Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce decided that he would fulfill Lianna’s request. He had originally intended to keep this secret in his heart, much like the situation during the Beast Tide in order to protect her and her feelings. Yet staring into her deep green eyes, he knew that she was serious.

"You were possessed by a Dryad. A nasty monster which took control of your mind and made you do some bad things." He started, choosing his words carefully.

"When I told you that we were going into the left tunnel, you reacted weirdly and began to walk closer to me." Jayce paused for a moment, "Then you pushed me into the tunnel and apologized, before running off to the right tunnel."

At these words Lianna was shocked, and a frown appeared on her beautiful face. "W-What happened after that? Did you try to stop me?" she asked. There was no accusation in her tone, as if she was just trying to get stock of all the information.

Jayce shook his head, his eyes turning dull. "The moment I was pushed into the tunnel, a force field appeared, blocking me from leaving. Likely thanks to the Dryad. When that happened, I had no choice but to go farther into the tunnel which was when I found out it was a Draconic Panther den."

Lianna nodded, allowing Jayce to continue his story. "I took out a few of them by surprise, but the rest took a bit more... ingenuity." he said, not going into detail. "Then once I’d taken them all out, you showed up with vines wrapped tightly around your body."

"You... The Dryad spoke some words, saying that she didn’t expect me to finish off the Draconic Panthers. Yet I didn’t let her speak, and promptly attacked her, removing the vines and incinerating her."

"Right after that I must have lost consciousness because Dinner Rush expired. And well, you know the rest." he said, shrugging.

Lianna merely listened to the story without interrupting, trying her best to remember the pieces of information that were missing in her mind. She felt upset upon hearing that she had pushed Jayce into the tunnel, essentially condemning him to fight to the death against the Draconic Panthers.

She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the fuzzy bits of her memory in hopes that they would reveal themselves to her. After a few moments it seemed to work, flashes of memories appeared in front of her closed eyes.

Pushing Jayce into the tunnel, bowing with apology before running away with her tears pouring down. The conversations with the Dryad which had eroded her mind, bending her to its will and forcing her to take the staff on the altar.

It was as if she was transported to that moment in time, walking up to the altar in a haze. Lianna reached out her right hand towards the glowing staff, yet the moment her fingers wrapped around its body, it began to wriggle and writhe, penetrating her skin and constricting around her body.

She felt agonizing pain throughout her mind and body, as if she was being branded by a hot iron. This lasted for a few minutes to which she could only let out an inaudible scream, writhing on the floor in sheer agony.

Afterwards, things started to get hazy once more. She was like a spectator in her own body, only able to see what was happening around her with no way of intervening. If that wasn’t enough, she was still in tremendous pain, taking her to the verge of madness.

Back in the cave, Lianna let out a stifled scream, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she began to convulse. Agony wracked her body as if she was being burnt alive from within, causing her to writhe in pain.

"Lianna!" Jayce panicked, watching the scene unfold in front of him. He didn’t know what was happening, nor what to do. He quickly grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to stop the erratic movements of her body, however this did not help.

He quickly activated his Analyze skill, trying to figure out what was wrong. However there was nothing that could explain what was happening to Lianna right now, causing him to panic further.

Jayce held onto her hands, his mind racing trying to figure out ways that he could help her. His gaze fell onto her pretty face which was currently wracked with pain, wishing that he could help alleviate some of it, even if he had to take on the pain himself.

Suddenly, he felt his hands begin to warm up, similar to the sensation when he would gather his mana into them. Then, a black substance seemingly appeared from nowhere, traveled from Lianna’s arms and made contact with his hands.

The moment that the black substance touched his hands, he felt a wave of intense pain enter his body. Jayce sucked in a cold breath, gritting his teeth as his muscles tensed up violently in response.

It was then that a notification popped up in front of him.

[You have acquired the skill: Empath (lvl. 1)]

[You are being affected by Dryad’s Backlash]

[Dryad’s Backlash: When a Dryad possesses an individual, their mind and body will be branded. When the Dryad dies, the host will suffer a tremendous backlash hundreds of times greater than the suffering inflicted at the time of its death]

Jayce read the information in front of him whilst trying to breathe, it was tough to think when it felt like he was burning alive. With his little brain capacity right now, he knew that he was sharing some of the load of Lianna’s pain, and it probably had something to do with the Empath skill he had just gained.

The backlash itself said that the host, in this case Lianna, would experience pain hundreds of times greater than the Dryad felt at the time of its death. Jayce’s face paled even further, remembering how he had incinerated the bastard in his hands.

"F*ck"