Re: From Elf Mage to Overlord Slayer-Chapter 23: Infirmary

The tunnels were dead quiet, except for a bunch of survivors crying in the background.

Super annoying.

My new shadow titan pet—my loot from that disaster—was floating behind me, which was kinda cool, I guess.

I wasn’t really walking with them. I was the weirdo they were all avoiding.

My waypoint marker, a stupid silver line in my face, was screaming at me to go north.

Grind time.

But, ugh, I had another quest I had to do first.

One that wasn’t in my log. I had to go see her.

The infirmary was just some cave with a few sputtering torches. It stank.

Blood, fear, and some kind of gross-smelling herb paste.

A few elf players who must’ve picked healer were moving between all the people moaning on the ground.

And there she was.

She was tucked away in a corner.

Her silver hair was a mess, all sweaty and dirty.

Her legs... crap. They were completely messed up. Like, bent the wrong way.

The splints they’d slapped on were soaked in blood, and you could still see the bone-are-not-supposed-to-go-that-way angles under the blanket.

This was bad. Really bad.

But of course, I couldn’t just walk up to her.

Some dude was sitting on a crate next to her, acting like a one-man meat shield.

Gandalf.

He was wiping her forehead with a damp cloth, trying to look all gentle and caring.

Big tough warrior man has a soft side, gag me.

He looked up when I got close, and his face went all hard.

He didn’t even stand up, but you could tell he was trying to block me.

"That’s far enough," he growled.

My new voice came out all flat and robotic. It was weird. "I need to talk to her."

"She’s been through enough," Gandalf snapped, his eyes flashing like he wanted to PK me right here.

I’d never seen him look so protective. It wasn’t a captain protecting a party member.

It was a guy protecting his girl or something. "Thanks to you."

The blame didn’t even sting. It was just a fact. Another data point. "Move, Gandalf." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Or what?" he said, putting his hand on the broken sword at his side.

What a drama queen. "You’ll turn me into one of your pets?"

A low groan came from the bedroll. Yael’s eyes fluttered open. They were hazy with pain, but they found me instantly. Then the haze was gone, replaced by pure, concentrated rage.

"Let him," she rasped. Her voice sounded like grinding rocks. Gandalf’s head snapped back to her, all concerned.

"Yael, you need to rest—"

"Let him come here," she said again, her purple eyes locked on me like she was targeting me for a spell.

Gandalf hesitated, then shot me a look that said, try anything and you’re dead.

He stood up and took a step back, but he didn’t leave.

He just stood there with his arms crossed like some kind of bodyguard.

I walked over and knelt down. My shadow titan waited at the entrance like a gargoyle on a church.

Being this close to her, the guilt was a physical debuff, crushing my chest.

But guilt wasn’t just a debuff anymore. It was the fuel for my new build, and it was burning hot.

"Yael," I started. My own voice sounded like a stranger’s. "I..."

The words got stuck.

The raid leader, the strategist, the Slayer... none of them had a script for this.

All I was now was the moron who got his best friend killed.

"I’m sorry," I finally whispered.

She laughed. It wasn’t a real laugh. It was a dry, broken, rattling sound. Pure poison.

"Sorry?" she choked out. A tear of sheer rage rolled down her dirty cheek.

"You’re sorry my legs are basically firewood now?

You’re sorry you just stood there like a useless AFK statue while a monster used me as a training dummy to teach you a lesson?"

Her voice got louder, shaky but strong.

"This was always the deal, wasn’t it, Quinn?

In every game, in this life. I’m the meat shield. I’m the one who takes the aggro so the ’great strategist’ can get his moment of glory.

You just had to poke the raid boss. You just had to prove you were the main character!"

Every word was a crit, twisting in the wound.

I didn’t even try to deny it. She was 100% right.

"You’re right," I said.

My voice was as empty as the dungeon we’d just wiped in.

I looked from her broken body to my own hands, the ones that now had a void creature on speed dial.

"The man who did this to you... the arrogant, prideful idiot who thought he could win a war with a single spell... he’s gone."

Her angry face flickered with confusion.

I met her eyes, letting her see the cold, silver nothing where my personality used to be.

"They burned him away. I let them. Because he was weak. Because he failed you."

I leaned closer, my voice dropping to a low, creepy whisper.

"I am a monster now, Yael. A tool. A weapon with one purpose."

She actually flinched. She saw it.

The guy she knew, the annoying, smart, pain-in-the-ass friend she’d followed everywhere, was gone.

Now there was just... this thing.

"I will fix what I broke," I swore.

It wasn’t a promise.

It was my new main quest objective.

"I will hunt down Vex. I will tear the power from his very being.

And I will use it to make you whole again.

No matter what it costs me. No matter what I have to become."

For a second, it was quiet.

I could see it all in her eyes—the pain, the hate, and a tiny, scared flicker of the girl who still knew me.

Then the hate won.

But I don’t think it really did.

"Get out," she hissed, turning her face away from me.

She squeezed her eyes shut like just looking at me was causing her damage. "Get away from me."

Welp. Message received. The connection was officially severed.

I stood up, my face going blank again. The mission was all that mattered.

As I turned to leave, Gandalf was instantly back at her side. He knelt down with the damp cloth.

"It’s alright," he murmured, his voice all soft.

He gently brushed some hair out of her face.

"He’s gone." He picked up a cup of water. "Here. Drink."

So he was her protector now.

He was the one giving her buffs and support.

He’d taken my party slot.

I walked out of the infirmary without looking back.

The silver waypoint in my vision was pulsing, brighter than ever.

Gandalf could tend to her wounds.

Only I could go farm the cure.

-----------------------------

The air in the ruined capital felt gross, thick with a silence that was heavier than stone.

In the center of a plaza, a colossal, shattered crystal pulsed with that sick green energy I was getting really tired of.

A figure stood waiting there.

He was skinny, almost fragile, with stark white hair that floated around his head like he was in a shampoo commercial.

His robe was pristine, high-collared, and black, which was basically a middle finger to all the destruction around us.

he looked bored.

I stepped out from the shadows of some collapsed library.

The ground around my feet seemed to warp, the darkness clinging to me like it was happy to see me.

Behind me, a giant silhouette of pure void unfolded itself—my shadow titan.

Its single, glowing amethyst eye was a silent, burning testament to why I was here in the first place.

System Designation: Isoka Kazuki, The Unflinching.

One of Vex’s top guys.

Level 1.

Heh.

Looks like the first real gear check.

Kazuki’s eyes, a piercing, electric blue, finally snapped open.

A faint, arrogant little smile played on his lips.

"Ah," he sighed, his voice smooth and condescending. "The noisy little bug. The server error Vex-sama mentioned. I must say, I’m disappointed. I was hoping for a challenge."

I didn’t waste time on banter.

I raised a hand.

A sphere of raw, crackling mana, humming with the promise of utter annihilation, formed in my palm.

"You’re in my way," I said, my voice totally flat.

FWOOSH!

I unleashed the Mana Bolt.

It wasn’t a simple projectile anymore; this thing was a roaring cannonball of pure destructive force.

It tore a trench in the broken cobblestones as it screamed toward him.

And then... it just stopped.

The bolt froze dead in the air, a mere inch from his chest.

All its ferocious, chaotic energy just fizzled out, its momentum slowing down to an absolute standstill.

Huh?

What the hell is this?

<WARNING! UNKNOWN ABILITY DETECTED!>

<ANALYZING... TARGET IS MANIPULATING THE VERY CONCEPT OF SPACE AROUND HIMSELF. ALL ATTACKS WILL BE INFINITELY SLOWED. THEY WILL NEVER REACH THEIR TARGET.>

<PROBABILITY OF DIRECT IMPACT: 0.000%.>