Chapter 426 Extracting The Curse

-----

"Furoh… You're cursed…" I said, as Furoh, who was happy to have grown stronger, quickly stopped what he was doing as he looked at me with surprise.

However, a chuckle came out of his mouth.

"Yeah… I figured out it was something like that, right?" He sighed.

"Furoh… When we made our contract, I was able to see glimpses of your past, but not everything. …What exactly happened when you were born? Do you remember anything?" I wondered.

Furoh looked into the floor as he waved his head.

"…No. I don't remember. But since I was conscious that I knew there was something holding me back. I grew slower than all of my siblings… You see, we are born in big egg sacks laid inside the depths of dungeons. When we hatch, we are merely small worm-like creatures. It wouldn't be far-fetched to call us monsters." He sighed. "As I saw many of my siblings be devoured by wild monsters, I survived hiding and hiding, eating whatever garbage I found, or even the dead bodies of my own… siblings."

"Ah…"

"I-It is not something good to tell you, I know…" Furoh sighed. "What I've done is something unforgivable… But in those times, my mind wasn't as clear as it is now I… I know there's no justification. But still… I am not the same as before."

"I understand…" I sighed. "I know how it might had felt."

"You… do?" He wondered.

"Of course. You're my contracted familiar, I can feel those emotions bubbling within your heart, Furoh…" I said. "I think that there might be a way for me to break this curse, would you… allow me to do it?"

"Y-You can…?" He asked.

"I don't know… But I need to ask for your permission because such a curse is inflicted in the depths of your soul. It might hurt a lot when I try to take it away… or well, modify it, as I want to." I said.

"…"

Furoh fell into silence for a while, but then seemed decided.

"Very well, if that's what you want… I am willing to accept your offer, Sylphy…" He said. "In my entire life, I've never meet someone so good-hearted like you before. I trust you more than anybody else…"

"Aww…" I sighed. "Alright, leave it to me, Furoh!"

"I'll entrust you my soul, Sylphy." He said.

Furoh rested over the floor as I quickly infused my hands with my Mana. Alice began to guide me. Apparently she was rather good at handling souls, a thing she inherited from her own creator, and which she masted over these years attached and then fused into my own soul as well.

"This is a powerful Curse, inflicted by either a strong monster or an incredibly powerful sorcerer, but if we use the divine power within my body, it might be possible to destroy it." She said.

"Then let's begin." I said with a nod.

FLASH!

My hands suddenly turned golden, almost translucent, as I felt the power of Alice merge with my own body. This was a technique I had never practiced before, but I was pretty sure it was called [Spirit Fusion]. It seems that Alice pushed this technique to happen almost automatically… but I can feel it is putting a big burden into my own body.

My hands slowly slipped through Furoh's skin, reaching deep within his body and then, I felt as if they submerged themselves within a deep and warm liquid. This wasn't the liquid of his stomach or something, but this liquid was etheric and made of essence… his soul.

According to what Alice said, Souls are mainly composed of Ether, a special energy that is similar to a rich and bright liquid that flows freely across the Soul Membrane of our Soul. It could even be said that souls are like balloons filled with water, this is why when they're hurt, it can kill a person as their Ether leaks away and weakens their souls. A curse in other terms, depending on its lethality, acts as some sort of "Soul Parasite".

I closed my eyes as I infused my sight into Furoh's soul. In front of me, several bubbles emerged, showing images of Furoh's memories, countless of them flowing everywhere. They seemed to be very painful memories. Since the beginning of his life that he had only had painful memories.

However, there was a small, bright corner of his soul, shining brightly with golden light…

"What is this?"

When I looked into the corner, I found recent memories of Furoh, they were all related to me. All the times I've spent with him since we meet, these were all good memories, which made him happy.

"Furoh…"

I could even hear the internal voice of his soul.

"Sylphy… I trust her…"

"She's… the only one that has ever seen me as a person…"

"I hope that everything goes well…"

For someone with his appearance, Furoh was an incredibly pure-hearted person.

And within this soul, there was a deep darkness.

A near endless corridor leading me somewhere deep.

As I walked through the corridor, I began seeing many painful memories, horrendous ones of pain and suffering, of hatred and difficulties…

And in the depths of this corridor of darkness, there it was.

A large mass of flesh with a single red eye, veins coming out of its body as it spread and infected the entire soul of Furoh…

This was his curse, the [Curse of the Hated and Untalented].

"I-It is bigger than I imagined…" Alice's voice told me.

"What should I do now? Fight it?" I wondered.

"No… if you fight it and provoke it, it might begin hurting Furoh even more…" Alice said.

"Then…?" I wondered.

"There are a few options… One would be to cut the soul of Furoh where the curse is, but this would weaken him too much, he might die if he's not strong enough to resist the pain." She said.

"Oh… And the other option?"

"The other options is… To take his curse for yourself."

"Take his curse…?"

-----