboration.

As for Taylor, well, after being kidnapped, running for his life, and even losing a limb, his tolerance for crazy had risen. When Aventine told him to use Manakinesis on the mana within the green gemstone... he just went with it.

Since his ’Miss Clementine’ seemed to trust him so much, he was willing to help...

Especially because the whispers he had just heard—sounding eerily like his own mother—had nearly sent him into a spiralling wreck.

His mind and soul were weaker than the other two, making him an easier target to sway.

Anything that would stop the whispers from ever assaulting his mind again... Taylor would do it.

Furthermore, by doing this, he was helping all those humans by finally ending their suffering. This entire place was an indescribable hell he was thankful he hadn’t fallen prey to. Every time he recalled the sights he’d seen while fleeing for his life—those who’d been skinned alive, maimed, or had lost all their limbs, their lightless eyes and empty gazes—he felt an immense despair wash over him.

Why was there such cruelty in this world?

He was very thankful to Aventine and Clementine for saving him. They found him in the depths, on the verge of death, and pulled him out without hesitation—even when faced with an entity of a higher rank.

The word ’fear’ never crossed their minds. Clementine had enough years under her belt that a mere higher-ranked existence did not send her into paralyzing terror.

As for Aventine... the guy was weird.

"...So, what now?"

Taylor’s eyes were reflecting the blazing furnace beneath him, still veiled in shadows and draped in a cloak of wind that kept him afloat.

Aventine, who was beside him, seemed to be massaging his head. Streams of blood were flowing from his nose and ears.

Clementine’s nose twitched, and she suddenly looked over with an inquisitive gaze. When she saw the blood flowing out of Aventine, she couldn’t help but frown.

Her thoughts were written on her face:

Where did the Info-Hunter get such an injury?

Was it due to external forces... or was it the price for prying into the information needed to prevent the ritual so perfectly?

’It could indeed be some kind of price...’

After all, the moment the last living being in the altar room was reduced to ash, Clementine felt a tremor course through her soul. Some invisible, mystical force that had been in the process of condensing... began to disperse.

Had it not moved away, her instincts wouldn’t have picked up on any anomaly. It was a mystery how the Info-Hunter seemed to have been aware of many such underlying matters.

What other things did he know that were hiding just within arm’s breadth?

Her assessment of Aventine’s talents rose another notch higher.

’It seems like this Info-Hunter is worth befriending.’ She thought, looking away from the dwindling flames.

Despite having enough strength to sweep through all those Treasure Gnomes, that mystical force was concerning. She felt threatened by it—more so than when she was forced to face that A-Rank tentacle.

More than that...

Its existence gave her a deep sense of spiritual dread.

It felt as if something was slithering around her veins.

—Poof!

The final tongue of flame burned through the last of its fuel.

Aventine stepped forward just as it vanished.

"Let me retrieve something before we go."

Hearing this, Taylor and Clementine waited. Their eyes inadvertently met.

However, they stayed silent, barely communicating through their eyes. Both of them already knew that they were well within the Info-Hunter’s senses.

It was impossible to talk behind his back.

When Aventine returned, he was carrying an old tome.

Seeing this, Taylor’s eyes glistened. ’A cursed grimoire?’

Somehow, his mouth began to water.

—Smack!

"No."

Clementine’s hand flew faster than Taylor could react.

"H-hey! I hadn’t even said anything!"

"...The look in your eyes tells me that you really want to give this book a read. Do you want to borrow it?" Aventine raised a brow at Taylor’s display of desperation.

"Yes—!"

—Smack!

"Taylor is not allowed to touch any cursed books for the time being. Until he learns enough counter-curse spells or gains access to Divine Power, he will not be allowed near anything cursed. Doctor’s orders."

"Haha," Aventine just laughed. "I think this one’s safe for him to read. The curse—I can deal with it."

With a flourish of Aventine’s hand, Clementine suddenly felt something slice through her instincts. Along with the appearance of a small knife—a letter opener—there came the silent cry of the air being sliced apart.

The sharpness of the knife in the Info-Hunter’s hand was beyond anything that Clementine had ever encountered in her 300+ years of life.

"What—?"

—Swish!

Aventine brandished the blade, slicing through something that the two others couldn’t see.

They also couldn’t tell if something was actually being cut. All they saw was that Aventine traced a pattern in the air before plunging his knife into the old book.

In the next moment, the book’s ominous aura vanished.

"Huh?" Taylor’s eyes widened in surprise. Now, most of the fun of studying magic was gone.

A curseless tome?

"Sigh..."

He was suddenly a lot less interested in reading the book.

Clementine rolled her eyes when she heard Taylor’s sigh. Since the curse was gone, it wasn’t dangerous anymore. It could indeed be given to the young human mage to help him widen his horizons.

Thus, she spoke up. "What is it about?"

Aventine blinked. "Well, the knowledge in this book is a lot more dangerous than the curse itself."

He flipped to a certain page in the book and showed it to his companions.

"It’s a manual filled with torture techniques. In the last Chapter, it documents the specifics of this specific Ritual of Blasphemy."

A dangerous glint shone in the Info-Hunter’s eyes.

"Turns out, the ritual was named <Despair on Despair> and was made to use the despair of countless beings to defy some kind of disadvantageous fate. How interesting, no? Apparently, the Treasure Gnomes were fated to go extinct, so they wanted to use these humans to avoid becoming dust in history."

In the end, this huge group of Treasure Gnomes had been given an earlier extermination.

Defying <Fate>...

Aventine’s eyes gleamed.