Chapter 51: The Mink and The Dark Sea

"Try me."

The General stared at him for a moment, then he laughed. "Not yet."

Three cheetahs attacked at once instead. The soldier raised the Blade of Ages.

The first came from the left and met his blade.

When the second came from the right, he ducked. The third came from above, and he rolled. The repeated movements made him dizzy, but he persevered.

Till claws tore through his coat, the soldier gritted his teeth. His HP flashed in front of him, and he refused to see it. Impending doom dulled his movements.

"Shit."

He had been losing HP faster than he realized. He pulled the trigger again but his numb fingers stayed stiff. "Of course. My body is fighting me too."

His breathing grew heavier with each movement, leaving his arms burned and his vision shaking. The HP flashed again. Benign swallowed and made the decision.

<Death Tag>

He slashed at a creature. The system remained silent. Even when he cut the creature down again.

A screen appeared before him. He forced his eyes to meet it. His eyes widened.

[Death Tag cannot be applied.]

[Target possesses insufficient Mana.]

The soldier’s face twisted in realization. Animals didn’t have mana. Death Tag needed something to take.

He raised the Blade of Ages. The next wave was already waiting.

Even if he kept fighting the old-fashioned way—cutting, dodging, stumbling—his fate remained uncertain as long as the Generals lived. Only one of them could be lucky.

Finally, his vision blurred to nothing. Darkness covered the edges of his eyes. Freya was too far from him now.

The growls grew louder. He gripped the clothes stained in blood. Whether it was his own blood or their blood, he couldn’t tell anymore.

[HP: 7]

His breathing stopped for half a second.

His eyes had reached it before he could stop himself. After all, it was the only thing in the dark he could see.

Seven was too low. He couldn’t afford another mistake.

A cheetah lunged, and the soldier moved aside. Another attacked from his left. He blocked, but the impact forced him backward till his heel slipped.

His balance tilted just before the pain exploded through his body as the creature’s jaws snapped around his shoulder.

"AH!" Benign stabbed its neck.

The beast released him, letting him fall onto one knee with blood pouring down his arm.

Another jaw closed around his shoulder again, forcing a scream out of the soldier. Claws dug into his chest, and another body slammed into his legs.

"Wait..." Then another. He tried to push them away, but his shaking hands couldn’t find the strength. "Get off—"

A jaw tore into his side. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Pain swallowed everything. Claws dragged across his back. Teeth sinking into his flesh.

He felt his body being pulled in different directions.

[HP: 3]

Benign stared at the number blankly.

[HP: 1]

’Not like this.’

His body stopped responding to the pain. The last thing he saw was the bloody maw of a cheetah reaching for his neck, and the General watching in the distance.

Then everything went black, with his ears registering their last sound — the hearty laughter of the general.

Cold water touched his feet. A sensation that contrasted with his current state.

’I died.’

Those were the last thoughts floating helplessly in his head while he remained in that position, unsure of the next thing to do. Time moved ‌slowly. He couldn’t tell how he knew, but he did.

More sensations registered in his brain. His back against stone. His spine straight.

’Am I sitting?’ He opened his eyes ‌and found a dark sea stretching endlessly before him.

Small waves washed over smooth marble stones beneath his feet. Above him was a black sky filled with too many stars glittering silently as if nothing had happened. Benign forced himself to stand.

There was only soreness, not pain. He looked down at himself. No blood or wounds either. Certainly no cheetahs with a laughing jackal for a leader. "Am I dead?" He touched his face. The sea answered with another quiet wave.

"So this is what death feels like."

Checking around, the place had more aesthetic than he expected. As he walked forward, his feet sank into the cold water before he reached the marble shore again. He stood there, his mind drifting to Freya, firewings, and the Protectors.

With what the generals planned, he might not have survived. And if this were hell, then he’d likely meet someone soon. Especially that Rox.

His mind drifted to how he had died. "I’m actually dead because of animals." He rubbed his face. "Not even the General."

A bitter laugh escaped him.

"I wanted a one-on-one fight. He really underestimated me and proved a point."

But deep down, he knew that the countdown of his HP dampened his morale more than a few cheetahs’ growls. Knowing that he would drop dead at 1 HP, no matter how much health remained a constant ache at the back of his mind.

"Well, now it’s all over."

Perhaps it was because of the chilly wind, but he didn’t feel burdened by his failure.

"You really lose your sense of shame after death." He looked around the place once more. He paused, looking behind him at a strange desk behind a wooden chair. An entire office setup sat in the middle of a beach all the while. "Is it the king of hell or something?"

It was way less impressive than he figured. He shuffled his legs towards the chair.

On getting closer, a laptop sat on the table, and sitting on the chair was a tiny white mink. The soldier tilted his neck, thinking of the chance that he wasn’t actually dead but dreaming.

The creature was typing on the laptop. Benign stared. The mink typed faster. Benign slowly reached for it, but the mink ignored him. He squeezed the fluffy skin around its head. It was real.

"What am I doing?" he pulled his hand back and crouched beside the desk. "Are you the guy who takes dead people to hell or the King of hell himself?"

The mink’s paws stopped, and it slowly turned its head.

"Benign."

The soldier froze with widened eyes.

That voice was the last one he expected to hear, but it slowly made sense if he was in hell.

"Lego?"