Record of a Thousand Lives c3

I’m having fun doing this.

Author: Flatter
The Author of this story, Flatter, has full rights over this story, and I am translating this work with his permission.

—–

The moon of this world was blue, unlike the one in the real world.
The bugs in this world began to chirp quietly.
Dawn was approaching.
The light in the workshop faded away.

Hw.a.n.g Yongho formed a group of elites.
There was no way twenty people could all fit in the workshop.
He formed a small group of people who were able to fight.
First, the elite group would go in and capture the man, and then everyone else would go in for the kill.
The group was composed of 8 men, including Hw.a.n.g Yongho.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho gripped onto his weapon, the ‘Spear of Heat’.
He stood next to the wooden door of the workshop, and put his finger on his lips.

“We only have one target, but as this is our first hunt, we may make some critical mistakes. Let’s end this quickly.”

The men nodded with faces full of tension.
The tension came only from the fact that this was their first time committing murder, not from questioning whether they could win or not.
They had eight people on their side.
It was impossible for a single man to fight eight people.

Hw.a.n.g Yongho carefully opened the door of the workshop.
At the same time, he rushed into the place.
The others quickly followed.

The moonlight seeped through the windows, and lit up the workshop.
The ashes in the furnace mixed with the moonlight to emit a strange light.
The blacksmith tools in the room indicated that it hadn’t been used for a long time.

Hw.a.n.g Yongho pressed the green b.u.t.ton on his terminal.
The flashlight was turned on, and a faint light began to flow from it.
The people in the group used the flashlight to search the place.
They looked through every object in the room, and searched all the closets as well.

But the man was nowhere to be found.

“Did he run?”

A man asked this quietly.
But Hw.a.n.g Yongho shook his head in response.

“Let’s search a bit longer. The lights were still on just a moment ago. It’s unlikely that he left the building.”
“Ahh-!”

All of the sudden, a scream resounded near the anvil.
Everyone s.h.i.+ned their flashlight near that direction.
A man, who was alive just a moment ago, was found with his head cut off.

“W, what the h.e.l.l?”

One of the men stepped back with a surprise.
That moment, the man felt something hit his foot, and something cold pa.s.sed through his neck.
A few seconds later, the man realized that his neck had a large hole in it.

Pssh–!

“Kuh…. keho!”

Blood exploded out of the hole in the man’s throat.
Another person fell.
Everyone gripped onto their weapon tightly with confused faces.

“What the h.e.l.l’s going on, f.u.c.k!”
“T, two people died in an instant!”

Everyone searched frantically with their flashlights, but they could only see blood.
They couldn’t even find the shadow of the murderer, or even sense him at all.
Right then.

Bang–!

The door of the workshop closed.
Almost as if telling everyone inside that they would be unable to get out alive.
The men became panicked.
There were a few who swung their sword around everywhere, and there were a few who tried to hide.

“Calm down! There’s no use in getting panicked!”

Hw.a.n.g Yongho shouted this out loudly, but even he was getting panicked.
The murderer killed two men without a sound.
The murderer wasn’t hesitant when it came to killing people.

“Argh–!”

Another scream resounded in the darkness.
The flashlight revealed a man stabbed in the heart.
Those who were still alive turned pale.
One of the men screamed in fear.

“W, we gotta run! We gotta run!”

The man’s footsteps, which could be heard running towards the doorway, disappeared.
They were all too afraid to use the flashlight now.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho suppressed his fear, and used his flashlight.
He could see a corpse with a hole in its head.

“Ahh-!”
“Hurgh–!”
“Kuuh–!”

The speed at which people died sped up.
Three men screamed in the dark.
Seven men were dead at this point in time.
Only Hw.a.n.g Yongho was left alive.

The fear that he might die here, and the fact that he was alone made him even more afraid.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho struck the table next to him with his spear, and ground his teeth.

“Who is it? Reveal yourself!”

At that moment, he could feel something cold at his back.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho decided to rely on his instincts, and immediately turned back and stabbed out with his spear.
His spear came in contact with something solid.

Cheng–!

With that strike, light s.h.i.+ned out.
The enemy’s sword had let out a blinding light.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho had to squint due to the light, but he managed to clearly see the person in front of him.

Short hair.
Pale skin.
An emotionless face that resembled a mask.
Early twenties.
It was the man who had been alone in the workshop.

That was the only thing he could think at that time.
He could see or think no more.
The man’s sword shot out towards Hw.a.n.g Yongho’s face.

“Hup–!”

His cheek was sliced.
His flesh was torn off, and his white teeth was revealed.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho was overwhelmed by the pain, and fell backwards, letting go of his spear in the process.
He touched his cheek, now wet with blood, with trembling hands.
His whole body was trembling.
It was almost as if he was fighting a war machine.
No wasted movement.
Unhesitant strikes.
The man didn’t seem like a human.

“What…….!”

It was at the moment when Hw.a.n.g Yongho opened his mouth.
He could hear a dry voice from the darkness.

“What the h.e.l.l are you.”

Hw.a.n.g Yongho was surprised.
Those words were the exact words he was trying to say.
Was it just a coincidence?
Hw.a.n.g Yongho stepped backwards in surprise.
He could hear footsteps coming closer to him.
The man was walking towards him.

“Don’t…….!”
“Don’t kill me. I haven’t done anything wrong. Killing me is murder. Do you not have any regret.”
“How…….!”
“How do you know what I’m going to say. f.u.c.k, what the h.e.l.l are you.”

Hw.a.n.g Yongho felt a s.h.i.+ver run down his spine.
The man was saying everything he was about to say.
What the h.e.l.l was this?
Could that man read his mind?
Before Hw.a.n.g Yongho could think any further, he could hear a bone-chilling voice in his ear.

“Even your words, I’m absolutely sick of it.”

The man’s sword struck down.
Slice–!
Hw.a.n.g Yongho died, with his body spewing out blood.

Kang Yoonsoo put back his sword.
He took out a mop that was laid out on the table, and cleaned the blood.
Then, he took items that he needed from the corpses.
There was no need to turn on the lamp.
He knew, even if he didn’t see.

When he took away the items from the dead corpses, the terminal displayed new words.

[Spear of Heat]
Rank-Normal
Piercing Strength: 9
The spear heats up when it gets in contact with flammable material.

[Power Gauntlet]
Rank-Normal
Strength: 10
Strength rises when equipped.

[Throwing Knives(x20)]
Rank-Normal
Throwing Strength: 4
Has a slight chance of blinding the enemy.

[Your crime point rose due to killing eight men.
As this was done in self-defense, the points will reduce significantly.
Current Crime Points-3
When this rises, you may suffer when being investigated.]

[Experience rises tremendously due to synergy between murder and slaughter.
This is your first murder. Experience rises as a bonus.
You levelled up 12 times.]

[Strength][Sight][Endurance][Sensitivity]

You were able to raise one stat per level.
Kang Yoonsoo chose to invest all his points into strength.
He stuck the Spear of Heat into the furnace.
When the spear touched the pile of ashes, it began to emit heat.
The cold furnace immediately heated up.
A red light could be seen inside.
When the furnace heated up, Kang Yoonsoo took out the spear.

When he walked out of the workshop, the ones inside flinched, and looked at him.

“What the? What happened to the guys inside?”
“Why did this guy come out? Urk, isn’t this a smell of blood?”
“Th, they’re dead. The guys who went in all died!”

The survivors all looked at him with a surprised face.
Kang Yoonsoo kept walking with an emotionless face.
A man with a threatening face blocked his path with a knife.

“Those items seem to be the possessions of the ones who went inside the workshop. You killed them, didn’t you?”

The man swallowed his spit when he saw the items Kang Yoonsoo stole.
He was an evil man who cared more for items rather than other humans.

“Give it here. Those are the items our comrades had originally. Are you really trying to steal them? If you don’t give it, I’ll kill you.”

Kang Yoonsoo looked at them with lifeless eyes.
They were people who gave up on humanity for survival.
In the future, they’d form a giant clan of criminals.
Hw.a.n.g Yongho would kill many people as the leader of that clan.
Kang Yoonsoo almost died multiple times in their hands.

Kang Yoonsoo looked at all of the survivors, and opened his mouth.

“In 20 seconds, you will all die.”
“What are you talking about?”
“These will be your last words.”

Kang Yoonsoo kept walking after saying this.
When all the survivors in the scene made confused faces, a giant sound could be heard from the back.

“Krobit–! Absaloon–!”

Crack–!

The person at the very back became crushed into a b.l.o.o.d.y mush.
The monster with a giant warhammer in hand looked down on all of them with a growl.
The monster with a muscular body, and a cow’s head, the minotaur.
The monster who killed many on the first day smelled blood, and came here.

There wasn’t even time to scream.
The minotaur swung its hammer like a storm.
All the survivors broke apart into pieces.

Kang Yoonsoo, who was outside the range of the hammer, was safe.
He held a sword on his right hand, and a spear on the other.
The weapons were something that both required different skills and rhythm.
It was impossible for someone to use a spear and sword all at once.
But that logic didn’t apply to Kang Yoonsoo.

The spec differences between the two was immense.
The minotaur’s level was 33.
Kang Yoonsoo was only level 13. It seemed like an impossible battle.

Right then, the minotaur let out a snort, and put down his hammer.

“Krunta–! Margot–! Kiris–!”

If one were to translate it, it would mean this.
Since I have all the food I need for today, I’ll let you run.

Kang Yoonsoo stared up at the minotaur silently.
Then, he spoke in the language of the minotaurs.

“Amak. Okonoll. Karu.”

His words meant this.
You die by my hands.

“Kuoooooo–!”

The maddened minotaur lifted its warhammer into the sky.