Chapter 79: The Rampage [Part-3]

As the screaming inside my head reached its peak, something yanked my consciousness away without warning, pulling me violently out of my own body and into the same empty, white space I had visited once before.

The last time I had woken up here, I told myself it was probably just some leftover illusion from the awakening, something my mind had conjured up in the chaos of that moment. But seeing it again now, under circumstances this clear, the odds of it being just an illusion had dropped to nearly nothing.

A heavy, oppressive presence appeared in front of me. One second there was nothing, and in the next blink, a figure stood there, wrapped entirely in pitch-black darkness, his shape impossible to make out clearly, hidden carefully behind the shifting shadows. A dark crown floated above where his head should have been, drifting slightly with every small movement he made.

The figure gave me the exact same feeling as before, and I instinctively tensed, careful in a way I rarely allowed myself to be. This wasn’t a place where I felt even remotely confident about surviving. Whoever, or whatever, stood in front of me now was clearly far stronger than my parents, far stronger than even my grandfather. There was no version of this fight I could win.

"Who are you?" I managed. "Why do you keep calling me here? What do you want from me?"

The figure didn’t respond. He simply began circling me slowly, completely ignoring my questions, which only made me more uneasy.

"You are foolish.You believe what you are doing is right, but you don’t understand that your righteousness, your care for others, may end up costing you everyone you actually love. You will regret it."

"Wh—"

"Just save yourself, boy."

He stepped closer and reached a single finger forward, pressing it lightly against my chest. The moment he touched me, the fog in my mind returned instantly, along with the darkness, the screaming, everything crashing back all at once before vanishing just as suddenly.

I found myself back in the fortress, or what remained of it. I stumbled slightly as I reappeared, every last bit of strength draining from my body like water boiling away into nothing. The color drained from my face, and my mana flickered weakly, barely enough left to keep me standing. My vision was still hazy from whatever damage I’d taken, and as it slowly cleared, I looked around at the destruction I had caused.

Large spikes of ice jutted from the cracked earth, several of them still skewered straight through the chests of fallen guards, blood dripping steadily from the wounds. And that was only part of it. Hundreds more lay scattered across the courtyard, their bodies disfigured in ways I didn’t want to look at too closely, the entire fortress soaked in blood from one end to the other.

I reached up and pulled the helmet off my head, letting my face be revealed under the pale light of the rising sun, which was slowly beginning to spill its warm glow across the ruined courtyard. My silver hair fell messily across my eyes, hiding them from view, and honestly, I was grateful for it. I didn’t particularly want to see my own reflection right now.

Guilt settled heavily in my stomach, impossible to ignore.

’This is what I came here to do. And this is what I actually did. Has killing people really become this easy for me?’

I swallowed hard. Even if I wanted to collapse into despair right then and there, it wouldn’t change anything. The lives I had taken weren’t coming back, no matter how much guilt I buried myself under.

I shook my head and forced my legs to hold me upright, stumbling sideways before catching myself against a chunk of broken debris, using it to steady my balance.

Then, the familiar chime of the system rang out in my mind.

[Ding!]

[Due to your deeds in killing nearly two hundred and fifty-seven guards, including the captain, you have single-handedly conquered an entire fortress through your own strength!]

[The action has generated a massive amount of Karma.]

[Karma Evaluation has been completed.]

[Based on the value of the Karma, three suitable rewards have been generated.]

[Option 1: Special Legacy — You will receive the legacy of a forgotten hero, granting you immense power and knowledge, but also burdening you with their past and their unfinished responsibilities.]

[Option 2: Death’s Mercy — Allows the user to prevent one death they personally caused, but doing so transfers the accumulated pain and damage of that death onto themselves instead.]

[Option 3: Title — "Slaughter King" — A title bestowed upon those who have wrought unimaginable destruction, granting enhanced combat prowess and a fear-inducing aura, but also permanently marking the bearer as a bringer of death.]

I stared at the three options in front of me and let out a tired groan. It felt almost unfair that the system was offering me rewards this powerful all at once, only to force me to pick just one.

’Sigh. What am I even supposed to choose here?’

If this had been the old me, the version from before this fight, maybe even before I’d ever set foot in the Desolate Land, I probably would have jumped straight for the first or third option without a second thought. But the person standing here right now thought about things very differently.

I was never some hero who protected everyone purely out of the goodness of my heart. I would only act when I genuinely believed I was capable of it. Carrying the real burden of being a hero wasn’t just about sacrificing yourself. It was about choosing strangers over the people closest to you, and I knew, better than anyone, that if it ever came down to choosing between saving my family or saving a crowd of people I’d never met, I wouldn’t hesitate for even a second. I’d choose my family every single time. In the end, I was just as selfish as anyone else, caring more about my own priorities than some abstract sense of greater good.

I turned my attention to the second option, Death’s Mercy. According to the description, using it would mean I’d have to experience the same near-death pain as whoever I was trying to save from dying. But honestly, that pain didn’t scare me nearly as much as the thought of watching someone I regretted killing simply stay dead.

I chose the second option without hesitating.

[Ding!]

[You have obtained 1x ’Death’s Mercy’!]

I dismissed the notification immediately and turned back to face the wreckage surrounding me, with no real idea what I was supposed to do next, or what I even could do at this point.

I slumped down against the fortress wall, sliding until I was sitting against the cold stone, and closed my eyes, letting out a long, slow breath, somewhere between relief and quiet, exhausted acceptance.