Excruciating pain. That’s all he could think about.

It felt like someone was crushing and cutting his flesh and bones over and over again, one crawling inch at a time. He could do nothing but clutch onto his arm and grit his teeth.

There was a sound of an explosion and the air cracking, but he couldn’t even look. Things were happening around him and he didn’t even have a clue. All his attention was robbed by the pain crawling under the skin and in the bones of his hand.

“The banshee is using [Ethereal Shell]!” someone shouted.

The transformed woman laughed in her ghostly voice, “fools, you can try to kill me but that means our [Lightbringer] is as good as dead!” she yelled.

The noise stopped at her warning, but at the same time, relieving warmth entered his hands. Some of the pain elevated and Adrin felt like he could breathe once more.

The blind old lady’s hands were glowing bright and hovering on his blackening right arm. He had no idea how but the [Light] magic was the source of his temporary relief.

Was the light purifying the blight like a laser? He was thankful but he could tell that she only managed to slow the spread because the pain was still gnawing on his flesh and bone.

But his greatest relief was when everyone had come together to protect him. He could see people standing near him, shielding him from what the woman had become.

“It is no use you senile old woman, the [Rot] has long made a home in his bones!” the banshee let out ghostly laughter again. “Come with me, Adrin, and my lord will release you from all your pain and burdens. You can do whatever you want! Freedom, isn’t that what you most desired?”

“Not with the cost of my free will,” he answered with gritted teeth.

Florence Hykel. He never thought it would come to this with the woman. Maybe he should have paid more attention to her but that was already in the past.

Adrin gave the old woman a nod to thank the lady. He then used [LifeTouch] to cut his own nerves and stopped the blood flow from just after the shoulder and down.

The pain stopped assaulting his brain almost immediately, and he breathed in relief as the spread mostly stopped. As he suspected, this [Rot] mostly used the blood flow to spread. Who would have thought the skill would save his life. He was more than lucky to find it.

The [Life] affinity along with others had increased sharply after his experiments. It had provided much insight he had needed for his projects. The experiments uncapped the literal limits of the affinity skill and evolved from its original [Soothing Touch] into [LifeTouch].

Adrin tried to fight the curse, but at the back of his mind, he knew that his slowly blackening hand was as good as dead. The flesh might still not be infected, but he could feel it already reaching past his elbow bones. It was clear now after the curse had been activated. He didn’t want to admit it but there was no saving it because he could almost feel the vile energy inside his bones.

Adrin groaned and pushed himself up. Someone pulled his good arm up and he had mixed feelings to see Emilia and Nerina were already on his side. He didn’t want them to see what he was about to do, but he was also glad they were in sight and alright.

He wasted no time and pulled out a shortsword he had specially made for himself from the [Storage] ring. Unlike the poor imitation of the Damascus blade, this sci-fi-inspired cutting tool was far more advanced.

Adrin only had never thought that the first blood the blade would taste was his own.

The small blade hummed like a bee as he activated the enchantment. The edge blurred as the blade vibrated a few thousand times per second.

Before anyone could react, Adrin cut off his cursed right arm.

The [Vibroblade] cut through his flesh and bones like a hot knife through butter.

Thankfully, he almost didn’t feel anything as the hypervibration saw through his bones. Adrin ignored the gasps he heard but this was something which had to be done. Blood still dripped from his flesh but not as much as it would have been without [LifeTouch]’s help.

Everyone stopped in their tracks as the arm fell onto the ground with a dull thud. The wound on his arm closed into a stump after being supplied with enough [Life] essence.

No one had missed it when he activated the [Flaming Hand] and burned the arm on the ground with the scorching hot [Blue Flame]. He heard a few yelps and gasps, but he didn’t want anyone to get infected by the magic-enhanced virus or whatever.

“Kill them!” screamed the banshee as his hand turned into ashes.

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The ground around them burst as skeleton hands reached out. Numerous undead skeletons pulled themselves out from their shallow graves and began attacking people. Not only that, random maids and servants screamed at the top of their lungs before they fell dead on the ground only to unnaturally rise again.

Their skin and flesh rotten in almost an instant, peeled and fell off their bones. Chaos ensued as these zombie-like creatures began to chase weaker prey and spread the disease.

The woman had prepared for this in advance.

And for the first time in his current life, Adrin froze as he witnessed everything. The pain from the [Rot] still lingered in his mind as he slowly realized the significance of losing his arm. His brain refused to compute as this movie-became-a-reality scene unfolded before him.

He only had the will to cast a wide [Shell] around him and extended it towards anyone close enough to him. He could do nothing else but stare in shock and horror.

Luckily the people who attended the feast were not pushovers. Any precious youths who were still in shock were pushed into the [Shell] perimeter while other older attendees took swift action.

A hauntingly beautiful smile drew on Rosabella’s lovely face as she burned the skeletons into ashes with her brand of blue [Fireballs]. She was almost dancing as beautiful blue flames shot out from her hands. The woman took the center stage as hordes of undead came rushing in from darkness beyond.

Adrin couldn’t help but stare at the lady.

The old man butler swiftly moved around her while knocking and kicking away anything that came too close to the lady. The pair covered each other like a well-oiled machine of destruction.

The academy headmaster rose upward with the old man Augustus on a raised earth platform. The ground under them moved with the will of the other lady as she shot human-head-sized rock bullets toward the charging enemy.

Thick [Lightning] arches shot from the old man’s finger every time he pointed towards a direction. The bright charged particles blasted the bones to pieces, but the remains of two gathered to form another skeleton with extra arms.

Other older nobles and guards also worked together to guard their precious lives, but most of the attacks headed toward him. It became obvious that the banshee wanted to get rid of him as soon as she could.

Recovered from his shock, Adrin extended the [Shell] again and covered the old blind lady who was guarding them. The old lady turned and smiled at him as if she knew what he had just done. How she knew would be a mystery he had to think about later.

A bone spear rattled and cracked his plain [Shell].

Adrin winced. It was the most damaging attack he had ever faced and he quickly turned it into its clear diamond variant for extra protection.

The change spun into completion just in time before a few more spears made out of bones collided with his [Diamond Shell]. Not only it exploded to tiny sharp pieces, the bone spears fragments also turned into gray smoke in the end. The smoke then floated back to the pale skinned woman and she actually breathed them in for whatever reason.

Adrin had never expected any of this. He never thought the [Shell] spellbook was laid with a trap, a dreadful curse, in his case.

But as the wise man had said, fate, it seemed, wasn’t without a sense of irony. The source of his strength had also become his source of great pain.

He took out his oversized gauntlet and modified it to fit on his stump. The metal moved like liquid as they took the form of a hollow metallic arm. A quick replacement for his flesh and bone.

Adrin ignored the quiet gasps as the [Diamond Shell] bought him some time. After securing his metal arm onto his shoulder, he moved it around, checking all the joints. His fingers moved in fluid motion like his own hand and even returned feedback.

The improved magitech-neuro-link was working perfectly.

“Good as new,” he chuckled darkly.

Someone grabbed his arm when he tried to stand up and join the fight. Emilia shook her head, begging for him to stay, but he couldn’t. This undead business had just turned personal.

It had cost his arm for no reason at all.

“I’ll be fine,” he patted her hand with his metal palm. Emilia’s hand jerked away. The cold of the metal might have surprised her, or moving-metal-arm might be too much for her. It was for most people, he assumed.

“Stay in here, I've anchored the [Diamond Shell] to this spot,” he continued before walking out of the [Shell]’s perimeter.

He had prepared a perfect spell for this kind of occasion.

A very lethal kind of [Shell] that even he felt wary to use. Well, not until now. The slotted skill obeyed his command in an instant, and Adrin had formed the special dual-layer [Shell] before triggering the element behind it.

He called this version of [Shell] the [Immolation].

At his command, almost half of his mana turned into superheated plasma surrounding him in its thin bluish glow. The heat conjured from his mana won’t hurt him, but like the sound barrier, he could suffocate if he didn’t prepare a special configuration for the [Shell].

This was the ultimate protection he could think of, well, other than the magnetized version. Adrin knew that she knew about [Primordial Affinity], and he owed it to the princess for keeping his best card hidden.

A few skeletons charged and pounced at him, but their body parts turned to dust as they collided on the [Immolation] barrier. He didn’t even need to do anything but stand idly.

With this, even a blind demon hunter could burn his enemies.

Adrin sighed inside. Clearly, he had played too many games in his past life. He also could tell that all eyes were focussing on him right now. The Matriarch, especially, was looking at him as if he was a piece of delicious meat.

Despite what others might think, this was not his own power. This was all the might of science. With enough knowledge, something defensive like [Shell] could turn into something as deadly as the [Immolation]..

The instructor turned banshee had long stopped laughing when she saw it, and for the first time, there was fear in her eyes. Adrin could tell that she was trying to find a way out of this.

What would happen if he accepted her invitation and went to her place? Would his manhood be cursed by the crazy woman? Do the undead even do it?

“Miss banshee, how about a goodbye hug?” He offered and chuckled as he walked closer.

What he said had triggered something in the undead. She ripped off the necklace around her neck and gripped it hard in her hands. The female seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before she made her decision.

She smashed the necklace onto the ground. The large red gem was shattered, and suddenly, every skeleton in the area stopped moving. They all fall to the ground lifelessly as if their energy was robbed by the unseen.

Without a warning, the huge nearby city wall exploded.

A giant undead monster leaped up and landed not far from the mansion. A pair of glowing green eyes stared down at him.

“That’s an undead giant troll,” said the Matriarch. She wasn’t smiling anymore.

No wonder the walls were that tall.