I would definitely regret it.
Whether I returned to find a world completely changed, just as the King said, or found the world exactly as it remained in my memories.
“I would regret it.”
If I went back, I would regret what I found there.
If I stayed, I would regret not returning when I had the chance.
In the end, every choice would leave me with regret.
So.
“I am still going back.”
Otherwise, all the shit I had gone through until now would have been meaningless.
Using the sword embedded in the floor from my fall as support, I pulled myself upright.
[You would have to adapt to a changed world all over again.]
“It is all hypothetical anyway.”
If.
Perhaps.
None of it had happened yet.
But that was precisely why it shook me.
Because I could not be certain.
“There is no guarantee that staying here would make me happy either.”
I could not know which choice would leave me with fewer regrets.
I would only learn whether my decision was right or wrong after facing the consequences.
And I could not choose both.
So all I could do was keep thinking, worrying, and agonizing over it.
[Considering the suffering you endured to survive here, surely you would wish to avoid struggling yet again merely to adapt.]
“No matter how hard it is, I will not actually die.”
It might become difficult enough to make me wish I were dead, but I would not truly die.
If as much time had passed as the number of times I had died here suggested, then my parents might already be dead.
My friends might be dead too.
Perhaps not a single famous person I knew would still be alive.
Maybe the world would look like something I had only ever seen in science-fiction movies, making it feel as though I had gone from a game world straight into a movie.
[And you would be satisfied with merely that? When, if you so desire, you could possess anything here entirely for yourself?]
The King stared at me as though he could not understand me at all.
For someone who claimed to understand me, he understood nothing.
[Even the hardships that may or may not await you could disappear, leaving only peace. Yet you would abandon that for something uncertain?]
The New Year had only just made me a legal adult, and I had never even entered society properly.
But the world I came from was not so heartless that it would simply throw someone like me aside and say, "Survive on your own," the way this place had.
Even if my world had become some distant future, that probably would not change.
“At least it does not begin by trying to kill me.”
No matter how long I had spent here, I would never forget the shock of that first experience.
[If you choose this place, you will never have to die again.]
“Then what about all the bosses I killed on the way down here?”
What, had they not really died?
Had they merely stopped breathing?
Considering that the ones I killed had appeared again later, perhaps he would claim that their ‘real bodies were somewhere else all along.’
[If you desire it, I can grant you everything I mentioned before. Wealth, honor, relationships, authority……. Whatever it may be, you would stand second only to me.]
Really?
[If you are simply weary of battle, you could live comfortably without ever having to struggle again. Unlike those who barred your path, there are those who live without fighting at all.]
A dry laugh escaped me as he continued trying everything he could to persuade me to choose this place.
[Those who stood before you swore to protect this tomb. By necessity, battle is their vocation. But not all who serve me excel only in force. Many make the use of their minds their profession.]
As he spoke, the King tapped his temple.
[Such individuals reside elsewhere, which is why you have yet to meet them.]
“There is only one door here. If that door cannot be used, how am I supposed to reach this other place you are talking about?”
I did not even know whether this ‘other place’ actually existed.
[What you are capable of seeing is not all that exists. There is certainly a place occupied only by those unconnected to battle. And I alone can grant passage there.]
“Ha. Fine.”
In other words, he simply did not want me going anywhere through that door.
“Let us say that is true. Even so, all you have ever seen me do is fight. And you want to put me among people whose entire job is thinking?”
[I am the ruler here. Do you think I cannot accomplish something so simple?]
“Why are you going this far?”
Why?
Would it not be easier just to kill me?
Just like the bosses before him, who had ignored everything I said and tried to kill me, he could simply erase my existence and be done with it.
[Because I favor those who strive, and those who possess ability. And you are both capable and diligent.]
“Ugh.”
He was talking as though he were some benevolent monarch.
I did not know about being diligent, but claiming that I was capable was definitely nonsense.
If I had actually been capable, I would never have suffered that much or taken this long to reach him.
“You said you watched me die. Do not talk nonsense.”
[You descended this far with nothing but a human body and without the power of the ‘Will.’ That alone is sufficient proof of your ability.]
There it was again.
The ‘Will.’
“Whew…….”
What the hell was this ‘Will’?
Something that granted wishes?
Was it some dungeon version of a magic lamp?
[I should have noticed sooner that you possessed the ability to reach this place. My poor judgment caused you to endure hardship for far too long.]
“…….”
[That is my sole mistake.]
I pulled my sword free and assumed a stance.
Perhaps because I had fallen from so high up, my body was still throbbing, but the pain was bearable.
[I apologize for the suffering you endured in the name of verification.]
“Negotiations already broke down.”
He smiled.
It was the expression of an adult watching a child throw a tantrum.
[If only you would abandon your insistence on returning to your original place, countless things that others could only envy would become available to you.]
“That is the only thing I want.”
Even if he offered me an entire continent, I had no intention of staying.
Even if he truly created a utopia exclusively for me.
[It is nothing more than an obsession that offers you no benefit.]
He had certainly found the things I feared and used them skillfully to shake me.
But my goal had not changed.
Unless he could tell me that nothing but ruins remained if I returned home, it would not change.
“I would rather you call it a goal.”
Whatever he called it made no actual difference.
It was merely a matter of how it felt.
THUMP.
I kicked off the ground again.
[You have already experienced that this is useless, yet you intend to repeat the same method?]
Once again, he blocked me with the same hand.
But this time, I was not aiming for his head.
“It is a feint, asshole.”
If he looked human, then his vital points should be the same as a human's.
Using his palm as a foothold, I kicked off again.
As though reminding me that he had two hands, he tried to block me with the other one.
But I narrowly slipped past it as well and closed the distance.
[Do you intend to stab my eyes?]
“No.”
Stabbing an eye could be devastating, but it was not necessarily life-threatening.
I was aiming for somewhere far more lethal.
“Inventory.”
I released one hand for the briefest moment and threw a [Flame Potion], [Frost Potion], [Poison Mist Potion], and [Paralysis Potion] toward his mouth in succession.
[Ha ha. Was that what you were relying on?]
His mouth, which had been open while he spoke, closed before any of the potions could enter.
SHATTER, SHATTER, SHATTER, SHATTER.
The potion bottles burst one after another.
Their effects appeared for only an instant before vanishing.
Was this bastard also immune to Magic?
At the very least, he must have possessed extremely high Magic Resistance.
I had expected that much, so I was not particularly surprised.
My real target was—
“I was aiming for your neck, asshole.”
I did not know exactly where the artery in the neck was located, but if I kept cutting at the side of his neck, I would eventually find it.
It had to be there somewhere.
I raised the blade like an axe and swung with all my strength.
THUNK!
Driving the sword through his heart would have been ideal.
But judging from his sheer size, even the sword I was holding would never reach his heart.
So I aimed for somewhere clearly exposed instead.
[Ha.]
His palm came toward me as though he were swatting a mosquito.
I hurriedly yanked the sword free from his neck, and bright red blood immediately gushed out.
“Kh!”
Thanks to that, I escaped a fraction of a second before his palm could crush me.
I nearly fell all the way back to the floor, but the countless ornaments hanging from his clothing spared my wrist from being shattered.
[That much will accomplish nothing.]
Just as he said, his voice remained perfectly steady, as though my attack had dealt no meaningful Damage.
But judging from the awkward way he remained still with a hand pressed against the back of his neck, it was not as though he had stopped bleeding.
“You never know until you try.”
It would be difficult to target his neck again immediately, but that did not mean there was nowhere else I could attack.
For example, the wrist he had left completely exposed while clutching his neck.
TAP.
Using the ornaments dangling from his clothes as footholds, I leaped toward his neck.
Then I swung my sword hard at the blue vein protruding from his wrist.
“Hah!”
THUNK!
Unlike his neck, the blood vessel was clearly visible, making it much easier to aim.
The only problem was that the moment I struck it, blood poured out so violently that following up with another attack became difficult.
“Kh.”
SPLASH.
Even as I slipped on the blood, I continued swinging my sword toward the same wound.
There was so much blood that it felt less like I was cutting him and more like I was cutting through the torrent itself.
I could not even tell whether my attacks were landing properly.
“Kh…….”
The metallic smell assaulted my nose and brushed across my tongue.
I accidentally swallowed some of the blood for an instant.
It tasted so revolting that it seemed to prove the thing before me was not human.
“Cough, cough…….”
The waterfall of blood had already made it difficult to think clearly.
Once nausea joined it, I could barely remain upright.
“Ugh…….”
Eventually, I lost my balance and fell again.
There were plenty of things to grab onto around me, so I did not fall far.
GRAB.
I caught the hem of his clothes and hung from it.
[You would be wise not to exhaust yourself with pointless efforts…….]
“Pointless? You could not even avoid them.”
He acted as though he knew everything, but if he truly knew everything, there would be no reason for him not to dodge.
Especially when every place I had attacked was somewhere that bled heavily and should have been protected if he lacked the ability to heal himself.
[I understand why you find my words difficult to believe after spending so long without anything going your way.]
“I know better than anyone that I am incompetent. Why would I believe you?”
I could not continue hanging from the hem of his clothes forever, so I threw myself toward a nearby ornament.
[And the one who remained by your side was also someone you could not trust, which must have made trusting anyone even more difficult.]
Whether I truly had talent or not.
There was no reason for him to risk his life trying to recruit someone who had needed thousands of deaths merely to reach him.
TAP.
The ornament was rounded, but it was so enormous, like everything else about him, that I was not in danger of slipping off.
Had the others who joined him been persuaded by offers like these because they had not arrived after dying and reviving countless times like I had?
Perhaps they had never known there was even a possibility of escaping this place.
Even aside from that, most of the things he offered might have appealed to people born in this world.
They simply were not things I needed.
[But I never speak of things that do not exist. I occupy a position where even a jest may become truth.]
“Ha…….”
I raised my head and checked my position.
I had not fallen as far as I thought, but I was closer to his solar plexus than his neck.
“So you really think I have talent?”
Both his hands were occupied staunching his wounds.
Should I simply drive the sword into his solar plexus?
[I said that you possess ability.]
“Is that not the same thing?”
Even when I slashed him with a Greatsword, the wounds barely showed, as though I had pricked him with a needle.
There was no chance the blade would reach his heart from here.
It would probably be better to climb back up and stab his neck again, or cut through one of his wrists.
Or perhaps I should drop all the way to the floor and attack the backs of his ankles.
[Ha ha. You believe them to be the same?]
Going down would be as simple as jumping.
Going up, however, might be obstructed.
I should inflict as much Damage as possible while I was still above him before descending.
[I need your ability.]
“Why?”
I did not even know whether I possessed talent or ability in the first place.
And even if I did, all he had ever seen was my ability in combat.
What kind of ability could he possibly have seen in someone who died over and over again, even after learning the proper strategies?
TAP. THUMP.
Trying not to reveal my location to him, I climbed upward using only the ornaments on his clothes as footholds.
[Those who follow me have witnessed my many abilities and call me something akin to a ‘God.’ Yet I myself do not possess the power of a God.]
A God?
The instant I stepped on the highest ornament on his clothes, I brought my sword down toward the wrist of the hand he was using to staunch his wound.
SLASH.
[But if you were to become my strength…….]
My attack made him pause before he continued speaking.
His gaze shifted toward me.
So it did hurt.
[……if you were to grant me your power, perhaps I truly could become a ‘God.’]
Did he want to become a God?
“So even the power of that ‘Will’ was not enough to make you a ‘God’?”
[Correct. In the end, even the ‘Will’ could not grant power sufficient to become a ‘God.’ That is why the humans outside coveted my power and the ability of the door, and entered my tomb.]
So it was not the power of a ‘God,’ but something close to it?
“Are you boasting that you are almost a God?”
[That was not what I intended to say……. Though I suppose it sounds little different when phrased that way.]
“Ha…….”
He was really close to being a ‘God’?
Then why was he standing there so helplessly and letting me attack him?