Chapter 177: Rubia (2)

I tapped the shoulders of the two men and said, "What’s wrong? Not going to keep searching?"

Chiiiiik!

"

Aaaargh!

"

The Kraken’s acid melted through their armor, burned through their clothes, and seared their flesh. Blood didn’t even flow. It bubbled and hissed, nerves tangled into a ruined mess.

"

Gyaaah! Hiiiek!

"

The two screamed in shrill voices, twitching violently as if they wanted to leap away. However, they were utterly powerless against the force pressing down on their shoulders.

In my first life, I stood no chance of getting anywhere near them from behind. Even in my fifth life, winning against them required a desperate struggle. But now? One finger was all I needed.

Chzzzzzt!

These two were seasoned hunters with flawless coordination, easily ranking in the top ten percent of humans. They could probably take down most prey without much trouble. Now, just the simple pressure from my hand slowly crushed their bones, driving their legs into the ground.

Crack! Craaack!

Without any special skill or magic, and just raw Strength stats alone.

"

Aaaaaagh!

"

"

Gghk! Khhhhk! Khk...!

"

Should I stop here?

Any more, and they could die instantly from shock. Instead of a soft, fragile woman, what had appeared before them was a hardened Skeleton Soldier, spewing corrosive acid from its hand.

Driving their leg bones into the solid earth would be enough to stop their hearts. Add in the heavy bleeding, and they’d die even faster than I intended.

"What should I even ask...?"

Truthfully, there wasn’t much I needed to know. Should I ask about Necron? These two were low-tier members, without even the serpent mark on their napes. About the Demon Kings? Anything they knew was likely useless.

"You don’t know anything, do you?"

About the current situation, of course.

"

Ggghk! Gaaaah!

"

"Please! Please, spare me!"

"Yeah, didn’t think you would."

"I know! I do!

Aaaaargh!

"

"

Hiiiek! Gyaaaah! Gihiik!

"

Know what, exactly?

"If you’ve got something to say, go ahead. Who knows—if you're lucky, you might die a bit quicker," I said without much thought, slowly grinding them beneath my foot.

Cruuunch... craaack...

Like dynamic meditation, I focused entirely on the act of slowly crushing them beneath my heel.

"

Ghhk! Ggk! Hgggh!

"

It was a night full of thoughts and things to process. Such repetitive tasks were surprisingly helpful at such times.

***

[Level Up]

[Level Up...]

"..."

System messages popped one after another. The two men died without offering a single piece of useful information. They truly knew nothing.

Rain washed away their blood and brain matter. Even sparing time on such people would probably be a waste of time from now on. Well, at last they helped me organize my thoughts. First, there was something I had to do.

I grasped the top half of the fallen tombstone that lay before the grave. Slowly, I began to lift it.

If something’s carved here, could it be my name?

I recalled Isaac raising a fuss, insisting I had to unlock my true name. After all, he needed it to bind me with his spell. Things had gone awry and he ended up shackling himself instead. Even if it had been a trap, the question lingered.

I never understood why.

I started to wonder about the identity I had always brushed off as unimportant. The tombstone had vanished back then, but now, I could confirm it for myself.

Just what was written here? If I could just find my name, I could purchase information about it from Daliac or submit a request to places like T&T.

Assuming the name even qualifies as valuable information...

Filled with equal parts anticipation and tension, I slowly turned the tombstone toward me.

"..."

And just like that, the tension vanished.

######

Nothing was engraved on it.

Fssshhh...

The entire front of the stone was crudely damaged.

This is...

I examined the few parts that hadn’t been worn away.

Clack.

I ran my fingers along the surface, but I couldn’t make out a single recognizable letter. As if, even before the damage, nothing had ever been written on it.

A double veil. Where tension had left, a deeper unease took its place. Who damaged this? Why pretend it had once borne a name? Who did it, and why?

I had no clue. Moreover, the damage didn’t seem recent—it was an ancient scar.

So, I’ve failed to learn my name.

Still, if I preserved the stone, perhaps I could uncover the truth one day.

Thud!

I drove the tombstone deep into the grave and buried it roughly with soil. I would remember the location regardless. After tamping the earth firmly down, I rifled through the corpses I’d crushed.

Clink.

Seventy-four roti. Basically next to nothing. Perhaps it was because I’d spent so much time with Rena. I took their wallets and IDs, before retrieving a familiar ledger.

A slave ledger.

I’d already reviewed it before. But something nagged at me, so I opened it again.

"..."

Every page was densely packed with text. There was a woman’s name in the top-left corner. Beside it, a grade like A or B, followed by a price. But...

As I thought... It’s missing.

The ledger had changed. No matter how many times I searched, one familiar name was nowhere to be found.

Rena, Grade A, 10 Seiron...

That entry didn’t exist.

Has the worldline shifted? Then, where is she now?

Maybe she had never entered the low-ranking dungeon where we would first meet. Maybe she wasn’t at the T&T Southern Branch at all.

"I was sure we’d meet again, even if I left for a while."

"If not in this life, then the next..."

"If I change a little, I’ll be more helpful at the center of the guild."

"In the next life, maybe I’ll be someone who can support you, Master."

...

Of course, it could’ve been a different person with the same name. Even so, the fact her name wasn’t in this ledger brought me great relief. It meant that the Rena in this life hadn’t suffered under those people.

Should I search the capital branch of T&T? Maybe I could find a way to contact her. Still, even if we met again, she wouldn’t remember anything. I’d be a complete stranger, or perhaps even an enemy. Above all, I hesitated at the thought of barging into her life uninvited.

The last time I saw her, she was doing well at T&T.

If that worldline continued...

Then my presence could only be an unwelcome disturbance. I could think about it later. For now, I opened my status windows again, starting with the stats.

[Lv. 6 (189)

Health: 71

Strength: 82

Agility: 74

Wisdom: 63

Remaining Points: 5]

I was starting over from level one. At this stage, leveling was fast, and stats accumulated easily. All the points I gained from killing those two had gone into Strength.

Ding! Ding! Diiing...!

[Strength has increased by 1.]

[Strength......]

Crushing lowlife humans gave a certain cheap satisfaction. Still, that wasn’t the only reason I’d invested in Strength. Stats under seventy-five could be absorbed from others. Anything beyond eighty couldn’t be absorbed, so investing in Strength was efficient.

I checked the next window.

[First seal unlocked.]

[Class change unlocked.]

Seal unlocked...

The message about my class being unlocked echoed in my mind. Across more than ten resets, I’d accumulated over a hundred ninety levels.

And yet, I’ve remained a Skeleton Soldier.

I hadn’t thought much of it. I accepted it without question. It was a life without any of the benefits of a proper class. But now, did it mean I could become something else?

But why is it sealed?

Was something actively blocking me from moving past being a Skeleton Soldier? My memories... My mind felt like it was tearing apart. A sense of malice crept in. Was the world...?

[Assimilation Rate has decreased.]

[72.7%......]

***

Fssshhh...

Each falling raindrop struck with an uncanny unease. The way they touched between my vertebrae made it feel like they were urging me to remember something.

"..."

Of course, nothing came to mind. Not a single clue surfaced.

I shook the rainwater from my head. This wasn’t something I could resolve now.

With each life, I had seen far too much. I’ve seen things I never noticed at the front lines of the Demon King’s army. This world was far more sinister and absurd than I had imagined.

I recalled the events of my past life one by one. Isaac and the ruined church. Tropin Naneow and the split in T&T. The murder of Marquis Leandro. The larva breeding grounds. The ghosts of the imperial family. The secret tunnel in Grassmere. The nameless imperial duke...

Who was that bastard, anyway?

A male who claimed to be a girl. Aside from being the leader of the masked attackers, I knew nothing else.

For now...

I had to avoid the Demon Kings and the imperial forces as much as possible. Like the darkness that veiled the mountain in rain, they cloaked this world.

Fwoosh!

I flung the two corpses far into the distance and launched myself toward the cave where Rubia was waiting.

***

"

Um...

"

Rubia’s brown eyes were heavy with sleep.

Too late.

I’d spent far too long crushing those two men. Dawn was already close.

"I-I didn’t move. I waited right here the whole time!"

She looked at me oddly, as if asking for praise. Whether it was sleepiness or a high Affection level, she showed no suspicion or wariness toward me. That made my resolve falter just a little.

Rubia blinked her drowsy eyes and said, "And... I was thinking..."

"About what?"

"Well...!"

Thud.

She didn’t finish her sentence and collapsed sideways. I caught her as she fell. The soft, delicate girl curled against my arm. I felt like she absolutely had to be protected.

Blaze.

I shook off the water and laid dry fur beneath her.

She lasted longer than before.

The first time we came to this cave together, she’d fallen asleep after walking for two hours. But this time, she had stayed awake all night, waiting for me. Whether it was due to higher Health or stronger Affection, I had no clue.

"..."

There was no need to rush. I simply looked at her as she slept soundly. Her breath warmed the air briefly before dispersing. A breath that only calmed when she was near me.

At least for tonight...

She deserved to rest. Her brown hair, soft and full, wrapped between my pale skeletal fingers. It had been so long since I’d seen such a sight that it moved something in me. No matter how many times I saw her, I never seemed to tire of it. I gazed quietly at her status window.

[Name: Rubia Ray

Health: 9

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Wisdom: 14]

She was so incredibly weak. Without me, she never would’ve escaped those two hunters. They would’ve choked her, torn her apart, trampled her, butchered her. Of course, the world was full of the weak and the wicked. To eat or be eaten. Killed and were killed. I didn’t have the luxury to save them all.

But this girl... she was the one who woke me from my grave. She was the first person I spoke to. She tossed snowflakes at me and gave me flowers. She tried to give me armor, and was killed for it.

"..."

And now, after countless regressions, she was here again, asleep in my arms.

Three lifetimes... I could live those for her.

Once for the flower. Once for the snowflake. And once for the armor she never got to give. The calculation was quick and perfect. I had no room for doubt.