Chapter 286: Debuff

Reiji and Szaaz stayed hidden for about a day in the forest. It is enough to ensure that the group of Blessed Arcana or Mind Collection has left.

"Master… It's weird…" The Trident Arcana suddenly said as they are preparing to return to the village.  The people there must've been worried since the five guardians have disappeared suddenly.

"What now, Szaaz?"

"Ugh… My Durability is stuck, Master."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Reiji looked at the Arcana seriously. 

On the other hand, the Orc-Eating Eagle had also arrived to give them a lift. They continued boarding the beast while they talk.

"There's something wrong, Master Reiji… I can't reach the maximum durability that I have." Szaaz explained.

Finally, Reiji understood what was happening and quickly checked Arcana's status.

[ Name: Szaaz ] 

[ Form: Sentient Trident ] 

[ Type: Ancient Cursed Arcana ] 

[ Rank: Mythical ] 

[ Durability: 160/320 ] 

[ Title: Cursed Dominator, Ancient War Survivor, Lone Ace ] 

[ Skills: Vampiric Aura, Toxic Aura, …. ] 

[ Patron: Crol the Deity of the Deadly Poisons ] 

Reiji's Appraisal ability was previously not that effective to Szaaz… However, now that the Arcana is not resisting and allowing Reiji to scan him, he finally managed to see the titles it has.

Anyway, Reiji looked at his durability and confirmed that it is indeed just 50% complete. He knows that the Arcana has the ability to recover its lost Durability so he finds it quite interesting. 

He then checked his status again but this time, he checked it using the Slave Marker instead of Appraisal.

[ Name: Slave Twenty-One ] 

[ Spiritual Energy Limit: 400 Units ] 

[ Status: Weakened, Increased Sword Affinity, Unstable Blessed Aura. ] 

Reiji found something new to his status and quickly checked it.

[ Unstable Blessed Aura – An Arcane Magic that was applied by a Blessed Arcana. It has the power to increase the strength of a Blessed and restrict the Cursed. The result of unstable Blessed Aura is random ] 

"I see… So Fern gave you a gift before you guys separated." Reiji smiled wryly as he saw the Arcane Magic.

"Master… What do I do about it?"

"Let me try removing it… It shouldn't be a big problem…"

Reiji then used his maxed Cleanse ability to Szaaz.

It should remove any abnormal status on its target so there shouldn't be a problem…

[ Cleansed was used. ] 

Reiji then saw the Trident Arcana being cleaned… physically. 

The smudges of dirt around its body have disappeared! But as soon as he checked its status again, he realized that the Unstable Blessed Aura was still there.

It means that his Cleanse Ability is not recognizing the applied magic as something abnormal that must be removed.

'Interesting… This is the first time this has happened. Anyway, my Cleanse couldn't target what kind of status must be removed, so I probably need a specific ability to fix this.' Reiji pondered as he informed Szaaz about the situation. Even the latter is unable to detect this Unstable Blessed Aura that was cast on him.

"What? So even master can't help me? Ugh… I hope that it wouldn't last for long…" The Trident Arcana sighed after realizing the situation. 

It's no like his ability is restricted. The only concern is that if he received a critical hit from a powerful attack of an Arcana, he would surely die.

After all, 160 points aren't that impossible to be decimated by a real powerful Arcana in a single strike.

Szaaz has confidence that even if he was left with 1 point of Durability and 1 second to react, he would still survive with his ability. But with this restriction, he's a bit afraid of facing an Arcana or Arcanists that was at the level of his previous Era.

Nevertheless, if the one he fought with just now is one of the most powerful Arcana at this current time, then he felt that he shouldn't be that worried.

"Don't worry… I'll look for a way to fix that if didn't disappear in a few days…"

"Thank you, Master Reiji."

The two then arrived at their base at Bhibra Village. Reiji used his Void Slash and let his five slaves out…

He brought the five together since he thought that there might be a need to exceed their slave marker's range. 

After all, he's not aware of the strength of the opponent this time. If he decided to run far away, then his five slaves would just die and probably cause some chaos in the village.

"Master… Please give us your orders…" Ruthren didn't ask what happened and instead asked what they can do. He really became a better servant after working for him for several years.

"Just continue coordinating with the Elders… I'm sure that the Beast Wave is coming… Once we settled this beast wave, we will be leaving this place."

"Finally! We understand, Master…"

The Sword Slaves replied enthusiastically. Their life in this chaotic land isn't something that they can romanticize… It's really dangerous and difficult and there have been many times that they almost died.

If not for their Master healing them, they wouldn't have lasted this long at all. They have even become stronger as they learned the Sword Technique that many people would covet.

A few days had quickly passed as the practitioners of Miyazaki Sword Style continued practicing the sword technique.

Most of them had even advanced their rank reached First Dan and Second Dan… There were even 5 of them who reached the Third Dan. It seems that the competition that was made a while ago had ignited their desire to master the technique as quickly as possible.

Then, Ruthren and the four other guardians were approached by the elders of the village.

They were just informed that the Beast Wave of this year is most likely going to happen tomorrow since they have already sighted the Forest Rats.

They are finding their way out of their underground tunnel and their number seems to be twice the number of what they can remember... This is a problem since their natural predators like Crypt Crawlers aren't here in this area.

Some of them are even thinking that they are doing this to decrease their number. 

Nevertheless, once they were completely out, it would be the sign of Beast Wave happening!