38 Book 3 Chapter 34

Like his father, Kresh stared at Lavos with awe. It was the second time he saw the elder of the tribe; the first was when he reached adulthood and officially became a warrior. It was a tradition for every minotaur coming of age to seek Lavos for consul.

Kresh was born long after Lavos was sealed, so he never saw Lavos in his prime. Many stories were passed around in the tribe, and almost half of them recounted Lavos's feats. Like many minotaurs, Kresh wanted to replicate Lavos's legends.

Dunk stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and pressed a fist against the ground. "Dunk greets Elder."

Lavos gave a friendly smile, "Dunk, there's no need to kneel. How many times must I tell you?"

Jason and the others raised an eyebrow after hearing Lavos speak in full sentences. So far, they had the impression minotaurs were of low intelligence. Was Lavos somehow unique, or did they just meet the dumber ones?

In response to Lavos, Dunk let out a snort but said nothing. It was clear he had no intention of listening to the elder.

Lavos shook his head helplessly as he let out a human-like sigh. His attention turned to Jason and the others, "Welcome, humans. I must say I never expected you to look like demons."

Jason was puzzled. How did Lavos know they were humans? And what was he expecting them to look like? It almost sounded like he knew they were coming.

Lavos saw their confusion and explained calmly. "I'm a shaman, or rather, I was. I once sought guidance from the spirits before I was cursed. They told me something I didn't want to hear at the time, haha." Lavos's eyes were unfocused as he recalled the past.

Jason was intrigued. What exactly did the spirits say? He waited several moments for the rest of the explanation, only to see Lavos fall asleep. This seemed to be a common occurrence because Dunk let out a loud snort.

Lavos woke up with a jolt, looked around with wide eyes, then turned back to Jason and co. He resumed speaking as if nothing happened, "I thought you humans would be stronger." Lavos was doubtful. "Are the spirits wrong?"

Jason nearly fell over. Was Lavos aware he skipped several sentences? What did the spirits say, damn it!?

Dunk pointed to Roy. "This human. Fix curse."

Lavos's eyes widened with surprise and joy. He turned to Roy and examined him from top to bottom. "There are only two ways to remove a curse: kill the caster or purge the curse itself. You can't harm the caster, so you must have a way to remove the curse. Am I wrong?"

Roy gave a thumbs up. "I can remove curses; it just depends on its strength."

Purify was a powerful skill. A debuff could force wounds to bleed, slow movement, or cloud vision. There were too many to count. Meanwhile, a curse was potent. Unlike other debuffs, it lasted forever.

Thinking of this, Roy approached Lavos with anticipation. Compared to other minotaurs, Lavos had a smaller stature. Even then, he was still almost twice as big as a human. Roy wasn't intimidated in the least. Instead, he felt Lavos was pitiful. How many years had he lived without limbs?

Roy shook his head and cleared his thoughts. Focusing, he placed his palm on Lavos's shoulder and cast Purify. Several notifications appeared.

Attempting to remove the curse of sealing…

Warning!

The curse comes from a Tier 6 rune. Purify has failed. However, due to the distance from the rune owner and Lavos, the curse is severely weakened. It will take six days for Purify to remove the curse.

If you do not cast Purify two hundred times a day, the process will fail, and you must start from the beginning.

Roy skimmed through the message and was disappointed when he read the first half, then overjoyed reading the rest. He immediately informed everyone, "It should take roughly six days."

Dunk was overwhelmed with emotions. Full of energy, he gave his son a bear hug, lifted him, then spun him around. On the rock, Lavos released a breath, his entire body relaxing. His precise senses felt the curse weakening slightly, so he was certain Roy was telling the truth.

Lavos inspected Jason and the others before turning to Kresh, "Our guests will have trouble surviving in this world. Bring them out and treat them as our younglings, won't you, Kresh?"

Kresh smacked his chest with a snort. He'd do whatever the elder commanded, even if he was told to walk to hell and back. When Kresh wanted to lead his 'younglings' away, Roy called out. "Wait, I don't have enough mana potions. Amara, Carly, can you give me half of yours?"

"Sure."

They didn't ask the reason why, although they had a few guesses. They trusted Roy. That was all that mattered.

Shenlong voiced his thoughts. "Let's make our way home before the day ends. Peter will think we're dead, otherwise. We can let him know the development of our side." He turned to Kresh. "Is that okay?"

"Yep." Kresh shrugged. It didn't matter to him where they hunted.

With everything decided, Roy, Dunk, and Lavos watched the party leave. Just before Dunk was about to announce his leave, he thought of something. "Elder, remove curse. Is okay? Demon caster. He know?"

"Hmm." Lavos's expression was solemn. "It's almost been a hundred years since he cursed me, so he might think I passed away."

A few moments passed in silence. Lavos noticed Dunk's anxiety, so he smiled. "Don't worry. I was depressed when I was first cursed, and I even thought of taking my own life. I can only say I was lucky. Sitting on this rock gives me a full view of the tribe. When I saw you all living their lives every day to the fullest, I went through spiritual enlightenment."

Roy stood silently nearby, while Dunk was struggling to understand so many sentences at once. Lavos chuckled. "I'll be even more powerful than before. So, don't worry if that demon comes back. I can beat him."

"Okay." Dunk sighed in relief. He said his respects and left, leaving Roy and Lavos the only ones atop the mountain.

Roy didn't feel awkward at all. Lavos must know a lot about the floor, so Roy already had a hundred questions to ask, with more on the way. Just as he turned and was about to fire away, he noticed Lavos was asleep. Amused, and with a shake of his head, he started the purification process.

Lavos didn't know he dodged a bullet. Considering his wealth of knowledge, Roy was sure to drain it away, one question at a time.