They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World-Chapter 200: Unknown Help!

[System Alert: Extreme Corruption penetrating host body...]

My vision swam. Dark veins started appearing on my hands, my arms, spreading faster than the wolf scratch had spread through Scarlet, branching outward like cracks in glass.

This is bad.

I raised Oathstorm with shaking hands, the familiar blue lightning flickering weakly along the blade.

The remaining Scytheclaws circled, four of them still standing, their obsidian-black scales absorbing the light, making them look like moving shadows.

Their scythe-like bone blades scraped against stone with every deliberate step, the sound like knives being sharpened.

Then they attacked as one.

I met them head-on because there was nowhere else to go.

Oathstorm came up to block the first scythe-blade strike, the impact sent shockwaves up my arms, made my injured ribs scream.

Twisted to avoid the second Scytheclaw’s slash, not fast enough, felt its blade score across my shoulder, opening a line of fire.

Thunder surged through Oathstorm and I cut the third one across its leg, black blood spraying, but it didn’t fall, just staggered and kept coming.

The fourth one’s blade caught me across the back, cutting through my shirt, through skin.

I stumbled forward, barely keeping my feet.

I can’t keep this up.

Behind me, I heard a soft thump.

Then another.

Through the dizzying haze of the miasma, I glanced over my shoulder. Tessa and Scarlet were slumped against the cavern wall, entirely motionless.

The heavy, toxic vapor had pooled in the back of the cave, suffocating them where they lay.

"Dammit," I coughed, the black smoke burning my lungs like inhaled acid.

"FUCK!"

The corruption was spreading faster now, I could feel it in my chest, in my lungs, making each breath harder, each movement more sluggish.

The dark veins had spread across my entire torso, creeping up my neck toward my face.

The beasts took my distraction as their signal. Three of them lunged at once, their scythe-claws slicing through the murky air.

I swung Oathstorm in a desperate, wide arc.

A scythe-claw clipped my ribs, tearing through my shirt. I staggered, my vision strobing with warning prompts I couldn’t even read.

Then, the humming of my sword changed.

The crisp, sharp crackle of my thunder sputtered and died. For a terrifying split second, Oathstorm was just a piece of dead steel.

Then it erupted.

The lightning didn’t just come back... it mutated.

The clean blue sparks twisted into a violent, sickly greenish hue. It didn’t arc sharply through the air... it oozed.

The emerald electricity clung to the blade like glowing, radioactive plasma, dripping onto the stone floor and sizzling against the rock.

I was startled, horrified, watching my own lightning turn into something that resembled the miasma more than electricity.

What the hell is this?

But when a Scytheclaw lunged and I struck it with Oathstorm—

The oozing, green lightning met the beast’s obsidian scales.

It didn’t just cut. It dissolved.

The moment the violent-green electricity made contact, the beast let out a shriek that rattled my teeth.

The corruption in the lightning aggressively attacked the miasma in its body. The creature’s armor, flesh, and bone melted away in a split second, reducing it to a pile of steaming, bubbling ash before it even hit the ground.

My eyes widened. The pain in my veins was agonizing, but my brain latched onto the only thing that mattered.

It’s effective against them.

I didn’t hesitate. I gripped Oathstorm’s hilt with both hands, letting the toxic, mutated thunder bleed directly into my own corrupted veins.

It felt like holding a live wire of pure acid, but I welcomed the pain. As it kept me awake from the toll my body had been taking.

And then without any hesitation... I lunged.

I became a plague in the dark.

Swung the oozing blade through the swarm, no longer needing to aim for weak points. The violent-green lightning ate through their scythe-claws, melted their snouts, and turned their armor to slag.

I slaughtered them, carving a glowing, toxic path through the center of the cavern.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Finally, only one remained.

The leader of the group.

A massive, battle-scarred beast, standing a full head taller than the rest, its snout dripping with black drool.

I struck with everything I had, a desperate overhead slash that the Scytheclaw barely avoided, the corrupted lightning scoring across its side instead of splitting it in half.

It shrieked and countered with both scythe-blades. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

I got one up to block—

The other got through, punching into my side, between my ribs.

Pain exploded. Blood poured.

I staggered backward, fell to one knee, barely keeping hold of Oathstorm.

The Scytheclaw was gravely injured, bleeding from multiple wounds, one eye destroyed, half its scales dissolved from corrupted lightning contact.

But it was still standing.

I coughed blood, looked up at it.

Oathstorm’s green light sputtered and died.

Why? I cursed, my vision fading to a narrow tunnel. Why is it still standing?

The leader loomed over me. It opened its massive, eyeless snout, a concentrated sphere of dark, swirling miasma gathering in its throat.

If this attack hit. It was going to wipe me out.

I gritted my teeth, ready to put everything in the last desperate attempt.

Then suddenly...

SKLCH!

The wet, tearing sound of metal punching through bone echoed loudly in the cavern.

The dark energy in the beast’s throat instantly dissipated. It froze, a violent tremor wracking its massive frame. Slowly, it tipped forward and collapsed onto the stone floor with a heavy, lifeless thud.

Through the rapidly closing pinprick of my vision, I looked up.

Standing directly behind the massive carcass was a figure cloaked entirely in dark fabric, a heavy hood obscuring their face.

A long, slender weapon rested in their hand, dripping with black blood.

My lips moved, trying to form a word, a question, anything. But the system interface flashed a final, glaring red warning in the center of my eyes.

[System Error: Critical failure. Shutting down.]

The cavern dissolved into absolute, suffocating darkness, and I knew nothing else.