Chapter 167: Cobra (4)


    "Exin yourself, slime!" Kiara shouted out in an angered voice upon hearing Shinto''s reasoning. In the next moment, her hand that held the dagger tightly moved towards the slime in a menacing manner.


    "E-Eek!" Minister Yer cried out. "Spare me! I mean- I''m not lying! I did drop something here!!"


    "Kiara, stopped," Shinto firmly stated as her de stopped mid-way. "...ahem. So you really did drop something? If so, what is it?"


    "U-Uh..." Minister Yer gulped with slight fear thinking that he may die from Kiara''s attack upon a single wrong answer. "I dropped... I dropped..."


    "Why is it that you''re mumbling? Speak clearer!" Kiara stated as she red at Minister Yer whose mouth had been mumbling the entire time.


    "I just lost an item okay!?" Minister Yer clicked his tongue. "I can''t tell you what it is because it''s private stuff! So... Just, please ask that woman to stop acting so... So..."


    "So what?" Shinto raised his brow.


    "...so," as Minister Yer was about to speak out, Kiara''s eyes that stared deep into the minister made him shudder. "N-Nevermind... Just let me be to find the item and I''ll go back to the rest..."


    "Hah... So you''re just going to go like that?" Shinto raised his brow in suspicion as he wondered why the minister was acting this way. Perhaps he had an undying secret that would''ve got him killed upon speaking it out, or maybe he was plotting something behind the backs of the group. "Then... Answer me this, why did youe here all of a sudden before you lost that item?


    "C-Can I not tell?" Minister Yer muttered out as his eyes slowly turned to Kiara. Upon contact, he quickly turned his head away. "...I wanted to find my way back on my own, but I ended up at this ce and was chased by the bats. I know! I know! I should''ve waited, but you guys are just so weak that I can''t bear to wait any longer!"


    "Cough... Is that so?" Shinto sighed at Minister Yer''s dual witted attitude. When speaking to those who he fears, he may as well be called a different person. Meanwhile, when speaking to the humans and Sleras, his tone seemed to be that of arrogance. "Hah... If that''s how you want to y, then do whatever. I''ve got no time to help out anyway, so I''ll leave you to your own things."


    "...are we just leaving this guy to his own problems?" Kiara asked. "I feel like he''s hiding something... It might bite us back if we let our guard down."


    "Sigh, with this guy being unbearably scared of you, I doubt he has anything much to put on the table," Shinto replied. "If he doesn''t want to tell what kind of item he lost, he may as well just find it on his own. I doubt we have much time to spare to help even since you''ll be going back to the Shadow Realm soon..."


    "Which is why I''m all the more worried, master..." Kiara uttered out as she soon locked eyes onto Shinto. "Perhaps if you can give me the ne I''ll be able to get this guy to talk... I know I can do that at least before I go."


    "No, that''s not necessary. With the way the Sleras here treat this guy, I doubt he means much," Shinto calmly reasoned. "If anything, if he does plot behind our backs, I''ll have the ck Bird''s Darkness for aid if something goes wrong."


    "..." Kiara kept quiet as he heard Shinto''s reasoning. "Even if ke were to help with this... It''s better to prevent the worst from happening. But... If you say so, then I''ll just abide by your wishes."


    "Right, then let''s get going," Shinto nodded his head as he quickly made his way over towards the open-spaced area of the caverns.


    Following behind him was Kiara, however, before she began walking, her head turned to Minister Yer as she soon pointed her fingers over to her eyes and then to his. "If you do anything to him, you''re dead," with a firm but quiet voice, she nced away from the shaking minister and soon began moving.


    "E-Eep... I only just lost an item!" Minister Yer cried out. "Why does everyone hate me..."


    ...


    Through the rocky grounds of the cavern, Shinto silently nced around the area as he noted that the open-spaced area that they saw from afar was quite big. If he had to wager, the area was around 32m radii.


    "..." Scrutinizing the area, Shinto could only see the stone pirs and rocks on his right and left. "...Kiara, are you ready?" he silently muttered out.


    "Of course. Please get behind me," Kiara stated.


    "Right, then..." With his staff moving towards the ceiling of the room, Shinto chanted out a spell as he sent out a ball of shining light over to the direction which the staff pointed at. In the next moment, a loud scream protruded out within the room.


    "Squeak!" Large waves of sound soon protruded down over towards Shinto, however, knowing that the attacks were going to be directed to him, he had already left his original position.


    "There''s quite a lot of bats... But that''s no problem for me," Kiara uttered out as her dagger swung over towards the countless bats that had flown down to the ground. In the next moment, she began moving through the room as she shed at every single one of the bats in her way.


    Whilst Kiara was rampaging through the bats like it was nothing, Shinto supported her from behind by healing away any damage that had been done to her. Though, with the number of kills he had on her belt during the battle, Shinto didn''t even need to do anything since her passive: [ Serpent Mark ] would proc frequently.


    "Hah... Do I just not do anything and wait for her to finish?" Shinto pondered. He felt that It was rather suddenly too easy with Kiara''s appearance. Though, then again, he had already felt this feeling when Reru had been aiding them. "Well... I wouldn''t be going with this tactic anyways if it was under normal circumstance since I like for a good challenge."


    Shinto''s style was that he preferred to handle things by himself, though he gradually changed into supporting others whilst keeping the team in top shape due to his ss. But, he still couldn''t do much to his full potential since he had been blocked out of many abilities and that his enemies were far powerful than his group could handle.


    Maybe if he had more healing abilities or buffs to continuously support his allies or even a debuff that can aid his group via weakening his enemies. However, his options here rathercking without the help of Reru or Kiara.


    "..." Shinto slightly frowned at the thought. "Silence, 5% buffs and blindness, barrier, single-target healing... Those are my only supporting capabilities from my ss, huh?" despite being able to summon Kiara and Kon into the battlefield, individually, without them, Shinto''s potential was extremely scarce as of the moment. "Hah... I wish my shadow stats and divinity stats can increase faster..."


    With his shadow and divinity gauge running out ever so often, he couldn''t raise both stats as much as he wanted to, thus, most of the skills that may be unlocked through just increasing his stat was a long way for him.


    Perhaps Shinto was being greedy for more and should be satisfied with his current abilities considering that he could summon shadow minions. But could it be helped with how helpless he is in situations that didn''t even require support? Even ounting for Frey and Raina who was now slightlycking behind in terms of level; they could bring much more to the field than even himself could.


    "...sigh, so much for a support," Shinto clicked his tongue. He suddenly felt like a summoner or at best a pseudo-damage dealer that uses another medium besides himself to damage. "Maybe in the future. For now... I''ll just have toplete all my current quests." the future passes every second, yet it was a long road for Shinto.


    "Hah..." Continuing to let out a sigh, Shinto was quickly alerted by his notification window. "Is it...?" With his eyes locked onto the window, he noted that he had finally achieved what he was hoping for by going into the bat''s den.


    [ Quest: A Diviner or Not? has beenpleted! ]


    [ The beings of Divinity are ring at ''Kiara'' who had done 90% of the work forpleting his goals. They are angry that the Diviner himself had relied on someone, however, they kept their word. ]


    [ Quest reward received! Your rtion with the beings of Divinity has returned back to normal levels. Although you may feel certain disappointment from them from time to time. ]


    [ You have obtained 1 Shadow and Divinity stat respectively! ]


    [ ''Purgatory Blood Queen of the Night'' is enjoying your achievement and isughing at the dumbfounded faces of the beings of Divinity. ]


    [ The beings of Divinity are mumbling to themselves on what to do as of the moment. They are still unsatisfied with the Diviner''s status. ]


    "...these guys," Shinto clicked his tongue. Can''t they give him a break for once? "Sigh... Well, whatever. This is done and..."


    "Uh, Master... I apologize, but I think there''s a problem," Kiara stated.


    "Huh? What is it?"