Chapter 10
It took me an incredibly long time to regain my senses. Though I can’t recall exactly how long, I must’ve been sitting there in a daze for over an hour at the very least. It was evident given that the giant rats mistook me for a corpse and were gnawing at my legs.
“…Let’s keep our cool. Yeah.”
I took a deep breath and, as tension returned to my body, managed to rise to my feet. Past the infinite drainage passage that left the corpses behind, I gazed at the expanse before me. The sound of water unnerved me. I kept my senses wide open, not allowing my vigilance to drop.
“I’m fine. I… am fine. For now, at least.”
Regardless, the important fact is that I’ve already died here.
And the me that’s currently here is in a state of having returned to life after death, my memories lost, leading me to originally think that I had just begun my adventure.
Thus, summarizing these facts means,
This sewer potentially harbors something capable of possibly killing me.
“Any residual memories… seem to not be present here.”
When I immediately shone the lantern, it did not react at all. It instead faintly flickered and continuously scattered a dark shadow toward the opposite passage.
“Over there, then?”
It was as if the lantern had reacted to my words and flashed brilliantly.
With great effort, I resisted the urge to vomit and distanced myself from my corpse. For a while, I stared intensely at the lantern.
[Name: Izanami’s Heart]
[Adjustments: Recovery of memories from the previous life, partial restoration of stats, residual memory overlap not possible more than twice]
[Details: A contract product of the death god Ceresis. Maintains the remains and residual memories to the next life upon death, enabling the recovery of some abilities and memories. While the remain left by this item can be touched by others, it remains unrecognized.]
[Number of possible enhancements: 0]
I rechecked the item details, which I had previously overlooked casually. I read it several times, stopping at the final part.
“…The remains, huh, aren’t recognizable by others?”
Then this situation is strange, isn’t it? The corpse is on a cart, but there are no residual memories. Anybody would agree that someone must have moved my corpse.
Given the gap between the situation before me and the information, confusion arose. As expected, an announcement window appeared right before my eyes.
[Detailed Information – Unique Item: Izanami’s Heart]
[Remains can be recognized only by the owner of the lantern, but excessive distance from the point of death creates ambiguity between the former and present life, making it visible to others.]
“Hmm.”
For some reason, my corpse must have moved far away from the point of death, so now it’s becoming visible to others.
I glanced at the sewage flowing nearby. The most plausible explanation for this situation is probably that… during the process of dying, my body fell into this sewage and floated away.
The body on the cart was indeed soaked in filth. I slightly nodded in agreement.
“…”
Swallowing hard, I turned my gaze into the darkness where the lantern pointed. It seems my earlier assumption that the yellow cart moved the bodies is likely correct.
Since I didn’t die here, it follows that the remains might be there, but the residual memory remains where I perished.
‘That means… whatever killed me is probably there too.’
A reasonable suspicion. At the very least, there’s no harm in being cautious.
With determination, I nodded and started to walk cautiously down the tunnel.
Static, Static!
With every step forward, a horde of small creatures scurried rapidly underfoot. They were rats.
… Correction. Not small creatures. These were rats, but they were alarmingly large.
Much bigger than nutrias, giant sewer rats swarmed around and surrounded me,
“Yaaah!”
Without realizing it, I furiously rubbed my arms and clung to the wall.
The rats paid no attention to me as they rushed towards their destinations. Soon, many flocks passed me and disappeared into the depths of the tunnel.
“Ten years of feeling has disappeared.”
I calmed my breath and took in what few remaining rats were still within sight. As always, a panel appeared.
[Monster Information]
[Name: Hunting Rat]
[Health: 21 Mana: 0]
[Strength: 3 Agility: 6 Intelligence: 1]
[Details: Creatures that dominate the sewers of Mittelrand, northern frontier. They are cunning, fast, and ferocious.]
“These were monsters?”
I muttered, fixing my gaze on the top of the panel.
Monster.
According to Minerva’s explanations, they were summoned from several dimensions by a certain Diana who supposedly wiped out the old world. They are also underlings used by Demon Kings.
So, these small (?) creatures are among such species, right?
I nodded and carefully observed the large rats gleaming black.
‘Then… if I kill them, can I level up?’
I compared my stats with the Hunting Rats. My level is 5. My stats are clearly better. And the number of mice is not too many. Should be doable, right?
Shiiiiing! Without hesitation, I raised my sword and cautiously approached the rats skittering nearby.
Static?
The rats noticed my approach and turned around.
However, even upon seeing me, rather than showing hostility, they were busy tearing at something on the ground. So they’re what’s called ‘non-aggressive monsters,’ huh?
I swallowed and took a deep breath. Then I kicked off.
“Yoohoo! Dieeee!”
I plunged my sword directly into the unprotected back of a hunting rat.
Pooch! A tearing sound rang out. At the same time, an unpleasant sensation coursed through my palm. Shocked, I quickly withdrew my sword, which slid out as if slicing through tofu.
[A new skill “Rear Hit” usage has been acquired.]
A panel appeared during the chaos, but I barely glanced at it and quickly dismissed it.
Blood gushed from the slit in the rat’s back. The rat I stabbed collapsed and died without emitting a proper scream.
Is the sword sharp, or am I strong? Bewildered, I alternately looked at the sword and the rat’s corpse.
Static! Static!
But the aftermath was the problem.
A rat with fiery red eyes started to scream to the sky, and all the surrounding rats followed suit.
In perfect unison, the rats swiftly surrounded me. It happened before I could react.
‘This is… ridiculous, how fast!’
I quickly scanned the surroundings. Roughly ten rats had surrounded me in the blink of an eye.
This is bad. It seems other rats hidden nearby have gathered too. They’re no ordinary hunting rats indeed; their hunting instinct flows like water.
I raised my sword again and focused my attention on my feet, ready to counterattack from wherever they leap.
Which was immediately proven impossible.
Static—!
All the rats simultaneously charged at me from all directions.
Confused, I took a retreating step and wildly swung my sword.
“Hey, hold on! This is cheating! Aaah! My leg!”
The fight degenerated into a chaotic brawl.
Rats struck by my random sword slashes were split in half, and those that weren’t latched onto me, biting furiously.
I had only managed to slash four of them. Pain shot through my limbs, and my body felt heavier due to the rats hanging onto it.
“Get off!!”
Desperately trying to shake off the rats was futile. Their bite force was extraordinary, and it felt like my flesh would tear off along with them. In the end, I decided on a drastic measure.
Ploum! I jumped straight into the flowing sewage in the center of the drain.
Static! Static!
The rats hastily spat me out and started swimming. Given the water depth of around a meter, it only reached my waist.
I immediately raised my sword high.
“Diieee!”
Screaming, I thrust the sword at the swimming rats one by one. Pooch! The rats were defenseless, and their bodies were sliced clean in half as they died.
Pooch, Pooch, Pooch! The sickly sound of flesh cutting and the sword striking the water surface echoed. The sewage splashed with blood in every direction.
I continued doing this until no rats were in sight around me, mechanically repeating the action as if possessed.
“Huff… Huff… Huff…”
Silence returned.
Only then did I regain my senses, lowering my sword. And I surveyed my surroundings.
The place was crammed with the severed bodies of the rats. As they floated on the sewage, they gradually drifted away along the water current. I managed to sheathe my sword and stretched out my trembling hands to gaze at them.
They were violently shaking. Whether it’s because I gripped the sword too tightly, or the pain, or fear – I can’t tell.
“I nearly… died.”
That was no exaggeration.
When all the rats simultaneously lunged at me, biting at my head, shoulders, knees, and feet, I thought I was certainly done for. If it wasn’t for a moment of insight, I would have perished.
“Khh… I’m dying here.”
Wailing, I climbed out of the sewer.
My pants and shirt were soaked and reeked. I gently touched the wounds that bled profusely. They were excruciating.
‘Even so, these are… not the same.’
But there was a fundamental difference between these wounds and the ones on my past life’s corpse. The latter had been stabbed wounds from sharp weapons, whereas mine were lacerations from biting and tearing.
Deep in thought, a fanfare rang out, shattering my train of thoughts.
[Level Up!]
[You have gained 3 ability points.]
[You have gained 1 skill enhancement point.]
It announced.
I chuckled faintly and focused my mind. Soon a panel detailing my status appeared on the left, while a list of my skills appeared nearby, accompanied by a wave of exhaustion.
[Name: Park Jeong-yong]
[Nickname: The 163417413th hero. Guardian of the Demon King’s Egg. One bound to immortality.]
[Level. 6]
[Health: 67/150 Mana: 96/120 Physical status: Laceration, bleeding (low), risk of infection]
[Power: 15 Agility: 18 Intelligence: 10 Hero Sense: 3]
[Remaining ability points: 3]
‘Looking at this, it’s just like playing a game.’
I smirked while reading the panels in front of me and carefully inspected my aching body.
When you level up,
You gain ability points and power is enhanced,
Skills are generated based on your actions. And as you level up, you either learn new skills, or strengthen skills that you already know.
“For now, survival is priority so…”
I invested 2 points into agility and 1 into health. With health, each point increased it by approximately 15. I don’t know if it proportionally increases based on my current total health or if it’s a fixed increase of 15.
As for levels 1 to 5, I just followed the previous me’s choices without knowing exactly what was enhanced. Hopefully, he didn’t screw everything up.
‘Next is the skills…’
While satisfied with the updated status window and turning my head, I noticed something odd.
[Skill List]
[Unique Skill: The Eye of Mimir (Passive) Level 1 – Upgradable]
[Legendary Skill: Grace of the God (Passive) Level 1 – Upgradable]
[Unique Skill: Grace of Death God (Passive) Level 13 – Upgradable]
[Unique Skill: Ether Collection (Passive) Level 1 – Upgradable]
[Relic Skill: Prometheus (Passive) Level 1 – Upgradable]
[Normal Skill: Rear Hit (Active) Level 0 – Learnable]
[Remaining skill enhancement points: 1]
One skill was already at a higher level.
Everything else seemed normal, except for that one skill that stood out. Thoroughly confused, I focused on it.
“Could this mean the previous me…”
But Minerva had clearly said that skills from the previous life aren’t inherited until the residual memory is restored. Then could this be a bug? Should I report it to the GM (?)
Ultimately, I focused on the “Grace of Death God” skill to get more information, believing that seeing is believing.
[Skill Information]
[Name: Grace of Death God Level 13]
[Effect: Upon death, 38% (20+18) of your accumulated current life experience points will transfer to your next life.]
[Details: A special skill for the Egg Guardian; the transfer bonus increases by 1.5% per level.]
[Note: This skill is applied through an exclusive contract between the contractor and Death God Tanathrix. Levels do not reset even after death.]
“Umm…?”
Even though I don’t fully understand what this says, since it is clearly stated here, it probably isn’t a bug. Let me see if I can interpret it.
“…Double contract?”
As the Guardian of the Egg, I have a separate contract with the Immortal Demon King, and the Grace of Death God skill is another contract that operates independently with the Death God.
So, they seem to work without interfering with each other.
“Wait…”
I suddenly shook my head.
The most important point now isn’t this. What’s important is, through this skill, I can make a deduction about one thing from my previous life.
It’s a serious piece of information.
“Given that I carried over 38% of my experience points, and my level was 5… this means my level in my previous life was around 13.”
But this is a simple calculation. There are variables. The needed experience to level up increases with each level.
In any game, as you level up, it gets increasingly difficult to level up. It follows the same system here, so I believe my previous life’s level probably didn’t reach 13.
However, then there’s a fatal contradiction.
“If my level didn’t exceed 13… how did this skill’s level reach 13?”
From the experience just now, only 1 skill point is given per level up.
Thus, if my level didn’t reach 13 at least, it would be impossible for the skill level to reach 13.
At the moment, a certain hypothesis flashed through my mind like lightning.
“Could it be…”
I felt a dull thud in my head as a shocking conclusion emerged.
It was hard to verbalize, but eventually, I chuckled helplessly to myself.
Because no matter how I thought about it, there was no other answer.
“I didn’t just die once here…”
It seems I’m stuck in some endless loop of hell.
