Galthor frowned. Although the air was heavy around the area, he didn't find anything strange. "What's wrong?"
Karathra shrugged, her lips curled into a sneer. "If you truly are the messenger of the barbarian god, that's long dead, then you should have a bit of his blessing, right? The monster in there should not be a problem!"
Brakthar shook. "But... it's a Cursed monster!"
Galthor finally swept his senses forward a little, and what he felt almost made him recoil.
Cursed monsters are two ranks above masters, and the difference between each rank is high, higher still as the ranks climb up. Besides, cursed monsters are intelligent and have strong abilities of their own.
Brakthar turned to Karathra. "The cursed monsters here are always killed by a group of masters of at least seven. And you want only him to fight it?"
"But he's not an essence master, is he? He has the blessing of a god, the barbarian god no less! He should be able to take care of this."
The terror in Brakthar's eyes did not lessen. He looked as if he was ready to run at a moment's notice. "Even the Blessed here have to form a team of two or three to hunt cursed monsters!"
"Oh? Those are Demon Blessed. Galthor is blessed by the divine god of our race. Right?"
Galthor... was finding it hard not to swallow.
Cursed monsters... might just be a little too much for him at the moment. What's more, he's only a Lesser Spirit! And he doesn't even have a lick of faith aura in him!
How's he supposed to kill a Cursed monster?
But it seemed he must. Not only because of Kragthar but because now he realized that he needed to draw attention to himself and let everyone know with absolute certainty that he had been blessed by the barbarian god.
Ah... fuck.
Taking great care not to let his eyes twitch, he gestured to Karathra. "Give me your weapon, Karathra. But there is a condition you must follow after I have slain the monster."
She raised her brows at the confidence in his voice. "What?"
"You must speak his name and pray to him. To the barbarian god."
She shrugged. "What is their name?"
"His name. I will tell you his name when I am done. You, Brakthar."
"A..! O... of course, Chief!" Brakthar said. He looked at the chief as if it was the last time he would be seeing him.
It might very well be.
With that settled, Galthor took her war axe as he walked toward the cave. He didn't take the weapon to make a statement; it was simply because the weapon was the only well-made one that the Stronghide had.
With limited resources, they could spend wisely, and thus almost all of their resources were spent on the most potential warrior, Karathra Bloodthorn. And the result was worth it.
The war axe was almost as tall as Galthor, who's nine feet. The handle was made of smooth wood, painted red, and the black blade was curved at both ends.
It was extremely heavy, made so that Karathra was one of the few who could lift it easily without tapping into her essence.
Galthor walked away with it, carrying it with one hand as if it weighed nothing.
Brakthar and Karathra watched him go, the former with a deeply troubled look on his face while the latter only had a doubtful look in her eyes.
"I guess... this is the end of our new chief," Karathra said.
Brakthar turned to her. "You really want to kill him? That cursed monster is one of the strongest here, one that even others leave alone. Why are you doing this?"
Karathra smiled faintly and her eyes hardened. "I can't forgive him. He caused all of this, and if I was the former chief, then I would have gutted him myself, kin or not. This... this will be his trial of forgiveness. For all of Stronghide."
They remained silent for a while as they watched him go.
Then Karathra asked, her voice a little hesitant. "Do you think he's speaking the truth? That he's a messenger... that he brings the miracle of a barbarian god?"
Brakthar shuddered. "You've seen him, right? The things he does. The thing he did to Thrainor, who's a little Blessed. He... I don't know. But I think we will."
Conflicting emotions burned in her eyes, as if she couldn't place the image of the old Galthor with the one who's now walking into the lair of a cursed monster. At the end, her eyes hardened. "Yes. We will."
And the next instant, they saw their new chief, Galthor Stronghide, walk into the lair of a cursed monster. Alone.
Maybe that was the last time they would be seeing him.