Estimated reading time: ~9 minutes
Chapter 68
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I’ve said it all before – carelessness, impatience, loneliness. But those are just excuses when it comes to exploring a dungeon.
Attempting to explore in such a state, I have to admit, was optimistic of me.
Somewhere in my heart, there was a thought that ‘somehow, just like before, things will work out next time too.’ Looking back now, that wasn’t just arrogance, it was an abandonment of thought.
The boss waiting at the back of the room was a single, miserable looking creature – Living Dead.
It looked so frail, as if it would fall over if pushed.
That prediction was correct.
I cut it down with a single stroke.
Feeling let down that this was the boss, I turned my back on the creature split cleanly in two to return-that’s when,
Squish squish-
I heard an eerie sound.
Turning around, the Living Dead that should have been severed at the torso was slowly standing back up, pointing its sword at me once more.
I had a bad feeling.
I immediately leapt at it, slicing the Living Dead apart again.
The bad feeling didn’t go away.
And in my case, bad feelings often turn out to be right. The Living Dead regenerated a second time, standing up as if it were natural.
I couldn’t believe it.
An unpleasant sweat ran down my spine.
It stood up a third time.
A fourth time.
A fifth time.
A sixth, seventh, eighth time it stood back up.
An unpleasant sweat ran down my back.
Trying to break the stalemate, I blasted it with magic until it turned to ash, thinking it couldn’t regenerate from that. But it was futile.
The ash gathered, restored into flesh, regenerating the Living Dead’s body. No matter how many times this repeated, the result was the same.
Furthermore, the situation took a turn for the worse, slight but certain.
Each time the Living Dead was felled, it seemed to be getting a bit stronger.
Then how strong will these things ultimately become?
That question flashed through my mind.
77th time.
The Living Dead that I had been able to split in two with a single strike up until now finally managed to parry my sword, if only once.
100th time.
It still doesn’t end. Seeing the Living Dead get back up as if nothing happened, I had to admit it.
The opponent wasn’t a mere Living Dead.
It was a ‘Reverse Dead’ that grew stronger each time it was defeated and rose again.
114th time.
The Reverse Dead began crossing swords with me more than twice.
The unpleasant vision floating in my mind wouldn’t go away.
As if to shake it off, I cut the Reverse Dead over and over again.
I sliced and sliced and sliced.
And on the 525th time.
I cut down the Reverse Dead from the clavicle. It was no longer as easy as it sounded.
The monster, as a result of its intense power-ups, had already transformed into a master-class monster.
Breathing heavily, enduring the pain from the gash on my side, I gulped down a potion.
740th time.
I split the Reverse Dead down the middle with a chop. The worst premonition that I would use up my potions at this rate occupied my chest.
I sincerely wished it wouldn’t get back up again.
But my wish was in vain, the Reverse Dead achieved resurrection once more.
From here on, to conserve potions, I restricted my usage to only mortal wounds and continued facing off against the Reverse Dead.
800th time.
I was cornered to the point where I couldn’t afford to hold back on mana anymore.
To escape the crisis, I used Light Magic, but from then on I switched to primarily attacking with magic like 「Condenser」 and 「Rain」 that exploit the Reverse Dead’s weakness attributes.
It was a bitter decision, but the strategy worked.
And then, on the 1000th time.
I blasted the Reverse Dead that stood up as usual with cranked up Condenser to full power.
In that instant, the blood drained from my face.
The long-range Light Magic that had been effective up until then stopped working.
Whether it had learned, gained resistance from repeated Light Magic attacks, or if this was some specification based on number of revivals was unclear, but from this point on, long-range Light Magic became nearly ineffective against the Reverse Dead.
Thus I was forced to change tactics again. To survive from here, I needed to do some potentially fatal testing.
After that, for about half an hour, I continued to clash with the Reverse Dead, staking my life, trying various possibilities.
…But I managed to find out that the Cyalume, a Holy Sword infused with Light Magic, was more effective compared to a regular sword – from there, attacks using Cyalume became the established route.
And on the 1000th time.
The Reverse Dead had finally become a swordsman rivaling me.
At this point, the sword skills of the Reverse Dead and I were even.
However, in terms of simple strength, I still had the upper hand. Because I could use Cyalume, the opponent’s weakness, and had the physical abilities I had honed through both training and real battles.
If that’s the case, if I just push through with physical ability, I might be able to whittle down the Reverse Dead and defeat it-that was the last hope I had left.
But on the next, 1001st time.
That hope crumbled fragilly.
At first I thought it was my imagination.
But crossing swords, I realized.
Unlike the simple and slight physical enhancements before, the Reverse Dead’s physique itself felt like it had grown a bit.
Proportional to that, the monster’s sword had gotten heavier.
Body enhancement───just how big will it ultimately become-
One thousand rounds of subjugation───it wasn’t hell, but the entrance to hell.
1001st time.
1002nd time.
1003rd time.
My wounds steadily increased.
The limit was approaching soon.
Meanwhile, the Reverse Dead’s height, originally shorter than me, surpassed me. But the body enhancements didn’t stop there.
The Reverse Dead’s endless regeneration and strengthening───before I knew it, its gigantic form had grown so large I had to look up to see its face.
1050th time.
The Reverse Dead before my eyes had become massive, its physique not just larger but like a Greek sculpture.
Deeply chiseled, beautifully mighty muscles twitched.
Whoosh!! The air was sliced apart.
「Ugh!!」
The greatest blow yet assailed me.
Its weight, its speed, both were unprecedented. Even so, gritting my teeth somehow, I repelled it with the Holy Sword.
The endlessly enhancing – in a situation where I couldn’t show a single opening, I became exhausted not just physically but mentally.
The terror that a single misjudgment could lead to a fatal wound.
Driven by that, I told myself over and over to stay calm lest my judgment go astray. If I lacked composure, I wouldn’t be able to return alive.
How long did I continue to clash in that extreme state? Even so, I managed to slice apart the Reverse Dead by a razor-thin margin.
And then-
I still remember it clearly.
The fateful 1051st time.
The gradually worsening tide suddenly changed to a raging torrent.
First, the number of potions, which I thought I had so many of in normal times that they would spoil before I could use them all – finally dwindled to one.
Not only that, I was finally forced to use my last resort, Autostrada del Sole.
Because the Reverse Dead that had strengthened itself over and over moved its sword at nearly the same speed as me, no, faster than me, despite its giant form.
Autostrada del Sole───my trump card.
The final means boasting strength that wouldn’t even let a demon near.
As expected, with this technique, no matter how much the Reverse Dead had enhanced itself, I could easily repel it.
However, there was just one concern.
The exceedingly poor fuel efficiency that could be called this technique’s weakness, consuming a massive amount of mana.
That was the very reason I hadn’t used this technique until now against the formidable foe.
So───I was compelled to overcome the poor fuel efficiency weakness of this technique on the spot.
It was a simple choice between inspiration or death.
But I won the bet.
While crossing swords with the Reverse Dead in a life-or-death struggle, amidst my impatient thoughts, there was a faint flash of insight. I just needed to activate Autostrada del Sole for one certain instant while our swords clashed.
This worked effectively.
Succeeding in greatly reducing mana consumption, I somehow seized on the opponent’s openings and cut down the Reverse Dead one after another with super acceleration.
And finishing the 1079th subjugation, as usual, I waited for the Reverse Dead’s regeneration that might never end – or so I thought.
My mistake was assuming that ‘this time’s regeneration will be exactly the same too.’
And this was the fateful divergence point.
1080th time.
The moment I let out a breath, waiting for the Reverse Dead’s regeneration to finish. I sensed a presence behind me.
For some reason, the regeneration occurred behind me – and at an instantaneous regeneration speed incomparable to before.
By the time I turned around, it was too late.
I ended up being ambushed from behind and had both arms sliced off.
Without both arms, I couldn’t even heal properly.
Finally realizing that, but it was too late to regret. I looked up at the sky and thought, ‘Ah, everyone.’
The Reverse Dead’s readied sword pierced my chest at point-blank range.
There was no life flashing before my eyes or slow-motion phenomenon.
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