Jean tensed every part of her body, writhing in pain as a third finger melted in Mr Krabs' stomach. “ARGHH! DAMMIT! I hope you choke, you goddamn bastard!”

The spirit did not wait for her to stop venting. It seemed that whatever he had to say to her, it burned his tongue.

“[You see, Nimireth gives part of her essence to each player with whom she makes a pact. Becoming a Child of Nimireth is a gradual process that culminates over time in this world. However, it wasn't like that with you.]”

Jean remembered when Nimireth kissed her and her body began to change. How much material could she have passed in her saliva? Microns? Was that enough to change her so much?

“[That was different. She took control of your being to configure it. She mutated you like a virus. Something similar to what corruption tries to do to you.]”

That was disappointing. More manipulators. “How did I become a child of Nimireth so fast then?”

“[Usually it's something that grows inside the player, and only if Nimireth decides, it hatches. However, the inoculation of Nimireth's essence that she performed on your body was during the long wait before your arrival to this world. This process allowed her to introduce into you far more power, mutating your body into the monstrosity you are now.]”

“But I acquired Devourer before I came to this world!”

“[Don't confuse the skill with the essence of Nimireth inside you. It gives you 90 base attribute points, and when you devour the ascended one, it will increase even more.]”

Jean took out the notebook. It was complicated to examine it with only one hand, especially while enduring the pain of unconsciously moving her non-existent fingers. However, she did not give up. Her mind bubbled with yearning for that new possibility of power.

“[You disappoint me.]”

“Shut up! I feel insignificant in this nightmare place! Are you going to tell me you wouldn't want to survive, you hypocrite?”

“[For a moment I saw light in you, but now I have my doubts. Why did Nimireth choose you to be the last one when there is nothing special about you?!]”

True enough. What was so special about her? To her mean little sister she was just a fat hypermarket cashier and a video game freak, but Nimireth had seen something else. What was it?

The desire to know made her dizzy as she remembered the last words of the deal. The condition she ended up whispering. “Something perfectly within your reach.”

Her eyes closed as she was again brought back to the past. She was back in front of Irum, the blacksmith. He had just struck the anvil with his fist and made the building shake.

"So that's what it was! You’ve brought back the cursed class! It was banned for a good reason! She knew it!!"

“She told me that...!” She looked at the anvil and froze. It was visibly deformed. His fist was imprinted on the anvil as if it were nothing more than plasticine to him.

“Curse her! You won't be able to escape the imminent hell that awaits you!”

The familiar purple smoke surrounded her, forcing her out of the smithy. She ended up in front of the two doors again, but this time, it was different. They were completely burned.

Jean suddenly heard a murmur behind her. At first, she didn't know what it was. However, when she recognized the screams of suffering, she knew it was bad news.

She quickly turned around, but to her surprise, she ended up with her hands on the floor. She couldn't turn around; her feet were trapped by roots with an unpleasant dark red appearance that reminded her of tar.

After struggling to stand up again, Jean had a hard time turning her upper body and head enough to see what was happening. Directly behind her was a new entrance. It was far away, but Jean managed to make out a cave that emitted red smoke and a faint light of the same color. Based on the screams and the strong smell, it seemed as if they could dissolve any form of life.

Jean blinked, thinking she was seeing things. But when she opened her eyes, the cavern had moved ten steps closer. "What the fuck! How could that have moved?"

The screams became unbearable. She attempted to cover her ears, but someone stopped her by gently holding her hands. It was the transparent woman. The one who had made her regain her courage. Nimireth.

Jean offered her a warm smile. "I knew you wouldn't deceive me!"

Nimireth looked at her in disbelief. "You still trust me?!"

Jean nodded, avoiding being crushed by the uncertainty that the woman's words had awakened in her.

Nimireth smiled extremely pleased. Although it wasn't noticeable, she had never felt anything like that. "I haven't deceived you, but... I haven't told you the whole truth…! I can't! They forbid it."

"What do you mean...?"

Nimireth put one of her fingers on Jean’s lips, preventing her from speaking. "We'll make a new pact! You don't have to give me anything or do anything impossible for me! Just protect me when I ask you to! I will make it worth the effort!"

Jean felt the corrosive heat of the fumes on her legs and back. She didn't need to turn around. Above her, the threshold of the cave could already be seen. Pain hit her. There was no time.

“Protect you from what?!"

Jean saw something in that invisible face that she hadn't seen before. Fear. The woman trusted Jean as much as she had trusted her.

"I... I will protect you!"

The idea of the strange woman being with her gave the strength to face anything. Smiling at how different she felt now, she tried to look her in the eyes, but her vision blurred.

Before the cavern closed its jaws on her, the strange woman rushed to embrace her. Jean lost consciousness after feeling the woman's touch. She only remembered being taken away from there. It felt as if the woman was an angel taking flight.

Spasms of excruciating pain brought her back, shaking her one last time. The essence of Nimireth on the fingers finally separated from her being.

“She gave me all this power so that one day I would protect her, but...”

“[Interesting.]”

“You fucking bastard! Stop spying on my thoughts all the time!”

Despite feeling overwhelmed by the idea that all that was left of Nimireth was inside her, the promise spurred her to action. “I want to create a mission.” Real whispers agreed. “I want to initiate a search for all creatures that possess the essence of Nimireth and any separate remnants of her!”

“[I'm sorry to tell you that the amount of locations will be massive and you won't be able to get even one. The one next to you is the weakest one.]”

That was very frustrating and discouraging. She couldn't even imagine the power she would need to defeat Mr. Krabs.

“[Besides, it's too late to save Nimireth. Just like it's too late to save me if I asked you to.]”

“I've already seen everything I had to see, right? Good!”

Jean hurried to return to the spirit without ceasing to regenerate her fingers despite the anguish that gnawed at her. “What happened to Nimireth?”

“[She had no choice but to play her last cards. And she lost.]”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Anguish turned into hatred for that uncertain something. Who had caused all this? Where did the corruption come from?

“Are you going to tell me what the fuck you want from me?”

“It's simple! First I want to close mouths. Next I want to ... ]”

“What the fuck did you say? You're telling me all this so you can show off in front of your spirit friends!”

“[No! Listen to me!]”

“Don't count on me for that shit!” That wasn't what Jean wanted; she just wanted the truth.

“[They are not my friends! I told them the world was in danger. They didn't listen to me until it was too late and now...]”

“Shut up! I don't want to hear your lies anymore! ... I...”

“[Listen... I told them we couldn't stop what was coming if we didn't fight together, but they didn't believe me. They thought they were invincible and they paid for it. We will all pay for it soon.]”

“I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP! If you've already seen them fall, what do you want now? Rejoice in their suffering? Don't know when to stop or never have enough?”

“[I told them that Nimireth could help us stop this, but just hearing her name made them laugh at me. I ended up dying trying to prove that Nimireth was not as they thought.]”

Jean turned her back and remained silent. The spirit was getting closer to what she wanted to hear, but she also sensed that it wanted to use her for more than just making others pay.

“[I guess... I was like Joseph. I paid the same price.]”

Jean was already expecting that trick. “I warned you not to mention him again!”

“[How do you think his soul felt when the people he saved from the fire forgot him in less than a day. Motherfuckers! They didn't even show up at his funeral. A hero's funeral.]”

Tears streamed from Jean's eyes. “SHUT UP! HE NEVER WANTED TO BE A HERO! It... it was just his job. He just wanted to come home and play with me! I was the only one who really waited for him. The only one who gave him a kiss on the cheek and asked him about his day.”

“[And how did you feel when your mother constantly reproached him for leaving her with three daughters to take care of? After all the sacrifices he made for her. For all of you. Always doing the right thing. He was a good man, Jean. A role model, he was...]”

“ENOUGH! STOP THIS BULLSHIT ALREADY! You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to stick my neck out to shut some idiots up. I don't care how wrong they are. The fact that they're fools is not my problem.”

“[I'll tell you what your problem is, Jean. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to recover what's left of Nimireth. There are not enough weak enemies here. With luck, you can reach level 12. What do you think will happen when you face this ascended one? You will irredeemably die.]”

“You think so?”

“[And worst of all, the world will have lost its last chance. The world will be screwed. You included. That body you love so much and that power won’t save you. The whole planet will succumb to the same thing that's on this mountain.]”

“Oh my! The world will be saved by me, and of course, you know how. Say no more! You're waiting for an innocent Frodo and you're going to play Gollum.”

“[No. This world won't be saved by you. You will only give others the opportunity to remedy what you cannot.]”

“Great, I won't even be Frodo! I'll be Sam, carrying Frodo! ... Fuck you!”

Jean finally made it to where the spirit was. “Wow! You're still here!”

The spirit was still sitting, but it seemed smaller.

“[In that middle grotto there are the spiders from before. If you make it out alive, level up Identify to Expert and start collecting as many souls as you can. I've got more to teach you.]”

“Souls? My problem is surviving, and you expect me to go around collecting souls?”

“[Please! I beg you!]”

“Great ... Now you change tactics.”

Jean opened the map. There were now multiple arrows indicating the direction of Nimireth's essence. Comparing her directions with the notebook, she determined that there was indeed one by the grotto where the spirit was pointing. She didn't think twice about it, but first she had something to do. The first pages of the notebook might reveal the truth that no one seemed to share. First, she reread the first paragraph.

“If you don't know what comes next, run. Everyone wants your head! But don't be stupid enough to do it with the necklace on. If you come in contact with a soul, it could be the last thing you ever do. I'd wish you luck, but since most of you are just trash, screw you!”

“It's pretty clear they want me dead! What's next?”

“I'm going to assume they've done the same to you as the rest. You just woke up and you want to know what all this shit is about. I'm going to skip explaining to you why the situation in Norobath is going to shit, especially here in Zelthas. I'm going to focus on what's revolving around you and what they want from you.”

“What are Norobath and Zelthas?”

Whispers explained to her that was the name by which this world was known, and Zelthas was the country she was currently in. To give her an idea of its size and shape, they compared it to Australia.

“I don't know exactly why they want you dead, but there are many who want you dead. Don't trust anyone. No one will tell you the whole truth, only the part that interests them. The good thing is that they won't lie to you; whispers would mark them as traitors and manipulators.”

“Really? I didn't realize it!”

“The situation is desperate and you have no escape! Do what they ask you to do. If you refuse, they will kill you and move on to the next. So on and so forth until you do what they want. If you are smart, you will go along with them and live another day.”

“Fuck this shit! This is useless! I'm the last one!”

“Do your best to get along with Narhad. She is your only ally. Calling her an ally, though, is saying a lot. She's simply in a similar situation to yours. Don't give up just because she's rude. It's just that she hates Nimireth's children!”

Jean was about to throw the notebook, but it contained useful information that she couldn't ignore. “Motherfuckers! Are you trying to trick me again?” Both the spirit and the whispers remained silent. “Do you really think I would buy this shit and turn into an obedient little girl? ... Fuck you all!”

Jean entered the grotto. The main thing was to focus on leveling up and recovering both the lost and the new essence. She wasn't going to allow herself to be taken for a ride.

She soon came across walls covered with spider webs. An increasingly thick layer that occasionally contained rats, huge insects, and even some occasional stray crab. All dead, web-wrapped and completely dry. The sticky surface covered everything from the floor to a ceiling that had no end in sight. What was missing, to be ambushed from above as well.

Going deeper, she discovered that the most annoying problem was not the cobwebs. They were certainly sticky, but not a match for her strength. What was annoying was that the grotto was very narrow. It was uncomfortable to the point of having to move sideways again. Fighting without the cobwebs slowing her attacks would be impossible. Not even with a dagger. Much less with the shield. It was time to change perspective. She stopped spending mana on reconstructing her fingers and reserved it for fighting.

The narrow passage widened just enough to walk straight ahead again. It wasn't much, but something helped; the shield was no longer out of play in her plans. However, more space also brought bad news. The slight movement of the cobwebs around her confirmed her gut feeling. Dozens of football-sized spiders had been waiting for her for a while. It was a bad place to defend herself, but she opted for plan B.

She equipped the shield in her left hand and touched the wall with the mutilated hand as high as she could over her head. Feeling the mana flowing into the rock, strongly accentuated the pain in her hand. The glyph changed to a mix between yellow and orange. She raised the shield over her head and crouched down, keeping the burning pressure on her hand until the exact moment.

Six spiders descended recklessly. The same black, disgusting creatures she remembered. However, she could hear many more descending in the darkness. She timed when to detonate the glyph to unleash its power and… “Gotcha!”

Fire flooded the grotto with a mixture of sharp needles and slashes through the air, also reaching her brown-imbued shield.

Dozens of unpleasant shrieks were the harbinger of a wave of writhing spiders. All of them full of holes and cuts, and some unable to move again due to their amputated legs.

Jean focused on the ones that crawled towards her first. Stepping on them was much more disgusting than with the previous ones. The contents of their huge abdomens flooded the floor making her task even harder.

She put her hand on the rock again, but this time the arthropods were more cautious as they passed near the glyph. Moment that Jean took the opportunity to devour everything she stored in her inventory. The process exhausted her momentarily, but it also initiated a slight regrowth of her fingers and more mana.

The next explosion brought the hissing of more spiders in the distance. “Oh, oh! Mama spider is mad!”

A shiver ran through her body as she focused on one with Identify. She was big. Enormous. Its massive abdomen barely passed through the area where she stood. Yet it still moved faster than expected. That sent waves of disgust through her. Even more so when she spotted others behind. She stored the shield and prepared to retreat.

»Giant Cave Spider«.

Level 31

Name: ???

Marks: [Human Eater], [Elf Eater], [Tabaxi Eater], [Gnome Eater] , …

Details: This creature's attributes make it a moderate adversary for you. However, its venom makes it deadly.