Axel heard a voice as he tried to open his eyes.
"The corruption.. spreading.. must.. stopped." The calm voice said but Axel couldn't hear all of it. It must be because of exhaustion or because of his injuries. He once again lost consciousness as a faint light covered his vision.
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"Are you done?" said the girl as she was sharpening the tip of a stick. It seems as though she's gonna hunt for food even if it's clear from her body that she was only 14-15 years of age. She had long green hair with a face that was above average of the normal beauty seen by many.
"It seems that the corruption has stopped but the curse is still within his body. After he wakes up, I need to ask him some questions, maybe he knows what happened to the village, maybe he even knows why it was destroyed."
With the way he looks, the man can be considered a priest in the Church of Maia, a church that has influence all over Alnizia and teaches people the divine tongue used to cultivate the divine energy within. He was holding a kid, maybe only five years of age. The kid was playful and was climbing on top of the priest, he had similar hair to the girl, it is quite possible that the two were related.
"If something really did happen and Old Man Kress didn't have the strength to stop it then you won't be safe here. The best choice for you is to ask for aid. The church is willing to shelter the both of you." added the priest as he carelessly lifted the boy up into the air.
"No, I'll stay here for a few days, that fat geezer is too tough to die. And even if he did die, I won't ask the church for help. I don't trust them, I don't even trust you." she coldly said as she continued sharpening the tips. Beside her were dozens of arrows she'll need for a hunt.
"Well okay then, but if you ever decide to ask for help, you know where to find me. I'll be on my way. I still have to investigate what happened to the village. I'll come back after a four days." the priest stood up, he ruffled the boys hair as he left the wooden cabin.
The boy now headed towards the girl, he knew how to cheer his sister up, he climbed and hugged her. The girl showed a bitter smile as she embraced his little brother.
"No matter what happens, I'll protect you." The boy cluelessly laughed as he became happy when her sister hugged her. His innocent laugh filled the room while the man slept recovering from his injuries.
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A rough cough suddenly made Axel conscious, as he looked at his surroundings, faint smell of the aroma of cooked stew was apparent. The cabin was small and was made of wood. It could be said that it was a little shabby but even though the place was creaky and wind was flowing through some wooden gaps, it made him feel at home. He tried to get up but the pain in his right arm suddenly jolted, it's as if a thousand needles pricked his arm as he got up. He noticed a girl stirring the pot near the fireplace. She noticed Axel was awake and said, "Good thing you're awake. I was about to dig a grave for you if you didn't wake up tonight." She kept stirring the stew as her little brother tried to climb onto the bed to to play with Axel.
"How long was I out?" He asked with a dry mouth, some words were barely understandable.
She grabbed a glass and filled it with water as she approached the wounded man.
"Three days, I have some questions but drink and eat first. I don't want to kick you out until I get my answers." She handed the glass of water and took her brother away as he drank the whole thing quickly. As the three of them ate, she was wary of the man, checking if he makes sudden movement that might threaten her or her brother. She was on high alert because their supposed guardian has gone missing.
After eating his fill, Axel put aside the plate and asked, "What questions do you have?"
She was focused on feeding her brother as she paused and said, "Have you met an old fat geezer while you were in the forest?" She was still avoiding eye contact, her cold voice resonated in the room.
"Yeah.. He tried to fight.. even injure that thing but.. I was too late when I saw him." Axel recollected his memories of the tragedy that happened. He wanted to convince himself that it was all a dream but his injuries made him think otherwise. He felt pain and helplessness, it wasn't the first time he felt this though, many times in his life, he suffered many adversities but this was the worst of the worst. He feared death when he thought he already accepted it.
"I see.." The girl tried to hide her sadness but her voice trembled a little. She stood up and gathered her things.
"What are you doing?" He asked as he was clueless as to what's going to happen next.
"Tomorrow, I'll be leaving with my brother, this place isn't safe anymore if that geezer died from someone stronger than him. " She gathered all the essentials.
"Then let me help you, my wounds haven't healed yet but if there's only the two of you, it might not be safe out there."
"We're going to be fine! We're always fine!" Axel was surprised when she shouted at him, her tears fell as she tried to put on a strong face but in the end, she's just a little girl. She felt helpless, now more than ever.
"The old man, before he died he asked me to look for the two of you. In the end, he was still thinking of how to make you guys safe. I promise that I'll keep both of you safe in his stead." He retorted as he tried to strengthen his resolve.
'If I can't protect these two children then what kind of god am I?' The bitter feeling of weakness he felt when he encountered that woman. He doesn't want to feel it anymore. He wants to become stronger. The strongest of gods, his conviction has formed.
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A couple of days ago.
In the forest where the Goblin Zombies swarmed.
"Man this is too much of a drag. I wonder why those bastards made me clean up this mess? I don't have time to be doing something like this." Her spear was drenched in black blood as the drops flowed on a mountain of corpse as she stood on top of it. This person was a dragon knight, a knight born in Wyrmont, the fortress city nearest to the village of Geton.
"We're almost done here princess. I never expected that there would be so much. The miasma is thick as well, I think a demon spawned nearby." The man was the priest who healed Axel a few days ago. He started chanting and white rune symbols suddenly appeared out of nowhere removing the leftover miasma in the area.
"Who cares? Demons and Monsters, they're all the same. Are we done here? I don't want to stay here any longer, it reeks!" The girl was strong even though she was noticeably young, one can only be curious as to what kind of person she would grow up to be. Already at the age of 16, she was anointed as a Dragon Knight, a prodigy from the Kingdom of Wyrmont, she was Princess Kyra ' the Ember Maid' Ulterax.
"There are demons that even you can't handle right now princess. Until you've managed to master wielding Ascalon then I don't even you could be called invincible." The man smiled as he meant what he said with respect. It seems as though Kyra along with the priest was sent to investigate the huge miasma sensed by the Church of Maia near the village of Geton. After reaching their destination, a horde of Goblin Zombie have surrounded them leaving Kyra with no choice but to slaughter all of them.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Let them come, I haven't had any trouble with my battles lately, it's becoming too boring. A princess such as I should occasionally be caught in trouble and have that trouble be smashed to bits." The princess had a strong personality to her maybe it's because she was born in the ranks of nobility or maybe it's because her family was proudly dubbed 'the dragonspawns' that she has a willful aura around her.
"You have a funny humor princess but in case you get into trouble who would save you?" The man again smiled as he continued his banter with the princess.
"Who knows, there's nothing I can't handle anyways so no sense in worrying about that. We're leaving." Kyra wiped the blood on her weapon and strapped her spear to her back as she descended from the pile of goblin corpses.
"As you wish." The man obediently followed his companion.
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Dawn broke as the lamp was lit inside the cabin, two people were awake, one was a girl and another a god. They were preparing to leave the place as soon as the sun rises.
Title: Corrupted One
Information:
Now that the divine body is corrupted. A god is now cursed to walk the path of man.
• Darkness Attribute has awakened
A High Curse has been inflicted upon you:
• Ethereal Form is now disabled
• Wrath Form can not be self triggered anymore
• Entering the church or any holy place gives you minor damage over time
•Your luck now fluctuates
'Crap! What happened to my title? Does this mean I'm not a god now? What's happening!?' Axel thought inwardly as he stared at his new title. Luckily, in this world titles aren't shown to others but are rather only shown to the people possessing them.
"What's with that pathetic look on your face? Can't you look a little bit more decent?" The girl was annoyed at the face Axel was making.
"Sorry about that." He collected himself as he started rummaging through the old weapon stash left behind by the old man. Inside were basic weapons like sword and daggers so he conveniently took them out and will be using them for future battles.
As the sun rose, the bright rays lit up the forest surrounding them, it was the perfect time for them to leave. Axel isn't much of a fighter right now and he's even gotten a restriction because of a high curse. The scar on his right arm shows that although the corruption had stopped, it was a bitter reminder of what transpired. Axel wore a loosely fitted cloak which belonged to Kress and had a sheated sword and dagger ready for combat.
The lush forest barely showed the dirt path heading west towards Wyrmont, the bushes contained berries that the girl constantly harvested, it seems like she was used to foraging the forest. They would stop when the girl sees animal tracks and hide when monsters passed. Axel felt like he was the one being protected by the girl and it was awkward. Few hours passed when the girl suddenly stopped near a huge tree with weird inscriptions written on it's bark.
"Are we resting here?" Axel cluelessly asked.
"Yeah haven't you heard of a sanctuary before? Weak monsters don't gather here because of this tree's protection."
If only her cynical reply didn't annoy Axel, he would've been in awe of her knowledge. He looked at the huge tree and guessed that it was about 30 feet tall. A huge tree compared to the other ones nearby. He touched the inscripted patterns and felt like there was a electricity flowing from the tree through him.
"This world, it's filled with mystery." Axel felt calmly as he tranced for a bit until someone threw a rock on his back.
"Hey I'm gonna gather some firewood, be sure to guard Val." she unapologetically said as she remained distant from him.
"Val?" Axel was again clueless.
"My brother Valion! Urgh! Are you dense or something?" An irritated face didn't mess her beauty at all, her charm was simply unique.
"I see, my name's Axel. What's yours then?" He wanted to ask for the longest time but he couldn't find the right timing until now.
She turned her back and said, "Elea.. My name's Elea." Her figure left the area soon after she said her name to gather firewood. The coming hours were really boring as Axel played with Val. The kid was simply laughing at everything he does whether it's for simple things like digging dirt or finding small insects.
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It was getting late, Elea was about to head over to Val and Axel when she saw a group of Goblins following an Ogre. This was terrible news! An Ogre can be regarded as a boss monster in these parts of the forest and it was coincidentally walking towards their camp. Even if the camp was protected by the tree, only the Goblins might be deterred to not approach it and the Ogre will definitely ignore the tree for some quick meal. She cautiously followed the group as they made their way to the camp. Her heart almost crumbled when she sensed the killing intent of the enemies. She knew that Axel didn't even had any professions so his combat skills might be lower than hers. She didn't think of anything else but to draw her arrow and shoot the enemies to distract them.
She accurately shot one of the goblins from behind as she hid herself from the trees. The enemies were now aware that she was there but even so, they ignored her and charged towards Axel and Val!
Axel saw the monsters as he hurriedly grabbed Val while he was sleeping and wielded his dagger. He can't use his sword with full force since he was carrying the child and it was a bastard sword so it was too unfamiliar for him to use properly. He knew that the tree will give them some protection but the Ogre resisted the magic covering the area and walked inside with a grin on it's ugly face. If he can't fight with his full power then there's no chance for the both of them. The goblins looks as though they can't enter the area so he would only be facing one opponent but it was strong enough to ignore the protection so it was not wise to underestimate it. He placed Val near the holy tree and wielded the bastard sword with both hands instead. He hid the dagger in his back in case he needed it though.
The battle was about to start when two arrows dug deep at the back of the Ogre, the monster felt the attack and touched his back only to realize the excruciating pain. It shrieked in agony as the two attacks hit his upper back. It was a chance! Axel charged screaming as he rushed towards the wounded monster. The Ogre saw him and used his large hands to swipe him, pushing him a few meters back. Axel barely guarded from the attack, good thing he realized the monster's intention. Even though the monster has been wounded, it wouldn't back down that easily. Once again a few arrows flew from the dark and hit the goblins waiting outside the barrier. The monsters were scared out their wits and even though they weren't fataly wounded, they feared that staying hear any longer would be the end of them. They left the Ogre as they scrammed away from the camp.
The Ogre was now filled with rage as he saw his lackeys leave him. He ran towards Axel preparing to tackle the man but an arrow hit his legs as soon as soon as he started running. This was a chance for Axel to deliver the final blow! He is now the one who's running towards the Ogre and prepared one final blow to kill the monster. The monster seeing the attack guarded using his arm to prevent the sword from hitting his head. The left arm of the Ogre was sliced off as the blood gushed out of it. Another scream of pain was heard as the birds flew off frightened by the cry. The Ogre quickly grabbed Axel and smashed him to the ground, this took Axel's breath away, the Ogre didn't stop there, he kicked Axel to a fair amount of distance.
He was certain that a few bones were broken when he was smashed and kicked but he sloppily stood up as if telling the monster that he wasn't done yet. He knew that if he were to give up now then not only him but Val would be in danger!
"I'm not giving up! I'll die before I get beaten by monsters like you again!" His eyes were bloodshot as he once again charged towards the Ogre, a few arrows helped distract the Ogre as he used every ounce of his strength for to truly bring the decisive blow.
For a split second, Axel felt his right hand throb, when he looked at it, the hand was releasing a faint dark glow that covered even the sword. A thin veil of dark energy covered the sword, but he didn't care about it now. He knew that he needed to end the fight before thinking of trivial things. Out of breath, he jumped to strengthen the attack and the Ogre helpless as his two legs were disabled by arrows can only block the sword using his other hand. The attack connected and sliced off the right arm clean off the Ogre but he didn't stop there! The sword made it's way through it's arm to the head and into the thick skull, the blood of the Ogre gushed out of it's arm and sprayed onto Axel. He and the monster fell down. He took deep breaths as his heart beat hard. He noticed that his hands were shaking because of the intensity of the battle. He felt power for once, and it gave him a sense of joy.
From afar, Elea was sprinting towards the sleeping Val. He woke up when Elea hugged her tight as tears fell and her body shook thinking of the fact that he was close to being in danger.
"Big Sister?" As he woke up, a smile was written on his face that says welcome back as he hugged his sister back.
After that, a clap was heard from atop the holy tree.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
A girl wearing dragon armor jumped down and said, "Not bad! You guys suck at fighting but you held your own against that one. Well if that guy did back down maybe I would've killed the Ogre but man the tenacity of that guy was off the charts! Does he have a death wish or something?" The lady with a satisfied look on her face stood in front of Elea.