I Killed the Game's Heroine - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Arc 3: Today, I continue to struggle through life. Just like usual.

I am living through another tough day.

As usual, I had received a request from a businessman and heard various stories.

That brat looked down on me, calling me a kid, while boasting about his self-made success, claiming he had received money from his parents and talked about those who slandered him.

The businessman said there are genuine lunatics who kill people using spirit power, believing in strange spirits, and claim that what they do is for a better world.

At least the ones who are just hitmen for hire are somewhat better.

However, occasionally while working on the back end, I encounter those who believe in terrible things.

He warned me to never touch those people.

They blindly believe that simply killing someone is a duty commanded by the gods.

Not only that, but they also create strange objects from the corpses, or even make ritualistic items imbued with magical meanings.

Listening to their actions, I thought it was a rational yet chillingly absurd matter.

Typically, ritual items are created by exorcists who assemble objects with special meanings over a long period, infusing them with spirit power.

If an evil spirit has resided in an object for a long time, simply touching it can lead to death, and that too is called a ritual item.

The slanderers combine the two methods above, torturing and killing living people to create ritual items from their vengeful bodies, thus shortening the time needed to make them.

Even those without spirit power accumulate curses, and that curse is said to be the key to making ritual items.

Hearing that ritual items are extremely expensive, I attempted to make and sell them myself, but I gave up after realizing that creating ritual items requires talent and a solid foundation.

The businessman didn’t tell me this out of concern for me.

He said it to threaten me, implying that since he has connections with such people, he could easily make me end up like that if I didn’t listen.

Of course, I know that jerk doesn’t have any connections with dangerous people.

After all, those kinds of people only get acquainted with someone useful; why would they want to meet a worthless little boss?

Even while thinking this, I firmly etched in my mind that there are indeed dangerous individuals among the slanderers.

It’s useful information to know, as it helps with survival to understand whether something is dangerous or not in this world.

Moreover, those who view human bodies as mere commodities, not to mention the fanatics, are the type to run away at the first sight of danger.

For now, I thought it was best to at least be aware of the dangers, so I kept this information in mind.

But now, I honestly regret that I should have gathered more information from that jerk back then.

“Shit…!”

With a curse, I barely managed to evade a cleaver that grazed my cheek, but a small stream of blood marked my skin.

I clearly dodged it; why am I still getting hurt!?

In shock, as I threw my body backward, another cleaver was embedded in the spot where I had just been.

— Damn it! It was definitely a kitchen knife that got stuck in the ground, but why does it sound like the ground is exploding!?

I shook off the dust that had risen from the spear and yelled in frustration.

“Damn it! A cleaver is just a cooking knife, not a weapon, you crazy bastard!”

“Our great spirit has spoken, and we have realized that human flesh is as delicious as beef!”

Oh my god. That guy was a complete lunatic with a stack of fanaticism, murder, corpse mutilation, and cannibalism.

Seeing the madman speak so casually sent chills down my spine.

I charged forward, pretending to stab with my spear, but as I lunged, the apron-wearing pervert dodged my attack with a backflip like a circus clown.

Usually, such playful actions would result in my spear piercing through his body in the time it takes to land.

But just as I was about to put all my strength into swinging my spear to finish him off, the other guys surrounding me threw chains and shurikens to obstruct me.

That made it the fifteenth time.

I felt my breath quickening and the sensation of sweat dripping down my face as I frowned.

This state of affairs kept repeating.

The apron-wearing pervert was using the strength from his massive muscles to pressure me, but he would show openings like before, forcing me to expend energy.

If I tried to attack the openings, the surrounding lackeys would do their utmost to interfere, draining my stamina for no reason.

Excluding the apron-wearing pervert, there were about fifteen guys surrounding me trying to hinder my movements.

They all looked identical, wrapped in black robes with scarves, and even though they were all weak compared to C-grade malevolent spirits, they became a nuisance when combined with the apron-wearing pervert.

The power of the apron-wearing pervert compensated for the scarf-wearing lackeys.

The number of scarf-wearers prevented any openings from forming for the apron-wearing pervert.

If I could fight them separately, I might have a chance to escape, but the scarf-wearers stubbornly refused to approach me, while the apron-wearing pervert relentlessly chased me.

Moreover, they were not trying to kill me outright; they were just tormenting me, steadily draining my stamina.

Of course, I had no intention of just taking it, so I tried to purchase another stick of dynamite from the shop to blow up.

However, the moment they saw me pull out the dynamite from my bank, they rushed in to obstruct me as I attempted to retrieve it.

Items purchased from the shop are automatically transferred from the bank.

I didn’t even realize that to take an item out of the bank, I needed to reach in and pull it out, and they were keenly exploiting that gap.

It was a mistake. I was startled by the strength of the apron-wearing pervert and revealed my hand too quickly.

It didn’t matter that I showed my cards, but their teamwork, which blocked their openings while persistently targeting mine, was annoying.

This was my first fight against someone who possessed not only spirit power but also rationality and could kill through reason.

If only my favorite baseball team had such teamwork, they would definitely have won.

I spat out another curse.

“Damn it, they really do only befriend their kind.”

“They are comrades who believe in our great spirit. Of course!”

The apron-wearing pervert grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth.

Seeing them revel in their confidence that they were in the right was infuriating, causing my face to twitch.

Now that it had come to this, I had to catch my breath and find the right moment to regain my stamina.

Since the moment that pervert appeared on the balcony, I had been trying to figure out the answer to the mystery that had been bothering me.

“Wow, impressive. But who is the spirit you follow that makes you act like this? Speak up, you bastard. I want to hear the name of the one who suddenly tells hardworking youths to die.”

The only spirit I could relate to was Yeong Hyeong, whom I had killed.

And Yeong Hyeong is the spirit that the slanderers believe in. The evil spirit they casually mention.

But she is dead, so who exactly told them to kill me? Specifically pointing me out.

The sudden appearance of the apron-wearing pervert made me wonder if she might still be alive.

I raised an eyebrow at the apron-wearing pervert.

He grimaced at my apparent disdain for his spirit and spoke with an expression of disgust.

“How dare you speak of that being in such a manner! You brat! Her true name is Yeong Hyeong! The goddess of darkness and curses has announced her hatred and fury towards you to all her followers! She has taken back the power she bestowed upon us for trials!”

“I was born with strength! But I do not overestimate it! This is a trial! If we cast you into an indescribable pain, she who has hidden her form for a while…”

“Will return to our side! And she will once again bestow upon us the blessings she has given! She has spoken!”

“Yes! Yes!”

The lackeys in robes, who had been silent until now, shouted in response to the apron-wearing pervert’s words.

Sixteen pairs of eyes, filled with madness, looked at me as if their beliefs could not possibly be wrong.

Damn it, I really don’t want to be involved with fanatics like this!

Being among these crazy people is exhausting for anyone with their sanity intact.

But now that these lunatics were trying to kill me, it felt even more mentally draining.

“And if we make a ritual item from your corpse, we can make clothes from your skin, and the sturdy-looking bones would make excellent swords.”

They even threatened to mutilate my corpse. They were truly a bunch of lunatics.

However, I could tell from their nonsense that Yeong Hyeong was not alive.

I didn’t know the exact situation, but piecing together the information I had and what that guy said, it seemed that before she died, Yeong Hyeong had seen me and harbored feelings of hatred or curses.

Those feelings were transmitted to these guys who believed in Yeong Hyeong, and they thought it was her command to kill me.

But they had no idea that Yeong Hyeong had died at my hands.

Moreover, they were rationalizing their belief that if a spirit bestows a blessing, it would return if they killed me.

I wondered if all exorcists who devoted themselves to spirits were in such a mental state.

I felt a little breath return to me, but I noticed that the strength in my hand gripping the spear was not what it had been at first.

Yeah, I have to admit it. This is pretty dangerous.

The apron-wearing pervert seemed to be stronger than before, possibly due to a skill called “Triple Kill,” with enhanced spirit power, strength, agility, and dynamic vision.

The scarf-wearers stubbornly refused to approach me, continuously obstructing me with chains and thrown weapons.

I couldn’t even attempt to escape outside the barrier.

The slanderers kept clinging on tenaciously.

Even though I had dynamite in the shop and bank, they didn’t even give me a chance to retrieve it.

“Ah— is this the last train?”

I wanted to question why these criminal bastards had such good teamwork.

I still hadn’t properly visited the old lady, nor had I gathered enough money to be satisfied.

After losing the ability to use my lower body because of that drugged-out punk, my life had fallen apart.

The events that led me to this world felt like a bonus stage that could go either way, using a phrase my younger brother might say.

Even if I couldn’t earn money and returned empty-handed, my body would still be the same, right?

Whether I earned a lot of money and returned or not, my body would remain unchanged.

I wanted to leave something for my younger brother, who would have struggled with hospital bills and everything else due to my fault.

So I tried hard, but in the back of my mind, I thought it wouldn’t matter what happened.

Even if I returned, my body would still be the same.

Thus, even after hearing the old lady’s prophecy, I felt I could avoid it, thinking death was just death—

“Damn it.”

Seeing the apron-wearing pervert laughing to himself reminded me of the uncle who once tried to sell me and my younger brother.

It was not the first time I almost died because of that bastard, but after he got locked up, he died without ever facing proper retribution.

Trash like Yeong Hyeong and the quest window, even these lunatics before me, all stirred up memories I wanted to forget, making me angry.

I scratched my forehead with my thumb. Though I didn’t have a scar, it felt oddly itchy.

I wondered if all these scumbags were similar to Yeong Hyeong, as they were truly unpleasant individuals.

I could hear a ringing in my ears. A sound that seemed to tear apart and forcibly resonate.

Even more so, that sound was irritating me. I charged forward, swinging my spear at the apron-wearing pervert.

Stabbing, swinging, dodging, and slashing. I had no training in spear techniques, so I moved instinctively.

The tip of my spear, driven by anger, had more power than before, but it was clear that its sharpness had diminished.

“—Have you given up? Are you in despair?”

Finally! The apron-wearing pervert shouted in delight, grabbing my spear and swinging his fist at me.

With a thud! At the same moment the sound hit, my body was lifted into the air, and the breakfast I had eaten that morning erupted with my stomach acid.

Then, the apron-wearing pervert snatched my spear, swinging the cleaver to split it in half.

“Despair even more! Curse even more! Only then will the value of the ritual item made from your body increase!”

As my spear shattered, fragments flew through the air, and the apron-wearing pervert shoved the part of the spear that still had the tip into my stomach.

“Cough—”

The pain surged. It was the first time something had pierced my belly.

Seeing the scarf-wearers start to chuckle, I realized that the scene the old lady had described was now right before my eyes.

…No, damn it. Is getting a spear tip stuck in my belly the same as having a knife lodged in me?

My legs weakened as I watched them giggle, grinding my teeth at my bubbling frustration.

Yeah, I should admit it slowly. Right now, I don’t want to die. I want to live! Though I didn’t feel like it.

I definitely wanted to make sure I could take these bastards down with me when I died.

So how? The moment that question crossed my mind, my dull brain started working faster than I could believe.

Yeah, as I mentioned before, when humans find themselves in a life-threatening situation, they tend to think more clearly about how to screw over others.

And right now, even if it cost me my life, I wanted to screw over these bastards.

“Hey. Want to hear something fun?”

As I smiled and spoke, the apron-wearing pervert shook his cleaver, as if daring me to continue.

I grinned and continued.

“Didn’t your spirit disappear about a month ago? It was around 11 PM, just before midnight, right?”

“What… How do you know…?”

“With hair as black as the night sky and red and yellow heterochromia. She was beautiful enough to mesmerize anyone, with a faint scent of wet earth. She wore a pitch-black modified hanbok and had quite the style.”

“Y-You… How…?”

As I described Yeong Hyeong’s appearance, the apron-wearing pervert looked at me in shock, as if he couldn’t comprehend how I knew that.

The scarf-wearers seemed flustered, whispering among themselves, and I couldn’t help but smile even more.

Blood came with my cough, and I struggled to breathe as something that felt like either mucus or saliva dripped from my nose and mouth.

Yet, I didn’t stop speaking. The more I spoke, the more I heard a sound like a string being plucked in my ears.

Was my heartbeat so fast and rough that it sounded strange?

I didn’t know. But one thing was clear: the more I spoke, the louder that sound became.

“The skill I possess is called Spirit Extermination. Regardless of the spirit, if I stab and kill, I can kill even a spirit. In other words, my limitation is that I must kill with my own hands.”

“Huh?”

The apron-wearing pervert stared at me as if he couldn’t comprehend what I was saying.

No, more accurately, he seemed unwilling to understand.

But it didn’t matter. I had performed the miracle of killing a spirit, just like the protagonist who befriends spirits in this game world.

If this fact were to be revealed, unlike the protagonist who would receive everyone’s admiration and reverence, I would be met with fear and hostility from all.

Yes, what I did that night is a secret tied to my life.

A taboo. This is the taboo I have set.

Everything that a kid who has never even mentioned their name can impose in this world.

Immediately, the sound that had been buzzing in my ears vanished, and an unfamiliar sensation enveloped my entire body.

It felt as if new sensory nerves were sprouting all over my body. It was not just the amplification of spirit power; it felt like something that constituted me had expanded—

“I first cut off her arm. She cried out in pain when she realized that a human dared to attack her, bleeding and wounded.”

“I should let you know how pitifully and ugly your spirit begged for its life until I beheaded it, right? Even though you’re supposed to be followers of a spirit, you need to hear your spirit’s final moments.”

“Oh, in case you don’t understand, let me say it again. I killed your spirit.”

I grinned, pulling up the corners of my mouth as I mocked them.

The scarf-wearers and the apron-wearing pervert, who had been murmuring around me, stared at me with blank expressions before snapping back to reality and shouting, veins bulging on their foreheads.

“You, you blasphemous heretic!!!!! Don’t lie!!”

The enraged pervert charged at me, muscles bulging as if they would burst.

Yet, his movements appeared strangely slow.

Before he could swing the cleaver to tear my throat, I pulled the spear tip lodged in my belly and stabbed it into his body multiple times.

Then, I drove the spear tip into the same spot on his belly where mine had been.

“W-What…?!”

The apron-wearing pervert seemed to belatedly realize that I had stabbed him, staring in horror at the spear tip embedded in his own belly.

“N-No way…! I succeeded in Triple Kill, how is this possible! Could it be… you set a taboo? Is that… real?! Setting a taboo could make me at least A-grade strong?! No way… you…”

The trembling pervert couldn’t finish his sentence before collapsing.

Seeing him bleed out, I scanned my surroundings.

The fifteen scarf-wearers. If I pulled out a bomb from the bank and blew it up, they would all die.

But my legs gave out, and my body wouldn’t move. I examined my abdomen. The wound was serious.

The spear I had held had split into three, creating a larger wound when pulled out, and the forced extraction had led to this outcome.

Moreover, I had lost a lot of blood from repeatedly stabbing the apron-wearing pervert’s chest in my excitement.

To put it simply, I was experiencing excessive bleeding. Even with my body reinforced by spirit power, I was losing too much blood to endure.

“Damn it.”

“Look at that guy! He’s dying! At this rate, we can kill him too!!”

“We are avenging our spirit!”

As I cursed inwardly, feeling my body weaken, the scarf-wearers seemed to notice my condition and shouted.

Then, all fifteen of them drew their weapons and, with crazed eyes, charged at me.

I tried to pull out the dynamite while sitting on the ground, but my hands wouldn’t cooperate.

Ah, damn it. Am I going to die like this?

I didn’t want to die at the hands of these foolish bastards, so I tried to lift my hand to retrieve the dynamite from the bank.

However, it was obvious they would reach me first and start hacking away.

Damn it. The thought of them cutting off my breath was incredibly unpleasant, but there was no way out.

With my eyes tightly shut, I tried to accept the approaching death while feeling annoyed—

Suddenly, the air felt rotten, and a chill settled in. Shadows loomed, and I saw the grass around me dying.

Then, immediately afterward, the bodies of the scarf-wearers were seized by a massive arm that rose from their shadows, disappearing without even a scream.

A moment of silence followed. In the midst of an incomprehensible situation, I unconsciously closed my eyes and opened them again.

A child with blue skin, covered in wounds, stood before me like a corpse. Sethani?

What the hell did this protagonist do to return when she should have been transcended?

“I think dying at the hands of that bunch earlier wouldn’t be so bad. Could you call them back for me?”

I spoke urgently.

Thinking back, being dragged into Sethani’s domain and going insane would surely be worse than being hacked to death by the slanderers.

I politely made my request, but Sethani began to reach out to me.

I tried to run away, but my body wouldn’t move. Damn it.

What did I do to deserve being caught up in this kind of mess?

I closed my eyes, staring at the hand of Sethani that filled my vision.

End of Chapter