I stared at her corpse for a few minutes. The more I looked, the more I understood. Humans have a lot more blood than I thought. The blood oozing out of her in a steady pool was proof of that. All those smears down the hall... were from her. I think. Those sword slashes... on second look I was wrong. They were nail scratches.
I came here to fight the Leviathan... and instead, I'm looking directly into hell!
With tremendous effort, I raised my gaze from the corpse, to look down the hall. The Leviathan is somewhere down- what the hell is that! Eyes. In the darkness, I saw eyes staring back at me. Panting. I heard panting coming from the eyes... something was waiting for its meal.
If it thinks it's going to eat me, it's sorely mistaken.
After a few more minutes I managed to force myself up and ready to venture further. As I prepared to venture down the hallway, my grip on the sword caused my knuckles to go white.
Why am I scared? Death is nothing new to me now.
As if that's something you get used to.
I trekked into the darkness.
...
Princess
"Have you seen Miko?" I asked Nola. It had been a few hours since our weird 'conversation', and I hadn't heard from him at all. So I figured he'd be here, in the lab.
"Well, we talked earlier. Then I suggested he see what you 2 are up to. I'm assuming he didn't though. "
Where is he? I'm going to punch him for making me worry.
"Well, he did for a bit. But he wasn't making much sense."
Internally, I glared at the woman in front of me. How could she interject into his training...
He needs to kill Vakash.
"What do you mean?" She looked at me with interest.
I mean you're a conniving witch. "I don't know, maybe I'm just being over dramatic. Sorry for wasting your time." She put on a fake smile. "Oh, it's no matter. We were just finishing up our research for the day anyway."
Leaving the lab, I began walking to Roan's place. Maybe he'd have an idea of what's going on. He's always been good for me. I wonder what happened between him and my father. Honestly, it might not have even been much. My father isn't good at showing love. But deep down he cares.
Finally arriving at his house, I knocked on the door thrice. One more than the proper way my father drilled into me since my youth. The door opened.
"Roan?"
For some reason, he was in his armor. Doesn't he prefer training without any armor?
"Princess, get your equipment ready. Keep your weapons hidden of course, but we need to go now. Miko is in trouble."
Miko? What? What have you gotten yourself into, you dolt!
...
Miko
I couldn't breathe. Any movement and I would die. Looking out from the cupboard (I think), I watched as 3 of those corpse-like things ate some kind of monster. These corpses were much stronger and faster than the one I had killed. This was made evident when they captured this little rat-dog hybrid, tearing it apart limb by limb.
I almost took the place of that thing. Just a few minutes ago I was walking through the endless labyrinth, past bloodied corridor after bloody corridor. Then suddenly, I heard a squeal followed by snarls. Tearing flesh. I found the cupboard just as I saw that rat dog running for its life. A blur and then all of its legs were gone, lost to these corpses' mouths.
And here I am, hiding in this cupboard. Maybe I could fight them, but I wasn't looking to test that. Not after seeing their vicious takedown.
I continued watching them, as the 2 of them ate-
Eyes. Dark grey eyes. Staring right at mine. A sunken, fleshy face. An exposed jaw, except for a few muscles dangling over their teeth. Which were weirdly flattened. How were they so good at tearing flesh then? Pure viciousness?
It's mouth opened. Was it smiling? I avoided the void of its mouth, lost in the vast emptiness of its eyes.
"Kik kik kik!"
It started making some chattering kind of noise, excitedly smacking its teeth together in rapid succession. In a second, its friends joined, all staring at me.
"Drago-"
Krak!
It started banging its head off the door, not stopping even as it caved in its skull, exposing brain tissue. It was killing itself just to get to me.
Bracing myself, I prepared to launch myself out the cupboard while simultaneously summoning my sword, when the corpse suddenly squealed "Blight! Poison! The end of everything! Die!!!"
I had no time to ponder what the thing just said, as it finally forced its head through the cupboard and bit at my chest. Using my left hand to keep its head at bay, I thanked whatever God there was that his hands didn't break through as well. I summoned my sword and forced it into its neck. No help. These things are already dead... nothing short of dismemberment will work. Haven't I seen this before?
No.
I faced goblins in the tutorial.
Weird...
But that doesn't matter now! It took a bit of precise maneuvering, but I managed to slice off his head, which did stop his feral onslaught. Unfortunately, his friends joined the fight, one of them bursting their hands through the bottom of the cupboard, dragging me out by my legs.
I tried to regain my balance as I was being dragged to my death but to no avail. I heard the clatter of my sword hitting the ground somewhere behind me. Unequip. They instantly were on me, tearing at my armor. I felt my flesh tear as a debuff flashed in front of me-
Necropic Virus- causes 5 damage to health and stamina until cured.
Summoning my sword, I began wildly slashing, cutting through flesh and bone until what was lying on top of me couldn't even be described as a corpse.
Hp- 10/40.
I took slow breaths as my life drained away. I could feel my emotions leaving. Love, hate, pain, strength. Gone. I felt peaceful for a second until that emotion was gone. I was becoming a corpse.
Hp- 5/10
As my vision darkened, I saw my mom. Was I finally meeting her again? It's been so long since-
Miko, you can't die!
No. I- I can't. I- have to conquer the system.
"H- healing to- touuuu -ch" I managed to whisper just before I blacked out.
...
I came to a bright orange light. I saw a... man? Like the ones in the tube? He turned to me and smiled, waving some kind of food.
"Ke vah syah?" (Want a bite?)
...
Princess
"Roan, what are you talking about? Miko- he, he's ok? He has to be, he has the system, he's supposed to be strong!"
He can't be in danger!
Roan looked at me with pain in his eyes.
"Don't put such faith in the system."
What? But it's... it's supposed to save us! Kill Vakash! Confused, I started pacing around my room. As I grabbed my gear my hands were shaking. "Roan... what are you talking about? The system was made to save us!"
"We don't know that." His immediate denial shocked me but also came off as suspicious.
Momentarily stopping, I looked into Roan's eyes. Fear. He can hide his emotions from most, but not me. And vice versa. We could both feel our souls tremble. "Roan, what do you know."
Roan looked at me as if considering telling me some important world-changing fact. Then he turned away. "You need to hurry."
Roan has never hid anything from me...
Miko, please wait. I'm coming.
I grabbed my swords, the good kind that I secretly bought. Father was only happy with my combat expertise to an extent. The world is filled with danger, daughter. This is why I teach you to fight.
We started to leave, but I wasn't fine with Roan withholding information. Not from me. Even before that day... especially after... he's been my hero. I've been his favorite apprentice.
I grabbed his arm. "Roan, don't hide stuff from me. W- what's going on?! What's wrong with Miko."
He looked back at me. Grief and fear in his eyes. "I have reason to believe he visited the Ishaya ruins. I don't know why. But I guess you wouldn't know what that is either. It's existence was scourged from history. Truthfully, many of your generation would know little to nothing at all about that ancient civilization. That's because they created a virus that lead to their extinction. The Necropic Virus. It completely destroys your mind while dissolving your flesh, turning you into a feral, walking corpse. A killing machine."
He continued forward, no longer looking at me. "If he's entered that ruin, he may have reawakened that Virus and it's ancient evils."
I stared forward, no longer registering what he said.
Miko, you can't die!