Chapter 26: Corrupted Devotion

Peace’s eyes were wide as he watched the party blitz up the Maw of Hell many times faster than he’d run down it.

’Seriously, what in the bloody hell was that?!’

Peace was flabbergasted, pissed, and thankful.

That man with the odd name, Lanx, looked like he had had some vendetta toward the Night Parade. Yet he’d let Peace go just like that?!

He didn’t steal his gear, wound him, assault him...

Well...

’He did advise me to kill myself.’

Then again, that advice seemed to be somewhat of a test. Nor did he ever tell Peace to do it; he merely presented it as an option.

’But, why?’

Was his goal to simply scare Peace? Or was there some part of Lanx that was truly worried for the Night Elf in some capacity...

’No... fat chance.’

Peace sighed as he felt he had discerned the encounter’s cause.

’All it was was fleeting curiosity.’

Lanx wished to see how Peace would react. What Peace did upon hearing his words most likely didn’t matter at all.

As for whether Lanx was a Soul Stealer acting like that because he didn’t have any animosity toward Night Elves, Peace had long discerned that any Soul Stealer wouldn’t skip out on the chance to hate on Night Elves to help solidify their image.

’What do I do now? Am I seriously just meant to press on?’

Peace slipped on the straps of his backpack and pushed himself to his feet.

Glancing off to the right, he noted no more parties rushing toward him. At least, not yet.

’I should probably get away from here.’

It was highly unlikely that too many would be coming this way. Any high-ranking Divers had probably already realized they were losing the race and gone to chase after a different boss, one much less annoying to reach.

’But, first...’

Peace’s expression grew dubious as he looked around.

The woman had culled quite a few skeletons, and she hadn’t cared enough to take the time to fish out the Spirit Stones. She had left them behind for the taking!

Before the skeletons could respawn, he did just that. He rushed around, plucking the stones free and storing them one by one.

He would have taken the time to devour them, but he really did need to get away. Instead, he chomped off the arms of three skeletons and carried them with him.

’But... where do I go?’

He’d already discerned that the Convergence Zone was a bad idea. Lanx’s words heavily reinforced that notion.

’The Blood River... or the Bone Desert.’

It wasn’t too much of a debate in his mind, knowing what he knew.

Peace began to march toward the rarely visited Bone Desert. Not only would he be able to hide in the storms, but there were few Divers along the border. It was relatively safe, aside from the hellish environment itself.

Snacking on the skeleton arms, he began rushing toward the distant, misty wall he knew was actually a storm of ground-up bone.

***

Peace swallowed the last bit of bone.

[???] — (condition to unlock: 16/100)

’Blegh.’

At first, it tasted like nothing. But the faint aftertaste built with every bite until it became quite nasty, especially with how dry it was.

Still, he confirmed the answer to yet another quandary he held: whether he had to devour the corpse where it had been killed or if he could haul it with him.

Thankfully, it was the latter, opening up a lot of possibilities in the future. For example, if he ever got a subspace item, he could store something he killed in there and snack on it without losing too much time.

Assuming the subspace didn’t nullify the condition.

In any case, aside from a few hiccups, things were going well!

No other party had seen him, he’d made good progress toward the Bone Desert and should be able to reach it by the next day, and he’d dodged any spawning skeletons or Ravagers, the wolf skeletons that roamed the plains.

Thankfully, the higher-ranked Tier 9 beasts and the few Tier 8 spawns wouldn’t appear until the third day.

So... yeah, things were going about as well as they could for Peace.

At least, they were...

’Who... no, what is that?’

Peace felt as if his entire body had been cradled in death’s bony grasp. This was nothing like the suffocation he had felt from Lanx and his posse.

Off to his right, toward the edge of the dungeon, something was approaching him.

A tall woman.

She had long white hair and wore a flowing white dress and heels. Her skin was deathly pale. Most strikingly of all, she had two white wings wrapped around either side of her face, completely covering her eyes.

’That Item...’

Peace recognized it as one of the rarest items in the game — one of the nine Divine-ranked items, Corrupted Devotion.

Among various other abilities, it made one entirely immune to corruption.

But it did have one little irreversible side effect...

It turned one’s bodily fluids into corruption and even corrupted all of one’s Resonances.

Well, that was a side effect only concerning those around the wielder. The wielder only had to worry about it if the item were destroyed. Being Divine-Ranked, such an event was unlikely. The wielder would die much sooner than the item’s durability ever reached zero.

Peace didn’t try to run as the woman continued her slow approach.

Well, not like he didn’t try.

He couldn’t.

His legs felt like they’d been encased in marble.

’What is with my luck?!’

’Nobody with good intentions walks like that!’

’Evil! She’s an evil ghost!’

She looked like the classic ’ghost girl’ straight out of some horror game!

’Screw me!’

Step by step, she drew closer. Her pace never changed. Her arms never moved. Yet her dress wriggled as if she were submerged underwater as she crossed the bone-strewn ground.

Every breath for Peace became manual before the ability vanished altogether.

Finally...

The woman stopped ten or so paces away from Peace.

The world fell silent for a moment.

Then, she spoke:

"This marks the first time..."

Her voice was eerie, cold... yet oddly familiar. Not as if he knew it, but as though she knew him.

One moment, she was still.

Peace blinked.

The next, she was upon him.

’A-ahragh!’

Reality seemed to skip.

He was a half-step back from where he’d been moments ago.

Her hand gently cupped his cheek as she tilted his face to meet hers. Her cold breath dancing on his skin.

’Sta- Stop, no!’

Black tears of corruption streamed down her face, slipping from beneath the white wings covering her eyes and dripping onto Peace’s feet.

Peace’s lips and cheek were wet.

’C-corruption!’

The scene of the six mutated bodies flashed through his mind.

’No, no, no! Please, no!’

Sure, his monster body was immune, but he’d be a fool to apply the transitive property here.

Peace pleaded in his mind...

’G-get away!’

But it was much too late.

The pale woman stroked his cheek with her thumb, whispering:

"Forgive me..."

The world went black.