“······ Khekhekhek!!”
I sprang up from my seat, instinctively drawing my great sword.
“Huegh- Huegh- Damn, what was that last part?”
The Corrupted Knight Dnarr Panijial, reborn with black magic.
“Did I just see a crazy monster… was that its true power?”
I began to feel my neck, which had taken quite the beating at the end.
My neckbone was indented enough for two finger joints to fit into.
Even restored with magic, the recovery was slow.
‘Thanks to Areina, I thought I had completely overcome my weaknesses, but maybe that wasn’t the case…’
It was definitely the skill that had taken down Arang and Ho-yeol.
I somehow managed to dodge it, but…
‘I thought I was dead, how did I dodge that?’
The moment I saw its chilling gaze, I realized it aimed for my core and, without thinking, I activated [Weasel Step].
At the same time, I slipped through a narrow dimensional crack, avoiding its attack.
‘I didn’t know I had such instincts. Haha.’
That shock quickly faded, replaced by a sense of eerie unease.
“But why is no one here?”
This was definitely ‘Udo’.
I had clearly stepped outside the dungeon, but I found myself alone on a beach instead of a normal exit.
“It seems using Weasel Step caused some sort of variable. Wait a minute… that crazy bastard, didn’t follow me out, right?”
He was in a rough spot too, so the chance was slim, but if he followed me out, it would be a major disaster.
The rampaging Dnarr Panijial.
The hunters I had sent to escape through the exit might have been wiped out.
I quickly expanded my senses to determine my location and headed towards the exit I was supposed to emerge from.
As I flew, countless messages flooded my mind.
Most of them announced a massive increase in experience points.
– ‘You’ve encountered the last fragment of light from the continent’ and ‘Traitor of Light’.
– An unlikely bond seems to have formed during this period, and ‘Lubuya’s Corrupted Knight’ has reached a new crossroads.
‘Lubuya…? Is that the entity that Dnarr feared water?’
‘Lubuya’s Corrupted Knight’.
It felt like a more limited, constrained path compared to ‘King of the Undead’.
‘Following the path laid out by a divine being… is that the path I’m on?’
So was falling into corruption part of the divine will?
That was something I couldn’t ascertain.
Fortunately, the place I arrived at was peaceful.
I first saw hunters gathered in groups, repairing their gear or idly chatting.
But as I shifted my gaze slightly, I spotted beastmen slumped on the ground with expressions of despair.
‘Beastmen… and the surviving hunters.’
People forgetting to treat their injuries, simply staring at the entrance.
The beastmen’s expressions were particularly horrendous.
“Huh─ at least it’s good that this place is safe.”
He didn’t follow me out.
I was worried because he glared at me like he wanted to kill me, but I suppose he was severely beaten by the balance’s manager, so he couldn’t manage that, right?
Or maybe he had some more important objective.
‘Ah… he seemed to be collecting materials for Hellacne.’
He was holding Hellacne’s fangs and tongue. That crazy bastard. Instead of tossing them into the dimensional void, he was carrying them around.
‘Was he trying to make something? Whatever it is, it has to be dangerous.’
If possible, I hoped he would leave a Flame Mark behind.
But it was different from the days of Dibsoripia.
Being in a one-on-one situation was too much pressure for me.
“Ugh… how am I supposed to handle this?”
Those hunters currently crying were definitely witnesses to their comrades’ deaths.
But what if I showed up alive dramatically, like ta-da?
It would trigger a collapse of common sense and shake the worldview.
The sudden shift in perception that one could live after dying.
The moment such news spread, hunters with a purpose might start chasing those who returned from the dead.
“This is troublesome… but it’s not like I have a choice. They say rolling in dog crap is still better than the afterlife. You handle the aftermath.”
Of course, there would also be risks for me.
But since I was disguised, I hoped the anger wouldn’t reach me.
“I need to make my disguise more thorough. Hmm…”
While momentarily floating in the sky, I moved to the place where I previously rescued Teacher Cha.
* * *
When Il-wol began to move.
Thud─!
As soon as Dnarr Panijial arrived at the fourth hunting ground of ‘Nando’, he collapsed onto the ground.
It was the starting point just before an underwater battle was about to unfold, yet no one was coming through the door thanks to the major accident he had just caused.
It was a peculiar area where the starting point also served as a save point.
So it was a kind hunting ground where one could grind experience while retreating after fighting enough.
Fortunately, since this place was dry, Dnarr could take a restful break.
“Damn······.”
He wanted to scream and smash something.
He had resisted the power trying to maintain the balance of the dungeon and had ultimately been excluded from it.
But with his unique abilities, he had somehow opened a space again and managed to stumble in here.
Although he made it through, he found that he didn’t have the strength even to move a finger.
To endure the crisis, he briefly revealed his original form but was once again in a diminished state.
“It’s impossible… it’s impossible…”
Even if Dnarr was an incredible being, he couldn’t contend against the ‘manager of balance.’
Various divine beings inhabit the multiple dimensions.
Just considering the divine beings governing light, there are countless that exist under different names.
However, the ‘manager of balance’ was different.
It was said that he exists in every dimension.
Of course, Dnarr couldn’t confirm that it was the same being, but ancient texts from the beginning had stated as much.
“Hmph! Even so, you won’t overcome chaos. I’ll make you powerless soon enough.”
Dnarr was steadily preparing for the summon of the next great beast after ‘Deskrull’.
When that happened, the influence the ‘manager of balance’ had on this world’s dungeons would likely diminish as well.
Then the day would come when he wouldn’t have to endure the hardships of being diminished.
Chiiiiy─
Smoke still billowed off Dnarr’s body.
The entity responsible for this was not the manager, but a mere undead.
“What the heck was that guy’s identity?”
Lying still and pondering, he could not think of any being that came close to possessing such traits.
“Damn, and Jo Gi-man is already a headache…”
Things seemed to be progressing well for some reason.
He continued to think while recovering his strength.
“An undead that commands flames and ancient Ents, and also wields rare water magic in this world…?”
He was even involved with another divine being, the Goddess of Light, known as ‘Areina’, and was shapeshifting into a human.
It was said that he received an achievement from Areina, but perhaps because of that, his attacks didn’t seem to land effectively.
Of course, Areina was merely showing curiosity toward him, but a goddess of light showing interest in an undead? Isn’t that absurd?
In a way, he was a more alien entity than the ‘Blue-eyed’ who rose from the ground to become the Evil God.
Literal next-level crazy monster.
Moreover, even his growth hadn’t stopped. Dnarr sensed a boundless potential lurking within him.
“I’ll meet you again, won’t I? Probably… and when that happens, I must kill you for sure. I should have gone full power from the start. Damn it!! Stupid bastard!!”
Still not accustomed to his diminished state, he struggled to control his powers.
He vented his pent-up frustration while berating himself, but soon reason kicked in.
Thinking about it, the recent good decisions had all been made when he veered off course significantly.
“I need a change… I can’t just wait for him to appear. I need to strike first. Who were those hunters that survived earlier?”
Faint memories surfaced of the hunters that had managed to escape.
Despite being distant, there was a clear scent of beastmen.
“Beastmen… I need to check on those lowly ones first. I should gather intel on the hunters who approached Nando recently.”
I had to eliminate that monster somehow to feel at ease.
I sensed it would become a bigger headache than Jo Gi-man in the future.
“Just you wait…”
* * *
‘Who is talking about me?’
My nonexistent ears itched.
The shapeshifting had already worn off, and I found myself facing a small hurdle.
‘What should I do about this?’
The fragments of the hunters who had been killed by the bastard Dnarr.
It was easy to distinguish whose fragments they were based on the flow of magic that had settled on the corpses, as I had just absorbed them into the dimensional void practically at the moment of death.
So, reviving them wouldn’t be an issue.
However, returning them to their original state was another problem.
I scooped the scattered fragments into the dimensional void.
‘I have to do it in the Dark Space.’
As soon as I stepped outside, the flow of magic that had been sitting on the corpses began to evaporate.
It would be safest to piece them back together and call them forth in the Dark Space, where the value is preserved.
Still, I should be able to resurrect Arang and Ho-yeol, who had their heads severed.
First, I began working on the rabbit beastman, Arang, in the same way I had when I revived Teacher Cha.
The tall, beautiful girl had her eyes closed and her head severed.
I gently closed her eyelids and began my work.
‘Still, I’ve done this once already.’
I was able to finish the task much earlier than last time.
“Ahhh…”
Arang let out a painful moan as she gasped for breath.
– A miracle that brings the dead back to life is happening!
– Achievement [The One Who Raises] is activated. The Weight of Existence rises.
‘Oh… as expected.’
Every time I resurrect someone, my ultimate trump card, the self-destruct power, grows stronger.
That alone was reason enough to hoard the item known as the ‘Life Potion.’
Of course, it was possible because I had an immense stock, making me wonder if I could use it all in this lifetime.
As Arang began her recovery, I took out Ho-yeol’s corpse and worked on him again.
“Huhhhhh─”
Surprisingly, Ho-yeol maintained a calm, composed state, even slightly floating in mid-air.
– The stats of the resurrected being are massively boosted, and potential awakens.
One of the effects of the Life Potion.
Perhaps Ho-yeol was awakening some latent potential.
“Ah…”
Just as I finished working on Ho-yeol, Arang opened her eyes at the perfect timing.
She sprang up, feeling her body, and it took her a moment to realize my presence.
“Ah?! Alpha-nim?! What the heck happened…?”
She had suddenly been ambushed and killed while walking alongside Ho-yeol just a few meters ahead of me.
Unlike Teacher Cha, she seemed completely unaware that she had died.
[Shapeshift]
To communicate with her, I activated [Shapeshift] again, resetting it as the day changed.
“Are you back to your senses?”
“Ahh…! My head…”
Perhaps her memories were flooding back, as she clutched her head, writhing in pain.
She soon discovered Ho-yeol lying calmly next to her.
“Ho-yeol? How did you-”
A distinct line was etched across Ho-yeol’s neck.
Any hunter with even a little experience would know what that meant.
Frantically, she touched her own neck.
“…?!”
It seemed she realized what had happened to her.
Despite using the Life Potion and Irmana’s water, I couldn’t completely erase that wound. It would fade with time, but still.
“In a moment, there was a flash of light… that warm sensation around my neck… did I die?”
“… Yes.”
“It wasn’t a dream… but how am I alive… could it be! Did you bring me back to life, Alpha-nim?”
“… Sort of.”
“That’s impossible! Bringing the dead back to life is impossible—”
I merely shrugged as a gesture towards her.
Wasn’t your being alive proof enough?
“Hah…?”
She sat in a ball for a long time, clutching her head.
Perhaps trying to process the situation in her own way.
In the meantime, Ho-yeol also opened his eyes.
He kept opening and closing his palm repeatedly.
“I have no idea how I’m alive.”
Surprisingly, Ho-yeol was aware of his own death.
‘Definitely sharp. Besides physical ability, he seems to have potential that matches the bloodline of ‘Sang-gun’.’
“Ho-yeol!”
“Older sister…”
They seemed to refer to each other like that as usual.
They seemed almost like siblings.
‘It’s not like their personalities changed in any specific way.’
Their interaction was quite different from Teacher Cha’s dramatic transformation.
Well, Teacher Cha was far more extreme in nature.
“You two definitely died.”
As I called both of them over to explain the situation, I felt conflicted.
‘Should I make them subservient like Teacher Cha…’
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