This Isn't My Blood
The Lizardman's movements were frantic.
Because it couldn't see properly.
Claws sliced through empty air.
Its tail flailed wildly.
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
It was too easy to dodge.
Maybe the Ratmen were actually harder to deal with.
Those bastards were blind from the start, after all.
Squish!!!
Oh.
This blade is incredibly sharp.
It doesn't even compare to the crude daggers the Ratmen used.
It fits perfectly in my hand.
A heavy, satisfying plunge.
“Graaaagh!!!”
The moment its claws missed, I drove the blade into its shoulder, eliciting an immediate scream.
I could see blood trickling down between its scales.
Because of the scales, the blood didn't spray out in a burst like it did with the Ratmen.
Whoosh!
Next came the tail.
The Lizardman swung its tail, which looked thicker and sturdier than an adult man's thigh.
I jumped to dodge the tail, pulling the blade out of its shoulder at the same time.
Splurt!
Ah.
So the blade was plugging the wound.
The moment I pulled it out, blood sprayed everywhere.
It was much slicker and oilier than Ratman blood.
‘I need to be careful.’
As soon as I dodged the tail, I drove the blade into its other shoulder so it wouldn't feel left out.
Thud!
“Aaargh! Graaaagh!!!”
It swung its tail again.
Swish!
Dodge and pull.
Stab!
Swish!
Dodge and pull.
Stab!
Dodge, stab, dodge, stab, dodge, stab.
Eventually, it just became a continuous sequence of stab-stab-stab-stab-stab.
Having taken so many hits, the beast could no longer even swing its arms.
It just wept tears of blood, weakly wagging its tail.
“What, are you a dog? Why are you wagging your tail?”
I now had the leisure to crack jokes at a man-eating lizard.
Of course I did.
This was a one-sided slaughter.
“Graagh... I'll... k-kill... hiss, hiss...!”
Finally, the Lizardman began to retreat.
Even though it knew it was humiliating.
To be hunted by what it thought was prey.
It was simply following the instinct born of terror.
The instinct to run away.
“Hiss, hiiisss...”
The Lizardman, weeping bloody tears from its barely open eyes, scanned the area for an escape route.
The moment I realized that...
“...”
For some reason, I felt a deep sense of disappointment.
‘Is this really all it takes?’
Before I could even figure out where that disappointment came from...
“Right, let's end this.”
I dashed forward, closing the distance into the Lizardman's chest.
At the same time, I drove the blade straight into its throat.
Perhaps because the scales under its neck were particularly thick, the blade didn't go in easily.
Much less than with the Ratmen.
I had to force my weight into it to feel it cut through.
“Gurgle...!”
“Oops.”
I guess I still can't kill them in one clean strike.
I know exactly where to stab.
But it feels like my strength and technique aren't quite there yet.
Well, won't that improve as I level up?
This is still just the tutorial, after all...
Thud!!
The Lizardman's massive body collapsed backward.
Seeing its tail twitch, it wasn't dead yet.
Step by step, I walked toward the Lizardman.
“Sorry.”
“...!”
“I'll make it quick.”
A Lizardman's neck bones are much thicker than a human's or a Ratman's.
To snap it, I needed more force.
I placed my foot on top of the hilt embedded in its neck.
My worn-out, old sneakers pressed down hard on the handle.
I shifted my weight.
Crack.
The sound of its neck snapping echoed.
The tail of the beast, which had been so majestic, was now mutilated and trembling pitifully.
Is every living thing bound to feel overwhelming terror in the face of death?
‘Then why am I fine?’
The Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Is it because of that trait?
Just how much, and to what extent, does a trait affect a person?
I was someone who couldn't even watch horror movies properly.
If I watched a bloody slasher film, I was guaranteed to have nightmares that night.
But now, I was killing a Lizardman without batting an eye.
Am I turning into a psychopath?!
‘I really don't want that...’
But that thought lasted only a moment.
I grabbed the Lizardman's dangling head.
If I'm going to finish it, I should finish it properly.
I firmly gripped the horn growing sharply from the top of the Lizardman's head.
Rip!
As I completely tore the Lizardman's head off...
Splaaash!!!
Slick blood poured out like a waterfall.
A complete victory.
Drenched in the cascading blood, a laugh escaped my lips before I knew it.
“Haha, hahaha...”
Relief that I survived?
No, it was different from that.
I didn't know what this feeling was.
It felt like I had accomplished what needed to be done.
Should I call it refreshing?
Exhilarating?
“Haha... Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Wow.
I've really gone crazy.
Showering in Lizardman blood and calling it refreshing?
I'm out of my mind.
Completely out of my mind.
Whether it's because of the Heavenly Slaughter Star or whatever.
I must have really become a psychopath.
‘But...’
To survive here, isn't it actually better to be crazy?
Didn't someone say that?
To survive in a crazy world, you have to be just as crazy.
Do I need to be like that too?
Maybe going mad is better...
Screeech!
Just then.
Squeeeak!
As if to confirm my thoughts.
Squeeeeeeak!
From the distance, the cries of Ratmen echoed.
It must be another pack.
They probably found the corpses of their kin on the path I walked.
Following the scent, they would arrive here soon.
Squeeeak!
Squeak! Squeak!
One by one, the Ratmen began to show themselves.
I adjusted my grip on the blade and took a stance.
Was it because the lingering heat of battle remained?
Along with the excitement, a laugh bubbled up.
Good.
Let's see how many I can kill in a single strike this time.
The Entry Point.
The chairs, empty due to the aspirants entering the tutorial.
In front of them, the Arbiters were waiting.
Arbiter.
It was a profession created after the incident where Park Jeong-bae, who had successfully returned from the tutorial, slaughtered all the waiting Bureau agents.
It was not uncommon for the mental trauma or the sense of omnipotence gained from the Babel Tower to affect hunters even in reality.
To protect the hunters themselves, as well as ordinary citizens, from such incidents, Arbiters were necessary.
Not only in Korea, but also in Japan, China, the US, and Europe, the existence of Arbiters was essential.
Arbiters consisted of hunters who were at least Level 10.
Since the difference between Level 1 and Level 10 could not be ignored, a tutorial returnee could easily be suppressed by a Level 10 Arbiter.
Until now, at least.
“How many do you think will return this time?”
“Who knows. We'll be lucky if even one returns.”
In truth, being an Arbiter was close to a cushy job.
To begin with, not many survived the tutorial.
One person a month.
Or maybe two.
Often, there were none at all.
They were lucky if they got ten a year.
So, it was only natural for the Arbiters to chat without much tension.
“About six hours left?”
“Yes. If it's a survival match.”
If it was a survival match, the probability of return was even lower.
Since they couldn't even use their phones in the Entry Point.
The Arbiters just stared at the clock, whose numbers slowly, slowly ticked down.
The fastest record for completing the tutorial was three hours.
Right now, not even two hours had passed.
So the Entry Point was bound to be quiet.
No, it had to be.
Bzzzz...
Bzzzz...
When an unknown noise echoed from the empty chairs, the two Arbiters turned their heads in surprise.
Arbiters, prepare for suppression.
3.
2.
1.
And then.
Flash!
Flash!
The tutorial returnees arrived.
Squish!
The moment I drove the blade into the Ratman's neck.
A sudden wave of motion sickness hit me.
Dizzy.
An air curtain. A high-speed elevator. A roller coaster.
It was a repetition of all three.
The exact same feeling as when entering the tutorial.
‘Ah, is it over?’
I didn't know how many I had killed.
Anyway, it seemed like I had to kill every single one of them to return quickly, so I killed them all.
The Ratmen...
And things similar to them.
I didn't know.
Honestly, from a certain point, I had been hacking and slashing in a trance.
In any case.
I must have returned because I killed them all, right?
I felt like I had killed at least two hundred, but...
I stopped counting at some point.
Monsters kept popping out to the point where I wondered if this was an extermination match.
I just lost my mind and killed.
Anyway.
Aside from feeling a bit nauseous, I was fine.
Probably?
“Ugh...”
Somehow, returning was harder than killing monsters.
I kept my eyes tightly shut until the nausea subsided.
And when I felt a bit better, I opened my eyes and looked around.
“Oh...”
At the far end of the five chairs.
There was someone else besides me.
A woman.
I didn't know who she was.
We had never run into each other, nor had we ever spoken.
Anyway.
She didn't seem like the restaurant grumbler or the horse-talk guy who refused to enter the tutorial and stayed here the whole time...
Which meant she had also survived and returned.
Likewise, she was also looking at me.
With her face slightly grimaced, probably due to the motion sickness.
“...”
“...”
A brief silence flowed.
What was I supposed to say at a time like this?
Hello?
Nice to meet you?
Congratulations?
“...You survived.”
It seemed like a reasonably safe line.
Seeing how she also nodded.
“As they say, even rolling in dog poop, this world is better.”
“...”
“I can pay off my debt now, too.”
“...”
“It's great, really.”
I beamed at her.
In my own way, it was a gesture of friendliness toward a fellow survivor.
Actually, I wasn't the type to strike up conversations with people at all.
Why was I acting like this?
Was the Heavenly Slaughter Star affecting my personality too?
Anyway, seeing me smile, she flinched.
“...!”
Ah, right.
I was currently drenched in blood.
“Ah, about this. There's a reason for it...”
The moment I laughed and tried to explain.
Whirrr!
The tightly closed door of the Entry Point slid open.
And agents in combat stances, each holding a sword, entered with cautious steps.
“Freeze!”
Huh?
I didn't do anything?
I raised both hands in the air for now.
Then, the agents pointed their swords at me and spoke into their radios.
"Two returnees confirmed alive."
"One appears to be severely injured. We will first check if they are in a state of frenzy."
Injured? Are they talking about that woman?
But why are they looking at me?
As I stared blankly at the agents, their name tags finally caught my eye.
Right. I was trained on this before entering the tutorial.
Because of that past murder incident, the Arbiters would be the first to enter when we returned.
I kept my hands raised.
Offering the most harmless smile I could muster, I spoke.
“I'm fine!”
The two Arbiters stared at me with bewildered expressions.
“This isn't my blood!”
This time, the two Arbiters looked at me as if I was absurd.
“It's Ratman, Lizardman, and Vampire blood!”
Finally, the two Arbiters stared at me with faces of utter disbelief.
The two Arbiters exchanged glances.
“...”
“...”
Then, they spoke into their radios.
"Director. Subject is definitely in a state of frenzy."