“NOOOO......!”
The moment the dagger stuck in his chest was snatched away,
the old man collapsed, losing consciousness from the shock.
And.......
The same was true for me.
“KUH-HUK......!”
I barely managed to get my hand onto Gangsan’s chest,
and I succeeded in pulling out the dagger that had been inside.
But in the process, I pushed myself too far.
‘I’m going to die.......’
According to Yunseong,
Gangsan had been defending his chest area no matter what.
To break through that defense,
I judged I’d have to force myself to a degree he couldn’t even imagine.
That was my conclusion, but.......
“Krrh-heh...... th-that...... got cut off real nice.”
He muttered while looking at my waist.
More than 80% of my waist had been severed.
It was so grotesquely torn apart that if someone grabbed either my lower body or upper body and shook it roughly, it felt like I might split in two.
No matter how tough an Awakener’s vitality was,
in this state, I couldn’t live.
SHHHK.......
‘Even the recovery’s slow.’
The vampires’ blood was forcibly trying to stitch together even the severed waistline,
but even so, I wasn’t a complete vampire—only a half.
Before that recovery finished, I’d lose my life.
‘So this is...... my end.’
And so,
right as my eyes were about to close in pain.
At that exact moment.
[The effect of a skill activates!]
“Huh......?”
At the instant my eyes were about to close,
there was an alien force that forcibly grabbed hold of my mind.
[Applied Skill - Eternal Pain]
[You resist death with the effect of ‘Death Resistance’!]
The ominous-looking red blade I’d torn out of Gangsan’s chest by force,
the one I was gripping in my hand.
[Blade of Sacrifice, Victimia]
“This is......?”
The magic power flowing out from it
was suppressing my death.
*****
[1. The Blade of Sacrifice is a weapon judged as a living creature, and can become the target of all kinds of abilities such as buffs or debuffs. However, the ability that can be applied is limited to one.]
[2. The wearer may choose to share only the desired parts among the multiple effects applied to the blade.]
Only then
was I able to properly read what was written on that blade.
‘You can apply a single skill, and you can strip out the bad effects from that applied skill and take only the parts you want.’
In other words.
‘Insane scam.’
It was a ridiculous ability.
I wondered if an absurd item like this was even allowed to exist, but.
‘Am I really one to talk?’
When I thought about the perks I’d received as achievement rewards,
it also felt plausible.
“......Come to think of it, it’s an item that’s hard to use properly in the first place.”
It sounded great if you could take only the good parts of an applied skill.
But in the end, the ability you could apply to this knife was only one.
And most skills were the same.
‘If it’s a buff, it’s a buff, and if it’s a debuff, it’s a debuff.’
Cases where a buff also had a bad part,
or a debuff also had a good part,
were rarer than you’d think.
However.......
‘Those curses are different.’
Curse-type skills had advantages and disadvantages coexisting.
The curse Han Iseo used on me was the same.
The moment that curse was blocked, Han Iseo herself became the target as a penalty.
‘It’s an item specialized for a curse-caster.’
Using this item’s effect,
the Chair took only the strengths of the curses he had and discarded the weaknesses,
building up that power.
And the representative example among them was this.
[Curse - Eternal Pain]
This.
“......I see.”
It was the curse he’d tried to use on me, too.
A power that inflicted immense pain while also making it so you couldn’t die or pass out inside that pain.
It was a curse purely for torture.
If it had a downside, it was that because it truly kept the target from dying,
if the torture subject escaped, you’d be dealing with an enemy that wouldn’t die.
And.
Gangsan used this skill,
[Applied - Death Resistance]
[Not Applied - Pain Increase]
taking only the part that prevented death,
and using it on himself.
‘It doesn’t say anything about restoring the body.’
If this description was accurate, it only meant you wouldn’t die.
It didn’t mean you wouldn’t be destroyed.
To put it bluntly, if your head got cut off and your whole body got pulverized,
even if you “didn’t die” in that state, you’d end up in a condition no different from death.
But that Chair’s body recovered no matter how many times you cut it.
That ice-like stuff would take root and replace the missing parts......
‘Was that an ability he got from making contracts with monsters.’
Frost-like waves flickered as they connected the wounded area,
so there was a high chance it was an ability granted by the monsters inside that Gate.
......Anyway.
If the effect applied to this blade really was a power that blocked death.
“Ghk.......”
I tried to force myself upright,
but after realizing my body was still split in half and hanging in tatters.
“......Vimanar!”
“Yes!”
“Move my body.”
I called the [Legion’s Droplet] and moved myself.
“Where to.......”
“Over there.”
Where my finger pointed,
there was.
[Awakener : Ha Yunseong]
“To him.”
A man was there, his head drooping without the slightest movement,
after vomiting an enormous amount of blood.
*****
“KUH-HUK.......”
The waist sliced by Gangsan’s blade was still wobbling.
At least it was stitched together to some degree with the vampires’ blood.
“Mr. Yunseong.”
Supported by the droplets, I approached Ha Yunseong.
“.......”
Without answering my call,
Yunseong lay on the snow with his eyes open, staring blankly.
‘If I’d fought even a little longer, like that old man said, I would’ve lost.’
The only reason I could win at all
was because this man watched that old man’s fight
and figured out the weakness he’d been guarding.
‘I knew he was cursed, but.......’
Watching him unable to reveal the secret because he feared that curse,
I’d even thought he was a selfish human.
But...... no.
He hadn’t kept his mouth shut because he feared the curse.
‘He was waiting.’
After he realized he would die the moment he opened his mouth,
he waited for the single moment when opening it would be most effective.
If he told people the Chair was a traitor,
sure, that wouldn’t have been bad.
The people left behind might have learned the danger of the cold’s source and advanced.
But in the end.
‘They would’ve been annihilated by the enemies anyway.’
They didn’t even know the Chair’s immortality, much less the enemies’ true nature.
In that situation, exposing only the Chair’s betrayal
wouldn’t have meant much.
So he endured.
And when the battle began,
he went straight to find the Chair.
A mouth he could open only once.
And the most important information he could spit out with it......
—I came all the way here...... to be sure.
About that Chair’s weakness.
To be sure.
If he had simply feared his own death and kept his mouth shut there,
the moment the buffs on the clones ended,
I would’ve lost on the spot.
My first impression of Yunseong hadn’t been great,
and I couldn’t honestly say he was some exceptional talent.
But.
‘How...... could he open his mouth even knowing he’d die.’
That kind of courage—to offer up his life at the final moment......
wasn’t something I had.
In his heart, there was a cursed blade I couldn’t easily deal with myself.
Those blades must have pierced his heart,
so under normal circumstances, he couldn’t have survived.
‘Good.’
Yeah.
If it had been the Yunseong from before that,
he never could’ve survived.
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Freshness : High (Temporary)]
Those cursed blades injured his heart,
but they didn’t pierce all the way through.
The reason was simple.
[Ingredient Management (Degraded)]
[It is an ingredient under the chef’s management!]
[Damage to its condition due to external factors has been slowed.]
In the end, it was a curse that latched onto a weak point.
That absolute power could never be particularly strong,
and with an ability that prevented deterioration layered on top of it, it couldn’t have skewered the heart in one shot.
HOO...... HOO.......
He was infinitely close to death,
but he was still breathing.
“Put me...... down in front.”
“Lord.”
When I gave the order,
the [Droplet]—with my face—spoke with a grimace.
“I understand what you’re trying to do, but.......”
“That ability should be used by you, Lord.......”
“I’m fine like this.”
In reality.
It had been a wound that should’ve led to death just a moment ago, but.
SHHHK.......
The Noble of the Night’s blood that flowed out of my body
was slowly stitching my split waist back together.
“At this level...... I won’t die.”
“Even so.......”
“That’s enough, set me down.”
I was a human who couldn’t help but fear death,
but at the same time,
I also hated watching someone else die......
‘Even I think it’s ridiculous—wanting so damn much compared to what I can do.’
That’s the kind of selfish bastard I am.
“......Yes.”
After I crouched down in front of the fallen man,
SHHK.
“Hey, sir.”
[Blade of Sacrifice, Victimia]
“This is a valuable thing, you know. So.”
Into his hand,
I placed a dagger.
“You have to give it back after borrowing it for just a bit.”
Even if he wasn’t a perfect human,
he wasn’t someone who should die like this.
Originally,
the moment his heart was wounded, he should have reached death soon after.
With an Awakener’s tough vitality and the power of ingredient management,
that death was delayed by just a little.
[Applied Effect]
[Eternal Pain]
Now.
That reprieve extended a bit more.
“......Kuh.”
[Ingredient Management (Degraded)]
[Ingredients under the chef’s management are maintained in the superior state the chef believes in.]
The body of a human under my management
began to be healed slowly, toward a superior condition.
*****
If I should call it fortunate.
It didn’t take long for Yunseong’s condition to recover.
‘......If anything, I might take longer to recover.’
It was thanks to the effect of [Ingredient Management (Degraded)],
but I never expected Yunseong’s recovery to finish faster than mine.
This was probably.
‘My recovery speed slowed down.’
Rather than Yunseong’s recovery being impossibly fast,
my recovery had become slow.
And it wasn’t like I had no guesses why.
‘Aftereffects.......’
All the power beyond my limits that I’d spammed while ignoring messages about penalties.
The side effects of that power had accumulated in my body.
‘......I don’t have the breathing room to worry about that right now.’
It was definitely something to think about later,
but thinking about it right now would be meaningless.
After confirming Yunseong’s body had healed to some extent,
SHHHK.......
I retrieved the [Blade of Sacrifice, Victimia] I’d lent him,
and I put his body into [Shadow Veil].
“Ghk.......”
Then,
I sat slumped in a corner and waited for my severed waist to fully recover.
While doing so,
I stared at the ominous blade in my hand.
‘[Eternal Pain], huh.’
And.
Only after reading that ability again,
“......Ah.”
I realized one fact
that I hadn’t noticed because I was too busy saving Yunseong.
“I see.”
Since the day of ruin,
the thing I’d feared and avoided more than anything else.
Death.
If I used this blade’s power as-is,
then I would probably.
“Immortality.”
From that death,
be able to move a considerable distance away.
*****
‘......Immortality.’
Since the day of ruin,
a power like that was exactly what I’d wanted so badly.
Maybe with my regeneration I couldn’t fight in such a ridiculous way like that old man,
but I might be able to display a similar kind of power.
With that thought,
as I looked at the dagger with excited ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) eyes.
[Soul Cuisine Initiate]
‘......Huh?’
A dagger that should have had no soul,
nothing more than inorganic matter.
Yet inside it.
[Sacrifice Victim’s Soul]
[The souls of those used in the manufacturing process of Blade of Sacrifice, Victimia.]
Souls.......
No.
I could see souls.
-DING.
[You have confirmed the hidden trait of Blade of Sacrifice, Victimia!]
[Trait - Sacrificial Rite]
[A ritual blade created to fulfill a special rite through sacrificing as many souls as possible.]
[After the first sacrificed soul, Victimia passed through many users and increased its sacrifices.]
[The Sacrifice Victim’s Souls bear all burdens of the ability used by the owner on Victimia.]
[When the negative emotions of the Sacrifice Victim’s Souls—pain, grief, resentment, sorrow, and the like—reach a certain level, the negative emotions of the sacrificed souls devour the blade’s owner.]
[The devoured owner is converted into another Sacrifice Victim’s Soul.]
[Sacrificed Souls - 3071]
[Current Accumulated Negativity = 98.7/100]
[If Negativity reaches 100, it devours the owner.]
“.......”
Only then did I realize it.
The name, and
the appearance, too.
I should’ve realized long ago, but.
This dagger was probably.
-IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS
Something you shouldn’t use lightly.
A ridiculous demon sword.
