The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

”Look, you’re already corrupted by miasma. I have something here that can purify it temporarily. If we take the next shipment that will leave later today, I can take you to the branch of the Order and get you fully purified!”

He had no intention of begging her for his life. He knew she could end it as easily as she had ended the Sentinel who had just died.

What he wanted instead was for her to realize her current situation. By handling the dagger she used to kill the Sentinel, she inevitably became corrupted by it as well. And so, it would be impossible for Aisha to get out of that place.

Whatever her goal was, it wouldn’t matter since she’d die soon. Either she would choose to join hands with him and become his subordinate, or she would become a Miasma Vessel, giving him an advantage!

His eyes gleamed with a cold light, and the corners of his lips curled into a cold smile.

Aisha had also known the risk of using miasma to kill the Sentinel. In order to coat the dagger with it without making the miasma avoid her, she didn’t use her ability. Hence, some of it had smeared onto her fingers. And during her battle with the Sentinel, some of the miasma had dripped onto her arm and leg.

Without any protective gear or purification, the miasma had latched onto her and started to burrow into her pores.

It was already entering her veins...

But there was one thing the man did not know.

At the critical moment, Aisha used her purification ability. Her eyes turned pure white as a white, mist-like aura started to materialize around her like white flames swaying even without wind. The cold, killing intent in her eyes seemed to come alive, causing the guard to freeze.

”Yo—you...”

The guard could hardly believe what was happening in front of him. Just seconds ago, he was still trying to entice her into joining the Order, using her current corrupted state as leverage to make her accept his offer of purification. If that didn’t work, he’d just die and become a Miasma Vessel with her, allowing their leader to harvest them once the Order discovered there had been an attack.

But looking at this now... he knew he fucked up.

Because the young woman in front of him was not an ordinary person, as he had initially thought.

No.

She was a Guide!

But how could this be? There was no way a Guide could move like her or kill a Sentinel as strong as that man!

As if to mock him and make his discovery evident, the miasma that had entered her arm and leg started to squirm. It turned into a gas-like form and evaporated into the air, producing an extremely nauseating and disgusting smell that made anyone who caught a whiff of it want to faint immediately.

What shocked him even more was the rate of purification unfolding in real time before his eyes.

”How could this be... Who—who are you really?”

The expression on the guard’s face had become even more twisted, as though he had seen a creature he shouldn’t have seen. He started to retreat despite knowing that Aisha could just strike him with her needles again.

But he made no signs of running away. Instead, his body stiffened in horror, while only his legs shook as he tried to put distance between them.

While the guard was experiencing intense terror because of her, Aisha fell into a daze.

The instant she used her purification ability to purify the miasma that had entered her body, she felt a sense of liberation. At the same time, intense pain grew within her, as though there was a bomb inside her that was about to blow up. Still, the pain was bearable. It only made her frown in discomfort.

She could feel the miasma on her arm and leg try to escape through her pores, but the moment it emerged, it evaporated into the air, with nothing left of it. Relief washed over her since it meant the miasma was being purified.

But Aisha had no idea... that this wasn’t the act of purifying miasma.

It was something completely different.

”I... I need to get away from her.” He stopped and swallowed the bile rising in his throat. He shook his head to snap himself out of it and stammered, ”I—I need to report this to the Order. How can someone have the—”

He couldn’t continue as the light aura emanating from Aisha suddenly exploded. It spread so fast that the entire place was bathed in it. For a moment, the world inside the room was painted in the purest white, and the miasma that had lingered in every corner and inch of the room evaporated without even a chance to escape.

From the miasma mixed in the air that humans breathed in in tiny amounts to the miasma-coated dagger lodged inside the Sentinel’s brain, and even the miasma on the walls, none of it was able to survive this purgatory of light.

In a blink of an eye, the entire room was rid of the miasma that had plagued it for thousands of years.

The people inside the cages couldn’t even stand against the power that came from that light. The instant they were hit with it, they fell unconscious and collapsed to the ground. They didn’t even know what happened to them or the fact that the miasma that they were born with had also evaporated into nothingness.

A shrill cry rang out as the guard fell to the ground. He clutched his hand and took off his glove. Upon seeing the miasma that had been injected into him, his pupils constricted.

”No... the Lord’s Blessing is being erased...”

He tried to cover his hand, but the miasma continued to fade away.

”Stop!” He cried out at Aisha, but there was no response.

Aisha couldn’t hear anything in this unknown state. She could see the guard clutching his hand and was surprised to see that it was rotting and badly corrupted by miasma. But the expression on his face looked strange, as though he didn’t want to part with it.

Although it seemed like a long time had passed, only a few seconds had actually passed. The explosion of pure light had died down after a second, but its intensity had already completely eradicated all the miasma in the room.

As the surge of light retreated and gathered inside Aisha again, time began to move once again.

Then her eyes started to grow heavy until darkness claimed her.