A strong sensation of vertigo woke her from her long sleep. It was unfamiliar, unlike anything she had experienced in her dreams. Suddenly, an intense pain struck her from behind. The feeling of her bones breaking all over her body caused her to lose consciousness once more.

When she awoke, a sudden spasm caused her body to move uncontrollably. The pain was long gone, but the sensation still lingered in her mind.

She opened her eyes and inhaled deeply. The air was so stale and heavy that she felt nauseous.

“Yuck! Where does that smell come from?”

It took her a while to get used to the smell and regain control of her body, during which time she surveyed her surroundings.

The area was dark, but not entirely dark thanks to small, faintly glowing, light blue crystals dispersed all over the place. The crystals grew along the stone walls, gradually decreasing in size until they reached a crack at the top.

“I fell from up there?!”

Being alive after the fall was amazing, but being unharmed was even more so. Almost as much as the dark fantasy that was the cavern. The absence of natural light, combined with the peculiar blue haze that enveloped the area, made it challenging to discern anything beyond the shapes of objects. At least she wouldn't trip over everything she came across.

Jean noticed a dim light to her right, and carefully stepped down from the rock on which she had fallen. She continued to descend from rock to rock, hoping to find a way out, but instead encountered a cave-in blocking her path.

"Well, at least it's clear which way I can't go!”

She then turned around and descended to the last rock, encountering a puddle on the ground. Though she tried to jump over it, the puddle was too large and covered almost the entire floor. The water splashed up to her knees, causing her to shiver from head to toe.

"Shit! Is it trendy not to pay the electricity bill?!"

Jean persevered and kept moving despite the cold. She was too hungry to stop.

The haze near the ground was thicker, making visibility even more challenging. However, the small blue crystals that glowed in the same shade as the water were also more concentrated. That made it easier for Jean to find a narrow passage in the winding cavern.

“[Mission »Choose your destiny!« updated to: »Reach the surface!«.]”

“[Optional Mission: »Find Ian!«]”

Jean wanted to smile after hearing his name, but the cold didn’t let her do anything more than make a crooked face. At that moment, she remembered the soft touch of the woman's lips against hers. Shivering, she touched them. The sensation was different.

It was pleasant to feel the smooth texture of her skin once more, and the hair cascading down her shoulders. However, none could compare to her new body. There was no trace of her former body. Her voluptuous bust was barely contained by a bra, her belly was flat and fit, her hips were thick and curvy, and her butt was strong, but cute.

“Could it be that I'm like the one I saw at the left door? … Oh! This is my voice now!”

All of a sudden, there was a faint splash nearby. Jean got a bad feeling, so she remained silent, regretting not having kept her mouth shut.

The distant splashing sounded closer and closer. At first she remained calm, but when she heard faint moans, she couldn't help but feel safer climbing back up onto a rock again.

A figure crawled out from behind a bend in the winding cavern.

Jean trembled in fear of the unknown figure. “What the heck is that?!”

Jean froze as the figure slowly advanced. Thankfully, she quickly pulled herself together. Something clicked in her head, forcing her to tense her body. When she saw what it looked like, her doubts disappeared completely.

The figure rose with great difficulty, revealing huge protuberances and deformities all over its body. It was extremely thin and swayed sideways, barely keeping its balance. It was dressed in rags and moved its head in all directions, as if it saw even less than Jean.

At first, Jean thought it was short, but then she remembered she was quite tall.

“What is that? A zombie?”

An emergent brought by the whispers arrived promptly.

Creature: »Infected«

Level: ???

Name: Rikkom

Marks: [Thief], [Traitor]

Details: You are unaware of the affliction that plagues him. This player has been consumed to his minimum expression, making him an insignificant adversary to you.

“Eh?! He's a player too! What could have infected him?”

Jean flinched as he sniffed the air. If she wanted to get out of there, she would have to evade him. But how? He was blocking the only exit.

Jean opened his inventory, finding what she was looking for, and then some. In the first square was the spear. In the next, a roll of cloth, a leather scrap and two equipped pieces of clothing. A pair of panties and a bra. Both primitive looking and made of raffia fabric.

Attracted by her scent, the infected took advantage of her slight distraction to approach her. Not knowing her exact position, he dashed against the rock.

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Jean's pulse quickened dramatically. "Shit!"

It was only a whisper, but it was the trigger for his eyes to glow purple. If this kept up, Jean's favorite color would soon be the most hated.

Jean immediately turned her attention to the spear in her inventory. Just the mere thought caused it to instantly appear in her hands. When the inventory closed, she pointed the spear at him. The slightest contact of the handle against her skin was enough for him to go crazy.

After a macabre convulsion, he lunged straight for Jean, leaving all traces of weakness behind. If the spear hadn't stopped his advance, he would now be digging his scaly, infected fingernails into her arms.

Even though the spear was stuck in his chest, the infected didn’t stop. He advanced forward while the spear began to emerge from his back.

Baffled by his absence of pain, and the shortness of space due to the creature's deranged advance, Jean jumped from the rock.

The creature didn't hesitate. He leaped towards Jean with the spear still stuck in him, managing to reach Jean's hand with his nails. Surprisingly, he barely managed to inflict some minor scratches. Jean's skin was very tough now.

“You son of a bitch!”

Jean gripped the spear tightly and lifted it along with the infected. She then swung it to the right, causing him to impact against the rock. However, not everything happened as she expected.

He fell at her feet and kept moving frantically until he grabbed her left foot. Despite Jean's attempt to free herself, the bastard managed to sink his rotten teeth. Whispers broke out with the bad news.

“[An »Unknown Substance« has entered your bloodstream.]”

“WHAT?! NO, NO, NOOO!”

Until now the fact that he was another player had sabotaged her psychologically. She didn't want to kill him. However, that idea had completely disappeared.

Jean kicked him in the head and distanced herself momentarily to gather momentum. This time she aimed for his arms. After a powerful Stomp, the infected's arms snapped like twigs. However, the infected did not give up. He propelled himself with his legs in an attempt to bite her again.

Jean aimed at his head again. She was managing to keep him at bay, but nothing more.

“DIE, DAMMIT!”

Jean unconsciously increased the force used so much, that she imbued the stomp with a red aura. The impact crushed his head, and his brains ended up all over the floor, staining it with a disgusting black liquid.

“WTF! If I knew it was so powerful, I would have used it from the beginning!”

“[Mission »Reach the surface!« updated to »Prevent the Infection!«]”

"What do you want me to prevent it with?! ... ... ... COME ON! IT'S NOT A GOOD TIME TO SHUT UP! GIVE ME A HINT!"

Two other infected appeared from the bottom of the cavern. One was just as tall as the previous one. The other, somewhat less than she was.

The discomfort caused by the infection spreading throughout her body tormented her like nothing else ever had. The idea of making them pay became stronger and stronger. It all depended on how reversible the infection was.

“[You have been infected with an »Unknown Affliction«.]”

The familiar feeling of helplessness resurfaced. The one that always appeared when she was on the verge of achieving something, but instead covered her in mountains of shit.

“You fucked me up, motherfuckers!”

Jean looked at the ground while holding back tears. She had no experience in combat, except for the occasional slapping and hair-pulling that two adolescent alley cats might engage in. This was a daily occurrence during her rebellious childhood, when she refused to be intimidated by a group of bullies.

What would Jean be like today if the old Jean had not been defeated? Perhaps it was time to find out. Maybe it was time to leave the lid of that grave open.

“Yes, this time it will be different!”

Knowing that she had reached advanced mastery in all weapons, she tightened her grip on the spear handle. She needed everything she could get her hands on, because having a few weapon skills didn’t make her a fighter.

Maybe she could get something out of countless hours in front of video games, dozens of fighting anime and hundreds of action movies. Fantasies that had given her the false security that fighting was easy.

Spear in hand, she advanced against those Dark Souls-like abominations. If those creatures were immune to anything other than literally losing their heads, that's what it all came down to.

The most impatient of the creatures was the first to die. He didn’t even evade when the spear went straight for his head. It entered through his mouth and exited through the back of his neck, severing his spine.

Surprised by her own strength, she smiled maliciously.

She performed a Kick to prevent the second infected from reaching her, and pulled hard on the spear, which was still stuck on the first. She prevented him from getting up by stomping on his chest, and finished him off with the spear.

A third infected pounced and bit her arm, catching her off guard. She attempted to shake him off, but the infected persisted in biting her. However, he was unable to do any damage to her flesh or tendons; he only managed to scratch her skin like an enraged child.

Jean stuck her thumb into his right eye, causing it to burst. She then clenched her fist and squeezed his head, causing his skull to explode and black liquid to trickle down her arms. Shortly after, the infected fell lifeless.

With the spear in hand and drunk with power, she executed a mid-height Sweep attack. She attempted to slash two of them with the tip, but she used so much force that it glowed leaving a red trail. The attack proved to be more powerful than anticipated. The impact shattered their rib cages, breaking ribs and organs in its path.

“Holy shit! I'm the fucking Wonder Woman!!”

The next five received more of the same, but the spear did not seem designed for such fighting styles. Noticing that the handle was splintering from the effort, she stored it in the inventory and stepped back.

She looked down at her fists and charged forward again, full of confidence against a new wave. Her fists lit up with the fearsome red aura as the black liquid splashed everywhere. Whether it was bursting his head like a pinata or turning his chest into a bagel, Jean didn't stop delivering blows for a moment.

After breaking one infected's spine, fatigue hit her subtly. Elevating simple weapon skills to magic skills was an unnecessary expense for some flimsy bastards. She wasted her mana on them, and that could be fatal if she ended up needing it to heal herself. After all, she was alone, and mana didn't replenish quickly.

“It will have to be the slow way then!”

Although she envisioned herself fighting like Bruce Lee, Jakie Chan or Chuck Norris, she looked like a rookie who had entered a ring for the first time. However, that didn't stop the sounds of bones breaking incessantly.

Engulfed in a frenzy of violence, she barely noticed the number of smashed infected around her. The continuous combat and her reckless way of fighting kept attracting more and more creatures.

Some of the infected tried to get up with serious difficulty, but it didn't take long for them to carpet the floor again. Her heart rate kept increasing, but exertion was not the only reason. The taste in her mouth was unpleasant. There was mucus in her throat and her body started to shake like crazy.

“[»Unknown Corruption« has taken root in you. You will soon succumb to its effects.]”