Chapter 101: Blind Venom
‘I don’t know. Let it be.’
As the situation turned chaotic once again, the first thing that came to mind was despair.
But this life’s despair was different from the one in my previous life where I had given up everything, including my life. It was completely 180 degrees different.
‘Remaining skill points, all-in to The Eye of Mimir.’
My current level is 168. In my previous life, I had reached level 183, and since the original level was 154, the transfer of half my experience points had raised it by 14 levels.
Compared to when I recovered the residual memories in my past life, I have risen by four more levels. There are still 4 unspent skill points, and I’ve poured all of them into The Eye of Mimir.
[Skill Level Increase – The Eye of Mimir LV. 17]
[The accuracy of the target’s information increases.]
[The Eye of Mimir Level 15 Achieved – The number of objects that can be scanned simultaneously has expanded to up to 3 entities.]
[The time required for information detection is shortened, and the detection range increases.]
When even throwing points into attack skills would be precious, investing in a supplementary skill like The Eye of Mimir? That’s insanity. Once a skill is invested in, recovering residual memories does not return the skills but preserves them. Only someone who is out of their right mind would do something like this.
Still, there was a simple reason for this rash act.
I’m not in my right mind right now.
‘You future cursers.’
I could feel this pent-up unpleasantness around my heart right now, and if I didn’t clear it up, I think I’d go crazy immediately.
Fortunately, it worked out. When my skill level broke the 15th level, the number of entities that could be scanned simultaneously increased to three. It was the perfect condition for what I was about to do right now.
‘The Eye of Mimir!’
The people who were trying to escape from me, or quietly watching while hiding.
I wildly unleashed The Eye of Mimir at them. Countless information windows appeared, filling my vision.
[Character information]
[Character information]
[Character information]
[Character information]
[Monster information]
[Character information]
[Character information]
…
One found.
I lunged towards the only entity marked as a monster with reckless abandon.
“…!”
A slashing sound resounded. My Vestark pierced through the chest of a woman standing in front of a stall with pinpoint accuracy.
Clash! The market stall the woman collided with after losing balance tipped over, scattering displayed fruits and foods across the floor. Blood flowing out of her body dyed them red.
“GYAAAHHH!”
“It’s, it’s a madman! Save me!”
“Guards! Call the guards!”
Those who witnessed the scene panicked even more and began running off in every direction. I completely ignored their commotion and stared at the fallen woman.
She was already dead, gripping the dagger she pulled out of her bosom.
“… Hah.”
If I had been a bit slower, it would likely have hit me. Just thinking about that made the rising frustration and anger in my chest settle and turn into a heavy murderous intent.
‘… The Eye of Mimir.’
The situation is different now. This time, I’m attacking, not defending. I’m not sitting on my hands waiting for cockroaches to crawl out on their own.
I am Sethco. The Sethco who eliminates filth and kills people.
“….”
“…!”
“…!!”
One, two, three. Ten. Twenty…
I slaughtered every single one of the Resurrection Sect members hidden among the fleeing crowds. The job was shockingly easy. They offered little to no resistance against my attacks.
And in my hands which were cutting them down, there was no longer a trace of hesitation.
‘But, this is…’
While hunting down members of the Resurrection Sect, I could also feel something strange.
No matter how sudden my approach was, this feels too easy. It feels unreal.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
My level is skyrocketing. I have already surpassed my previous life’s maximum level of 183 and reached 185.
After attacking the location of that sniper and taking him down, along with the fifty or so Resurrection Sect members I’ve cut down since then, my massacre came to a halt.
Kooogooogoo. From afar, towards the Plains of Promise, a bright white flash cut through the night sky. A white explosion. The ritual has begun.
This is one of the reasons my hands stopped, the other is…
“You, you demon! Stop the massacre!”
“Do not underestimate the spirit of Markeiteuriseu!”
It was because of the high-level citizens of Kern surrounding me, and the guards.
“G, GAAAAAH…!”
“Th, there’s no need to be afraid!”
Their gaze was truly that of looking at a monster, filled with fear and fury, creating a heavy, agitated atmosphere.
The hatred they had directed at members of the Resurrection Sect in my past life is all being poured onto me now.
Suddenly, I feel breathing becoming more difficult.
“You… X you bastards.”
My pent-up frustration rose to my throat, coming out as foul language.
You bastards who can’t help with anything. Is this how you treat someone who is risking his life for your sake?
If I wanted to…
I snapped back to myself in the middle of my thought.
Even if I decided to, what would I do? Let Astarte’s summoning proceed unchecked and kill everyone?
This anger of mine is irrational. It was obvious things would turn out this way. Those people know nothing. I should have anticipated this.
My mistake. My foolishness.
“Damn… Damn it…!”
But still. Awareness doesn’t stop me from being mad. Being mad is being mad.
What am I supposed to do with how pissed off I am?
“Everyone, get out of my way! I don’t have time for this!!”
I tried to force my way through the crowd by pushing through people, but at that moment, something flew quickly towards my shoulder like an arrow, stopping my forward movement.
An arrow. Thanks to my defense, it just bounced off my cloak and was rolling on the floor.
“You bastards!”
In a fit of rage, I turned towards the direction the arrow came from.
And I caught my breath.
“Hey!! Everyone, run…!!”
Surrounding the woman with a crossbow, there were countless people. The problem was that each and every one of them had an expressionless face that sent chills down my spine.
Their movement was a bit quicker than my yelling.
“C, AAAHHH!”
“What? Why… why are you doing that!”
“This, this person is also crazy! There isn’t just one madman around!”
Pujjik, Ugek! Pugeuugeok!
Like ripples emanating from the woman with the crossbow, a cloud of blood ascended into the sky.
The expressionless civilians around her began attacking the surrounding guards and high-level citizens from behind.
“….”
“….”
So this is it. The reason why they didn’t retaliate earlier. I realized it.
Since the ritual hasn’t started yet, it appears the members of the Resurrection Sect do not kill people. It seems that before the ritual starts, they don’t even counterattack unless given direct orders.
Now that the ritual had started, they began their retaliations.
“C, Caaaugh…!”
Helplessly allowing ambushes, the citizens and heroes had their limbs severed as if their levels didn’t matter, collapsing one after another.
“S, save us!”
“Why, why are you doing this… We… We didn’t do anything…!”
That last sentence repeated itself, nauseatingly so.
The voices of those putting up resistance, once bold, had now turned into pleas for mercy. The members of the Resurrection Sect cut their necks without an iota of hesitation. Blood fountains erupted, and the number of corpses multiplied like mushrooms.
“….”
“….”
And now, what was originally the scrum of civilians has turned into one made up of members of the Resurrection Sect. Dozens of lifeless eyes surrounded me from all sides, pressing down.
So this is the atmosphere. I could even say I was somewhat relieved to see it.
I smiled wickedly and beckoned a finger towards them.
“Alright.”
It seems newborns and old souls both listen well to this phrase.
They all rushed towards me at once.
“Burn… to ashes!!!”
I screamed like it was a battle cry and swung my sword with the last bit of strength I had.
KAANG! The metallic sound rang out sharply. Stopped. Damn it. That was my carefully planned ultimate attack just now.
As my vision swayed for a moment, the Resurrection Sect member who blocked my attack immediately retaliated.
“Kuuh!”
I staggered, kicked in the chest. Taking advantage of that opening, another member of the sect lunged towards my heart, sword in hand. A deep blue double-edged sword faintly gleamed.
A completely different speed from regular members of the Resurrection Sect. Probably an officer among them.
Gujjik. A searing pain surged.
“Ku… huuuuh!”
But the pain wasn’t coming from my chest. It was coming from my left arm, which was halfway severed, flapping about.
That was intentional. As I forced a smile, with the enemy’s double-edged sword stuck in my left arm, I pulled it violently towards my side.
The Resurrection Sect member lost their balance for a moment and wavered towards me. I quickly thrust the sword I prepared into his neck.
Puuddeok! His neck tore open, and his head, which was wobbling, fell straight down to the ground with a thud.
“Cough… hack! Haa…”
The cleanup is done.
Just now, that person was… the last member of the Resurrection Sect in this area.
Despite my own disbelief, all the members of the Resurrection Sect that were filling up the square have been cleared out. Looking at the mountains of corpses around me, I felt a sense of overwhelming accomplishment – could I really have done all this?
‘Is this… is this all I’ve managed to do… just clear the downtown area?’
Of course, the downtown area I’ve cleared refers only to the central shopping district centered around the main square of Kern.
There’s still the commercial district, the residential district, and … the back alleys where small remnants of the Resurrection Sect might be hiding.
It’s not even halfway done. And I have no clear idea of how to handle the rest.
I unconsciously fumbled for an ether bottle on my waist and brought it to my lips.
[Error – Insufficient Ether]
[Not enough ether remains to absorb.]
“… Damn.”
While saving recovery items is usually a good idea, I may have overdone it by using them like water. There’s a moment of regret that I should have conserved a little more… but I quickly shook my head.
I don’t think I could have handled that enormous number of people if I had conserved even a little bit.
“Cr, uh… .”
My beaten-up body now attests to it. There was no error in my judgment. It was the right choice to use them.
Sighing, I brought up my status window.
[Name: Park Jeong-yong]
[Title: The 163417413th Official Hero. Guardian of the Demon King’s Egg. One under the subjugation of immortality]
[Level 217]
[HP: 1520/1520 MP: 750/750 Current Condition: Severe Bleeding, Mild Mania]
[Strength: 214 Agility: 342 Intelligence: 51 Hero Sense: 19]
[Remaining Ability Points: 84]
“Wow.”
Absolutely breathtaking level-up. Leveling up by hunting members of the Resurrection Sect for just two hours raised my level by 63. I wouldn’t level up at such a speed even in Halzenberk.
There’s no time for deep contemplation. I quickly calculated the distribution of the points.
‘Strength and agility… are way above the level average already.’
I immediately decided. For more endurance and to be able to use skills at least once more, I heavily invested in HP and MP.
As a result, HP was brought up to 1800, and MP to 1000. Even with that, points were left, which I dumped into agility.
Since it resets anyway when I die… losing everything but half the level’s worth of stats, it doesn’t matter what I pick.
“… Shall we go then?”
I muttered to myself as if prodding myself along, and forcibly moved my trembling feet towards the residential district.
“….”
It was eerily silent. All the people who could escape from this zone already have, and those who couldn’t, are dead.
I’m the only person walking on the wide avenues of the downtown district.
‘Everyone… should be safe, right?’
I recalled the faces of Seop Baek, Gena, and the Demon King in turn.
They should be waiting together with Zenon at the Plains of Promise. That’s what I had instructed them to do.
If Zenon had been here to help stop the massacre, things would have been much easier to handle, but I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t guarantee what the Resurrection Sect bastards would do to Seop Baek, who was a vessel.
This is correct. I’m definitely right. Don’t regret or blame yourself.
Every time a stabbing pain came, I repeated it like a mantra to brainwash myself.
‘Sure. I also need to… keep pushing…’
Encouraging myself thusly, I entered the residential district. Near the entrance of the residential district was the inn where we had stayed on multiple occasions, ‘The Resting Promise.’
As I was passing it, my steps suddenly froze up. I doubted my own eyes.
“… What…?”
But it wasn’t an illusion. The person immediately noticed me and rushed towards me.
I pointed at the person standing calmly in front of me and managed to croak out a trembling voice.
“Why are you… here?”
It was Seop Baek.
She who was supposed to be at the Plains of Promise… was now, somehow, here, in front of me.
Wangjangjang. Puquang Namaste. There’s a sound in my head.
It was the sound of my brain shutting down.
