Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game

Looking down, Miles saw that the tendrils of black fog were still clinging to his feet and shins, like leeches trying to suck his blood, and got ready to swat them away, but he thought better and did nothing for a moment.

'Better not to get my hands on it, but damn… What to do now?'

His heart beat fast against his cracked ribs, the broken one still making him grimace with pain.

The system window popped up with its voice again, sending a wave of relief through Miles' entire being.

[You are temporarily immune to Soul Damage]

'The tea!' The corner of his mouth twisted upward as it fell slightly agape.

He almost forgot about the fact that the magic tea he had drank a few hours ago had not just replenished his dwindling heath points, but also increased his stats by a point each, and also granted him temporary immunity to soul damage.

'Whew…' He sighed. 'That's one fortunate coincidence.'

Was it, though?

As Miles moved again, taking one step after another across the black fog and towards the ominous mouth of the cave, he could not stop thinking about what all of that meant.

It felt like a coincidence, but everything also seemed to be working just too well in his favor until now, from the leveling up to the increasing of his stats, and the rewards he earned from defeating the guardian.

Of course, many other battles only accounted for experience points, blood, and sweat, but other than that, the miraculous tea replenishing his HP when he was just on the brink of death – as anticlimactic as it had felt – and the immunity to soul damage he had acquired from it, although temporary…

'It might just be me, but I'm not feeling at ease about all this…'

He kept walking anyways, because no matter how lucky – and eerie – he felt with all that, Miles had no idea how long the tea's effect on his soul would last, and he did not want to spend a single second more in that fog's grasp. So, he kept moving towards and into the cave.

The interior of the cave was almost as dark as the fog slithering across the floor, Miles was barely able to see a few feet before him, and the sound of dripping water only made the air colder.

It was a welcome sensation, after the cooking heat of the swamp on the outside, but the bones littered on the floor did not make for a warm welcome to Miles.

He felt a shiver run down his spine as he tried to look closer.

'Uh… No, not scary.' He felt his skin crawl.

Whatever that smoke was, it seemed to be coming from the bones of whatever creatures that died there.

As Miles kept walking, as quietly as possible, he noticed human remains among the unrecognizable bones, feeling a sense of ominous foreboding grasping at his heart like an iron hand.

'One, two, three…' He soon lost count of how many human skulls, ribs, and limbs there were. 'Just how many people came here before me…?'

Not too far away from him, something underneath the fog shimmered ever so slightly, only for a moment, but long enough for Miles to notice it. He walked a little bit faster, still taking care to not step over the bones, and reached the source of the shimmering.

The sword shimmered with a cold light, somehow repelling the ominous mist from around it by a few inches. Its blade was polished to perfection and etched with ancient runes that pulsed faintly with a soft, blue glow.

The runes seemed to hum with a quiet energy, as if whispering to anyone who got close enough to be held in their hands, to be wielded. Its double-edged blade tapered to a deadly point, the steel imbued with a subtle, otherworldly sheen that felt like it did not belong among the living.

The hilt was wrapped in dark leather, worn but resilient. The cross guard was simple, yet elegant, forged from weathered steel and etched with intricate patterns that matched the runes along the blade. At the pommel, a solid, rounded end cap balanced the sword.

It was no ordinary weapon, no matter how Miles looked at it. But before he put his hands on the hilt and tried to lift it up, recalling what happened with the [Scythe of the ???], Miles reached his index finger just a few inches away from the blade, and immediately, the weapon's information window appeared in front of him.

[Cheshire's Gleam]

[Category: Unknown]

[Item Description: After she dethroned the Red Queen, Alice became queen herself, having the ??? as her counselor and closest friend. Cheshire, the Cat, chose to remain by her side as her guiding light in the darkness that soon befell upon the realm, and became her own most fearsome weapon, helping her banish the darkness that spread from the Frontier.

The light of the cat's wide grin remained etched into its sword form, in the shape of runes that vanquished all forms of darkness and evil.

After Alice's death, however, Cheshire became trapped in its sword form, becoming lost from where it truly belonged – Alice's hand – patiently waiting for the day her companion would return]

'What? Alice? The Cheshire Cat?' He tried his best to force a laugh back in, coughing a few drops of bloody foam on the back of his hand that he used to cover his mouth. 'Don't tell me that it's a quest related to Alice in Wonderland…? What's next? The Mad Hatter?'

He then could not hold the coughing fit back anymore, falling to his knees as bloody foam spilled from his mouth.

Unconsciously, he had fallen with his hand on the hilt of the [Cheshire's Gleam], and immediately after that, the surrounding fog let go of him, as if an invisible aura had enveloped him, protecting him against the supernatural enemy.

Unable to notice because of the blinding pain, though, he only heard the system's voice echoing in his head.

[The duration of the effect – Immunity to Soul Damage – ended]

Opening his teary eyes, wheezing with every breath, Miles tried to sigh in relief, but failed.

'Well… What a convenient way to die, huh?' He chuckled inwardly. 'Fuck…'

His vision was getting blurry and dark, as the black mist around him began to swirl violently, and gather all in one place, in front of him, assuming a humanoid shape.

Miles stumbled, falling on his side, stars bursting in his eyes as the broken rib felt like piercing him even deeper.

As he felt his consciousness fading, the figure before him snarled, its arm looking like it was growing, and soon after, it had the shape of a sword.

Immediately after, the figure lunged at him.