I opened my eyes.
And I realized I didn't have a physical body.
Or rather, this body wasn't one I recognized.
I looked down. Two hands lay spread out in front of my face—transparent, like mist about to vanish. They were shaped like medieval armor.
"Heh."
I almost laughed, thinking how cliché what was happening to me was. I had been reincarnated into a non-human creature. This wasn't the first time. After that truck, after the "crossing candidate" notification appeared, I'd died and come back to life countless times.
Back then, in the early days when I experienced things like this, I'd panic, scream, and ask questions like a fool. After 18 years as a living doll, why must I keep facing this suffering? But now? I've started to accept it.
'How long has it been?'
The question pops up, but the answer is always hazy. Ten years? A hundred years? Time feels foggy when you keep dying and coming back to life as hundreds of different beings.
In the distance, the sky—if you can even call it that—is blood-red from end to end. Meanwhile, I'm in a huge room. Too huge.
A throne made of bones lies in the center. And on that throne... sits my transparent self.
"Am I some kind of supernatural creature?!"
It's not the worst, actually. After having been a rock that could only sit motionless on a mountain for 47 years, before finally eroding and disappearing, this feels like a vacation.
"This room… isn't like a castle or a palace." This place is more like a tomb. Or a lair. The walls are crumbling, the ceiling is wide open, and bricks are scattered among various corpses.
The skulls on the floor aren't all human. There are creatures with six arms, spider-like legs, and many other oddly shaped beings.
Looking at the piles of corpses and the destruction scattered throughout the palace where I am, it seems a fierce battle has just taken place here.
"Is this some kind of last refuge for supernatural creatures?"
Among the piles of corpses, a transparent creature suddenly stood up. It approached me, dragging its paralyzed legs. At a glance, it resembled a salamander, with human-like features on its face and body. Its eyes were dull, as if the light within them had nearly faded. The corners of its mouth turned downward—not in a frown, but more as if it had forgotten how to smile.
It shook my body, checking and making sure of my condition.
"@#@%@#@"
Its voice was strange. Like a whisper of wind trapped in a bottle. I didn't understand a single word.
But I understood its expression.
Its expression... was like Aria's when I was almost hit by a truck.
Like someone about to lose something.
Tears trickled down its face, wetting my transparent body. Strangely, each drop felt warm amidst my cold form.
The care it gave felt foreign. It was quite touching, actually. Because I was used to facing pain alone. Yet now, there was something shaking my body. Something with weary eyes staring at me. Something crying in front of me.
'How long has it been since someone cried because of me?'
I don't think it's ever happened…
I wanted to say, "Stop shaking my body."
But the words I used failed to reach it.
So I just stayed silent. Letting it shake my body.
"Ugh!"
A sort of groan of pain escaped my mouth.
The pain came from my stomach, which turned out to have a severe wound. Purple blood gushed heavily onto the throne where I sat, like a lake.
The salamander-like creature beside me suddenly stopped shaking my body. Its eyes widened as if sensing approaching danger. Its mouth kept chattering. It tried to support my body.
But it seemed too late.
CRAAAASH!
A loud sound rang out. The already-holed ceiling was now completely shattered, leaving not a single dome intact.
As I squinted against the sand suddenly flooding the hall, a human figure stood before me.
A billowing white robe danced in the wind. Long, golden hair flowed neatly. His face showed no expression—straight lips, narrowed eyes staring at me as if I were an insect that had accidentally caught his attention.
In his hand, a spear of light continued to glow.
He looked at me. The creature beside me. The throne. Then back at me.
"Still alive?" His voice was cold. The corners of his lips curled up slightly. His eyes looked at me as if I were trash. "Interesting."
His voice echoed, heavy and full of authority.
I looked at him.
And suddenly—
'I understand his words?!'
The language spoken by the human before me felt familiar.
'Ah!'
It was the made-up language from the game—
"It doesn't matter. If one attack isn't enough, I'll keep attacking until you vanish."
He raised his hand. A new spear appeared in his other hand. Then he shouted the name of a skill, "Solaria's Spear Beam!"
He hurled the spear in his left hand.
The creature beside me tried to block it. But the spear pierced its body like butter, sending it flying with ease. Just before it vanished into thin air, it managed to furrow its brow as it stared at me and muttered something.
'Shouldn't you be angry at the person who killed you?' I thought to myself.
"Don't be too sad. You're just a monster. I'm just doing my job."
After cleaning that creature, then he raised his right hand. The second spear was already aimed at my chest.
Swish!
The spear easily embedded itself in my chest.
Pain.
Not ordinary pain. This was pain that burned my soul. It felt as though my very existence was being erased bit by bit.
A mouthful of blood spilled from my lips.
As I neared that moment of death—the umpteenth time—my past reincarnation experiences flashed before my eyes.
The first time I reincarnated, I opened my eyes, hoping to become a wealthy noble. A life of luxury in a palace. Without suffering, without gangsters, and without fear.
But instead, I became a seahorse that died while trying to hatch an egg from inside my belly. The pain? Like being squeezed from the inside. Like hundreds of needles piercing my organs one by one.
I remember it clearly because that was my first reincarnation.
[You have obtained the Inventory skill.]
I was briefly happy when I realized I could gain a skill as death approached me. But unfortunately, I couldn't use it.
[Restrictions apply!]
Moreover, not every reincarnation grants me a new skill. Only if I'm lucky can I obtain a new skill.
After becoming a seahorse, I learned that hope is poison. With every reincarnation, I always hoped to become human. But instead, I turned into…
I've been a rabbit killed by an eagle's claws from the sky, a tree toppled by a wild boar's charge, a sewer rat, a rock, and even a cockroach.
Poison jar. I lived inside it with other insects until eventually only I remained. The irony is, once I finally escaped the poison jar, I died because I flipped over. My legs flailed in the air. My body rolled around trying to flip back. But I couldn't.
[You gain the skill: Immunity.]
Step! Step! Step!
The sound of footsteps from the human attacking me brought back all the images of my past suffering. The person approached my body, which was already lying on the floor with a spear firmly embedded in my chest.
"Do you have any last words? As the former ruler of the supernatural creatures, I suppose I'll give you a chance to speak." He gripped the spear embedded in my chest as if intending to pull it out to torment me and said, "Ah, I forgot that you can't understand what I'm saying."
With my remaining strength, I moved my eyes to look at his face. His face looked satisfied, like a cat playing with a mouse. But the distinctive blonde hair, sharp blue eyes, and a thin scar on his left eyebrow made me widen my eyes.
"You are… Luz Fotis?!"
The man furrowed his brow upon hearing my words. "You know my name? Am I already famous among you, the supernatural creatures? No. This is my first appearance. No one should know who I am. Wait! You know the human language?!"
I didn't answer. I just stared at him.
Then I looked around. A crimson sky. A skull throne. Scattered, transparent creatures.
And I realized.
I recognized Luz Fotis's face.
Not from a past life. Not from memories as a human. But from a 6-inch phone screen, from that damn game I played under the thugs' threats.
The Bad Ending is the Only Route.
Luz Fotis. Humanity's first hero. The man who slaughtered supernatural creatures in the opening scene.
For thousands of years, I'd been suspicious. But when he stood before my eyes, I was certain.
"I don't care how you know my name. Or about your ability to speak human."
He pulled out and thrust his spear into my body repeatedly, saying, "Goodbye."
The shock of the pain made my soul fade further. If at first it felt like fading drop by drop, eventually it felt like being swept away by a tsunami. Gone in a single sweep. But amidst that pain, there was something more terrifying than death: understanding.
I wasn't just dying. I was dying at the hands of a character I could once only see. Dying as a monster in a story where I could never find a happy ending.
"I-If I had the chance… I'd take my revenge on you!" I managed to stammer out my final words to him.
The world then faded away.
[Your death has been confirmed.]
[You have obtained a skill set: ???]
[The trial has ended.]
[You will now proceed to the main story timeline.]