Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Old Sewers (4)
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1.
True Ancestor's secret funds, hidden in the settling tank.
Sunming, making his entrance like a proper boss.
He's Eiming's half-brother and my predecessor.
I never got any formal handover from him, but he's one of the guys who personally taught me the attitude for surviving this shithole of a city.
Still, I'm not exactly thrilled to see him.
He was a cowardly junkie, the kind I despise.
"Sunming, you bastard, how much dope did you shoot up? What's with that complexion?"
"Kuh... heh... kehahat...!"
Sunming let out a bizarre noise at my icebreaker joke, his jawbone rattling like crazy.
He was probably laughing.
Every time, fluorescent liquid drooled from his mouth like spit.
"How the hell have you been staying alive?"
No, is he even alive?
No matter how I look at him, he doesn't seem alive.
Half his face is just bone. No eyes either.
Plus, I vividly remember dumping his gut-spilled corpse into the sewer.
"Master, talking to him is pointless. He's one of the resentful dead."
"Resentful dead?"
According to Poksoon's brief explanation...
The sewage flowing through the old sewers isn't ordinary shit water.
The sewers are a rift thoroughly infested with black corruption.
A force that twists and warps reality lurks within.
On top of that, the Twilight & Overnus orphan corporate duo dumps industrial waste in there.
The sewage has become a cocktail of chaos where anything could happen without surprise, and occasionally, the resentful dead trapped inside come back to life.
Wild undead Sunming is just one casualty of environmental pollution.
"So you're saying that's an undead?"
"Yes, Master."
"No way!"
But hey...
"Could happen."
Zombie viruses exist for real, and vampire clones dress up as bunny girls in this world.
Pop the lid off a soy sauce jar and find the soy-marinated crab still kicking?
Not that shocking, really.
"Poksoon, stay back over there."
I drew up my mana.
Can't turn back after coming this far, right?
A champion has to accept a rematch no matter the opponent.
Besides...
Honestly, doesn't seem like he'd let me run anyway.
Obviously, conversation's out of the question.
"Kuh, heh... hur... ."
Sunming ground his teeth with a kaduk kaduk sound.
His head wobbled like a drug addict's, body swaying unsteadily, but...
That hate-filled single eye was definitely locked on me.
How strong is he now?
Blood is thicker than water.
True to form as Eiming's half-brother, Sunming was the strongest 7th-rater I knew.
Plus, by genre convention, anyone who comes back levels up a stage.
Just looking at the janitors scattered and dead all around, he's no pushover.
So what about me?
I killed Sunming right after picking up Death Verdict.
Now I have seals I didn't back then, and experience killing dozens of fixers.
-Kwaaaaang!!!!
Between Sunming and me.
A rainbow of sewage arcing down.
In the pale vertical lighting, a water roar that could split ears.
-Splash
The moment some unidentified lump rippled the black lake's surface.
We moved at the same time.
-Chiiik!!!
Ignition from the rocket hammer.
Sunming charged in an instant, using the propulsion.
Fast.
Speed on par with the Golden Carp hitman from the last round, the one who nearly killed me without me laying a hand.
Acceleration so intense a single blink would make me miss him completely.
Green steam trailed from his fangs, clenched jawbone, even his empty eye socket, marking his charge path.
"Eiming hyungnim's little brother! Is only me! Sunming!!!!"
I put distance between us and formed hand seals.
Overlaying preconloaded mana with diverse images of death.
-Shwak shwak shwak
Decapitations, gunshots, falls blanketing my vision like a bullet hell, flying at Eiming.
Seals born from accumulated experience.
The Death Verdict unleashed this way had incomparable density, power, and speed compared to round one.
Sunming diving straight into it looked utterly reckless.
-Whoosh!
Until his rocket hammer ignited again.
-Chik! Chuk! Chiiik!
Sunming's body, slimmer after his organ diet, began acrobatic maneuvers.
Here it comes.
Sunming's signature move!
"Whoosh...! Whoooosh! Whoosh!"
Even if his mind's foggy, his body remembered the moves from endless repetition.
Like a dementia-stricken jazz singer humming along to backing tracks.
Undeadming danced, leaving afterimages.
Soaked in overdose drugs beyond limits, he was even faster than before.
And as an undead, no signs of tiring.
"Fuck!!! Stop dodging!!!"
Who knew I'd feel this chill again.
Sunming slipped the final strike.
No more hesitation.
-Kwaang!
He stomped the ground hard enough to shatter it, leaping straight ahead in a long arc.
I expected this far.
I extended two fingers toward Sunming.
At their tip rippled mana shaped entirely differently.
Something living Sunming never saw.
The perfect death for reining in a wildly flitting opponent.
"Burning Death."
The mana I'd subtly sprinkled on the floor beforehand turned into a wall of fire, like leaking fuel igniting.
Sunming was mid-air, feet off the ground.
Even with rocket hammer propulsion, dodging this wall's flames was impossible.
-Roooarrrrr!!!
Sunming was engulfed.
"Kraaaaaah!!!!"
Sunming screamed like he was being torn apart.
I know that pain well.
Not ordinary flames.
Magical fire perfectly recreating the Burning Death I endured.
Undead are weak to fire by the rules, right!
Then.
"What."
The flame curtain tore open violently.
In that split-second glimpse: Sunming with skin melted off, more bones exposed.
His single eye burning with denser hate.
And.
Like a baseball player full-swinging.
The hammer's blurry afterimage, weighted with his full body.
Everything felt slow.
-Kwajik!
My elbow, instinctively guarding my side, twisted outward at an odd angle.
"Kuhk...?!"
The hammer's tip dug deep into my side, body bending shrimp-like mid-air.
Gravity vanished as my body flew into the void.
Vision flipped like in a drum washing machine.
Ceiling, floor, black sewage, ashen walls all jumbled in view.
Dizzy.
What? Suddenly nauseous. Hurts.
How am I alive? Am I still alive?
Concussion? Brain's a muddy mess.
What was I... doing?
What hit me? Why was I down?
"Master...!! Ar... e you... okay...!!!"
Poksoon's shrill voice pierced through.
Faint, like underwater...
Ah, whatever.
Eyelids too heavy. Just wanna sleep for a bit.
"Poksoon... five more minutes..."
As my thin thread of consciousness frayed.
A clear chime rang in my ear.
Like injecting cool fluid into my veins.
A sharp, chilling sensation forced awakening.
Pain numbed, blurred focus sharpened.
"Huh?!"
I bolted upright.
Stabbing pain, left arm dangling limp against my will.
Glancing down in shock...
"Fuck!!!"
My arm's folded three ways!
"You fucking bastard!!! How do you swing that shit at a person!!!! It hurts!!!!!"
Rage.
Fiercer than the horrific pain, numbing it.
"Kehahat...! Kehahat...!!!"
Sunming charging excitedly to flatten Sedric like a pancake.
This fucking bastard.
Having a blast, huh.
Death Verdict didn't land properly.
Dunno why, but I had a hunch.
Ultimately, lack of firepower.
Like with the janitors earlier.
My Death Verdict grew quantitatively, but not qualitatively.
Like high-level mobs that don't drop to one skill shot after leveling up.
I'm the one lacking.
So.
What do I need to stop that Sunming?
That sensation.
No need to recreate it all. Partial is fine.
If I can just manifest a bit of overlooking from that high vantage in memory.
"......"
Despite excruciating circuit pain.
Despite Sunming's closing charge.
I chased the faint clue, trance-like, shaping mana.
Like playing a piano piece from ages ago.
Fingers stiff, muscle memory gone, fumbling even with sheet music.
This it?
Was it like this?
Dunno.
This world never gives me clear answers.
Just one thing.
I know for sure.
What is true death?
I've seen death's true form.
Death is the ceasing of existence.
Connections and causality fraying into nothingness.
Its essence.
Severance.
Doesn't matter if it's a living thing or not.
I brought my fingertips together.
And swung.
No sound even.
A black line from my fingertips bisected the world horizontally.
Eerie sight.
Bubbling toxic gas sliced diagonally.
Sharp diagonal on filthy walls.
Multicolored waterfall from ceiling softly severed all at once.
The moment the cut overlapped Sunming's body.
-Tuduk.
A thin red line appeared from his bloated side.
Poison-soaked rotting skin.
Thick muscle and bone.
Even the handle of his prized steel rocket hammer.
Sliced clean.
-Thud!
And.
He never rose again.
"Uh..."
Not a victory cheer from my mouth.
"Uuuugh..."
Vision whited out instantly, and suddenly I was face-down on the ground.
Brain vessels bursting.
-Plip plip plip
Nosebleed pouring like rain.
"Fuc... fucking hell..."
What? Did I do something I shouldn't have?!
I used an awesome new move!
Overcame adversity!
Other isekai protags go 'Hm, that it? Yeah, that it' and spam new tech!
"Why... fuck, why only me..."
-Step step
As injustice and pain gnawed at me.
Footsteps approached.
Poksoon stood there, face stiff as stone.
"......"
A chill déjà vu hit me in this scene.
Back when I was deep in social novels, super cringy.
I got my ass handed to me by Sunming, half-dead like now.
Akit and Arong found me again, turning Sedric into Swiss cheese with hammer and machete.
Now no Sunming, no janitors.
Master who kept sexually harassing Sion at drop of hat is half-dead.
Should be fine, I know, but ominous feeling creeps in.
"Po... Poksoon..."
No, right?
You know that's stupid, yeah?
Trying to look fine to stop Poksoon from dumb ideas, but consciousness fades.
No strength to hold on.
Right as my face was about to smash the floor.
-Squeeze
Warm, soft embrace caught me.
Her slender frame tightly hugging my thrashing body was the last sensation.
My consciousness snapped off.