The Regressed Dungeon Master

[Are you sure you want to select the ’Desolate Jailer’ subclass? (yes/no)]

Adder started shaking. ’A unique subclass.’ He instantly tapped yes.

Suddenly, all four cards slammed into his left palm.

Zzz

White current flashed in the dark prison. He stared wide-eyed as all four cards slowly attached and morphed into a glove.

The four fingers each followed the card theme, as if someone wrapped authority cards around his fingers, while the rest of the glove was pitch black.

Ding!

[Congratulations, Player Adder, you have gained the Desolated Jailer class.]

Multiple pieces of information about his subclass flashed through his head. He just sucked in a deep breath.

[Check your status for subclass details.]

He was about to open his status when the metal door before him started shaking.

Ding!

[You have met the condition.]

[The first sealed door is opening.]

As if attracted like a magnet, his pointer finger was pulled to the metal door.

The projection of the first white card with a black border flew up from his pointer finger to the center of the metal door.

Crank!!

Loud metal creaking echoed in the silent prison.

The metal door barely shifted when thick red fog rushed out from the crack.

’Ouch.’ Suddenly, a bizarre sting shot through his shoulder, drilled into him from the other side.

Shocked, Adder tried to break free when the string pulled him toward the door.

The very moment the rusted metal door popped open, it swallowed him whole.

...

Adder’s eyes widened as the veins all over his body started twitching.

It was as if something was crawling within him.

Ahhhhh!

He yelped more in surprise than pain.

Ding!

[Blood corruption detected. Purification has started.]

[+2, +3, +3, +2...]

A dormant bright purple light flashed all over his body.

Instead of stopping, the twitching increased, but this time in the reverse direction.

AAAhhhh!!!!

A loud, ancient scream echoed in his head, making him stumble back two steps.

His pointer finger started twitching. To his horror, a blob of bloodied grey mass seeped out of his finger and burned into the air.

The bloodied smoke was absorbed into the first card projection.

Ding!

[Congratulations, Player Adder, you have survived the corruption from the Crimson Vile.]

[You have gained the Crimson Vile mark.]

He saw a strange symbol form on the card projection. The next moment, it was absorbed back into his glove. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

[Vile Mark Acquired: Crimson Vile]

Another set of information rushed through his head. He barely controlled himself from puking.

Just then, a heavy metal clash sounded.

He glanced up, only to realize he was back inside the dark barrier. There was no trace of the prison anywhere.

Just then, a crack formed on the barrier.

"No, defend him!" A loud shout came from further ahead.

Not wasting a moment, he grabbed the dropped sword and frantically looked through the gap.

All he saw was a couple of witches. What’s going on? Where are those two?

The gap widened when he suddenly shifted his head to the side.

Puich!

That instant, a thin metal blade stabbed through where his eyes had been.

Click! The attacker clicked her tongue.

Prepared, Adder rolled through the gap.

Bam!

At that very moment, a massive fireball blasted through the barrier.

The shock from the blast helped him roll again, dodging the incoming attack.

Now outside, he noticed the broken ritual circle beneath him. He was still in the center of the cave, but strangely, the young witches were still standing around the ritual circle.

The saintess in front of him waved her twin swords. "You really are a cockroach, huh."

Not wasting a moment, she lunged back at him.

Already alert, Adder rolled to the side and noticed a group of players fighting just past the witches.

There, her partner was fighting against a couple of other players, with Arik among them.

He shouted at the saintess, "Do we really have to fight? I am not even corrupted."

This seemed to work as the saintess paused. She tilted her head. "Why do you think I care about you being corrupted?"

That gave him a breather as he smiled at her. "Oh come on, isn’t it common knowledge that holy classes gain power from killing demon worshippers?"

Unexpectedly, she smiled back and followed with her own question. "In that case, you must have guessed the reason for this special task, right?"

He raised his eyebrow. She did not look injured. Was she waiting for her skill cooldown?

[25 health]

One look at his health, and he decided to follow along.

He nodded. "I do, and for my little interruption, I am sorry. But hey, it’s not like this is the end of the world. We could still be friends, you know."

"Friends, hehe." She started laughing.

At that moment, the cave became silent, with all eyes focused on her.

She slapped her forehead. "For an entire year, I worked for this moment. I even gave up my years of work to start over, and you destroyed it."

She pointed her sword at him. "After wasting all my effort, that’s all you have to say?"

Adder dropped all pretense and stared into her eyes. Unable to control himself, he smirked and clapped. "Ohh, miss workhorse, bravo."

"Are you seriously expecting us to lay down our lives for you? Come on, let’s not waste more time." He waved at her.

Her story of hard work would not have impressed him in his past life, much less now. Did she really think he was going to walk away like this?

No. These two had almost ruined his entire extra-life progress.

He took a deep breath and glanced at his left glove. It was the best testing ground he could hope for.

To be honest, he was not that concerned about dying. Sure, there were plenty of 15 attributes, but compared to the subclass, that was nothing.

It wasn’t like he was going to lose his subclass.

Just then, a big notification popped up in front of him.

Ding!

[Calculation for the special task finished.

Congratulations, Player Adder, you achieved a 95 percent contribution in the special task.

Reach the witch shop to claim the special reward.]

"Shit!" Adder cursed as he saw all the players staring at him.