Altdegen

Doing the status for the person in this chapter made me realize that I somehow gave Mina waaaaay too many stat points in the last chapter. Like, over 8k too many. I went ahead and fixed that, if you wanna check it out.

*CRASH!*

“MONSTER MEAT? YOU HEATHEN! HOW COULD YOU SERVE THIS?!”

I turn around just in time to see a man wielding a silver and gold mace swinging down at Mina’s stall, splinting the wood and destroying her grill with ease. The clothing he’s wearing is obvious cult shit. All white robes with bits of gold adorning it. His hair is short and black. He seems to be relatively young. Maybe around the age of 30?

“YOU KNOW ONLY INHUMAN FILTH COULD EAT THIS!”

Alright. I’ve already heard enough. Let’s check his status.

[Analyzing complete!]

That was quick. I wonder if a person’s strength has something to do with the speed of analyzing?

}~~~~{Appraised Status}~~~~{

[Name:] Richard Koontz

[Race:] Human (1x - Stat gain | 1x - XP req.)

[Tag:] Humanoid

[Class: NONE]

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[Titles:]

[ F | Cultist: This person is a follower of an unrecognized religion. Its teachings are not recognized by the world.]

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[Level: 13]

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[Stats:]

[STR: 600]

[DEF: 700]

[DEX: 370]

[INT: 20]

[WIS: 10]

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[Skills:] 

[Active Skills: [F: Pray], [F: Divine Mimicry]

[Passive Skills: [F:Coat of False Faith]

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[Equipment:]

[E: Mace of the Leandrites]

}~~~~~{Status End}~~~~~{

Hmm…

“Pathetic.”

I look over to Lulu and see her looking at the dude with cold, dead eyes. Evidently, she said it loud enough for him to hear. He turns to look at us and speaks in a far friendlier tone,

“What was that?”

Lulu reaches up and pulls down her hood, revealing her long ears for all to see, and her horns for me to see. Her eyes look as though she’s looking at an insect rather than a person. Which isn't fair to the insect, really. I pull down my own hood as well. Lulu looks over at the man while walking over slowly,

“I said you’re pathetic. You and that little cult of yours. You feel strong for destroying mundane wood? With that pathetic strength of yours, I’m surprised you were able to even scratch the surface. Must be that mace of yours, huh? It’s at least a little bit quality. At least compared to the person wielding it.”

The man looks at her with a sneer. He stands up a bit higher and turns his nose a bit upwards, putting his hands on his hips, still holding the mace. He speaks to her with a holier-than-thou tone,

“As expected, the filthy inhumans stick together like the worms they are. Filthy knife-ears. You would do well to learn your place below us humans. After all, you owe your existence to Great Hero Leander.”

I look at him and give him the biggest possible ‘are you stupid?’ expression. I let out a sigh and say,

“So because some human became a hero and killed a dragon, we’re supposed to be below you? Quite a dumb way to think. If that’s the case, I’m sure that one of your ancestors was saved by someone of a different race. In that case, how about you become my servant? I mean, that’s basically what you’re implying.”

He sighs and shakes his head, putting a hand up to his forehead. He then gets a tone as though he were talking to a child who knew no better, just far less affectionate and more condescending,

“Oh, you poor lesser being. I never should have expected your kind to understand. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a heretic to deal with.”

I look over to Mina and see her staring down at her destroyed stand and ruined ingredients with tears falling from her face. As he walks over to her, I notice a few of the humans watching on, fully under the bystander effect. As I’m about to step forwards and stop him, I feel a rush of wind to my side. Lulu disappears from my side and stands in front of Mina, spear in hand. She holds her hand about halfway up its haft and points the tip at the Leandrite’s face. She speaks to him with a cold, indifferent voice,

“One. More. Step.”

The Leandrite steps back and scoffs at her saying,

“This is all you lesser beings ever amount to. Barbarians who need to be babied back to the right path.”

I walk over next to Lulu and hold up my hand, casting a fireball in my palm and holding it there while saying,

“Says the cultist who destroyed a young woman’s business unprovoked. If we’re barbarians, you’re a straight up neanderthal. No, neanderthals would have more class than you. You’re nothing but a bigoted brute hiding behind a thin veil of civility and superiority. Scratch the surface, and all I can see is a spoiled caveman living in a glass jar filled with prejudice, unaware of the beauty and wonders of the world that surround him. I pity you, you sad, brain rotted man.”

It seems I lost myself in my insult. I look around to see everyone around me staring with open mouths at what I just said. The Leandrite looks twice as stunned as the rest of the crowd and speaks in a dumbfounded tone,

“I… Don’t even know what some of those words even meant… But… I feel deeply offended by them.”

It takes a few seconds for the shock of my words to wear off, and be replaced by a searing anger. His face begins to change colors, turning bright red. A large vein begins to pop out on his forehead as he looks at me with pure malice.

“You filthy twiggies! By Leander’s grace, I shall have you burnt at the stake!”

I scoff at him and flick my fireball at his feet, barely grazing against his robe and lightly charring the white fabric. He jumps to the side a split second after the fireball grazes him, unable to react in time to dodge it.

“If Leander was anything like you, maybe that skill was the true savior of the world for killing him. A hero with followers like this couldn’t have been much of a good guy.”

The Leandrite suddenly charges towards me with his mace raised, while shouting out,

“YOU SHALL TASTE DIVINE JUDGMENT, BLASHMEPHER! DIVI- GUK!”

In the middle of his charge, Lulu steps forwards and spins her spear around. With all of her strength, she cracks the back end of her spear into the side of his chest. A loud cracking noise echoes between the buildings as his ribs break from the force of the attack. He flies in the air, landing on the cobblestone streets below and writhing in pain slightly.

“Ahhhhghhh!”

Lulu looks at him with a bit of disappointment,

“Man, I honestly expected a little more from you. Like, maybe even being able to see my attack or something. I guess you were even more pathetic than I thought.”

He suddenly raises his hands and yells out in a pained voice,

“D-DIVINE JUDGMENT!”

A golden fireball appears at the tip of his mace and flies towards Lulu at a speed so pathetically slow that I’m able to take my time casting an Infernal Shield. As I raise my hand, an ethereal black and red shield spreads out in front of us. When the fireball actually reaches us, it collides with the shield and harmlessly dissipates into strands of disgusting, golden energy. Now’s my turn to be disappointed.

“Are you serious? That’s the best you could do? And yet, you have the audacity to act the way you do? It’s a wonder you haven’t been killed before now. [Affliction].”

Suddenly, purple liquid begins to spray from his mouth. His veins begin to darken, and his eyes turn bloodshot. He looks over at me with fear in his eyes before just seconds later, collapsing onto the cobblestone below. The people around us gasp in shock. I quickly cast a fireball at his body, which burns hot enough to cremate him into nothingness, not even leaving ashes.

“Not even enough for a single level.”

Altdegen

Originally, I had a whole thing where a half-titan guard comes up and takes the cultist away, but I felt that I was taking away from a good moment of growth for the two of them. Also, the reason she's able to use affliction in front of people without them knowing it's a taboo is because they assume it's a curse skill. Taboos usually take a lot of strength away from the person using them, while curses don't.