Chapter 448 Corruption (1/2)

“This substance was actually considered a potential world ending threat by some of my colleagues. It is made with what I assume to be blood magic or alchemy. The result is an orange ooze that corrupts, damages and ultimately takes over.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be alive by then, just a ravenous monster. Now… if this substance was splattered on a random citizen outside… the results would be potentially devastating. Not just to this city but the human plains as a whole,” Ilea explained, casually moving the glass container around in her hands.

“You sure this is safe?” Trian whispered inaudibly.

Ilea nodded his way. “Now. What do you think one can do against such corruption?”

A few students lifted their hands.

She pointed to one at random.

“Burn it,” he said.

“That’s an option. Potentially more painful than others,” Ilea said and pointed to another.

“Healing?” the girl said.

“Healing stops it from further spread… sufficiently powerful healing that is. However, because the ooze is somehow not considered an invasive body, healing will only stop it, not get rid of it. The method we initially used was to simply cut out infected tissue and regrow it,” Ilea said.

Some of the students looked at each other and gulped.

“What about a resistance?” one of them asked.

“That… is the right answer. Now any sane adventurer, even a Shadow… wouldn’t administer this to themselves for the required period of time. It is painful, deadly and spreads quite quickly.”

“So, any volunteers who aren’t quite that sane? Trian… you should join as well,” Ilea said.

The man gulped and looked away. “I’m not entirely sure this is a good idea, Ilea.”

She whispered. “Your pain will be theirs. It will connect you. Otherwise you remain the torturer and administrator.”

He thought about it when a few students raised their hands.

Ilea picked one in particular. “Lorelai, right?” she was older than most of the others. Definitely more experienced. She would likely become an important figure for the younger ones. The woman was most definitely older than Ilea but she didn’t think it wise to think of herself as less experienced. Ilea could see the use the name Lilith held.

A symbol, Alfred, she thought with a smirk. Her name would be even more important because she didn’t plan to stay here all the time.

“Yes, ma’am,” the woman said and joined her.

[Warrior – lvl 60]

“Have you ever lost a limb, Lorelai?” Ilea asked.

The woman shook her head. “Not so far. I’ve been among the lucky ones.”

“You were an adventurer before?” Ilea said.

“I worked at a castle in Stormbreach. Came to the Empire after the elven attacks. Picked up many things in my time,” Lorelai said.

“Then I trust that you share your inputs and opinions wherever applicable. Now tell me, what happens to someone who loses a limb?”

“That depends on many factors. How did they lose the limb, which limb, how much blood is lost, are there bandages or anything else to stop the bleeding and most importantly, is there a healer nearby. One that can regrow limbs,” she said.

“Yep. That last part is pretty much the crux,” Ilea said. “I’m not sure how long it takes but if you haven’t regrown it in a while, even a healer won’t be able to help anymore. Now, if you all get a healer class… and I’m sure you will, you can easily take care of such an injury yourself,” Ilea said.

“May I remove your arm?” she asked the woman.

Lorelai gulped and nodded slowly, holding out her arm as she kept her eyes focused on Ilea.

“I’ll try to make it clean,” Ilea said and sliced through flesh, muscle and bone with a single swipe of one ashen limb.

Lorelai went to one knee and grit her teeth, panting hard as she grunted.

More angry than in pain. Good thing I have nearly three hundred levels on her, Ilea thought as she started healing the woman.

“Wound closed, bleeding stopped regrowing your arm now. Aaaaand we’re back to normal. How do you feel?” Ilea asked.

The woman remained on one knee and cracked her neck. “Violated.”

Ilea laughed. “You’re free to pay it back once you’re strong enough,” she said. “I just want to make it clear that this isn’t some miracle magic done by me… I mean magic itself is miraculous but pretty much any healer at a certain level of power can achieve this effect.”

“If you can heal your group of adventurers after an encounter, you can move on with your mission or your dungeon dive, despite otherwise even fatal injuries. If you can heal yourself from shit like that… well let me tell you, you’re going to be respected. I have reached the point where my body is mostly expendable. A resource just like my health, stamina and mana.”

“Lorelai, ready to test the blood manipulation?” she asked.

The woman gulped and nodded.

“It’s going to be painful. If you reach critical condition, I’ll cut off your arm. I’m already healing you to stop the spread for now. Ready?” Ilea said.

“Get on with it,” she said.

Ilea nodded and put a drop of the corruption onto the back of her hand.

It stayed and didn’t change at all, her healing making sure of that.

“How does it feel?” she asked.

Lorelai’s face was distorted. “I hurts,” she got out through gritted teeth.

“I will have to let it spread for a moment, to see how much it affects your health. Are you okay with that?” Ilea asked.

She nodded.

Ilea stopped healing and watched as the corruption immediately spread out. Faster than with the level two hundred beings she had seen in the north but not as quick as she had expected. Possibly still just limited in growth speed, she thought and started healing again as soon as half of Lorelai’s arm had been taken over.

She was barely holding on by now, panting hard with gritted teeth.

“Can you endure it?” Ilea asked, crouching down next to her as she healed.

“… With… h… heal… y… yes,” she got out and screamed.

“Perfect. We will do that for as long as you can then. Just tap me when you need a break,” she said and straightened herself. “The second tier lets your body fight the corruption. Without healing it would still be dangerous but you won’t turn into a frenzied monster by the end of it,” she said.

Should I add more now or just focus on this for now?

“How many can you support?” Trian asked before murmuring something to himself.

“Shouldn’t be difficult to support everyone,” Ilea said. “Decided to join?” she asked with a smile.

“Don’t give me that look. Yes I do.”

The next two hours were spend with carefully spreading the corruption and monitoring the students. Compared to Trian’s lightning form the previous day, this method was both more rewarding skill wise but at the same time much more dangerous. Everything depended on Ilea’s ability to heal and monitor the students.

Something she actually found quite interesting to do. With her ash spread in a mist that came up to everyone’s waist, she found it trivial to keep the corruption in check. The difficulty was the encouragement, monitoring pain and taking care of the people that lost consciousness.