Chapter 214: 9:1 (9)

The other choices vanished before my eyes like mist. Perhaps I acted on impulse.

It had said Anti-World. I had no clue what that meant. It felt like I’d fallen for a flashing cursor, some illusion luring me in with hazy promises.

Maybe I should’ve gone with 5% and gotten a proper weapon. Something real.

That warning about no longer being protected lingered in my mind.

Does that mean... I won’t revive anymore?

There was no certainty in any of this. All I could do was keep moving forward. I dismissed the following level-up messages and distributed my stat points as usual. It had been a while since I last took a proper look.

[Lv. 28 (226)

Health: 81

Strength: 93

Agility: 84

Wisdom: 70]

All the fights at Erast Castle, the ambush at the Yublam Inn, the battle in Leraie’s santuary, and now taking down the Desert God—all that levelling had finally paid off.

Sure, I’d always focused on Lurium, but I never skipped a single stat allocation. By all accounts, these were impressive numbers. No ordinary soldier could even lay a hand on me now.

Even without any skills, I could bulldoze through an entire squad with brute force and speed alone. Not just basic skeletal troops or slave-line grunts, but actual veteran spearmen or heavy infantry in full plate—I could tear through them like parchment.

Taking down a high-ranked B++ boss this easily? That’s the payoff of relentless stat grinding. It’s just obvious in hindsight, really.

"Hey... that was seriously impressive."

Rena’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. She had quietly stepped up beside me.

I thanked her. "Thanks. You helped a lot.”

If Rena hadn’t created those footholds, it would’ve taken far longer, especially in loose terrain against something that fast.

"I didn’t do much. I just stood there and watched."

Rena’s gaze toward me grew subtly softer, maybe even curious. It felt strange to receive that look from a Rena who had no memory of me.

"So, uh... are you affiliated with any group? If not, would you maybe consider joining our guild—"

I shook my skull. "Pass."

"At least let me finish asking before you turn me down. Rude."

"I don’t really want to team up with people who slap tracking devices on me."

Rena let out a small sigh. "

Hmph

."

Of course, that wasn’t really the reason. I just had no intention of joining T&T. Not anymore. Not even if it meant sticking around Rena. I didn’t want to be tied up with anyone else again. I couldn’t even protect Rubia properly. I was dragging her through danger under the pretense of an adventure.

Rena lowered her gaze. "You’re harsh."

Our eyes met—just briefly. There was hurt there, enough to make me hesitate.

Am I making a mistake?

I turned away. There were more pressing matters.

Wooooong!

The Ash Worm's corpse glowed green, which meant it was time to absorb its essence. I extended my hand.

Rena tilted her head, watching curiously. Just like in the previous life, she couldn’t see the light. No one else could—except for Gith-Za-Rai, the one who passed this power to me.

[You have absorbed Desert Adaptation Lv. 1!]

[You have absorbed Desert Adaptation Lv. 2!]

.

.

[You have absorbed Desert Adaptation Lv. 5!]

The absorption was quick this time.

[In desert terrain, the following bonuses apply:

—+15% EXP

—Immunity to terrain penalties

—Triple the chance to discover oases and palm trees

—65% chance of encountering sandstorms

—Can detect quicksand]

Absorbing up to Lv. 5 in one go made sense. After all, the Ash Worm was the so-called Desert God. It had full mobility underground, so naturally, its terrain adaptation was top-notch. Once I finished essence absorption, the green light faded to a soft glow. Then, something more interesting came up.

[Perk: Deep-Seated Grudge]

[The seething hatred of those unjustly slaughtered by Yemera. Deals 15% additional damage against enemies who serve Yemera.]

I had no idea how often I’d run into Yemera’s followers, but 15% bonus damage was nothing to scoff at. There was no reason not to take it.

Wooooong!

[You have absorbed Devour and Spit Souls (Rare) Lv. 1]

[—You bite and spit out the souls of defeated enemies. Their spiritual integrity cannot be preserved. Only works on weaker souls. Slightly restores mana.]

I recalled the blackened remains of the merchants. Apparently, they hadn't been chewed up indiscriminately. One final notification appeared and said I had absorbed a point in Health, and then the green glow from the Ash Worm’s corpse faded completely.

"You... what did you just do?" Rena asked.

"Hard to say. Let’s go with... inheriting the will of the dead," I answered.

Only I and Gith-Za-Rai could see essence like that, let alone absorb it. For a creature that massive, the green glow sure didn’t last long.

The higher my stats, the faster the essence depletes. Makes sense.

If it kept scaling endlessly, Gith-Za-Rai might’ve ended the whole world on her own.

Where is she now, anyway?

As I mulled that over, Rena calmly walked over to the only surviving merchant she’d dragged out of the Ash Worm’s hunting ground. Out of all the merchants, he was the only one she’d saved. He was probably the second-in-command to that snake of a caravan leader.

Rena casually spun her blade and pressed it against the merchant's chest. "I’ll give you a chance to talk. That giant ugly worm—where’d it come from? Who gave you that flute?"

The bound man flinched, scooting backward on the sand. "

G-Guh...

just promise to spare me! I’ll tell you everything!"

Rena tilted her head with a small smile. "Sure. That’s easy."

A flicker of hope sparked in the man’s eyes. "I’ll even tell you secrets no one else knows. But also... promise me one camel. Just one!"

Rena let out a quiet laugh.

She pulled a silver coin from her pocket and held it in front of him. "If it lands heads-up, I’ll let you live. You'll get the camel, and some water too."

The merchant nervously checked both sides to make sure it was a perfectly normal coin with heads and tails. "Can I flip it?"

Rena nodded. "Sure. Go ahead."

The merchants. face brightened even more. Apparently, he had a trick or two when it came to flipping coins.

"We are—

kheum!

—we were actually the most notorious bandits in the desert."

He twitched his arm as if to show off. Rena helped roll up his sleeve. On his thick forearm was a long-tailed scorpion tattoo.

Rena traced it with a light touch. "Well, well... So you’re part of the infamous Venom Pouch,

huh

?"

The merchant gave a cheeky smirk. "Bingo. We’ve changed all our names since, but we were huge. We’d robbed so many traders, we just turned into a full caravan ourselves."

"Interesting. Keep going."

The merchant took a deep breath and continued, "It was during a spree while we were hunting travelers. We’d sometimes let a few escape just for target practice. That’s when he showed up—calmly walking our way. He had a shaved head and was dressed in a black monastic robe. He looked about forty years old."

Rena said nothing. Her hand still rested lightly on his arm.

The ex-bandit swallowed hard. "When we caught the monks, we played a game. We’d drop ’em into deep quicksand and tell them to pray for help from their god. Ever been in quicksand before?"

Rena smirked. "Nope."

Even while tied up, the merchant still looked smug. "Going down’s easy—smooth as silk. But pulling out? It’s like trying to yank your legs out of solid rock. Bit by bit, your whole body will get locked down."

Rena spun the coin again on her finger. The shield-marked heads and wheat stalk tails flipped past her knuckle with each smooth rotation.

"I’m listening."

"But this monk... he was different. We forced him into the sand like usual. Told him to call on his god. Then he pulls a flute out of his robe and—"

Rena motioned at the Ash Worm’s corpse. "That thing came out?"

The merchant exclaimed, "Yes! That monster pulled the monk out from below. We thought we were all dead. I swear, it was like seeing an actual god appear..."

"And what about the monk—how’d he look? Details."

"Long face, hollow eyes. His head was shaved, but he was balding at the sides."

"I see."

"Instead of killing us, he played the flute again, and that thing vanished back under the sand. Then he handed the flute to our boss and said, 'If you run into something you can’t handle, blow this.' That Desert God would come and take care of it, per their contract."

"You believed that?"

"Honestly, it was like being possessed, but we kept the thing. Who knew what would happen if we tossed it? Then we met you, and, well... yeah."

"That’s it?"

"That’s it."

The merchant blinked. "Now, you said you’d keep your promise, right? I’ll flip the coin now. Heads means I live."

Rena nodded. She cut the ropes binding his arms, then held out her hand. The silver coin glinted in the sun as she spun it once more on her fingertip.

"Go ahead."

The man reached out to grab it.

Crunch!

The five-roti coin bent in half, like a paper clip. The shielded head's side disappeared entirely.

"Flip it now," Rena commanded.

"W-What the hell was that?!" the merchant shouted.

"Just something I do."

"

Kghhhh!

"

The merchant grunted and strained to pry the coin open, but Rena’s casually pinched fold didn't budge at all.

Before he could curse again, her blade slashed across his neck. A clean crimson line split the sand once more.

The merchant twitched a few times and then went still.

I looked down at the bent coin. "You folded that pretty cleanly."

"

Ah

, well..."

Rena blinked like she just remembered I was there, and she looked a little flustered. She’d been completely immersed in the interrogation.

Rena shrugged. "It’s trendy in the capital right now... Maybe I went too far?"

She handled that coin like someone who’d practiced a thousand times, but I had no complaints.

"No need to explain. You did well," I replied.

Rena’s cheeks turned slightly red. She reminded me of her old self—the version that always wanted to impress me.

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The mood got awkward, so I changed the topic. "The monk he mentioned—do you know anything?"

"Yeah. That’d be Cardinal Greysium. Head priest of Yemera. The Empire’s western desert regions are full of dungeons. You’ve heard that, right?"

"Sure."

"So the plan is to stir up all the monsters in the region. Use it as an excuse to send in the army for a purge, then sweep the West. Then march on toward the Confederation."

"The emperor’s planning all that?" I asked.

Rena nodded, her expression grim.