8 - Immortality is a Broken Skill [2]

Park Hyun seemed calm, but inside he was losing his mind.

'Is he alive? Does he have a Skill to revive himself? What if he comes back alive?' His panic swelled up in his head. No longer interested in the "alive" corpse, his raven familiar returned to him.

The raven seemed scared of the corpse. It had never encountered this type of regenerating creature before. After squawking a few times, it flew off into the darkness. Park Hyun can't blame it. He himself feared that the corpse would come in his direction and kill him on the spot.

Park Hyun waited, torn between running and staying. However, after a few minutes, it was clear that the corpse was unresponsive, at least not towards him.

The moment of relief quickly turned into confidence. 'I just have to kill him again!' He thought as he pulled a dagger out of his sleeve.

As Park Hyun sneaked closer with a dark elemental Art, "Shadow Step", He could hear his target muttering to himself.

"Stop!"

The sudden shout froze Park Hyun in his tracks. The fear of being found was overwhelming; his entire body was dripping bullets as his eyes stared unblinkingly at the face of the elf.

'Quicker! I have to finish this fast!' There was no longer any thought or reason in his head, and the only thing that remained was fear. He forced his legs to move forward. Step. Step. It was almost within reach. If he could just swing his knife-

The head turned towards him.

That was the tipping stone. Screaming hysterically, he plunged the knife into the young boy's chest again and again and again…

From his experiences, Park Hyun knew his target was deader than dead, but at this point, no part of him was thinking clearly. When he finally came to his senses, he was sitting on top of a bloody pile of mush that could make the Shadow Raven look like a harmless pet. Knowing that no creature, magical or otherwise, can still be alive in that state, a sense of relief washed over him.

The relief did not last long.

• • • • • • • • • • (Back to First-Person)

"Ugh-" I groaned. I felt like I had just woken up from an extreme headache.

[Ding! The Host received a new title.]

I haven't done anything yet! Why did my status change again?

I sat up in shock and immediately looked up my status.

| - Status -

| Name: A Chul (Alex Stanley)

| Age: 16 (23)

| Species: Human Male

| Titles: Transmigrator, Entertainer, Undying (Gives the Skill Immortality)

| Strength: 1.21

| Stamina: 1.23

| Mana: 0.01

| Dexterity: 2.11

| Agility: 2.05

| Luck: 1.52 (up 0.20)

| Skills: Appraisal II [D], Rosetta's Gift [S], Fortuna's Contract [U], Immortality [U] (Tap for more details)

| Immortality (U-rank Skill) - Blessed by the Goddess of Death, the Host will be able to continue to come back alive. Only 10% of the Host's pain receptors work. However, the pain will increase the more the Host dies. [This Skill is at the highest level]

God damn it!

I meant "Goddess damn it!"

Let me go back already! Instead of just letting me die and sending me home, you shove a Skill called "Immortality" in my face? F*ck that!

"How-" I turned around and saw a familiar face covered in shock, "How are you alive?"

Should I explain? Do I even want to explain? He looks like he's going to die from a heart attack any second, and I don't want blood on my hands yet. The system said he wasn't a human, so does killing him even count as homicide?

"It's a Skill." I answered simply, without any other explanation.

"A- A Skill?" Park Hyun was in disbelief, "What kind of stupid Skill is that?"

See, he agreed with me.

Before I could say anything though, a dagger came flying into my face.

[Ding! Due to Immortality, the Host came back alive!]

[Ding! Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune, was entertained, and the Host's luck increased by 0.05!]

This time I didn't black out. It felt more like I was daydreaming.

From what I could tell, the dagger definitely killed me, but there was only a small amount of pain. Immorality is a stupidly overpowered skill.

"No! Why won't you die!" Park Hyun's face writhes and distorts, and honestly, if I was in his shoes, I'd be horrified as well.

[Ding! Due to Immortality, the Host came back alive!]

[Ding! Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune, was entertained, and the Host's luck increased by 0.03!]

Again? At this point I don't even feel tired anymore. Does dying also clear my head? Or is my body adapting?

[Ding! Due to Immortality, the Host came back alive!]

[Ding! Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune, was entertained, and the Host's luck increased by 0.02!]

I should move. Even paper cuts are painful when you notice them.

I lowered my body and dodged the next slash that was coming for my head, then quickly pushed myself up.

I don't have a weapon, so that left me with only one choice: run away as far away as possible.

"STOP!" Park Hyun screamed as he chased after me. He seemed like he was losing his mind.

Like hell I'm gonna stop just to get stabbed by you! The knife cut might feel like a paper cut, but that doesn't mean it's not painful.

Right before he could catch up to me, I tripped on nothing. My body did a complete 360 degree spin in the air, and the back of my foot smacked him right on his chin. Somehow, I landed back on my feet, and without looking back, I kept running away from this psychopath.

I have no idea what that was, but that was probably the most amazing thing I've ever done! My luck from all the deaths must be making a difference.

A tree appeared before me, so I sharply turned to the left. My luck saved me again, as a black bolt flew over my shoulder and chopped the tree in half.

What the heck was that?

[Ding! Replying to the host, that was a dark elemental Art called "Dark Slash." Dark Slash can be activated by swinging a mana-coated blade.]

I have 0.01 mana. Looks like I don't have any hope of countering that.

I've been running for a short while and I'm already tired. My stamina is really sh*tty. Maybe I could start jogging?

I know I'm being chased by a serial killer, but I'm unusually calm. Probably because I've already died a few times.

I fell over.

What kind of luck is this? Did I trip again?

Instead of doing a fancy cartwheel again, I fell face-first into the grass. I lifted up my head instinctively and saw the shadow raven slice through the air where I was a second ago. If I didn't trip, I would've gotten a hole in my stomach; Instead, the one with the hole was the person behind me: Park Hyun.

Red goo splattered over my face. I snapped my head around instantly, but it was too late. I can already feel my stomach's contents coming up.

I don't know what was more disgusting, the body or my throw-up.

To distract myself, I looked up at the sky. The bird who killed Park Hyun looked exactly like the one that slammed me in the head before.

"Screeeeeeee-" A fork-scraping-against-metal-plate noise almost made me deaf. The bird, flying just fine moments before, burst into a ball of black flames. After a few seconds, nothing was left of the small body other than a pile of ashes and a small black marble, which fell from the sky.

What was that?

[Ding! It was the death of Shadow Raven. The beast had signed a life contract with Park Hyun, and because of his death, the Shadow Raven died as well. The black marble is a low-quality mana stone, which can be found in 78% of low-rank magical beasts.]

So Park Hyun died… On the bright side, at least the danger was over.

Speaking of dying, did I die three times? That's a lot.

[Ding! The Host had died four times in the past hour.]

Four? Since when? Didn't I get stabbed three times?

[Ding! The Host died for the first time when the Shadow Raven damaged the Host's brain, and was stabbed to death 3 more times afterward.]

Also, my luck increased every time I died. If I die too many times, won't my luck reach the limit? Wouldn't that make dying difficult? My luck saved me back then with the raven too.

[Ding! The Host's Skill has been updated!]

| - Status -

| Name: A Chul (Alex Stanley)

| Age: 16 (23)

| Species: Human Male

| Titles: Transmigrator, Entertainer, Undying (Gives the Skill Immortality)

| Strength: 1.21

| Stamina: 1.23

| Mana: 0.01

| Dexterity: 2.11

| Agility: 2.05

| Luck: 1.12 (down 0.55)

| Fortune: 0.55 (up 0.55)

| Skills: Appraisal II [D], Rosetta's Gift [S], Fortuna's Contract [U] (Tap for more details), Immortality [U]

| Fortuna's Contract (U-rank Skill) - The Host's fortune will increase the more he dies. However, death has to be entertaining. A unique demise will give higher gains, but an ordinary demise will bore the Goddess of Luck and Fortune. [This Skill is at the highest level]

So she changed one word in the Skill, changed my luck back to the original, and moved all my hard-earned stats to something new?

What's "Fortune" anyways?

[Ding! Fortune is the Host's luck with money..]

Ah, so my fortune was zero earlier. No wonder why I have almost 53 billion won of debt.