Chapter 57: Coast of the Dead (1)
The curtain enveloped the island.
What happened next was unclear.
Amid violent tremors, the surroundings turned pitch black.
‘Good. I saved everyone.’
Only I remained.
But I had no intention of surviving.
Dozens of spikes had pierced my body.
―Thud thud thud!
Hardened blood spikes.
Gaiard’s rage-filled spikes pierced my torso.
Blood poured from the holes like a waterfall.
‘Ugh. Hurts like hell.’
Sacrificing myself to save everyone was a worthwhile trade.
The pain, though, was another matter.
Hoping the pain would end quickly, I closed my eyes to embrace death and collapsed.
―Thud.
But…
‘Hm?’
Having experienced death once, this felt different.
Unlike last time, when consciousness faded with the pain, this time my awareness sharpened, and the pain was vivid.
Even the gritty sand on my lips was palpable.
“Ptoo!”
Yes.
I wasn’t dying.
My wounds were healing, restoring me.
‘What’s this?’
The dozens of pierced areas mended.
As if someone cast healing magic.
But no one on this island would help me.
If anything, someone wanted me dead—like Gaiard, screaming behind me.
“How dare you bring me here! Tormenting me even in death, you damned Ernst!”
Gaiard, who seemed to know the black curtain’s nature, hadn’t anticipated this situation.
‘He said it was an annihilation spell, but it’s not. What is it?’
Gaiard vented his rage, ignoring me.
Meanwhile, the Hydra charged to the coast, rampaging indiscriminately.
“Saaak!”
Its heads unleashed disaster-like attacks, destroying everything.
Amid their chaos, something else caught my eye.
‘What are those?’
As the black curtain lifted, a new scene emerged.
Instead of a dawn-red sky, a gray one with drifting ash.
The blue waves of the coast were replaced by viscous black liquid.
From that liquid, humans with agonized expressions emerged, heading toward us.
All were drenched in the black substance.
“Grooo…”
Their pupil-less eyes fixed on me, the monsters, and the coast.
“Grooo…”
They charged at every living thing on the shore.
I assumed a stance, assessing the approaching figures.
‘They’re all soaked in that black liquid. It feels off—better not touch it.’
Keeping my distance, I slashed at a black human.
It collapsed like water, sucked back into the sea.
‘Individually, they’re not threatening. The issue is their numbers.’
The black humans had negligible combat ability.
At best, they were like unarmed farmers.
But their numbers were the problem.
Each black wave brought hundreds rushing in.
‘They rely on collective strength. If there’s no end, there’s no need to keep fighting here.’
Though recovered from my injuries, I wasn’t tireless.
The relentless battles were mentally exhausting.
Continued fighting could dull my focus, creating openings.
Especially since I wasn’t alone on the coast.
“Saaak!”
The massive Hydra.
It ceased its indiscriminate rampage, ignoring me, the monsters, and the black humans, charging solely at Gaiard.
Gaiard didn’t flee, facing the Hydra head-on.
When the Hydra launched fireballs, Gaiard countered with a giant axe.
For lightning strikes, he responded with blood spikes.
―Boom! Boom!
Their clash reshaped the coast’s terrain.
The fallout obliterated droves of black humans.
Thanks to this, I spotted a brief opening.
‘A chance!’
Amid the chaos, I slipped from the coast into the forest.
―Rustle!
Suppressing my qi, I hid in the underbrush, moving stealthily.
I glanced back, observing the coast.
I’d escaped the mayhem.
The black humans fell helplessly to the monsters’ claws.
‘Normal humans can’t face monsters of that caliber. Not without something special.’
The monsters mercilessly felled the black humans.
Unlike me, they didn’t recognize the black liquid’s danger.
Each kill splashed the liquid onto their hides, gradually sticking and slowing them.
‘As expected, that’s their weapon. It petrifies where it touches, making movements unnatural.’
Overwhelmed by the endless numbers, the monsters began to fall.
Even the sturdy-horned Rhino and pack-hunting Lizards collapsed.
“Grooo…”
The black humans swarmed, dragging the monsters down and pulling them out to sea.
Only after the monsters were fully submerged did they emerge to target others.
The submerged monsters never resurfaced.
‘I need to get out of here. But where is this place?’
When the curtain lifted, it was neither day nor night.
The Hellscape seemed to have crash-landed in the middle of an endless black sea.
‘It’s not an illusion. Even if I’m unsure, the nine-headed Hydra is immune to illusions, I’ve heard.’
Clearly, we were all seeing the same scene, Hydra included.
‘Then, a mass spatial teleportation? But I’ve never heard of a place like this.’
Though I hadn’t studied geography deeply, I sensed this place was extraordinary.
If such a unique place existed, I’d have heard of it, even in passing.
Amid the confusion, I headed to Bentram Fortress to regroup.
***
‘The air’s foul, the scenery alien, and those eerie humans. None of this feels of this world. Did I really end up in another dimension?’
Entering the chaotic Bentram Fortress, I climbed the Mage Tower.
Passing my room, I ascended to the top, opened the door, and settled at the summit.
―Thud.
‘Let’s catch my breath and figure out where I am.’
“Hoo.”
Calming myself, I surveyed the island’s landscape.
‘I’m not stuck here forever, right? That’d be a bit regrettable…’
Saving everyone was fine.
I still didn’t regret it.
If I could go back, I’d make the same choice.
It was a clean decision.
‘If Jack or the others were here, they’d be crying by now. Though, with their training, maybe not?’
As the surroundings quieted and my mind cooled, I realized my situation. It felt like I was cut off from the world.
I was the only human left on this island.
‘All I can rely on is this sword and my body. Speaking of which, how did my wounds heal?’
The brutal attack by Gaiard on the coast.
Dozens of spikes had torn half my body, a fatal wound.
It wouldn’t have been surprising to die, yet I didn’t.
My body regenerated.
Even my clothes restored, as if not healed but rewound in time.
‘Saved me, but I need to know why. A blessing? Or a curse?’
I raised my sword and lightly cut my palm.
―Sshk.
Blood flowed from the long gash.
But only briefly.
The wound healed, and the blood evaporated.
“Hoh?”
A palm cut wasn’t enough to understand.
I decided to experiment more boldly.
Removing my shoe, I inverted the sword and stabbed my pinky toe.
“Argh!”
A mad act beyond self-harm, but I gritted my teeth.
Since it’d regenerate, I wanted to gauge its extent.
“Huh?”
Contrary to expectation, the severed toe began to blur and vanish.
‘Oh no! Damn!’
Panicking, I reached for it, not expecting it to disappear.
But the tiny flesh vanished first.
Simultaneously, the severed area faintly revealed a reforming toe.
‘Phew. Wait, why did I still feel it?’
Even before the toe reappeared, I’d felt it.
It could’ve been phantom pain.
But it felt different.
‘Could it be?’
I cut my toe again.
Laying my foot flat, I pressed the severed area against the floor.
‘I feel it! There’s nothing, yet I do.’
If my foot was cut, only the remaining part should’ve touched.
But something, the length of a toe, blocked it.
How could this be phantom pain?
It was as if my pinky toe had become invisible.
More precisely, it felt like aura.
‘What? It’s like crafting a weapon with qi.’
Those skilled in qi could wield a sword even if it broke—or without a blade.
They shaped qi into a blade, a top-tier technique called Aura Blade.
I was experiencing that with my body.
‘The more I learn, the stranger it gets. Not regeneration or time reversal?’
Instead of answers, I fell deeper into a maze, craving someone to explain.
‘The mosquito seemed to know something.’
Talking to Gaiard might yield clues.
Though whether he’d talk was uncertain.
‘Even if he’s unwilling, it doesn’t matter. Wounds heal instantly here.’
Even if Gaiard attacked, he’d soon realize it was futile.
I’d just extract information from the exhausted vampire.
Deciding this, I sat and waited for Gaiard.
He’d come eventually.
Then, I spotted something flying in the distance.
It was the one who could provide answers. Not a person—a monster.
Gaiard, wings spread, was watching this place.
“Here! Over here!”
I waved as if greeting a friend.
Gaiard veered, speeding toward me.
“There you are, you damned pest!”
He crashed into the Mage Tower.
―Rumble.
The tower collapsed, and I plummeted with it.