Chapter 14: The Inevitable Fate of Trash Mobs

It doesn’t matter how much you hammer iron, you cannot turn it into gold.『Ma Uragan』

* * *

[I’m surprised. This is truly surprising]

The Necromancer, Buzum, exclaimed in astonishment from atop the Titan's head.

Beneath his coffin, over the Titan's hollowed head, he could see Dung Beetle, dripping with blood and filth, glaring at him with a murderous gaze.

Buzum, who had walked the path of mana for a long time, could tell instinctively. The human before him had performed a miracle—A miracle born from immense willpower and talent.

[I apologize for treating you as a mere maggot. You have fought magnificently and were defeated remarkably.]

He reached out to the Titan and began casting a spell. The spells inside the Titan were already destroyed, but the Necromancer was a master of recycling.

As the remnants of mana still moved according to his will, lumps of flesh squirmed and clumped together over the Titan’s remains.

Soon, something like pus burst forth from the mass of flesh.

It was a corpse slime, loosely stitched together from the flesh and bile.

Though it was a lowly creature, barely in the form of a human, even that would be a tough opponent for the severely wounded Dung Beetle.

[Do not be ashamed of your defeat. It is just that the fate destined for me did not allow me to be defeated by you.]

"Bull…shit…."

After struggling to say those words, Dung Beetle vomited blood. It had become a harbinger of his death.

[I can’t believe this; to obtain a raw gem like you right before the important event. This, too, is a sign that fate is on my side.]

The corpse slimes controlled by Buzum slowly surrounded and closed in on Dung Beetle.

The foremost slime touched Dung Beetle's foot. Unable to resist it, Dung Beetle surrendered one of his feet to the slime.

With that as the starting signal, the slimes began to engulf his body.

[Death will never be the end. I will personally sculpt your corpse and turn you into a Death Knight.]

Watching the slime bury Dung Beetle, Buzum descended slowly. He wanted to hear Dung Beetle's final breath himself.

[The newly reborn you will accompany me to drench the academy in blood …?!]

As Buzum got closer, Dung Beetle pushed away the slimes and reached out. In his hand was a shotgun slightly longer than his forearm.

!!

He pulled the trigger. Buzum hastily closed his coffin lid, but the silver bullets pierced the impure magic protecting the wooden coffin and struck his body.

[!]

Pain he hadn't felt in a long time enveloped him, and his bones touched by the silver bullets began to crumble.

However… it wasn't fatal.

None of the shotgun pellets managed to penetrate Buzum's skull. Seaʀᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It was not something that could be described by the word ‘luck’ alone, but could only be deemed a miracle.

[Heuhahaha! Too bad, O Raw Gem! My destined enemy is someone else, so you cannot kill me!]

Dung Beetle did not dispute his words. He had mustered the last of his strength, searching for an opportunity to kill the Necromancer.

However, the Necromancer simply scoffed at him, his coffin floating high in the sky.

Buzum rose to a height where neither shotgun nor grenade could reach and coldly declared.

[Now, face your death!]

The slimes began to strangle Dung Beetle delicately, like a hunter's noose around a tiger's neck to obtain a clean hide.

Dung Beetle's breath grew faint, and the murderous gleam in his eyes began to fade and blur.

Then, all of a sudden, his retinas reflected light from afar.

Something was flying through the sky… a lightning bolt?

[What?]

When Buzum sensed the fluctuating mana and turned his head, he saw that a large, glowing object was already descending—no, plummeting towards him.

"GO DIEEEEEEEEE!"

It was the War Hammer, emitting a blinding light, crashing down from the sky like a lightning bolt, and the girl wielding it.

As Buzum instinctively moved his coffin to the optimal route to avoid the War Hammer that was flying towards him, Dung Beetle mustered his last bit of strength.

He shook off the slime and leaped off the ground.

Even though his broken leg was screaming in pain and it felt like his heart would burst, he still jumped.

Feather step. With the same footwork he used to dodge the Titan's fist, he leaped up and kicked the coffin.

—

Although his kick didn't have enough power to break the coffin, it was more than enough to push the fleeing coffin back to its original position.

[This is… my fate...!]

Without even allowing Buzum to leave any last words, the War Hammer pierced the coffin and shattered his skull.

However, the War Hammer didn't stop even after it crushed Buzum. The lightning continued to strike the concrete floor of the pier.

!

A deafening roar, like a hundred grenades exploding simultaneously, shook the surroundings.

* * *

Swept away by the shockwave, Dung Beetle rolled on the ground ceaselessly before finally coming to a stop after hitting a collapsed container.

"...."

The back of his head throbbed after crashing into the container as it seemed like a mild concussion had set in, but since neither his body nor his limbs were left unscathed, this pain was not worse than the others.

Shaking his head to clear the concussion, Dung Beetle turned his gaze towards the source of the loud noise.

There, he saw a girl in jeans and a coat, holding a long hammer.

Her black, straight hair swayed lightly, as if the God-level power she had just demonstrated was all a lie.

The girl who had been standing silently with her hammer suddenly shifted her gaze. Her blue eyes locked with the golden eyes of Dung Beetle, who had been observing her quietly.

"Dung beetle-ssi, we meet again!"

Tucking her hair behind her ear, Park Seti broke the silence and asked Dung Beetle.

"How's your body? Are you okay?"

"...As you can see, I'm fine."

His broken ribs jabbed at his chest, and blood surged and gushed from deep within his stomach, but for some reason, he didn’t feel like he had any fatal wounds.

After all, this was the same body that had been resurrected after being decapitated. And he could already feel the misaligned bones returning to their places.

"Judging by that expression of yours, it seems that you have many questions. So, how about we play a game of questions? It’s simple: we take turns asking and answering. What do you think?"

"Do I have the option to refuse?"

"Well, of course, you do. But I'm not sure if the police will give you the same option."

Hearing the blatant threat, Dung Beetle hesitated for a moment before nodding his head.

"...Fine, but I'll go first."

"Go ahead. After all, it's not like the order really matters in this game."

Dung Beetle looked directly into Seti's smiling eyes and asked his first question.

"...Who are you?"

"Huh, a philosophical question right from the start? Hmm... Should I answer in a Hegelian way or a Nietzschean way1?”

"..."

"Just kidding. You don't need to make such a face."

Using the War Hammer's handle, which reached up to her waist, as support, Park Seti leaned sideways.

"My name is Seti. I was born on October 31st in Research Complex No. 2 at Kaesong, and my family name is Hong from Hamhung2."

"...Hamhung Hong?"

"Oh, right. Park isn’t my real surname; it's Hong. But my first name really is Seti. Hong Seti. Ugh, it sounds like the name of a drug or something weird, right?"

She shrugged her shoulders and continued.

"Ahem, occupation… hmm, I'm scheduled to enter Lord Howe Academy through a special admission quota, and I hate silver and beans. That's all I can think of for now."

"...Did it look like I was expecting that kind of answer when I asked the question?"

"Then you should be more specific next time. Now, it's my turn to ask, right?"

Dung Beetle moved his right hand, which was gradually regaining its sensation, to his waist.

Seeing that he had two grenades left, he tried to calculate to see if it would be possible to escape from Park Seti... no, Hong Seti, using those two grenades.

Perhaps it may have been possible if his body were in better condition. But with a broken leg, it was impossible, especially after he had seen her flying and swinging that gleaming War Hammer.

After contemplating briefly, Dung Beetle decided to continue with this strange conversation, at least until his broken leg healed.

"...Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Do you remember either your mother or father's faces? Was either of them non-human?"

...What? The unexpected, rude question made Dung Beetle frown slightly.

"Oh, uh… I phrased that rather poorly. I mean, do you have any special lineage?"

"Special lineage? What are you talking about?"

"Celestials, monsters, beastfolk, elves, and so on... foreign races from beyond the dimensional portal. Well, it certainly doesn't look like you have any dwarven blood..."

Dung Beetle couldn't think of a response on being asked whether his parents were non-human or if they had conceived him with a non-human.

After a brief silence, he sighed and answered.

"I don't know. As I said at the bar, I've never met my parents."

", so I wasted my question."

Hong Seti spoke insincerely. The frivolous smile on her face was bone-chilling.

"...Now it's my turn."

Dung Beetle thought of a question to buy time. After a moment, he asked a rather provocative one.

"What kind of people are your parents?"

"My parents?"

“Yes, they can’t be ordinary parents seeing that they named their daughter Seti.”

Upon hearing that question, Seti smiled widely. It was a sly smile, similar to that of a girlfriend who discovered a dirty magazine in her boyfriend's drawer.

"My parents are... well, simply put, they're pathetic."

"…What?"

First, a rude question, now self-deprecating humor? Dung Beetle blinked in disbelief.

"I won't tell you to love your family, but you shouldn’t speak that… badly about them. Insulting your own family often comes back to bite you."

Although it wasn’t his original intention, Dung Beetle gave her sincere advice, but Hong Seti just shrugged.

"My parents are a drug addict and a prostitute. Don’t you think that calling them pathetic is putting it mildly?"

"..."

Dung Beetle's expression twisted at once. He wasn't used to having vulgar conversations like this with a woman.

"Now it's my turn, right?"

While Dung Beetle was still reeling from her self-deprecation, Seti continued with a straight look on his face.

"Why did you kill the government agents?"

"..."

"If you were only after the Necromancer, there was no need to throw a grenade at the government agents as well, right?"

Realizing the implication of her question, Dung Beetle snapped back to his senses.

"…So, it looks like you were watching me from the very start."

"Of course, anyone can do it if they have a telescope and enough patience."

Seeing Seti boldly admit to stalking, Dung Beetle swallowed his sigh.

And the fact that he hadn't noticed her following him was more shocking than the stalking itself.

However, the regret didn’t last for long. He could take his time learning lessons from his mistakes later. For now, it was more important to figure out her true intentions.

"Why are you curious about me killing the government agents? Regardless, murder is just murder."

"Answering a question with a question is against the game rules."

"…It’s better than telling a lie."

"Dung Beetle-ssi, you're ruining the point of this question game."

Hong Seti raised the corner of her lips, as if she found the situation amusing.

"I’m telling you this just in case you misunderstand me. I'm not asking this to take the government's side. I don't get along with them either."

"…Everyone who pays taxes says that."

"I'm a student, so I don't pay taxes."

She said this and then turned to look in the opposite direction of Dung Beetle.

"Hmm… how about this? I'll show you why I dislike the government. And if you find me trustworthy, you should answer my question properly."

At the only entrance to Pier 13; the only place untouched by the Titan's destruction.

Following her gaze, Dung Beetle also looked in that direction and unconsciously squinted his eyes.

From beyond the darkness of the night, he could see car headlights approaching the pier.

***

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