Part 1
The south kingdom used to be a place where people would go to practice ice-related magic. The royal family, as usual, was in charge of protecting and handling who would get to receive a piece of the channeling tree, which would allow it's owner to conduct magic energy and give it a shape or form.
The kingdom was located on top of an agglomeration of icy mountains. Because of the low temperature, many magicians would easily master the highest form of ice abilities. Such abilities would prove rather useful when in the need to capture different kinds of monsters without killing them. Sometimes for the purpose of removing pieces of the creature so it could be reforged as weapons, other times so people would try to keep them as pets, or maybe just keep the monsters frozen as if a collection item.
The monsters began to revolt themselves towards the way their kin was being used and abused and started to rage war against the kingdom on top of the mountains. After a long battle, the beasts managed to take over the area and started to enslave the humans as a form of revenge.
Marceus tried to free the kingdom once in one of his missions to free the world of all and any evil, but the most he could accomplish was to rescue every single human who had been imprisoned. There were some rumors that Marceus felt bad about the monsters who were being abused by the ice magicians and decided not to kill them. Another rumor says that the monsters who took over the kingdom had such a powerful leader that even Marceus wasn't strong enough to defeat him for good.
Regardless, the fact of the matter is, the place was completely overruled by monsters and it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon.
Daren used to live in this kingdom when he was a young boy but was driven out as well during the time of the invasion. Before he could safely escape, however, he started to realize that a weird phenomenon would occur to his body every time the sun would go down. He wasn't fully sure why or how, but he knew that somehow the demonic energy had been engraved into his body.
That lead him to start developing a new body, a monster body. A creature full of power that could be a match for even the strongest human warrior. But in turn, he started to realize that the more powerful his monster body becomes, the weaker his human body would end up as. As a monster, Daren was practically invincible, but as a human, he was fragile like a small child. It was clear that the curse was trying to convince Daren to reject his human half and turn completely into a beast as well.
However, Daren was not like most men. He never felt shame of his weak human form and never felt pride for being able to become a beast. he just accepted who he was and kept on living.
But even so, there was no denying that his cursed monster form was a great asset for their mission of defeating the goddess. Maybe that was the reason curses existed in the first place. To steal the humans who worshiped the gods and turn them into weapons to hunt these same gods.
There was no clear answer on how the relationship between the three races was truly supposed to work. But right now, a group of humans found themselves in a position where they were trying to walk the path of god slayers by accepting the power from the cursed kingdom, even if that could mean damaging their bodies forever.
Part 2
Lilith finished telling the story about the situation of the southern kingdom to Ashley, Ria, and Evlin. Evlin was confused as to why Ria was shocked as well since she was already on their team.
"I always fall asleep during these kinds of moments so I never truly heard the whole story before... Hehe..."
Evlin was starting to feel jealous of just how carefree one person could be. Regardless, she finally understood why such an amazing power was named as 'cursed'. She never realized that Daren's unnaturally thin body was the result of investing all of his strength into his monster form. If the demons really were trying to use humans to kill the gods then Daren's plan might make more sense than she thought. But wouldn't that mean that the group was helping the demons right now?
"Huh... I have a question... If the demons hate humans so much, will they really just let us walk into their house and let us take their cursed energy that easily? Won't they try to... You know... Kill us?"
Ashley made that question towards Lilith who proceeded to answer it.
"It's a small gamble... We believe that the demons hate the gods more than they hate humans... Maye if we let them know our goal they will give us their assistance..."
Evlin reacted to the word 'gamble'. When was the last time she did not gamble about something? When was the last time she went into a situation knowing exactly that everything would work out in the end? She was really starting to long for the days where she would just think about doing something and simply doing it without any risk involved.
"Man... I was half-joking when I said this was a suicidal mission, but that's really what this is inst it?"
"You wanna back down sis?"
"Of course I wanna back down, but I can't just leave... Now that I know how crazy these mission is I can't just abandon everyone..."
Ria was relieved to hear that.
"Thank the heavens... You have no idea how much safer I feel with you by our side..."
"Same here... If things go wrong, please help us escape with your wind-scar..."
"Deal!"
The boys had returned from their hunt carrying a huge hog monster. Evlin wasn't that big of a fan of pigs so she didn't feel that bad about the poor creature. After properly cooking the captured beast the group enjoyed their first actual meal for the first time in a while that wasn't just fruits and fish.
While eating Evlin raised the question if it wouldn't be better for them to stop traveling only during the night and start moving by day as well. Which Daren was opposed to.
"You might be able to protect yourself but the rest of us can't. If we run into an enemy we need to as much power on our side as possible and my curse still only works at night. It's too risky."
Ria for the first time since they've met took Daren's side instead of Evlin in a discussion.
"It's for the best Evlin... Even you can't act as a bodyguard for all seven of us... If we move at night we can rely on you and Daren to protect us."
Evlin was upset by that remark. They didn't feel safe with her but felt safe with Daren. It felt like a repeat of the previous situation where she was being looked down upon for being a mage. On top of that, she wanted to reach the kingdom as fast as possible so moving during the day would clearly save a lot of time. She tried to make a suggestion.
"What if we use the silver knives?"
"The knives Marceus left behind?"
"Yeah, those! I can use modeling magic. I can change their forms to turn them into pieces of armor for all of us."Everyone would have an easier time defending themselves and we would be able to move during the day as well."
Daren wasn't fully convinced.
"I don't know... Even with a silver knife, your sister didn't look like she could protect herself when that angry mob surrounded you..."
"Well yeah... She's not a born warrior... But you guys are! You all stood on the battlefield at least once right? Even if it was just as a support."
Auren engaged in the conversation.
"Miss Evlin we talked about this... We were the support team... We were asked not to engage in battles since we could lose resources that could be useful after the fight was over. Imagine how much our group would suffer if we lost our teleporter or our communicator..."
"I see..."
Lilith, who as usual was just hearing the conversation in silence decided to speak as well.
"... I can help..."
"!!!" x 6
"I used to be a warrior as well... If miss Evlin can use her magic to forge me a weapon to help me fight again we can start moving at daytime!"
Gustav was the most shocked of all.
"Lilith, you want to fight?? You??"
"You do remember that I was the closest option to be Marceus's partner before Daren showed up right? With my future sight and the help of these silver knives I can get back into fighting shape again!"
"But... What about..."
"My trauma?? I'm pretty sure something even worse will happen if I just stand around doing nothing..."
Lilith stood up and walked towards Evlin. She started to kneel as a knight who was in front of her king.
"Miss Evlin... Will you please give me these silver knives... Will you please make me a sword and armor... And will you please help me stand on the battlefield once again?"
"... Eh... Sure...?"
Evlin looked at Ashley as if mentally asking if it was ok to just hand over all the silver metal to her.
"It's not like I would be a better option... Just let her have it all..."
Thus Evlin began her job as a blacksmith. She tried to make Lilith a set of armor similar to what she herself was wearing. A pair of bracelets and grieves. But instead of a necklace and a crossbow, she was wearing a tiara to defend her forehead and a beautiful silver sword.
If her hair was a little shorter, she would basically look like a metallic version of Evlin right now. Ria was the first one to leave out her first impressions.
"Soooooo coooool!!!!!"
Lilith was analyzing her new armor.
"It's not the same... But it feels very similar to when I would fight with Marceus..."
Lilith approached a huge boulder nearby and swung her sword at an immense speed. A wave of several slashes was released and multiple pieces of rubble started to fly in the sky. The falling pieces of rock started to come closer to Lilith, but using her future sight, she managed to predict where each one would be and quickly moved her sword again turning it all into dust.
The entire group was left with an open mouth. Lilith was moving like a bolt of silver lightning, and yet, somehow remained full of grace and beauty.
Evlin could never imagine that the same quiet Lilith who would constantly try to avoid speaking during their conversation would be this amazing with a blade.
Suddenly, Lilith changed her expression and started to rush towards the group.
"Everyone!! watch out!! We are going to be attacked!!!"
Before Evlin could react to that warning, a rain of arrows started to fall from the sky aimed at the group's position.
As if acting on instinct, Evlin shot the ground with her crossbow and created a massive wall of stone to protect the party.
After waiting for a few seconds, Evlin lowered her wall and tried to figure out what had attacked them. Looking carefully at a hill close by, she could see a group of Seven men watching over them dressed in black trenches surrounded by an army of archers.
Evlin wasn't sure who these people were or why they were attacking. She was sure that most of her current enemies had been dealt with. Could they be a group of random hunters again? Or maybe a team of bandits attacking innocent travelers on the road? One of the men in black trenches started to shout towards them.
"This is your first and only warning!! Hand over the earth mage known as Evlin right now!!!"
Never mind, people were just trying to capture her like usual.