Chapter 20
Chapter 20 - The Owner of the Sewer(1)
"Die!"
I grabbed the goblin with the shield from behind and stabbed my sword straight into it. A lightning-fast thrust surged forth. It far exceeded the maximum speed I could produce. This was the effect of the skill 'Backstab'.
"Keek!"
The goblin, hit directly in the cervical spine, sprayed blood like a fountain and collapsed. Other goblins began to shout in confusion at the sudden attacker. Murderous intent towards me pierced and reverberated through the sewer.
If you had time to scream, you should have launched one more attack. I stopped breathing and immediately extended my sword towards the next target.
'Stealth!'
Swish! A ghost-like figure slid past the goblin swordsmen. The goblins swung their swords belatedly but just barely missed.
I raised my sword high in front of the goblin archer who had come right before my nose. Then I cleanly struck down vertically on its head.
"Flash Step!"
As the skill activated, a sharp energy settled on the sword blade with a keen sound. A blue afterimage wavered along the sword's trajectory.
Splat! The goblin was split in two from its head to its groin. It couldn't even let out a final cry.
"Kgyaa! R-run!"
"Run away!"
The ones who instantly lost their shield and archer soldiers quickly lost their fighting spirit. They even threw away their swords and began to flee in a panic. I chased after the frantically escaping ones and laughed coldly.
Even the hunting rats who lost their leader would resist until the very end. I can't tell if high intelligence is a blessing or a curse.
Well, since I can massacre them one-sidedly, it's a thank you from my perspective.
"Kgyaaak!"
"Gyaak!"
"Kyaak!"
I split their sides, stabbed swords into their back of the head, and for the last one, I cut off its legs and finished by stabbing the sword into its heart.
Just before dying, they stared at me and said something like "Please spare me! Please let me live!" While their other words were awkward, they said that particular phrase quite fluently. I knew the reason.
These guys had learned something. That there are occasionally humans who spare them if they beg pitifully.
―Never spare goblins. They absolutely never forget their grudges.
―There are exactly two types of beings in this world you should never show mercy to.
―One is a friend asking you to guarantee something, and the other is a goblin.
Each time, the voices etched in my previous life's memories awakened my mind.
If I feel pity and spare these guys, they will come looking for me dozens of times to avenge their fallen comrades. And they will try to kill me by any means possible.
So I never spare them. That's what I learned, and I executed it exactly. Her teachings have never been wrong.
The problem is that the master who gave such cold blood-like advice was the woman who killed me dozens of times.
"Well done. You're starting to look like a hunter now."
With applause and these words directed at me, a voice rang out.
My previous life's master who never spared advice that became my blood and flesh. The murderer who killed me countless times. The manager who cleans up the monsters in this sewer. The maid of Halcenberg Sewer, Leila. She was slowly approaching me, clapping as if impressed.
I stared at Leila with a complicated gaze, then shrugged and made a witty remark.
"...No. I'm still immature."
"Growing this much in just a day is remarkable. I'm truly surprised."
After saying that, Leila lifted the goblin corpses and began loading them onto a yellow cart placed in the corner. I watched her silently, and Leila turned her uniquely gloomy eyes to me and spoke playfully.
"Looks like I have nothing more to teach you. I'll graduate from bringing you along as a deputy today."
"......"
"Did you receive some private tutoring somewhere? How do you know so much about goblin biology?"
Private tutoring? What if I said you taught me? Such words almost burst from my tongue.
But I forcibly sealed my lips. With sharply honed eyes so Leila wouldn't notice, I silently stared at her back. And I sighed again at this unbelievable situation.
'How did things end up like this...'
Of course, I know. All of this is the seed I planted. But even knowing that, I can't help but lament.
The exact circumstances of how Leila and I formed a party and began hunting goblins was precisely 3 hours ago.
It began from the moment I recovered my memories from my previous life.
* * *
Me, the 21st one who gave up on revenge and chose a strategic retreat (also called full-blown panic run.).
I walked endlessly through the central sewer, organizing my thoughts.
Strategies to survive from that murderous maid.
"Step 1. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you will be victorious in a hundred battles."
To do that, I'll first check my physical condition. Since I can't fully know the enemy, at least understanding myself will increase my survival rate.
I immediately displayed my status window and skill window before my eyes.
[Name: Park Jeong-yong]
[Title: 163417413th Hero. Guardian of the Demon King's Egg. One Bound to Immortality]
[LV. 9]
[HP: 180/180 MP: 112/120 Physical Condition: Normal]
[Strength: 24 Agility: 30 Intelligence: 10 Hero Sense: 3]
[Remaining Ability Points: 0]
[Skill List]
[Mimir's Eye (Passive) LV.3]
[Divine Favor (Passive) LV.1]
[Death God’s Favour (Passive) LV.14]
[Ether Collection (Passive) LV.1]
[Prometheus (Passive) LV.1]
[Backstab (Active) LV.3]
[Stealth (Active) LV.4]
[Flash Step LV.1]
[Remaining Skill Upgrade Points: 0]
"The status isn't bad."
In my previous life, the status I had raised to level 9 was directly inherited, and with Izanami's heart, some of the remaining lost status was also inherited. My current status is far superior to the level 9 from my previous life. It's painful that it dropped by 8 levels.
The problem was with the skills. The skills I had raised to levels 4, 6, and 8 in my previous life - Mimir's Eye, Backstab, and Stealth - were now halved. I let out a heavy groan.
"... The skill levels are too low."
In my previous lifes, I died so often that I didn't even notice, but it seems that practical skills are only inherited within the levels bestowed by the death god's favor.
If I were to die without allocating skill points, or fail to recover my consciousness. Would skill points just accumulate according to the level? Thinking about this, I realized the somewhat calculated nature of the fluctuating skill levels.
"Well, it would be too unfair otherwise."
I accepted this and then muttered to myself internally.
Right now, I'm being resurrected twenty-one times in this smelly, damp sewer, causing such a fuss. If they're going to drop the difficulty from the start like this, isn't a bit of an advantage acceptable? No matter how I think about it, it feels unfair and petty.
Minerva's face keeps appearing in my mind. Recalling her uniquely slimy expression, I made a firm resolution.
Next time I meet her, I'll definitely hit her.
"Ah, right. Report (?) update."
I took out the Box of the Dead that I had stuffed in my backpack. Removing the previous cloth and creating a new one, I wrote a slightly different message this time.
My destination in this life is clear. And the target I need to be cautious of is also clear. So I could make the instructions for my next life even more precise.
―Exit in the right sewer. Beware of the pretty brown-haired maid. Don't be fooled. She's a bastard.
Wait. But 'right' is something I roughly determined from experience, and the newly awakened me doesn't know which sewer is on the right.
Even if I leave a mark, it won't remain in the next life since time will rewind.
'Ah, this will work.'
After deliberation, I attached a map of the sewer.
I roughly marked the surrounding terrain and wrote down the directions, so this should be recognizable. In the next life, I'll praise myself for my delicate sense. Indeed, it's me, doing this crazy thing.
... Actually, it's best if there's no next life. But there's always a possibility.
"Good. I've done everything."
I put the Box of the Dead back in my backpack, dusted off my hands, and stood up. Then I slowly began to move, following the sewer's path.
The first place I headed was not the right sewer, but the rear sewer, as there was something I needed to confirm.
"Hmm."
I pondered various things along the way. It was a strategic contemplation.
There are a few things that come to mind. Whether they'll succeed is uncertain, but there's no time to hesitate. I began to gradually elaborate on those plans.
While thinking about this and that, I suddenly reached the end of the rear sewer. The suffocating blood smell and rotting stench interrupted my thoughts.
"Ugh, the smell."
I plugged my nose and quickly surveyed the area. The pile of corpses was there, just as I remembered.
But the yellow cart was not.
"... Good."
I nodded and immediately turned back to the sewer intersection. I've confirmed everything that needed checking. I have no desire to stay in that unpleasant place for long.
Based on my speculation, she... Leila seems to be alternately cleaning the front, back, and side sewers.
In other words, the absence of a cart in the front and back sewers where humans were piled up means she's currently darting between the side sewers to clean up the goblins.
'In other words, I'm not the only one who can change the future...'
A shocking fact I realized in my previous life.
Just because time has rewound doesn't mean I'm the only one who can cause changes in the future.
"Let's see."
I'll test it once. I'll do a coin toss like before.
I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out the Saint's Crest. I flipped it into the air and caught it on the back of my hand.
I slowly checked the side that came up, and a bitter smile soon spread across my lips.
'As expected.'
The moon came up.
When I previously did a toss to determine direction, the goddess had definitely appeared. But doing the exact same toss to determine the direction of progress yielded a different result.
Recalling the deaths repeated in my previous lives, I drew one conclusion.
'An unconfirmed future changes more easily than you might think.'
During twenty previous lives, she would sometimes explore the side sewers and sometimes the front and back sewers. Even with no relation to me, the future would just change arbitrarily.
Why? Because this life's Leila wanted to do so.
That's all.
'Come to think of it, the timing of my death was always different... and had nothing to do with my will.'
Sometimes I was killed halfway through exploring the front sewer, sometimes I reached the end before being killed.
It wasn't me who determined that timing. Leila would watch me silently and kill me when she thought 'now is the time'. That timing was different in each life.
That's why I could finally make a plan in this life.
'Reducing variables. That's the key.'
I need to move my pieces as much as possible according to my intentions.
Fortunately, the pieces discovered in this sewer so far are only me and Leila. In other words, controlling variables isn't difficult.
The important thing is:
Anyway, I need to beat Leila to the punch.
"Leila! Leila―!"
As soon as I stepped into the right sewer, I raised my voice and called out.