Even in Death, I'll Take It All (3)

A blade was buried in his chest, and still Alan drove himself forward, locking his arms around Haggis in a crushing embrace.

Danger!

The two fairies of the Blood Axe King — both of whom Haggis had slain with his own hands — flashed through his mind, and in that instant he understood exactly what Alan intended.

It was almost impossible to believe.

Alan was not a fairy. And yet he was offering up his own life to save the Blood Axe King.

The moment the realization struck, Haggis put his full strength into throwing off the man who clung to him like a vice.

"Heh heh heh… I'm never letting go."

"What?!"

Alan's grip was far stronger than it had any right to be. Haggis could not shake him off. The man looked frail — almost delicate — and the raw power in those arms stunned him.

What Haggis did not know was that before Alan had lunged, he had burned a full twenty points of Potential, driving his Strength stat all the way to sixty.

In his previous life Alan had been a ranked player of Fairy Masters, and he knew perfectly well that dumping too many stat points at once meant you could not actually use them. Countless tests had taught him the formula: raise a stat by five points at most, then clear a dungeon at least twice before those points became fully usable. He had always followed that rule.

Not this time.

This time he slammed all twenty points in at once.

Why?

Because my only job is to not let this bastard go!

What Alan needed was pure, brute force. That was why he had chosen the reckless path. The result: despite being only 3-star, Alan now possessed the same Strength stat as the 4-star Haggis.

Slash—!

The Blood Axe King swung without a flicker of hesitation. The axe carved through Alan and Haggis in a single stroke.

"AAAAAARGH!"

"Ghhhk?!"

Their screams rang out together. To the Blood Axe King, no music in the world had ever sounded sweeter.

He had no idea why Alan had chosen to die alongside Haggis. From where he stood, though, it hardly mattered. It cost him nothing.

Just as Haggis had failed to notice Alan until the last moment, the Blood Axe King himself had completely forgotten the man was even there. Alan's presence had been that thin — that forgettable. And yet this nobody had just played the decisive role.

Besides, the Blood Axe King had met him for the first time today. Minutes ago, in fact. He felt not the slightest twinge of guilt as he cleaved Haggis and Alan apart in the same blow.

"…Heh heh heh heh."

He laughed as he looked down at the two men writhing on the floor. Watching Haggis suffer — the one who had lured him into this trap — was especially satisfying.

He staggered toward them, determined to finish Haggis off for good.

"Kh— khhack…!"

Alan, slumped across Haggis's body, was in ruins. His lower half had been completely severed. Organs spilled from the open cavity beneath him, and blood poured out in a ceaseless flood. Without a high-grade, high-level healer, there was no chance he would survive.

"Hah… haaah…"

Alan trembled — then went still. The pained moans stopped. The breathing stopped. Just like that, Alan was dead.

"Ghhhk… you crazy bastards…"

Haggis, at least, was in better shape. Alan had taken the axe first, so Haggis's lower body had not been split in two. But he was still critically wounded. The moment the Blood Axe King had driven the blade through both of them, he had detonated the mana packed into the axe. Haggis's armor had torn like paper. His belly hung open, flopping, even if his legs ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were still attached.

The Blood Axe King kicked Alan's corpse off Haggis as if shoving aside a sack of meat. Then he stood over him, savoring the agony on Haggis's face the way a man savors a feast.

He lifted the axe.

Crunch—!

"Nnghhk?!"

Haggis's right arm came off.

"That one was for Ansol."

Crunch—!

"That one was for Solis!"

Crunch—!

"That one was for Lidia!"

Crunch—!

"And that one was for Erita, you son of a bitch!"

"GRAAAAH!"

The Blood Axe King named each of his dead fairies as he hacked off Haggis's limbs one by one. No matter how high your rank, your level, or your stats, you could not wield any of it without arms and legs attached to your body.

Limbless, Haggis could do nothing.

In that case…

The same resolve that had filled Erita and Lidia in their final moments now filled Haggis.

Even if he died here — he would take the Blood Axe King with him.

His limbs were gone, but he still had his mana. If he unleashed every last drop in a single burst, the blast would hit with the force of a bomb.

"Don't you dare try anything, you piece of shit!"

Crunch—!

"Gahk?!"

The Blood Axe King was not about to sit back and watch. He drove the axe into Haggis's chest.

Haggis convulsed, the mana he had been gathering collapsing in on itself. His life was seconds from ending.

"You — no, all of you — laid hands on someone you should never have touched."

The Blood Axe King wrenched the axe free and raised it high. This time, he meant to take Haggis's head.

Tat-tat-tat-tat—!

"Hm?"

Someone was coming up behind him, fast—

Slash—!

"Kh?!"

A blade flashed at lightning speed and sheared off the Blood Axe King's last remaining arm. The attacker did not stop. She circled him, cutting, cutting again, carving through his legs.

"GRAAAAAAAH!"

In moments, the Blood Axe King looked no different from the limbless Haggis on the ground.

"Who… who are you?!"

"You… you did that to Master…!"

Eyes of piercing, ice-cold navy glared down at him. She leveled her sword at his throat, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fully prepared to end him.

And then—

"Don't, Aquaril."

"…Master?"

"…What?"

"Th-this is—!"

A voice that should not have existed. The Blood Axe King and Haggis both forgot their own agony and stared in raw shock.

Alan — who had died with his lower body severed — had come back to life.

I'm dying!

I had already accepted death. I had walked into it with my eyes open.

And it was still terrifying.

You son of a bitch!

The terror curdled into rage and poured itself onto the Blood Axe King. I had set the whole board for him — and he swung that axe without a shred of hesitation. Fine, he had only just registered I existed. But I never thought he would not even flinch.

From his perspective I was a godsend. Reinforcements in a drought. Shouldn't he have at least hesitated before cutting me in half? A pause. A second thought. Anything.

He just swung.

I'm scared. I don't want to die. I don't want to die like this. I have to die again? Why? Why the hell do I have to die?

I had staked my life for a bigger prize. I had accepted death. I had decided that dying was the only way to take everything I wanted, and I had been willing.

But death was still terrifying.

Maybe it was because of how absurdly I had died in my previous life. Death was hideous. Death was a thing of pure dread.

I could feel my organs sliding out of my body. I could feel the blood draining from inside me.

I never wanted to feel anything like this again.

Ah… ahhh…

My vision darkened by degrees, as if I were being sucked into a bottomless pit. As if the thing called me were being erased from the world.

And then everything went black.

So this… is death.

The instant I understood that I — the existence called Alan Han — had died, the windows appeared.

…Heh!

My vision was gone, and the windows still shone perfectly clear. I almost laughed.

Use the skill?

Resurrect?

Obviously.

It felt like time itself winding backward. The organs that had spilled from my gut slid back inside me. My severed lower half snapped toward my torso as if drawn by a magnet and fused into place. Wounds closed. Fresh, living blood bloomed in my veins to replace everything I had lost.

A single thread of light pierced the black. From that thread the world around me began to glow, and the darkness receded.

Radiance.

That light was the radiance pulling me out of the afterlife and back among the living.

"…"

I had been sealed in the dark. Now I was standing in the middle of the dungeon again.

I twitched a finger. It moved. I twitched a toe. It moved. I pushed myself up. I stood.

"…Heh! Heheheheheh!"

I could not stop laughing.

I do not die.

As long as I have enough gems, I will never die.

I die and I come back. I come back and I come back again.

Undying.

I will never die.

"You… you did that to Master…!"

Aquaril's voice, raw with fury, pulled my eyes to the side. She looked a heartbeat away from driving her sword through the Blood Axe King's throat.

Ah… no. That won't do.

That one is my prey. That is why I put my life on the line.

I was genuinely sorry about Aquaril — but the Blood Axe King and Haggis were mine to kill. I had died for the privilege.

I needed to stop her.

"Don't, Aquaril."

"…Master?"

"…What?"

"Th-this is—!"

At the sound of my voice, Aquaril, the Blood Axe King, and Haggis all turned to stare at me at once. The two of them looked at the man who had just come back from the dead and went white with shock.

"M-Master… you really… you really came back… Master… you've been resurrected…"

And then Aquaril burst into tears.

I walked over to her and stroked her hair.

"I told you. I can come back."

"Hhk… y-yes. You did. You told me exactly that. Yes — I believed in you, Master. I believed you would rise again."

She clung to me, sobbing the words out in a rush. For someone who claimed she had believed me, she was crying an awful lot.

"Mind if I borrow your sword for a second?"

"Here, Master."

She pressed her blade into my hand without a moment's pause. They say a swordsman's blade is like a lover — something you never give to anyone. That rule did not apply to my Aquaril. Her lover was not the sword. It was me.

"Th-that's impossible! What is this?!"

"A human coming back to life? He's not a fairy! He's human — and he resurrected?!"

The two of them still could not accept what they had seen.

Tsk, tsk. Those without faith shall not enter heaven. They had watched me rise with their own two eyes and still denied it. Hell it was, then.

"Haggis."

"?! H-how do you know my name?! Wh-who the hell are you?!"

"That sword you stuck in me hurt like a bitch, you son of a bitch."

"Talk! Who are you?! Who the hell are you?!"

"Shut up."

Thrust—!

"Gahk…!"

I drove Aquaril's sword straight through Haggis's forehead. Maybe it was the boosted Strength — the blade punched through his skull as if it were nothing and sank into his brain.

His eyes rolled back. He convulsed once, twice — and then he was gone.

A soft, dissolving hiss filled the air. A dead fairy turns to light and vanishes.

"Heheheh!"

I laughed at the windows blooming in front of me. Last-hitting really is the sweetest thing in the world. Killing a level-66 Haggis had dumped a full eight levels on me.

And I still had one more hunt left.

I dragged the blood-slick sword along the floor, the steel scraping and stuttering as I walked toward the Blood Axe King.

"W-what do you think you're doing?! Didn't you say you were my subordinate?! L-Lora! Lora is outside! If you kill me now, do you really think she'll just stand there and take it?!"

"I think she'll stand there just fine. And hey… you know what?"

"…"

"Kanisia is… a truly magnificent… and delicious woman."

"…!"

I split my mouth into a grin that nearly tore my cheeks — and drove the sword through the Blood Axe King's heart.

Thrust—! Thrust—! Thrust—! Thrust—!

"Ghk! GRAAAAAAH!"

I stabbed his heart again and again. I wanted him to feel it the way I had — the pain, the fear, every last filthy second of it.

I had not even stabbed him that many times before he went quiet.

Unlike Haggis, who had dissolved into light, he was human. His corpse stayed right where it was.

"Ahhh…"

I stared at the windows and murmured under my breath.

"Too sweet."

I had died once. And in the end, I had taken everything I wanted.

It was almost too sweet.

"Ah."

One thing left, wasn't there?

"Shall we head out, my lovely Aquaril?"

"Yes, Master!"

Aquaril beamed and nodded, her smile bright enough to light the dungeon.

We dragged the Blood Axe King's corpse with us and started toward the dungeon's entrance.