Chapter 29: The Wrong Side Of Death_Re:The Worst System Leveling Turned Me Into A Zombie

Something comes at me from behind. I tense, thinking Yin has somehow managed to come down the stairs even with her leg. However, it’s not a person.

“Mrowrowrow!”

My useless orange familiar bounds down the stairs and charges at me. The surprisingly heavy cat feels lighter now that I’m Lvl. 26. It leaps up onto my shoulder and curls around my neck.

“You finally figured out who your master is, huh?” I say with a bemused expression as the cat settles in. “Okay, you can come. But you might want to close your eyes. I don’t think you want to see this.”

The cat’s eyes, one blue, one green, blink and it licks its paw. Feeling a little weird, I exit the grand staircase to find several parties fighting it out in the main floor. Opening my map, I see red dots have activated for every Hunter in the city. No one can hide from the System. As soon as I enter, I cross my butcher’s blade and Yin’s katana.

“I’m sorry, everyone. But I can no longer worry about the rest of the world.” My eyes narrow and I finish my eulogy with a sad voice. “Today…I will have to become a butcher again.”

*Shing*

*Shing Shing*

Blood spills.

Hunters die.

People scream.

Weaklings cry.

The counter flashes with every kill. My level skyrockets as I show the world why I earned the name of Black Butcher Hei.

900,213

859,576

700,798

The number of Hunters in the city decreases at an extreme rate. Of course, it’s not all me. Plenty of other people, and probably some System Reward users which weren’t in the final battle with the boss are killing each other as well. Even still…though I’m not counting, I know my sins are heavy.

The cat on my shoulder watches it all with me, though occasionally it has to put a paw over its eyes as I brutally continue to play the System’s terrible game.

Yin…I’m sorry. I know you disapprove. If that word can even begin to describe how you must feel. But it is the only way. You must survive. When I came out of the darkness you brought me back from the brink. You gave me something good. If you die, I’ll have no meaning…so no one else matters!

*Shing*

“Please no! Don’t kill me!” A young woman trembles as I hold up my cleaver for the killing blow. As she sees my hesitation, a hidden dagger in her hand comes out.

*Thunk*

My agility is too high to fall for a trick like that. Her eyes follow me from the ground as I walk away. I feel sick.

How many have I killed? More than even in my past life? Am I even human anymore?

500,509

So many dead.

Oceans of bodies.

Blood on every part of me until my black coat is dripping and seems almost tinged with red. The ginger cat on my shoulder whines in fear at what it’s seen. Its poor trembling paws hold tight onto me as if it’s scared I might turn on it if it lets go.

“Sorry you had to see that. But I’m glad you’re here…” I whisper to it before dashing down another alleyway for the next prey.

Time is always ticking.

06:40:21

*Shing*

“NOOOOO! Not my son!”

“I…why are you so strong?”

“Spare us!”

*SHING*

“Eurgh!” I find myself vomiting in a corner. The cat walks up onto my back as I retch out what little food is in my stomach. As I wipe away the bile with my sleeve, I realize there’s more than vomit and blood on my face.

I’m crying?

My face trembles and for a second, an agonizing sob leaves me as I drop my weapons. The cat meows, coming back and wrapping its warmth around my neck once more. For a few precious minutes I don’t do anything but cry in that lonely alleyway.

I don’t want to see another person.

I don’t want to have to kill another person.

I don’t want to remember their faces!

Then the Hunter Counter refreshes. I see I’m running out of time.

351,208

I pick up my weapons once more. Staring up into the ultrabright moon as it shines down through the translucent barrier, I just let the tears flow as I seek out my next victim.

“Even Death Gods cry sometimes I guess…”

*Shing Shing Shing*

Congratulations!

The System is a sick thing.

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Perverted.

Horrible.

But it makes me strong.

I have accepted its rule, so long as it gives me the power to save her.

My level rises without end, the power of the Demon Lord’s Hunger makes me a monster. I have become far worse than the boss ever was. All he ever did was throw down lightning on a few people. I am the Reaper himself, wandering this city for a midnight stroll. All who I encounter die without exception.

*Shing*

“I’m sorry.”

“Please forgive me.”

At some point my cold-hearted shell breaks. I find myself apologizing to each of my kills like some sort of deluded fool. Still, I don’t stop. The cat on my shoulder meows pitifully as each person dies. It seems to be trying to comfort me. Though it’s obviously terrified, it never leaves me alone. Even though that is my only future in this city. For I know where this fool’s quest ends.

Only sorrow and loneliness awaits once everyone is gone.

That is my destiny.

Congratulations!

“EUUURGH!” I vomit nothing solid.

Or maybe I’m vomiting blood.

It hurts so bad.

Something hurts inside, even though I’m not injured. It’s like the System or God or something is punishing me for what I’m doing.

But doesn’t it understand?

That I have to keep going?

That I don’t want to do this?

“Please…I don’t want to kill again.”

My begging falls on no one’s ears but the dead. And they cannot answer. If the System hears, it does not answer. Instead, the Hunter Count refreshes once more.

1501

02:00:05

At some point, the number of Hunters left has dropped to rock bottom. I never found another System Reward user, and my level is so high no one poses a challenge anymore. Yet somehow every kill is getting harder. My feet feel like lead. All my tears have drained my body of its moisture. I feel parched.

I’m a husk now. The person who used to be Hei is gone.

All that remains is the Black Butcher.

896

Congratulations

700

Congratulations

523

Congratulations

403

Congratulations

302

Congratulations

201

Congratulations

At that moment, as the last red dot on the System Map falls to my blade and disappears, I realize that no one is left.

The city is empty.

All that is left is my own party and a few on the rooftop of Tiendas Tower.

My level is too high.

Too freaking high.

I wish I could rip out my own eyes just to stop seeing the congratulatory messages from the System.

It approves of what I’ve done.

It loves me for it.

It’s sick.

I’m sick.

My level shames me. I can’t even look at the number. I can’t say it out loud. No matter how cold I was before this quest began, no matter how many lifetimes I live…this is too much. I would kill myself if I could die. But I need to finish this. Get Yin out of here before the timer finishes.

00:50:03

So little time left. However, my speed is beyond human now. I blur through the streets all the way back to Tiendas Tower like a ghost. It takes barely ten minutes. Then I find Yin, Tatsuya, and Penelope waiting at the base of the tower. They stare at me when I appear in front of them.

“H-Hei?”

“It’s done.”

I brush past them before they can say anything more.

I can’t bear it.

I can’t stand the look in Yin’s eyes as she sees the blood on my hands.

Up the stairs I go, and then I punch out the concrete blocks. There’s an ambush waiting for me of course, even in my distracted state I know that.

*Weng*

Harem Leader teams up with shield dude to try to blow me apart as I enter, but I’m so fast it doesn’t matter. Before his arrow even arrives, I’m already behind him.

*Shing*

*Puchi*

“Y-You’re a monster!”

“He’s not human!”

“KILL HIM OH GOD SOMEONE PLEASE KILL HIM!”

Congratulations

Hunter Counter :3

Then it’s over.

Their screams still echo in my ears.

I shake terribly.

It won’t stop.

I can’t control myself.

The price of human life is carved into my soul even if they never touched me. The others come up to me in that moment. They see me standing beside the bodies, the sins I’ve committed. I turn around, unable to help myself.

Yin’s face is twisted.

She’s afraid of me.

Penelope looks like she’s going to vomit.

She does.

Tatsuya’s expression is blank. Then he smiles.

Who cares.

“Is it…over?” Yin manages to choke out as she tries not to show her revulsion at the sight of me. Blood still drips from my fingers as I stand dangerously close to the edge of Tiendas Tower.

System Notification:

2nd Objective: There Can Really Only Be One!

Slay All Other Parties Before The City Crumbles!

Complete!

Final Objective: There Will Only Be One!

Slay All Other Hunters In Tiendas City.

Only One May Leave.

“Hehehe…HAHAHA!” A demented laugh comes out. It takes me a while before I realize it’s coming from me. “So, I was wrong. You really won’t let any of us leave this place alive, will you?”

“T-This…” Yin trembles violently, her eyes flickering as she reads the invisible System Notification. “It can’t be!”

“No way!” Penelope cries out, hugging Yin even though she should be afraid. For only one of us can leave now.

As for Tatsuya…he’s going to have trouble speaking.

As soon as I finished the notification, I already knew what I had to do.

“Mr. H-Hei!” Tatsuya stammers as my cleaver comes up under his throat. I take his back using my ridiculously high agility to capture him in an instant. Now both katana and cleaver form an X over his neck as I wait for everyone to process the truth. “We don’t need to do it like this!”

“Don’t we?” I raise an eyebrow as Yin and Penelope begin to scream for me to stop. “There can only be one after all…!”

“Hei! STOP!”

“Don’t do it Mr. Hei!”

My hand twitches.

Even after all the killing, it’s different to kill someone you’ve fought beside before. Some sacred law, some shred of my humanity is still holding back my hand. But not for long.

“I won’t forgive you if you give in!” Yin desperately shouts as it looks like I might slit Tatsuya’s throat at any moment.

I can do this.

I can finish this right here and now.

Yin must survive.

This is the only way.

But in the end…it’s futile.

“Damnit.” I put my blades down and roughly shove Tatsuya away. Then I blur over and separate Penelope, bringing her over to Tatsuya by the edge of the roof.

“W-What are you doing, Mr. Hei?”

“HEI! STOP THIS! WE CAN FIND ANOTHER WAY!” Yin’s cries are ignored as I separate her from them.

Even if I don’t want to kill them myself, I know they’re a threat.

“Heh…he doesn’t trust us to be near you anymore, Ms. Yin.” Tatsuya saves me the trouble of explaining my logic. “And he’s right. Only one of us can leave. It would seem…our dear savior intends for it to be you.”

“M-Mr. Hei?”

I can’t stand the questions anymore.

It’s all so obvious.

“Yea. That’s right. Though I don’t want to kill you myself. But tell me is there another way? Go on, think of something and I’ll be the first one to try it.” I finally speak, and Yin hits me as I blur back to her. In the force of her clenched fist, I can feel her sadness, her desperation, and the despair.

“I…I’m trying.” She whispers while watching the two of them on the rooftop. “We can’t kill them. I can’t kill you.”

“Think harder then.” I look at the timer