Chapter 413: Cursed Gungan!

A beautiful cherry blossom tree stood in the middle of a Japan Town—it was the Safe Zone of the 36th floor.

Locals, wearing kimonos, walked about on the streets, holding an umbrella to shield themselves from the sun.

It felt very peaceful.

"SOMEONE HELP!"

At that moment, a scream that scared the locals sounded, and they saw a group of players dragging behind a cart.

In the cart, there was a man—heavily bleeding—the wound on his chest looked sick and disgusting.

"Damn it..."

The man, with a trembling hand, drank more of healing liquids, but they weren’t doing anything for some reason!

The players looked around for help—even for a doctor—but the locals just walked away and entered their houses and slammed the doors shut.

The locals of this place were very scaredy folk—they did not want to deal with whatever this was.

"Heal!"

Poppy put her hand on the bleeding wound and whispered a spell, but nothing was working—nothing!

She gritted her teeth and looked at Gungan with pity and looked like she wanted to apologize—but then Gungan raised his hand.

"It’s not your fault..."

"You got injured because of me. The only purpose I have is to heal people, and I can’t even do that!"

Poppy gritted her teeth.

"Let’s just... Not bother these townfolk... They’re scared, so... roll the cart to the back alley, and let’s think what to do over there..."

Gungan said.

It sounded like he was in actual pain and therefore had real difficulties speaking even a few words, because it would hurt.

Matthew and Kennelman pulled the cart to the back alleyway, and Skadi and Poppy looked silently at their injured leader.

"This is not good."

Skadi said with a cold voice.

She was a cold-looking woman with very straight blond hair and emotionless blue eyes—like she was incapable of feeling any emotions.

Poppy, on the other hand, was a very, very energetic and happy-go-lucky girl usually, but not this time around.

"How could this happen?"

Matthew scratched the back of his head.

"That King of the Black Orcs must’ve poisoned him some way that stops us from healing Gungan!"

Kennelman said.

"There must be someone in here that knows what poison the King of the Black Orcs used. We need to find that person quickly."

Poppy said with a serious look on her face.

"I’ll go ask around."

Matthew said and left—then Skadi said, "I’ll go too," and walked after him.

"How is your health looking, boss?"

Kennelman asked.

"...321 HP... and keeps dropping... I don’t have a long time left..."

Gungan said with a sigh.

They had been preparing to clear the 36th floor for a few weeks now—they had done their research on the Black Orcs.

Yet.

During their battle against King of the Black Orcs, Gungan got hit by a strange attack that left him unable to move.

Gungan was their strongest player—he was also Tank—and without him, none of them believed they could survive.

Therefore.

As soon as they were able to leave the Boss Realm, they did so without a second thought and came all the way back to the Japan Town.

Hoping that there was somebody that could cure this strange disease that Gungan got!

...

Japan Town’s Adventurer Guild Branch.

Bang~!

Matthew opened the door with a bang—some players looked over—there weren’t that many around.

There were some players standing by the quest board, thinking about what quest to embark on.

"Is there anybody Healer that specializes in poison?"

Matthew asked.

There were some Healers present—but they were already part of a guild or party—so none of them raised their hands.

Even if they were experts of poison.

"We can pay."

Skadi said.

It still didn’t make anyone raise their arms—as most players didn’t care about healing players from other parties or guilds.

"Let me guess... One of your friends was hurt by the King of the Black Orcs?"

A bartender in a nearby bar asked. He was cleaning a glass cup that was honestly very clear already but just did it to pass some time.

"Yes... how did you know that?"

Matthew asked with a frown.

"I am sorry to tell you, but your friend is dead. He was hit by a Dead Blow. He doesn’t have a long time left.

"There are few townfolk who were unfortunate enough to also have suffered from such an attack, and they died soon after."

The bartender said with a sigh.

"There must be something that can be done. We, players, have lots of special abilities that you locals don’t!"

Matthew shouted.

"It’s a curse, young man. To fight a curse, you need to use a curse. If you can find somebody who is master of curses, then maybe..."

The bartender shrugged his shoulders.

Matthew’s and Skadi’s expression turned grave—it wasn’t easy to find Curse Mage—it was one of the rarest kinds.

"I might be able to help you."

At that moment, an arm raised at the back of the room—there was a young man who was enjoying a cup of coffee and roasted beef.

It looked delicious.

"You can help?"

Matthew asked skeptically.

He could tell that the young man wasn’t a Mage—he was definitely a warrior, and there was a sword dangling from his hip.

"Does a cursed sword work?"

Fang Raon asked, and then he took out his scabbard with the Blackest Blade inside and put it on top of the table.

’A cursed sword?!’

Matthew looked shocked as he looked at the Blackest Blade, and he could feel evil radiating from it.

As if there was a demon living inside the sword.

"That could work."

The bartender said with a surprise, and then he tipped his hat at Fang Raon—because for him, there was no need for him to offer his help.

He did it out of goodness of his heart, which he respected.

Fang Raon took the sword from the table, put it back on his belt, and then tossed a few square coins on the table and stood up.

"Shall we go?"

He asked.

Skadi looked at him silently, then she nodded, and the two of them led Fang Raon out of the Adventurer’s Guild.

They walked down the empty street—the locals were hiding inside houses—occasionally peeking their heads from the windows.

"These locals must’ve realized that Gungan was injured by the Dead Blow—they might think it is contagious, which is why they’re hiding."

Matthew said.

"...Do you think you can really help?"

Skadi asked coldly.

She really wasn’t friendly, but Fang Raon didn’t mind her attitude, because she did remind him of Xiao Yue quite a bit.

Cold from outside. Soft from inside.

"I don’t know, but we can try."

Fang Raon said.

In that moment, they arrived at the back alley, and Fang Raon immediately saw a very injured-looking man lying on a cart.

His flesh had gone pale, and his blood vessels protruded—they had also turned black—and his breathing seemed shallow.

’Curses sure are scary. It looks like he is in actual pain.’

Fang Raon thought.

"R-Raon?!"

At that moment, he heard a familiar voice and turned to see Poppy—the cute Healer girl who was part of his party a while back.

"Poppy?"

Fang Raon said with a surprise, and she looked thrilled to see him after such a long time and gave him a big hug.

"You two know each other?"

Matthew asked with a surprise.

"This is the person that I talked to you guys. He was my party leader back in the day. I learned a lot from him!"

Poppy said with a big smile.

"...Poppy is an extremely talented Healer. You guys are lucky to have her on your team."

Fang Raon said, and Poppy looked shy after receiving his compliment—but also really happy about it.

She was probably one of the most talented Healers that Fang Raon had come across—and he didn’t give compliments just for anybody either.

"Yeah, we’re lucky... hehe..."

Gungan smiled with a pain, and then he tried standing up but failed to do so and was forced to lie back down.

"Is he here to heal the boss?"

Kennelman asked.

They could tell that Gungan didn’t have much longer to live!

"Boss is suffering from Dead Blow—a type of curse that will slowly kill the person that had been infected by him.

"Apparently, since it is a curse, you need to use a curse to fight against it."

Matthew said.

In that moment, Fang Raon drew his Blackest Blade—and everybody could immediately tell that there was something evil in the blade.

He approached the cart and Gungan.

"Poppy, I need you to keep healing him."

Fang Raon said.

"Sure!"

Poppy flicked her wrist, and a beautiful healer staff appeared in her hand—there was a green healer’s orb at the top of it, glowing softly.

"Superior Healing!"

She pointed it towards Gungan, and while it didn’t help to cure his illness, it did help to soothe his pain.

In that moment.

Fang Raon stabbed the Blackest Blade through his chest—all the way through until the blade reached the other side.

"What are you doing?!"

Matthew asked and was about to help Gungan, but then Skadi stopped him with a cold look on her face.

"Don’t."

"Agh..."

Gungan gasped, and he saw his health drop drastically—it was about to fall all the way to zero—but then Poppy’s healing started to work its magic.

Slowly, he started to gain more health than he was losing!

And the paleness of his flesh started to slowly recede, replaced with a healthy glow—the curse was disappearing!