Chapter 148: [Arc 4] Chapter 28: The Woman of Pride

Somehow, this scene takes me back to the time when I officially met Filyn.

A week or so after the Civil War against the monster-alliance, we were asked to support the clean-up crew back at Tir na Nog. All the friendly undead had been escorted to better living areas and it was up to the grunts to clean up the ghost city. And I was forced to come with them. Tch.

My job was to search for treasures that may have gotten trapped in the rubble, so it wasn't so bad until I encountered that. A Curse Creature. One was born from the collective grudges of the inhabitants of Tir na Nog that died when the city was turned into a Dungeon. Worst of all, it got me with a surprise attack that sealed all my offensive skills and hurt my leg!

And at that moment, when the beast wanted to gobble me up (literally, *shivers*), Filyn, having arrived in the city to take a look at the new land we'd obtained, came to the rescue.

The Curse Creature stood no chance. It was divided into two clean pieces with one slash from Filyn's swords. 

...I don't wanna admit it to anyone, but the suspension bridge effect got me a little that day...

But that isn't a good reason to recreate that scene with an owner of a Virtue skill!!

The battle lasted barely a second. The geezer-General covered Filyn with his [Humility]-barrier, yet as if making fun of him, Filyn's swords emitted something like a dark flame, and a split-second later, the geezer did a split. Like, in two halves. Seriously, over before one could wink.

"......Gaaarami~! Give me a hu-" - Filyn

*Boing!*

"-ugh...so cruel..." - Filyn

And yet again, any positive feelings I have for her's gone. This is quite the deja vu. 

The only thing different from that time is her appearance. Before, she wore something that looked like a hybrid between a dress and a military uniform, but now she's wearing something much closer to the latter, with a coat instead of a jacket. The whole outfit's black, red, and blue, with her twin swords and their sheaths behind her waist.

Well, that's what makes Filyn Belial, Filyn Belial, I guess. You can't hate her, but you can't love her either. I'm no Blot after all. 

"...boss? Boss?" - Zaria

I could see Zaria beckoning me from behind a boulder with a whispering voice. Walk over here if you wanna say something. There's nothing dangerous...perhaps not, but it should be safe...maybe?

Damn, my boss' too difficult to hang around with!

---

"So, the organization Garami is a member of is a fake whose purpose is to trick the enemy to send in spies, making them believe they have everything under control while in reality, you were just using their manpower for your own gains?" - Zaria

"Correct! Let me give you a reward~." - Filyn

"I respectfully decline!" - Zaria

It took a while, but we finally got Zaria up to speed. As she said, the organization Nequitas was just a big ruse. Filyn and Blot had already created a different organization and run them both in parallel, using Nequitas as a cover for their real army.

It's still risky to let six of the organization's ten Generals be spies though if you ask me. Only I, Armveil, and that Bermuda guy from the marine department, are on their side. Not sure who the last guy is. Never heard of him.

Filyn's insta-kill on the geezer-General proves that they are capable of playing such a high-risked game though. One of Filyn's Extra Skills is [Pride], yes, that [Pride], and one of its effects is to copy 10 skills from people nearby for each of [Pride]'s skill levels.

[Humility] is strong, but its effects can't affect other Seven Sins/Virtues skills, so Filyn simply copied some of her own skills, just the ones that she needed for that one-hit-kill wonder. When copied, those skills are considered part of [Pride]'s effect, after all, meaning that [Humility] can't disable them.

Though, if she didn't finish the geezer right away, the fight could have been anyone's game. I mean, fighting with just 40 skills on hand? Pretty much impossible against someone like that guy. Geezer or not, his powers were equal to my own.

"Despite all that we've done over the years though, I don't remember this place being part of the plan," said Filyn as she used her arms to gesture around us...

"...sorry. Seriously, sorry. This is my mistake." - Garami

"What are you talking about? You've done a good job here, Garami! As expected of my babe-*Boing!*-..., of my frying pan-throwing field agent...ouch..." - Filyn

Th-this girl's still trying... whenever we're outside the public eye, she instantly turns into the horny demon her race is known for! The first time we met, she groped my chest and butt so much I was afraid they were going to fall off! Why're you so lustful for them when you don't have either yourself!? The rule states that you shall be jealous then, not aroused!!

"And why is this place such good news?" - Garami

"Who the fuck would want to look for people down here? Not to mention this sea conceals any aether readings that anyone from the outside world could detect. It's the perfect hiding place for me!" - Filyn

Meaning she wants to drag out the game of hide-and-seek a little more? We did well in defeating the geezer-General, trying to fish out some more of those jerks wouldn't hurt. 

"Also, Garami, add me to your party~." - Filyn

Filyn said so with a devilish grin, no, sneer on her face...oh, right. Kinda hoped that I never would have to do this, but...

---

Nequitas secret vault:

"Wha-haha! I can't believe they had collected this many treasures over the years!" shouted a blond dwarf as she walked into a large vault filled with rows upon rows of high-rarity items, each one valuable enough to buy a house on its own.

"Remember to categorize each item as you transport them outside," said a green-skinned demon with sunglasses as he looked at his chart.

The dwarf and the demon are the former Generals Nequitas' departments of Light (R&D) and Life (Medic). While not strong in combat, they are brilliant in their line of crafting. And while it is kept a secret from the organization, they are loyal members of the Demon King's court.

"Wonder how that human is doing." - Light General

"Springwood? He should have taken out the rumored albino demoness...unless they knew what we were planning." - Life General

"That is something we can't dismiss. Especially with how things are here." - Light General

Both Generals nodded to those words. When they arrived at the vault, it was strictly locked up to perfection. However, no guards were protecting the vault, and there are traces of many items having been moved before they arrived.

"The lack of guards could be explained considering how far this place is from Solomar. Still..." - Light General

"Yes. It feels too unnatural. Especially when you know that it is the Blot who built this place." - Life General

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"I mean, we did have scouts search this place before we brought the transport crew, but still-" - Light General

*crash*

A small yet sharp sound stopped the two men's conversation. The sound of glass breaking.

"Out! Everyone get out now!" shouted the Light General, but alas. The poisonous purple cloud of death waited for no one.

---

It goes up, it goes up~. But the titles are nasty!!

"Ehm, Filyn? Just what can that thing do again?" I asked, not wanting to say "hydra poison" out loud.

"Poison stuff, paralyze stuff, confuse stuff, you know, stuff." - Filyn

Too much "stuff" there for my taste...and fear wasn't included. Just how much of a scare did those poor fools experience… I wonder where they stored the poison bottle? Blot reassured me it would be in a secure enough place where the poison will not be released to its surroundings, but it's a hydra's poison. A hydra's! You gotta be anxious about that!

...thinking about it, didn't my level increase a little too much? 11 levels...was I lucky and struck when they were investigating the… wherever it was the poison bottle was stored? 

"15 levels... 15 levels..." - Zaria

There is someone that's more flabbergasted over this than me though. Damn, I hate those with lower levels. They have it so much easier with those levels!!

Damn...what do the titles do? I can guess the template Hunting Titles and the status ailment-related ones, but this last one on the bottom is new for me.

...bad. This title's bad news. And why's the description telling me to go to jail? How rude!

That Assassin's finally reached Lv.50 is good news again~. A new skill obtained~. As if I didn't have enough of them...

The new guy has several effects, one of them is a passive that gives me auto-recovery of HP and MP while in dark areas, the darker the better.  The second one is an active effect that dims the light in the area around me. The costs for the second effect seem to surpass the amount that the first effect can recover. Eh, I can live with that. Especially with this third effect~.

"Finished with checking the result? Then let's go!" - Filyn

"Go where?" - Garami

"Finding the exit! This place is awesome for hiding, but I do want to leave whenever I want to." - Filyn

"That's true. I wanna evolve Assassin too-" - Garami

"You've joined forces with a god when I wasn't watching!? Oh, what are the demons of this generation doooing~?" - Filyn

What are you playing at? Drama queen? You're no demon king yet, so put a sock into it.

"...wait, what's this talk about gods?" - Garami

"You don't know? You need a special Blessing if you want to get your class to Master." - Filyn

Yes, I know that-

"And you can only get one Blessing for each attribute you specialize in, so chose carefully. Well, you got to impress the Lesser God in question though. I got a Blessing related to the Heretic attribute when I saved Blot once, and boy was it difficult, I tell you." - Filyn

I didn't know that!! A-hahaha...not good. Definitely not good! I got four classes now, but only three can reach the Master-tier?! 

"But boy, there are lots of bonafide idiots who think they can only get three classes to Master because of that. One Blessing works for several classes if they are similar in  nature. after all~." - Filyn

"Yes...bonafide..." - Garami

L-let's make sure that the world never finds out about that slip...

"Thinking about obtaining Master-tier classes...those only appear in legends for us normal people." - Zaria

"Oh~, batty's not interested in becoming a legend~?" - Filyn

"No, I-, hey! Who're you calling 'batty'!?" - Zaria

"That's you. And sorry, but you're on the one-way express to legend-land! Let's throw in all three Drives while we're at it!" - Filyn

Filyn produced a chain from her waist and wrapped it around Zaria before she could react and dragged the poor Therianthrope away. Sorry girl, you've been forced to this side. So stop wailing and shouting. Who knows what all that noise can attract?

...and why didn't it strike me to ask Filyn about those Drives!? Oh, because it's more dangerous than bungee jumping into a volcano without a rope...

The two of us, three if you count Zaria's rat, are dead, right? Oh, maaaaan...

Description:

[Pride]. One of the Seven Sin Skills and the derivated imitation of [Lucifer - Ruler of Pride], the Extra Skill of the Demon God of the Superbia continent, Lucifer.

This skill is only obtainable for those who have evolved the skill, [Honor], into the skill, [Dignity], and then evolving it again into the [Pride] skill. One must also have a deep sense of pride in something, plus one must clear several other requirements.

[Pride] is one of the highest-ranking skills in the World System, with only its counterpart, [Humility], being of the same rank. Maybe due to this, but the [Pride] skill has the ability to copy any 10 skill effects from anyone nearby for each skill level [Pride] has. This copy-effect even includes the copied skills' skill levels, so the user of [Pride] can gain access to high-level skills right away. The skills will temporarily become a part of [Pride], so there are no problems with the issue of Waning due to a sudden increase of skills.

As the opposite of [Humility] and due to its original nature as a Leadership skill, [Pride] can grant tremendous status boosts to anyone who is working for the user of [Pride]. This bonus-effect can be turned on/off by the owner of [Pride] themselves.

Finally, like other Sin/Virtue skills, [Pride] grants a proficiency bonus to any other skills related to Leadership and Charisma. This even extends to skills like [Golden Ratio], a skill that makes the user more beautiful because beauty can make one more charismatic. 

Garami's comment: AAAARGH!! This is a cheat, a pure CHEAT! What a cheater!!

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