EP.3 Thirteen Regressions and Everything Goes to Shit
[I do not care what you do. Because it has no meaning whatsoever to the military authorities. You merely need to fill this place. If you die, well, that is just unavoidable.]
The words delivered by the golem were completely unexpected.
Do nothing? The military state, which forces not only criminals but even ordinary citizens into hard labor whenever they're bored, isn't giving me any mission?
It was too good to be true; I knew the military state far too well. Whenever they show an unexpected attitude, one must always read the true intentions hidden within.
Just as I felt a sense of crisis and was about to ask the golem something—
With a roar, the main gate of the prison was thrown open as if shattering. Something burst out from within with a fierce momentum. The moment that existence left the courtyard, a warning siren blared indicating an anomaly, and searchlights began to fiercely track the escapee.
However, it was meaningless. Her running speed was so fast that even the searchlights chasing the escapee couldn't keep up with her. The moment the light tried to illuminate the target, she was already gone.
While even the searchlights lost their target and floundered, the girl leapt like lightning and landed right in front of me. It was a sudden appearance that left both me and the golem speechless.
And for a moment, the girl jerked her head up, wagged her tail, and barked.
"Woof! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"
Pointy triangular ears, a golden tail swaying at her waist. Her large eyes stared intently at me, showing endless goodwill. Her luscious hair fluttered.
She was a dog beastman, a descendant of the sins committed by humans in the distant past.
The dog beastman was crouching on all fours as if she had become a real dog, looking up at me from near my feet.
What is this, really? I awkwardly raised my hand and greeted her.
"Uh... hello?"
"Hello! Hello! Hello!"
Then, the dog beastman jumped up and down, welcoming me. There was no will to attack, and even her body language was friendly. It was a reaction more like a well-trained dog than a human.
At her so pure and friendly appearance, I couldn't even feel the vigilance I inevitably should feel when encountering a stranger.
That's why I was a bit late to realize.
That showing goodwill to me, who appeared out of nowhere, was extremely strange in itself.
And that I, a mind-reader, couldn't properly read this being's thoughts.
"Let's play! Let's play! Let's play!"
"What? Why would I."
"Woof! Let's play!"
The dog beastman shoved her head into the ground, grabbed the hem of my pants with her mouth, and pulled. Just as I thought, "What the—" and tried to peel her off—
I felt a shock as if a rope attached to a cart had snagged my foot.
The legs that supported the weight of an adult male were lifted helplessly. My body collapsed just like that, and the dog beastman grabbed me and ran away at full speed. My body was dragged helplessly. Thud, thud. At the tremendous speed, my body bounced as if I were skipping stones on water. It felt like a cart was dangling me and galloping.
Pain followed.
"Aaaargh!"
I had thought I might suffer unspeakable things in the notorious Tantalos, but I never dreamed I would suddenly be subjected to dismemberment. And by an opponent who held goodwill toward me, no less!
It was useless to grab onto anything. A greater force merely dragged me. My clothes heated up from the friction. Blood drops clotted and fell from my skin scraped against the concrete.
I'm going to die. I'm really going to die like this. I flailed my arms and shouted desperately.
"Wait, hold on!"
"Woof!"
Then, an amazing thing happened.
The dog beastman, who had the strength to drag me just by her jaw power, "waited" according to my command.
Without a single inch of hesitation.
I was dumbfounded.
"Huh? You listen to me?"
Even without the ability to read minds, most people who have lived in the world would know. There are far more people who dismiss words as dog shit than those who actually listen to them.
Especially if those words are meant to hinder someone's actions.
However, the moment I ordered her to wait, this girl "waited" without a moment's hesitation. No deliberation, no resistance.
Wait a minute. What is this? Feeling confused, I read the girl's thoughts.
I couldn't read them.
'Wait? Wait! Wait, wait!'
No, to be exact. They were being read, and I could vaguely get the feel of it, but I couldn't understand them clearly. It was like reading a book from another country without translating it. I could only vaguely grasp it through the atmosphere it exuded or the emotions I felt.
Her thoughts, I can't read them.
Unbelievable. Is she not human?
'Because I was told to wait' 'I wait.' Without doubt or hesitation. Like a pure young child... No, in the sense that she doesn't even question it, it's a way of thinking closer to a dog than a human. Like a loyal dog obeying a human.
But her outer appearance was that of a human with dog ears and a tail, and the strength pulling me easily transcended that of a human.
Wait. If she's not a crazy beastman who believes she's a dog, then could this being be...
"Beast King?"
After humans, who walk on two legs among the beasts walking the earth, truly came to dominate the land, the Beast Kings took on human flesh. Wearing human bodies and speaking like humans, they represented a race of beasts and expressed their opinions to humans.
However, their essence was that of a king of a race. A being that represents, speaks for, and acts on behalf of all beasts.
Among them, the dog beastman in front of me was the King of Dogs, representing all dogs. A 'puppy'.
"Crazy. If she's the Beast King, she's a divine being. Why the hell would they lock something like this in a prison?"
Let alone the fact that the place is Tantalos. Has the military state truly gone completely insane? Just as I was about to immediately turn around and protest to the golem—
'...I can smell the scent of blood.'
A thought echoed from deep down there.
Immediately after, the hair all over my body stood on end.
The drops of blood from my wounds trembled. Darkness bound me. Unable to even turn my head, I watched out of the corner of my eye as my blood drops moved.
The drops of blood that had seeped into the concrete vibrated violently, then eventually rolled away in one direction. Normally, a long blood trail should have been left behind, but the blood drops falling onto Tantalos ignored even that common sense. The blood drops rolled like beads, as if the concrete floor had turned to ice.
I followed the movement of the blood drops with trembling eyes. They approached the distant, deep, and dark door, then seeped through the gap.
After that, a dizzying sense of satisfaction was felt from beyond the door. The fullness of a predator quenching its thirst with the flesh of its prey, as if taking a bite out of meat.
...And the fact that it was my blood preceded everything with terror.
'...It's bland. I've never thought I had a picky palate, but this blood is hardly worth eating.'
It ate it without me offering, and now it says it tastes bad. Picky eater for someone who's locked up.
But I couldn't carelessly express such complaints.
Because I didn't even need mind-reading to figure out what the existence beyond that door was.
What was beyond that was a vampire. A Blood Queen who had lived for a thousand years and would live forever unless she died.
The Progenitor, Tirukanjaka.
The oldest darkness, who had locked herself in the Abyss because she found conflict with humans annoying.
"Crazy..."
Vicious criminals? No matter what vicious criminal they brought, they couldn't compare to those two. The King of Dogs is a divine being, and the vampire is a heaven-defying monster that mocks such gods. Ordinary people would never meet them, let alone dare to look them in the eye.
While I felt fear at the scale that was beyond my scope... I inwardly felt relieved.
Fortunately, those two are either friendly or indifferent to humans. The King of Dogs shows affection for humans, and the vampire would keep me alive if only to obtain blood. As long as I don't greatly offend them, I won't die by their hands.
Maybe... I could even seduce them and make them my allies....
At that moment.
"Fly."
A stiff yet sharp girlish voice was heard. It was a voice so beautiful that anyone passing by would turn their head at least once, but what emanated from it was only cold hostility and murderous intent forged like a blade.
The moment I read that, I urgently distanced myself from the golem. Right after—
"Cheonang."
A crack formed in space.
A land of only light and darkness. As if space itself had been carved out, light and darkness warped. A diagonal fault line appeared in the pitch black. Sparks blazed from the severed air, and lightning struck the dark abyss. An invisible blade precisely cleaved the golem in half.
The golem lost its light in an instant. The essence of magitech contained within it, the precisely designed machinery, the circuits, and the mana—all of it.
It was split in two with a single stroke.
One half of the golem slowly slid and fell to the ground. With a simple crackle, the golem's body collapsed.
It was such a clean cut that it looked like looking at a cross-section. So clean that one might think it would function perfectly if just reattached.
However, the golem's crystal sphere never regained its light. With that, the remote-controlled golem stopped operating. A crackling sound came from the microphone before it clicked and turned off.
Instead, a girlish voice, forged like a blade, was heard.
"There were still spare golems left? They're not cockroaches, this is sickening. Don't tell me there are more."
A girl with short black hair and loose pants walked slowly. The girl snatched a sword shimmering transparently in the air and glared at the golem as if looking at her sworn enemy.
Her eyes, which had lingered on the golem for a moment, eventually turned toward me.
"Now, then... who are you?"
Instinct sounded an alarm. It screamed that I would die if I didn't do something right now.
I reflexively used mind-reading to read her. As detailed as possible.
She was not special at all.
She was an extra who grew up in an ordinary orphanage, lived in the back alleys, suffered from exposure to crime, disease, and violence, and died—so common that she couldn't even become a topic of conversation.
She learned a bit of swordsmanship but had her neck sliced by a wandering swordsman; she learned magic but had her whole body burned by a mercenary mage. A normal person who, even if she did something, lacked the talent to achieve greatness, and even if she seized an opportunity, lacked the ability to lead it to success.
The only difference was that she had infinite opportunities.
...Huh? What does that mean? Did I read that right? I don't understand.
During five deaths, she swung her sword and gained the skill to cross blades with a Sword Saint.
During another seven deaths, she received direct and indirect transmission of magic and gained the magical power to face a Demon King.
That only meant she had acquired the qualifications to stand before them; if she fought them head-on, she would suffer a devastating defeat, though.
But even that was not the end.
"Answer me."
The girl retrieved the treasured sword Cheonang. A legendary sword that could only be obtained on the highest mountain. A sword resembling the sky that could never be obtained without knowing the future hummed. She raised Cheonang again, pointing it toward me.
One who surpasses thirteen deaths and repeats infinite attempts to prevent the world's destruction.
The regressor, Shei, held her sword and looked at me.
"If you don't answer... I'll kill you."
To become stronger. To prevent the world's destruction. To end the regression and gain eternal rest.
A regressor who wandered in search of fortuitous encounters and reached the Abyss.
She was seriously reconsidering my life. Whether she should kill this one or let it live. Which would be the right choice to lead 'this cycle'.
If I didn't fit her standards, she intended to kill me and eliminate the 'variable'.
"...Hah."
Running around at a speed that even searchlights couldn't chase.
Exercising dominion over blood from hundreds of meters away.
They were monsters that could destroy a military magitech golem used even in war in an instant, but...
I actually felt relieved and waved both hands, greeting them warmly.
"It's nice to meet you, everyone!"
That's right. The ones left here are incredibly strong. Even if there were ten thousand petty criminals like me, they would be massacred within seconds. They were fully capable of that.
But hey, when have I ever survived because I was strong?
The back alleys where I've lived for over ten years. Even in those narrow back alleys, there were countless people stronger than me.
But in the end, the one who survived was me.
The man with monstrous strength who crushed rocks with his bare hands had his neck flown off by a swordsman who could cut steel. That swordsman fell into a trap set by a wandering mage and had his entire body burned. The mage who demanded a bounty drank a poisoned beverage and turned into a handful of blood.
Only I, only I who could read minds, humored the swordsman, bypassed the mage's trap, and accurately picked out the poisoned cup to preserve my life.
It's the same here.
No matter how much of a monster the opponent is, as long as I can read their thoughts.
If I humor those absolute beings, avoid the reverse scales in the center of their hearts, and build enough friendship.
Why would there be a reason for them to kill me—no, for me to die?
I've lived my whole life as a back-alley scammer. There's no one better than me at humoring others and drawing their interest.
I spread my arms wide and shouted at the top of my lungs.