“Old-timer, stick close to me, what kind of —— godforsaken place is this!” Eileen whispered to the young man beside her, keeping her voice low.
They were now walking through a dark and damp abandoned sewer.
Underfoot, apart from filthy puddles of water, there were strange moss-like plants that Eileen had never seen before. The eerie surroundings were accompanied by low, hoarse roars that seemed to come from all directions in the sewer, echoing in their ears.
That was not a noise that humans or animals could make. Eileen had heard it twice before, and both times were distinctly memorable because it was a sound that only the Tainted corpse could make.
Eileen kept her nerves on edge, protecting Renji beside her. She hadn’t forgotten her duty, and the real threat she was wary of was not the treacherous abandoned sewer filled with dangers, but the nun leading the way ahead.
Maria suddenly stopped, gesturing to the two behind her. Following her gaze, Eileen saw at the junction of the pipes, two Tainted Corpses. Their bodies were rotting, with arms twisted into grotesque shapes and thick muscles coiling around, eventually transforming into meat pincers as they roamed within.
This was their only way forward, and it was clear that a battle was inevitable if they wanted to pass.
“Don’t worry about me” Renji spoke up in advance, reassuring Eileen.
At present, among their trio, Eileen was the only one suited for close combat. If the girl rushed ahead, only the nun would remain by her side.
Eileen decided not to use her gun. In a place like the sewer, any slight sound would be amplified by the echoes, and the release of Tainted energy from her body, which eventually formed into a bloody sword, was a better choice for her. It was different from the bloody red greatsword she used at the Callewa Factory. This one was narrower and shorter, seemingly adapted to the narrow environment of the sewer.
Eileen judged that two Tainted Corpses would not warrant the use of her abilities. With a swift movement, she silently approached, closing the distance to around ten meters. The two wandering Tainted Corpses seemed to catch a whiff of something and turned their heads, all facing the shadow where Eileen was hidden.
Seeing that they had been exposed, Eileen didn’t hesitate. Ten meters was close enough for her. She no longer sneaked, but instead, she burst out, taking less than half a breath to reach the first Tainted Corpse. She thrust the bloody sword directly into its neck.
Splat!*
After reaching [Danger Rank] Eileen’s strength had indeed improved significantly. The force of this strike directly chopped off the Tainted Corpse’s head. Following this, the second one that rushed toward her was swiftly dealt with. Eileen bent down to dodge its meat pincer attack, then delivered a kick to knock it off balance. She followed up with another strike, thrusting it straight into its forehead.
It was a clean and efficient battle, and she had effectively dispatched both Tainted Corpses in seconds.
“Miss Eileen, you’re amazing!” Maria, who had watched Eileen’s battle, couldn’t help but admire the young girl strength. The earlier tension seemed to have lessened after witnessing Eileen’s combat skills.
“Well, it’s not a big deal.” Eileen responded modestly.
“May I ask, Miss Eileen, what did you do before becoming an Eclipse? And how did you become an Eclipse? How did you meet Mr. Renji?” Maria’s curiosity seemed to have been ignited in this environment, and she started to engage in conversation with Eileen.
Eileen initially didn’t want to answer, but seeing that Renji didn’t mind at all and seemed to encourage them to communicate, she hesitated for a moment before replying,
“I was a scavenger.”
“Huh? Then, Miss Eileen, how did you become an Eclipse? And how did you meet Mr. Renji?”
Maria asked with a face full of curiosity, but now Eileen didn’t know how to respond, hesitating. Fortunately, Renji stepped in to explain.
“Eileen is the best scavenger in the Blackhole Plains, so I hired her to join me in exploring the Relic Cave. We were lucky to find some treasures, but as we were retreating, we got targeted by the cave’s Kobold At the critical moment, and I don’t know if it was the power of the treasures, Eileen awakened her Special Ability and became an Eclipse. That’s what allowed us to survive and escape.”
As Renji explained, Maria tightly held her small hand, looking nervous. She had listened to the story with great interest, and it was only after hearing the safe ending of the story that she heaved a sigh of relief.
However, the conversation soon fell into an awkward silence, and as they delved deeper into the sewer and encountered more Tainted Corpses roaming the narrow waterways, they abandoned small talk altogether and focused on their exploration.
Although there were many Tainted Corpses, thanks to Eileen’s combat abilities, they didn’t encounter significant delays. As they reached the next corner in the tunnel, Maria informed them that Eileen’s mother was nearby.
This suddenly excited Eileen. When she saw another group of Tainted Corpses blocking their path, she couldn’t wait to rush in and clear them out. Despite the fact that there were more Tainted Corpses this time, at least seven or eight of them, the first one or two were relatively easy to deal with, just like many previous battles, they were dispatched quickly.
However, what happened next within the group of Tainted Corpses took Eileen completely by surprise.
Before the young girl could get closer, a Tainted Corpse positioned at the back, significantly larger than the others, took the initiative and used its mutated heavy-arm to smash its surrounding kin.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
With each Tainted Corpse it killed, the Tainted red Miasma mist swirling around it grew more intense. Muscles under its decaying skin bulged suddenly, and numerous spikes continued to emerge. In the blink of an eye, its momentum increased significantly.
It roared and charged at Eileen. Due to the angle, Renji, who had his back to this mutated Tainted Corpse, could see two marks on its exposed back.
These were not actual marks but rather traces left behind after being used once.
But even the remnants of the marks were now emitting a strange light, as if they were the source of the Tainted Corpse’s sudden mutation.
Eileen had still tried to conserve her strength and didn’t release her special ability. She continued to face it with her bloody sword in her normal state. However, when the mutated Tainted Corpse charged towards her, it unleashed a power far exceeding that of the ordinary Tainted Corpses. This completely caught Eileen off guard, and she almost lost her grip on her sword as it threatened to send her flying.
Fortunately, Eileen quickly regained control of her body. 𝘪.𝑐ℴ𝘮
The sword that had initially intended to engage the Tainted Corpse abruptly changed its trajectory, shifting into a defensive posture to block the Tainted Corpse’s next punch, which followed closely behind.
Despite this, Eileen was still sent flying through the air and tumbled upon landing, narrowly avoiding the Tainted Corpse’s subsequent attacks.
Boom!
The sewer wall at the spot where Eileen had just been crumbled under the second punch of the mutated Tainted Corpse, the ground itself trembling.
Eileen felt a shiver down her spine, unable to imagine what would have happened if Renji hadn’t intervened forcefully, forcing her to switch from offense to defense. Even if her sword had struck the Tainted Corpse, it would have been a case of injuring the enemy while harming herself.
‘What’s going on?’
Eileen finally noticed it now. The two marks behind the Tainted Corpse, shimmering with a bloody red light, were those…
‘There’s no other choice; it seems I have to…’
Just as Eileen was about to activate her special ability and summon her true form of the greatsword again, a brief chanting sound filled the air, followed by a burst of holy light that completely enveloped the mutated Tainted Corpse.
“Ughhhhhhhhh!”
The Tainted Corpse let out a cry of pain. In the blink of an eye, its massive body began to shrink, and the bulging muscles rapidly withered away. In less than a second, it reverted to the appearance of an ordinary Tainted Corpse, and the two bloody red marks on its back, which had previously been emitting a bloody glow, disappeared completely.
“This…”
Eileen hadn’t even fully grasped the situation when, in the next moment, a beam of light pierced through the Tainted Corpse’s head like a dart. Even the Tainted Corpse that had proven to be a powerful mutated monster at [Danger Rank] seemed to have… died so easily?
———————-
‘[Divine Word: Silence]’
‘And [Holy Punishment?]’
Renji immediately recognized the two skills that Maria, the seemingly fragile nun beside him, had just used. These were classic abilities of the cleric class.
However, in the game, a character’s skill slots are unlocked based on their rank. For example, when Eileen was at the [Common] rank, she only had one skill, [Berserk] It was only after breaking through to the [Danger Rank] that she gained another skill, [Annihilation].
But so far, the “fragile” little nun, Maria, had displayed four different abilities including [divination], [teleportation], and the two she just used
This seemed to confirm a certain suspicion in Renji’s heart—a suspicion he didn’t particularly like.
“Miss Eileen, are you alright?” Maria quickly ran to the girl’s side.
Eileen shook her head and glanced at the Tainted Corpse. Then she looked at the nun.
“Thank you, but Maria, what you just did…”
“It’s just a little ability I learned from the church. I’m glad it was useful.”
Seeing Eileen’s slightly furrowed brow and about to ask more, Renji, who had also approached, deliberately ended the topic. He urged that now was not the time for lengthy discussions; Nolan was up ahead.
Updated from 𝘪.𝘤𝑜𝘮