I stood there in shock. Tina?! I could feel my rage boiling over with every passing second. “Where did he take her?” I asked, but Fyren didn’t utter a word. “I said, where di—”

“You’ve disappointed me,” a voice sounded next to me. I backstepped a little. Niran the Primeval, the creature that took me off the path to the afterlife and put me in this damn world stared up at the frozen clouds. In fact, everything was frozen, time and space itself was frozen. “You insist on being weak. If this is how you wish to play, then you shall start over and learn properly.”

Suddenly, I was pelted through a portal and woke up in a dark cave. Next to me was a dead body, already decomposing and emitting a retch-worthy stench. Thankfully, I couldn’t vomit in lich form. I tried to open a portal, but it didn’t work. Summoning Dreadhoof didn’t work. Nothing worked. I could no longer feel my bond with the devils either.

However, my grimoire still worked, somehow, and I only had one spell available to cast. All the others were marked as unavailable in the grimoire. The only spell remaining was Cadaver Possession. I couldn’t exactly cast it, for two reasons. The first was that the body next to me was already half-way rotted, and the second was that, for some reason, my MP dropped drastically to 100.

But that wasn’t my main concern anymore. My old bones shivered in fear, as if the very act of breathing was dangerous – my HP was 35.

I was no longer immortal.

My eyesight grew used to the darkness of the cave as I sat there, inhaling the fetor of the decaying corpse next to me. I rocked back and forth, trembling, pondering with all my might what was it I did to deserve this. I was nothing but an ordinary human civilian now, save for my grimoire. Regret never besieged me so quickly; the enemies I made would consider me easy pickings now. Even some allies who might not have liked me probably wouldn’t hesitate to slit my throat the second they realized I was powerless.

I had to take a new identity, and fast. Luckily, I didn’t prance around in the male vessel much, so I took that form. What the fuck did he do?! That motherfucker! I couldn’t even recall how long I sat in that one position, mulling over all my actions over the past few months. What was I supposed to do as a normal person? Why did he even do what he did?

Unfortunately, I had no time to contemplate the wily actions of Niran any longer; footsteps encroached louder and louder. I grabbed the crude short sword from the corpse nearby and hid behind some rocks. I can’t even access my damn inventory. The Scepter of the Lich God was also out of my reach.

Approaching my destination was a goblin, wearing nothing but rags. Its scraggy limbs and paunch were a bit comical, but not in the predicament I was in. My heart was thundering so loud that I was surprised the aloof goblin didn’t hear me. It rummaged through a bit of loot off to the side of the dead adventurer.

I used that golden opportunity to steel what brittle nerves I had and sneak towards the monster. Because I wasn’t used to the male vessel, I stumbled a bit on a loose rock and the goblin looked behind him. I fumbled, but still clumsily stabbed him with the short sword, but his panic made him move and my sword went through his shoulder instead of busting through his chest. Blood swam out the wound and so did his shriek that echoed throughout whatever cave we were in.

Fuck! I pulled the sword out and stabbed it in the chest a few times. He only managed to cut me once on my wrist with a sharp crude stone wrapped up with string on a piece of wood for a handle before he died from punctured lungs and a leaking heart. I immediately decamped my position and found another hiding spot.

Two other goblins came in, and like the disgusting creatures they were, began cannibalizing on their fallen comrade without even worrying about how he died. It was nauseating. I could hear the flesh tear and the bloody bits sloshing about in their mouths as they chewed their comrade without a shred of dignity.

This time, I was a bit better at sneaking, so my sword burrowed through the back of one of them, and I used the element of surprise to kick the other one as hard as I could. With the male vessel’s strength, I was able to yank the sword out without too much trouble, but I still wasted a second or two, which was enough for the goblin to come to his senses and utilize the buckler he probably pilfered off some halfwit adventurer. My slash at him was blocked, and what’s worse, it made a jarring screech.

He hissed and used another crude stone dagger – their weapon of choice apparently – to attack me recklessly. He wasn’t just trying to kill me, he was fighting for his life, and it was more strength than I accounted for when I tried to block with the sword. The dagger slid down the edge of my sword and ripped a deep cut in my thigh. The beginning second or so of my agonizing yelp escaped me before I could slam my sweaty palm on my shivering lips to hush myself.

The goblin didn’t let up, and went in for the kill as I fell over on my backside. I rolled aside and used my good leg to kick with all my strength, sending the green ghoulish monster airborne. He landed badly and let forth a battle-cry that once again reverberated throughout the cavern. Shit! Fucking hell! Grow a pair, Deidre! I knew if a monster as weak as a goblin was giving me trouble, then a horde of them would feast on my bone marrow if I continued being so wimpy. And by the looks in their carnivorous eyes as they relished the raw meat of another goblin, I’d probably be a succulent treat for them.

I tried my best to remember what little swordsmanship training I got, and properly deflected the momentum of the goblin’s childlike technique as he raged towards me. Once I got his dagger out of the way, I gouged at his eye with my finger, raised my leg and took advantage of his stunned state by focusing on my form and unleashing the strongest kick I could. My leg lit up and I released that built-up strength, preparation, and technique all in one, stamping down so hard on his knee that I crushed it beyond recognition.

Holy fuck! Did I just use a skill?!