Chapter 169
○○○
I bolt upright the moment I wake up.
Am I alive? Any injuries? No poison or curses? Anything else done to me? – I quickly check myself, trying to assess the situation.
Looking around, I immediately feel something’s off in many ways.
This is a place I know.
「Isn’t this Arcana Castle?」
This is the castle where I was once summoned and stayed for a month.
However, the colors of the walls, floors, and decorations are clearly different from what I remember – everything has taken on a dark, dingy hue.
This probably isn’t the real thing. Perhaps it’s—
I walk down the hallway, covered in that ridiculously luxurious carpet I remember. As if being guided by something, my feet carry me toward the throne room that should be upstairs.
Just as I remember, I open the heavy doors ahead.
The creaking sound echoes oddly in this nearly silent world where only my breathing and footsteps can be heard. As I step into the room, the evil energy is so thick it makes me nauseous. I can see the throne ahead.
There sits the Reverse Dead, lounging arrogantly with his elbow propped up.
Unlike his shabby clothes from last time, he’s wearing some kind of overcomplicated, tasteless armor – radiating such malevolent energy it’s ominous.
「You’ve done well to come this far.」
A voice, both heavy and evil, echoes through the throne room.
「Don’t give me that ‘you’ve come’ crap! You’re the one who brought me here!」
I can’t show any signs of fear.
「Don’t you think this castle is a fitting dwelling place for me?」
I don’t tell him to listen – I don’t think a real conversation is possible. Though he speaks fairly clearly, I feel more unease than anger in front of this clearly non-human intelligent being with whom communication seems impossible.
「Shut up with all your rambling. Let’s get this over with quick. I’ve beaten you once before, you know? It’s common knowledge that regenerated monsters are weak.」
I say this, but it’s really just to pump myself up.
Even now, before the battle begins, I’m already feeling overwhelmed by the intense evil energy radiating from the Living Dead before me.
「I have not been defeated by you, Yamada Ichiro. The Reverse Dead you defeated then is no more.」
Then that form is—
「I am a superior being who has ascended to complete unity, a merger of the Sealed Dungeon, Dead Release Dead, and Reverse Dead.」
Reverse Dead— no, that’s wrong.
He— the king of the Living Dead, rises from his throne.
My throat involuntarily tightens at his appearance.
His body, incomparably larger and more muscular than when he was the Reverse Dead, is now on a completely different dimension.
Moreover, he’s equipped with gear that’s obviously Mythic at first glance. His light armor is painted in a darkness that absorbs light, and his ominous greatsword easily exceeds his height.
「Rejoice, Ichiro! You, a mere human, have been personally chosen by me, a superior being whom you normally wouldn’t be worthy to encounter!」
How could I possibly rejoice? I can’t stop sweating.
「My name is Ainika, the One Who Despises All Life. I am the one who will destroy you and lay waste to all life in this world.」
He draws his sword. The blade makes a grinding sound.
I look at its point. It’s a vicious, saw-toothed blade.
「AGGHH!」
I didn’t see anything.
The blade of killing intent tears through my side.
○○○
☆The One Who Despises All Life (Ainika)☆
The King of Death, born when the Sealed Dungeon, which had lost nearly all its power and was merely waiting for the remaining Fog to be defeated and disappear, devoured what should have been Dead Release Dead through the Resurrection Orb.
His form is based on the Reverse Dead, born from Holy Knight Yamada’s fears, and his consciousness is a completely new personality formed from a mixture of the original Reverse Dead’s consciousness, Dead Release Dead’s consciousness, and the Sealed Dungeon’s consciousness.
He is also the embodiment of an absolute will to completely annihilate Holy Knight Yamada Ichiro, who once destroyed him, and to exterminate all life that exists in this world.
────────────────────────
─────────────────────
──────────────────
All I Need Is Kill All of you.
───────────────
────────────
─────────
──────
───
─
If you enjoy it and wish to see more, please consider giving it a 5-star rating for the series on NU. Click Here.
Check out my Patreon for early access to upcoming updates. Patreon Link