The corrupted forest groaned with eerie silence, broken only by the occasional creak of dying trees and the crunch of ash beneath my boots.
Suddenly—
GRAAAH!
A corrupted undead beast lunged from behind a gnarled tree. Its body was a twisted fusion of bone and rotting flesh, its eyes glowing with sickly crimson light. Without thinking, I drew my sword in one swift motion and ducked low.
"Purification!" I shouted.
A radiant light surged from my palm, slamming into the creature's chest. Smoke hissed from its body as the light burned away the corruption, and with a final screech, it crumbled to ash.
I didn't have time to rest. Two more charged at me from the left and right.
I sidestepped one, slammed my blade into its spine, and spun around to deliver a powerful kick to the other. It staggered back, and I blasted it with Purification again.
One after another, the monsters came—some sluggish and shambling, others fast and erratic. I had to stay alert, moving constantly to avoid being surrounded. My sword slashed, thrust, and parried while my right hand released bursts of purifying magic.
Seven. Eight. Nine... Ten.
I stood there panting, ten cores now pulsing inside my storage pouch. My robe was stained with sweat and dirt. My muscles ached, but I couldn't stop now.
"Wait... what if I imbued my sword with Purification?"
It was a reckless idea, but considering how vulnerable these creatures were to divine energy—it was worth a try.
I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly and focused. "Imbue... Purification."
A blinding light wrapped around the blade, humming softly with divine resonance. I held it up, and the sword felt lighter... no, sharper.
The next undead that emerged didn't even get a chance to snarl.
SWISH!
With a single swing, I cleaved through its torso. The moment the blade passed through, the creature burst into golden dust, disintegrating in the air.
"…Okay. That's going to make things easier."
I tried something else, just to experiment. "Heal!"
A soothing green light shone in my hand. I directed it at the next approaching monster.
Its body trembled violently. Its corrupted flesh sizzled and cracked before exploding in chunks of purified rot.
"…Okay. That works too. Heals are bombs for them."
Suddenly—RRAAAARGH!
A group of four undead leapt from the trees. One tackled me to the ground. I rolled, stabbing upward, impaling it through the head. Another clawed my shoulder. I winced and shoved it off.
There were too many. I needed to retreat.
I broke into a sprint, weaving between trees. Their footsteps thundered behind me. My lungs burned. I slid down a slope and hid behind a twisted tree.
Think. Think.
They were closing in. I had one shot.
I raised both hands and poured every ounce of mana I had into a wide-scale cast. "Area Heal!"
A wave of divine light exploded outward.
The undead halted mid-charge. Their bodies jerked, twitched... and then began to melt into golden puddles of purified gore. The few that survived hissed and limped away in terror.
I fell to my knees, gasping.
That took a lot out of me.
Still, I smiled. I had discovered something important—my healing magic wasn't just for allies. Against corrupted undead, it was a weapon.
I pressed on, taking a short break to rest and sip from my water pouch. Then, I resumed my cleansing mission.
For the next six hours, I danced between death and survival—dodging, countering, cutting, and purifying. Every battle sharpened my senses, every kill made me more confident.
I fought skeletons with rusted armor, zombie wolves, crawling horrors made of bones and sludge. They came in waves, but I pushed through. I didn't just fight them—I studied them. Their movements, their weaknesses, their patterns.
By the end of it, I had collected nearly fifty low-level mana cores. My robe was tattered, and my legs felt like jelly, but I was alive.
I stumbled back toward the cathedral, feeling the sunlight slowly return as I passed through the border of the cursed forest.
Then I heard it.
A voice. Calm. Cold.
"Purification."
I froze.
That wasn't me.
I turned slowly toward the source of the voice.
A figure stood in the distance, hidden in the shadows of the trees—robe fluttering in the breeze, a faint holy light circling her fingertips.
My heart skipped a beat.
"…Who—?"
To be continued...