The shadow grew bigger. A frog... Yes, the shadow now knew that the first creature it had swallowed was a frog. Actually, it knew a lot more than it did before. It now knew what a frog, a snake, and an eagle were.
When it was a frog, it knew the happiness of feeling the rain on its skin. After becoming a snake, the sensation of sliding across the smooth earth brought it joy. When it became an eagle, it learned the happiness of letting the wind carry its weight.
It realized that the rain, ground, and the sky each held a happiness of their own.
The shadow finally became a lion and learned the joy of killing. The moment it sank its teeth into its prey, blood rushed into its mouth. It was so fragrant that the shadow felt like it could die then and there. Naturally, it would have become an elemental spirit or a divine spirit if it hadn’t coincidentally run into a certain noisy creature. The creature ran away from the shadow.
“Ah... Eeekkk! Ahhhhhh!”
The shadow instinctively followed the creature.
“H-help me...! Dad! Dad! Save me!”
The creature was loud but slow, and threw itself facedown onto the ground. The shadow was yet to realize that the creature had tripped because it didn’t know what “tripping” was. It traveled between the ground and sky, swallowing countless creatures, but this was its first time meeting a creature that was stupid enough to fall over while running.
“I don’t want to die! Dad! Hel—”
Before the noisy creature got any louder, the shadow sank its teeth into it and ate the creature up. The blood flowed into the shadow’s mouth. When its mouth was full of blood, the shadow was stunned.
It was so fragrant. The scent was unbelievable. Captivated by the blood, the shadow lost itself in the feast and consumed everything there was about the creature. Blood... Flesh... Bones! Intestines! Everything about the creature was a delight.
As the shadow sank its teeth deeper, its hind legs got thinner and its front legs became longer. While the hind legs remained legs, its front legs became arms, and its mane became a head of hair. It quietly devoured every last bit of the creature. When it was done with the last morsel, the shadow slowly gained the creature’s memory.
A human—that was what the creature was called. The human had been born in a remote village and its family showered it with endless love. However, life always lacked one aspect, and for this human it was health.
There was no way to treat the human’s illness in this remote countryside. Even if the illness could be cured, the family didn’t have any money. Love was the only thing that was abundant in this family. The human continued to creep closer to death day by day, but admirably, she refused to die in her bed.
“I want to take a walk before I won’t be able to do it anymore! I’m going to get as much fresh air as possible.”
That was her mistake. While testing to see how far she could get, she wandered off too far and reached death inside the shadow’s stomach.
“Honey! Estelle! There you are!”
The shadow stopped being “it.”
“I told you several times not to go out on your own! It’s dangerous near the forest. You never know when a beast will attack you. Never wander off on your own like... Wait, what’s wrong with your clothes?”
“Dad.” She smiled. “I think I’m healthy now.”
Estelle was the first name that the Demon King got to have.
[The Skill Monster Legion Summon has been activated.]
The plains started to change, beginning right under my feet. My shadow expanded endlessly, covering the wastewater spread by the Demon King.
Something emerged from the shadow—human skeletons. They looked like demons trying to escape from hell.
Mr. Sword Emperor, you wanted to know why I chose Monster Legion Summon?
I considered getting a different Skill in the beginning, too.
The aura-enhancing Skill was tempting too because the red laser beam that the Demon King fired was formidable. It would be awesome if I got to attack like that. However, I changed my mind after giving it some thought.
Show me my Skill Card.
Monster Legion Summon
Effects: You are able to summon those you have killed as monsters. The dead won’t have their original abilities nor their memories. They are only summoned as monsters like goblins, orcs, zombies, or skeletons.
※However, you can summon your legion only once a week.
Summon those I killed as monsters, I muttered as I scanned the golden card. Here’s the question: how many people do you think I have killed?
—Uhhh... You and that guy you call the Fucker. Isn’t it two people? The Guardian frowned.
That’s what you would think, right? I smiled. But why would the Sword Star’s Detective Eyes show that I have a kill count of over four thousand?
Honestly, it’s way too high. I did kill myself a lot, but I didn’t murder anyone innocent. It was just me and me only. So why would the kill count be over four thousand? It should be two.
I looked in front of me. In other words, the Tower uses a particular method to count death. Killing the same person twice counts as two deaths, not one.
In front, more monsters emerged from the shadowed plains. I could also see a group of skeletons who had already escaped from my hell.
A legion of skeleton soldiers spread across the plains.
How many deaths do you think I caused?
I had committed 4097 suicides. After hunting Yoo Soo-Ha for the first time, I had been killed by the Sword Star before a day passed, so my Yoo Soo-Ha hunts had to take place twice. That made 4099 deaths.
Set out on the plains were the traces of my death. I nodded at the hell I had created myself.
“Wow... I really died a lot.”
The skeletons bared their teeth. All of them looked the same and shared my physique. I suppose it was only natural since those skeletons were the evidence of my death.
Their weapons are the same too.
All of the skeletons were holding a dagger, the weapon I used when I had taken my own life and Yoo Soo-Ha’s.
I was the only one who was leisurely examining the skeletons’ weapons. The Black Witch and Sword Star were looking around warily.
“What is this? Mr. Kim, is it your Skill?”
“Yes, it is.” I nodded.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” The Black Witch’s jaw dropped. “Oh my god. I’ve never heard of a Skill that can summon thousands of monsters! So this is how you cleared the tenth floor!”
“Uh... No, that’s not...”
It seemed the Black Witch was having a misunderstanding, but before I could correct it, she was distracted by the skeletons.
Well, it wasn’t important.
“Well, yeah. You’re right.”
“I knew it!” The Black Witch clenched her fists.
“We can talk more about this later.”
There was no reason I had to settle this misunderstanding right now. We couldn’t afford to chat with the Demon King right in front of us.
—How...are you using the same Skill as me...?
The Demon King was equally bewildered and was just standing there, frozen. She didn’t have a face, but I could tell from her voice alone. It was a shame—I would have gotten to see how much a person’s face could scrunch up if she had one. But I tucked that thought away.
“Do you want to know how?” I grinned. “But—uh-oh, too bad—I’m not going to tell you. Keep wondering. Or, I can tell you in exchange for your head. How does that sound?”
—I can’t believe it...! This shouldn’t have been allowed! When are you going to stop making a fool of me, Goddess? My resentment! My grudges! Our promise is to embrace them all! How could you...! The Demon King howled like a wounded lion.
“Mr. Sword Star!” I didn’t listen to the Demon King screech. She had her reasons, but she was my enemy which meant I had a job to do—and if she was distracted, I had an opportunity.
“Please fight alongside the skeletons! They’ll be able to equally go toe to toe with the monsters if you're by their side!”
“...Okay. I don’t feel comfortable fighting together with monsters... but I guess it’s better than helping you,” the Sword Star grumbled.
“Thank you! Help me, Black Dragon Master! Let’s crush the Demon King!”
“On it. Just don’t slow me down!”
The Sword Star swung his sword, and the Black Witch released her aura. It seemed that they had decided to follow my lead until we took down the Demon King. I nodded and shouted at my death.
Over four thousand skeletons growled quietly.
“Show me what you do best! Kill and die!” I commanded,
The skeletons jumped onto the monsters from all directions. They were merely bones, so they were light. One of them sailed through the air and landed on an orc’s head. It squeezed the orc’s skull with its bony legs and brought its dagger down using both hands. It frantically swung its dagger again and again, tearing the orc’s eyes, mouth, and neck. The orc let out a short scream before it collapsed on the ground. The impact cost the skeleton its left arm, but it didn’t care. It simply ran toward its next prey.
Somewhere else, a goblin screamed in pain. A skeleton, down to only its skull, bit off the goblin’s arm.
Other skeletons mobbed the goblin. Each of them was missing something—an arm, a leg, a head—but all of them were holding daggers.
The goblin flailed, but it was meaningless. The skeletons surrounded it and stabbed the goblin, creating a large pool of blood.
—Whoa. Those skeletons certainly take after your tenacity. An army of monsters who aren’t afraid of dying. Fuck! That’s scary! The Guardian shook his head in disbelief.
The massacre infuriated the Demon King.
—How dare you! You don’t have the right! You’re just a man from a different world! You don’t carry any of the malice, the grudges, the life of this world! How dare you stand in my way! she howled.
Her shadow constantly poured out wastewater. If it were red, I would have thought that she was bleeding. The Demon King screamed so hard that anyone else would have coughed blood after screaming like that. The howl echoed off of heaven and earth.
“Why does it matter where I’m from? I’m standing right here. If that’s not enough...”
Before the echo died out, I heard the voice again.
[The Tower has bestowed a title on you.]
[Your title is Death King.]
The voice went on. It felt like someone had been watching me for a long time and was now blessing and celebrating my liberation from the prison of time.
[Hail to the king who reaps deaths.]
Yes, someone remembered me. Even if I had to relive a day, someone knew why I was standing here. That was enough for me.
“Don’t tell me about my rights.” I brandished my sword at my enemy. “The Tower is my witness.”
Death King was my second name.