Blood soaked her robe as she staggered with every step. She was on the verge of collapse, but if she stopped, it would be the last thing she would do.
“JEAN! HELP ME!,” he shouted while struggling to advance through the narrowing.
She burned all her mana. A warm stream rushed to the wound and healed her with absurd speed, as if every second was hours of intensive care by the best doctor.
She had gained precious seconds, but not enough. Another slash across her back threw her off balance. She bumped into a wall and dodged another slash just before she slipped into the passage.
Jean hesitated for a moment; the tunnel was very narrow and its walls were full of sharp rocks. However, fear pushed her hard when Rikkom thrust the sword into her left shoulder and grabbed her harness.
She let go of the harness and the belt with the notebook without a second thought. The robe didn't help her much either, it kept catching on the sharp stone walls. However, she refused to take it off; she was cutting her hands and face, and had no intention of suffering the same fate for the rest of her body.
Rikkom kept pace with her until his leather armor ended up getting stuck halfway through. That enabled Jean to advance more carefully.
Finally, after leaving Rikkom's agonizing moans behind, her legs gave way. She was bleeding from multiple cuts and her robe was in tatters, but she was alive.
After relaxing for a while, she healed herself and surveyed her surroundings. The area was large and narrow with puddles of water also filling the ground. However, they were much smaller and shallower, and their color was also different, purple.
The luminescent blue crystals were scarce near the narrowing, but numerous in the distance. That allowed her to discover multiple passages to the bottom. All too narrow except one. Precisely from that one came a constant noise. Something was approaching.
She rose hastily as two purple small dots appeared. The figure turned out to be a huge rat the size of a cat. It had multiple bald spots in its fur, and long, sharp teeth. “Yuck!”
She had no time to waste; she needed something to defend herself with. It didn't take much searching to find several rocks. One of them was perfect for a one-handed grip and had a very sharp edge.
»Corrupt Rat«
Level: 3
Details: You are unaware of the evil that plagues it.
The disgusting vermin charged frantically when it noticed her presence. Jean remained undaunted. She was not going to tremble after what she had experienced.
She positioned herself slightly sideways and gripped the rock tightly. As soon as the rat saw the opportunity, it jumped straight for her throat. It was agile.
Jean blocked it with her arm, but not without consequences. The rat chewed her wrist with ferocity. She shook her arm repeatedly, but that only increased her pain. She clenched her teeth tightly to keep herself from screaming. From experience, noise was not her ally there.
[An »Unknown Substance« has entered your bloodstream.]
“WHAT?! NO, NO, NOOO!”
That was very bad news, but she wasn't about to die for a pathetic, filthy rat. Jean crushed it against the wall. Its squeaking alerted more rats, however, that rat wouldn't be around to see it. Multiple strikes to the head prevented it from doing so.
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 3.]
[Experience bonus awarded for killing a creature corrupted by evil.]
[You have reached Level 4. +5 attribute points.]
Three more rats appeared in a matter of seconds. In just half a minute, there were already 8. The number slowly increased, but not so much that Jean felt overwhelmed by it. They fell one after the other, but not without torturing her arms and legs. Her healing was powerful enough to remove the wounds, but not to prevent the major issue.
[New Mission »Prevent Corruption!«]
"W-What do you want me to prevent it with?!”
The silence of the whispers became unbearable. “Come on!! It's not a good time to shut up! Give me a hint!"
“[We didn't reply because you don't have any skills to counter it!]”
The rats became cautious when she grabbed one of them alive by the neck and used it as a shield. During a small pause in which the evil creatures hesitated, the whispers overwhelmed her with notifications.
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 2.]
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 3.] x2
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 4.]
[Experience bonus awarded for killing creatures corrupted by evil.]
[You have reached Level 5. +5 attribute points.]
[You have learned Guide— Level 1.
Your lack of orientation torments you? You will never get lost again. You are now able to access a small map.]
[You have learned Hunger for Evil— Level 1.
You are made to fight evil, so... why not feed from it? You are able to increase your attributes by absorbing dead evil creatures.]
[Healing Hands has increased up to level 4.]
“Two at the same time?”
“[An anomaly! You have received Guide for being a cleric and Hunger for Evil for the curse.]”
"The cleric one isn’t very useful..."
“[Your perception is wrong. It doesn't look that way in your current situation, but you would eventually need it if you want to exist the depths of this dungeon.]”
“Then I really am in a dungeon! ... How hard is it?”
“[Impossible for your current level! You should be grateful!]”
“Grateful?! Why?”
“[For only encountering low level creatures!]”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"The main priority is survival then! I want to raise my Vitality and Willpower. Can you do that for me?"
Jean didn't feel any immediate changes in her body until the flow of mana inside her slowly became faster and more intense. In addition, it became easier for her to keep moving, as if her injuries were less of a hindrance.
The situation was about to become very frantic, countless rats emerged attracted by the shrieking and blood. The hostage wasn't going to help anymore, so she put an end to its suffering.
Jean backed away with the dead rat as a shield, but that caused the rats to move, splitting up and using the cracks to surround her.
Three rats bit her legs while two others tried to climb up her body. The ones advancing from the front wasted no time either, surrounding her. She charged, enduring the pain, pushing her way into the narrow area through which she had come. She was cornered now, but with her back covered. She had managed to drastically reduce the threat to only two suitors at a time.
««◊◊◊« »◊◊◊»»
Her mana level was dropping rapidly and her wounds kept accumulating. She was exhausted and her arm was about to burst, but she couldn't stop attacking. The points invested in Willpower and Vitality after leveling up were what kept her alive. The four levels gained in those 20 minutes made the difference.
"[Improve your Intelligence as well. It will increase the power of your healing.]"
She could hardly keep up. Blood pooled under her feet and the pain numbed her. She firmly believed she would die there until the flow of creatures slowed. The pile of dead rats had discouraged the subsequent. That gave her some breathing and reduced the fight to just the most fearless ones. But those didn't stay long either. Had the difference in level changed their perspective about her?
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 2.] x16
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 3.] x21
[You have defeated Corrupt Rat. Level 4.] x8
[Experience bonus awarded for killing creatures corrupted by evil.]
[You have reached Level 9. +5 attribute points.]
[Healing Hands has increased up to level 8.]
"Already?!" She had the feeling that it took a lot more time to reach that level. The curse was amazing. Truly amazing. There had to be something wrong with it.
"[Use Hunger for Evil as soon as you can! It will make a difference.]"
Panting, she leaned against a wall. “Now?”
Reluctant, she conjured Hunger for Evil with the rat she was using as a shield. Seeing the skill for the first time was puzzling. Her mana penetrated the rat and nourished off everything that composed it, slowly drying it to dust. Something slowly changed inside her, but she didn't understand how exactly. It didn't heal her or feed her. Nor did it replenish her mana.
"I'm not getting any of this!"
"[Don't stop! Keep absorbing them!]"
At the third rat reduced to dust…
[You have acquired +1 Perception.]
[Progress of Hunger for Evil:
[10] Strength: 28%
[10] Dexterity: 53%
[25] Vitality: 0.1%
[10] Endurance: 21%
[20] Intelligence: 0.1%
[25] Willpower: 0.1%
[11] Perception: 0%.]
Any rat that came to investigate fled in terror at the sight. Before long, the pile of vermin was reduced to dust, with appropriate pauses for rest and healing.
[Pupil of Evil has increased up to level 2.]
[Pupil of Evil — Level 2.
You are made to fight evil. Why not learn from it? You can learn skills from every evil creature your mana comes in contact with.]
[Hunger for Evil has increased up to level 3.]
[Healing Hands has increased to level 9.]
[You have learned Low-Light Vision — Level 1.
Trying to get used to darkness? This will improve your vision. You now amplify the reception of light photons.]
[You have acquired +3 Perception, +2 Dexterity, +2 Strength +1 Endurance.]
"Unbelievable! I have almost acquired the equivalent in attributes of two levels!
"[Indeed! The curse strengthens you by leaps and bounds.]"
"So much so that he tried to kill me for acquiring it!"
“[...]”
The improvement in her attributes due to the skill was minimal in her higher attributes. The creatures probably had very little Vitality, Intelligence and Willpower. She should focus most of her points on improving those.
The amount of points invested made her body tougher and her mana flow and amount bigger. The changes in Intelligence were also noticeable. She had experienced them with her healing speed, but she was eager to try it out with some offensive spells.
She didn't know when she would gain one, but for now she would have to satiate her enthusiasm by trying out her Guide skill. She tried for a while until the whispers told her to close her eyes. Otherwise nothing would appear.
A picturesque map with a full zenithal view showed in her mind. It appeared to be hand-painted with a charcoal pencil in shades of brown. All very artistic. However, when zoomed out, everything began to blur until the outlines disappeared completely. What hadn’t been discovered was still undrawn. Maybe if she used it while resting it would improve enough to reveal much more information.
Above her location, there was another indicator in addition to the blue arrow that showed the direction she was facing. This indicator was a yellow arrow that pointed in a different direction. The whispers indicated that this was her principal mission, and that there would be as many arrows as there were missions she wanted to complete.
She looked back toward the narrowing. The map indicated that Gabriel was in that direction; she would have to defeat Rikkom.
"[We remind you that your blood...]"
"I know! It's infected with the evil that seems to plague everything here!"
Advancing was the only option if she wanted to obtain a skill that would help her. She activated her new vision skill, but barely noticed the difference. She had to wait a while and blink several times until it started to take effect.
"[Explore all the cracks you've overlooked so far.]"
"Give me a moment. I'm still getting used to it."
After advancing at least 20 meters, only the occasional rat was spotted, fleeing in panic into a blind spot when visual contact was made. She didn't know if it was because of her presence, or because of the eyes that held her gaze in the distance.
"[Keep your distance!]"
Jean advanced toward the creature vigilantly eating another rat. It was bald, muscular and huge like a pit bull, and had six legs. It was dark green but had huge purple pustules plaguing its body.
»Osquip«
Level: 9
Details: You are unaware of the evil that plagues it.
The creature stopped eating and growled aggressively. They both stared at each other, but Jean wasn't going to stop no matter how agitated she was. The growling intensified and several rats boldly emerged from their hiding places. Were they members of its colony?
Doubt invaded her now that she was surrounded. They were going to bite her to death if she didn't do something. She had to take them to her ground. She put the sharp rock in her tunic pocket and took a few steps back. The osquip returned to its food, but the rats were still alert.
She gathered several rocks in a pile and waited for the right moment.
[Low-Light Vision has increased to level 2.]
The osquip growled again at the sight of falling rocks nearby. It held its ground as rocks kept flying. However, everything changed when one hit it in the back. It growled in a different way. A new osquip appeared behind the first. She hadn't considered that possibility.
Jean backed away at full speed. She wasn't running away, she had to get to an area that would give her an advantage. The narrow area where they could only attack one at a time was perfect.
Two osquip ran after her along with a wave of rats. The situation looked difficult, but it got harder.
“[You have been infected with an Unknown Corruption.]”
[Mission »Prevent Corruption!« updated to »Cure Corruption!«]
"Does this mean I'm screwed?"
"[If you don't do something, you will die in less than an hour and become an undead.]"
The taste in her mouth turned unpleasant. There was mucus in her throat and her body started to shake like crazy. The fever kept rising and her vision blurred slightly.
She clenched her fists in an effort to control her body and looked straight ahead at her new enemies. "An hour? I have plenty of time!"