Chapter 458: Chapter 458 - Starting Over
"Huh, so that’s how it ends," I muttered as I finished watching a show from my first world through my System, one that was still ongoing when I died.
I then slumped in my seat and stared up at the ceiling listlessly, feeling no motivation to do anything.
It’s been...a certain number of days since I was sent to this new world, I haven’t exactly been keeping count.
It’s probably been a few weeks, if I had to guess. Not that I really care either way. Besides mindlessly scrolling through the various options in my System, I haven’t done much of anything.
I did try reading about this world in the Info Bank tab of the System, but I quickly realized that I had absolutely no interest in any of the information, so I just switched to watching some random videos in the Entertainment tab.
I wonder how the others are doing? I hope things are going well for them...they may not remember me anymore, but I do genuinely hope that they’re living happy, peaceful lives.
As for me, well...I don’t know. What should I do? What am I supposed to do now that I’m starting over from scratch?
On paper, the logical course of action would be to move on and form new bonds with people in this world. But I...I just can’t be bothered to do that.
I really lucked out in my last life, I met so many people I ended up cherishing, can I really expect to have such luck in this world? Maybe I-...hm?
What’s that? I hear a commotion below. I’m on the uppermost floor of this Dungeon, a few Monsters did wander up here, but they left without a fight when I told them to get lost.
This place has been pretty quiet besides that, so what’s going on down there? It’s annoying, is a little peace and quiet too much to ask for?
Hm...sounds like a battle. Oh, right, it must be Adventurers. I wasn’t really paying attention when the Goddess was telling me about this world, but I vaguely remember her mentioning something about how Monsters leave the Dungeons after a few weeks.
Adventurers must have been sent to kill the Monsters in this Dungeon, before they can escape. I guess that means they’ll be coming up here too...what a pain, I really don’t feel like fighting right now.
I sat up with a weary sigh, preparing myself...as shitty as I feel right now, I don’t want to die either.
A few minutes later, the commotion echoing out from below ceased, and it wasn’t long after that before the Adventurers showed up on my floor.
There were seven of them, and while their gear had sustained a fair bit of damage, they had no visible injuries. One or more of them must be capable of healing...and the fact that they’ve made it up this far means they must be strong.
This could be a good chance to test out how strong my new body is...but I have no real motivation to do so. Plus, I should probably avoid killing people unnecessarily.
"What the...?"
"Is that a person?"
"Of course not...why would a person be at the top floor of a Dungeon? That’s a Monster, but far from an ordinary one. There’s only one explanation."
"N-No, it’s can’t be...is that a Unique Monster?!"
Let’s try one of my new Skills...Appraisal. Hm? I’m seeing their names, ages, gender and other personal information...I don’t care about any of that.
Ah, here we go, these two sections, Rank and Magic Class. They’re all S-Ranked. As for Magic Class...there’s one with Lightning Magic, one with Fire Magic, one with Ice Magic, two with Physical Magic, one with Healing Magic and one with Enchantment Magic.
I see, so each person can only use one type of Magic in this world. What’s Physical Magic though? Guess I’ll look it up later in my System’s Info Bank.
"Just our luck, damn it, we’ve gotta fight an X-Ranked Monster."
"Stay calm! Spread out and keep your guards up, let’s gauge how powerful it is with ranged attacks and-...!"
"There’s no need to fight me. Leave now and I’ll spare you," I spoke up.
"I-It can talk?"
"Yeah, a lot of Unique Monsters are able to speak. They’re still Monsters though, I bet this one’s trying to trick us somehow."
"I bet it’ll attack the moment we turn our backs!"
"No, really, I have no interest in fighting any of you. Walk backwards if that’s what you’re worried about," I sighed in exasperation.
Logically speaking, I suppose I can’t blame them for being wary and suspicious of me. Still, just hurry up and leave already.
"Oh, I get it now...we’re all S-Ranked Adventurers, this thing must have realized that it’s not strong enough to take all of us!"
"Hm, maybe. But even if that wasn’t the case, our job is to clear this Dungeon. So, no matter which way you look at it, we have to eliminate this Monster."
Doesn’t seem like I’m going to be able to convince them to leave. Fine, maybe I can scare them away instead.
As the Adventurers began to charge up Spells, I extended out Magic Eater as they fired, their eyes widening in alarm as I swallowed up their attacks. Hm, it feels a bit different to the Magic Eater Skill I had in my previous life, but close enough, I guess.
I then turned my gaze towards one of them, who was holding an axe and a shield, raising my right hand towards him and forming a swirling sphere of blue flames, locking on before firing at him.
He swiftly raised his shield up in front of himself, the pale blue fireball roaring through the air before slamming against his shield and erupting in a fierce, fiery explosion, a sharp yelp ringing out as the temperature in the area spiked sharply.
That was stronger than I thought it’d be, the Goddess said the blue flames I can cast in this body is weaker than the Dragon Fire of my previous world.
I stared in bemusement as the flames dissipated, the top of the Adventurer’s shield melted, with several burns across his chest and shoulders, his body trembling in pain.
"I’ve got you!" Called out the Healer, the burns disappearing as she cast a Healing Spell.
Looks like they don’t need to chant in this world, or is that a skill that needs to be mastered?
"Careful, this Monster’s a powerful one!"
"Like I said, I don’t want to fight. But keep attacking and you’ll leave me with no choice but to kill you," I warned them.
"Don’t tell us what to do!" Exclaimed one of them, before she unleashed a fierce barrage of ice arrows towards me.
I sighed before swallowing up the arrows with Magic Eater, the Adventurer with Enchantment Magic stepping forward and raising his hand towards me.
"Let’s see how well you fight when you’re paralyzed!" He snapped, casting a Spell on me.
His eyes widened in disbelief as nothing happened, thanks to my Total Immunity Passive Skill, which worked pretty much the same way as the Universal Resistance Skill I had in my previous world.
"I’ve been fending off all your attacks and I’ve done it while sitting down. I’ll warn you again. Leave or die," I uttered impatiently.
I’m definitely weaker than I was in my previous life, but I’m also a lot stronger than these Adventurers are. This world clearly scales lower than my previous world in terms of power.
"If Magic doesn’t work, let’s try a direct assault!" Declared one of the Adventurers, one of the two with Physical Magic, a swordsman.
"No, wait!" Exclaimed one of the others as the swordsman shot towards me.
But he didn’t listen, continuing to charge forward. His body began glowing as the Enchantment Magic user raised his hand in the swordsman’s direction, his speed increasing as a result...he must have cast some sort of buff, it won’t make much of a difference though.
As the Adventurer closed in on me, he raised his sword and leapt towards me with a yell of exertion, swinging his blade down with all his strength.
I tranformed my right hand into a dagger, which closely resembled the blades of my Soul Weapon in my previous life, before raising it up defensively, a sharp clang ringing out as I blocked the swing of his sword.
A sharp wheeze rang out as I slammed my foot onto his stomach, denting his armor and sending him flying back, before he gritted his teeth and jammed his blade into the ground, bringing himself to a halt before stumbling slightly, coughing out blood with a pained gasp.
"Final warning. Leave or die," I remarked, as I lowered my foot.
"Go to hell, you damned Monster! We will not-...!" Began the swordsman, before he was abruptly cut off as I extended my tail along the shadows and whipped it across, slicing through his neck and decapitating him in the blink of an eye...
