Kingdom of the Malaise (22)

'I don't know what to feel'

I sat with my back facing the wall, silently contemplating everything.

Having returned to the Prisoner's quarters where my base was located, right in front of me was a cold corpse that was pierced by a long silver sword, a bloody dagger and a few other things.

But my eyes were stuck on the corpse of the human being I had found.

---

Somewhere in the middle of my journey in the Ossuary, I had faced the problem of not having enough space to carry everything.

'Now I know why those guys had large storage bags'

Recalling the Chameleon that had a giant bag I shook my head and took out a few chests to store everything possible in them.

Although the chests had the downside of slowing me down, in the face of the enemies that were all power and no skill besides a few of them it was a negligible downside.

So as I was returning back to the Prisoner's Quarters through the map, making sure to avoid the enemies that appeared as red dots and killing others I couldn't.

Making sure to fill my chests with corpses I didn't have time to burn.

Soon enough I was out of the Ossuary and had to endure the temptation of exploring and started to explore the Promenade of the Condemned with the help of the map.

The only time I got lost with the map was at the Promenade of the Condemned and trying to find a way to the Toxic Sewers to the Prisoner's Quarters.

If I didn't stumble across the entrance to the Prisoner's Quarters I would've went to the crater and looked through all the rubble for an intact passageway.

But besides that.

On my way into the Prisoners Quarters, I met Guillian again.

He was nice, but besides talking for a bit and realizing that this island had deeper history than I thought there was nothing else to talk about.

So we both went our merry ways.

By the way? Did you know that this island used to be the Castle grounds of some powerful Vampire before they were ousted by the past kings?

I didn't either!

'Now I'm talking to intangible ghosts in my mind'

Jesting myself, I continued to walk down the flight of steps that were slowly losing the green overgrowth and returning to their initial stony appearance.

All the while carrying a large set of double chests that held within them several corpses of various monsters and their various drops.

Letting out a sigh, I stumbled upon the quickly cooling corpse of Cherry.

"The Fuck!?"

---

And that was how things came to this.

I stared at the dead woman in front of me for a few moments more while the heat of the burning furnaces continued to warm my side.

Staring at the campfire that had already gone out I sighed and grunted.

Getting up from my spot on the stone floor, I walked to the corpse and picked it up.

Strangely enough, no matter what I did, I couldn't take the sword out of her stomach.

Yanking it did nothing and neither did the action of trying to break it apart with brute force.

If anything, I stopped because I feared I would destroy her corpse at the rate I was going.

Sighing, I moved the corpse besides the skeletal giant that was resting peacefully at the back of the Prisoner's Quarters.

The Only sounds interrupting the peaceful silence being the crackle of the flames and the water that constantly dripped from the ceiling.

Taking out the various cobble stone blocks I had gathered by scavenging the old already broken off pieces of stone.

I surrounded her corpse in stone. 

Moving back to admire my work I sighed once again as the long silver sword stuck out of the makeshift grave marred by dust.

Turning around upon confirming that there was literally nothing else I could do, I thought about Cherry.

The time we spent with each other was short, short enough to not have a deep connection with each other, but long enough to acknowledge each other as acquaintances.

And not even two days had passed before I found her corpse that was still warm and was cooling down quickly.

Besides being a skilled warrior in the blade, much more skilled than me even though I beat her, it was with tricks and catching her off guard.

She also gave off the aura of someone kind.

Even if I personally didn't know her and what she had gone through with this kingdom that had fallen so much and turned into the Kingdom of the Malaise.

The best I could do for her was to free this kingdom from the malaise by clearing away all the monsters that roamed within it.

Her forlorn look of nostalgia mixed in with pain was motivation enough, not that it might be her actual wish.

But she was dead and she couldn't tell me her actual wish.

'You know what?' I cracked my fingers and heard them pop simultaneously.

'I think I'll do just that'

Clenching my fist, I stimulated myself.

'I'll save this Kingdom and free it from the Malaise with these powers I have been granted with'

Unknown to me, a fire started to burn fiercely within my eyes.

An orange glow seeping from them.

'And you know what? I guess I'll kill that Moon Lord bastard, lord knows I hate the bastard'

Recalling the pain I went through just by facing one of it's eyes a snarl rose to my lips.

'Yeah, I think I'll do just that'

Snarling I looked to the full moon that had risen to the middle of the sky through the metal bars.

The moon was seemingly far away and shouldn't be a problem in the near future.

That I didn't agree.

'Those Lunar Order bastards are definitely racking their brain to summon that guy down here'

And when they do...

'Chaos will rise...'

So to combat that Moon Lord, I should just get enough strength to kill him.

'Also...' my heart beat fiercely against my chest as I thought about the future about to come 'Shouldn't I feel afraid?'

'Why am I feeling excited?' I felt my chest and the excited beats of my heart deep within my chest.

'Actually... Wasn't I someone who liked to chase the thrill anyways?'

I felt my smile uncontrollably spread across my face. 'I guess I have a new thrill to chase'

The smile quickly disappeared however when the reality of the situation reached my mind.

'Yeah...' I sighed while rubbing my head with my bandaged hand 'This is reality and people are dead'

If it was of any comfort, at least this wasn't the end and Death was the start of a new beginning.

I knew that because I was part of that same cycle but instead of forgetting I remembered.

'So on that note'

A glint appeared in my eyes.

'I should learn about my powers'

I recalled all the events that happened today that were incredibly chaotic and had seemingly no rhyme or reason to them.

'I also don't recall seeing that big fire guy when playing this game, although I might just be forgetting things'

I stretched my arms in preparation of what was to come.

'Than again... that twin tailed wolf was definitely not from any of the games that are part of me and I've already proven that this was a reality unconstrained by rules so...'

Turning to the crafting bench and iron anvil where the miracle of several bits of raw material turned into complete products without any other things needed.

'I should start here shouldn't I?'

---

"What is an Army of Infected doing past the Borders without warning!? What are the Border Guards doing!?"

A woman in armor of silver steel slammed their fist against the top of the weathered wooden table that was adorned with a map.

"Report Captain!"

"Speak!"

"The Border Guards have been found dead in their posts! Wounds on the Neck come from Sharp knives Miss!"

"Fuck! Can't those bastards stop interfering with humanities efforts?!"

Cursing loudly, the Woman turned her head upon hearing a scream followed by an explosion.

A soldier wearing armor and covered in blood burst into the war tent and fell to their knees.

"Report! The Infected have breached the battlements!"

The Woman cursed loudly and shoved her helmet onto her head before grabbing a spear that was propped onto the table.

Heavy Stomps out of the tent, The woman moved through the flap of the war tent and spun their spear.

Skewering a Zombie's lunge onto the sharp end of the spear the Woman barked loudly and attracted all the attention to her self.

"Border Guards of the Malaise! Rally to me!"

Shouting a war cry, the woman rushed to the gap in the wooden battlements.

"Death to the Malaise!"

Shouting with a powerful voice, the troops manning the camp desperately keeping their lives saw the back of their captain running towards the gap.

Raising their morale.

The troops of the camp roared their battle cry and rushed to the gap which in front of it lay several hundred malaise infected monsters.

+++

Tree that forgot to upload

Sorry

Also, I'm about to rewrite this novel, because now I have a good idea of what I'm doing now.

Will probably prep ten chapters starting from a different point this time.

Here's to hoping!