Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 7.4
Phew. The metallic taste of blood went down my throat again. I felt slightly nauseated but didn’t feel the urge to vomit. Probably because I was suppressing something even worse.
“Senes. Callion was left behind in the village.”
“He’s probably still there.”
Senes said, looking down the ridge.
Even though it was getting dark, we could clearly see the monsters rampaging at the foot of the mountain.
The fact that the monsters were still fighting meant that Callion was still alive.
But how long could he hold out? Callion would be getting more and more tired.
It would be good if Senes went to help even now, but he showed no signs of going down the mountain.
…Perhaps because he knew it would be futile.
“Do you think Callion can stop that monster?”
“It’s unlikely.”
He says so calmly that if left alone, his brother will die at the hands of the monster.
“Senes. Why did you bring me?”
“……”
“Callion is your brother.”
Why did you run away with me, a complete stranger, leaving your own brother behind?
It’s not like you rescued other villagers either. Why did you choose to run away with me of all people?
“Was it because Callion asked? To fulfill your brother’s last wish? Do you think that’s more important than your brother’s life? Are you stupid?”
You should have left me behind and brought Callion instead.
I’m destined to die today anyway.
“It’s not because of Callion’s request.”
Senes turned his gaze from the village at the foot of the mountain to look at my face.
He always slightly frowned when looking at me, but now he wasn’t frowning at all.
“If I could only save one person, my choice would be you.”
Why?
I can’t understand. The charm skill effect ended long ago.
Even if he had strange feelings for me briefly because of the skill before, there’s no reason for him to consider me so important now.
“What am I to you?”
“Nothing.”
He saved me because I’m nothing? What is this crazy guy saying?
“Senes. Are you insane?”
“Not as much as you.”
Still the same sarcastic tone.
Yet, I didn’t find his words offensive at all.
It was because Senes’s expression looked too detached.
At this rate, Callion, his brother, would die at the hands of the monster collective. For someone who knew this, there wasn’t a trace of anguish on his face. He didn’t seem to feel any guilt for surviving instead of his brother.
No, it seemed like he had no attachment to life at all.
“I’m really sick of it now.”
“Pardon?”
“I dislike you. I can’t stand it anymore. It’s too painful.”
I couldn’t say anything.
I wasn’t shocked by Senes’s words. However, it wasn’t because I thought it was natural for Senes to dislike me.
He was spewing harsh words about how he disliked me to the point of going crazy, but there was no emotion in his words at all.
He had the face of someone who had given up on everything.
Under the night sky where dark stains were falling, red-haired Senes looked like a person who had died standing.
“…A high place.”
“Excuse me?”
“Let’s go to a higher place, Senes. Where we can see the village below. Preferably with a very deep cliff.”
Senes didn’t respond to my words. Instead, he picked me up with one arm and strode up the rock.
Without even a running start, Senes swiftly climbed the rocky mountain and set me down at the summit.
“Is this good enough?”
“…It’s really high.”
The cliff visible behind was incredibly deep.
It’s so pitch black that the bottom can’t be seen; if one were to fall from here, no living being could survive.
‘Even if it were a monster.’
I lowered my head as if checking the depth of the cliff. My left knee was wobbling, so I had to stand on my right foot, but surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to maintain balance. It’s strange that I don’t feel pain despite my insides being turned upside down, my back being scraped, and one leg in this condition. I’ve heard that in emergency situations like disasters or wars, people sometimes can’t feel pain. Maybe that’s what’s happening to me.
“Are you thinking of committing suicide?”
Senes asked indifferently.
He didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping me.
He had abandoned Callion and brought me all the way here, so if I died, his brother’s death would be meaningless.
‘He doesn’t seem to… guess what I’m about to do.’
I turned my head to look at the village below the mountain. I could still see the huge monster swaying and swinging its arms.
‘Callion is still fighting the monster.’
I straightened up and looked at Senes. When our eyes met, his expression wavered slightly.
His usually sharp eyes softened, and his lips relaxed.
“Do you need someone to die with you?”
He smiled faintly.
I had only ever seen him smirking, so this was the first time I saw such an expression.
It was an expression that seemed to have let go of the guilt of leaving his brother behind, and relieved to be parting from me, whom he found so tiresome.
Senes’s smiling face even looked somewhat unburdened.
Seeing that smile, my chest strangely tightened. My skinned back and hollowed leg didn’t hurt, but oddly, my heart ached.
“Yes. I do need someone.”
I reached out my hand to Senes.
He grasped my hand without hesitation.
It was an unfamiliar warmth.
I suddenly realized that this was the first time I had held this man’s hand.
“But it’s not you.”
At my words, his expression twisted slightly.
Senes had said that if he could save only one person, he would save me. And probably, it was the same for Callion.
Knowing that they couldn’t win against the monster collective, Callion had entrusted me to Senes to escape.
‘I should have told them that I was going to die today.’
I felt sorry for making them struggle in vain, but it had worked out well for me.
I opened the skill window. The buttons on the translucent teal window were glowing brightly.
[Position Reversal Lv.3]
You can switch positions between a person you’re in contact with and one designated entity.
The skill window limited the target I touched to a ‘person’, but didn’t restrict what I could designate.
As long as it was a single entity, it would work.
Be it a person, an object, or even a monster.
I can see the village below the mountain. Callion is too small to see, like a dot, but I can see the monster.
It was fortunate that the monster collective was so huge. Despite being so far away, it wasn’t difficult to designate it as a target.
“Senes.”
“What is it?”
“You’re a pitiful person.”
So.
“You shouldn’t die with me.”
Do you want to reverse the positions of ally [Senes] and [Monster Collective]?
As I inwardly agreed, a faint light enveloped Senes’s body.
“Ju-in?!”
Senes called out to me, sensing something was off. But I couldn’t see his expression.
Because the enormously large monster collective was crushing me.
Today, you will save 1 person and die.
The system limited it like that, so it’s impossible for me to save multiple people. However, the system didn’t say that only the one person I saved would survive and the rest would perish.
I’m saving one person.
But this way, I can save everyone by saving one person.
‘I just need to switch the positions of Senes on the cliff and the monster collective in the village below.’
Then I can save Callion, Senes, and all the villagers.
─ Mr. Jin is our village’s hero after all!
Well…
If I didn’t have a lifespan limit, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make this decision.
The system was right. I really was a ‘humble sacrifice’.
Not anything like a hero.
“Grooooar!”
I’m falling from the cliff with the monster.
It seems all my bones are already crushed and I’ve lost sensation, as I don’t feel any pain. The sky, seen upside down, was terribly black.
It couldn’t have turned night so quickly. It’s as if time fast-forwarded.
Not that it matters anymore anyway.
[Time remaining: 0 days]
As I fell down the cliff with the monster, I closed my eyes.
My vision blurred.
[Beginner’s Benefit Ended]
No remaining lifespan.
Residual life force is disappearing.
Click.
Click.
Tick.
[Advanced User Benefit will be provided.]
End of Volume 1
