### Chapter 192: The Penitent
[The immortality reset point has been updated.]
[Time – Continental Year 1108, July 13, 11:15 PM]
[Location – Unterland. District 10, downstream of the Valley of the Dead]
It had been quite a while since the warning mark indicating danger to life had appeared.
“…Whoa. It’s about time.”
I read the panel absentmindedly, somewhat already convinced.
Somewhere among the three forks in the road, the runaway heroes are lurking. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the reset point to update at this timing.
“Hmm.”
Almost automatically pulling out the Box of the Dead, I let out a startled exclamation.
The Box of the Dead was already glowing.
“F, not again?”
Within about three seconds, I understood the situation and nodded my head.
Park Jeong-yong’s adaptability has come this far.
“Alright, what information are you asking for this time, Jung Yong?”
With a mix of anticipation and unease, I opened the Box of the Dead.
Out poured an overwhelming flood of tightly compressed scraps of paper. It was surprising that the box hadn’t burst before now.
I couldn’t help but exclaim in astonishment.
“Are you serious, F? These are year-end tax receipts?”
Though baffled, I began to worry.
How many times did I die to have this many wills piled up? Suddenly, the sight of paper became increasingly nauseating.
Lifting it as if it were hazardous material, I started reading them one by one.
[First attempt. Right old downtown area.]
[Second attempt. Central abandoned factory area.]
[Third attempt. Left amusement park.]
“Hmm.”
These were undoubtedly placed beforehand to check where I died during several attempts.
Given that I’m planning to do the same now, this must be accurate.
‘But… is this all of it?’
There were only those three slips for counting. I thoroughly searched just in case, but none other appeared.
So, I didn’t die as many times as I feared. Only three deaths seem to have occurred, which is relatively good.
“But then, what are all these?”
I lifted the pile of slips that were continuing like sausages in a row.
Flipping through them one by one, I began to read in sequence.
“One person in each passage… they will combine forces as time passes?”
Most of these were wills outlining strategies for the three forks in the road.
I had attempted all three paths and was killed by the runaway heroes during the journey, meaning I couldn’t recover memory fragments. Despite this, the strategies were impressively detailed.
Moreover, there were documents like these among them.
[Personnel Data – Classified #A Document 112]
[Name: Dyrus Gildre]
[Personnel Data – Classified #A Document 113]
[Name: Moskden Chepes]
[Personnel Data – Classified #S Document 21]
[Name: Altea Bathory]
A neatly formatted document with data on the runaway heroes and Altea Bathory.
Narrowing my eyes, I carefully read these documents and immediately understood.
‘This handwriting is not mine. I couldn’t be this systematic.’
This wasn’t something I organized. It’s the information I had requested from Knightrea.
Apparently, my past self copied it from a terminal and stored it here to prevent wasting time in case I died again.
“Hmm.”
By compiling these slips, I could roughly estimate the layout of the forks in the road.
I scribbled a rough map of the forked paths on the damp ground.
“There’s Dyrus, Moskden, and Altea Bathory, each taking one of the three paths, all hostile towards me. At first, there’s one, but once time passes, they’ll notice the battle and gather forces.”
Then the strategy becomes somewhat clear.
Quickly eliminate one enemy to keep it a one-on-one situation or, if possible, flee with all my might and avoid confrontation.
‘But, running away is likely impossible here.’
The fact that I died on all three routes is evidence enough of that.
Truthfully, I have no reason to fight them. I’m not some warmonger or a bloodthirsty black dragon. They are not even my goal.
Had there been an opening, I would’ve certainly fled. But I couldn’t, which means either they gave me no chance to escape or fleeing ultimately led to death.
‘This will be a tough fight.’
Thus, it seems the only option is to quickly overpower each of them one by one.
A diplomatic victory would’ve been possible if it seemed feasible. But there wouldn’t have been a fourth attempt if I had been overwhelmingly in the lead. This does not seem to be the case.
‘First, I need to figure out who is stationed where. Once I have that, the strategy will be nearly perfect.’
I summarized the situation roughly and nodded.
Taking a brief pause, I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
“The amusement park seems to be where Altea is…”
I trailed off.
The reason this became speculative is simple— one of the notes was so roughly torn and smudged as to be indecipherable.
I lifted the problematic note.
[Amusement Park, Altea. ??. Provocation. ? tied & beaten.]
…
…Oh boy.
Past me, what did you do?
One side of my brain struggled to decipher the text, while the other side became clouded with confusion.
‘Does “tied and beaten” mean I tied her down to hit her? Or does it mean Altea tied me down and hit me?’
The former seems unlikely. I know very well that I’m not a sadist.
‘Then, it’s that Altea tied me down…’
Did you die during an SM role-play, Jung Yong?
If your death was caused by a bondage incident, then retrieving residual memories is urgent. Should I head to the amusement park right now?
‘No. No… let me think clearly for a moment.’
Desperately, I tried to reconstruct my past life that I had no memory of.
Idle brain cells mobilized themselves, and the situation from my past life began to take shape vividly in my mind.
Clack clack. Echoing footsteps in a closed and damp amusement park.
Altea, dressed in a provocative outfit, approached me, fully bound, her glossy red hair swaying seductively.
She then whipped me repeatedly, pressing for answers.
“Talk! Who were you thinking of?”
“I was thinking of the saint!”
“Which saint?”
“I was thinking of Altea!”
And there I was, staring at Altea’s succulent lips, preparing to attain spiritual enlightenment by untangling years of emotional grievances…
‘No, F*. Stop it. There’s no way that’s true.’
I violently shook my head to dispel the absurd thoughts. Fantasy lockdown for two weeks.
Is this because of the influence of spending time with celebrity-level beauties recently? Over the past six months, I’ve become someone who thinks all sorts of weird things.
“Then, it’s time to…”
I scribbled a memo and slipped it back into the Box of the Dead along with the other notes.
This was the note for the upcoming attempt.
[Fourth attempt. Left amusement park.]
[First priority is to recover residual memories. Accumulate combat experience.]
Whoosh. A familiar low rumble echoed, and I cautiously closed the Box of the Dead.
‘Information is enough. Now, I need to gain experience.’
Attack the relatively certain places again. This time, I will prioritize recovering residual memories. At least, that’s what I deduce.
Of course, there’s more to it than that. I gazed at the Box of the Dead quietly.
[Personnel Data – Classified #S Document 21]
[Name: Altea Bathory]
Altea’s personal data lying dormant in the Box of the Dead lingered in my mind.
I quietly murmured her history.
“To endure her crumbling body, she replaced most of it with magical prosthetic weapons…”
Her shocking backstory revealed itself.
As her body sustained by dark magic began to collapse, Altea became one of the first participants in Unterland’s nascent artificial body project.
[Prototype experiment with Altea Bathory was successful.]
[The dark magic-sustained body was replaced with artificial prosthetics by about seventy percent.]
[‘The Angel of Death’ was supposed to become a semi-permanent protector of Unterland, unleashing purifying white flames against the hated Demon King.]
According to the document, the experiment was a success, meaning Altea’s artificial body now outnumbers her natural one.
As I moved toward the amusement park, I was lost in thought.
“After 30 years of tirelessly hunting down Demon Kings and replacing her body, she suddenly betrayed them.”
Based on the notes from my past life, this is Altea Bathory’s known history.
After successfully replacing her body, Altea was dispatched to a small village in the northern part of Unterland to test her new form while hunting down a summoned Demon King.
However, that mission marked her last public appearance. Along with the one-of-a-kind spear, Gungnir, she vanished without a trace.
‘Her betrayal is because she discovered their inhumane experiments.’
Replacing human bodies with machines undoubtedly required many test subjects.
It’s said the inhumane truth behind these experiments was exposed to Altea, and she reportedly furiously argued with those involved, according to Knightrea’s annotations.
‘After that, for over 200 years, she was missing.’
Then, about 15 years ago in current time.
She announced her survival by infiltrating one of the hero examination grounds and the notorious prison ship in the southern seas of the continent, ‘Caltelus’, where the most dangerous criminals of Unterland were imprisoned.
‘There, Dyrus and Moskden joined her.’
Even more shockingly, she broke out of Caltelus with two of the most infamous inmates—Dyrus and Moskden.
It’s unclear why she broke them out. Given their different timelines, they were not originally acquaintances. Since she hasn’t revealed her motives, even Knightrea noted it seems unlikely she had lofty ideals.
‘But this time, she reappeared as a saint in the Valley of the Dead?’
Why did she do it?
Why did she disappear for over 200 years? Why did she help two runaway heroes escape?
And now, why in the Valley of the Dead is she healing people while opposing me, blocking the path to Zadkiel?
“Regardless of anything else, these two things really don’t make sense.”
From the clues in the notes, it is certain that Altea is blocking the path to Zadkiel.
Yet, during the day, the Altea I saw was sincerely helping patients. Her dedication and compassion were undeniably genuine.
This is a contradiction. Treating patients during the day and guarding Zadkiel at night? Does it have to be day or night?
These two actions don’t reconcile with each other.
‘So, am I missing some key fact?’
Or, does Altea possess some secret unknown to me?
That can’t be overlooked. If it’s related to Zadkiel, I need to know, no matter how small.
Variables need to be minimized as much as possible. That’s what I’ve adhered to until now.
“I see, I have to visit her again.”
Mumbling to myself, I sped up my pace slightly. The fastest and surest way to satisfy my curiosity is to confront Altea directly.
Absolutely, it’s not because of some provocative role-play I’m expecting. No, it’s definitely not.
“Ahem. Cough cough!”
Making an unnecessary cough and striding quickly, I entered the amusement park.
Somewhere, a crow emitted a low caw and flew away.
