Chapter 8: The Naked Man
Basil stepped through the door and found himself in a wide, open chamber. On the far end, stone stairs stretched upward, illuminated by sunlight pouring in from the outside.
His eyes widened. A smile spread across his face.
"Finally… something good happens to me for a change."
THUD!
A figure dropped from the ceiling.
Basil halted mid-step, sword half-at the ready.
"What the fuck are you?"
The creature was humanoid—roughly Basil's size, but distinctly female. Her body was a grotesque patchwork of human and demon parts, stitched together in unnatural symmetry. One half of her face wore a twisted smile, its red demon eye gleaming with malice. The other half wept silently, a human eye filled with sadness. She wore only tattered scraps of fabric for clothing and held two curved daggers.
Above her head, glowing text appeared:
[Gatekeeper (S+)]
Basil groaned. "A Named? You've gotta be kidding me."
The Gatekeeper let out a snarl and vanished, reappearing in a blur. In a spinning motion, she slashed at Basil with both blades.
"Shit—I barely saw that coming."
He grunted, blocking both strikes with his sword. With a quick kick, he pushed her back and responded immediately with Mana Slash, then Earth Spikes, sending a flurry of projectiles her way.
She dodged the slash and crossed her daggers to block the spikes, absorbing the impact before lunging again.
"She blocked my spikes?" Basil muttered, tightening his grip.
VOOSH
She vanished again and reappeared overhead. Basil tried to block, but he was too slow.
STAB!
Her dagger plunged into his side.
"Ughhhh—damn you're fast… This isn't looking too good."
The Gatekeeper pulled the dagger free and flipped backward to retreat.
Basil stumbled, clenching his side and activating a minor healing skill to close the wound, his HP ticking up to 160. His mind raced.
I can't use Nova Bomb—it's still on cooldown. And nothing else I've got can keep up with her speed…
He groaned, frustration building. "One more thing to try. If this doesn't work, I'll have to us THAT."
He charged, holding his left hand to his side. A vortex opened beneath him, and from it rose a temporary blade forged from pure mana.
DING
## ## You Have Created a New Skill ##
- • [Nameless] (A)
- • Would you like to name this skill or let the system decide?
"NAME the skill?! GO AWAY—CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BUSY?!"
He roared mid-clash, blades colliding with hers again in a chaotic exchange.
DING
## ## Skill Registered ##
- • 'GO AWAY CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BUSY' (A)
"Oh for the love of the goddess—"
The Gatekeeper dropped low, spun, and kicked Basil in the chest, sending him sliding across the stone floor.
"Ugh… fine."
He stood, eyes hard.
"Innocence!!"
At once, the Gatekeeper froze. Souls—hbu the hundreds—began pouring out of her body and into Basil. A black aura swelled around him, veins bulging as his muscles tensed. He gripped both swords tightly.
"Yeah… this is gonna suck in five minutes. Better make it count."
He leaned forward and vanished, a flash of lightning across the floor. He struck with both blades in a stabbing motion, but the Gatekeeper—crying harder now—twisted out of the way and retaliated. Basil dropped his mana blade mid-motion, letting it vanish, and grabbed his remaining sword with both hands.
He raised it high.
SLASH!
His blade cut straight through her daggers and then cleaved her body in two.
The pieces fell separately—first the human side, now smiling. Then the demon side, locked in surprise.
DING
- ## Named Kill ##
- • Gatekeeper (S+)
- • Reward: 12,000 XP
Basil dropped to the floor, chugged a healing potion to heal his side, and stared at her remains. In her chest, like the others, was a cracked artificial mana crystal.
"Just what are you things…?"
Then it hit him.
"Great here it comes"
His aura faded slowly. His eyes turned ghostly white. After a few seconds a tear slipped down his cheek before his purple irises slowly returned.
"712… I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
He wiped the tear and stood.
⸻
'Innocence'—one of two skills from his Eldritch Knight class—granted him a 300% strength boost for five minutes by absorbing the souls of a demon's victims. But the cost?
He had to relive every one of their deaths.
He saw what they saw. Felt what they felt. And died the way they died.
If he's lucky it's one soul.
Sometimes it's 712.
"Looks like the girl used as the base was some assassin… sent here to take out whoever's making these things. Guess she got caught."
He stashed his sword and approached the stairs. Sunlight flooded down.
He smiled faintly, raised his hand to shield his face, and ascended.
⸻
The mouth-shaped hole at the top of the mountain opened into open air. Real air. Real grass. Real sky.
"I'm not dreaming… that's real grass. Those are real trees… that's the real sun… ha… ha—"
"YESSS, I'M OUT, BABYYYYY!"
"WOOOOOHOOOO!"
He danced around the mountain peak, fists raised.
"What do I do first? Find a beautiful woman? Nah. Get some grub? Close… but no."
Snaps fingers.
"Hot spring. That's it. I want a bath. A hot springs bath!"
He ran full speed down the mountainside, with mana reinforced legs.
He stood on the edge of a cliff that looked over the horizon. He scanned the area and saw a rather large town.
"BINGO"
It only took him two minutes to reach the edge of a large town.
Basil stood at the edge of the buzzing city, his eyes wide with wonder.
"Wowwwww, so many things have changed…"
Stone roads. Shops with glass windows. People—actual people—chatting, rushing, laughing, trading. Horse-drawn carriages clattered by. Everyone was moving with purpose.
Basil, on the other hand, skipped.
He darted from stall to stall, peering into windows, poking at signs, pointing at things like a kid at a festival. His eyes sparkled, purple and wide, as he soaked in every detail. The road. The people. The clothes. The smells.
A few townsfolk stopped and stared at the barefoot, half-naked man covered in dirt and dried blue blood, skipping like a maniac.
"Mommy, why is that homeless person naked?" a little girl asked as they passed.
"Hush, honey—what if he hears you?" her mother whispered, hurrying her along.
"Fucking crystal sniffers," muttered an old man from a bench. "They're everywhere nowadays. Tch."
Basil didn't hear a word of any of it. He was too focused on all the new things in the world.
He reached the town's center fountain—a sculpture of a man holding a sword high, a demon's head skewered on its tip. Basil paused, puzzled.
"…Huh. That guy kinda looks like me. Weird."
He leaned over the water and caught his reflection—long, unkempt hair, a tangled beard, purple eyes under heavy lids, and a face that had seen death over and over again.
"Damn. I need a haircut."
With a grin, he turned and skipped toward a quieter street, less populated and a bit run-down.
⸻
Sniff
"OH GREAT HEAVENS—WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!"
He spun in a circle, trying to find the source.
"There!"
He pointed at a shabby tavern with a few chipped tables outside and a crooked sign that read: Gyras Tavern.
He licked his lips.
Inside, the tavern was modest, but warm. A handful of people sat at tables, mid-conversation, drinks in hand. That conversation stopped immediately when Basil walked in.
"MMMM PIE!" he shouted, eyes locked on a still-steaming pie cooling on the bar.
He walked over, stuck his entire hand into the center, and scooped out a fistful of blueberry filling. Then shoved it into his mouth.
"Mmmmph! And itz bueberry!" he mumbled, eyes shining.
The entire tavern stared in stunned silence.
"…Did he just—"
"Yep."
Then the laughter began. One by one, the patrons broke into howling laughter at the sight of a half-naked wild man devouring pie like a starving animal.
The laughter died quickly when three men walked in.
One short and chubby, dressed in fine silks and leaning on a golden-goose cane. Behind him, two muscle-bound thugs in leather armor, curved blades at their hips.
The short man sneered. "Where's Gyra?"
"Coming!" called a sweet voice from the kitchen behind the bar.
The three approached the bar, standing next to Basil, who was now licking the pie plate like a dog.
A stunning woman walked in—long blue hair tied up in a bun, radiant blue eyes, wearing a dress and tight apron that accented her curves. She saw Basil first.
Her eye twitched.
Then she saw the three men, and her expression shifted to fear.
"Gyra," the short man said smugly, "it's been two weeks. Where's the protection fee? You wouldn't want this cozy little shack to get blown down, would ya?"
"M-Mr. Garthen, I told you… my oven broke. I had to buy a new one or I couldn't feed anyone. I don't have the coin this month, but I will!"
Garthen nodded at his thug. The man turned and hurled a chair into the wall, shattering it and a window.
"WAIT!" Gyra shouted, hand out. "Isn't there anything else I can give you?!"
Garthen grinned and licked his lips. "Well… there is one thing…" his eyes drifted to her body.
SLAM!
Basil dropped the plate on the bar and let out a loud burp.
"Man, that was good. Hey, little girl—you make that pie?"
Gyra's face twitched at 'little girl'. "Uh… yes. Are you going to pay for it?"
"HEY!" Garthen barked. "Can't you see we're in the middle of somethin here? Buzz off, freak."
Basil ignored him, still facing Gyra. "I'm quite the pie guy. I know quality—"
"Even if it's been a century or two since I last had one" Basil muttered under his breath.
"And yours is definitely worth keeping around so,"
He turned his thumb toward Garthen. "Want me to take care of fatso for you?"
Garthen's eyes bulged. "Who you calling fat, pal?! You got any clue who I am?!"
He snapped his fingers. The two thugs grabbed Basil by the shoulders.
Basil stood slowly. Calmly.
"I suggest you take your hands off me… before I remove them."
A glob of blueberry jam dripped from his beard onto the floor.
The men laughed.
SWOOSH!
A mana slash erupted upward—both men's hands dropped to the ground.
"AAAAAGH!"
One screamed and grabbed his bleeding stump. The other went for his sword, and swung at Basil but Basil dodged effortlessly, grabbed his face, and launched him out the front door.
Garthen stumbled back, stunned.
Basil approached.
"Just who do you think you-"
"Kneel."
Garthen opened his mouth to speak—
KRAK!
Like a boulder had been dropped on his neck, he collapsed to the floor under Basil's skill.
"P-please—don't kill me…"
"Don't come back here. Ever. Or there won't be a warning next time."
"I-I understand! Yes! I got it!" Garthen stammered.
Basil released the skill. Garthen scrambled out, dragging his last thug with him.
⸻
"Um… thank you," Gyra said cautiously. "But aren't you worried he'll come back for you?"
"Nah," Basil waved her off. "He couldn't hurt me even if he tried—"
"YOU THERE! STOP!" a voice boomed from the entrance.
Two armored guards stepped into the tavern.
"You are hereby under arrest for public indecency and destruction of property."
"Huh?"
They slapped metal cuffs on him and hauled him outside.
⸻
Basil sat in a cell, arms crossed, face blank.
"…Huhhhhhh?!"
❧End of chapter notes:
Stats Window:
- Name: Basileus Narciss
- Age: 22 (629)
- Level: 75
- Job: Eldritch knight
- Title: Goddess's Guardian
- HP: 200/200
- Mana: 32,000/32,000
- STR: 205
- VIT: 80
- INT: 170
- AGI: 112
- PER: 60
- XP to Next Level: 12,000/30,000
- stat points available: 62
- Skill Points Available: 10
Skills Window:
Basic:
- Innocence (F)
- The King (A)
- Swordsmanship (S)
- Mana Control (SSS)
- Charisma (F)
- Crafting (B)
- Longsword Mastery (S)
- Mana Manipulation (F)
- Rune Knowledge (B)
- Healing (C)
- Scholar (A)
- Mana Vision I Guess (C)
- phantom step (F)
- mana slash (D)
- Earth spike (B)
- body reinforcement (D)
- Kneel (F)
- nova bomb (A)
- Mana regeneration (S+)
- poison resistance (F)
- GO AWAY CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BUSY' (A)
Unique:
- Immortality (EX)
- Oversight View (EX)
- Haggle (SS)
- Misfortune (D)
Inventory
- HP Potions x1998
- MP Potions x2000
- Winter Clothes (C)
- Summer Clothes (C)
- bread x100
- jerky x100
- piece of Tess
- piece of Rob
- piece of Lark
- abomination horn x10 (S+)
- jagged dagger (?)
- mana sword (?)
•GO AWAY CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BUSY
- a skill that collects all different types of mana and forms a temporary sword using the users hand as a catalyst to form its shape.
- cost 20 MP per minute
- DMG = 3/4 of the users STR stat
• Innocence
- The damed be saved, using the strength of the souls of the innocent you receive a 300% STR boost. Be weary though, once the the time is up you will feel the pain of the innocent.
- last 5 minutes
- cost 120 MP
- has a 20 hour cooldown
- 300% STR boost