Alex's eyes widened in horror at the sight before him, his mouth open in shock.
The bloody corpses of the adventurers lay right ahead. Alde was the last one standing — barely so.
He was missing an arm, yet he was still trying to fight.
'Halrig! Is Halrig—?'
His thoughts stopped as he turned around to the other side, and there he was. The corpse of Halrig.
He was dead, tears stained on his face as he was clutching his stomach, which had been slashed open.
Alex gasped as panic overtook him. He trembled in fear… and grief. Halrig had helped him and guided him when he was lost. And now, he was gone.
Shifting his gaze slightly to look at the Corrupted, he noticed it was staring at him.
The Corrupted was smiling.
It had no face, yet he could feel it smiling. It was laughing at the death of Halrig and the other adventurers.
Alex fell down on his knees as he couldn't even gather his thoughts. He couldn't possibly defeat it, not after it took down Halrig so easily.
Alde could only dodge, barely standing. He couldn't even get close to it. If he couldn't win, how could Alex?
Then it hit him again—that crushing truth he had felt before.
He wasn't special.
As he was still on the ground, the beast charged toward him.
Its blow slammed into his stomach, and blood burst from his mouth. He couldn't even breathe.
He was hit hard — mana was reinforcing his body, but the blow still dealt more than enough damage.
He looked down at the ground while gripping his stomach tightly, as tears of grief started swelling up in his eyes.
"Damn.. it.." he cursed under his breath.
A voice he recognized came from afar.
"Alex! Are you just going to sit and cry after he murdered Halr?!" Alde shouted.
The Corrupted stood still, watching closely. It made no sound, no expression, but Alex could feel it was mocking them.
"Avenge him!" Alde shouted once more, tightly gripping his severed arm before he collapsed on the ground.
Hearing those words snapped Alex back to reality. This was just like the time when he'd almost gotten Anna killed.
In order to not let Halrig and the others' deaths go in vain, he had to fight.
He got up as he wiped his teary face, still clutching his stomach in pain, but he had no choice.
He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain, and forced his trembling hand to steady the sword.
"Form One!" he shouted, as he let the mana cling to his body.
Mana surged to his skin like wildfire, the same force he once used against slimes and wolves. But this time, it had to do more. It had to kill.
His whole body trembled after using it, but at that moment, he had to use it even if it meant dying.
He felt his mind going blank by the moment, his emotions swelling up and he could barely handle it. He felt like vomiting.
He clutched the handle of his sword as he got closer to the Corrupted, then moved it directly toward its thin neck, to slice it right off.
It dodged his attack, but he felt it. It was going to attack him from below.
His instincts and senses had gradually increased as he kept going on commissions, and along with Form One he could feel even more.
He instantly stepped out of the way as the monster tried dealing another blow to his stomach.
Seeing the monster was wide open, he slashed without even thinking about its extended arm, which it tried hitting him with.
Its arm was severed as it stumbled back, with the same expressionless face. Just looking at it made Alex's blood boil.
He furrowed his brows even tighter as he charged once more, raising his blade again to get another hit in.
By using an air spell to launch himself toward the beast even quicker, he would go straight for its head.
As he reached closer to it, it seemed the creature anticipated he'd try to go for its neck once more, but Alex wasn't done.
He dropped his blade fast, aiming to cleave it in two.
As it thought he'd go for its neck, it raised its only arm to punch him back. He couldn't do anything but reinforce his face with mana, preparing for a direct hit.
Its dark fist struck his face. Hard. But he slashed first. A line tore across its chest as he flew backward, seeing the world itself spin.
Barely landing on his feet, he got back to his stance and noticed the beast still looked unscathed by his attacks.
It wasn't the time for doubts. He needed to continue.
He quickly spat out the blood and moved again, with no hesitation to finish off the beast.
He blinked for a mere second, and then it disappeared. He lost sight of it. Then memories flashed of when it had first appeared behind him.
"I see you!" he turned instinctively as he shouted, with his blade still in his arms ready to slash whatever was behind him.
But, to his surprise, there was nothing.
He had just sliced at the air, leaving him more than just shocked. But even then, he knew it was far from over. He could still feel it.
His eyes scanned the area with a hint of annoyance in them. Finding it now was a priority—if it reached the town it'd be catastrophic.
All of a sudden, fog appeared in the area, blinding him completely. It was dense fog, making him unable to see.
He should've expected it to use spells, but this was too late. He raised his arm.
Strong waves of wind came to blow the fog off as he thought it would work.
The fog moved around him like cold hands. He couldn't see, couldn't even breathe properly.
His wind spell barely stirred it, like trying to blow away the ocean.
He kept his guard up, ready for anything. Form One was still being used, and he could already feel his body aching in pain from using it.
Looking around even more, he noticed nothing but fog. Everywhere he went were waves of fog with no sign of the Corrupted.
He grew suspicious and even more wary. He'd need to do something about this fog before he got suffocated to death—or worse, the monster ran away.
His blade, still shining with a combination of purple and black—he felt as if it was talking to him. As if leading him to slash.
Knowledge started pouring into his head, almost exactly like the first time he used Form One.
He gripped his sword tightly and held it with both hands.
He had thought this move wouldn't be able to help him, but he was able to use it because of Form One. It needed a great amount of mana and visualization.
He inhaled deeply as he concentrated with everything he had. By using this ability, he heard everything nearby.
From the sound of the wind, to the bugs underground. He heard every small step, every motion.
Then, it clicked. The small sound of steps creeping up behind him — it was the Corrupted.
His body moved on its own. He instinctively slashed at it before it had the chance to slightly move.
He was being enhanced greatly by cladding his body in mana, along with using air spells to launch himself.
With Form One, it felt like he was wearing full iron armor, but he could still move as lightly as he wanted to.
"You're dead," he said loudly as he swung at it, not even bothering to take a look.
As his blade grew closer to where he predicted its neck would be, he stopped instantly at what he saw.
It was Alde. He had mistaken him for being the Corrupted in this fog.
His blade was standing directly next to Alde's neck, as he was able to stop at the nick of time.
Alde declared in a gentle voice, "He's gone now."
"Gone? You mean you let him run away?!" Alex shouted tiredly.
He had been fighting him for a while now, injuring himself heavily in the process, just for him to get away.
He cursed under his breath before Alde confirmed, "It ran off in the distance before releasing this foggy maze. I saw it myself."
"Why would you let it run?! We could've defeated it—" Alex snapped at Alde before he took a better look at him.
His arm was completely severed, tied with a bandage barely enough to suppress the blood from coming out, and his face was also just as messed up.
"I'm sorry," Alex apologized before turning his head. Alde frowned, as if disappointed in himself.
"I know the way out. Follow me," Alde ordered.
Alex felt dizzy just walking around, his body trembled in pain, his mind hurt just remembering the sight of Halrig's corpse.
He could barely even breathe in this fog.
After they walked ahead for a few more minutes, both of them barely even being able to do so, Alex saw the same carriages they came from carrying the dead corpses.
Alex was barely holding himself from falling unconscious due to the fact that he overused his ability.
The clouds grew even more, blocking the sunlight and leaving a painful scene standing in front of him.
It was Halrig's and the other adventurers' corpses being covered by a large blanket.
"Go rest. We can talk later," Alde declared as he walked off in the distance, snapping Alex out of his thoughts.
Alex took a couple of steps forward to step into one of the carriages, but before he even knew it, he collapsed from exhaustion due to overusing Form One.
He cursed under his breath as he fell on the grassy earth under a dark, cloudy sky..