Death Leveling Chapter 43

[ … words ]

Woke up from what seemed like an eternal dream—deep and foggy upon wakefulness, filled to the brim with vivid dreams that I could never vocalize out of subsequent blurriness.

Still afloat, sun rising—pale orange parading across the atmosphere, birds chirping and the sound of water flowing in serenity.

With a gentle smile, I removed myself from the water—clothes soaked in dirty red, unwashable from the bloodshed I had joyfully basked myself in.

“Hmm… he’s still alive.”

Narrowed my eyelids tenderly—immediately observed through the raven without so much as a droplet of MANA or focus.

“HAHAHA… You can’t be real!!” I yelled with a feral grin.

“He’s still conscious!! He spent the whole night wallowing in the dirt… in that condition?!”

Void of delay, ran straight to him—his corpse was giving off smoke, eyes rolling upwards as if not present in reality.

“Is he really?” I whispered to myself in disbelief—was he really conscious?

Sat down next to him, and his pupils immediately shrunk and locked on me—oho, what animosity!—reborn as a beast, aren’t you? I smirked.

Giddily, I grabbed his hair and started dragging him yet again—can’t let you be seen, even if this place appears to be desolate, can I?

Then, got to the lake…

With a parading smile, raised his body in front of it—was he getting the idea?—he better!

“Aayiu—n—no…”

“Have fun!” I voiced as I plunged his limbless body into the water; that shouldn’t kill him, given he survived everything else that I’ve subjected him to.

Ah… new morning, new me!—what a flattering way to start your day!

“Mm…” stopped and had my eyes dance through my clothes…

“Forget him being seen!—I look like I just escaped from a Saw movie!”

Proceeded to take off my clothes… stripped nude without so much as a cloth on my body.

Strolled to the town; still clothless—can’t just walk in, can I?—bet Ku would happily go in, though.

Jumped atop some building and sat down on my knee—glaring at all the people obliviously walking around, without so much as a hint that their fashion sense would spell their death.

“Oh?”

My eyes abruptly widened—familiarity clawed me.

Two guys were wearing the same clothes organ hunters do—are they?—or is it a coincidence?

“Hah,” I let out with a firm decision—couldn’t they lead me to the highest-grade meat factory?—I’ll follow them around for now and see where they go.

They don’t seem strong—hardly anyone outside Im City is, it isn’t surprising but it is slightly disappointing.

Instantly, my right eye flinched upon remembering the Golden Knight—won’t ever let me rest, will he?

“How long was the journey again?”

“Only a couple hours, if nothing goes wrong.”

“Do we stock up before setting out?”

“Had a big haul yesterday, so let’s celebrate by eating like Kings!—so obviously, let’s get some booze!”

The men talked—a rather irrelevant reminder that they’re human.

They went up to a mask booth—one of them immediately picked up glasses that had a massive nose attached to them, put them on, and in a deadpan voice muttered:

“Look at miee, I got da’ highest Intelligence Stat!! I love my System!!”

“Bahahah!”

“I’ll get this for my daughter, she’s turning 9!! She loves those kind of things!!”

It does appear that people here have information about the city… but what’s with the mockery?—are people within the walls simply objects of hatred for everyone outside?

Not that I particularly care, but something is clearly off about Im City.

For an hour, kept tailing them until finally they left the town—they didn’t walk far until stopping, upon ambling up to an empty cart.

“Should be around here,” one of them claimed.

A cart?—and a bush?

They went up to it and stuck their hand into it, then pulled out a black bag that immediately zapped my mind in realization.

Aren’t they… organ hunters?

Yet again, my eyes widened…

That’s clearly a corpse—why would organ hunters need that?—wouldn’t they need their subjects to be alive for any value in the organs?

I was going to simply kill them and that’s it.. now I’m curious.

Both of them raised the bag onto the cart; they really are weak, can’t even do that much singlehandedly?—just how weak is the average human outside the walls?

It does remind me… when I was with X, the hunters were clearly trying to kill us as well—were our organs really their intention then?—or did Ariel lie about their identities?

This ignorance was rubbing me the wrong way… I blatantly believed every word Ariel said out of how ridiculous it sounded—organ hunters?—the shock-value alone would omit any doubt in the matter.

Nude, I jumped from tree to tree while following them—I was no longer even suppressing my MANA, I knew these guys had no chance of detecting anything.

Since I could sense the drowner’s MANA—and in return, approximate location—in my head, I had my raven fly up ahead to try to scout for whatever they were looking for.

Eventually, I saw some camp—it had dozens of carts, all filled with corpses—some even bagless.

“Just… what is this shit?!”

Should I kill them and then go on ahead?—no, I should listen in to their conversation first, see what they see and do after getting there.

Do I… even have the time for this, though?—everyone should be up by now, looking for me and wondering where I went.

Rolled my eyes—whatever!—they can think I’m dead and gone for all I care!

Finally, they reached their destination…

“Hello!” “Oh, you two idiots managed to get someone?”

Cheerfully, the man dragging the cart answered, “a good one, too!—an actual adult this time!”

“Oh, wow! That would be your first one then?” “Yea—haha!”

He instantly put his hand behind his head, looking all sheepish as if he were a child being praised over school.

These people are so uncivilized… they see no value in human life whatsoever.

Makes sense given X’s memories—morals are more-or-less absent outside.

The medieval contrast with the city as well…

They are genuinely living in a different era entirely.

I squeezed my eyes shut and in exasperation… “tsk!”

Standing behind them, the man proffering the corpse inquired, “so, how much are we getting for it?—it’s a good haul, isn’t it!!”

Meanwhile, the man who’d been asked the question stood there, staring in perplexity, his mouth hanging wide.

“W— who is the naked man beh— behind you?”