Chapter 12
“Guhk!”
After passing through the gate into the white space, I suddenly opened my eyes as if coming to consciousness.
It felt like my breath was caught in my throat. Desperately, I moved my eyes around instinctively to take in the situation. The sight of a damp sewer came into view, and a pungent stench invaded my nostrils mercilessly.
“Hoo… This is strange. Was it… this hard when I passed through the gate last time?”
I was preoccupied for a while, trying to shake off the inexplicable sense of oppression weighing down my entire body. I hastily wiped the cold sweat that had drenched me, composed my ragged breathing, and made every effort to clear my muddled mind.
“Hoo. I’m feeling a bit better now.”
After regaining my composure, I checked my condition using the skill, ‘The Eye of Mimir,’ or examined my items. There were no abnormalities overall. The special items were as described.
However, the one strange point was that my level had already reached three.
Hmm, maybe Minerva added two levels as a bonus? I decided to just let it slide. Living carefree is my specialty.
“… Alright.”
I figured I had a grasp of the situation now. I looked around my surroundings.
An endless, dark sewer echoed with the sound of running water and the squeaks of rats, magnified to an alarming volume.
Without realizing, I swallowed a lump in my throat and tensed my hand gripping the sword.
“Should we start this thrilling adventure?”
Thus, my first adventure opened its curtain with the stench of filth in an unnamed sewer.
My goal was to escape from here first. I would postpone enjoying the pleasures of my rebirth in this alternative world for now.
With such light thoughts in mind, I began to move slowly.
“Yaaah! You scared me!”
While wandering aimlessly through the sewers, I was frightened out of my wits when I saw dozens of rats dashing towards me from the darkness. I was more shocked by their size, which was as big as a cat.
Focusing my gaze on the creatures, I realized they were a type of monster called Hunting Rats. Inadvertently, my hand went to the sword at my waist.
“Should I try to catch one?”
After standing in one place for quite some time pondering, I eventually sighed and relaxed, giving up.
There was no need to unnecessarily stir up trouble. I didn’t know what my current capabilities were. If those guys charge at me in a group with my level being only three…
If I were level five, I might have considered taking them on.
While making silly thoughts and giggling to myself, I suddenly frowned and quickly covered my nose.
The familiar stench of the sewers was being overpowered by a strong metallic smell.
“Blood?”
The scent of blood triggered an alert throughout my body.
As tension rose, my senses expanded. I drew my sword, stifled my footsteps, and focused my gaze ahead. Then I slowly moved forward.
The smell of blood was getting stronger with each passing moment.
I soon reached a corner that turned at a right angle. Anticipating potential dangers, I swiftly turned the corner.
“Keek!”
I immediately tripped over something and fell, screaming in an unbecoming manner.
“Ah, ow… What is it?”
Rubbing my numb knee, I turned my head. Near my feet lay something heavy. Its size was just that of a person.
No, upon closer inspection, it was a person. The lack of movement confirmed death. It was a corpse.
“…”
To be more precise…
The identity of the corpse was none other than me.
The ghostly dead flesh and my body covered in blood lay sprawled out there. The entire side of my back appeared to have been crushed by something heavy.
However, the blood soaking my body was not from that injury. It was gushing from somewhere else – the severely severed left arm and the empty neck where the head used to be.
That’s right.
The head was rolling around separately, far away. Facing my own bloody face, I gasped sharply.
“Phew. Yeeeeeek!”
I slumped down on the spot. I desperately flailed around, trying to distance myself from my own corpse. An overwhelming fear engulfed me, clouding my mind in chaos.
Perhaps because of this state, it took quite a while for me to notice the ominous magic circle beneath the corpse.
“Th, th, th, residual memory?”
While carefully speculating the identity of the object, I reached the conclusion that it was indeed that. The peculiar, sticky murmurs felt from it led me to this answer.
I hastily brought my hand to my waist and grabbed the nearest lantern before slowly bringing it near the magic circle.
Hummm. The magic circle resonated with the lantern and emitted a brilliant light. As expected, it was a residual memory from a previous life.
I was startled by the fact that the lantern reacted at all.
“So then… this corpse really is… me?”
It wasn’t a case of mistaken identity or someone who resembled me greatly.
It was truly me. The item had verified this for sure.
As if to confirm, the corpse crumbled into dust and scattered into the air the moment I realized it.
“Ah… Kuhk!”
As I stared at the disappearing head, a flood of information and memories suddenly surged into me, and my vision went dark.
Ding, ding, diliing. Persistent signal tones echoed around my ears.
[Item Activation – Izanami’s Heart]
[Obtained residual memory from a previous life.]
[Recovered 1 point of Strength, 3 points of Agility, and 0 points of Intelligence.]
[No lost skills from previous life to recover.]
[All memories from previous life have been recovered.]
“Kuaaaaaahk!”
I screamed, clutching my head at the spot. I repeatedly slammed my forehead against the wall in madness, feeling like my head might explode. Despite bashing it until it bled, the pain kept intensifying from within.
And then, at some point, the overwhelming tide of memories and emotions that ruthlessly ravaged my mind came to an end. The sudden silence that followed allowed me to catch my breath.
“Huuk… Keuuh… Huuk!”
Eighteen times.
In my memories, I had experienced death eighteen times. The number could be higher if you include deaths before my current recollection.
I recalled the spot where my corpse lay with renewed awareness. It matched almost perfectly with the image of my eighteenth death in my memories. The sensation of the eighteenth me being observed by the nineteenth me was quite novel.
“No… this isn’t the time!”
I immediately took off running without hesitation. My brisk walking turned into running, and then into a full sprint. I didn’t hesitate even for a moment.
Tap tap tap tap! The hurried sound of my footsteps reverberated off the sewer walls and into my ears. I repeatedly glanced back and clenched my lips.
Then, while staring into the darkness, I suddenly raised my voice.
“I know you’re hiding there! If you’re planning to run, it’s already too late!”
I didn’t actually know if there was someone there. But assuming there was, I shouted. It wasn’t merely for bravado. There were two practical effects to shouting like this.
The first was that there was a slight possibility the opponent would abandon their ambush and reveal themselves out of curiosity about how their cover had been blown.
The second… well, it’s awkward for me to say it outright, but it’s to give “my future self” a chance. Simply put:
“You would’ve been caught by now if you were planning to run! If you want to kill me, go ahead!”
I know this from having experienced it eighteen times.
Surviving after being detected by that unknown entity is impossible for someone of my capabilities. If I’ve already been spotted… it might be better to just start over.
In that case, the next me won’t be as easy-going. Sewer runner, hear me now…
“… We’ve arrived.”
The me of this life had already returned to the starting point.
The place where I originally opened my eyes and set out, talking about an exciting adventure. I was standing in the middle of a crossroads where conduits extended in all four directions.
The memories of my rebirth, repeated eighteen times, hovered around me on all sides. Observing my surroundings, I felt a sense of nostalgia.
A nauseating nostalgia.
“How did you notice? I was confident in my tracking skills.”
Clack, clakclak.
A sound that scratched at my peripheral nerves came. The sharp sound of something scraping against the stone floor. The sound, which had been imprinted on my mind with terror countless times in my previous lives, was getting closer and closer.
It’s coming.
Approaching from beyond the darkness, dragging its characteristic long blade along the ground.
“Shit…!”
There was no time to dwell on emotions. I immediately began preparing for my “premeditated murder.” In a panic, I rummaged through my backpack for an item.
What came into my hand was a small, pitch-black box made of an unknown material.
[Item Information]
[Name: Box of the Dead]
[Attribute: Placing an item from a previous life inside will connect it to the current life.]
[Details: A contracted item of the god of death, Undrethred. Cannot hold unique items, nor items exceeding the box’s size. This item cannot be destroyed and is invisible to others.]
[Reinforcement Possibilities: None]
“Damn… no time!”
I violently tore open my shirt. Biting my finger hard, the teeth immediately pierced through the skin due to the urgency. Taking the ripped fabric, I pressed my finger against it and began to write on the wall.
This was a time capsule I was sending to my past self, who would be born here naked. Squeezing my brain for efficiency, I carefully selected the most effective words and scrawled them:
“Don’t move recklessly. At least J…
I only managed to write that much when…
“Looks like you don’t plan to answer. Fine with me.”
A low voice approached at a terrifying speed along with the sharp sound of sundering air. I instinctively threw myself down, pressing my body as close to the ground as possible.
“Just die. Like the rest of the trash.”
A chilling voice brushed against my neck.
