AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 16 Zul's Blessing
The three individuals who had successfully wiped out all the dark creatures in the Evil Cave proceeded to clear the surrounding area as well. It wasn't until the evening of the fourth day that they returned to the camp.
Only a few days remained before Ethan would leave this world. After some consideration, he decided to continue with the two sorceresses to eliminate Blood Raven.
Blood Raven, Moreina, was the female rogue archer character players could choose in Diablo 1, a hero who once defeated Diablo and saved the world.
Unfortunately, after defeating Diablo, this former idol of all Rogues gradually fell into darkness. When the dark powers surged, Blood Raven completely succumbed, becoming Andariel's enforcer and was sent to confront her former comrades.
"For this hero, the only thing we can do is free her from the control of the dark powers."
How to free her? Everyone understood there was only one way.
After resting for a night, the two sorceresses and one apprentice once again embarked on their journey to fight the darkness. This time, it was far less easy than the previous one.
Blood Raven herself was a powerful hero. After falling, not only did her strength become even more formidable, but she also gained the ability to control undead creatures. A sea of skeleton soldiers surrounded Blood Raven. Behind layers of defense, Blood Raven could fully display her prowess as a top Rogue archer.
Ethan appeared quite dishevelled during this 'Blood Raven Hunt'. Although he sustained no injuries under the protection of the two powerful sorceresses, he did lose the magical items he had just crafted himself – after exhausting the arrows on the bracers, their main use became parrying the skeletons' attacks at crucial moments.
One instance was when, after his shield was damaged, Ethan hastily parried a skeleton soldier's slash. It must be mentioned that Charsi was an excellent blacksmith and didn't cut corners, so this sword strike didn't sever Ethan's hand. However, this blow completely destroyed the already fragile magical array on the bracer.
Another time was when Ethan was caught in the thick of the fight and noticed by Blood Raven from afar, who suddenly shot an arrow intending to kill him directly.
At the critical moment, a warning sign suddenly arose in Ethan's heart. With his mental energy highly focused, the ability that made everything seem to slow down was pushed to its limit, allowing him to accurately block the arrow with his bracer.
Compared to the previous time when he was merely struck, leaving his wrist numb, this injury was far more severe. The arrow from Blood Raven pierced straight through his wrist and both layers of the bracer. Even after penetrating his entire wrist and the bracer, the arrow's momentum didn't decrease. Fortunately, Ethan tilted his head in time and simultaneously twisted his wrist to alter the arrow's direction, thus avoiding a fatal blow.
After that, Ethan spent the entire time watching the two sorceresses unleash their power. His only role in this battle was eliminating some minor enemies at the beginning.
"I need to continue improving my strength!"
Treating wounds, cleaning up the battlefield.
After everything was done, Ethan looked at Zull and Isendra who had returned to his side and smiled helplessly, "It seems I can only accompany you this far."
Just as they hadn't refused Ethan's joining at the beginning, the two sorceresses also didn't try to make him stay. They just smiled and nodded, "Although it wasn't long, I will always remember this time."
Isendra then asked, "Are you planning to stay in the Rogue camp next?"
With Ethan's current strength, he could no longer continue to fight dark creatures alongside them. Blood Raven was already the limit of how far he could go. If he continued and encountered stronger demons, sacrifice would be almost inevitable – and Ethan couldn't inflict much damage on demons, making such a sacrifice worthless.
If he stayed in the Rogue camp, Ethan could do many things. For example, helping Akara gather herbs or even make magical potions, providing simple treatment and bandaging for the Rogues – which he learned from the Sisters; he could even help the Rogues patrol the surroundings and clear out dark creatures. With Ethan's current strength, the dark creatures in the Blood Moor would no longer pose a significant threat to him, as long as he was careful.
As for going home? Ethan had said before that he came from the East, and now the fortress leading to the East was occupied by Andariel. If Ethan wanted to go home, he would probably have to wait until he and Zull eliminated or sealed Andariel, allowing the Blind Eye Sisterhood to reclaim the Eastern Gate fortress.
She couldn't possibly know that Ethan only had two days left in this world. Even if he were strong enough, he couldn't continue to accompany them in fighting Diablo.
These past few days, he had been thinking of a suitable excuse. Now was a good time to say it.
"Actually, my teacher has located me through a special magical positioning, and will use teleportation magic to bring me back in the next couple of days."
Isendra's eyes widened instantly. Ethan swore that since meeting this sorceress, he had never imagined her eyes could be so large.
"You can actually do something like that? Your teacher... is truly a powerful sorcerer."
Neither of the two sorceresses doubted Ethan's words. In fact, many sorcerers, as their cultivation improves, slowly realize that their understanding of mysterious forces is merely superficial. Therefore, they don't easily dismiss many things that might sound absurd.
Of course, there are also some sorcerers who believe their understanding of mysterious forces has reached its peak, and thus deny everything they cannot do.
Fortunately, neither Zull nor Isendra were such arrogant individuals; they easily believed Ethan's words.
Even if they didn't believe him, Ethan didn't care. When he was teleported back to that ocean by a spatial magic array in front of them in a couple of days, they would have no choice but to believe.
Having packed everything, the three returned to the Rogue camp.
Ethan's impending departure was not kept a secret from the people in the camp, so both Akara and Kashya knew he was leaving. While he was still there, they both came to bid him farewell.
"Thank you for everything you've done for us during this time. You will always be a friend of the Blind Eye Sisterhood. If you have time, we hope you can come back to visit."
Akara gave Ethan some medicinal herbs. These herbs had been simply processed, most of them turned into powder, making them easy to carry.
Kashya gave Ethan a finely crafted longsword. It could be used with one hand or two. The hilt and guard were simple, without any decorative patterns, appearing to be just an ordinary longsword. However, when Ethan drew the sword and swung it around, he sensed a magical fluctuation emanating from it.
"Magic equipment?"
Kashya smiled and nodded, "This longsword has no special abilities; it was simply reinforced using magical means, so it is much sturdier than an ordinary longsword."
Hearing about such a simple 'special effect,' Ethan wasn't unhappy at all; instead, he was even more pleased. The most troublesome aspects of many weapons are maintenance and lack of durability, and bladed weapons are particularly prone to becoming useless after a high-intensity battle, fundamentally because they are not sturdy enough. Therefore, this simple magical effect was much more practical than things like fireballs, frost, or lightning.
Kashya had prepared more than just that. She knew that although Ethan had learned some basic close combat and could now use weapons like daggers competently, he had little understanding of weapons like longswords. So, she also gave him an extra notebook.
"Here are basic sword techniques and practice methods, along with some of my personal understanding and cultivation experience of swordsmanship. I hope it will be helpful to you."
Ethan took the notebook and thanked Kashya very solemnly. This was exactly what he needed, and he hadn't expected Kashya to give him something like this. Moreover, he was neither a Rogue nor Kashya's disciple, and such things were not given away casually in this world.
Even Akara, with whom he had spent more time, only gave him some herbal powder and didn't mention giving him any notes on making magical potions.
"Perhaps... it's because many of my actions indirectly saved more Rogues?"
Afterward, other people in the camp also came to bid farewell to Ethan one after another, but Isendra and Zull were nowhere to be seen. Ethan thought they might be busy with something, or perhaps they would only appear when he left the next day.
However, it didn't happen as Ethan guessed. Early the next morning, Ethan packed his luggage and brought it to an open area, quietly waiting for the moment the teleportation magic would activate.
At this time, Isendra and Zull finally appeared, along with Charsi, the camp's blacksmith.
"I thought you weren't going to see me off."
"How could that be? It's just that you were leaving so suddenly, so I needed some time to prepare a gift. Fortunately, I made it." Zull spoke first, then spread his hand to reveal the unremarkable copper ring in his palm.
At this scene, Ethan suddenly felt like complaining, but for a moment he didn't know where to start, so he could only force himself to hold back. "What is this?"
He didn't think Zull would casually give him an ordinary copper ring. It would be a waste of time to guess, so he just asked directly.
"This is a ring, Ethan." Zull said with a playful smile, "I just enchanted a curse on it."
The hand that had just reached out retracted. Ethan looked at Zull with an expression of 'You're trying to harm me!', which earned him a speechless look from Zull.
"It's an active curse that you can cast using your mental energy to help you deal with enemies."
Zull stopped joking and explained the ring in detail. As he said, its function was straightforward, and its use was simple. Ethan could use his mental energy to control the mana stored in the ring and actively cast a Weakness curse to attack enemies.
Weakness: A curse that can reduce the target's strength, dexterity, and vitality. The specific effect depends on the target's condition. It is the most basic level of curse magic taught by the priests of the Cult of Rathma.
However, considering Ethan's mental strength and lack of mana, this level of curse was the most suitable for him to use.
In addition, this ring can automatically absorb primal mana from the surroundings, requiring no additional energy from Ethan. The only drawback is that it doesn't store much mana and can only be cast three times consecutively before needing to wait for mana to recover. In fact, this automatic absorption and storage of primal mana was the most difficult part of making this small item.
"Nice item. Does it have a name?"
Zull nodded, "I thought of a name last night. It's called 'Zull's Blessing!' Isn't that very fitting?"
"..."