Chapter 37 - Chapter 39

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 39

Chapter Title: Bardo's Remains

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"The depths?"

The depths.

The most dangerous area in this Trial, and the only place where you could farm the quest item.

Sure enough, corpses of those who'd failed to farm it were already scattered everywhere around.

"Amazing. I never imagined there'd be a place like this under the chapel... But how do we find [Bardo's Remains] in this huge space?"

It was definitely our first time here, but after wandering around a bit, everyone realized the place felt oddly familiar.

"It's disgustingly huge, and there are tons of branching paths, but it somehow reminds me of the floor above, sis."

She was right.

The environment here was similar to the one upstairs.

Even hiding in the darkness made it hard for the wraiths to spot you, just like up there.

Players had to sneak around avoiding wraiths like that and search for [Bardo's Remains] somewhere in this place.

"Hmm, there are way fewer light sources, so hiding should be easy, right?"

Yeah, but there were a ton of wraiths.

Skeletons and specters roamed endlessly through every corner of this vast labyrinth.

There were so many that the survivor who'd given info back in my first run said it took a full three sleepless days to find the remains.

"Ugh, but sis... My head hurts so much. And it's hard to breathe."

"...Me too. It's suffocating. I just want to get out of here."

Our vision limited by the darkness.

The stench of rotting corpses.

The wraiths' muttering whispers and the oppressive, eerie aura pressing down on us.

'I can really feel the girls' mental strength dropping.'

Sure enough, Kim Yu-rim was trembling, her cheek twitching like she was on the verge of a fit. Joo Ah-hyun's hands were shaking too.

It was a symptom of accumulated stress finally hitting its limit.

"Hah. Haah. Ah, it's so suffocating. Suffocating suffocating suffocating!"

Joo Ah-hyun pounded her chest and started acting a bit hysterical. If we didn't relieve it somehow right away, it could get dangerous.

'Tch, no choice.'

Thud. I set my backpack down on the ground.

Normally, you had to sneak around in this pitch-black darkness avoiding wraiths and slowly search for the remains.

All the survivors in my first run had done it that way, and Ise-ra had gotten the remains the same way too.

'But I don't need to do that.'

I pulled chem lights—what you'd call glow sticks—from my backpack and lit them up. Then I handed one to each person.

"Ah... Jackpot. Bro, you had these? Why didn't you pull them out sooner?"

"Whoa, the last time I saw one was during basic training. It's been forever."

Their faces brightened instantly as our vision cleared.

The tense expressions that had looked ready to snap just moments ago were completely gone.

'Whoops, they're so happy it's making me feel kinda guilty.'

Truth be told, I hadn't pulled out these lights for comfort or anything. How much stress relief could you get from carrying these around?

As the area lit up, wraiths who'd spotted us from afar immediately started charging in.

"Wh-what?"

The party's panicked voices rang out loud.

"B-bro, they're swarming from front and back...! I-is this right? Wasn't this supposed to be for hiding? Sis, how do you turn this off?"

"Like there's a switch. It's not a lantern."

"Huh?"

I drew my sword from its sheath.

"We're here to find the remains. How are you supposed to search without light?"

"B-but we'll die before we find them."

"Then we just handle them first."

That's why I'd given them the glow sticks. You needed to see to fight properly. And that would relieve their stress.

'Nothing beats smashing stuff to blow off steam.'

How else had humans stayed sane for ten years?

We'd pounded dough like crazy, sure, but smashing and killing whatever was in our path had been the biggest part.

So this extreme prescription would work this time too.

"Stick close and follow. Let's go."

"W-wait a sec."

Tatata!

I charged forward. Skeletons and specters were rushing from the opposite side right away.

The skeletons raised their blades overhead as they ran, while the specters summoned blue mana, preparing to drain energy.

'That combo would kill most players before they could even resist.'

And the numbers were swelling as more poured in. But that was it.

After fighting skeletons and specters nonstop these past few days, I'd memorized their patterns. And the gap between their stats and mine was overwhelming.

Whoosh—

I swung my sword faster than their incoming blades, and the wraiths shattered without landing a single proper attack.

The specters mixed in with the skeleton hordes got swept up and turned into jelly blobs.

Three or four went down with each swing, so they were getting cleared faster than they could pile up.

"How's the back holding?"

"Daggers have short range, so it's tough!"

"Catch."

I pulled weapons from my inventory and tossed them on the ground.

"Just hold out. It'll be over soon."

There were as many coming from behind as from my side.

But they weren't just lucky survivors for nothing—though they looked precarious at a glance, the three girls smartly fell back bit by bit, buying time against the wraiths.

"Too many specters now—it's getting hard!"

"This side's almost done. Switch."

We swapped positions and took on the wraiths again.

There were nearly two hundred of them swarming, but the narrow passages and our experience fighting in the waiting room made none of them a real threat.

'Thanks to Seo-yeon, my mana pool's plenty full, so I can mostly ignore combo attacks from about ten specters.'

It was a fighting style no other player could pull off, but it was possible for me right now.

"Hm?"

As we fought, the rear went quiet. Worried something happened, I glanced back to see all three staring at me in a daze.

"Jackpot."

That single quiet word summed up their feelings.

Astonishment, awe, respect.

Countless emotions filled their eyes as they gazed at me.

"H-how."

Han So-hee especially had dropped her usual composure, her face full of shock.

"What... are you?"

With so many and people to protect, I'd fought a bit more seriously than usual, and apparently that looked pretty impressive to them.

I cleanly finished off the last wraith, let out a short breath, and started moving again.

"Mobs seem cleared out, so now we can relax and look for the remains."

"Y-yeah."

"O-okay, bro."

"..."

After that, the girls stuck even closer to me, sending more clingy looks my way.

Even Han So-hee pressed close, gazing up at me with strange eyes.

...The remains turned out easier to find than expected.

"Is that the remains?"

"Looks kinda creepy. We won't get cursed if we pick it up, right?"

We looked down at what seemed to be a rib bone.

Strange letters were engraved on the weathered bone.

No one else knew yet, but in the Selection Process, these were called runes.

In this world's lore, they were an ancient language infused with lost power, often found engraved on farmed items.

Those kinds of items usually fetched a premium.

'Not that this junk has any real use.'

Anyway, finding it this easily made using the chem lights feel kinda pointless.

I glanced to the side with a slightly hollow expression.

In one corner of the cavern, a skeleton statue cloaked in robes held its hands together, raising a red flame.

This was the source of the red light we'd seen—it was placed at intersections just like upstairs, illuminating the darkness.

The remains were sitting right at the statue's base.

-Do you know how bullshit that quest is? Searching for that thing in the dark, crawling on the floor checking every bone one by one to see if it's the right one.

-Fucking hell. Three days straight, day and night. Compared to that, these Trials are nothing. You're all insanely lucky.

'...Tch, shoulda taken that drunk's word with a grain of salt.'

Forgot he was exaggerating.

If I'd known it'd be sitting out in the open like this, I wouldn't have bothered with the mob pull.

"But it's seriously vicious."

"What's that, sis?"

"I saw earlier—if you're exposed to the light, wraiths swarm from everywhere... Putting it right in the middle of the light is basically telling you to die."

"Ha, now that you mention it."

...Yeah, unless you had nerves of steel, you wouldn't even try picking it up.

The survivors probably grabbed it and burned it right away to move to the next Rest Area.

I handed the rib-like remains to Kim Yu-rim.

"Congrats. Now we got it, so we can head straight to the Rest Area."

"Thank you. But what about the others? I'll help until we get theirs too."

"No need. Burning one lets multiple people escape."

"Oh."

Word was the number you could take out depended on the bone's size. A rib like this should be enough for all of us.

"Th-thank you, Min-jun."

"Sniff. Thanks, bro."

With escape from this place finally right in front of them, the two girls finally started sniffling happily.

"Honestly, we were pretty much resigned to our fate. But you went this far for us... How can we ever repay this favor..."

"Yu-rim, we're not the type to keep score like that."

"Still..."

Connections were a kind of investment. It only made sense they'd look like a loss at first.

But the seeds you planted would bear good fruit later.

'...Of course, coming down to the depths wasn't just for that.'

At the center of the three branching paths, I turned my gaze to one side.

A door studded with skull heads stood there imposingly.

It was at every intersection no matter where you went. I knew about this door.

-It's ridiculously huge. The depths are like an endless maze. But weirdly, you can get to the central room super quick. No idea what's inside. Looked like a boss room though.

-Maybe that Corrupted High Priest Bardo or whatever is in there.

I wanted to check out the boss room.

That's why I'd wanted to come down to the depths.

But the [Lair of Evil Spirits] was a Trial even I hadn't experienced. And it was notoriously the hardest of the first Trials.

'Too risky to solo.'

And it felt wrong dragging the Saintess into unknown dangers.

'That's why I brought them.'

Sorry to the ones who'd come with me, but they were insurance. A safety net for me to survive unexpected situations.

Some might curse me for it. How could I use people around me just for myself?

But after ten years rolling in this world, what I'd seen wasn't romance.

Just endless human depravity and corruption, ugly selfish survival instincts.

'If I'd been a decent human, I wouldn't have Regressed in the first place.'

-Selfishly selfish you! To fulfill that ugly desire, we will proceed with Regression. We hope the Trials you face anew bring you joy.

The Wish System had analyzed me perfectly.

I'd become someone who only cared about himself over those ten years, and I'd live that way from now on.

...But if I were granted even greater power someday.

I shook my head, brushing off useless thoughts and returning to reality.

"Thank you. Sniff. I'll definitely repay you for today. Really."

"Me too! Just say the word, bro!"

Not knowing my dirty ulterior motives, the two girls mistook it for me risking my life to come down here for them, sending eyes full of trust.

Not a fan of melodrama, I cut straight to the point.

"Gonna light the fire now?"

"Yes!"

"Then I'll start the fire—you girls grab your clothes. You don't wanna arrive at the Rest Area naked."

"Oh."

The two hurriedly dressed. Meanwhile, I pulled priest robes from my inventory, lit them with my lighter, and tossed the remains on top.

Whoosh!

The same alerts appeared in front of the three girls, lighting up their faces.

They all turned to me with grateful expressions, so in the spirit of helping them survive, I pulled five short spears each from my inventory and handed them over.

"Huh? What's this?"

The three girls squatted down from the weight of the spears, looking up at me.

"Take 'em. Sell them at the Rest Area shop—good starter cash."

"M-Min-jun...!"

"B-bro!"

"..."

Even more gratitude filled their eyes.

"Alright, off you go. Before the fire dies."

"Yes! Oh, but before that...!"

Joo Ah-hyun vanished first, and as Kim Yu-rim was disappearing, she made an "oh crap" face like she wanted to say something.

"Can we maybe stick together from now on...?"

She didn't finish, and they were gone.

Whether we traveled together or not, sending them ahead was the right call for now.

The Saintess's mental and physical well-being came first, above all else.

The alert blinked again, and I hit no without hesitation.

'Good, all set. Time to go.'

I turned to leave the depths, but one person who hadn't gone yet grabbed my ankle.

"Hm? Han So-hee? Why aren't you going? Hurry up."

"..."

"Han So-hee, you listening?"

The chaebol heiress just stared at me silently even when I called. Wondering what was up, I met her eyes and blinked, and finally she opened her tightly shut mouth.

"...Why aren't you going?"

"I told you before. My party's upstairs."

"You stayed for your comrades? Don't lie."

"?"

It was true. Not a lie.

"You might fool the others, but not me."

What the hell? I scratched my head, and Han So-hee narrowed her eyes darkly.

"You're probably planning to stay and farm like in the Tutorial, right? Am I wrong?"

"..."

...Damn, looks like I'd picked up another sharp one besides Shin Seo-yeon.

That was part of it, yeah. Another reason I'd sent Kim Yu-rim and Joo Ah-hyun ahead without bringing them to the Saintess.

"I'll stay too."

I didn't answer, and Han So-hee stepped closer, declaring it firmly.

"Part of me belongs to you anyway. Take me along as the owner of this body."

"..."

I silently stared at the chaebol heiress standing tall in front of me, demanding boldly.

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