Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Resurrection (1)
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“…”
“Haah…”
I sat on a chair adorned with glittering jewels, unable to lift my head.
The astonishingly radiant woman sitting in the chair opposite me let out nothing but sighs.
I stole a quick glance at her.
Cool blue hair that gave off a refreshing aura, and golden eyes that sparkled like gold.
A face so pure white it was almost transparent, with features close to perfection.
A sleeveless top with high exposure and a short skirt that might seem vulgar to some or elegant to others.
Yes.
I was now face-to-face with a goddess.
‘Suuuup… So this is death…’
Marey’s Heavenly Demon Death Beam had tremendous kinetic energy, but after all, its source was divine power.
That’s why I had judged that I could survive even taking it head-on, but my prediction had been spectacularly off the mark.
Since here I was, facing the goddess.
“Haah… haah…”
The goddess wore an expression that screamed she was craving a cigarette.
It felt awkward, but I mustered my courage and hesitantly asked.
“Um… what about Daniel?”
“That bastard’s dead.”
“Phew…”
“This doesn’t seem like the time to be relieved, though?”
“…”
I quietly fell silent.
The goddess rested her chin on her hand, let out a deep sigh, then wiggled her toes and lightly tapped my thigh.
“First, let me explain your current situation.”
“Aren’t I dead?”
The goddess scratched her head, as if unsure how to explain.
“Um… To be precise, I should say you’re at the crossroads between death and survival?”
“I don’t know much about death, so I’m not sure.”
“Well, seeing is faster than explaining.”
The goddess snapped her fingers, and a massive screen appeared before my eyes.
It showed my party members left on the ground and my physical body with eyes peacefully closed.
“Nooo, don’t dieee!”
“Huwaaa… I’m sorry…”
My party members had gathered around my body. Laura was clutching my chest and wailing loudly.
Surprisingly, Marey was bawling her eyes out.
‘Hm… I didn’t live in vain, then.’
There’s a saying that the people who come to your funeral are your true connections.
In that sense, I could proudly say I’d lived a pretty good life.
Up to here, it looked like an ordinary funeral.
But there was something unusual.
Woooooong!
Overwhelming divine power was pouring from the two current and former saints, who held hands with eyes closed, pressing down on my body.
The divine power that had remained in my physical body itself was also wrapping around me, following the two saints’ power.
Vine had planted all sorts of flowers around me and cast some unknown spell, though I wasn’t sure if it meant anything.
“Our party members are trying to resurrect me?”
“Hm… To be exact, it’s not resurrection. They’re using overwhelming divine power to suppress my soul from leaving my body. That’s the more accurate description.”
“…Is that even possible?”
The goddess twirled her hair, looking troubled.
“Normally, it’d be absolutely impossible… but Rainy and Kani are daughters who inherited tremendous divine power… so they’re pulling off the impossible.”
“…”
I watched Rainy and Kani straining with effort.
They weren’t just pouring out divine power—they were drawing on their very life force to pour into me.
I could understand Rainy, who was like family to me, but even Kani, whom I thought we weren’t that close with, was burning her life force to save me. It tugged at my heartstrings.
“Hey, you fucking bastard! If you die, I die too since we have a contract!!!”
“…”
Hm… My mistake.
With nothing I could do, I just stared blankly, and the goddess wiggled her pristine toes again, tapping my thigh.
“So, what do you want to do? Return to the ground? Or go to Earth?”
“Earth?”
I was startled by the words from the goddess’s mouth.
I hadn’t even defeated the Demon King, yet talk of going to Earth came up.
The goddess nodded as if it were the most natural thing.
“You didn’t succeed in defeating the Demon King, but I feel a sense of responsibility toward you for working so hard for our world. I can at least reincarnate you into a wealthy family on Earth.”
“…”
Usually in situations like this, they say if you can’t resurrect, you’ll be dragged to hell or can’t return to Earth.
Then the protagonist gets fired up and chooses resurrection.
Contrary to my expectation, the goddess readily offered to reincarnate me on Earth.
Into a wealthy family, no less.
“…If I want to return to the ground, can I?”
“Yes. If you were completely dead, even I, a goddess, couldn’t do it. But thanks to my daughters’ dedication, you haven’t fully died yet.”
“…”
“If this goddess pushes a little, I can definitely send you back. Though there’ll be some side effects.”
“What kind of side effects?”
“If my power directly affects your soul, even defeating the Demon King won’t let you return to Earth.”
“…”
This was a pretty serious issue.
I’d made a lot of changes, but I still considered Earth my true home deep down.
If I defeated the Demon King, I wouldn’t leave for Earth entirely, but I’d planned to ask for the right to travel between Earth and this world.
But if I resurrected, I could never return to Earth…
I fell deep into thought.
“…Whatever choice you make, I’ll respect it.”
The goddess nodded lightly, as if understanding my dilemma, and waited without pressuring me.
‘Reincarnation into a wealthy family… or hero life…’
Honestly, either choice seemed like no great loss to me.
As I agonized, my eyes caught the women still desperately trying to save me.
Even looking on the verge of collapse, Rainy gritted her teeth and poured divine power into me.
Nania’s big, bright eyes streamed with thick teardrops.
‘Ha…’
That’s when I understood the goddess’s intention in showing me the scene on the ground.
She said she’d respect my choice, but deep down, she hoped I’d stay on the ground.
I clenched my fist.
“How could I leave alone after seeing that?”
The goddess suppressed a slight upward twitch of her lips and asked.
“Are you serious? If you choose to return to Earth, it wouldn’t just be a wealthy family—you could be born as a third-generation chaebol heir. The youngest son of the Oseong Group… or Elon Musk’s youngest son…”
‘What?’
That was tempting.
Seeing me waver, the goddess realized her slip and gave an awkward smile.
“Haha, as expected of the hero! You’ll choose to protect this world anyway!”
The goddess who had been looking at me pitifully until moments ago switched to hyping me up.
[Would you like to return to your original body?]
[YES][NO]
A status window popped up at the same time.
Pressing YES would return me to my original body, no doubt.
‘Yeah, who’s gonna take care of those girls if not me?’
I’d been swayed briefly by the chaebol heir talk, but basically, I’d been thinking of returning to my original body.
The moment I went to press YES.
Kududadang!
An immense pressure began crushing the surroundings.
What the hell? I looked at the goddess in bewilderment.
“Ah…”
The goddess’s face showed dismay.
Woooong.
Soon, the air split open like it had been slashed by a scythe, and out stepped a skeleton in tattered mage robes boasting a shiny bald head.
I couldn’t read its expression since it was a skeleton, but the aura it exuded made it clear it was furious.
“Hey! You damn bitch!”
The skeleton crossed dimensions and immediately slammed its staff down, roaring.
‘Bitch?’
The people bold enough to call a goddess a bitch were extremely limited in this world.
A skeleton, huh… It felt familiar, like I’d heard about it somewhere.
I slowly recalled the past, rummaging through my memories.
Then my eyes widened.
Back when I was enslaving Nania, Rainy had told me about the goddess’s married life.
Her husband, the Demon God, couldn’t even get it up, so he got a lot of flak from the goddess…
“De… Demon God!”
“Yeah, hero. It’s the Demon God.”
I hadn’t even met the Demon King yet, and the final boss had skipped steps and appeared.