Chapter 12

Jae stopped dead in his tracks.

He found himself in a strangely large area when compared to the previous tunnels he'd been progressing through. Strangely enough, the more he advanced through this goblin-infested cave—and the closer he got to the boss—the less goblins there were.

Did I already kill everything here? Maybe I can take it easy until the boss?

But then, those thoughts came to an immediate halt when what lay ahead came into full view.

What stood in front of him were two muscular goblins of an unexpectedly large size, donning what looks like almost full suits of armour, as if forged for knights, as well as wielding menacing weapons of similar calibre.

No, those aren’t mere goblins.

Jae looked at the ‘window’ in front of him.

Soul State - Hobgoblin Soul Level : (21 / 50)

Title : The King's Gatekeeper

Age : 16 Years Health : 45

Magic Energy : 155 Power : 134

Magical Ability : 31

Defence : 129

Magical Defence : 35

Resistances : 205

Speed : 180

...As I thought. It’s different when compared to the Status window, even for creatures like this.

The Soul State.

It was a familiar screen; similar in appearance to the [Status], yet at the same time, completely different. The main, fundamental difference between the two are the main attributes—both the names and contents are different, or at least, that's what Jae assumes.

In any case, the Soul States of these two Hobgoblins were practically identical. From the title of「King’s Gatekeeper」and the large, stone door, that the two Hobgoblins were standing guard in front of, Jae could easily deduce that the ‘Boss’ was behind it.

Withdrawing from it's sheath his sharpest short-sword, Jae attentively watched the two Hobgoblins.

I'm outnumbered, and their stat numbers are much higher than I've ever seen. I’ll have to play quite defensively.

He waited for the Hobgoblins to attack.

Ten seconds.

Then thirty.

Soon, a minute passed, and yet the Hobgoblins still wouldn’t budge from their spot.

They definitely saw him since the beginning, but why wouldn’t they initiate the attack? They for sure held the advantage here...

....Gatekeeper, right? I see that Title wasn’t just for show then.

Realising he would need to be the one to start attacking first, Jae thought it was a good opportunity.

He thought of what to say, and as if they were long-lost memories finally resurfacing after being forgotten...

Strange "words" entered Jae's head.

“Oi.”

—He spoke in the language of the goblins, albeit a crude and low-level version.

The guards' gazes, initally, were stuck on him like oil, their mouths salivating from the arrival of new prey; the kinds of which they hadn't seen ever since becoming guardsmen.

“Wanna talk?”

But when this ‘prey’ began talking to them, as if on the same level, and in their own tongue, no less, they were enraged beyond compare. After all, how dare a mere human imitate their language and speak to them? The two Hobgoblins looked at each other, their faces containing terribly crumpled expressions.

{...The ■■ng wouldn’t mi■d, would he? Giigi.}

{I don’t ■now. How coul■ anyone dare to imagine what the ■■ng thinks. But this h■man is really asking f■r it. Ggii.}

It appears they don't even know about the massacre of goblins that had recently occurred just above. They also didn’t even think to consider how a single human managed to end up all the way down here, in front of the very door they were supposed to be guarding.

...Not very smart, huh. Looks like they’ll attack me if I say one more thing. Seems like they have a 'king' from their words, so.... Yeah, let's go with that.

After making sure he was ready, Jae spoke out again.

He started with an emphatic sigh.

“Haaaaaah. Ma~an, that Goblin King, am I right? What a fucking dumbass, huh. Letting little gremlins like this wander around the premises; just what is he thinking... Seriously.”

{WHAT?!!!?}

{GII!? HOW D■RE YOU—A MERE H■MAN—INS■LT THE AMAZING ■■NG...!!?}

{YOU W■LL BE EATEN, STUPID H■MAN!!! GIGI!!}

The corners of Jae’s lips arched up.

Hoo~, that reception was better than I thought it’d be... I wonder, is the biggest word they know ‘amazing’?

{GAAAAAAAHH!!!}

Quickly, the two Hobgoblins forgot the job they were supposed to do and charged towards Jae, roaring.

*fwoosh*

The sound of air being sliced was heard as Hobgoblin No.1 swung its weapon to behead Jae when—

*THUD!*

—No.1 suddenly collapsed onto the floor.

If one were to look at the ground were it just was, one would see a slightly raised lump of rock sticking out from the ground.

Of course, this was Jae’s「Earth Rise」—the sole magic skill he owned, which he fortunately had an opportunity to test out.

But that wasn’t all.

Hobgoblin No.2 was still charging from the other side.

Its weapon was mere moments away from slamming into Jae’s skull, when suddenly it dropped to the floor with a resounding ‘clang’ sound with the sight of No.2’s arm abruptly plummeting to the ground, blood splattering everywhere.

Jae had sliced No.2’s arm off with his short-sword by aiming in the shoulder-joint gap in its armour. Fortunately, his weapon was sharp enough to cut through even the thick skin of the Hobgoblin. It was a huge gamble, but luckily it paid off.

The fight wasn’t over yet, however.

No, No.1 had just scrambled back onto its feet when Jae swiftly dashed over and grabbed it's face with his free left hand.

"「Wrath」."

*FWOOOOOOHHHH!!!*

All of a sudden, a huge mass of fire roared out from Jae’s hand clutching tightly onto the Hobgoblin’s face.

The tunnel rapidly dimmed again as the tremendously bright light emitted from the fire died down, and, along with it, Hobgoblin No.1 collapsed—it's face and skull both utterly incinerated by the immense power of a「Wrath」at max strength.

You have levelled up You have levelled up

Two level-ups simply from killing one Hobgoblin. The amount of experience points gained must have been huge.

It seems that No.2 was still stunned from losing its arm, and then, since it witnessed No.1’s untimely demise in front of it, it thought of no way to escape the approaching doom.

It could only stay still in silence.

Its will to fight was destroyed, along with its hope of winning.

Jae, on the other hand, didn’t care.

The pitiful Hobgoblin, to him, was merely a lump of experience points.

He slowly walked over to the quivering Hobgoblin and raised his arm up high...

And,

You have levelled up You have levelled up

“...”

After distributing the newly-acquired Stat points, Jae looked at the big, stone door in front of him—

“.....Haha.”

—and chuckled bitterly.

Simply from the pressure he felt from beyond the door alone, he could tell.....

That so-called ‘Goblin King’ was a being far superior to the current him.

*gulp*

There would be no chance in hell for him to defeat it right now, despite the deaths of all the enemies he’d cleaved along the way here.

He has come too far to just go back now.

2 levels were gained from goblins alone after entering the cave, and just now he got 4 more, making 6. Considering he was level 19 before entering the cave thanks to the extermination, Jae is now Level 25. He didn’t have any knowledge about this world, so whether that number was high, low, or standard, he had no clue.

....Nevertheless, the one thing he did know for certain was that...

“Behind this door...”

Jae acknowledged it, and with a self-mocking smile, spoke.

“...I will die for the third time.”

His reasoning was simple. Because even a while ago he could feel a terribly awful aura emanating from the depths of the cave.

However, now it was entirely different.

Whether it was due to him being significantly closer to the source than previously, or because his level rose a bit, the true extent of that murderous aura was realised.

"....Hah."

Jae had drastically underestimated his opponent—The boss, or King, of this goblin dwelling.

.....This is the aura of a king....

He absorbed the overwhelming intimidation and fear.

In the first place, Jae was unable to be affected by those things, so it was fine to take them in as such. And, by doing so, it somehow made Jae feel a tad better about things. He was filled with a sense of serenity as he stood before the might he couldn't wish to match.

In the first place, wasn't it fine if he died...?

After all, it's already happened to him twice....

———Wouldn't he just resurrect a third time?

Alas, it was rudely interrupted by some familiar, yet irritating voices.

[—A king?]

[—A king?]

[—A king?]

The voices all entered Jae's head simultaneously, as if they had planned it beforehand. Then, they spoke individually.

[A king you say? Boy, the insect in that room you call a 'king' is but a poor copy of what it means to be a true king. Of course, as it stands you could never win in a fight with a being that dares to copy the true kings, though.]

[Indeed. Presently, I can confidently say that, excluding Greed's utter bullshit ability, there is not a being in existence can match me in [Imitation]. Hence, as a master of the art, it is but child's play to tell—the weakling in there dubbed 'King', is but a mere fraud. A crude mimicry of the true kings, you might say.]

[Me as well, young one. Although that one seems to have done well for a creature of it's species, copies can only go so far. They are just that—copies—after all. Copies can never become, nor surpass, the original. But of course, with a few exceptions like Envy here, and Greed, too.]

....They're not usually this talkative. Is it because the subject of 'kings' came up? Either way, this tells me a lot of interesting things...

"Huuu... Since you guys are finally being useful for once, can you answer me something?"

[What!? I am ALWAYS useful!! The insolence in this one! ....Uh, I-Incidentally, what question would you like to ask?]

Huh? I'm speechless....

[...]

Ah, whatever.

"You said that I could never win against that thing, right?"

[Indeed.]

"Then, if I fight it, I'll die."

[Such is the case.]

"So, when I die, will I resurrect again?"

[Will you make a choice that differs depending on my answer?]

"Of course not. My trait is「Steadfast Mind」, you know. I will stick to my initial decision to fight the boss no matter what."

[.....Certainly, that seems to be the case. However, boy, do recognise that 'mind' is not always 'will'. You will come to realise this reality when the time comes that she joins the party, whenever that may be.]

Huh?

"What is that supposed to me--"

[Anyway, my answer.]

*gulp*

Jae couldn't help but swallow his saliva at Wrath's grave-sounding voice.

[You asked if you will resurrect? The answer is beyond a shadow of a doubt. You will resurrect shortly after entering the room, and without a speck of resistance, too. And then, you will likely be killed by the pseudo-king again, in his great confusion. It will then proceed to end your life that is worth infinitely less than any insect's.]

....

"H-Hold on a minute, what the fuck do you mean--"

[You will then be killed again, before resurrecting. After that, you will be killed once more. And then after that, once again. And again. And again. And again. You shall continue... To. Suffer. And. Die.]

The tone of Wrath's voice became increasingly darker and darker as he continued to speak.

The weight of his words grew heavier with each sentence spoken.

Listening.... was all Jae could do.

He didn't know how to feel about this.

One part of him was relieved that he would always be able to resurrect.

He no longer needed to struggle to survive, after all.

.......The other part of him—was blank.

It felt like his mind was corroding slowly by some kind of inperceptible poison.

Ordinarily, Jae would've felt the immeasurable fear of dying hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, but since he cannot, the place in which that fear should be, is simply empty.

[But that isn't all. Oh, no, not even close. Even if that copy gives up from pure boredom, and you somehow escape the cycle of endless death... The 'end' you would so greatly wish for... would never come. No, most likely, a plan would be conjured up to have you thrown into yet another cyle of dying—They would continuously chop you up and sever you, limb from limb. This would be in order to feed the goblin species—this Fake King's people. That's right—You would become a source of infinite food for the weakest creature on this planet.]

"....."

[...How pitiful of an existence, don't you think?]

[The pain would forever be ingrained into the farthest depths of your soul. The agony and suffering would engrave itself into not only your heart and mind, but also your will. Your [Soul]. At this point, the existence of a 'wish' is meaningless. Whether it be to finally perish, once and for all, or go back to being human, or forget everything—it would hold no value.]

[Nonetheless, that cycle of death would not last forever, either. Thanks to the continuous deaths, your health and resistances would accumulate to a significant point. The extremity. It would eventually become so great that no weapon could harm you. No magic would be able to leave a scratch on the surface of your skin.]

[Ironically, you would be powerless. You would be unable to even think of doing anything, let alone having the capacity to actually carry it out. You would become a vacant husk, that has no ego, nor power, nor will.]

"....."

This....

This was all too much.

Too much for one person.

And a teenage boy at that.

He would never be able to handle such a thing, even with such a thing like「Steadfast Mind」.

It's not omnipotent, after all.

Hell, Jae was having a tough enough time enduring after his first two deaths, so being able to handle the side-effects of dying countless—an innumerable amount of times?

It was not even a pipe dream.

....After an unknown amount of time had passed where his mind was simply blank like a canvas, Jae maturely thought that rest was needed before the boss fight, although whether it was going to be able to be even called a fight is questionable.

He was in no way running away from his fate, but if asked, it would be a lie to say he wasn't trying to put it off, if even for a miniscule amount of time.

As he sat down, leaning against the rock wall, Jae suddenly realised.

....I-I'm...trembling...?

His entire body was shaking so subtly that he didn't notice until now, but once he did notice, the shaking felt so powerful that it was a wonder how he only just realised it.

N-No.... I'm not scared... I can't be. I have nullification against mental-type abnormal status effects, after all.....

Jae denied it.

He denied it with all his soul.

"...................Haha.", he chuckled in a blank, monotone voice.

He didn't believe that he could be affected by mere mental effects like [Fear].

It was simply impossible.

.....And yet, in spite of that, Jae knew.

He knew it in the back of his mind, but did not want to accept it.

Indeed, he would resurrect.

It was a good thing.

It couldn't be anything other than a good thing...... right?

And yet...

And yet, this was it.

What Jae was currently feeling.........

——it was true fear.

The boy who cannot die—

——————He was scared of death.