Past Life Returner

The message was the only thing I could see in the dark.

[The seal has been broken.

* You have entered ‘The End of the Isolated Deep Sea.’]

My ears were oddly muffled, and I realized I couldn’t breathe. A hard material was covering my entire body and locking me up. I raised my Strength to the highest level, but that wasn’t enough. Cracks only began to form when I used a series of available skills. Then, I was able to open one eye narrowly, and air came in through the small gap. It finally became possible to move around a bit.

The pieces that broke out of my body resembled calcium compounds, but they had an incomparable degree of power. Each part that was exposed to the air was filled with moss. I could smell the saltiness of the Maruka clan.

[You haven’t selected the subject to use Life Vessel on. Please choose.]

This wasn’t important. Apparently, I had been stuck in this mysterious substance for a while. I was inside a dome-shaped structure. In addition to the salty smell of the Maruka clan, the space was filled with musty air. Other than the lumps of hard material that fell off from my body, it was simply an empty spot with only one stone tablet. The tablet was full of Maruka letters, and since I couldn’t decode it, I grasped a working summary from the information window sent by the System.

[Used-up Sealing Stone Tablet (Device)

It is full of stories about the extremely dangerous ‘Obstacle of the Maruka Clan.’

Content: …Don’t disturb this monster’s eternal sleep. Ever.]

The moss stuck to the tablet proved how many years had passed, and an ominous feeling engulfed me.

How long has it been?

I took out my returning stone instantly, but the only message that popped up was that my destination, ‘Death Upon Unauthorized Occupation,’ was not a place I could move to. This meant that at least two acts were over. My heart sank because I was concerned that the Stage of Advent might have ended.

Monsters in groups rushed in from the side of the aisle that led to the outside.

Motherfuckers. You put me in this for that long?

[The trait Passion has been activated. (Stage 1)]

I was outraged. I thrust my fists into them and pulled out their spines as if I was taking clam meat out of the shell. Since these were protoplasms that didn’t actually have a spine, I tore them into pieces so that they couldn’t even go through primary division.

The musty old air soon became saturated by the smell of blood and the stench of mucus. I repeated the same thing against monsters that constantly came in, then I suddenly spotted it. It was Baron Orca. However, its position in the information window was totally different from before.

[Guard Orca (Tribe)

It keeps the secret of the Maruka clan.]

The moment it saw me it became appalled. After making eye contact with me, it began to step back while making a weird noise. Its eyes spoke volumes, showing that it was desperate to stay alive, but unlike the baron, the lower-leveled monsters were controlled by their instincts and attacked me without end.

By the time the invasion stopped, the muddy ground was filled with monsters’ bodies. The only one alive was Orca because I had intentionally kept it that way. Although it didn’t understand my language, it must have grasped the vibe. I grabbed a handful of its tentacles and pulled them toward me.

I snarled, “Lead the way.”

The Maruka clan wasn’t usually like this as they were considered to be the most powerful of the Seven Demon Kings’ corps. However, these Maruka clan members were no different from the furry Kciphos. The most glaring evidence of that was that the amount of XP I received from killing them was significantly small. If this was the case for the whole clan, then, other than their exceptional fertility, they weren’t special anymore. There was no need to consider other things as Orca itself had been weakened. No matter how many times they were reborn, they had the same degree of power every time. Therefore, it was my first time witnessing such a regression. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it had become obvious that there had been a rapid change in the Maruka clan.

Damn it.

I slapped Orca and kicked it on the back out of frustration.

Slam!

Then, I raised my voice to Orca, which was trembling with its nose stuck in the mud.

"Exit!”

"Chi… da it muttered without looking at me because it wanted to keep its petty ego. When it finally looked up at me, I saw tears welling up in its eyes.

The structure that had locked me up was simpler than I thought. I had first opened my eyes in the center, and each section was stretched out from it like a wheel. That was it. There had never been an exit. Orca crashed into the wall and shook its head. Then, I pushed harder to break the wall.

"If there’s no exit, I can just make one,” I said.

Bang! Bang!

It screamed, “To! To! Torrr-”

It didn’t dare to touch me, but it kept glaring as if it was warning me.

A stream of water suddenly flowed down from one side of the deeply dug wall. It was seawater, which matched the title ‘The End of the Isolated Deep Sea.’ Orca became very busy, and I spoke to its back as it was busy trying to fill up the hole.

"Guard? That’s bullshit. You were just stuck here with me.”

When I thought about it, it was being punished here as well as it had wasted its time in this limited space without doing anything.

"Um gorrr―da Torrrr

It alternately looked at me and the hole it was filling up, then it vibrated its gular sac.

I snapped, “Shut the fuck up before I kill you. I’m barely holding it in now.”

***

Yeon-Hee had turned into the wicked Second Evil, Jonathan was obsessed with keeping my private property to himself, and Lee Tae-Han had caused a civil war due to excessive greed. Each one of them appeared with a mocking smile, then disappeared. I knew they were just hallucinations, but it was hard to bear.

This time, Seong-Il had become a serial killer as he couldn’t adapt to outside life. He trampled on a dead civilian woman’s breast and smiled insidiously at me. He then scratched the top of his nose when he smiled, and he looked at me as if it wasn’t a big deal. He also said all mankind had an obligation to serve him as he had fought wars for them for many years.

However, Seong-Il didn’t just kill the woman who had rejected him. In fact, he had also killed a number of police and soldiers in my dream. The association was dyed with blood as he had additionally slaughtered any Awakened who were at a lower level. I was able to not blow his neck because I brainwashed myself that he was Orca, not Seong-Il. Therefore, I just blew his arms away. Those two arms which freely used the trait Fist Destroyer!

[You have used Devi’s Sword.]

Sheek-!

Seong-Il’s arms fell to the asphalt floor, sprinkling blood. However, he still didn’t lose his smile. It seemed that he was planning to regenerate the arms by using an insignia or forcing other healers to use their skills on him.

The Stage of Advent had ended while I was away for a long time, and the aftermath was going in a different direction from the end of the Eight Evils’ and Eight Virtues’ reign. While the heinous Seong-Il was giggling with the symbol of Jonathan Investment Company on behalf of the association, I pressed down on my head as I had a severe headache and tightened my eyeballs. Seong-Il’s laughter soon turned into Orca’s moan.

"To… to… torrr-”

The asphalt floor where Seong-Il had collapsed had turned into mud. I stumbled and fell to the ground. The mud piled up on the ground came up to my waist when I sat down, so my entire lower body was currently wrapped with the cold energy of the mud. I focused on the coldness to completely dispel the illusory demons. This was something I had learned after experiencing hallucinations several times.

"Whoa.”

I was satisfied that I didn’t kill Orca again this time. Its arms had been severed, but they would regenerate soon. It opened its mouth as it looked at the dead protoplasmic monster across from it. It looked at me like it was saying: “Please don’t eat it. Please.”

"Do you think I’m eating this shit because I actually want to?” I asked sardonically.

I was sick too. I had sucked on its blood and fluid to fulfill the calories I needed for survival, but it was always disgusting to suck stuff from the monster’s body. Therefore, I was always starving and sensitive, similar to how I acted when I was sleep-deprived all the time.

Anyway, there was no word from the System today. I knew it was still semi-functioning as it was somehow affecting us as it had given me XP and various information. But why had it not opened the gate yet? Perhaps the System was more constrained than I had thought, so I decided to try everything I could without its help. If this didn’t work, I had no choice but to break down the wall no matter how deep this ocean was.

I suddenly said, “Hey, Orca.”

Orca flinched as it struggled in pain.

I commanded, “Make this place like a dungeon. Make it look like a place full of danger.”

“...”

I continued, “You are also a noble, so you must be able to make progeny or clones.”

“...”

"Make as many as you can. A lot.”

I pointed to the monster bodies lying around us and made ridiculous gestures to make Orca understand me.

Finally, I narrowed my eyes and hissed, “I’m going to kill you right now if you don’t do what you are told.”

“...”

I snarled, “Hey! Don’t just blink your eyes. You got a rough idea of what I said. Chida.”

***

Orca began making progeny after it regenerated its body. The first mistake it made was that it had forgotten that its children only had primitive instincts without any intelligence. As soon as the bubbles popped, they flocked toward me. However, it was a waste of time to deal with them as Orca’s level was low, so I wouldn’t be able to collect much XP.

[You haven’t selected the subject to use the Life Vessel. Please choose.

* Life Vessel hasn’t been activated.]

I ignored the message that constantly popped up and took out a ring with a hiding effect. Following that, the number of its kids increased. As they began their activities, tentacles began to hang on the ceiling, and biological traps that sprayed corrosive liquids were created on the walls and muddy ground. Within a short amount of time, a dungeon was created. Their fertility and activities were indeed exuberant even considering that this amount was only possible because of the small area.

[Until the end of hiding effect: 1 hour 1 minute 30 seconds]

[Until the end of hiding effect: 1 hour 1 minute 29 seconds]

When I was seriously debating whether to break through the wall or not, Orca reacted the same way as I did. Its eyes had focused on the passage across the street, and it seemed to have regained its dignity. It glared with murderous intention similar to how its illegitimate kids looked at me.

I sensed approximately ten people from there, and they hadn’t formed one complete attack squad yet. I figured out that they were at a low level as soon as I saw them although I didn’t check their status window. It was because all of their items were of poor quality.

[The opponent has failed to see through you.]

I wondered if it was because they thought I was a monster from a distance.

I immediately asked the men getting ready for a battle. My voice was trembling, full of nervousness.

"Is… the Stage of Advent… over?”

The man replied in a hostile manner, “What are you? How did you come in here?”

The sword of the old Caucasian man stopped in front of my neck.

I snapped, “I’m asking! The Stage of Advent!”

“...It can never be over.”

A bitter emotion passed through his face.

"What Act and Stage are we on?” I asked.

"Act Two, Stage Five. It’s your turn to answer. How did you get here? How long have you been here? Answer!”

Act Two, Stage Five! Act Two, Stage Five?

A question buzzed in my head.