Raine was feeling good. No, he was feeling great. He had just killed his first opponent. A real battle where his life was on the line (not really). And he won. He had killed his opponent with nothing but his hands. And on top of that, he got rewarded for it.
'This nightmare spell is really great. It rewards hard work. Why does it have such an ominous name?'
'It should be something better, like Rewarding System or maybe Great Spell? Well, whatever. Let's check the memory.'
He summoned his runes.
Name: Raine
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Fragments: 990/1000
Memories: [Lizard's Tail]
Echoes:
'... A what?'
He dismissed the runes and summoned the memory. Sparks appeared in the air and five seconds later, a literal lizard tail fell on the ground with a soft patt sound.
Raine stared at it. It looked familiar. He turned to the creature he had just killed.
'It's really a freaking tail. Of that monster.'
He was shocked. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was supposed to be rewarded. A cool sword would have been nice. If not that, an armour maybe. Or a charm. Or a tool. Or ANYTHING BUT A FREAKING TAIL.
"What's... WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, YOU FREAKING SPELL! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS, STICK IT TO MY ASS? YOU USELESS SPELL, DID YOU ENJOY SEEING ME PUT MY ARM INSIDE THAT MONSTER'S HEAD? WHERE IS MY SWORD? GIVE ME A WEAPON!"
He picked up the tail and threw it towards the ceiling. "TAKE THIS SHIT BACK AND GIVE ME A FREAKING WEAPON, YOU DUMB AI!"
The next moment, a chill ran down his spine.
His anger subsided, replaced by fear. At the entrance of the church stood a monster. A grotesque mixture of cockroach and spider with huge legs. Seeing its prey, it launched towards him.
Raine was frozen. He was scared. He had let down his guard because of his fight with the Sea lizard and then receiving that memory. He hadn't paid attention to his surroundings, or he would have sensed the creature coming towards this place.
But it was too late. The creature was already moving towards him. He couldn't move. So in a desperate attempt to do anything, he just shielded his face with his hands and braced for impact. This was just his boxing reflex. But he knew it wouldn't help him here at all.
He held his breath. But the impact never came. His body moved forward a few steps, prepared to withstand the force that never came. He opened his eyes and saw the creature now had that same lizard tail in its mouth—the one he had tossed in the air moments ago.
'Why is that thing attacking it and not me?'
But he couldn't ask for a better chance. He ran towards the wall, climbing it quickly, and reached his previous hiding spot.
Now he had time to examine what was happening below. The creature was still sinking its teeth into the tail while screeching as if angry at it. It wasn't paying any attention to Raine at all.
'I have to kill it while it's distracted or it will come for me next.'
He activated his ability and moved towards the creature in his spirit form.
The creature was still trying to 'kill' the tail as if they were enemies since its birth.
Raine concentrated energy on his hands and punched the creature on its head. The monster stopped abruptly. The tail fell to the ground, no bite marks on it, as if made of extremely hard rubber. The creature, however, was staggering as if extremely drunk. It tried to manage its balance, but a few more punches from Raine knocked it out completely.
Raine returned to his body and jumped down quickly. He moved towards the cockroach-spider creature. But he soon saw a problem. There were no eyeholes visible on the creature. It had many small eyes, but everything was covered in some thick shell.
'No time to waste.'
He picked up a big chunk of stone, raised it high, and hammered it on the head of the creature. He lifted it again and bamm—hit the creature's head once more.
Again and again and again.
Before he knew it, he was shouting.
"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIEEE!"
He only stopped when he felt he was only hitting the floor. The monster's head had been turned into paste. Raine, still holding the stone over his head, was breathing heavily. Sweat covered his face and neck.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Filth Spider.] He heard the spell's voice in his ear.
[Your soul grows stronger.]
A chill ran down his spine.
Was he just imagining it or did the spell's voice sound colder than usual? 'No, it can't be.'
He dropped the stone and picked up the lizard tail. He moved towards his hiding spot on the rooftop and summoned the runes.
Name: Raine
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Fragments: 990
He hurriedly summoned the runes of the memory [Lizard's Tail].
Memory: [Lizard's Tail]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: [A miraculous tail that has saved the life of its owner by distracting its opponents.]
He was speechless. He was only alive because of this memory. And he had called it useless.
More importantly, he had called the spell useless. And... dumb AI.
If he hadn't gotten this memory from the sea lizard, he would have been killed by that incoming monster. The spell had given him a chance to survive....And what did he do? He shouted at it, called it useless, dumb, AI.
A spell that was born to devour everything—the gods, the demons, the whole world.
'And I pissed it off.'
'I am a goner.' 'If I don't do something immediately.'
He knelt on the ground in a prayer position, hands clasped, eyes closed.
"Lady Spell,"
'Did I say "lady"? I did! Is it a lady? Did I mess up?'
"Please forgive this insolent human. I never intended to say those... 'things' to you."
"I was greatly affected by the fear of battle in that moment. I didn't have control over my thoughts."
'Did I do it? Will this much work?'
"I'm also... not right in the head." He said, looking down at the ground.
"So please forgive me. I will never do it ever again. You are the most powerful 'being' alive in all realms. So please find in your heart (Did I say heart?)... to forgive this lowly human."
He kept his eyes closed, waiting for some reply—like some sort of signal. All he wanted to hear was 'you are forgiven.' Instead, all he heard were nightmare creatures fighting in the distance.
He opened his eyes. 'A bit' regretful of what he had done. He let out a sigh. What had been done could not be undone. Now he had to move on. So he did.
He sat down on his butt and looked into the distance. He could see two creatures fighting.
'Hah... It's time I leave this place and move towards the dark city.'