The Kingdom of the Malaise (4)

Opening the map, I was revealed with exactly what I expected.

A map of the areas that I had con currently explored and it showed itself in three different forms.

3D mode, top down view and side view of the map.

Said areas involved the caves where I secondly appeared in, a forest in the middle of a sea of darkness where I first appeared.

A long connection from the depths of the caves in side view that soon transitioned to top down view and showed my travel to the first city I have ever been to.

It then showed the entirety of the city I had explored except for a few dark spots that I couldn't gain access to and subsequently forgot.

'My Perfectionist heart can't take that'

Jesting with myself, my eyes roamed across the map and showed how when I went to another city, boarded a ship and sailed into the sea, a long trail of blue covered the map.

Than it showed how I died and respawned in the middle of a corrupted battle ground, where I died again.

And now I was stuck in the middle of the Kingdom of the Malaise as a prisoner, the map of the prisoner's quarters unfolding before my eyes as I spoke...

"Hey, I don't think you answered my question, who are you and why are you here?"

With another person...

Snapping out off my reverie I blinked a few times before focusing on the person in front of me.

In front of me sat a woman in thick armor, the metal plates hugged her body and provided incredible mobility despite the appearance of the armor

It was as evident when we fought in a close battle that ended in my victory although barely.

The woman with brown hair was currently nursing a wound on her arm that I had granted her by freezing the thick metal gauntlet and shattered with the but of a dagger.

In return though I received a powerful punch to the gut.

Wincing as the pain pierced my gut I replied to the earlier question of the woman.

"My name is Slade, and I just appeared here"

Hearing my words the woman just looked at me for a moment, her brown eyes held an indescribable sharpness to them as she stared at me a scrutinizing stare.

Adjusting the metal skirt around her legs so that she could rest her arm on her knee, now finished bandaging the arm up with bits of cloth she spoke.

"What do you mean-!" A flash of realization flashed through her eyes as she paused and looked at me up and down, focusing on the flaming head of hair mostly.

"... I see"

Holding her chin she whispered to herself almost inaudibly.

"So it's that time?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing" Waving her hand she looked around the room and saw the several furnaces that were bust smelting down the metal swords that were in the armory with the wood I brought back.

"But you seem to have made yourself at home?"

Glancing at the crafting table and bench that were placed side by side I stared at her dead on.

Feeling my stare her eyebrow rose. "...What? Can't keep your eyes off of my beautiful face?"

Blinking at the remark I replied "When you put it that way I guess so"

Hearing the reply she chuckled.

Her voice was beautiful to the ears as I couldn't help but listen to her, but that might've been because I had zero human interaction.

We humans are social animals after all.

"So I take it you are the one that's been stirring things up in these parts of the prisoner's quarters?"

"If you are talking about the sudden increase of corpses in the area than you would be correct"

Hearing those words the unknown woman sighed and grabbed her head in annoyance.

"Oh you fool"

Seeing her frown a slight tinge of annoyance made it's way into my brain "...What? Why are you calling me that?"

"Have you ever interacted with the mal..." Pausing mid sentence she seemed to ponder on something before shaking her head.

"You probably didn't know this since you're new here, but you should make sure to burn the bodies of infected when you kill them"

"Why?"

Hearing my question she curtly replied.

"Death in this God-forsaken kingdom attracts monsters"

A profound silence fell upon us as I grappled on that idea for a while, trying to understand how that related to the corpses I left behind during my hunting spree.

"..."

"..."

"And by that I mean the corpses are like beacons to the hoard of Malaise infected monsters as they move to where corpses are gathered and spread the infection in hopes more monsters of the same kind rise."

Hearing those words it seemed like the gears in my brain finally clicked.

It explained why I saw several monsters congregating in the presence of piles of corpses and why when I went to find them later the corpses disappeared.

Corpses that had been decapitated though didn't seem to be able to be infected by the malaise as they were left behind, but it didn't stop them from attracting monsters.

Feeling some of my doubts lift, I tilted my head as a question resurfaced inside of my mind, causing me the need to verbalize the questions.

"Wait a minute, I feel like we skipped something important like who are you? And why are you even here if this kingdom is so forsaken by the Gods?"

'Not that the one I know is going to help me'

Somewhere on top of a floating rock in space that was constantly shifting through reality and replacing the attractions on it to different ones without rhyme or reason.

A God sneezed.

Hearing the question the lady unconsciously rubbed the back of her neck allowing me the chance to look her up and down.

I already knew this but she was strong.

But she really was.

Recalling how she held a broadsword, the blade that I thought could be used as a shield due to it's size, with one hand and swung it with ease I shivered.

The good news was that I was able to make her lose her grip on the blade after freezing the hand that held the blade and breaking the gauntlet.

But the strength in her body wasn't one that could be ignored.

Looking at the heavy metal armor that took an incredible amount of effort to even destroy that was covering her entire body I inevitably thought about my own armor.

How should I make it? Because of the poor material I doubted that I could make a proper armor that would protect me well from attacks.

Unlike the armor that she wore on her body without problem, i doubted the armor I crafted could hold up to the standards.

Shaking my head I looked at the woman who was now giving me a serious stare with her big brown eyes.

"Well... for starters..."

Pausing she looked straight at my face and nodded.

"My name is Cherry, and a local of this cursed kingdom"

Fishing through her heavy silver breast plate she brought out a coat of arms that contained three golden downward marks.

"I am one of the last remaining Knight of this cursed kingdom"

Hearing those words my eyes widened.

---

"Hehehe" A woman with blonde hair giggled to herself as she manipulated one of the various bottles in the room being held up by steel apparatus.

Watching as the flames from a magical fire burnt beneath the bottle, the red liquid in the bottle started to bubble and boil.

As it did, the woman in white quickly grabbed a strange mushroom and grinded it into dust with a stone millet.

Adding the dust extract to a bottle of clear liquid of unknown origin, the liquid quickly changed to .

By now the red liquid was at it's peal in the boiling state.

Quickly grabbing the red liquid in the bottle off the metal clamp with thick gloves, she unscrewed the top and poured the liquid into a much bigger bottle.

As the red liquid that was on the verge of boiling fell into the bottle, she added the blue liquid into the mixture.

Grinning she closed the bottle with a cork and vigorously shook the bottle.

As the liquids mixed together and made a purple liquid the woman vigorously shouted.

"Finally! A Life Reagent!"

Taking off her goggles the woman revealed herself to be Katerina.

Looking at the purple liquid her face quickly fell as she hurried out of the room as the horrendous smell she was ignoring in favor of making the potion finally got to her.

Opening the windows to air out the experimental lab she admired the purple liquid in the light.

The Sunlight that hung above the skies casting a strange glow on the bottle and causing a dance of light to occur within the bottle.

Admiring the bottle for a moment she hid it within her bosom and looked out of the alchemist's guild tower.

The deadly gases leaving through the window and floating to the skies above.

Only to be purified by the mana above.

Sighing she thought.

'I finally made it huh?' Wistfully looking to the skies she sighed and recalled a certain orange eyed man.

'To bad Slade isn't here anymore, I would've liked to show it to him...'

Looking at the shifting clouds, they seemed to briefly morph into his face before disappearing.

'I couldn't have made it without his help' 

Recalling the last of the red blood that she had taken from the strange man they had found in the depths of an expedition, the blood being the reason for the creation of this miracle reagent.

A strange pang rang through her heart as she looked to the skies.

"Hahh"

Letting out a sigh she stared at the clear blue skies before she walked back into the tower.

'Better clean up before the elders scold me'

+++

It has been confirmed by yours truly that this will be a long ride, prepare your snacks and read the Dead Cells, Kingdom of the Malaise Arc!

Or wait a few days and just stack chapters, whatever you prefer.

Tree