The streets of Murrchel were silent, perhaps too quiet.
Abraham moved at a fast pace, Abraham's breath becoming visible in the freezing air. The silvery moon was obscured beneath dark clouds, he reach the wall side area of academy moving through the heavy mist on the cobblestones.
[Tracking Target: Active]
[Subject: Jennifer Valence]
[Distance: 1.2 miles east — moving rapidly]
The system text glowed, matching his pulse. Oboros' shadow, like a smoky wolf, kept pace on the walls and roofs. Their connection burned hotter with every passing moment. He can sense the aura.
Abraham's pulsewave rippled, faint blue veins of energy tracing up his arms. The Hollow Cry felt heavier tonight—unstable, volatile, alive. He could sense it whispering under his skin, as if the beast spirit inside him was watching, waiting.
In last conversation Abraham ask for any kind of clue which would help system to find the track of her in better pace. Joel only know a cult that one of jennifer female friend mention
"Herculis Cult"
Abraham didn't ask anything else. He didn't need to. Even before he saw it, he sense a tremendous negatives energy.
The night wind made his coat fly a bit in rhythm. When he finally glance at those people dark carriages moving down the forest path. flambeau flickered, casting weak low light in this dark shadowy forest. The wheels of the carriage whined slowly, and the driving horses' hooves made soft neigh sounds on the silent forest. They were like ghosts dark silhouette among the forest dead trees this black cloaked group is moving in like the predator is done with his hunt.
[Target proximity: 200 meters]
[Soul resonance: unstable]
[Warning: elevated aggression detected.]
He slowed down and bent down on his knees to see their movement in back of a collapsed archway, focusing his eyes on them with System ability . The forest stretched on the horizon ahead of him like asking for his entrance, with its lifeless trees misshapen under the cloak of night and silver moon. Amid the leaves, he caught sight of shapes of the silhouette - few figures cloaked in dark garb the full body covered by the cloak, that's why hard to understand or scale there numbers . Each individual figure bore a slight, glowing mark on their wrist area. From a vantage point, the black cloak seemed the sole feature detectable. But upon closer look, employing his System Vision, Abraham recognized the mark: a symbol twisting resembling a serpent consuming its own tail.
The mark of Herculis Cult.
Abraham's knuckles tightened. The name struck something cold in his memory. He'd seen fragments in the system archives, corrupted logs buried under restricted files. A sect that sought to break divine seals—to reawaken something ancient.
Something that should never wake.
The system chimed again—this time, its tone lower, almost hesitant.
[Information Unlocked: Classified Seal Protocol - Beast Entity: "Nefiham"]
[Designation: Corrupted Beast God]
[Status: Dormant]
[Containment method: Distributed Curse Seal across 23 bearers]
[Threat level: World-class anomaly.]
Abraham froze. His breath hitched.
Nefiham.
That word alone felt wrong—like a wound in language. A beast god—corrupted, sealed within living humans. Twenty-three curse marks. And Jennifer… she had one. He remembered her back once, the faint serpent tattoo that shimmered when she used her power.
The cult didn't just take her.
They were going to use her.
[Objective identified: Herculis Cult aims to reawaken Nefiham by merging the Curse Bearers through sacrificial resonance.]
He gritted his sharp jaw tightly giving a dark expression of monster. "So they'll kill her to wake that thing."
[Affirmative.]
A storm built in his chest. Not of fear—but fury. The kind that burned deep, slow, steady.
He whispered, "Oboros…"
The shadow beside him stirred, its smoky head lifting.
I feel them, the voice came, low, distant, rumbling through his skull. Their scent is foul. They twist the balance. Allow me, master… allow me to hunt.
Abraham didn't reply. He just nodded.
Oboros's eyes flickered gold for a heartbeat—and then the night moved.
The first explosion came sudden—small but sharp. Air in the forest erupted with an abrupt sound. In pitch black darkness the mute silence broke as Abraham ran ahead forward to track those cloaked guard, his Hollow Cry blade materializing in his right hand, he gripped it so tightly as if he'll sliced those guard, glowing a soft silver blue as he moved fast like flash in the dark through the muddy soil . The first carriage stopped suddenly without any sound, its horses becoming agitated.
Two figures came out like storm from inside the carriage, with their blades drawn out like swordsman, there dark cloaks soaked wet by the rainfall.
Abraham didn't slow down his pace.
He moved through them like a shadow, his strike clean—one cut through the first man's weapon, the second through his arm. The air rang with a wet metallic snap. Before the other could react, Abraham's pulsewave flared, pushing him back with a wave of sheer kinetic force.
He didn't waste time killing. He needed the one who had her.
Behind the third carriage, he saw it—Jennifer. Her body limp, faintly glowing under a rune of black light. Her captors—three cloaked figures—were chanting, voices weaving together like a distorted hymn.
"…from the serpent's spine, the god will rise…"
Abraham's eyes went cold.
The Hollow Cry thrummed in his palm.
[System Alert — Host Emotion: Critical Threshold Reached]
[Combat mode unlocked: Hollow Burst]
He lunged.
A pulse of energy erupted from his step, shaking the ground. The three cultists turned too late—the blade came down, splitting the air with raw force. The first two were sent flying back, slamming into the carriage. The third raised his hand, black energy surging, forming a sphere.
Abraham sidestepped just in time as the explosion nearly missed him by inch. Before he could respond from the explosion, something large moved in the darkness.
A roar cut through the deep forest. chill ran down his spine, he felt a Dark figure negative aura, as if it will devour him alive.
A figure jumped from the trees before him, spawn like flashes from the dark wind of the night, a massive and strange form. Its skin was a patchwork of different animals and predator, claws like a wolf, a snake's tail, and a man's body. Its face was dirt skull bone and fang teeth. System screen popped out
[Hybrid Beast detected: GIREKARS]
[Rank: S-Class Aberration]
Abraham's breath misted. The air around him shifted—his instincts flaring.
So this was their weapon.
The cultist nearest him laughed, blood running from his lip. "Our lord will awaken soon. You'll be nothing but the first sacrifice."
Abraham raised his blade. "Then let's see if your god can hear you scream."
The hybrid beast lunged.
It moved fast—too fast for its size. Abraham rolled aside, the creature's claws tearing into stone, sending shards flying. He countered the flying shards manage to dodge it somehow, his Hollow Cry hitting its upper arm with constant force, and dark blood splattered on the wet ground like broken glasses. The beast growled in pain and whipped its long strong tail around, catching him as he tried to dodge the blow, but he secured to not getting the hit but slightly the tail touched. The slightest hit sent him crashing into a nearby tree.
A sharp pain shot through his whole body, blood flowing from many parts of his body. His system flickered.
[Warning: Structural damage—estimated 27%.]
He spat mouth of blood, tightening his grip on the hilt of sword. His breath find the way back.
And then—he felt it.
A warmth behind him. A hum in his skull. The pulse of a bond deeper than blood.
Oboros. The Undying Wolf.
The shadow rose from the earth—massive, coiling, a storm given form. It loomed behind him, gold eyes burning through the mist. Smoke curled into fur, fur into flesh. The wolf took shape—towering, graceful, radiant with molten silver light.
Abraham stood beneath its glow. The Hollow Cry in his hand pulsed once, then twice—synchronizing with the beast's heart.
[Soul synchronization: 98%… 100%.]
[Command link established.]
Master, Oboros's voice came, rough but calm. May I hunt?
Abraham's lips curved. "Go."
The wolf blurred.
In one bound, Oboros crashed into Girekars. The impact thundered, shaking branches loose from the canopy. The hybrid roared, snapping its serpent tail around Oboros's neck—but the wolf twisted, jaws clamping down, tearing through sinew and scale. Light flared where they clashed—silver and crimson, pure and corrupted.
Abraham pushed up, sword raised. "Oboros—left side!"
The wolf obeyed without thought. It leapt aside, giving him an opening. Abraham drove the Hollow Cry into the beast's exposed chest. The blade sang, splitting through bone. The ground erupted with a shockwave.
[Target Vitality—Critical.]
Girekars screeched, the sound shaking the rain itself. Its limbs spasmed, dark mist spilling from its wounds. But Oboros didn't let go. His claws with massive force strike at the center of beast head like hammer on stone, causing that blow the beast's skull crumbled into the forest ground like big mount fall.
Silence followed.
The Herculis cultists stopped chanting the incantation and stared, slightest fear, shocked and disbelief of what they are witnessing.
Through the steam and blood, Abraham walked forward, so many thought crashing together, leaving the thought as it is. He inhale heavily to consume the lost concentration then exhaled to leave the unimportant thoughts . As his sword turned into light, light that revolve around darkness, light that show a path to a lost wanderer, light that recumbence the symbol of authority. "You took her," he said quietly, "and you called something you can't even control."
The cult leader stammered, "T-The Beast God will—"
Oboros moved faster than a breath. The cultist's body fell before he finished speaking.
The others ran.
Abraham didn't follow. His focus snapped back to the carriage. Jennifer was still there—unconscious, but breathing. The dark mark the reason everything all happened fading away. On her back it's pulsed subtly , then the mark finally disappeared in dark .
He hurriedly got down on one knee to holding her softly he check her pulse, his fear giving way as the pulse is steady and balanced.
She is alive.
The system chimed softly in his ear.
[Mission Update: Target Secured.]
[Secondary Objective Unlocked: Purification Protocol Pending.]
[Warning: Curse Mark remains active.]
He frowned. "Meaning?"
[Nefiham's seal is weakening. Cult activity persists. Subject: Jennifer Valence remains a vessel of the curse.]
He tightened his jaw. "Then I have to face a Beast God tonight, is it night or morning anyway. Hell Whatever it takes."
Oboros's voice murmured faintly. This is only the beginning, master. Darkness remembers its own. The corrupted gods… stir again.
Abraham looked at the moonlight breaking through the clouds, reflecting on the silver fur beside him.
The rain had stopped. The forest smelled of ash and wet soil.
Jennifer's breathing steadied.
He whispered, "We're not running anymore."
[System Log: Beast Girekars defeated.]
[Soul absorption: 43% complete.]
[Ability unlocked: Shadow Merge (Tier I).]
Oboros stepped closer, lowering his head slightly, eyes glowing faint. The connection between oboros and him is getting more and more strong as they jumping on thing together. The pulsed of oboros is like a second heartbeat inside Abraham soul .
Abraham reached out, brushing his hand against the wolf's side. The form rippled, half shadow, half reality.
Their bond was no longer symbolic—it was alive.
From somewhere deeper in the woods, a horn echoed—low, distant, unnatural.
Abraham's gaze hardened. "They're regrouping."
[System Alert — Host Priority Mission Updated]
[Protect the Curse Bearer. Intercept Herculis Cult's movement. Secondary directive: locate other marked hosts.]
He rose, lifting Jennifer gently. Oboros's shadow wrapped around them, forming a protective veil moe like a armor of solid shadow.
As they vanished into the mist like flash, the system's faint hum lingered in the silence steady, cold, unrelenting.
[Tracking Target Initialized: Herculis Cult - Primary Node]
The forest behind them was quiet once more.
The hybrid beast's body began to disintegrate—its black blood seeping into the soil, feeding something older below.
A faint whisper crept through the trees—words carried by the wind.
"…the serpent wakes…"