Jeanne wiped off the brain gunk from a trembling Jack using her gloved fingers. Leveling up? Not important. His dignity had been reduced to zero. He had puked up blue goo which was an unpleasant shade and the taste of it was something he wouldn't wish on anyone.
Okay maybe on the system.
Not all heroes get glorious deaths or epic-level victories. Some have to swim through brain fluid.
"At least it didn't swallow you."
She chuckled for the first time. A dry, throaty laugh that ended in a cough, as if her body had forgotten how.
"Not helping."
Then it came. The XP gain, but not as he imagined.
[XP Gained: 200]
Due to his nauseous state, the wave of leveling up was less a tingling orgasm and more an invasive feeling like someone shoved a pill up his bum.
[Host has leveled up to Level 3. 3 points available]
"Only one level?"
[It was a cub. Barely any skills learned. Host can't farm cubs for xp.]
Before he could complain, he was put on Jeanne's shoulder and they were running. Her grunts were audible. The run from the forest had taken its toll on her and her ankle swelled up more. Trees were crashing down near the cub's corpse. There was another one.
"Is that the second cub?" Jack asked.
"No, it's the mother," she answered.
Suddenly Jeanne braked, tossing Jack like a ragdoll into the snow, making a small hole. He yelped.
"Hey."
He turned around and saw magic.
One golden dagger pushing back against a giant ice spear. Jeanne's arms trembled as she tried to keep her footing against the force.
The ogre mother chucked more and more ice spears as it dashed towards them. Each one was larger than a tree trunk, and they crashed into the ground with enough force to shatter stone.
[Level 15 snow-ogre] the system updated.
The ogre had seen what they did to her cub. Now they faced her grief and rage combined. It was too powerful. Both of the duos' stomach quivered: neither thought they could kill it.
So Jeanne quickly grabbed her living-weapon and sprinted away, hiding behind tree trunks when necessary to dodge. They managed to lose it. Catching their breath on the top of a small hill, they could see the mother-ogre searching for them, following their scent.
Jeanne, still bleeding, had slumped against an oak, her breathing shallow.
"Come on," he nudged her leg with his slimy head.
She shook her head.
"I can't take the pain anymore."
Jeanne pressed her palms against her ears as if to block out the monster's roar. Her hands trembled. She was at her limit: the chase, the injuries, the adrenaline. Even if she was a level 20, she couldn't fight a snow-ogre with these injuries. For the first time, Jack saw Jeanne give up.
She truly thought they were going to die.
He quickly pulled up the evolution shop. The cost for healing slime was still 200 HHP points. He could get it and heal Jeanne. But it would mean not buying the next weapon-slime skill.
[Slime Weapon Throw - 200 HHP: Launch a projectile from your body made of the stored weapon.]
There was also another skill.
[Upgrade Weapon Infusion Level 1 -> 2 (200 HHP): Store two weapons and switch between them.]
Shaking his head, he decided it'd be better to see the priestess alive. A body guard was needed even though it'd be this reluctant one. Unfortunately he didn't have enough points
[HHP: 100]
"Jeanne I can help you but... I need to hold your hand again."
She turned her head to look at the approaching mother ogre then back to him.
"Turning you into my husband was only to make the sin easier to bear," she confessed in a desperate whisper.
"I won't let you do that again. Dying is preferable."
Her defiance, a shield forged from years of doctrine, even though it was splintering was still strong. She'd rather face the end than face that transgression.
"Come on. Dying for your god when there is a solution right here is idiotic."
"Right now I'm your best chance. I'm your husband remember 'In sickness and in health,'" he reminded her.
He even wiggled a little in the snow. As if she'd fall for the adorable slime charm.
A small smile cracked her lips.
"That's the dumbest thing I've heard from you."
She raised her hand, staring at her glove. Next she pointed towards one of the stars in the night sky, a purple one shaped like a bow.
"Follow that star, Amethesia. That'll lead you to the Elven kingdom of Vylara."
Jeanne coughed up blood.
"You'll be treated like a novelty there. Not a demon."
Rubbing his slime head with her hand, she caressed him.
"They do take the doctrine more seriously so be careful with the hands."
She let out a weak chuckle.
"Alright that'll do husband. Now run. I'll buy you some time."
She didn't wait for an answer. Jeanne took a stance, her knees buckling, her hands weaving intricate patterns in the air. Jack saw her figure limp forward, her dagger glowing again.
Then she heard her whisper; it wasn't to him.
"One of us should be free."
A final act of defiance and sacrifice, meant to buy a blob of consciousness she barely knew a few more moments of life. It was the most profound, maddeningly selfless, and frustrating thing he had ever encountered.
It screamed the Quiver way. Do anything in your power for the ones you love.
"I suppose this is kindness. I've just been reincarnated into an abusively kind relationship," Jack muttered.
[Host's survival rate if they obey Jeanne's suggestion to flee: less than 5%.]
The system's dispassionate delivery was a bucket of ice water on any budding sentimentality.
"And if I help her?"
[Host's survival rate: less than 1%]
[Host will most likely be stepped on and die.]
"Fuck you too," Jack snarled at the blue screen only he could see.
He looked at Jeanne's back. She was small compared to the snow ogre, but her golden light was cutting through the gloom. Her gift to him was an opportunity for him to survive.
Glancing at the star Jeanne pointed at, he remembered she never actually said how far it was. Running on assumptions in this world had already proven to be a recipe for getting shot at by magic or used as a projectile.
"Hey system does holding dead people's hands give points?"
[No. The hand would cease to be part of Jeanne and instead be an object.] The system confirmed, as if discussing a mundane grocery list.
"Right. Right."
Jack had enough of procrastinating. If he saved her now, he can use her later as a diversion when a bigger monster showed up.
"Yeah. That's the only reason," he nodded to himself.
A second later a small blue-grayish slime was rolling down the hill, ready to save his wife, well not really ready. It was more like going down the hill in the direction of a fight that would probably be over before he gets there.