"Hold tight, we're going full speed"
The manticore spread her wings and prepared herself for flight. And I, of course, as a rider, needed to grab her fur if I didn't want to fall from her back. The way I was seated was not so safe, so her saying that she was about to go full speed made me gulp.
"W-wait!" I tried to say something. Nonetheless, she blasted off at full force. "AGGGGHHHHH! Blubblubblub." As the wind hit my face, my soul felt left behind my body. I felt as if my face was going to peel off. Still, I strengthened my arms and tightly gripped the fur, even if my fingers were slowly slipping away.
What was the last time that happened when I tried to go out of the cave? Yes, I nearly turned into a rotten. I hadn't thought of this thoroughly, but what if the same thing happens this time? I observed the mechanism why infected people couldn't enter the cave I was in, and how the manticore purified the infected flesh. I had a theory that it was because of the pond of water – no, that was not just water, but a pond of healing water.
The fog created by the pond repels infected creatures, and the manticore boils the flesh with the water from the pond to commit a purifying effect. In fact, I was required to drink from that pond eight times a day. It's my source of life. That's the gist of my understanding, but what will happen if you take me out of the cave where the fog and healing water couldn't reach me?
I closed my eyes and tried not to think. Several seconds from now, I would have my answers. If worse comes to worse, then this is a game over. However, I noticed that the warm atmosphere turned cold... Wind blew past my body, and the flight became steady. The air was getting thinner, I opened my eyes... and saw the sky.
The moon was round... I had never seen the moon so... complete. Ever since I was alive, that rocky sphere was already broken. I thought that the broken moon was beautiful, but the full moon was even more beautiful.
"It's pretty..."
"W-what? Me? Aw... come on."
Fuck you. You? Pretty? Please, just stab me?
"Let's look for a weapon first," the manticore suggested. Right, picking up a sword for me first is a good idea since I don't have any means to protect myself if we get attacked. I would like to observe the topology of the floor and where I could descend to lower floors, but she flew at lower elevations in order to spot rotten swordsmen victimized by the infection. The flight was not too low since there were walking trees everywhere. Yes, they had faces, and one look at their faces and you could immediately see that they were sick as well. The infection didn't have some sort of bias; everyone is treated equally, and everyone will be turned if they are bitten.
A minute of flight had gone by, and I still didn't feel anything. I wasn't turning into a rotten. My hypothesis about the pond might be wrong, but how could I explain that every anti-infection effect centered around it?
"Is there something bothering you?"
I turned my head left and right. "It's just, what kind of water is in that pond anyway? It tastes... different."
"Oh, it's my body fluid."
Before I realized it, I was sweating hard. "What do you mean? What body fluid?"
Her face formed a very eerie smug look, and I prepared for the worst answer she could give. "You don't want to ask," she said.
Maybe, I really didn't need to know. Yeah, let's continue our life like usual and forget what she said. Ignorance is bliss.
"It's my piss."
What the fuck!
Unfortunately, a manticore's piss has a high healing property that gets stronger over time. She had saved all that piss so that she could purify her own food with its healing to purifying effect. And for all this time... I've been drinking on it. Because of this realization, I began to puke.
"Urgh... Gahh..."
We've found one, an infected swordsman. Lucky for me that even as a corpse, he is still tightly gripping his sword, not letting it go. The state of his body was severe; his face was rotting, and I could see his skull. Worms constantly go in and out of his mouth. But, he is not like the granny and the half-cut woman I encountered previously. His intelligence was lacking; his brain had rotted along with his body.
As I think about it, infected could be divided into three categories. From now on, I'll call someone like him, an infected with no intelligence as a 'Rotten.' They had poor battle capability and couldn't use any kind of magic; they could only attack by trying to bite someone to death. The second category are 'Normals;' they are infected like that granny who have the capacity to conduct a conversation and seemingly maintain their memories before turning. Unlike rottens, they are stronger since they had no limiter while maintaining the previous strength of their body. They could possibly use magic as well, and that could be problematic. The third category is just my theory, but there could be infected stronger than normals; I had to call them 'Mutants' since if there is ever an infected stronger than normals, that is when the infection causes them to surpass their original body significantly in intelligence and strength. I wish it's just my imagination acting up, and no such thing exists.
"Keke... Time to show off my skills."
So, I readied my bone weapon. I begged the manticore to let me battle it since it is just a rotten; it had no combat skills. Unlike me, even being a goblin, I maintained my experience as a swordmage from my past life. I could kill it. I'm confident enough to kill it. And I could only imagine it going one way, and that was me beating the crap out of it with a single slash.
"AGHHH!" That was my fierce battle cry. With a single smash with my bone weapon, I hit its head with a bonk.
"AHHH!" That was my frightened cry when I ran away from it, realizing the bonk didn't do anything but irk it. Now, it's chasing me down, trying to bite off my ass. Fortunately, the manticore is quick to react, and her scorpion tail thrust into its chest, then hurled him away, making his sword fall from his hand.
At last, a real sword. Even if the manticore put a large gaping hole in its chest, the rotten didn't die; it just got up back again like he sustained no damage. I picked up his sword and pointed it at him.
"Prepare yourself. Our fight will be epic!"
With a real sword in my hand, this will be easy. I will show off my skills as a swordmage, and why I was part of the hero's party in the past. By the time the rotten goes after me, I had already planned my way of attack. I braced myself and prepared the sword; I shouldn't try to slash it head-on. It's a bad idea since if he gets near me, it doubles the chance that I will be re-bitten. So what I did was that I threw my sword like a javelin.
"Eh..."
It got deflected. The sword reached its head, but the throw was off, and the blade just bounced off as it reached its skull... My arms... They are weak!
"GAHH!!" Now, I was trying to run away again.
After picking up the sword, the manticore and I flew to find something to eat. Of course, the same meal as usual, rotting flesh. It might be good if we could find monsters out there that are normal, but most entities out there are rottens. Normals have better flesh quality, you see, but they could also think, so they are better at hiding.
"What do you like to eat today?" The manticore asked, but no matter what I say, it will end up being rotten flesh anyway.
"Anything edible... I think. I'm fine with anything."
"You need more protein; let's hunt some monsters with dense lean meat."
Protein, huh? I need that. Since I'm trying to build my muscles and strength, I need the nutrients to repair my cells into something stronger. In either case, any meat I eat was enough to give me these nutrients, so it doesn't really matter. What I need is to train myself harder.
*Brmmm*
The sky groaned loudly; my ears were buzzing from the noise. Until now, there was a peaceful sky with all the twinkling stars and shining moon. There were no storms in sight until that grumble. A hole appeared above us, and it swallowed the moon and everything near it... the clouds, the stars, and it kept pulling everything into its mouth. But that's not just it; there were thunders inside where the clouds accumulated... skyworms appeared, waggling upside down, eating and tearing off the birds that came near it...
"What is that?" I asked.
"That's the entrance to the upper world. It opens when the moon points at the center of this floor."
I see, I'm not interested in ascending, so I don't really care about it. If I tried to enter that floor now, surely, I would be eaten by skyworms or hit by lightning since I haven't finished my trial. What I want to find is a way down... but there is-
"Goblin! Brace yourself!"
I was alerted by the manticore, but it was too late before I could react. The thing was too fast that I hadn't caught up with what happened, and I just saw myself falling. What did just happen?
"No!" The manticore immediately tried to catch me as I fell, but she was attacked again. This time, I saw it... it's a fucking wyvern called Night Dragon. The manticore tried blasting it off with its fire beam, but the dragon is fast to react and instead, blasted the manticore off with its poison breath. She then retaliated by stabbing the dragon in its chest with her scorpion tail, yet it didn't die; it was also infected. They continued to bite each other as they fell. And the scene was so mortifying that blood and pus were splashing in every direction.
I looked below me, to where I was about to fall, and saw a bunch of trees. If I am lucky, the branches would slow my landing down, though that's only the best-case scenario. The worst case is when I landed headfirst. I closed my eyes, wishing I will live after this.
*Plack!*
AHH! FUCK! MY ARM! IT SNAPPED! But at least, I didn't die. Though this is fucking painful... my head is getting foggy. I need to get up... If I don't move now... I...
The floor grumbled; the weight of footsteps made it grumble. I looked behind and saw a walking tree approaching. It's not a threat, however; walking trees move slower than a turtle, but their numbers are alarming. I need to get out of this place. I forced myself to stand up, and I saw a cave in front of me. Then I limped towards its entrance. I was near the mouth of the cave when suddenly, the manticore landed and blasted the walking trees away.
I ran away as fast as I could.
"Hey... Why are you running? What are you running!? COME BACK HERE!"
She then got attacked by the wyvern and continued their brawl to death. I do have second thoughts on my decision to escape her, but I still want to go where she couldn't find me. Honestly, I'm still scared of what will happen to me if I stayed with her longer; I don't know her intentions. It's better to move alone and do everything by myself.
I entered the cave and walked through its tunnel. I went deeper, until I saw a faint light towards a hollowed area. Then I entered it...
"Lucky! The goblin gets out of his mommy's basement."
A voice!? A human voice? Shit! My instinct told me to unsheathe my sword, prepare for the fight and sharpen my senses. I looked around my surroundings and walked slowly backward to retreat.
"So, this is the goblin with human memories our majesty was talking about? I see..."
Fuck! He's at my back! I jumped backward to avoid being close to him. He's a tall man wearing cracked glasses. As he talked, he would push the bridge of his eyeglass above his nose.
"Our ambush was a huge success. Good job, glasses."
"My name's not glasses. But you can call me..." The man pushed the bridge of his glasses up. "John."
There was another person at my back, a smaller guy with spiky hair wearing an old scarf. It is noticeable that the old scarf is stitched messily, and there was an incomplete bunny face stitched to it like it was made by a novice child. And it doesn't look like the boy himself made it; there is no hint in his eyes that he possesses the hands to craft, but the eyes that want to destroy... they are bloodshot.
There were also two girls on the far back... One is a short, pink-haired girl holding a staff in the shape of a cross, and another wearing a white hood. Compared to the three... the boy with the scarf felt entirely on a different level. I could feel it... My experience tells me this boy already killed a lot of people in the past in cold blood.
"What the hell are you people? Are you infected?" I asked, pointing the sword at them. None of them were scared at my threat; in fact, the pink-haired girl approached me excitedly.
"Wow! The goblin can talk! SOO AMA-"
SHIT! My hands move on their own, and I tried to cut her head, but the sword got stuck midway on her neck! I couldn't pull it!
"Eh?", the pink-haired girl looked at the sword stuck in her neck. The fact that she's still alive proved she is indeed not a human. The look in her eyes, she seemed a mixture of shock and disappointment. She pulled the sword from her neck then she looked at me; I could feel her bloodlust, and I stumbled on my back.
"Uh-oh," the hooded girl muttered. I don't know what will happen to me. Then...
*Plack!*
"I trusted you!" the pink-haired girl slapped me! I had no other words for it but she fucking slapped me! I thought she was going to bite my face off, but she fucking slapped me! "I thought you are my friend... I thought you were my family. We were supposed to love each other. Bathe with each other's warm hugs. But you hurt my feelings! I hate you. But now that it's come to this..."
Seriously, what the hell is going on? Where is all this drama coming from? She then pulled out a knife hidden on her thigh holster and pointed it at my neck. "I'll kill you! Then kill myself after!"
The white hooded girl put a stop to all that with a hand chop to her head.
"AW!"
"Don't scare our little sibling like that."
Little sibling? What? The pink-haired girl looked at me while rubbing the top of her head.
"Just kidding! You're part of our family. I won't hurt you for real." she said, putting her tongue out of her mouth.
Part of the family... The only good guess of what they mean is that I will turn and become an infected like them, hence, being part of the family. I hate such thoughts. I will never become part of a group, or some bullcrap like a family again. Look at me, I died because I treated the hero's party like we are siblings, how wrong I was with that?
I picked up my sword and stood up. Pointing the sword at them again... Am I imagining it or is it getting hard for me to breathe?
"What are you talking about? Huff... Family? Si...bling? I... won't be like you. I hate people who... who spread their sickness without regards to huff... other's life. Just burn... all of you."
I hate sickness as well. It killed my dog, and whoever tried spreading those things, I couldn't come up and forgive them.
The infected adventurers looked at me in silence, until the pink-haired girl raised a middle finger and shouted.
"Burn this, motherfucker!"
Then her mouth was forcefully covered shut by the hooded girl. "S-shut your mouth, Siela."
I think, it's getting colder. Ah... I know this feeling. Fuck... Why didn't I realize this sooner? It's not just the pond that suppressed the spread of infection inside my body; it's the manticore itself and her body essence. Because I was close to her all this time, I hadn't turned into a complete infected but now that I escaped from her grasp, the infection is starting to spread again... I shouldn't have run away from her.
My left arm has snapped, my right arm is still weak. I am confident at running away, but these people feel faster than I am. I don't know if I could beat them with my current sword skill when I can't even kill a rotten. Shit...
Maybe... I should let myself turn... No! I'm not going to die without a fight. If I had to kill someone, then the scarf boy is the right target. He might be the strongest of the four but if I took out the leader, then the rest might just flee.
I dashed towards the boy with a scarf then slashed him with everything I got. He didn't even move from his position, but every attack I did, he just redirected it away with his martial arts, barehanded. I continued to attack fruitlessly until he kicked my stomach that I've been hurled away. But I immediately stood back up on my feet to try again.
"AGGGGHHH!"
Unexpectedly, I managed to cut off his arm. No, he let me cut it. Then he opened his body wide enough for me to stab his heart. But I knew it was ineffective against someone like him. If I wanted to kill him, I should crush his head. And now, I couldn't pull my sword out of his chest.
"Do we look sick to you? Look," he grabbed the blade and plunged the sword deeper into his chest, causing me to move closer to him. I met his eyes face to face. "I don't die even if you pierce my heart. And guess what, I was once a human whose body was hopelessly weak. I caught a cold frequently, I usually couldn't breathe properly. Now, I'm stronger and better. This is no sickness; this is a cure. Join us and serve our queen. Together, we will-"
I couldn't understand most of what he said; my body was in full pain, as if every blood vessel was being sucked out of my skin. My arm even appeared veiny; my blood vessels were swelling as the infection spread throughout my body. The only thing I knew was that he was offering me to join them, and I wouldn't.
"NO!"
The boy in a scarf sighed, grabbed my neck, and threw me away. I stood up again; I couldn't waste my time lying down if I wanted to survive. Fortunately, he let me cut off one of his arms, or so I thought. He picked up his decapitated arm and reattached it to the remaining portion. He could move his hands again... damn, he could regenerate.
No, it was more than that. His arm swelled and then exploded, transforming into something more grotesque. His muscles tore into several strands and wiggled like tentacles, each ending with fragments of broken bones sharpened into weapons.
This was the thing I had been fearing—a being stronger than a normal infected. My theory was right; a mutant exist.
"You don't have a choice." he said.
The tentacle muscle pierced my body, and I felt the coldness seeping in. I could see my own blood splattering everywhere, showering me in its crimson spray. I couldn't fight anymore. I was so cold... My body was freezing.