Wind whistled through the silent forest, spreading spilled blood across the packed dirt. Smoke from dozens of decaying goblin corpses drifted upward, mixing with the air into a thin yet noticeable fog.
And Junior was dead.
No.
My pulse was racing.
I’d killed him.
No.
No.
No.
NO.
No. NO. No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No. NO.
No.
No.
No.
No.
NO. no.
No.
No.
No. No. No.
No. NO.
No.
No.
NO.
No. No. No.
No.
No. No. No.
No.
Please.
No.
The wind stilled, and it became suddenly and deafeningly quiet, as if the earth was holding a breath in.
My hands were shaking.
Rose fell to the floor of her hut, sick of screaming. She cradled her decaying brother in her arms.
“Get it over with,” the goblin hissed.
When I didn’t move, she glared at me. “NOW!”
I couldn’t speak. My throat was choked up. I wasn’t thinking right.
I reached a hand up to rub my face, only to find it drenched in monster blood, much like my clothes.
Did monsters always bleed this much?
{Grind : Shock - system_integrity 80%}
[Regulator : 99%]
I could fix this.
Anything was possible in the second area. Calm down.
My vision sharpened.
[Regulator : 45%]
“Oh,” Rose whispered. She started laughing through blackened teeth, despite her violent shaking. She was scared out of her mind. “You want a pretty girl as a servant, don’t you?”
Rose grabbed a rock and swung it toward her head.
It split into a cloud of butterflies, drifting away.
Rose froze. She reached for another rock only to watch it melt in her hands.
“You’re not going to die,” I stated.
“Stop!” Rose pleaded, dropping her thinly veiled attempt at confidence. “Let me go!” Slowly, she sank to the floor. “Let me go. Please. Please.”
“I—”
I doubled over as a flash of pain rocked my vision, flaring up from the suppression bands as they increased their power. One of the bands had a red-hot spot, dripping molten metal down the side.
I spat on the ground.
“I can…fix this.”
I grit my teeth, pushing against the cuff, only to watch as my mental energy pathetically fizzled out.
{Notice}
[You are undergoing immense mental stress.]
[Xoiae’s [Modified] Cursed bracelet had increased suppression force.]
[Full Resistance : 20%]
The cuffs didn’t even warm.
“I can heal him,” I whispered. “I made a mistake.”
I looked up.
Rose clutched Junior, pulling him away from me.
“I want to fix this.” I said, reaching out a hand. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But I can save him.”
This was the second area.
Here, you could do anything if you believed it possible.
Something flickered across Rose’s expression. Desperation, probably.
She pushed Junior’s body toward me.
And he woke up.
One of the bands exploded, sprinkling pieces of metal across the broken hut.
{Notice}
[Xoiae’s Cursed Bracelet has been tampered with.]
[Xoiae’s [Modified] Cursed bracelet has increased suppression force.]
[Full Resistance : 100%]
~
{Grind : Shock - system_integrity 70%}
[Regulator : 99.99%]
Rose screamed, throwing her brother away.
Or what was left of him.
The flesh melted off the goblin in a puff of mana, till only his bones remained. This ignited with ghoulish light, forcing the goblin to stand like a puppet, dragged up by a knot of tangled strings.
“What?---” I staggered, unsteady as my braces bit into the back of my mind. But I had to know. Something was going wrong.
{Zombie Goblin}
[1k Hp 2k Str]
[This is a Zombie-type unit. Zombie type units grow stronger by feasting on the dead.]
Rose was hyperventilating, pushing herself against the side of the room with her hands over her face. “STOP! ENOUGH!”
I reached toward Junior.
He lunged at me, clawing at my face like a wild animal. His nails of bone clacked against my skin, chipping at the ends.
“Junior?” I called, pinning the boy to the ground. “Do you hear me?”
He thrashed, breaking a finger in the process.
“JUNIOR!” I shouted. “DO YOU HEAR ME?”
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I needed more power. More mental energy. I—
A branch of wood smashed against my face, blasting to pieces. Rose staggered, dropping the stump of the branch she’d hit me with. Instead, she grit her teeth, pulling up rocks from the floor and attacking me.
“I’m trying to help your brother!” I shouted, pushing her back.
She crashed through a wall of the wooden house, tumbling into a puddle of blood-soaked mud. I hadn't wanted to hurt her, so I hadn’t dealt any damage.
Junior’s thrashing became more violent, tearing into the packed dirt floor.
And he got a lot stronger.
{Zombie Goblin}
[(+10k) 10k Hp (+20k) 20k Str]
[This is a Zombie-type unit. Zombie type units grow stronger by feasting on the dead.]
[This unit has been infected by [Unknown Infection]]
Rose coughed, pulling herself to her feet, caked in mud and broken pieces of foliage. She picked up another rock.
I grit my teeth. “Rose! I’m trying to save your brother!”
She pointed at Junior. “That…thing…is not my brother.”
Junior howled, growing additional plates of bone.
And then, he vanished, shooting like a bullet through the earth. I slammed a heel into the ground. Soil blew into the air as the shockwave destroyed everything in sight, blasting apart the remaining houses, shredding the forest canopy.
Junior spun in the air, clinging to a nearby tree.
Rose hit the ground with a crack, immediately pushing herself from the blast zone on her hands and knees. One of her legs had been broken.
I grit my teeth.
Idiot. Yes, I wouldn’t deal damage if I didn’t consider her an enemy, but she could still break bones! Worse, there were other monsters in the forest. She couldn't possibly survive.
I was breathing heavily.
Junior was getting away. Rose was closer, but less of an immediate problem.
What was I supposed to do?
I Reached the earth like pulling a carpet dragging Rose to the center of the crater.
Rose needed immediate medical attention. Besides…I was starting to get an idea what happened to Junior, and it wasn’t looking good.
I had to protect who I had for as long as I could, before trying anything risky again.
I took deep breaths, raising my hands in surrender as the girl approached, fighting desperately against the current. “I’m trying to help you, okay? Please. Calm down.”
Rose’s eyes snapped white, and she relaxed.
My stomach churned, but there was no other option. If I didn’t give her a command, she’d only hurt herself more. “I was trying to stop infected monsters in this area. I didn’t know there was a family of uninfected goblins here. I’m sorry, and I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I’m strong, so I can fix this. I don’t want you as a slave. I just want to stop sick monsters from killing everyone.”
Rose nodded. Her eyes were still white.
“I’m going to heal your leg,” I said, preemptively focusing my mental energy. “After that, you can help me find Junior if you want, okay?”
Her leg clicked into place.
There was a flicker of color and Rose returned to normal.
She scrambled into the forest, scratching her arms and legs on splinters and torn brush, vanishing in an instant.
That was her choice. No surprises there, really. I could only hope she’d be safe for a couple minutes while I saved Junior. I had to save Junior, or Rose would never forgive me.
It was going to be okay.
I was strong now.
I could make it okay.
A crash shook the trees as I started running, keeping my stats low in case I ran into Junior.
Smoke filled the air.
I ran faster.
Junior stood ontop of a dead bear, biting bones before they turned to ash. Each would flash red, resulting in a notification to his system.
{Zombie Goblin}
[15k Hp 27k Str]
[This is a Zombie-type unit. Zombie type units grow stronger by feasting on the dead.]
[This unit has been infected by [Unknown Infection]]
I didn’t wait for him to register my presence. I just aimed my arms at him, midair, teeth grit.
“Restore,” I commanded.
The zombie glared at me, skittering back into the undergrowth.
The bands on my wrists were getting colder, not hotter.
“RESTORE!” I shouted, and the sky shook.
{Notice}
[You are undergoing immense mental stress.]
[Xoiae’s [Modified] Cursed bracelet had increased suppression force.]
[Cursed bracelets have increased suppression force beyond healthy human limits. Side effects may ensue.]
[Full Resistance : 110%]
The bands were freezing now. I just had to ignore it.
“JUNIOR!” I shouted. “JUNIOR STOP!—”
He wasn’t listening, which meant he wasn’t an Npc anymore. I could only assume that when he died, the game deleted all of his data, like how it would with a player after one week. When I tried to revive him, there was simply nothing to revive.
This was a lost cause from the very start.
The zombie flung from the treetops, clutching my face in his hands. He slashed at my eyes, dealing some minimal damage as I grabbed him by the neck.
Focus.
I took a breath in, choking on the sudden humidity of the air around me. My skin burned, cutting on stray bits of grass in the air. But more than any of that, the sounds of the world became suddenly and deafeningly loud, as if I’d cranked up the volume.
I was going to have another breakdown.
My vision twitched to the bare patch of skin on my left arm. If I didn’t get Xoiae’s help soon—
Junior bit into my neck.
Before he could, a fist hit him in the face, vaporizing his entire body.
Catania whistled, landing next to me with a thud.
“Phew!” She said, grinning as she bopped me on the shoulder. “I was wondering where you ran off to. Soise was getting worried…” Something in my expression caught her attention. She backed off. “Grind?”
“I’m…” I cut off, watching the churning smoke. “I’m fine.”
Junior was dead.
I wasn’t strong enough to bring him back.
Maybe if I’d been faster.
Maybe…
Catania cleared her throat, a sound that rang around the inside of her helmet. “Anyway, Soise was getting worried since your earpiece stopped working.”
“My earpiece?” I muttered, plucking it from my ear. Sure enough, the internal components had melted and the enchantment was no longer present. “Sorry.”
“Save it for the captain,” Catania laughed. “She’ll kill you if she learns you broke a band.”
“Yeah,” I said. “There’s someone important who lives in this forest. A friend of mine.”
Catania got serious fast. “What—what’s another player doing?---”
“She’s not infected, so there’s still time,” I stated, starting off at a sprint with Catania close behind. “I made a mistake and someone died, so she ran, which I can’t blame her for. But this forest isn’t safe. I need you to circle around the east side of the forest. Look for a goblin with—”
Catania caught me by the shoulder. “A goblin?”
“Yes,but an Npc—”
“Grind, we’re killing the goblins.”
“I know, but she’s not infected—”
“Grind.” Catania looked me in the eyes. “We’re killing all the goblins.”
I had to stop and process her words before their meaning finally registered. “All the goblins?”
“Everything.”
“This is a nature preserve,” I stated. “The Union lets monsters stay here.”
Catania just looked at me. “Grind. You know why they let monsters stay here, don’t you? They stay here for training practice, so the relatively safe regions nearby get combat experience before an actual fight in a dungeon or something. We already have to exterminate everything in the preserve every few months, or the monster populations could get out of control, so this isn’t anything out of the ordinary.”
She watched me. “Monsters are bad, remember?”
I watched her.
“Grind?”
[Your aura has been weaponized.]
The ground exploded beneath me as I ran, straight east, blowing apart the rocks and brush in my path. Catania began shouting at me before the distance between us cut her words off.
My momentum carried me through one side of a mountain, stopping over a valley, filled with burning wood.
Players moved somewhere below, in combat with an infected two-star core who’d broken from their dungeon.
I ignored my teammates, crashing into the top of a large tree.
Other than the sound of fire and distance fighting, the forest was silent. The infected monsters had already killed everything smaller than them.
I didn’t have the time to look around.
“Rose!” I shouted. “Where are you!?”
Some of the sounds of battle cut off, drawn by my voice.
I had to move faster. I could explain everything once I knew Rose was safe.
Before I shouted a second time, I heard a voice chirp up from the foliage.
Rose stood up in the middle of a field. She looked at me with pale, white eyes.
This had to be done.
I jumped.
Master Jujud grabbed me by the arm, stopping my momentum.
“Grind? What’s going on with you?” She asked. “Catania’s hysterical.”
Her eyes locked onto the bare skin around my right wrist.
This was going to be hard to explain. “I—”
{Bond Severed : Rose}
[Rose has contracted [Unknown Affliction]]
No.
I broke from Jujud’s grip, reaching for Rose’s screen.
Master Jujud pulled me back. “Grind? Do you hear me? We’re—”
“LET ME GO!” I shouted.
Her grip tightened. “Grind.”
Rose jolted awake, breaking from her trance into a stumbling run, before her legs gave out from under her, throwing her to the ground.
Black veins and patches crept up the sides of her feet.
Her screen fell to the ground, bonking on an exposed root.
But not before I’d seen it change.
{Notice}
[Rose has been Afflicted with [Unknown Affliction]]
// {Notice} //
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