Jean peeked out again; this time without the camouflage. She stared at him again. Despite the helmet covering part of his face, it was definitely him.

  He looked in her direction. The rest of the guards were quick to turn around when they noticed Ian's troubled expression. “Intruder!!” Everyone unsheathed their swords. Everyone except the old man and Ian. “Protect the king! Come on, come on! Form a circle!”

  The one who looked like the leader pointed his sword at Jean. “Identify yourself or die!”

  “Take a lime tea, champ! You seem nervous! ... I’m Jean!”

  She didn't take her eyes off Ian. None of his reactions gave her any sign that he might recognize her. “What did I expect? How is he going to recognize me if my body is completely different?”

  The king raised his voice. “Sheathe! Don't you dare touch a single strand of her red hair!”

  None of them obeyed him. “Your Highness, stay away from her! She must have heard us and now she intends to use it to get closer to you. Who knows what...”

  He ignored him and stepped out of the circle with an expression of joy that bordered on ecstasy. “I would never mistake her! I've seen her so many times in my dreams that I'd recognize her in a million!” An ecstasy that vaguely disguised a deep anxiety. “Come closer, my promised angel!”

  Jean didn't take a single step. Identify didn't show any marks at all, but the only visible thing was his name. The information of the guards was instead perfectly visible. All with the Righteous mark. All except Ian; he had Killer among others. “What is someone like him doing with a king? Unless... the old man also happened to be of the same suit.”

  “It's true that I've heard everything, but I'm not lying!”

  They checked it out and looked at each other in disbelief. None of them put away their weapons.

  After a long sigh. “I'm sorry to disappoint you, Uthell! I don't think I'm what your goddess promised you!”

  Jean's manner was not the most appropriate to address a king, and the guards had to bite their tongues to endure it. Instead, the king nonchalantly took two steps forward, standing very close to the rubble of the collapse. A place inaccessible to him due to the 3 meters of height difference.

  “She promised me that a beautiful young woman whom no one should touch would arrive to save us. A beautiful angel carrying a curse that afflicted her soul of demonic exarch.”

  Jean's perplexity reached levels as high as her distrust. She knew something was pulling the strings behind the scenes, but she doubted they were gods. “I am neither an exarch nor a demon!”

  “That's what you think! ... Come down here, my angel! No one will harm you!”

  Jean stared at Ian, having searched the old man's eyes for any hint of lying. “Relax! He's my right-hand man. He has been waiting for you too. He has precise orders to kill anyone who dares to harm you.”

  She folded her arms and looked at the guards. The leader sheathed his weapon on the verge of losing his patience. “Come down, dammit! The king's word is law! If his Highness says no one will attack you, you must believe him!”

  Uthell looked at the soldier kindly, pleased with his devotion. “Easy, son! It's because of the corruption. She's afraid to harm us.” The old man turned to Jean. “Relax! They won't get close to you!”

  “And you? Aren't you afraid for your life?”

  The king smiled broadly. “I'm immune to your corruption! I'm the only one in this world who actually is.”

  “It's not mine! They have purposely infected me with it! It spreads so easily that I could infect your men simply by breathing, and... I don't want that!”

  “Calm down! ... Move away!” There was an awkward silence among the soldiers, but no one questioned the king’s orders.

  “You move away too! I don't believe you! What magic can make you immune to this?”

  “How dare you give orders to the king?!”, shouted two of the soldiers, almost in unison.

  “Easy, boys.” The king smilingly remarked. “She's right! I'm not immune! It's the power of this ring!”

  Jean approached so that Identify could corroborate it. However, the old man had a ring for each finger. Pushed by the aggressive look of impatience of the soldiers, she jumped down. “What ring? You have so many I can't find it.”

  The old man spread his fingers apart and pointed at his big toe. “It's this one!”

  ?Black Serpent's Ring (Legendary)?

  Details: This ring allows immunity to poisons, curses and corrupting magic.

  The ring seemed trustworthy, but he kept offering her his trembling hand in the hope that she would take it. He seemed avid for her, like a thirsty man in front of an oasis. She was as suspicious of him as the guards were of her. After all, she was more than a head taller than the king and almost a span taller than the guards. All except Ian; the only one whose gaze chilled her blood.

  Faced with Jean's reluctance to lend her hand to the king, he offered her his arm. “Come with me, dear! We must defeat a formidable enemy.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? I don't know what happened in that dream you talk so much about, but I don't plan to fight anyone. I've only arrived here by chance.”

  The old man smiled. “It doesn't matter how you got here, Jean! I trust you will act when the moment calls for it.”

  “Well, you shouldn't, your Highness! Some assholes sent me to kill you.”

  The tension became so palpable that even Ian grabbed the hilt of his sword. The king smiled. “I know that! I also know that you won’t obey them. Right, dear?”

  Jean smiled back and the tension eased. “What I don't know is who sent you, dear.”

  “I have no clue either. The only ones I know are a haughty ghost and a rather unsociable water elemental. Although...” Jean moved closer and wrapped her arms around his arm under the aggressive gaze of the guards. “I'm intrigued by why someone wants you dead. You seem like a good king, Uthell.”

  Quite pleased, the old man led the way. “I don't know all the reasons, but there's one I'd bet my head on and I'm sure I wouldn't lose it.”

  She changed her tone to a kinder one. “And which one is it?”

  The march continued with the two of them in the center, protected on both flanks by the guards. “You see. I come from a long line of kings. My lineage is unique because of the blood running through my veins.”

  “What makes it so special?”

  “Well...”

  Several guards raised their voices almost in unison. “Your Highness! You shouldn't trust her right off the bat! It's a secret for a reason.”

  “It’s alright! Let's just say I'm some kind of Guardian.”

  “You don't look like it! Is it something mystical? ... My apologies, your Highness! I don't mean to intrude. I was just curious.” She murmured even more gently.

  “Don’t worry. It’s something like that.” With each passing second, he trembled more.

  “And what's the problem with this enemy you speak of? You have very capable soldiers! Far more than me!” She asserted, glancing at Ian.

  “It's an enemy that only you can fight.”

  Jean didn't need to think too hard to figure it out. It was probably an enemy with a curse similar to the same evil she was carrying.

  She took a deep breath. “And when will we meet this enemy? You've dreamed it, haven't you? I'd be interested in preparing before that. Is it powerful?”

  The king nodded as his face darkened. Ian pulled out a key and stepped forward to open a rusty door. Everyone waited for the bodyguard's signal as he checked the new room. He didn’t need a torch like the others.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  The uncomfortable silence made her hair stand on end; the tension could be cut with a knife. “How many days do I have before I have to face that enemy and where will it be? If it's that powerful, I'd like to level up a little more...”

  The old man's tremors began to worry her. Even the soldiers grew nervous. “Your Highness! Are you alright?!”

  An arrow from the rear prevented her from showing her concern. Luckily, the guards were alert to block it in time. The men turned in unison. Jean mimicked them and equipped her shield. That surprised them, but there was no time for questions. “What the hell are you looking at?! Let's protect him!”

  Jean blocked several more arrows coming from the same cavern from which she had jumped. She spotted no one firing. She thought about Ilya and her invisibility. She hoped it wasn't her. She didn't want to kill her. She didn't seem like a bad person. Just someone looking to get rid of her mistakes.

  “Don't worry, your Highness! We'll protect you!” Jean shouted looking at the man.

  Hearing her remarks, the old man sadly touched Jean's face. He was trembling from head to toe and had tears in his eyes. “I'm sorry, dear! I had no choice! I hope you can forgive me!”

  The whispers screamed uncontrollably, but by the time she managed to process it, a sword was slicing through her spine from her back all the way to her heart. The last thing she felt was the darkness engulfing her as the whispers spent the potions necessary to keep her alive.

  ?????? ??????

  The echoes of screams and guards dropping like flies reached her ears faintly. A minute in which she thought her soul was leaving her body. “NO! I REFUSE!”

  Gathering what little lucidity she had left, she consumed more potions. Her situation didn't improve. She tried again along with the healing skill. The sounds gradually became clearer; all she heard now was a swarm of insects moving away.

  The potions began to take effect, but she did not feel their immediate energizing and restorative effect. Everything was too slow. Just when the sensitivity returned, it was with pain; the throbbing pain in the center of the back and the taste of blood. From then on, everything accelerated. “Fuck! I really thought I wasn’t gonna make it!”

  Coughing sounds on her left startled her. With Yusthor's accessories and the Devourer's Vision, she realized it was Ilya. She was lying close by in the darkness, and her coughing only got worse.

  She activated her healing and infused it with Wisdom. The room lit up white and Identify confirmed what she already guessed. Ilya was infected. “Shit!”

  Jean tried to stand up, but an indescribable pain forced her to stay on the floor. Her legs were numb from lack of blood circulation. She must have suspected that a few minutes wouldn't suffice. Anxious, she crawled closer to her as she continued to overload the healing.

  Seeing the darkness dissipate, Ilya rolled over. “I can't believe it! You're alive! Where were you?”

  “I've been here all along!” Jean managed to blurt out after spitting up some blood.

  “What are you saying?! You disappeared in the middle of the fight!”

  Jean was thoughtful, remembering the upgrade from Last Breath. Not for long. Ilya's hatred was so intense it seemed palpable. “Shit! You've fucked us up real good! You've handed them on a silver platter how to annihilate this world!”

  “I... I just wanted to save the old man! He seemed like a good person!”

  “Stupid!!” She coughed again, covering her mouth. “The goal wasn't to kill a good person. The goal was to prevent them from gaining his power. Now... this world is... Shit! What does it matter what happens?! I'm doomed.”

  Guilt devoured her. “I have remedies that palliate corruption for 30 minutes. If I transmute enough I can get more.”

  “I see you don't mind rubbing it into my face!”

  “What?! No! I plan to share them with you!”

  Ilya smiled bitterly. “Are you kidding me? You don't even know that?”

  Jean opened the inventory and fixed her eyes on the remedy with the intention of equipping it, but the whispers refused. “What?! Why?!”

  Ilya coughed repeatedly. “I see you're not good at reading between the lines... You cannot share items purchased with essence coins. They are linked to you.” Jean was overwhelmed with guilt. “Were you really going to give it to me? With what it must cost... I wouldn't offer it!”

  That hurt Jean, but she felt that somehow she deserved it. She had defied her the whole time. What did she expect? However, as the coughing worsened, Ilya soon relaxed her piercing gaze. “I’m sorry, Jean! I was a jerk! I... I thought about not being one, but when I saw all your marks, I could only think of the last child of Nimireth I came across! ... I know it's useless to regret it now, but I shouldn't have put you in the same group as those bastards!”

  Ilya smiled. “You're the first person to try to help me since I got the Thief mark. Thank you, but... there's nothing you can do!”

  “NO!” It could have been different if she had helped her, but she wasn't going to let her die because of her mistake. With great effort after feeling the blood beginning to circulate through her legs again, Jean rose to her feet. “Don't expect me to stay and watch you die after I've screwed up!”

  Ilya's eyes glazed over. “Go away and let me die!” The cough almost made her choke.

  “Not a chance! What is your Trader rank?”

  “Trader?! Do you think that will save me?”

  “You just need to transmute whatever I bring.”

  “That's not how it works! The value is determined by your contribution in killing the prey and you also need a spirit to accept your offering. I have not been chosen by any spirit and with luck I can get one white coin per corpse. Coins that I obviously spend as soon as I get them... How come you don't know that either? Have you never met someone?

  “Sort of!”

  Ilya's face was one of utmost resignation. “Go away!”

  “No! We have to find a way to cure you!” Jean concentrated on the whispers and asked them for a new mission. She needed to keep Ilya alive until she found a way to cure her. Whether it was with a skill or with items. The whispers proposed several possible alternatives.

  “[New Side Mission ?More time for Ilya I?: Find the shrines of the 9. Ilya must pray with devotion in them to postpone the advance of the corruption.]”

  “[New Side Mission ?More time for Ilya II?: Return to Narhad and let her try to purify Ilya.]”

  “Impossible! Not without a portal.”

  “[New Side Mission ?Strengthen Ilya?: Help her to level up and acquire new skills, such as resistance or immunity to corruption.]”

  “[New Side Mission ?Clean Ilya of corruption?: Upgrade your [Disease Resistance] skill to Legendary Rank and touch Ilya.]”

  “That's what that rank unlocks? ... Focus! You'd need to reach level 50 to achieve something like that...”

  “[Gain her favor, devour her body and preserve her soul. With your skill, [Devourer's Minion], create her an imperishable body, but bound to you.]

  Jean thought for a long time after hearing the last suggestion. “Did I hear that correctly?! I can't do that! ... No! I can't! ... How far is the nearest shrine?”

  Whispers marked several locations on the map. The nearest one was 800 meters away in a straight line. However, they had to reach the surface first and that meant a long detour. “Can you stand up? ... The closer I get, the less time you have.”

  “Leave me alone! I have no strength, my whole body hurts, and I'm out of potions!”

  Jean whispered to herself. “I know, I know! It almost killed me the first time!"

  Ilya curled into a ball. “Go away! I won't move! I'm in so much pain I just want this to end.”

  Already healed from her wounds, Jean grabbed her by the arm and carried Ilya in her arms. Jean couldn't hold back the despair as a couple of tears fell down her cheeks. Ilya didn't notice. She was so weak that she could hardly keep her eyes open. “Like hell I'm going to let you die here alone! I did this to you and I'll deal with it!"

  All the arrows indicated that she had to cross the same door that Ian opened. She quickened her pace. “I didn't get to see what the hell happened. Who attacked me from behind?”

  The young girl managed to hold back the cough. “It was Ian! Seeing you betray us, he stabbed you in the back and dealt with the guards himself. He even attacked me...”

  "What?! He was involved in this too? He's one of the twelve from the incursion?"