Alex's whole body stiffened; that tiny child absolutely did not have this kind of weight. The dried corpse of an 8-year-old child could not weigh a thousand pounds like a rock.
He sharply realized that at this moment, on his back was no longer that child, but "something" else, unimaginable, indescribable, impossible to look at directly. It clung tightly to his back, cold breath blowing onto the back of his neck.
The thin and weak teenager trembled all over, cold sweat pouring out soaking the back of his shirt.
He restrained himself from imagining the shape of "it" pressing on his back, trembling fingers reaching into the purse, taking out a silver coin.
Alex clutched the cold coin in his hand until it was infected with a bit of body warmth and began to glow faintly; only then did he summon all his courage, like risking his life, gritting his teeth, slamming the coin emitting weak light hard onto his shoulder and neck, where he felt the greatest weight.
Metal fell to the ground, making a dull sound; the silver light was invaded by filth, becoming dim and lightless then extinguishing immediately.
Sizzle...
The nose smelled the stench of something being burnt, like rotting flesh seared on red-hot iron; accompanying the stench was an ear-piercing screech in his ear, like the sound of fingernails scratching on a blackboard magnified hundreds of times.
That screech seemed to have the power to penetrate the soul; Alex's head hurt violently, as if a hard steel rod was roughly inserted into his brain, arbitrarily stirring his brains, causing his vision to wobble.
The ravings in his ears became clearer, also crazier, full of rage at being attacked.
But Alex had escaped "it"; the weight that almost broke his bones suddenly disappeared. Alex staggered a few steps due to losing momentum; he did not turn his head, plunging forward to run, simultaneously reaching his fingers into the purse, taking out another silver coin.
Alex clutched the coin in his palm, skin rubbing against the strange pattern on the silver coin's surface... the human incarnation of the Goddess of Wealth Vivian, the patron god of merchants and... money-grubbers.
He had a total of four silver coins like this, each possessing a bit of magical fluctuation; this was the wealth he had worked very hard to accumulate, exchanged with sweat and even blood.
The Vivian silver coin was a widely circulated currency in Dune City, issued by the Church of the Goddess of Wealth, a special currency blessed by priests in the church's underground cellar.
Actually, in the Gale Empire to which Dune City belonged, the Gale Notes printed with the images of the rulers of the Gallon dynasty issued by the Royal Bank were the officially recognized currency.
Alex did not need those light, useless banknotes; to him, they were just waste paper in front of demons. He loved money; besides the heavy sense of security they brought, mostly it was greed for the meager magic hidden in these tiny pieces of metal.
"Praise wealth." Alex whispered, the praises activating the pitifully meager magical energy inside the silver coin; the small silver coin emitted a pale yellow light, a dim light that could go out at any time in the face of the vast darkness.
Silver could exorcise evil, plus the blessing of the Goddess of Wealth's priest, making them possess sporadic extraordinary power.
This was what the priestess had told him before she passed away.
Alex was a cursed child, destined not to become an apprentice monk of the Luminous Church, unable to learn the extraordinary magic of the Luminous Church because the flow of magic in his body was blocked by the curse.
He should have just stayed like this, being a normal Corpse Collector, rolling around with countless corpses, until one day he also turned into a member among them, falling down in some corner of the mass grave.
But fate was truly unfair; He sent down a curse, depriving Alex of the chance to learn magic to become a monk, causing him to be abandoned by the Luminous Church. Being young but having to rely on moving corpses to make a living, making him be eyed by countless evil spirits, becoming delicious food in their eyes, yet never pitying this pitiful child, granting him a little ability to survive.
Alex clutched the silver coin; he ran for his life; three more left. Three chances to survive.
Crossing this small forest, the dry tree trunks twisted, then crossing that not-so-high hill, he would be safe. The oak door of the small house would be the boundary between life and death.
The small tail from before, who didn't know where to hide, suddenly appeared before Alex's eyes, showing extreme worry on his face, hands waving wildly.
"Ah ah ah!!" The boy made stammering sounds, seeming to want to remind Alex of something, pointing behind his back.
"Get out of the way, don't block the road!" Alex no longer had time to think about the unclear sounds of the small tail; seeing this ghost, he even felt extreme regret. Why did he put himself in such a situation for this pitiful guy? Stupid kindness was killing him.
He was only sixteen years old, still didn't want to die alone like this, didn't want to be friends with this pitiful demon when crossing the River Styx. He still wanted to earn a lot of money, wanted to find a way to break the curse.
Alex ignored the small tail's reminder. The weak ghost wanted to stop Alex, but in the darkness, that invisible suppressing force made it afraid; that was an existence that made even souls tremble, not something a small ghost who had just died, weak and ragged like it, could resist.
The shadow behind chased after him; a sticky hand wrapped around Alex's leg. The heavy, irresistible force made Alex fall flat on the ground miserably, his knees hitting the ground painfully. Alex dared not turn his head; he tensed his face, clenched his teeth tightly, throwing the silver coin already grasped in his hand towards underneath his body.
The silver coin hit some object, emitting a sizzling sound like grilling meat, the light instantly extinguishing: the "thing" grabbing Alex's calf hesitated for a split second due to pain. This short gap gave Alex a chance to escape; he pulled the body bag on his back tightly, scrambled up, running madly in the familiar direction in his memory, disregarding sharp thorns cutting into his flesh.
The purse clinked; he had two silver coins left, along with a few copper coins without the priest's blessing, and the gold coin lying at the bottom of the purse, in a secret compartment Alex had specially sewn up, his only gold coin, the most precious item he had.