I Blue : Reincarnated as a Cursed Crit-Based Swordwoman-Chapter 23 - 42 Poisons

"(Is that the kind of person I was all this time? A violent, remorseless killer that only waited to have strength to show his true colors?)"

If someone called him that, he couldn't argue back. In grade-school, he wished to be strong enough to beat those who took his lunch by force—since he wasn't though, he coped by giving it to them instead.

In middle-school, he fantasized about punching those older boys who would send him to the cafeteria with lower money than what they had asked.

In highschool, he could only grit his teeth when that friend of his friend borrowed his game console for a weekend and then came to school a few days saying that it was broken and that he would repair it. Of course, he never did—there may have been no need to do so in fact.

Now, he has lost the ability to talk properly. He could resort to weak negotiations like he used to—he could only count on his actions, on the power of his hands, and the stability of his feet.

But what did he use those for? In what way was he any different from the people he wanted to take his revenge against? Was this the lesson his weakness taught him? To wait for the opportunity to be the top dog and make those who wronged you in the past suffer?

No, this wasn't who he was. This wasn't what he wanted to be. He wanted liberty to do what he wanted, but not if it meant doing those kinds of things. Sure, the people he killed were resurrected and he got what he wanted, but what was he to them now?

Besides...

"(That woman...)"

Besides, that pale white-haired maid, the one who resurrected everyone else. She fell on the ground at least three times in the process and the last time, she didn't wake up.

Noah was pretty much sure now that the years exchanged while using that resurrection spell of hers weren't her life expectancy or else she would be dead before the third one.

That being said, she was definitely sacrificing something important. She looked more and more close to death with every resurrection and she might have been dead by the time she brought back the last of her colleagues.

Why would someone do something like that? Was she so frightened by his actions that she broke? He couldn't rule out that possibility. Killing was never his objective but he might have done that to that woman. And even if he didn't, she was already destroyed mentally all by his fault.

"(... In the end, I am a monster after all.)"

This was indeed the best way he could qualify what he had become. No amount of book and sophism could distract him from that idea—he was a monster, a being dangerous for humanity.

"(Oh... Didn't I decide to be an adventurer? Ah, yes... Adventurers kill monsters, yes? If that is the case, my actions now should write themselves...)"

The dagger. He kept it for security when he returned to his room. How convenient, it could serve to eliminate the greatest danger of this mansion.

*knock**knock**knock*

Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

"(... Momo?)"

Yes! He could only be his instructor. Who else would dare to knock on his door so late after what he had done? He hurriedly made his way to the door and opened it. But behind the door was not the pink-haired maid he was used to seeing—it was a young woman with dark hair and yellow eyes.

"I supposed you must be, Mistress Vasilisa," she said, holding a plate with a brown cake. "Here, you remember this cake, right? I used to make it for you."

"..."

The inexpressive woman behind him was the Chief-maid, Cécile. But why would she come to see him now when she never acknowledged him before? Worse, she actively isolated him and made his life even more miserable.

"You seem surprised, Mistress," she continued. "Were you expecting a punishment maybe?"

Noah didn't respond but it didn't stop the maid from monologuing away.

"Punishment isn't always the solution, Mistress. Sometimes, a comprehensive approach yields more results than blind correction. What you did this time was not only your fault, but our fault for treating you the way we did."

Compassion? Now of all times, he could hardly believe it. This chocolate cake she was offering to him, there was clearly something inside, he knew it. It was as if he already went through a similar scene before.

"So as an apology, I would like you to accept this cake. It is a present from all the employees. I hope you will find it to your taste."

An apology she said. But who was apologizing to whom exactly here? A present from all the employees...

Yes, his mind was connecting the dots again. This was something he brought upon himself.

"Oh... You are... taking it?" replied the chief-maid as he silently took the cake. Her tone was one of surprise and disappointment maybe, but he didn't care. Nothing was important anymore.

As he closed his door, Noah put the cake on his study table just like his instructor did in the first days after they met. She would do that many times afterwards since eating cakes seemed to be an international sport for her.

Him on the other hand would often eat his cake on his lap as the table was a bit too high for him and reaching his threat with a fork seemed like a soft form of torture. His instructor would often say it was a blatant lack of manners but she seemed also too lazy to stop him every time. A strange woman indeed.

She wouldn't have had anything to say today though, as he decided to put the cake on the table to his own volition. In front of him was the book talking extensively about status effects opened on the first page talking about the [Poison] ailment.

On the table, was a motor in which he looked at his status screen, or more specifically, at the status currently affecting him. With experience he learned that the way your status appears depended on what you wished to see and what you knew you could see, so he could easily put it into a format he found more useful.

"(There are 44 known forms of poison)," he thought, taking his first bite of the cake. "(Probably enough for each of the employees to pick their own and put it into a cake...)"

.

[Status]

Path: Blue

Rank: Azure

Level: 0

Health: 100/100

Name: Vasilisa

Status: Human; Living; Muddy Tongue; Cantarella 19/3; Poison 4/2; Venom 7/12; Toxic Brew 12/1;

Covenant: Froschköning (Family), Heavenly King of Peach Blossom @?' (???);

[/Status]

.

As he thought the cake was poisonous. Just a bite and he was already affected by 4 different variants—they didn't hold back there.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

"(Yet it still tastes wonderful. Guess this universe really doesn't follow the logic I am used to...)"

Most [Poison] type ailments work like so—they deal a fixed amount of damage/a fixed amount of second. In normal circumstances, he could never verify if there were truly 44 poisons in this cake due the ridiculous amount of damage he would take.

But Noah was determined.

If this is how they wished to take their revenge on him, that was fine. He just had to take them all before death found him. This wasn't the first time he maintained his life bar at 1 HP indefinitely after all. He could do it again.

*nom*

.

Status: Toxic 25/7; Adeline 1/16; Rot 24; Blight 4/729;

.

*nom**nom**gulp*

.

Status: Tainted Blood 10/30; Infected 0/360; Necrotic Wounds 25/5; Sikera Osun 100/6;

.

The different poisons burned his body with a pain he could barely imagine was possible yet he didn't stop. He didn't know if it was because he was dazed or because he was crazy from the beginning, but he knew his shallow resolution had left him a long time ago.

He continued eating solely because his body was on autopilot, totally dedicated to the mission he gave to it.

Plagued, Noxious, Acid Burn, Hemlock, Belladonna, Spore, Bubble, Melting Skin...

He could barely focus anymore aside from his counting. Bite after bite after bite after bite after bite after bite after bite. He consumed the cake until there was not a single bite left.

"(A shame... it seems, there were only 42 poisons in...)"

The fork fell to the ground in a loud clatter.