Record of a Thousand Lives

Chapter 7

The hobgoblins were reanimated as skeletons, but the humans that had been squashed into a pulp by the Giant Hobgoblin did not reanimate. When the corpses that had been dead just a minute prior all rose up as undead, it seemed as if a small undead legion had come out of nowhere in an instant.

[The skill level of Mass Raise Dead has risen.]

[More undead of higher level can now be summoned from corpses.]

“Guuuuahhhh…”

Skeletons with empty eye sockets, wielding broken weapons, started to rise from the corpses. They were the lowest-level undead, and could only let out a low moan due to their low intelligence. However, the number of undead summoned was on a completely different level from what a normal Necromancer could achieve.

A normal person would need to look for an experienced Black Magician to change classes into a Necromancer. A normal Necromancer would consume a significant amount of mana and material just to summon one undead. However, Mass Raise Dead only consumed mana and had no other penalties or drawbacks. It was the ultimate skill for creating an undead legion.

Kang Yoon-Soo pointed at the Giant Hobgoblin and said, “Kill it.”

“Clack! Clack!” The skeletons started to charge toward the boss monster.

The Giant Hobgoblin let out a growl and started to swing its machete, and the skeletons started to rapidly fall one by one. Kang Yoon-Soo looked at the scene emotionlessly and waited for his mana to regenerate. His mana was regenerating rapidly thanks to the Ring of Life Suppression’s effect.

The skeletons finally reached the Giant Hobgoblin after charging in wave after wave, and they started to hack and slash at it.

“Gruuuwaaah!” The boss monster let out a loud cry as it started to crush the skeletons.

At that moment, Kang Yoon-Soo called out from behind, “Corpse Explosion.”

Baaam!

A skeleton that had been crushed by the Giant Hobgoblin suddenly exploded, inflicting heavy damage. The boss monster tried to defiantly withstand the attacks, but was ultimately forced to fall to one knee.

Corpse Explosion was a terrifyingly strong spell, but the explosion radius could not be controlled and it consumed one corpse. However, Kang Yoon-Soo used the spell again without any hesitation.

“Corpse Explosion.”

Boom-boom-boooom!

The?Giant Hobgoblin?was swept by another wave of powerful explosions, and the whole cave shook as?if it were about to collapse. Once the smoke from the explosion dissipated,?it revealed the boss monster’s bright red body.

[The skill level of?Corpse?Explosion has risen.]

[The explosive power of the skill has increased.]

“Grrruuuwaaah

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!” The?Giant Hobgoblin?screamed ferociously?and started to charge toward Kang Yoon-Soo while swinging its machete to crush any skeletons standing in its way.

.

Kang Yoon-Soo was?completely unfazed. In fact, he brought up his sword and spear without any particular expression, just as he always did.

“Life Drain.” His sword and spear?were?covered?in?a pale green light as soon as he muttered the words. The weapons started to?suck out the vitality?of the?Giant Hobgoblin?like a vacuum as soon as?they came into contact with it.

The?Giant Hobgoblin?wildly swung its machete, but Kang Yoon-Soo anticipated the attack and easily evaded it by stepping on the heads of the skeletons. He then?landed on the shoulder of the?Giant Hobgoblin, thrusting both the sword and the spear deep into its flesh with great force.

Pssshhhkk!

The Giant Hobgoblin was struck on its temple and started to bleed profusely. Kang Yoon-Soo then thrust his spear into the left side of its chest.

Psshhkk!

The sound of the Giant Hobgoblin’s heart being ripped apart filled the air after Kang Yoon-Soo’s precision strike landed, and its large body fell flat onto the stony cave floor.

[You have defeated the Giant Hobgoblin (Level 52).]

[The experience earned by the summoned undead will be transferred over to the user.]

[Your level has increased by 3.]

Kang Yoon-Soo took the machete the Giant Hobgoblin had been wielding. When used by the boss monster, it had been a one-handed weapon, but by human standards, it was classified as a large greatsword.

[Steel Machete]

Rating: Normal

Attack Power: 14

A large machete made from good quality steel.

Kang Yoon-Soo threw away the sword and spear and equipped the large machete on his back. He checked his stats while waiting for his mana to regenerate.

Kang Yoon-Soo

Level: 34

[Strength]? ??32

[Tenacity]? ??1

[Vision]? ? ? ??1

[Sensitivity]? ??1

[Regeneration]? ??1

Remaining Points: 3

He increased his regeneration stat by 3. The regeneration stat improved the durability of raised undead, resistance to holy attributes, and resistance to elements.

Kang Yoon-Soo felt his mana recover completely. The only downside of the skill Mass Raise Dead was its consumption of 100% of the user’s mana, even if only one corpse were to be raised. He then stretched out his hand toward the Giant Hobgoblin and said, “Mass Raise Dead.”

The moment he felt all of his mana leave his body, the Giant Hobgoblin that had been rampaging just a minute prior obediently stood up as if it had been tamed. It had glowing blue eyes; it had resurrected as a zombie. Although its intelligence was still quite low, having a large-sized undead was a major boost to the army’s combat power.

Kang Yoon-Soo raised his hand and started to command the legion made up of more than seventy undead. He ordered the skeletons to walk toward the cave walls and said, “Corpse Explosion.”

Baaam!

An explosion that nearly made the ceiling collapse shook the cave; the walls crumbled, and shards of minerals could be seen embedded in the walls, resembling a mine.

“Mine it,” Kang Yoon-Soo ordered.

The undead Kim Min-Soo picked up his backpack and started to walk toward the minerals just as Kang Yoon-Soo commanded.

***

The undead were perfect for nonstop physical labor. They would not tire or lose motivation, ?and they did as they were commanded by the necromancer. The skeletons mined to the point that their hands began to crumble, and Kang Yoon-Soo was ultimately able to fill a whole backpack with minerals.

“Return to the summon dimension,” Kang Yoon-Soo ordered the skeletons. They then slowly dissipated into thin air.

[78 skeletons have been sent to the summon dimension.]

[Summons currently stored in the dimension: 78 skeletons, 1 zombie Giant Hobgoblin.]

[Remaining space for additional summons: 421.]

A summon dimension was a spatial pocket that undead and other summoned beings could stay in. Tamers and summoners could keep creatures in the summon dimension, and could call them out again whenever necessary. The amount of summons one could keep in their summon dimension would depend on their ability. Thus, most summoners kept their creatures in such a spatial pocket, as it would difficult to transport them otherwise.

Kang Yoon-Soo picked up the bag filled to the brim with minerals and left the cave. The sky was dark, and he walked alone in the wilderness. Not long after, he saw a man limping in the distance. It was Choi Chang-Seok.

“You son of a…!” Choi Chang-Seok raged toward him, as if Kang Yoon-Soo were a nemesis who had massacred his entire family. However, Choi Chang-Seok was in no condition to do anything with his broken wrist and ankle.

Kang Yoon-Soo silently drew his greatsword and walked toward Choi Chang-Seok.

“A… Are you planning to fight me?” Choi Chang-Seok asked, flustered.

“You’ll come back to take revenge if I let you live,” Kang Yoon-Soo said in a low voice. He continued, “I have to kill you, because otherwise you’ll return later to get revenge after running away.”

‘Kill me? He plans to kill me?’ Choi Chang-Seok was confused for a moment. ‘How can someone talk about killing someone so brazenly?’ Then he noticed that Kang Yoon-Soo was looking at him with the look one would have when hunting monsters.

As Kang Yoon-Soo slowly began to approach, Choi Chang-Seok started to sweat profusely and drew his sword, running on pure survival instinct. ‘This guy is serious!’ he thought to himself. “Fuck! Don’t come near me!” he exclaimed as he tried to keep Kang Yoon-Soo at bay by wildly swinging his sword.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo avoided the frantic blows in an instant and slashed toward Choi Chang-Seok. Choi Chang-Seok tried to react by blocking the greatsword, but he was no match for Kang Yoon-Soo in his current state, with a broken ankle and a broken wrist.

Clang!

Kang Yoon-Soo’s greatsword clashed with Choi Chang-Seok’s sword, knocking it out of the other man’s hand. The sword landed far away on the ground after spinning a couple of times in the air.

All the resentment Choi Chang-Seok had felt disappeared the moment he lost his weapon, and it was replaced with terror from that moment on. He started limping away, trying to flee from Kang Yoon-Soo. He exclaimed, “Sp… Spare me! I said spare me, you damn bastard! Don’t you have any consc…?!”

Kang Yoon-Soo indifferently walked toward Choi Chang-Seok and drove his greatsword into the man’s neck. Choi Chang-Seok fell to the floor, blood spilling from his neck. He trembled for a moment as if he were having a seizure, but he eventually stopped breathing and died.

[You have killed an innocent civilian.]

[Your notoriety will not increase, as there were no witnesses.]

[This may turn into a murder case if you do not dispose of the body properly.]

Kang Yoon-Soo stared at the corpse of Choi Chang-Seok. He had killed someone just then, but he felt no hint of remorse or guilt. He looked nonchalant, as if he had just pulled out a handful of weeds from the roadside.

He went over to a nearby rock and sat atop it, taking out a water canteen from the backpack. He took a gulp of water and slowly said, “I don’t feel any remorse for killing you. I’ve committed countless murders, to the point I’ve gotten sick of it.” There was nobody around him, but he kept talking while staring intently at one spot, as if there were somebody there listening to him.

“Sometimes, I’m jealous of people like you. At least you can die.” He put the water canteen inside the backpack and stood up from the rock. He started to walk while muttering to himself; if someone were to see him, they would certainly mistake him for a crazy person. “I’ve lived the same life a thousand times, and I always feel like killing myself every single time. Every morning, I wake up to the exact same things and it makes me want to dig my eyeballs out.”

Every time he regressed, he was erased from the memories of the people he loved. Not only that, all the skills and stats he had painstakingly raised went away as well, and all of the vicious and despicable people he had met came back to life. Everything reset to the way it had been at the start, and the first moment after regressing always drove him crazy to the point of breaking down.

Kang Yoon-Soo kept muttering like a madman, “I can’t kill myself, and nobody can kill me, but I can’t die... Everything will only end when I die.” He couldn’t die no matter how many times he regressed.

At last, the sun began to rise over the horizon.

***

Rural Territory, Kerlin.

Kerlin was a small agricultural territory in the wilderness. The fields were covered with rows of barley that were ready for harvest, giving the land a golden hue. The sweet scent of freshly brewed beer tickled the senses. Farmers returned home after finishing their work in the fields, and some of the men merrily went to the pub to get a drink. All the residents joyfully ended the day after a hard day’s work. It was a very humble and homely town, reminiscent of a mother’s warm embrace.

‘Nothing has changed; it’s just the way it was,’?Kang Yoon-Soo thought to himself while looking over at the beautiful scenery, the residents laughing, and the bright sunset. Any traveler who had lived through many dangers and hardships would take a moment to appreciate the scenery. However, even the warm scenery couldn’t move his heart; in fact, he curled his hand into a fist and muttered, “I want to kill all of them.”

The urge to kill was a peculiar thing. Why would someone suddenly feel the urge to commit a massacre after seeing such a peaceful sight, and toward innocent civilians, no less? Was it because it was the first village he had come upon after regressing? Was it because of the stress of regressing over and over again? Was it because he had finally gone crazy?

Kang Yoon-Soo buried his head in his hands. There was nothing to gain by killing all the residents. ‘I just have to remember one thing and one thing only.’ He reminded himself of his reason for living, and that was to kill the Demon Lord… No, it was not as simple as that. Kang Yoon-Soo wanted to crush his head, rip his heart out, and tear him apart bit by bit.

Reality was not so kind though; killing a transcendent being was not as easy as one’s vengeful ideations might lead one to believe; in fact, it would actually be impossible even if he regressed for eternity.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo had managed to obtain a clue in his 990th life, a clue that had given him a sliver of hope. ‘The Demon Lord isn’t invincible. I’m certain of that.’

The Demon Lord was a being comparable to the gods. He had made Kang Yoon-Soo infinitely regress, and had even chased after him when he crossed over back to Earth. But even the Demon Lord had a weakness: The more Kang Yoon-Soo regressed, the weaker the Demon Lord became.

At first, Kang Yoon-Soo had only considered it a wild theory, but the nine previous lives he had lived gave credence to his theory. The Demon Lord who had previously disregarded any attacks had suddenly contorted his expression. Of course, it had not been an attack strong enough to inflict fatal damage against the Demon Lord, but the fact that Kang Yoon-Soo had been able to deal even the slightest damage was enough to prove his theory.

The reason behind the Demon Lord’s weakening was unclear, but the theory that he was getting weaker had turned out to be true. Kang Yoon-Soo now had a reason to live again, as killing the Demon Lord was no longer impossible. Thus, he planned to focus on the Demon Lord’s vulnerability in this life.

The Demon Lord would appear after exactly twenty years; all Kang Yoon-Soo had to do now was to utilize all of the experience and knowledge from his past lives to reach the pinnacle of power. He had to reach that level to stop the destruction of the world—and stop his life from repeating over and over again.

‘I need to bring her to my side at all costs.’ Kang Yoon-Soo thought of ‘that’ woman, who started out feeble and weak but would grow to become one of his companions against the Demon Lord. He required her abilities to surpass the countless obstacles and challenges he had to face in the future. Not only that—she was the only reason he had been able to keep surviving for so long.

As Kang Yoon-Soo walked, he eventually reached the peak of a hill, where a large mansion sat. A soldier dressed in a black tunic came forward to stop him, exclaiming, “Halt! This is the mansion of the feudal lord, Lord Hermia.”

The soldier pointed the scythe he was holding toward Kang Yoon-Soo. The soldiers of Kerlin were different from its laid-back residents. They were alert, well-trained, and even had high combat abilities.

Kang Yoon-Soo silently opened the backpack, clearly revealing the minerals that were practically overflowing from it. The contents of the pack were enough to buy a few territories if refined properly; anyone could tell just at a glance that the minerals he had brought were of the highest quality.

The soldier’s attitude toward Kang Yoon-Soo changed completely. He asked politely, “What business do you have in our territory, sire? Are you perhaps a traveling merchant? I suggest that it would be better for you if you go to a larger territory if you wish to conduct trade.”

“I have business with the lord,” said Kang Yoon-Soo.

“Eh?” the soldier responded, confused. ‘He wants to meet the lord?’ he thought to himself.

Even though the lord of Kerlin had a special side, she was still only the lord of a rural territory located in the wilderness. ?There was no way Kerlin had the finances to trade for such precious minerals.

Kang Yoon-Soo told the soldier, “Tell her that someone who can use the ‘Orb of the Covenant’ has come.”

The Orb of the Covenant was an ancient relic that had been passed down, and it was an important hidden piece in Kang Yoon-Soo’s plans.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked at the window of the mansion and continued, “I’m sure she’s heard me by now.”

1. His body was left intact, unlike the other humans, so he was raised as well.

2. This was the machete used by the Giant Hobgoblin; the author begins calling it a greatsword from now on.