Chapter 66
[■■■.■■■ has detected your death.]
[■■■.■■■ is approaching you.]
I can feel a message window.
Something is wrong.
There's no way I, dead as I am, could perceive this.
...
I wasn't dead.
In the past, something like this had happened before. At Cheonak Mary Hospital, when I broke the rules and ran outside. In that bizarrely changed world, I went insane and killed myself. But I couldn't die, and I had to keep offering up my skin forever.
An undying state.
An overwhelming fear surged up.
Right now, ■■■.■■■ is coming for me... Ghahanak, the vampire angel, my first-run self turned into a transcendent monster, is coming!
I wanted to scream, but I couldn't even tell what state I was in.
—Fwoosh.
And there was red light.
Only then did I realize it. Me, existing in a scarlet space. Was I floating in the sky? Instinctively, I looked down and saw a vast number of vampires writhing frantically below.
What were they doing? It even felt like they were dancing. And every one of them had grotesque forms... What on earth were they wearing? Prison uniforms? And it looked like each of them had something cone-shaped embedded in their head...
I realized this was the vampires' hell.
And perhaps this would be my fate. I was consumed by fear, and I couldn't bear to look down anymore.
When I lifted my head, Ghahanak was there.
That.
Was that really me?
Was that really me, the one who reached a nonhuman ending in my first run...!
It was a thoroughly inhuman body. Not to mention the horrific blood-membrane wings. The body itself looked human, but it was several times larger than mine. Its developed muscles too went beyond the structure of human musculature.
The face.
More than anything, the face.
From the neck up, there was only a blazing red color. There were no discernible features, only flowing blood.
The grotesque vampire angel is approaching me.
I feel extreme terror and danger. I don't know what will happen if that thing gets any closer. Overcome by maddening fear, I screamed.
"U, uaaagh! Aaaaaaagh!"
Did it react to my scream?
—Riiip!
The vampire angel's maw opens impossibly wide. Its mouth, ripped and split open, stretched like a deep-sea balloon eel, and blood-red teeth sprouted. Inside that enormous throat, there was only endless darkness and surging blood.
That bastard.
It's trying to eat me.
No.
It's trying to take my existence along with my body!
If I'm swallowed like this, 1st-run Ghahanak will take everything from me!
—Goooo.
That abyss-like maw is closing in to devour me. My body won't move properly. My mind, frozen by fear, is trying to stop itself, as if refusing to think.
But I can't!
I can't stop here!
I have to struggle with everything I've got and regress!
Because if I regress in the end, I'll have a chance too!
Above all, if I'm replaced by that thing here, I won't be able to face Senior Spangdal!
"Kraap...?"
I opened my eyes wide, squeezed every last bit of strength out of my body, and shouted with all I had.
"Ghahanak!!!!"
The vampire angel's true name.
Ghahanak.
—RUMBLE!
At the same time, the vampire angel's movements seemed to freeze. Then the whole world shook. Next, cracks appeared across the vampire angel's body, and fragments began to fall away little by little.
I can feel the vampires below letting out horrific screams as they get hit by the falling fragments.
...It worked.
For an aberrant being, nothing is more important than its true name. The process of finding that thing's true name was the very point of this regression.
But what now?
Shouting its true name to stop and weaken it was great. You could say I landed a blow. But what am I supposed to do next!
—Fwoosh!
Just then, something hanging around my neck floated up.
It was the fragment of black stone I received from Teacher Kim Seong-han's wife!
"Black stone?!"
Sal-hyeong recognized me as an absolute ally simply because this thing existed. This black stone is such an absolute sacred relic of Islam that it carries that much authority.
Could this possibly...!
—Chwaaaash!
A brilliant light burst forth from the black stone.
The sacred light born from it was projected outward, wrapping around the vampire angel. As if holy light were driving away something foul, Ghahanak's body began to collapse even faster.
"■■■■■■■■■■■■"
An incomprehensible, horrific roar.
The black stone, a holy relic of Islam, was dealing massive damage to Ghahanak.
I can feel its cries of agony.
Even so, it forces itself to move and tries to come toward me. Its grotesquely gaping mouth opens even wider, and it spews red energy violently from its whole body to harm me and drive away the light. As if it thinks it can just eat me in the end.
But at this moment.
I realized that this vampire angel was not an absolute terror. It had weakened after its true name was exposed, and it was collapsing under the black stone, the crystallization of the bonds I'd built. It wasn't an invincible immortal vampire. It was something that could die, something I could drive away.
It is the existence of my failed past self!
And a pitiful being that had fallen into vampirism at that!
"Ghahanak!!!"
I pointed at it and scolded it sharply.
"A vampire like you can never hurt me! If you're the vampire angel, then I'm the vampire hunter who hunts you!"
This isn't a real space. Is that why? Before I knew it, my appearance had changed to that of a vampire hunter. Was it because of the black stone's power? I can feel Teacher Kim Seong-han and Sal-hyeong pushing my shoulders from behind.
Ah, yes.
Then and now alike.
The most powerful way to deal with a vampire is.
Garlic, after all.
"To!"
With a forceful cry, I drew forth the source of garlic slumbering within me and unleashed it.
—Chwaaaash!
The power of garlic, bolstered by the black stone's strength, struck Ghahanak.
Like a demon hit by holy water, Ghahanak's body melted away.
"■■■■■■■■■■■■"
Another horrific roar rang out.
I realized that I had won in this space.
And I knew I could regress now.
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[You committed suicide by pistol.]
[Death count: 15 -> 16]
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[Restarting.]
* * *
What I saw when I opened my eyes was.
A city with a gloomy backdrop.
And the sound of gunfire.
—Ratatatat!
I had regressed to that place, where the heat of battle mixed with the ominous atmosphere.
I was back in the very city where the vampire incident had taken place!
"Hey, rookie! What's wrong? Snap out of it!"
And right beside Mr. Kuras!
My unlucky senior, whose head had been blown apart by Ghahanak...! I really missed that weird green bowl cut!
"Senior Kuras!"
I wasn't thinking about anything else.
My target is the vampire angel Ghahanak, that monster born from my first run. I have to get rid of him and prevent every tragedy.
"Huh? Why?"
"This way! I can feel something!"
"Got it!"
I immediately pulled Mr. Kuras along and ran.
The regression point.
It was the very moment Ghahanak's descent drew near. The moment he appeared, he stomped Jinseop, who was retreating, flat and burst him apart, and right after that, he burst Mr. Kuras's head too.
As I ran, I checked my chest.
The black-stone necklace...!
It's broken!
That means what happened back then carried through!
Naturally, Ghahanak must have weakened too!
Rummaging through my memories, I identified the location of his descent. I ran there, and when it felt like I'd arrived, I shouted to Mr. Kuras.
"Something's coming! I can feel something powerful!"
"Where!"
"For now, that sky...! Please just blast it with flames!"
"Alright, that's my specialty! Watch my blazing flame arts!"
—Fwoosh!
If I put it nicely, it was like conducting music; if I put it bluntly, it was just being ridiculously over-the-top as he waved his arms and head around and unleashed a huge blaze.
As the sky was engulfed in flames, I heard the screams of the fake Bureau agents from the other side. Jinseop must be somewhere over there.
"Mr. Kuras! Run hard to the left! Sweep the left side with flames!"
"Yeah!"
"Run all the way through, all the way!"
As Mr. Kuras charged left, he shifted the flames with him. That cleared the fire from above the fake Bureau agents who were taking cover up ahead.
—Fwoosh!
At the same time, the fake Bureau agents began retreating while running at full speed. They must be trying to avoid the flames somehow.
I immediately looked for Jinseop.
Where is he?
Not that guy, ah!
There!
That bastard Jinseop is bolting over there!
Keep running just like that!
If I'm right, Ghahanak should appear now.
—Thump!
I can feel a powerful wave.
Ghahanak is descending!
"Aaaaaaaah!"
I charged while shouting with all my might, firing silver bullets into the sky and drowning out my own voice.
"Ghahanaaaak!!!"
I shouted his true name.
At the same time.
—Splat!
The figure blazing with crimson bloodflame exploded in mid-descent at high speed. Because of that, all the bloodflame enveloping it scattered away.
—Boom!
It slammed into the ground as if it had fallen.
Unlike when it trampled Jinseop last time, it looked utterly pathetic!
"You!"
Its bare body was visible.
As expected, it was in a very weakened state.
It was exactly the same state it had been in right before I regressed, with its body collapsing!
—Ratatatat!
I advance while spraying it with silver bullets. The moment my rounds were all spent and I watched the bullets lodge into its body,
—Swoosh!
I throw away my gun and take off the garlic combat vest, spreading it open. The garlic and crosses I'd packed inside spill out. I kicked them skillfully toward Ghahanak. Ah, God.
"I've still got one shot left, you bastard!"
I still have one shot left!
I close to point-blank range.
—Whoosh!
Looking at Ghahanak's face as it lifted its head toward me,
I let out a cry drawn from the depths of my soul.
The last shot remaining.
"To!"
I poured out garlic, my true faith made manifest.
—Chwaaaash!
Garlic bursts forth.
Ghahanak was drenched in it.
Terrible smoke pours out as its body rapidly melts away.
And just like that, Ghahanak collapsed in an instant.
"■■■■■■■"
Leaving behind only an incomprehensible final utterance.
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—Ding.
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[You defeated ■■■.■■■.]
[You earned 10,000 points as a reward.]
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[You have unlocked a new achievement.]
[Achievement: Won by Fighting Yourself]
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[New mail has arrived.]