Chapter 73: Nazrea, City of the Dead (4)
I7FoHjOn the second day, the three of them defeated the Abyss Shrieker and the Wight King.ppzP
sJn1glEven though Korin and Alicia were much stronger than average students, each of those enemies was Grade 1 undead boss. Defeating them in a city full of countless undeads was only possible thanks to Erin Danua.u8rbX
aj9prHAs if she had done it hundreds and thousands of times, she gave out a perfect set of commands. In fact, she even held back for the two young students to build up experience.FRei2
ozZ“The Immortal King is the only one left now.”jrl
lOfOn the night of the third day, the three of them stood before Gerolge the Immortal King.9m1r
YHEDSE“We are finally going against Gerolge. We must stop him from awakening into the Immortal King.”CCBzN
RXn“Ehk… H, he looks very intimidating!”N8A
s2M9eVmImmortal King Gerolge.6eX8
s2gHe was the black mage behind the Immortal Legion incident of Nazrea 300 years ago, and was a weird man who wanted to become the king of undeads.ZySlr
F1EUcTBut unlike his grandiose aspiration and his title, the undead did not give off any dignity nor pressure. Even in terms of appearance, it simply looked like a drowned corpse with unsightly swells all around.0O6Y8
ZrLlLParts of its body were swollen like malignant tumors, whereas some parts had no flesh covering the bones.jBEwb
QvufIF4Fat but bony – it was an imperfect being that could be accurately described by that paradoxical set of words.3GW
ka2“Did it fail at becoming a Lich?”CWj3sP
zIx8EYS“That is the case. He is not a Lich because the soul is still inside his body, and he does not have the wisdom of a mage either.”BYio1
CyJJ“So he’s just a random guy who couldn’t even become a Lich.”lJiZKR
i6HKoO6Korin said while walking forward. Erin and Alicia were surprised by his sudden movement.bNcw1
uGiYs“What are you trying to do?” Erin asked.h8GJW
bAIP0Bw“Please stay back. I can deal with him myself.”BD4SDQn
yjgp4E3“Mr. Korin! Even though it looks like that, it’s still at least a Unique Grade!”qIW
vFYhAHWAs Alicia said, even a half-complete Lich was technically the King of Undeads that was born from a grand ritual. It was probably as strong as Marie Dunareff, with no questions about it being a Unique Grade.Vlr
KQgqrN“Well, just watch.”s0ApBMk
83ZkqAt the center of the city, Korin walked to the wriggling Immortal King by himself. The Immortal King was outside his own workshop which had a panoramic view of the whole city, but was staring at who knows where.moEEwL
ylN“Hello, Gerolge.”RNq
ZBduU8c– Flick!K2y
XFdt8NcThe undead immediately turned its face in response to Korin’s words. And…WmIeLJ1
WksaN❰Doom Bolt❱y8W
Ja54It automatically used one of its strongest spells at him.yTw
7FQ– Kwang!!9v7e8l1
Hg2ivThe Doom Bolt was like a whaling harpoon that was 20 times bigger than its original size and it divided the town into two while penetrating through the place where Korin used to be at.75V9S
SzIMk7T“Phew~”LEzR
5g2uatDespite seeing that overwhelming destruction, Korin nonchalantly whistled in marvel.kmYr
YbQX“GUWOOOOO…!”ImdeW
0u8TgAfter noticing that its enemy was still alive, the Immortal King began to gather a dumbfoundingly large amount of mana.SIUo
7XlmCl❰Curse of Time❱, ❰Wind of Death❱, ❰Apocalypse❱dHpw
x4Q3SFollowing that, it started firing all sorts of highest-grade spells. The Immortal King displayed its powerful might as a mage by shooting those absurd spells without any delay.CtMZ
Wjsx2qZ– Kwang!AN6bYTM
4uRdO– Kwagagang!AWgg
7wLhZW8Even the ground and the buildings were deformed by its showy attacks and Korin would’ve been reduced to dust by simply coming into contact with any of those spells but…qbFuI
rvbgoRz“???”oON
m7IXBRGThe Immortal King was confused. Its senses were telling the undead king that its enemy was still alive.s8zdh9
Hu2AX“They are quite impressive but…”hBE
uWXcWAnd by the time the Immortal King realized it, the spearman was right in front of its face.7Ps8FD
7jak“If you randomly use big spells like that, you’ll just end up covering your own line of sight.”UxjaIQL
XmofLike a leopard, Korin quickly approached his target and after noticing him, the Immortal King shot the same Doom Bolt – the magic arrow of overwhelming penetration that had divided the city into two.vJLIKv7
7iLgtZg❰Demonic Arts of Trap and Stab (Lan Na Zha)❱QFGr
FnPtImWThe silver spear gently tapped on the side of the Doom Bolt. That soft touch only ended up altering the path of the Doom Bolt by 1cm, but that was enough to make the Doom Bolt point at the sky instead of the city.F3jIiyK
eSEEm“Large spells like these might be effective against armies and demonic beasts, but they’re uselessly big against people. Using dozens of medium-grade spells would be a lot better.”ffFpZ
PnikT“GUAAAAAAAH…!”4qD
iFVJjCThe thick and swollen finger pointed at the spearman. Just by pointing, the Immortal King made enough preparations for a Doom Bolt but… what would happen to the accuracy if the finger was cut off by the spinning spearhead before it could release the spell?efal
a2NLRE“A mage without guards and intellect is nothing.”6EH
JyPRJmThe spear rotated. It rotated tens of times in less than 3 seconds. There was no way that a mage that wasn’t even a knight – an imperfect and irrational being that couldn’t even become a Lich could ever read through the complex pattern of that spin.uzXUU
ZAHNfThe Spinning Heaven of the Void continued its rampage and cut out slices of the king’s flesh with each spin.nqiFXR
IVUedfv“GUUU—-?!”n3gA
fLSGerolge’s doubt couldn’t even leave his mouth. The accelerating spear sliced off the Immortal King’s vocal cords and mouth more than ten times in just 0.5 seconds.jj5KT
tmATBfS—! —! —! ——————!!!!sXD6csF
SToHLTWithout any rest, the spear turbulently raged on. That was truly the Spinning Heaven of Void – Turbulent Spear. The boy was slicing away in real-time, and the mage couldn’t even lift a finger to create a spell.IKPsNGd
aeNRRb– Flop!BagbWgL
3GivFVCThe Immortal King’s body crumbled down. Its body was sliced down into hundreds of pieces and among them was the Soul Heart which Gerolge hadn’t been able to separate from his body.jfzUHm
ZKzSoul Heart.7vnPOS8
IWbiThat was the biggest weakness and the fundamental core of a Lich. Liches were supposed to extract this Soul Heart from their body and hide it in a safe place, but the fact that this one couldn’t even do that proved just how imperfect of a being it was.3a0
HKZw0– Kajik!PtA
9gHUMThe silver spear pierced down and pulverized the Soul Heart as the surroundings echoed with a bizarre and deathly scream.GCiHohU
X6dFax5It was an overwhelming victory.dh9
hofjwPLGerolge the Immortal King couldn’t even retaliate properly and ended up dissipating to nothing.sfiq0v
WWu****dA9xfG8
ij4CNazrea Field Quest.gSkV
jSiEwEvThis quest that took place inside the infinitely rewinding Undead City was a ‘repeat’ quest by nature.DdZB
EOB9LThree bosses of Nazrea.URl
qMWZv8Wight King, Abyss Shrieker, Revenant Titan.NgsOzC2
amFrECpBy defeating those Grade 1 bosses to weaken the power of the Immortal King, the player had to defeat the Unique Grade undead, Immortal King Gerolge.PRrgpG
qYN9CEven though it sounded challenging, it was only slightly difficult which was to be expected from a repeat quest. By clearing it multiple times, the player could build ‘Grim Reaper’s goodwill’ to acquire one of the ‘Treasures of the Underworld’.C3oel0
Jvlx1What that meant was that I, as a veteran player, had killed Gerolge hundreds and thousands of times. I could tell which spell was coming with my eyes closed.Yp09
OzH“…”kO0UsQp
cF43“What’s wrong?”ltnWzD
RJW0JnpAlicia said after staring at me funny.abvrON
xcIJ6“It feels like you’re going further and further away, Mr. Korin.”glMTzs9
u4Y“Well, I can tell you that the result wouldn’t have been much different even if it was you.”wT46k
zDJQcAThere would have been no need for her to slice like me. If it was Alicia… she would have bisected the Immortal King into two the moment she got close enough.fD0
JYm854“That guy was nothing. It’s easier than the other undead bosses.”8UJ3
kTwz7iR“Really?”8LYKUV
G3wA monster like the Immortal King that had nothing but strength was very easily defeatable for people like Alicia and me. Someone like Marie, who was of a similar type as the boss, would in fact have a harder time beating it, but she would have beaten it regardless with the help of Doggo.ERR0rva
0GAJIn any case, if you had the skills to overwhelm it, the Immortal King was nothing but a weakling that you could one-sidedly play around with.mHmr
RcyA half-assed Lich that didn’t even know how to effectively use spells like a normal mage. It only relied on the heavily destructive and highest-grade spells, which was exactly why it would never be able to beat Alicia or me.c3J
eTEbApb‘And that should be the same for Erin Danua.’zrYDkQs
yzeQ“I’m going to go to Erin. Stay here and kill any undead that comes here for me.”OEngzE
cyFSVF“Ah, sure! Mhmm…? ‘Erin’?”bhA
z1wAlicia tilted her head after hearing my way of calling her, but started vigilantly watching out for undeads before long.9N3U
dssVN………zFdGL6A
WQ5F0……IDxZqu0
JHLvya…CgswT
r8kI7D1Even after defeating the main instigator of Nazrea’s incident from 300 years ago, the city did not change.9Ik
9z6MzrwThe Immortal King had the power to control all undeads, but it wasn’t like all the undeads would disappear by themselves just by killing the Immortal King. It wasn’t that simple.n8gpu
EJNHThe city was still full of the dead that cursed the living.N9PFv
8b1rWYxThis was where one might raise a question.CPnnpiN
cojOwso300 years ago, why were the undeads of Nazrea unable to leave the city walls?Dj3
imr“I don’t think it’s a good enough sight to gaze at for a long time.”8My
pD82gOn top of a building that allowed one to gaze down at the crumbled state of the entire city, Erin was blankly staring off into the horizon.WssA
QywbU“There is nothing else to do, you see.”5uzn
x94I stood next to her. Seeing me stand by her side, ‘Erin Danua’ casually spoke to me.2eYBN7X
ARJ“That was even better than I thought. I really found myself a great disciple.”tfmkQU
d60“You could say I’m just that good.”QJz
sh7UIKO“Huhuhu.”L8u2X
lPCbaI said while triumphantly raising my chin.B5I9fS
31fHer sparkling eyes were still facing me.KXA
DBuHYk“This is not the first time Gerolge the Immortal King was born, right?” I asked.bE3S6E
O8FR“How did you find out?”ZViekSk
9TsWithout replying to her question, I wondered. How many times has it been? Instead of asking her, I calculated it out loud.fNIPd4
FfK“300 years, 3 months, and 27 days. 109,617 days. A repetition of 3 days so 36,539 times.”IIQBAlU
lDvBt3“…”ZxG
ItSInstead of saying anything in response, she simply stayed quiet and listened on.0tdvW
Tfw“300 years, 3 months, and 27 days ago, Gerolge the Black Mage used the lunar eclipse to change the entire city into undeads.”teQZ
6oCotThe city population of that time and the corpses that were in the cemeteries added up to about 1.2 million.LQE84
LdXY0B1.2 million. 1.2 million undeads had suddenly appeared out of the blue.UzG
Q5NgEeBy nature, undeads were corrupt beings that created more and more powerful undeads by gathering together. That was why monsters like the Wight King, Abyss Shrieker, and Revenant Titan appeared from the very first day of the 3-day-loop that this city was going through.aumM
wPtFYww“The repeating cycle of 3 days is the time it took for you to defeat Gerolge, right?”f3WGW
qq89“Yes. I am sure you know but Gerolge was not in his full Lich form yet. He was in fact easier than the rest.”Z9e4K
JgVHr8D“Right, but even after you defeated the Immortal King, the undeads of the city were still there.”v3A
emgBZ“What a clever child.”m9pETg
AgfMsC“Then who was it that made this repeating time loop of 3 days? Do you want me to say the rest?”UmdxK8
3BqtU“…No.”oll
rbdCErin heaved a deep sigh with a lonely look on her face. While sending me a reproachful gaze that seemed to be blaming me for making her say it out loud, she opened her mouth.HSv
VSesj“I am the one who made it happen.”jxGN0xB
1Qdo4– I created the loop.XtCuDun
ZvVllgErin confessed her sin – or rather, her sacrifice at saving the world.eHQhZ2
RzbP“If 1.2 million undeads were to leave the city at once, it would have been a matter of time for this continent and the whole world to be destroyed. That is why I used a Primal Rune to interfere with Gerolge’s magic circle.”8fyFn
r8ZmPrimal Rune, [ n ]N1W
I1mbSParadise continues.FibfkK
ln8GohA set of eight letters that promised the eternal existence of Paradise – by using that, she added a new great ritual to this entire city.38sHM
89xThe first night when the ritual started, to the third night where she defeated Gerolge the Immortal King.k7wMK
OsZrPShe created a City of the Dead that had to forever go through those 3 days.tfxU
fMmfVH“But there is a ‘current me’ in the outside world, right? Don’t worry, ‘she’ and ‘I’ are different beings that separated from the turning point 300 years ago. You knew that and that was why you refused to call me ‘master’ until the end, right?”xvQKB2
8eaADRight. I knew that Erin Danua here was slightly different from my master who taught me everything.s7ugOD
ugmsd0“Are you not going to say it until the end?” I asked.R99cy2
OHo“…What do you mean?”8zK2x
BVFShe tried to be as carefree as ever but her eyes widened a little and she covered her body with her arms. That was one of Erin’s… master’s habits that she did whenever she wanted to hide something.v3f
8Z7up4“I’m sure you didn’t lie, but you didn’t say everything either.”56syIG
nI8“What are you… trying to say?”fXTEaH
S4a“Master doesn’t even know about your existence. She just knows that this city has been repeating itself ever since the incident 300 years ago.”mD8RK6C
C81aEven though they separated from the turning point 300 years ago, how was master unaware of this as the very person who made this 3-day time loop?P2j
D70G8drWhy did Erin of this city repeat through those 300 years and continue defeating the Immortal King?IQQqLUE
KlIvmX3How could she be so selfless?82N5n
wVS———-ReUz
3EXcIt was then. Something appeared from the wriggling darkness.0oE
GDKZI《Clever, are you not.》RH6
pZ4qvRather than a voice emanating through the vocal cords, it sounded like it was being forced into the dimension itself.cDgg
s05“…”0ET
iyA4WWhat appeared from the darkness was a skeleton wearing a bluish-black robe that had the appearance of a typical grim reaper.orE7ZSb
weLbEven though its characteristic large scythe was not something I could see, it was the ‘one who collected souls’ that had been present both in the game and in the last iteration.ynTNauU
XAV7brXGrim Reaper. It was literally the god of death.KgzhOZ
hZalG“I knew it had to be with the help of the Grim Reaper.”9vdI8DV
sFEDespite its menacing ability and appearance, it was just an NPC that gave out quests in the game and hadn’t been any different in the last iteration either.hfm
tHfnxA《How daring, o deceiver. You must know that you are facing death.》DrH
F8jXGrim Reaper approached me in the blink of an eye. In its hand must be the invisible scythe that could cut through my body in an instant.BJr
mGcYr60I would definitely die the moment he ‘harvested’ my soul. That was what a Grim Reaper was – regardless of how strong or weak the person was, they could not defy death itself.LcFJZz
tIATHKxHowever, Erin agitatedly turned her eyes away without even attempting to save me. It was because there was no need to.gLbPCJ
dI8“Don’t bluff. You’re one who harvests death, not someone who sentences death.”bJqJdom
CiajGrim Reaper shook its head in response.djeM
iFkMotX《No. That is not it. At least it is different for you, Korin Lork, for you have deceived death.》zdnskCH
v9uLigN…Did he know that I had regressed back in time?ibkw
kPCRmXErin told me that the incident on the first day was because the Grim Reaper had taken interest in me, which was why the undead bosses started coming after me.CLAK
F2iO6pyIn other words, Grim Reaper was the one overseeing the deads of this city.PkH
W2EdNXV“So why aren’t you harvesting my soul then?”wnZCLsF
QkT《Because it is very ambiguous. The death you deceived is from the future, not the present.》0vM
WT5n“Okay. So you mean you’re still thinking about it. You’ll soon change your line of thought.”Bqm
vSJG《Hoh.》NYpZDQV
zM1DsGrim Reaper gave an intrigued nod as its blue eyes flickered like flames.6h2UJq
KzIQU43“Erin. You made a ‘contract’ with the Grim Reaper, right?”2DWJ8
kpygLq“…”EC2i
0JGVEsC“Repeating 3 days of a city forever. It sounds like an amazing feat at first, but it means you are ‘deceiving’ the death of 1.2 million people.”eT77E
6RJEtrWhy was Grim Reaper in this land? What was the thing that Grim Reaper had to do as a conceptual being that harvested death?hoIIq
jFz8Everything was linked to the ‘3-day repetition’ caused by Erin.iNk
ycjR“…Yes. I’m the one who made the 3 days go on forever. That is why the Grim Reaper came to this place.”bY32m
6HKbGrim Reaper hated undeads, because they were the prime example of ones deceiving death.oHzXtb
nOVThe souls that were supposed to be harvested were intertwined with the body of the dead and stayed firmly attached to the ground. That was already very unpleasant but that much was okay, because even the unaging undeads would one day be killed by someone; whether it be a soldier, a knight, or a mage.efgCZV
otsvyHlSouls were still in line for the circulation. After waiting for about a century or two, most souls would come back again.7od8O
xsftEThe issue was with the 3 days that Erin had been locked inside the prison of time. In order to stop the destruction of the world under the feet of 1.2 million undeads, she had to make Nazrea unendingly repeat those 3 days.wiVpP
LY7AH0SAs a result, the undeads started being brought back to life after those 3 days regardless of their death. Their souls stopped going back to circulation.ttLu
ZtZo1HEven though the Grim Reaper couldn’t interfere with most of the works of the real world, it could when it concerned this law of circulation. The god of death could have used his own authority to separate the Primal Rune from the magic circle cast on this city.zQBmN
Jx9wW“That must be why you requested a contract with the Grim Reaper; one that was needed to continue these three days.”FeA
w770vzH“Haa…”Gz08K
p3yAfter heaving a deep sigh, Erin gave up and started talking about the past.V0QdMgD
op1SIN『Wait. Please don’t separate them.』epMNHwM
dwLO《Erin Danua. Are you even aware of what you have just done?》ITK5kW
VeP『I know and I still decided to do it. If the undeads leave this city, they will kill countless people worldwide.』JKQzxi
x4iwShe needed to come up with rational and utilitarian arguments to persuade the Grim Reaper.9zno
wN5Ddn1.2 million undeads. It was a ridiculous number of undeads and the possibility of defeating them was very questionable. What was even worse was that undeads had the power to turn the living into undeads like themselves after killing them.xjurnFg
qW2yRl7Zombies, raised deads, skeletons… After all, undeads were the deceased that were made from former living creatures as well.ihFH7xV
VVQ23z0What would happen if humanity had lost to the legion of undeads led by the Immortal King?b7q
6mRsH3The discontinuance of humanity and the abundance of undeads would lead to the worst scenario of having zero soul circulation. Erin Danua tried to persuade the Grim Reaper using that possibility.S2b
aqDEqh5She introduced two sides of the scale: losing the circulation of 1.2 million souls, compared to a possibility of losing the worldwide circulation of souls itself.tBMtxDZ
TB1However, that wasn’t enough to persuade the god of death.C66
qcsdg4I《Very superficial. You are talking from the perspective of humans. It is very unlikely for humans to lose. Several million will die and it might take hundreds and thousands of years but they will survive in the end. Everything will be cleansed again.》brHUT
QoWdO『…』Oprlljo
IDq《However, watching on for now as you suggest might not be a bad choice. Because this magic will be dispelled before long.》RRAE
MtEwjRh『What do you… mean by that?』gb0
xhBThere was something Erin hadn’t taken into account – Immortal King Gerolge. As a ‘long friend’ of hers, Grim Reaper was considerate enough to give her some advice.cPBaa
dlO《You are not the only one in control of this magic. There is still the mage who made this wicked city. Do you think he will be clueless to the repetition of three days forever?》GwLlLLf
VNx“I had to ponder for a long time. My original plan was to leave the city after having it repeat itself for those 3 days.”7Wo9y
4gNkzfThat was exactly what she did, because outside, we still had my master and the Chairman of Merkarva Academy, Erin Danua.ui7D
jIgqG『Grim Reaper. Let’s make a contract.』REggv
psH《…Why do you wish to walk the arduous path all the time, Queen?》w9Yrm
mwCIAiDespite the discouragement of the Grim Reaper, she went through with the contract.IPzuTa8
4xE7iOThe Grim Reaper overlooks the repetition of three days.Y7h
3Xo3yRPEvery time the ‘Immortal King Gerolge’ is defeated by ‘Erin Danua’, his memories are to be rewound back by 3 days.h8ZK
9QkkM‘Erin Danua’ inside the repetition of 3 days is to be separated from the ‘Erin Danua’ that will be leaving the city.ctJXMq
vKqhWrcThe above contract will last until ‘Erin Danua’ is no longer able to kill Gerolge.Qtaz6o
rWSvEGqLike that, those three days started an endless repetition.eb36Sha
qH7pWDefeating the Revenant Titan, Abyss Shrieker, and the Wight King, she had to kill Immortal King Gerolge on the third night.uPg
jAZPdShe had been repeating that 3-day story for 300 years.sZO9G
5Mv“In fact, it was starting to take a toll on me. Ever since it exceeded the 20,000 mark, Gerolge slowly started to realize the time loop.”NIdM7
Izz“…I see.”oyD4A
JNdMyI did have some guesses but I wasn’t expecting such a backstory. To think that Gerolge was slowly starting to notice the repetition…ZyE
XTOPUM2“There was no need for you to know about this.”4H9
Eo0ZjCrouching down on the spot, she buried her head into her knees, while murmuring that it would have been better if I didn’t know about it.6CWEhI
SDItShe was probably in the mindset that she was the only one that needed to know about her endless fight where she had to set off to kill the Immortal King tomorrow, in four days’ time and in a week’s time.V05AjU
Yn0a“How long were you going to repeat this stuff for? How long can you even do this for? How much longer can your mind last, and for how long do you think you can continue killing Gerolge?”m5u8
tBnUThe most important condition in this contract was that she had to kill Gerolge to rewind his memories to the one he had 3 days ago.q5lSipE
FwEnVcHEven though Erin had the advantage in terms of skill, it wasn’t strange for her to make a mistake as a living person. It wouldn’t have been strange for her to have failed already.40KJo
G2DE“For as long as possible.”8agK
SEZFoHer eyes were already looking beyond me, fixated at a place that I couldn’t see.Oq9
7qHO3hIt was a helpless future. A repetition of 3 days for 300 years. She had been repeating it for 300 years, which was more than enough time to make every other person give up.NRskp
Om3aX1The only thing supporting her was duty. Thinking and acting like a machine was the only way she could support herself through those three days.Ar1pSA1
lLYCmmvThat damn selflessness of hers.89RoeYm
KecT4VUI knew about her selfless and self-sacrificial mindset. I had already experienced her gladly putting her life on the line to protect children.PG0yWSw
WHSomThat was the kind of person she was. I respected her for it but I couldn’t accept it either.1zV
w3lq“Grim Reaper,” I said as the god of death turned its flickering eyes at me.wCl9
Nd52The Grim Reaper was a conceptual being that followed the balance of causation and circulation. Since that was the case, it should definitely answer my call.EX9biBj
rQi“W, wait…!”pmvs
LvaxAs if she realized what I was trying to do, Erin started dashing to me but it was already too late.U7DuCDh
EZ45roq“Let’s make a contract.”1HUbSb7
zQqwL2A contract with the Grim Reaper.LMuhZ
oIVeIt was the only way to save Erin Danua from the time loop of this city.xaxY1Uj
pzOLFAnd besides, it was something I was going to do anyway.P2UZJ
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