Jean waited for the small group of undead, spear and shield ready. As they approached, she noticed that they had wounds all over their bodies. Among those in the worst condition, one had no head while the other had it partially deformed. The third had their arms broken and the only exception was the one in the rear. His face was hidden by what was left of a hood and he was hiding his right arm behind his back.

»Undead Human«

Level: 14

Name: Dextrom

Marks: [Thief], [Traitor], [Sacrificed]

Details: You are unaware of the affliction that plagues him.

To her surprise, the hooded undead remained waiting in the rear while the others charged without thinking. They only wanted to harm her without caring about their own integrity.

After waiting for a while, the hooded infected moved, but didn't approach directly. He positioned himself right behind the last undead. Jean never lost sight of him, although she pretended to focus only on those in front of her.

She raised the shield to eye level and attacked the first undead that came within reach. The one with broken arms. Three Deep Thrusts were enough to bring him down. They were a little erratic. She missed one, and hit the other two; shoulder and forehead.

Despite having gained long-range security, the spear and shield felt uncomfortable. Especially the spear. Her attacks were sluggish and failed to land where she wanted them to, possibly because she had no training in weapons. Of course, the undead weren't going to sit still as targets.

If it wasn't for the fact that the Deep Thrust skill allowed her to manipulate her mana to create a phantasmal blade that slightly extended the range forward, she wouldn't have hit him so many times.

She gripped the spear with all her strength and waited for the next one. She aimed straight for the hearth, but missed it, hitting him in the neck. The impact would be lethal if he had a head over his shoulders. She didn't lose her temper, blocking his attack and aiming for his heart again. She didn't miss this time. Deep Thrust pierced through him and hit the next undead slightly enough to destabilize him and make him crash into the shield. Opportunity that the hooded undead took advantage of to attack her.

Jean was already expecting him. She had realized that he would be a damned opportunist as soon as he saw his movements. What she didn't expect was for his attack to be so fast that she lost sight of his dagger. By the time she lowered the shield, the dagger had already cut her belly open. Thank goodness Healing Hands was there to rescue her.

Jean didn't give him a second chance. She performed a shield bash that he barely dodged, letting him defenseless against a Rapid Assault from the spear. To finish him off, a Deep Thrust that pierced his skull, staining the walls with black blood.

An intense feeling of exhaustion took hold of her. Opportunity that the other undead took advantage of, strucking her shield insistently. The corruption of their bodies was truly annoying.

As soon as he got tired of the shield and went for her, a Deep Thrust awaited him. She finished off those who were still moving and turned them to dust right after releasing their souls.

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 8.]

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 10.]

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 11.]

[Experience bonus awarded to the shared experience for killing aspirants corrupted by evil.]

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 14.]

[Experience bonus awarded for killing an aspirant corrupted by evil.]

[You have reached Level 14. +5 attribute points.]

Jean was surprised by the shared experience bonus notification. Did it mean that there was someone else alive besides her? If the members of her group were there, maybe one of them was looking for her.

[You have acquired +1 Perception, +3 Dexterity, +2 Strength,+2 Endurance.]

[You have learned Heavy Strike — Level 1.

Allows you to execute a devastating attack that increases damage by 100%].

[You have learned Swift Strike — Level 1.

Allows you to execute an almost unstoppable attack due to its high speed. That is, it allows you to increase the speed of a single hit by 300%.]

[You have learned Dash— Level 1.

Allows you to move a short distance by triplicating your movement speed.]

[Purify Soul and Deep Thrust have increased to level 2.]

[Evil Coexistence and Hunger for Evil have increased to level 6.]

[Pupil of Evil has increased up to level 7.]

[Low-Light Vision has increased to level 9.]

A new group of undead made their appearance. Eight this time. She had no respite.

Strength: 21

Dexterity: 20

Vitality: 30

Endurance: 15

Intelligence: 30

Willpower: 30

Perception: 17

Jean smiled wickedly. All were less than level 12. None of them had anything to do against her now. Not even another hooded undead. This time she wasn't going to let herself be caught off guard. With the combination of Bash and Rapid Assault, it was easy to break through their defenses. All that was left was to finish them off with Deep Thrust so that everyone ended up with a new eye in their foreheads.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 8.] x2

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 10.] x3

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 11.]

[You have defeated Undead Human. Level 12.] x2

[Experience bonus awarded to the shared experience for killing aspirants corrupted by evil.]

[You have reached Level 15. +5 attribute points.]

[You have acquired +2 Dexterity, +1 Strength,+2 Endurance.]

[You have learned Master Healer — Level 1. Passive.

All healing consumes 5% less mana and repairs damage 500% faster.]

[You have learned Cursed Binding — Level 1.

You expect me to bear this alone? You can transfer the evil in your body to a target to weaken it. Maintaining this link over time allows you to temporarily and gradually steal attributes.]

[Bash, Rapid Assault and Deep Thrust have increased to level 3.]

[Evil Coexistence and Hunger for Evil have increased to level 7.]

[Pupil of Evil has increased up to level 8.]

[Low-Light Vision has increased to level 10.]

“It's a great skill, but... I need something to resurrect the dead.”

“[Wish for it earnestly. Perhaps the Gods will lead you in that direction when you reach level 20.]”

Guilt kept tormenting her. The image of Ned's lifeless body never left her mind. “I owe it to him. There must be some way to make it happen!”

“[You talk about bringing someone who has been dead for days into the world of the living! Do you seek to rival the God of Death?]”

That question made her sound much more pretentious than she intended. She didn't pretend to compare herself to the Gods, she was just looking for a way to make amends for her mistakes.

Martyring herself for the past wasn't going to get her out of there. Furthermore, hunger had reached a critical point. She stepped back and rummaged through the belongings of all the undead reduced to dust. With more sorrow than she would like, she obtained the already corrupted food.

Palliating the corruption after each bite, she selected which of the armor to keep. She needed to occupy her mind in order to endure the terrible taste of the corrupt dried meat. The continued exposure eventually paid off.

[Evil Coexistence has increased up to level 11. Evil Coexistence has ranked up, it's now Level 1. Rank 2. Your ability to remove evil increases significantly.]

Rikkom's studded leather armor was the best choice. It was the only one in which her generous bust felt comfortable. She also took several belts to carry several daggers, a couple of swords and containers for the dried food rations. Her mother always said; better safe than sorry.

Jean kept moving forward, checking the map and examining every nook and cranny for possible threats. What she found, however, were some weapons lying around. The only ones in good condition were an extra spear and a two-handed sledgehammer. A pair of arms on the ground made sure who they belonged to. Who had beaten them to such an extent? Why hadn't they taken the weapons?

Jean assumed that whoever they were didn't know her collector's passion. Before she could think about how to grab everything, her presence attracted the attention of one last figure different from all the previous ones. It reminded her of a soldier; taller and better equipped.

He wore what had once been a full suit of metal armor. Now it was so deteriorated that only a few pieces of leather were left attached to the rusty metal armor. However, that was not the most worrying part. He also carried a large rotten wooden shield that could easily block her attacks, and a rusty spear as big as he was.

»Corrupt Human«

Level: 21

Details: You are unaware of the evil that dominates him.

Jean was confused. What makes him different from the undead? Why did it seem like he had been there for an eternity?

She picked up everything and slowly moved back to a wider area, trying to make sure nothing fell off. Attacking him head-on in that narrow area would lead to a long fight that would simply wear her down.

Noticing that he was catching up with her, she dropped everything that would hinder her except both spears. One in each hand. She calmly aimed at his head and threw the new spear. Jean didn't stop there, she also threw the old one. The soldier easily blocked the new spear; Jean already expected that. But the old spear one took him by surprise. He blocked it at the last moment.

The soldier didn't lower the shield, he held it up, believing that she would throw something again. An opportunity Jean didn't waste. She used the blind spot in his vision and ran toward him.

A splash revealed her approach with a rapid succession of dashes, but by the time the soldier reacted, Jean was already charging with the two-handed sledgehammer preparing to execute a Heavy Strike. The soldier's shield shattered into pieces. Jean immediately performed a bash at his feet. The soldier fell to the ground unprotected.

Counterattacking with the spear in that position would be difficult for him, so Jean raised the hammer above her head. Several Heavy Strikes descended repeatedly straight to his legs while sparks from the metal armor jumped out.

Breaking his legs was more or less easy. The problem came when she went for his arms. The soldier attacked her without caring about the awkward position.

Her wounds were not severe. His spear wasn't exactly at its peak. However, upon being wounded in the arms and legs, she had no choice but to step back momentarily and heal herself. In the blink of an eye, her wounds had healed.

“Holy shit! This is dangerous! At this rate I'm going to lose the fear of getting hurt!,” she thought smiling.

She patiently waited for the opportune moment to deflect the spear with a kick. The spear was finally out of the picture.

The hammer descended straight for his head until the soldier sacrificed one of his arms. He then grabbed the handle of the hammer with his other hand. She pulled the hammer hard, but to no avail. Not even after a stomp on the arm did he let it go.

She released the hammer and went for her spear. It was lying barely a step away.

A dash and a combination of Swift Strike and Deep Thrust were enough to surprise him. The spear entered his mouth and hit the top of his helmet. The impact dulled the point of the spear slightly. It wouldn't last much longer.

As soon as he let go of the hammer and his arm fell limp, Jean attempted to free her soul, but nothing happened. He didn't have a soul? How was that possible?

“What am I missing?”

“[That adventurer died in this dungeon many years ago and his soul was lost in this place. The dungeon transformed his body into… ]”

A strange red mist began to emanate from his corpse, catching her off guard. She recoiled as fast as she could, but the harm had already been done. A strong dizziness forced her to her knees and lean against the wall.

[Pure Corruption has entered your body.]

“Really? This again?!”

She cleansed her body for several minutes. It was exhausting, but she managed to get back on her feet. At first, the intense corruption had taken by surprise, but she got used to it. The increase in rank was a great help.

“[As we were trying to warn you… His only purpose is to spread corruption now. His mere presence pollutes the water and the air, and his weapons are no exception.]”

“I don't want to imagine what would happen if I didn't have Evil Coexistence.”

“[Indeed! By the way... I am surprised by the synergy you have with Pupil of Evil. Not only do you learn skills, but also knowledge. It seems like you've been fighting all your life and you haven't even received any combat training.]”

“Don't belittle me! You made it sound like the credit wasn't mine.”

“[On the contrary! Your ability to manage what you have learned is amazing. However, don't let it go to your head. I don't think you want to lose it for underestimating your enemies!]”

“Don't worry! That's not going to happen! I won't fall until I find Gabriel and kill him with my own hands.”

[You have defeated Corrupt Human. Level 21.]

[Experience bonus awarded for killing a creature corrupted by evil.]

[You have reached Level 16. +5 attribute points.]

[Heavy Strike has increased to level 3.]

[Low-Light Vision has increased up to level 11. Low-Light Vision has ranked up, it's now Level 1. Rank 2. Your ability to see in the gloom is now twice as effective].

[Evil Coexistence has increased to level 3. Rank 2]

“All to Vitality please!”

Before setting off again, the sounds of fighting in the distance startled her. At first, she considered a fist fight, but they were too powerful to be so. She hid and waited for the storm to subside.

Silence reigned again. Jean tiptoed forward as she checked the map every few seconds. It didn't take her long to spot a dot on the map in a rather dark area to her left.

She knew it couldn't be Gabriel because the yellow arrow indicating his position pointed straight ahead. But... Would it be an ally or an enemy?

She advanced cautiously along the sinuous pathway, peeking her head around every corner. On the third one, she found about five extremely mangled undead ahead. Some had their heads smashed to pieces, but most had their arms and legs torn off.

“Jean... Is that you?” A woman's voice startled her from above. A loud voice that started coughing the second she spoke.

Jean thought long and hard about answering, but finally did. “Yes... Who are you?”

“Blessed be the Gods! You are alive! ... Cough, cough! Quick! Hide! There is something dangerous lurking around!”