Chapter 53: Azure 25: Stupid Clones

I had thought that my task was over but nooo! It seems she had an ungodly amount of clones. The blobs had been wiped out 3 months after the main body had been killed. It has been almost a year since I’ve killed the main body and the rabbits and I are still hunting down BS clones.

The bad part is that she probably also has many clones on Kaledon. Maybe even on other continents.

The worse part is that a thin red trail has appeared, whenever I used [Search: Imposter], about a month ago. The real body is slowly but surely reincarnating. The silver lining is that she’s reviving on this continent and not somewhere else. The rabbits are keeping a close eye on it but many BS clones have gathered around the one that will reincarnate the real body so they haven’t been able to get close.

And that’s what I’m doing now. I’m heading over there with some rabbits. Well, the rabbits are heading there with me on their back. It will be many times faster than if I go walking. Flying is as usual a bad idea.

Flying is only safe when I’m throwing jungle destroying skills around as the large beasts will just wait until I drop my guard and then snipe me out of the sky. Their intelligence is terrifying.

A large black blobby wall could be seen in the distance. They had discovered that we could easily find them so they went for defense over stealth.

“Do you mind? I might be able to finish it with one juiced up [Meteor].” The rabbits had complicated looks on their faces but all agreed.

They had also been victims of the Cockroach’s obnoxious skills and abilities over the past year and none of the rabbits wanted to deal with any of those. They would rather see a part of the jungle get destroyed and fix it afterward.

The sky brightened several minutes later. Clones flew up to intercept the [Meteor].

“Knock Knock, Cockroach, I hope you’re home for this warm greeting.”

I gave a thumbs down as I cast another [Meteor] and got ready for my [Hairpin: Dimensional Cut]. This barrier might as well not exist in front of it.

Aiming this wasn’t hard. Making sure I don’t destroy more than I have to is though. I aligned my unfolded fan with the horizon and swung horizontally to only cut through the barrier and some mountains behind it.

The top of the dome shaped barrier got lopped off, just in time to accept the [Meteors].

Some of the rabbits looked away as the [Meteors] crashed down.

[Search: Imposter] revealed that the reincarnation had been thwarted as all the clones had been vaporized, together with parts of the jungle.

“Did you do it?” A bunny girl asked.

I sighed. “You know that the enemy always comes back after someone asks that right?”

“Oh sorry! I didn’t know that!” The bunny girl seemed apologetic but this isn’t her fault. It’s the fault of those stupid councilmembers and that Cockroach. No red trail yet but as long as clones of her exist there is a chance that she will return. Judging from how long it took for a red trail to appear, we have about a year.

I sighed again. Not because I have a near-infinite lifespan means that it should be spent eradicating every clone of this Cockroach. I need something or someone that can kill all of them in one go.

“Hey rabbits, is there anything that can kill all of them in one shot. Or we kill one and it will affect all of them?”

“Hmm, I don’t know sorry, you might need a god for that or a highly specialized skill.”

This was not what I signed up for. I could theoretically create a skill to deal with this but for that, I need to know what part of this magic to attack, which I don’t.

“Aaagh! These stupid clones! They’re so obnoxious!”

We headed back to the burrow. It was a long travel and we made sure to hunt down clones as we went.

A rabbit had launched me and I was closing in on an unsuspecting BS clone, ready to [Meteor Slap] her out of existence. She turned around, just in time to accept it to her face.

I felt tired, to the point that I almost instantly fell asleep.

“What is this… [Acedia]? Why can’t I remove this?” I had gotten a strange curse on me. I couldn’t find out what it was nor could I remove it. All I knew was that it was called [Acedia].

“So she just uses clones as bait to curse me…are any of you skilled in removing curses?”

The bunny girl cocked her head. “But you’re a Misha right? Isn’t your race the one that should know the most about it on how to remove them? Isn’t it known that one should visit a witch to lift curses?”

“Oh… I uhm always fell asleep in my ‘Seals and Curses’ curriculum… I might need to visit another Misha for this… what a pain in the ass. The problem is that I don’t…”

My eyes got very heavy.

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I woke up in my bed. When did I get back to the burrow? It was darker than usual. Is it night time? My hairpin told me that it was 03:37 and…

“What?! I’ve been asleep for 2 weeks!?” I almost fell out of my bed.

Some rabbits rushed in.

“Oh you’re awake, we were fearing that you would never wake up, you looked peaceful so nobody dared to wake you.”

“How? Why? What? What’s wrong with me?” I pulled out my hairpin and checked on it. Something caused me to sleep this long. I’m not a race like dragons that fall asleep and wake up weeks or even years later. I’m more similar to humans in this. I shouldn’t be able to sleep so long unless I’m injured.

Nothing turned up, the only anomaly was this [Acedia] curse. What does this mean? Does it put me to sleep? I’m still groggy and I feel slow, slower than normal.

A sudden realization set in. That Cockroach called herself the mother of curses. Did she finally get serious and put a tier 3 or higher curse on me?

Curses are categorized in 7 tiers, the lower the number of the tier the stronger it is and the harder it is to remove. Anything tier 3 or stronger needs a well-educated specialist to remove. Tier 7 and tier 6 curses are possible to get removed by novice healers and most Misha. The strongest I can remove is a tier 5 curse.

But why now? Why put this curse on me now and not earlier. Did she greatly underestimate me? Probably.

I opened the magic sequence of this curse. It was enormous. It is theoretically possible for me to remove this curse but curses could be seen as more ‘advanced’ magic or something different than magic as dismantling the magic circle of the curse will only reduce it’s effectiveness by 60%. As long as I don’t know the intent behind this curse and certain specifics, it’s impossible to completely remove it.

I sighed and started to look for clues. This is something I’m familiar with but I couldn’t focus. My mind kept slipping and even casting magic seemed to get increasingly difficult as my focus kept shutting down.

“What a pain in the ass…” I covered my mouth. This is the first time that I found delving into magic circles a pain in the ass. It was always enjoyable as I could learn more about magic. This curse is a pain in the ass but the magic isn’t. what is going on with me… did I get tired of magic? I don’t believe so…

My hairpin told me that I only spent 12 minutes on looking through the magic circle. 12 minutes and I already didn’t feel like continuing.

I closed the magic circle.

“Did you find anything?” I got startled. It had completely slipped my mind that the rabbits were still in my room. When did I get so inattentive.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t focus…”

“I see maybe because you just got up. Do you want to get up or want to join us on a stroll to stretch your body?”

Nothing he suggested sounded something like I wanted to do. “I don’t know… maybe I should sleep this off, I don’t feel like doing anything. Can you guys check if you know what [Acedia] is?”

I went back to my bed.

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Someone shook me awake.

“Azu! Wake up! You’ve been sleeping for a week!”

I opened my eyes and Wren was shaking me.

“Ugh, 10 more minutes…”

“No get up now! You’ve been saying that for the last week! We should have known better to give you 10 more minutes for a whole week!”

I got up. “Huh? I’m sorry. Please wake me up regardless. Why does time always go by so fast for me… it’s good that I’m a Misha. I would have never gotten anything done as a human…”

My appearance needed attention as I’ve been sleeping for so long. Is this the origin of the ‘Sleeping beauty’ fairy tale? But how can she stay beautiful if she keeps sleeping.

An [Ice Mirror] revealed that I looked messy, hot but messy. My bed hair had become my dominant hairstyle. Maybe the sleeping beauty used magic to stay pretty while sleeping for so long.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Do you need some time to yourself?”

I got startled again. It had again slipped my focus that someone was in my room. What is wrong with me? “Oh, no I’m sorry. I can’t seem to focus. What were you saying?”

“Don’t worry about it. We know now what’s wrong with you. We have found that Verruka Saltpeter, or Cockroach as you call her, was once known as the Mother of Curses because she created a series of potent and deadly curses, of which one is [Acedia], the curse of ‘Sloth’. These curses seem to have active and passive effects. It seems yours is dormant but already having this effect on you. It’s unclear what happens when it becomes active but the series is called the ‘Deadly sins’ curses so death is most likely included.”

I rubbed my head. “Ah right, she did brag about something like that yes… So what’s the intent behind these curses? I can’t imagine that ‘Death’ is the intent as I’m still alive and probably will live for a long time if this curse stays like this, also calling it ‘deadly’ would give it away if that was the case.”

“We don’t know sorry. We don’t know anything about curses. We just gathered all the information we could find. We might need you to direct us to a more specific search because that’s the only thing we could find, besides that she had taught how to place those curses to 2 individuals, her only disciples.”

Wren flipped through some leaves. “This all is information from Kaledon so there is a large delay between when our intelligence gathering commences and when we receive it.”

“Huh wait, how do you guys even gather information from across continents like that?”

Wren cocked her head. “We talk to the trees of course. We might not be able to communicate between large distances but trees can.”

I cocked my head too. “Is that how it works? I didn’t know that.”

“Well, you need good ears to hear the trees.” Wren pointed at her ears.

I am convinced now that I have no idea how this race works. Is this truly normal or just a race specific ability. Talking to trees sounds elvish, although they did mention that they had a similar role as elves.

“I see. So how long is that delay?”

“One or two weeks give or take…”

“Huh? That’s not a big delay…”

“Any delay larger than 3 days is unacceptable! We place pride in our information gathering skills!” Wren struck a prideful pose.

“I see… thank you. So you said something about disciples?”

“Ah right, she had 2, one seemed to have been a three-tailed shadowcat but she passed away a long time ago, and the other one seemed to be a spirit but spirits are hard to track down so finding it won’t be easy. Spirit’s don’t die so as long as it hasn’t returned to the spirit world we should be able to find it, give it several centuries…” She sighed.

“Isn’t there a spirit radar or something?”

Wren shook her head. “You would need the help of a spirit to find one, maybe some elves in the eastern elven forest in Kaledon can help as they are spirit mages. We will also be able to communicate with them via the trees so that could work but…”

“But?”

“They don’t like to leave their forest so there is a high chance that they won’t cooperate. And there are not many rabbits on Kaledon…”

“So, no luck there eh… So does that mean I will have to return to Kaledon to lift this curse?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry. We will do our best to find out more information. It might take a while. You can stay here as long as you wish.” Wren tossed a bundle of carrots to me and left.

I yawned. I was sleepy again. Is this her goal? Make sure I don’t get anything done with this curse? I had so many things to do but all I wanted to do was get back in my bed. This curse is brutal.

The cogs in my head started to turn as I returned to my bed. Maybe this is her intent? But she created the curse before she got into this mess, before I got into this mess. I need to remove my involvement from the equation.

Something clicked. She wanted to become strong but she didn't think of what to do after. She wanted to show people and things similar. Was it to show off?

The intent might not be to kill but to show off, to show someone or the world how strong and strong her skills are. Else why am I still alive? Why do these curses have a dormant and active state?

Probably to stick around long enough. To make sure people are aware that it’s near impossible to remove. The visibility is low if everyone instantly dies after getting hit by it.

It reminds me of some strange sadistic video game Agnis and Raishin used to play in my shop back in Boshi town. They borrowed my tv and had to design a disease and wipe out the population. It was a sadistic game but as a Misha, I have some background in curses so I can’t say that I wasn’t completely uninterested.

Their goal was to infect the whole world and kill everyone with their disease but it failed miserably because the two made their disease too deadly. It would kill only several thousands of people before anyone infected had died and their disease died with it.

I always wondered what the role of their ‘games’ were but it seems that they have a very niche method of teaching things about the world or society, regardless of how sadistic it is.

But it was helpful in my case. Her intent isn’t to kill, only after everyone knows about it. It was to gather fame and gain a name for herself!

It might not be 100% accurate but my idea of it’s intent should be close! I opened the magic circle of [Acedia] but closed it moments alter as I didn’t feel like working on it.

“I will do that tomorrow.”

I rolled over and tried to sleep.

A strange dream. It was when the Cockroach failed apotheosis but instead of her face, which looked like mine, it was my current face.

I was drenched in sweat as I woke up.

“What a terrible dream! I would never try to become a god! God’s are stupid!”

My eyes darted around the room. No deity here to peek on me and possibly get pissed off at the words I just said. I yawned and got up. Brushed my hair and made myself presentable. It was already noon and I went outside the burrow.

I took a deep breath of fresh air. The first breath of fresh air in almost a month. I’m taking slow to the next level, maybe the curse of ‘Sloth’ fits me. Anything I do takes too long. Aya was a middle-aged woman when she died to that flying wolf. She had asked me to get a name for myself when she was a young kid. That and many other aspects of my life where I took too long to get anything done.

“Curse of sloth… how fitting.” I opened the magic circle of [Acedia] and looked at it. I got almost knocked off my balance as the ground shook.

That was incorrect it was as if everything shook, the air included.

“Wha… what is it this time! Can I get a break?!”

A tear opened up in the sky. It wasn’t close, it was quite far. Far north. I recognized the appearance of that tear. It was similar to when the dimensional fabric tore open in Boshi Town! But.. I shouldn’t be able to see it.

The rabbits were in panic. I stopped a rabbit. “Hey! What is going on?!”

“Huh? Can’t you feel that? Something bad is going to happen!” The rabbit seemed genuinely in distress.

“Does it have anything to do with that? I don’t feel anything but that can’t be good!” I pointed at the tear in the sky that slowly got larger.

“Huh? What’s wrong with the sky? I don’t see anything. Do you really not feel this oppressive feeling?”

I shook my head and let the rabbit continue panicking. So they feel something I can’t feel and I see something they can’t see.

The cogs in my mind started turning again. The hypothesis I decided on was that it’s related to magical affinity. I have a spatiotemporal affinity so I can see that tear in the sky. The rabbits have a nature energy affinity so they feel something I can’t as I don’t share that affinity.

I looked back at the dark purple and black tear that opened up. Behind that was the void. It was immensely dark behind it. This can’t be good. What’s going on with this world?!

The intimidating tear got larger and larger. And the oppressive feeling became palpable. It was extremely intimidating. It made me want to drop everything and run. But run where?

“Rabbits! Assemble!” Wren’s powerful voice echoed through the burrows. I could also hear it even though I was outside. I might not be a rabbit beast kin but I assembled.

The area was crowded. Some rabbits were digging to expand the main underground hall. There were ears everywhere. I couldn’t see anything due to them. I apologized, made some space and hopped on my fan and floated above the ears.

“While we don’t know what is happening or what is going to happen. We know this is bad! A report just came in that the jungle is petrifying again and at an accelerated rate! We need 4 groups of 10 to head out right now!”

The rabbits were all in panic but they still acted orderly. It only took 30 seconds for them to organize and create 4 teams of 10, they headed out after Wren talked to them for 2 minutes.

This level of order… I was impressed.

“Our communication team have gone into Rabbit mode to speed up the rate of communication with other continents, they will be unable to move for quite a while.” She gave the names of the individuals and another group of rabbits moved away. They would support the families of those individuals while those rabbits were ‘working their ears off’ as the rabbits like to say.

“Now for what we know… this is similar to what happens before a fairy invasion but… many times larger. Where is Azu?” She spotted me and I waved back.

“You said you met Agnis Hourai right? Do you have any idea where he might be? We will try to send a message to him.”

“I don’t know where he is but I think he would see this as I can see a large tear in the sky.”

“I see… but that is the problem. Someone needs to tell him to stay away from it. You see… fairies eat spirits. It wouldn’t be a big problem if there were more spirit foxes but that’s not the case however… this feels like a big invasion.”

“Oh no! isn’t there anything we can do? Maybe he’s around Witchaven! I don’t know sorry…” I felt powerless. this event feels as if it will drop the low population of the tailed bests even more.

Wren gave a bitter smile. “So our numbers are going to drop again eh… Anyways. There is a high possibility of a large fairy invasion! Everyone get ready and store up as much nature energy as possible, make sure to eat enough carrots. I will lead the team to gather carrots, we need as many lives as possible! Azu! I’m sorry but you don’t have the benefit of many lives as we do. I hope you will take the side lines or stay away from this.”

Wren wanted to say something but she seemed conflicted. “This might sound rude… but this is not your problem, this is the role of the tailed beasts… don’t get yourself killed for something you’re not responsible for…”

The hall was silent. I had no idea on how to respond. I know that she was correct but it felt wrong. She expects me to sit by while they go to war? I wanted to open my mouth but nothing came out of it as I didn’t know what to say.

Wren recovered and continued informing the rabbits. I tried to focus on what she said but the sounds seemed to have dampened. I wanted to feel upset but I couldn’t. I was happy that they cared enough to keep me safe, even though I want to fight with them.

But what will I do? What can I do? My race isn’t made to deal with this.

“What is my race supposed to do actually?”