"It's you" said a being almost like the one I saw before, but he didn't have the stripes the other one had, this one had long emerald green hair. Even though he was covered in fur, only his hair is long enough to reach the middle of his torso.
The man, I think he is a man, was kneeling on the floor and both of his arms were extended from his body, like they were tied by something invisible. He was on top of what I assume was a magical circle big enough to cover the entire floor of this room, even though the room itself was easily 15 meters across. Behind him was a giant purple-green crystal that connected the floor with the ceiling of the room.
I tried appraising him but the results came back all scrambled and I couldn't understand a word, fortunately [Knowledge Library] did give me some results.
[Pantherino, Negro variant. The Pantherino Negro is a variant of the Pantherino species. This species of Demi-Human has a higher magical capability than other Pantherino variants but lacks the physical strength usually associated with the Pantherino species]
[Dungeon Master. A Dungeon Master was once a living creature or object that was chosen and subsequently fused with a Dungeon Core. They are the masters of their dungeons and expand them, creating traps, monsters, mazes and treasures for explorers to find and challenge themselves]
“It’s finally you…” The man said with a tired yet hopeful voice.
Looking closer he wasn’t wearing any kind of clothes and his fur looked messed up and torn apart in some places.
“Sorry, but… Do I know you?” I carefully asked as he was talking like I was his long time friend.
“No, I suppose not… At least not yet. But I know you, you’re the one who’s going to kill me” he said, not a single speck of anger or hate in his voice, but rather happiness?
“ExcuseMeWhat?” I blurted out.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time… too long, actually… You’re the one who’s finally going to set me free from this cage I've been locked under for so long” he said as he tried to move his arms just for them to be forcefully pulled away from him.
“W-who did this to you?” I asked, understanding that the guy in front of me was trapped by some magical cell and judging by the furless body parts on his body he was abused and probably tortured by the one who trapped him here.
“The villagers call him old sage, but that is the name he made them call him…" he said. "But I don't know his real name either, and he wouldn't tell someone like me even if I wanted to know"
"Someone like you? What do you mean?" I asked, approaching him carefully.
"I meant… not a Human. The name of the village and the village itself was created by him and the name is not a random word, no, it means 'Human Utopia'" he just dropped a bomb like that, does it means what I think it means?
"Does that mean…" I trailed off in my voice.
"That he is xenophobic? Yes, and a lot. I'm just alive because I'm useful to him… I'd rather be dead, but he won't kill me and even locked me in this spell you see on the ground to keep me from killing myself… that's where you come in, you need to kill me" the guy said the last part with more energy than any other part of his phrase, he really wants me to kill him.
"W-what? No, I won't kill you. I'm not a murderer" I said, but he was adamant.
"You're not a murderer, I'm asking you to, hell, I'm literally begging you to kill me...I have no wish to continue living anymore, he took that from me as well with my freedom seven hundred and fifty six years ago…" he said with a hopeless voice.
"Even if you say you want to die, if I kill you it's murder in every angle you look at it" I said.
He lowered his head in a defeated manner and whispered "Now I understand what you mean…"
“What do you..-” He interrupted me mid-sentence.
“What about the Orc? You killed it, wouldn’t that count as murder?” He suddenly asked, making my eyes widen in shock.
“Wha…- How do you…- No, it doesn’t, it wasn’t a person, it was a monster. Isn’t kill or be killed when it comes to monsters?” I answered him.
“Do you know what happens to an Orc when it evolves? It becomes an Ogre, and Ogres are a Demi-Human species, meaning that killing an Orc is no different from killing an Ogre” He revealed to me.
“Wha- I..” He interrupted me again.
“Besides, Monsters aren’t ruthless and mindless killing machines everyone makes them look to be. Beast tamers exist and their job is to tame wild monsters and use them. If monsters weren’t just a little inteligent it wouldn’t be possible to actually tame them” He explained.
The vision I had of the world until now shattered. Amity and Zenshin had told me that killing monsters was only natural as it was a kill or be killed and I bought that idea. Even though it wasn’t really me who killed the Orc, that was the skill, that is part of me, I harmed it with the intention of killing it and then i say to this guy that i don’t want to be a murderer? I am a joke, aren’t I?
“Look at me” The man said to me, causing me to look at him and breaking me out of my altered state.
“You don’t want to be a murderer, that is normal, everyone does not want to be one. Now, forget about everything I just said about killing Orcs and a beast tamer’s job is to get through a monster and make it help. Whenever a monster attacks, it IS kill or be killed. You killed an Orc? no one cares. As I said, Orcs aren’t Ogres, they just can evolve into one, and before they do, they are considered monsters and no one will judge you if you kill them… Hell, before I was a Dungeon Master I would be rewarded if I killed an entire Orc village and brought their corpses…” He stopped as he noticed my face not agreeing with him,
“Sigh. Look, what I'm trying to say is… Killing is not easy, especially if it’s your first time, even if it is a monster you are killing. But I need you to look at me, not at my face, look AT me” He said as he lifted his torso from his original position.
I looked at his body and his state was worse than I originally thought. deep cuts barely healed covered his chest and a portion of his belly was simply missing from his body. I was shocked by how badly hurt he actually was.
“This is what I've been enduring for the past centuries. You think killing is bad, but there are real monsters out there that make killing someone look normal. And he won’t stop, no, he will continue to hurt, to torture me as long as i exist. This isn’t a life, this is the Purgatorio, no, it’s worse than that, because in the Purgatorio you know that once you’ve redeemed yourself it’ll be all over and you’ll be reborn, but this? this will never end. this is just suffering” He said.
I looked back into his eyes and the only thing I could see was how miserable he was being. I've never encountered such eyes that spoke how much pain one was until now.
“I…I” I stuttered.
“Have mercy on me. We’ve never met before, but I ask you to have mercy on me… I can’t take this anymore…I just… I just can’t….” He lost the strength to keep himself upwards and just fell to the front, the magic on the floor keeping his arms extended prevented him from hitting his head on the stone floor. “Death would be the only thing to set me free. I would once more enter the reincarnation cycle and begin anew…”
I approached him and he lifted his head and looked into my eyes again. We stared at one another for several seconds before he weakly smiled and showed his neck to me.
I knew what he wanted me to do, but I still wasn’t totally sure I could do it. But he looked so miserable and his eyes… his eyes were hollow, they were still alive but they didn’t have any will to stay alive anymore. He was at the lowest one could go, he had abandoned all his will to live and nothing could bring them back. I felt sorry for him, but I knew I couldn't do anything to change anything at all… no, that was a lie, I could do one thing. I could grant him his final wish and set him free. End his suffering once and for all. I don’t know what a Dungeon Master is but by the looks of it it is something that has a very long lifespan, and I couldn't just let him suffer…
I closed my eyes and opened my mouth. I would do it, but i didn’t want to look at it, even if that made me a hypocrite i didn’t care, i didn’t want to look… I couldn't look at what I was about to do.
I trusted my head forward and when I felt that my mouth hit something I closed it with all the strength I could muster and pulled it. I felt the blood spilling on my face and heard it instantly boil and evaporate because of my body temperature.
[ Experience points have reached the threshold. Individual, Denaru Theriz, has gone from Lv. 1 to Lv. 5, all basic attributes increased ]
I ignored the level up notification as I stood there, mouth and eyes closed and only opened them when I heard Thank You in my mind followed by a loud cracking noise.
The crystal that was behind the now corpse was completely cracking from bottom to the top and I could see a green energy coming from the room just outside the doors and swirling around the cracked crystal. The energy didn’t just stand there circulating the crystal, but it actually infiltrated it by the cracks and I could sense an immense build up on whatever energy that was.
I tried to turn around and run, but I wasn't fast enough and the crystal once more made a cracking sound and I suddenly found myself falling sideways to a hole in space in the middle of the crystal. I braced myself for whatever would come, but when I passed the hole in space all I felt was a loud THUD and the sound of broken wood.
damn, this is a huge character development.
i loved this chapter cause of that.
u can literally see him grow and adjust to this new world.
pls keep posting more my fellow tuga, i will be waiting.
Thanks for the chapter