Chapter 106: The Truth

I opened my eyes and woke up in somewhere unfamiliar. It was freezing cold. It looks like... a cave? I then looked around. I was sitting on a camping bed. My limbs are back and I was covered in bandages. How long was I out and how did I survive? Also... I thought I can't feel anything. Why is my chest aching like crazy. "Argh..."

I looked around some more and found food. I immediately gulped it down. I then heard a voice.

"Oh, you're up and running?"

"Gazer Armo-, UGUAH!" I vomited out blood.

"You're weak, ahahaha!" The one talking down to me was an old man.

"What did you do to me... Why the hell do I feel pain...!?"

"Ah so you've undergone reborn huh."

"Wha-... Come out, Gaia!"

"Summon Cancelling."

"I... I can't get him out. Who the hell are you?"

"A player!" He said in a gleefully manner.

"No way. You don't have that icon."

"Well to put it in simple terms... I was a previous player."

"That was over 100 years ago. If that was 100 years ago, you would've been brought here at least 20 years old. So you're saying you're over that?"

"The moment you reborn, you're immortal."

"I see... Is that want you want me to say? Why did you help me... And... Ah!" I just remembered. "Fafnir's son!? Where is he!? Damn it!" I stood up and began to run. "Where's the exit!? He'll invade Polk and destroy it in no time!" I finally got up and was waiting for me was the vast landscape of clouds. "What...?" And the freezing ice of the mountain I'm standing on. "This mountain is higher than the clouds...?"

"Calm down. I'll explain everything."

"Hell no! Teleport!"

"Dispel."

"You..! You countered all of my spells. What do you want?"

"Come on, let's have a talk."

"...Fine."

We went back to the inside of the cave. This old man light up the woods next to us and created a bonfire. He offered me food but I respectfully decline.

"So... what now?" I asked.

"Tell me, what do you think of this Battle Royale?"

"How do you... I see... you're telling the truth. But why does it matter?"

"Come on, humor me."

"Hmm... That's a very vague question. But if I give my opinion on it, I would guess it's both a blessing and a curse."

"Ho? Continue."

"A blessing because well... I do want this. This world is something that I want. Something I can be good at. My previous life was just basically a slave with benefits. Go to work, 9-7 every single day just writing and such. That was like being locked. Is that truly freedom?"

"Hmm..."

"A curse because... the living beings that are here are alive too and they're having the worst lives. Afal my friend and the slaves in this world too."

"I see. Then I was right."

"About what?"

"I'm finding a successor."

"For what?"

"Hmm... I guess I'll have to tell you where it all started."

"Sure, I guess?"

"There were 10 of us before. And you know, the basic things happened. We battled low level enemies and raised so much levels. All of us got reborn at level 100 and that's it. So we finally got to our highest level. Our party's average team is about Level 3,000."

"That's insane... How long did it take?"

"Hahaha! That's still low compared to the top players at our time. Anyway, we want our questions to be answered. So we seek answers... at Tartarus."

"What's with Tartarus anyway? It's a level 10,000 dungeon."

"We entered Tartarus and we got to the 50th floor. That's where we stopped."

"Hmm? Why?"

"The levels of the monsters got way too irregular. The gate keeper of the 50th floor was level 15,000. We couldn't beat it. So we just left. Teleport is not allowed so we ran all the way to the entrance of Tartarus."

"Those are insane numbers."

"After witnessing Tartarus, we just wanted to live peacefully. So we sealed our weapons in our inventory and went to a random place wherein no one knew us. I got married with Martha, one of the people that joined me to Tartarus. And lived happily. But then, after living peacefully for years, a demon invaded the place we were living on."

"..." I couldn't say anything.

"That demon was... a player."

"Huh!?"

"You'll be amazed when you hear his level. When I saw it, I just wanted to crawl over and accept my fate."

"What was it?"

"..." He looked over me from head to my feet. "No. You must not."

"So... why are you telling me this?"

"Inherit my powers Zieglind."

"What?"

"I'm tired. I've been trying to enter Tartarus ever since but the farthest I got was floor 38."

"How strong are you...?"

"I will train you. I just want you to do one thing for me. End the cycle of this world."

"That's..."

"Do you know why I'm still alive as a player? The demon of a player killed me. And that was supposed to be it. But, Martha broke the rules of the game. She resurrected me. Just as the saying goes, an eye for an eye. And that's what happened with me. She gave her own life for me. The demon knowing I'm not a player just left me there with no intention of killing me twice. I'm done with this life. I want to meet Martha in the afterlife. I do know that I can just kill myself but I can't let the same fate happen to other people in this world. So I began searching, waiting for a hundred years for a successor. And I choose you."

"Me?"

"I've been observing multiple players and I can safely say, most I met are cruel. And that fight with Fafnir, I saw your bravery. You knew you will lose against Fafnir but you still decided to get out of the Mass Teleport skill to drag him out."

"I got to admit, I do want to end the cycle. I already met one whose life is already destroyed by his father. Demonized and made as a puppet filled with multiple organs of different creatures. I know other creatures might not have that fate, but it just shows how cruel this world is."

"Join me Zieglind. Let's put an end to this cycle."

"..." I was hesitant but I knew my answer from the start. "Sure. Let's see where this takes me. What's your name old man?"

"I'm Herold Nemath."

"Zieglind Reysh."