The Rising of the Scythe Hero

Necro-monsters barely gave me any experience, and for Night – who had already reached her current XP cap – it was completely pointless. So I activated my Camouflage skill on both of us, making us invisible to the monsters' eyes and senses. I didn't want to waste time on pointless fights. First, I wanted to find the source of this mess.

"Hm." I crouched down, looking at a frozen necro-wolf. "He can't even hear me…"

Camouflage was honestly impressive. At its current fifth level, it practically hid everything I did. It even extended to the people in my party thanks to the system. Of course, this level of stealth only worked because these monsters were relatively weak. If they were anywhere near my level or just better… let's say, higher "quality" overall – they would've definitely noticed me.

We spent another two hours scouting the area, but still came up empty. Neither Night nor I could sense anything strange or out of place. So, we decided to call it a day. On our way back to the village, we kept slaughtering every monster we came across. After all, our main goal was to reduce the threat to the village as much as possible. The real issue was, we could only properly do that by eliminating the root cause.

"How are things going, Hero-sama?" It was already evening, but that didn't stop the village elder from meeting us as soon as we got close to his house.

"We've seriously cut down the number of monsters, but we still haven't found the source. We'll try again tomorrow."

"I see…" The elder lowered his head thoughtfully. "Well, even so, it already makes us feel safer. Thank you." The old man bowed.

"Eh, no big deal. It's not like I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart." I waved him off.

Honestly, I wasn't that tired, and it was way too early to sleep. So I spent most of the night meditating and trying to sense… well, I wasn't entirely sure what. Qi, to be precise. I'd already learned to feel mana pretty well, so now it made sense to try sensing life energy too. Especially considering my class practically screamed for it.

The only real way for me to learn to sense Qi was to build off my Life Absorption skill. And as I'd already figured out, that skill wasn't as simple as it first seemed. I thought it was just a passive that boosted my experience gain, but then situations kept popping up where it activated under completely different circumstances.

First, I sensed life inside Night's egg. Then, somehow, I managed to influence her after she hatched, forcing her to submit to me with the same skill. And generally, at some point, I'd started to faintly sense life around me. If I remembered correctly, that's more or less how Qi worked.

That night, I focused all my efforts on trying to sense Night's life energy from a distance – and then the life within the elder's house. The first part… barely worked. But hey, it was still progress.

Man, I really could use Granny from the original story… With her around, this would've gone way faster.

In the morning, after agreeing to have breakfast with the elder's family, we resumed our work. Though… there was one interesting incident.

"Hero-sama! Please, wait!" Just as we were nearing the village exit, a woman in her thirties ran up to us, clearly distressed.

"Hm? What?"

"Hero-sama… please help me find my husband!" The woman immediately dropped to her knees in front of me.

"Uh…" I scratched the back of my head awkwardly at the sight. "Your husband? And where exactly do you expect me to find him?"

"My husband went hunting in the forest three days ago and never came back… Please, I beg you!" She barely lifted her head before pressing it back to the ground. "I know the chances are slim, but he might still be alive… I…"

Huh… Realistically, it wouldn't be that hard to keep an eye out for her husband while I was at it. I'd probably be able to sense him among the crowd of walking corpses anyway.

"I'm not gonna actively go searching for him, but while I'm out there clearing monsters, I can keep an eye out. But if I get rid of the source of all this filth before I find your husband… tough luck. I'm leaving the village after that."

"Yes… I couldn't ask for more. Thank you so much, Hero-sama!" The woman bowed again, her voice trembling.

Yeah… she clearly loved him. She didn't even lift her head until I walked away. Lucky guy.

Though seriously… what was he even thinking, going hunting with the forest in this state? Did he really have no other options? Kinda weird…

Then again, the suicidal tendencies of random villagers weren't exactly my problem. If I happened to find the guy, cool. If not… hey, at least I tried.

With those thoughts, I kept methodically wiping out the so-called "living" things that barely qualified as living. In other words – putting down what should've stayed dead.

Night's growth had temporarily stalled, so she didn't need as much food. Perfect timing, really – I didn't want to feed her rotting flesh, even if she was technically omnivorous, and there weren't many living creatures left in the forest. I couldn't help but wonder how the villagers planned to survive long-term. Hunting was clearly one of their main food sources and income streams.

We wandered for quite a while. I even started to think we'd come up empty again. Until suddenly… I sensed something. Something I latched onto immediately.

Like a black stain on a blank sheet of paper. After feeling the same dull, dead atmosphere for so long, even the slightest difference stood out – even beyond the range of my usual perception.

Whatever it was, it was noticeably stronger than any necro-monster we'd faced so far. Nothing supernatural – but definitely different from the rest.

The source was located near the very edge of the forest, right along the border of the abandoned lands. Nobody settled those lands because of the barren soil – a consequence of some ancient catastrophe. It was an old story I'd only heard bits and pieces of, so I didn't know the details.

In the end, my senses led me to a cave entrance disappearing underground. Guarding the entrance was what I'd sensed earlier. Or rather… who.

On either side of the cave mouth lay two massive lizards. They reminded me of monitor lizards from my old world – only way bigger… and way more rotten.

I'd gotten pretty bored cutting through weaklings wandering the forest, so I decided to entertain myself a little.

"I'll handle these two myself. Keep an eye out so no other monsters sneak up on us."

"Okay." Night nodded as I stepped forward, changing the shape of my scythe on the go.

The two lizards – I'll just call them that – perked up the moment I got closer.

"Ssssss!"

They hissed in unison, glaring at me.

It was worth noting that they looked… a bit more alive and intact than the other monsters I'd faced so far. I wondered if that meant they'd been turned recently, or if they simply ranked higher than the rest of the forest's wildlife.

I expected the usual dumb frontal charge, but to my surprise, both lizards reared up on their hind legs and… simultaneously exhaled two streams of dark purple smoke.

Even Motoyasu would've figured out that was poison. I jumped back quickly, dodging the rapidly creeping clouds of toxins.

I had to admit, the last few days of training probably saved my life. Because I managed to sense two mana signatures speeding toward me straight through the poisonous fog. A second later, both lizards lunged from opposite sides, jaws wide, fangs bared.

No clue what changed, but these things had definitely gotten smarter. Smart enough to pull off coordinated, synchronized attacks. Who the hell expects zombies to work in tandem? First, the lizards blocked my vision, then ambushed me from the fog.

If it weren't for my level advantage and ability to sense magic – I'd probably be dead. Or at least poisoned beyond saving.

But that was all theory. In reality, I dodged again – this time to the side – and activated a skill.

"Phantom Slash."

Swinging my scythe, I fired off an energy crescent in a straight line, aiming to slice both lizards in half.

Unfortunately, their hides turned out way tougher than I expected. Way tougher than their level suggested. I only managed to cut down one of them – the other landed cleanly, completely ignoring its fallen partner, and lunged at me again.

In the grand scheme of things, they weren't much of a threat. Together, they might've pulled something off thanks to the element of surprise – which, to be fair, they almost did – but solo…

The lizard lunged for my leg. I hopped back, noticing how its hind legs tensed – a clear signal it was about to jump again. So, right after dodging, I used the momentum to twist my body, and as the lizard lunged at me mid-air, I kicked it backward.

With a satisfying crunch, the lizard slammed into a tree, slightly denting the trunk.

"Phantom Scythe."

Swinging my scythe upward, I summoned a phantom blade and pinned the lizard to the tree.

"Kyeeeh!" It screeched and thrashed, but within moments, it went limp.

Man, these skills really are convenient. They don't just create static objects – they also account for momentum and direction from before they appear. Like right now.

By creating the initial impulse with the upward swing, I passed it onto the summoned phantom scythe. So not only did it appear mid-air, but thanks to the impulse, it continued moving upward, slicing straight into the enemy.

Too bad I couldn't fully control it after summoning. Once the skill manifested, it stopped responding to my actions. Meaning it'd either lose speed and disappear, or just not have enough force to pierce the target. I really wish I had a remotely controlled phantom scythe… That'd be fun.

After feeding the monsters to my weapon, I received a scythe that, once mastered, would permanently grant me the Poison Resistance Lv. 1 skill. Pretty useful, though not exactly what I was hoping for.

At some point, I started suspecting that Heroes get the most skills at the very beginning of their journey. It almost doesn't matter what kind of monsters you feed to your weapon. Early on, your chances of gaining new skills are practically guaranteed. The type of monster only affects what skill you get.

Otherwise, I can't explain how I got such strong, useful skills from low-level monsters, but for weeks now, I've gotten nothing useful from higher-level ones.

I decided to master the skill immediately. Better to spend a few hours learning it than to risk getting caught off guard. Especially now, with necro-monsters gaining new abilities and intelligence, it made sense to play it safe.

Because as I approached the cave the two lizards had been guarding… I started feeling something else.

"Nn… yeah. Pretty sure I lowballed my price for this job…" I muttered, staring into the darkness of the cave.

Seems like… I really had found the root of the problem. Because whatever I sensed inside…

Was only slightly weaker than me.