Chapter 5: Ch 5: Threads and Curses.
The next morning Noir had anything but free time as from the moment his eyelids lifted, he was feeling a bit hungry and while he could indeed bear with it, he decided not to as it was an opportunity, a golden one.
'The front of the southern forest contains weak Ryus, so I should be safe unless I delve too deep inside.'
He had no real experience with weapons, and without the blessing of threads, even the weakest Ryu would be too much for him. But now, he could manipulate threads with ease—though the only weave he had mastered was the first one. It was strong, but not dangerous. Learning the second weave would take time he didn't have. That left him with only one option—'the cursed weave.'
Unlike the first weave, the cursed weave was a very costly skill to use but similar to the first weave, it didn't require much effort or perhaps even less than the first weave.
'I should attempt it at the forest, if it doesn't go well I'll return, not like there would be any consequences as my 'plan' doesn't even requires to enter the forest.'
The previous Noir was somewhat of an assassin as he used daggers and was primarily expert at unexpected assaults. However while he had some degree of skills with daggers, his skills wouldn't even come near the previous Noir's.
To avoid suspicion as well as in case of emergencies, Noir decided to take the 'Raven' it was a dagger which could be used only by the holder of the heirloom which was the ancient-looking golden ring.
After changing into the clothes which were specially designed for hunting Ryus, Noir went alone in a carriage to the southern forest.
While travelling on the carriage, Noir looked outside the window and noticed there were not much people around the areas which were near to the forest.
'They are probably scared of a Ryu invasion, though most people with common sense should understand that not all Ryus have the courage to invade into human territories.'
But if the Ryus indeed attempt to invade then it would probably be due to human interference.
Just as Noir was deep in his thoughts, the carriage finally reached its destination, the front of the southern forest.
'I would be really satisfied had the carriage gone a bit further into the forest, but I guess the coachman is really scared of Ryus.'
Noir paid the coachman with silver coins which he found in one of his coats, 'Going through all my clothes might offer me plenty of wealth indeed.'
He walked further and further till he could no longer see any humans nearby, it was needed because if anyone saw him using the blessing of threads or the demon's blessing then it would lead to him falling in deep trouble, perhaps even execution..
'Keeping my distance from both humans and Ryus is mentally exhausting.'.'
After reaching a certain point, he spotted a Ryu from behind a tree, it seemed to belong to the fur family, which meant it was not exactly weak but rather above weak while remaining below mid-tier.
It had 2 long tails and white fur, its appearance was very identical to an artic fox that is if we exclude its massive height which was equal to the tallest human possibly alive as well its width which was well pretty large.
'Taking it head on.. Is not possible. Perhaps it's high time I attempt 'the cursed weave'.'
Noir aligned his back to the tree and took cover behind it as he chanted, "Âmes déchirées, tissez."
A burning sensation took over all the nerves in his body, Noir felt like he was being burned from the inside with additional salt poured over it, for the first time in a somewhat long period of time, he felt like he couldn't handle the pain anymore.
The pain soon cooled down and black threads released themselves from Noir's fingertips, he could feel it, he had more control on the threads than ever before.
'The threads need to be perfectly placed.'
Noir made the threads revolve around the trees which were around the Ryu, soon the Ryu's body touched one of the threads and what followed was a sight indeed. All the threads from all across melted everything that came in their way, until they reached the Ryu and.. Soon all that remained were chunks of meat.
The aftermath of using the cursed weave was clearly showing signs on Noir's physical condition, his breaths came in short, he couldn't walk properly and had vision deficiency.
Nonetheless, he walked towards the chunks of meat, 'Consuming these should help me recover.'
He had already been feeling hungry and the exhaustion only lead to him feeling even more hungry, therefore it didn't take long for his right-hand to turn into the horrific-creature it hid beneath it.
His steps were sluggish, his golden eyes locked onto the chunk of meat. From his monstrous right hand, saliva dripped like venom, eager, starving…
"Jus- a.. Littl- e bi- mor.."
He collapsed. Noir wasn't sure if the meat was even consumed or not but one thing for sure was that he fell on the meat of the Ryu.
'Smells like shit... but at least I'm alive.'
…
Upon waking up he found himself still lying on dried blood, however the meat wasn't there, which indicated that he had indeed consumed it.
'I do feel full and refreshed as well.'
He stood up, and rubbed off the dust, however the patches of blood on his clothes weren't something to just disappear, there were no rivers nearby and therefore Noir had no other choice but to take off his upper clothes and reduce as much visible spots of blood as possible.
"Good thing the suit has 2 layers." he spoke as he took off the upper cloth, only a leather-vest remained.
The only thing remaining were the patches of blood on his black-pants.
Noir looked at the sky, "It's night so this much blood won't be visible as much."
As he walked his way out of the jungle, he was cautious so as not to attract unnecessary attention, for the most part there wasn't anyone. Just as he was about to finally come out of the jungle, A dark shadowy man stood ahead, wrapped in darkness, completely still. His face was hidden, but the slight tilt of his head and the slow, deliberate exhale made Noir's skin crawl—like a predator sizing up its wounded prey.
"Fu*k, assassins."
Noir wasn't able to defeat a weak Ryu head-on, how was he able to face an assassin that was probably a high-ranking one?
…