The air exploded and the tunnels thundered. The force broke Rana’s defense and she let the momentum carry her tumble into a sprint. The walls growled and ravenous fangs launched towards her, their blades looked to pierce her fragile skin. She dove into the ground, the burst of speed helped her elude the maws of death.

There was no rest, however, as mana behind her gathered into an explosion of energy that cut through the air. The vertical slash razed the earth blocking its path. Rana threw out a wisp of flame, the Fool’s Fire caught the soaring slash and the two colliding energies exploded, disintegrating any unfortunate worms caught within.

Stones and dirt collapsed and created a blockade in between Rana and her pursuer, but she knew the obstacle was only a slight inconvenience for the greatsword wielding marked one. He slammed his blade and parted the obstruction. It was barely a delay. The dust cleared and before her stood the bloody visage of her pursuer.

The marked one slouched as he barely held onto the weight of his weapon. His shoulders heaved slowly as he used the giant slab of metal between his arms as support. He already stopped bleeding but his pierced flesh remained festered with the grime and dried blood plastered on his armor.

No human could’ve survived such severe wounds, but there he was standing, unrelenting in his pursuit of Rana. His body was on the brink of destruction and his mind would soon follow. The only force driving him was his obsession with vengeance. The only monster that he could inflict his wrath upon was the zombie before him.

She wanted to believe this was undeserved, that she had nothing to do with the death of his allies, but she knew she was wrong. Rana stayed her hand and didn’t help them. That was why they all perished.

It was a miracle the man was alive. It was thanks to Unyielding, a tier-three Talent that increased the marked one’s VIT, SKL, and AGI stats based on their missing health. It also had to be of a high rank to allow the mortally wounded man to shrug off the damage of having multiple puncture wounds in the body. However, the Talent would not allow a person to survive fatal blows and it had a high Focus requirement. It was when the mage-class ally detonated his mana core and filled the battlefield with the light element, it brought the man back from the brink of death, healing him just enough so that Unyielding managed to activate.

Rana had no time to dawdle. She turned and ran into a corridor made of stone walls. It meant these halls were armed with traps. She quickly identified the nooks and crannies hiding the Dungeon's malicious intent and avoided their triggers.

She stole a quick glance behind. Her pursuer focused only on his target and paid no attention to the inconsequential attacks from the walls. Hidden arrows bounced off his armour, spikes broke upon contacting skin, and blades passed by harmlessly over his neck. He was unfazed. The man’s Status must’ve been ridiculously high for his VIT stat to shrug off the traps like that. He wasn’t even slowed. If it weren’t for his broken body, the AGI increase would’ve no doubt already overwhelmed Rana.

She sensed the gathering of mana, the man was about to fire off another Rend Air. His mind was broken and his body was not in a condition to store and generate mana effectively. He fired off Skills the moment it was ready. Thanks to this haste, Fool’s Fire was able to infect the projectile and implode it from within. However, she chose not to intercept the enemy attack and let the attack fly across the corridor, triggering all the traps along the way.

She dodged the strike and raced towards her pursuer. He was out of mana and the terrain condition was in her favour. The man stepped in a forest of blades and arrows. He lifted his greatsword and prepared to swing it across. In his enraged state, the man brute forced his swing instead of looking for a true strike. It gave Rana an opening. She ducked and tumbled forward, the array of triggered traps halted the speed enough for her to barely scrape through.

Rana shot a Mana Blast towards a wound, a hole revealing his innards. The man flinched and her theory was proven to be correct. The Spell was costly and did little damage, the level difference was just too high, but she had gotten the result she needed. The organs were still critical weak points and it allowed an attack go through.

She traced her steps back, careful in avoiding the Rot Eaters. She had one path to victory and she had to time it right.

Rana stood before the exit to the hall where the adventurers fought the Rot Mother and waited. She waited for the man. His steps echoed in a steady beat. It was at first muted, but it then became clearer until he appeared around the corner. She counted the rhythm of his steps. One. Two. One. Two.

The man was upon her. She needed to survive for four seconds. The blade came down, the shock threatened her stance but she grit her teeth. The tip of the greatsword retracted and a thrust nicked her cheek. She stumbled backwards but regained her footing. She began to widen their distance and remained dancing on the edge of his attack range. It was easy to predict those who moved according to their baser instincts.

It was time.

Rana leaped backward. The distance between her and her pursuer was too close for Rend Air. The first instinct any swordsman would have if they wanted to chase and cut down a hated opponent was to unleash another Skill.

Mana gathered as the pursuer pulled his blade back. He thrust his greatsword forward, the mana within swirled around the blade and guided the massive body behind forward. The Lunging Pierce came. Rana released her Fool’s Fire, the wisp ignited the rampaging mana around the sword. She tapped the floor with her feet and gathered mana within her arms as she shielded herself.

When the Rot Mother shrieked it terrified her children. The Rot Eaters part of the attack laid dormant, fearful of what caused the queen of the mines to flee. However, even though monsters had emotions, there was something that overrode everything, something that takes precedence over whatever they felt. That was hatred. Hatred was the reason for their existence.

The aggro was triggered. The explosion pushed Rana away and dispelled the Skill, stopping the charge of her pursuer. Rana slammed into the wall due to the force. The chill in her body spread and she knew her health was low. However, her mind did not sleep and her pursuer was where she was before the explosion. Rot Eaters launched out of their hiding and plunged into the man. His skin and armor deflected their pitiful attempt, but many found their way into his soft innards.

The man dropped his blade and screamed in agony. He convulsed on the ground like there were springs activating inside. He jolted forcefully and contorted as bits of blood and flesh sprayed onto the ground. His skin broke from within, revealing bones and the pests consuming his body.

Rana stood up. She could not do anything to ease his pain. She was too weak to even grant him a swift death. The only thing she could do was watch as the chip damage to his health inflicted a massive amount of pain. His screams turned into a gurgle. The worms made it into his throat. Rana didn’t know how long he suffered but the body eventually laid still. Chip damage or not, when their health reached zero there was no coming back. Rana was the exception and the man was not.

The man then began to morph as evil mist bubbled on his body, boiling all the Rot Eaters within. The darkness released even darker steam and the body began to contort into a condition no one should have to be in. It was inhuman.

Rana was not scared. She expected the chance of something like this happening. She simply didn’t know how to feel. It was what she was searching for, but it also meant she was the cause of despair so great the man was condemned to become a curse. She was responsible for such evil and who could say it was better than death?

Rana flicked her Status.

[HP: 4/100]

[Decaying: duration (4) hours until degeneration]

She smirked. To think her life was saved through such a despicable act. In order to carry out her duty, in order to live, she had to condemn someone into an eternal servitude of hatred. The man before her and his killers were no more. They collapsed into a congregation of hatred and a jacket formed on the ground where he was slain.

It was a cursed item.

Rana picked up the jacket. It was cold and she could feel a cry of death reverberate in her hand. The unknown blessing expired, her health was low, and she had no time to explore the Dungeons. If the deity was to present her with such a twisted fate, she had to accept it.

Rana put on the jacket and a million blades pierced her body. The chill exploded and traveled through her veins, freezing her dead organs along the way. Her mind felt every bit of ice that sliced inside her body. She grit her teeth, to withstand the pain and keep her consciousness.

Was it over?

The answer was a silent screamed that escaped her lips.