Black String of Fate

It was the screech of a hobgoblin. The whole party instinctively drew their weapons and became alert, coursing their energy in preparation for battle. Discover worlds on m-v le-mpyr

"Relax, it's just a leftover."

Xavier pointed at a small hobgoblin that was standing with a busted sword in hand. It was visibly shaking with fear, but there was determination in its eyes.

Xavier smiled with amusement as he slowly walked towards the hobgoblin while drawing out his sword. The little one started backing away against his own will, the scenes of terror that little human had created were still fresh on its mind.

The party wanted to kill it quickly, but seeing Xavier slowly walking towards it, they decided to witness some of the skills he claimed to have.

"I'll send you to your family." Saying that, Xavier, to the strange surprise of the whole party, got into a stance with his sword like he was throwing a spear.

*Wooosh*

The sword launched straight from his hand to the head of the hobgoblin, and before it could even react, its head was pierced perfectly from the middle.

"Ah, now it's truly over. Why did this little one not run away?"

Xavier muttered under his breath, then walked to the corpse to retrieve his sword. The whole party had heard Xavier's quiet words, but they were too shocked to focus on that.

"H-How did you do that?" Lafia asked with shock, that incredible display was something that she had never thought anyone under an expert was capable of.

"Hm? Do what? I simply threw my sword."

"B-But that power… I have seen no uninitiated child wield such strength."

Xavier smiled with pride and arrogance and said,

"I'm just that great. I'm the greatest genius alive."

Usually, those words would sound cocky and insufferable, but Xavier's demeanor somehow made it seem natural.

Just like that, they continued their journey out of the woods. It wasn't difficult at all, except for the party taking frequent breaks due to their injuries. The priest had long since run out of his blessed energy, so he could not perform healing spells on them.

"Hey priest, do you have materials for an altar? I can protect you while you pray…"

Xavier suggested to the priest, but it was turned down by Thomas.

"These lands are extremely poor in Divine Traces. A ritual might take months to conduct."

"Ah, leave it. Nobody here can afford to wait that long."

Priests, paladins, nun, monks, saints, saintesses, and any other religion-related professions were a special category of Pathwalkers. They did not gain power through practice and experience, but rather through prayers and devotion to certain Gods. While many small religions existed in the world, the main and the most popular one was of the Goddess of Faith.

The church, which was the biggest organization of the Goddess, was one of the hegemon powers of the world.

'These borrowed power fucks are useless when it matters. Ugh, at least he isn't an insufferable devout that starts preaching every second.'

Xavier only had bad memories related to the church. While they weren't the strongest power by any means, nobody would want to get on their bad side. Xavier once did in his previous life, and to this day he can say that he has never met a crazier group of maniacs.

'Once a guy is declared a "heathen", these cockroaches will go to hell and high waters to hunt them down like a dog. They will never stop, no matter how many of their "children" you kill. They seriously made my life miserable to the point I slept with one eye open.'

Xavier shook his head and got these thoughts out of his mind. Now, he was not a heathen, he had no reason to show animosity to these guys.

'Yeah, as long as I'm out of their radar, I'm good. I can even maintain friendly relations with them. They are morally very uptight, they help the poor of the world, and unironically they are the least corrupt force in the world.'

Xavier knew that the only reason they hunted him was because of the genocides he did. While it was all for the good of the world in his opinion, it did not sit well with the church, and along with that, the whole world.

'It was soon after I got the title of Demon King… Ah, what a nostalgic time. Well, let's focus here now.'

"Everyone, stop."

They all stopped, looking at Xavier. He then pointed with his fingers a mark on a tree.

"These are wolf claws. It can only belong to the Silvermane. While looking at the dryness of the marks, it seems that the wolf left long ago, but let's stay back to be safe. What do you say, Lafia?"

"...Oh? Me?"

"Yes, you, party leader."

Xavier was slightly disappointed with this airhead, and made no attempts to hide it. Lafia's face turned read as she hurriedly cleared her throat and said,

"Ahem, alright. We will rest for 4 hours here. No fire, no tents. We don't want to alert anyone."

The whole party nodded, agreeing with this instruction. Lafia's image was very slightly recovered in Xavier's eyes, only because she was smart enough to suggest no fire or tents.

Once they started moving again, dawn had come. As the sun rose up, so did the lower rank monsters. Due to the injured condition of the party, Xavier avoided as many confrontations as he could, and those inevitable were quickly handled by him.

"Killing rank 2 monsters so easily… You really are a genius." Lafia commented after seeing him behead a red-fanged rat in one slash.

"Hm? Did you of all people not believe me? You should be able to tell, right?"

Lafia was taken aback by that unexpected question.

"What do you mean?"

Xavier smiled with narrowed eyes as he said,

"That's up to you to think. You know very well what I mean. Don't worry, I won't bother you about this."

Xavier started walking away, leaving Lafia with her own thoughts.

"I should be able to tell? Wait… Don't tell me…"

Lafia looked at Xavier with utter shock, unable to understand just how he could tell.