Source of Corruption

.

.

.

----------

The fifth floor was just like the other floors, filled with nothing but long stone hallways, rooms filled with rotting furniture, and monster corpses.

And a few inexplicable things Dale couldn't tell what they were due to the years of rotting...

Dale did not know the story about these Human skeletons, but he soon found their origin.

"This place is indeed a tomb."

All around him were holes on the wall where tombstones could be seen, they were all nicely decorated and it was clear it wasn't a plain catacomb, but a high class graveward.

Each tomb had a rusty metal plate in front of it, and due to time, Dale could not read what it meant, so he just pressed forward…

/CLACK!/

His first group of enemies was 3 skeletons just like the one he fought earlier!

"3 at once? Shit…"

Before they could move, Dale rushed forward, he took out the sword from his back and activated its skill!

The sword gleamed in faint red light and Dale slashed it in front of the group of skeletons…

/SHATCHENG!/

A red horizontal wave was released from the sword as it cut through the skeletons, cutting their skulls in half.

/Ploft/

The three skeletons fell limp on the ground, unmoving…

"Phew… This was the first time I used a Skill in this Dungeon… It was more effective than I imagined."

'The problem is the cooldown… The runes on the sword are pretty faint and I guess I have to wait for them to light up again, this should be the visual hint to me saying the skill is ready.'

'I also didn't feel anything from using it... I wonder how high is my Mana gauge... Being a HardCore player is such a pain sometimes...'

/Cling!/

"Hum?"

For the first time since he came into the labyrinth, Dale saw loot being dropped.

Everything else had been either trash or broken things, at most they can be reused like the metal on the broken swords he got.

The only thing that was of value was the experience, but being honest, it was slower than doing the quests in the mercenary Guild. Even if the creatures here are high level, the quantity of quests wins over the quality.

"A gauntlet?"

[Southern Wall corps standard gauntlet (Normal) (Broken)

Rating 0.5-Star

+1 Strength

]

"Southern wall?... Is there a wall somewhere here in the south?"

'It's a broken item, but perhaps there is someone in the village that can help. For now, onward, I'll try and see if I can get the other pieces as well...'

'Even if I can't use it, it would do fine as a collectible and a memento.'

…

The fifth floor was much simpler than its counterparts, it was perfectly organized into areas with a series of coffins embedded into the walls, normally, it would have a few skeleton knights wandering inside, and Dale soon found out they were coming from.

Crawling out from inside the coffins, but only a few, not every coffin would create a skeleton, Dale tried to open one and the skeleton inside it was completely fine, even the armor it had was better.

He came to understand that only the skeletons that were in contact with the miasma would come back and move around…

If he had time, Dale would try to open as many coffins as he could and get the loot, but now, any minute was precious, so he left dejectedly.

Following the layout of this Dungeon, he soon arrived in front of two slightly open, large metal doors.

From between them he could see dark water slowly running down to the catacombs.

"This is… Concentrated Miasma… Its almost like a small fucking river… Shit!"

'The source is definitely over there!'

Looking down at the darkness hidden behind the doors, Dale gulped hard.

He grabbed one of the doors, standing behind it, and pulled, he wasn't dumb enough to stay in the midle of them and push them aside, leaving himself open for atacks.

/CREAAK!/

With a loud creaking noise, the door opened and large amounts of Liquid miasma drained into the fifth floor.

[DING]

[DING]

Due to the thick miasma in the air, Dales' afflictions were quickly rising…

"Shit…"

Dale quickly took an antidote and drank it. He grabbed onto the door and tried to remain above ground to touch as little water as he could.

After 2 minutes, everything was drained away.

/Splat!/

Dale dropped onto the wet ground, and the moment he was about to release a breath of relief…

[Your quest has been updated]

[Rotten Tomb

Description: The underground labyrinths of Resko used to be nothing but a place filled with simple yet dangerous beasts and mechanical traps, but it's now filled with rotten miasma and death.

*Through thick and thin, you arrived at the last floor and realized the labyrinth used to be a cemetery for a force you don't know anything about. And the corpses of its warriors are now being reanimated due to the Miasma

The Miasma has been accumulating for years and it has now been released outside of the gates that once sealed it.

*Deep in the Fifth floor lies the source, due to your actions, its seal has been released and it's now on the verge of overflowing. -30 Minutes

Find the source of the Miasma and purge it before it's too late 1/1

Find a way to purge the source 0/1

Time until the Miasma descends to the Village: 0 hours, 10 minutes, 57 seconds…

]

"No fucking way!"

'Dammit! I lost 30 minutes just like that?! What if I had less than that? Would that be an instant loss?'

"Shit, I should've gone back when I could… But then again, I would've probably killed an NPC since I doubt those old men can resist this shit…"

Dale started to run inside, uncaring about how dangerous it was.

If the village died, so would his game, it would take a very long time to reach another village, and by that time, he would've lost a lot if not all of his advantage.

And that is in the case he did arrive at another village, his base stats were actually below this village's average level, imagine the areas around it…

/Splat!/

Dale eventually arrived at a large illuminated room. Faint specks of light seemingly coming from nowhere released light into this otherwise dark room.

The room was rather big, and everything was centered around a single centerpiece, and that was the stone coffin on top of a small pedestal.

It seemed grand yet simple, a rectangular coffin with some rusty metallic details and a large sword lodged into the ground behind it.

Be it the pillars, the paintings, everything, all of it was centered around that.

Surprisingly, the sword seemed fine.

There were several other tombs lodged into the wall, but all of them seemed to be of extreme quality... If they weren't broken and rusty then this place would be quite pretty for a grave.

However, what got Dale's attention wasn't the architecture of the place, but the strange ball of flesh floating in the air.

It was releasing a thin but concentrated stream of something… It was dark but it had a red hue…

It was certainly the Miasma and Dale immediately realized he wasn't supposed to touch that nor the small pool below it...

"Is that it? The ominous ball of flesh that is giving me the creeps? Is that what I need to take care of?..."

But as Dale was thinking, the ball of flesh contracted like a heart…

{'It' is staring into you}

/KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!/

It released an agonizing sound, sending Dale to his knees in pain!

"ARGGGGG! FUCK!!"

The sound remained for a few moments until Dale raised his head, his eyes were hollow and despair was written on his face…

[Stable Emotions 1-Star has activated]

[Fighting Spirit 0.5-Star has been forcefully activated]

[Your focus returns…]

For a moment, Dale felt as if something was wrong, and he punched the ground with all he had.

/BAM!/

Nothing happened, and he even felt as if he broke his hand, but still, Dale had recovered his sanity.

[DING]

[You overcame the fear of gazing into the Abyss and recovered your sanity through sheer will]

[Stable Emotions 1-Star -> 2.5-Star]

[Fighting Spirit 0.5-Star -> 2-Star]

{'It' interest in you is rising}

[You have attained a new tale]

[Disclaimer, it has been noted that HardCore Player has suffered major damage for the first time, help shall be provided]

[Your hand and fingers are broken, seek medical attention else it may leave permanent damage]

But Dale heard none of it.

"Haaa… Haaa…"

Breathing heavily, Dale raised his head one more time, but this time, something pushed it down.

"You got lucky, don't get cocky kid."

He tried to look behind him in haste, but he realized his body was stuck.

"See? Your body has already reacted to the danger but you are so slow that now you can't even control it anymore... Breath in and out, calm down first."

Dale tried to look down, still looking at his own reflection in the dark water beneath him.

"!"

At that moment, Dale saw a massive finger pressing down on his head, giving him the chills, whatever was behind him wasn't Human.

"I bet you are here for that right?... It's been a long time since I saw someone. I just think it's a shame we have so little time."

The finger on top of his head slowly moved away, into the dark.

"Kid, if you can hear me and you wish to stay alive, then you better move."

"See that sword on the altar? Grab it and cut that thing down, simple enough don't you think? Just make sure to…"

But the voice disappeared, being replaced by the low sound of water falling into the ground.

He raised his head a bit, the only thing in his vision was the shining sword next to the tomb.

[Your quest has been updated]

…

.

.

Notes