Chapter 196: Failed Human Me.

Not only the body, but the soul has also become a slime.

Thinking about it, it’s not that strange.

The soul that has been fighting and shedding the curse wouldn’t be in a normal human form.

The mind is greatly influenced by the body.

If the body influences the mind.

Then it’s not strange if the mind influences the soul.

The body, mind, and soul are connected.

Lately, I’ve been aware that I’m thinking in a way that’s quite different from humans.

Considering the number of clones I control, a slime form with tentacles extending everywhere suits me better than a human shape.

When I perceive my own appearance, I recognize it more as a slime than as a human.

The fact that I didn’t ultimately choose the [Transform] skill might have influenced it.

With so many inhuman elements, it’s greedy to expect the soul to maintain its former appearance.

It’s shocking, but a shock I can fully accept.

My body is soft, so it has good shock absorption?

It’s something I had already resolved when selecting the skill.

More than the state of my soul, it’s Makina.

It was good up to replicating Makina’s abilities and skills with the [Reproduce★] skill and standing on the same stage as her.

But as expected, she doesn’t intend to meet me easily.

The place where I set foot was Seoul.

If I hadn’t reproduced Veronica’s eyes, I might have mistaken it for being thrown back into reality; the world was constructed so intricately.

It’s a bit quiet and gloomy, but there are days like that.

Come to think of it, Veronica said that Makina is running simulations.

This place might be one of the simulations Makina is running.

Even though I obtained the same abilities, our levels are different, and what we’ve prepared is different.

It seems I’ll have to dance on the stage the opponent has prepared.

“No good.”

I can’t escape arbitrarily.

To be precise, I can escape arbitrarily, but that would waste too much power.

If I can meet Makina right after escaping this simulation, it would be fine, but the chances of that are slim.

Veronica also said that the simulations Makina is running aren’t just one.

Due to the skill’s side effects, here, once I expend power, it doesn’t recover.

I tried swallowing a nearby stone, but as expected.

Even if I eat something, I don’t feel like I’m gaining resources.

To recover, I probably have to return to reality first and then come back.

I don’t think the method that worked on Makina once will work again.

The moment I give up, I won’t be able to do something like this again.

That means I have to resolve it with what I brought here.

In that sense, my soul being in the state of a slime that’s stuffed full and enormously bloated is a boon.

“Follow that?”

A path was visible, like the quest route in a game.

If Makina suddenly changes her mind and decides to meet me, that would be great, but probably not.

Still, it’s fortunate that Makina seems willing to engage.

Honestly, the gap was beyond imagination, and I was a bit overwhelmed.

I knew that Makina is almost like an omnipotent god in this realm.

Still, in reality, I’m also a being treated as a god. I have plenty of abilities that Makina doesn’t, and I’ve even acquired the same abilities as her.

Even though this is Makina’s home ground, I ambushed to minimize that advantage as much as possible.

I thought it would be doable to this extent.

But who knew there would be a gap like that of a scriptwriter & investor & director vs an actor.

Of course, I’m the latter.

Right now, I’m a top-tier actor who can overturn everything and deal severe damage to the opponent.

But if I do that, it means I won’t work together anymore.

If I don’t intend to turn it into a mudslinging fight later, it’s better to follow the script Makina has made now that she’s willing to engage.

I walked along the path.

And at the end of it, I saw a man.

The moment I saw that guy, I realized Makina no longer intends to run away.

As she often does, Makina brought out a game to play together.

However, the genre of that game wasn’t the heartwarming type like tag.

In front of me was ‘me’.

With an expression as if she had kicked the me who fell into a slump after experiencing a fatal failure into the gutter.

The human ‘me’.

It seems Makina has prepared a deadly harmful game.

A deadly harmful game.

Come to think of it, Makina’s game preferences were a bit dark.

“Hey, me! What’s going on!”

The human me lifted his head and looked at me.

A barrier rose around me, and inside it, flames filled up.

Flames much thicker with killing intent than the ones I create.

“An attack out of nowhere.”

I absorbed the flames and shattered the barrier.

This is totally lame.

Normally, I would replenish mana with [Convert+] skill, but not now.

Isn’t a game with no recovery means too harsh?

“Now that it’s come to this, you can’t go back. Die before you become an even greater monster.”

Perhaps judging from the earlier exchange that she can’t win with barriers and flames.

The human me began to mutate.

“Suddenly going into Phase 2? Are you a raid monster?”

But you know.

Slime among slimes.

Becoming a slime form in front of me, who could be called the Slime God?

“I. Will. Kill. You!”

Four seconds was enough.

I also memorized the resurrection spell so he wouldn’t die.

The human me, who returned to human form, muttered while collapsed on the floor.

“Kill me.”

I slapped him once.

“Why would I kill myself?”

I sat down next to him.

“Explain what happened. How did you end up like that?”

The human me’s explanation wasn’t long.

In this world, the curse didn’t concentrate on just me but was divided among six people.

Up to there, it wasn’t much different from the simulation Veronica saw.

But this ‘me’ was late.

When he found Yeonwoo, that child had already burned down the house and everything inside it and swallowed it up.

This ‘me’ continued to be late after that.

He couldn’t save anyone.

This ‘me’ also, like me, didn’t hold a noble ideal to save the whole world.

He doesn’t fall into despair just because some unknown person turns into a monster due to the curse.

It’s just that since the curse was spread divided, he felt a strong sense of guilt, even if slightly.

And in that gap, the curse of anger that had been hiding until the end stabbed him, turning him into a monster.

Even with the barrier skill, it’s not completely unaffected, but that also seems to be a matter of time.

Oh, our friend who hates monsters. Gisu, why aren’t you killing this one?

Thanks to managing the golden flames with the barrier skill in advance, that side has weakened.

To the point where you can’t subjugate it.

“Are you the one who bore the entire curse?”

Perhaps in the process of laying out the story, his thoughts became organized.

The human me realized my identity.

“Yes. The me who wasn’t cursed.”

“I wish I had borne it all too.”

“Saying it so easily is a bit annoying.”

“Well, with just one curse, I’m like this.”

The human me raised his arm and looked at his own hand.

It was shifting between the body of a slime and a human.

The human me said, filled with regret.

“Still, it would have been better if I had borne it all. Rather than ending those who became that way because of me with my own hands, it would have been better for me alone to be cursed.”

Seeing myself whining like that, it’s annoying, especially since it’s me.

“So why were you late? Wasn’t it because you lacked effort?”

“Ha. You’re merciless. But maybe that’s true.”

As expected, intuiting oneself is bad.

It feels like seeing my dark history with my own eyes.

So I hit him once.

This is good. Who doesn’t have the desire to hit themselves when they’re going the wrong way?

The human me asked.

“Tell me. Even if the opponent committed a serious crime, I don’t think I’d conclude to end it with my own hands. Why did you conclude to kill?”

“There was no other way.”

“What do you mean no? There’s sealing it entirely and taking time, or getting help. Surely in this world, there are S-rank alchemists, right?”

“They are not worth associating with.”

“Explain. How did you come to the crazy thought that death is salvation?”

The human me couldn’t pinpoint a clear reason.

But I could read it.

The human me had lived too smoothly.

Things kept going well continuously.

He never deeply hurt someone and regretted it.

He awakened early and succeeded with powerful strength.

He rarely experienced situations completely out of his hands.

Even the problems that arose were ones he could fix.

“You’re me without ever having your head broken by arrogance or falling into a slump. So your mind is like an ocean sunfish.”

He climbed high without ever slipping off a cliff.

So the shock when he fell was much greater than mine.

To the point where he couldn’t think normally.

After the first time he harmed a child with his own hands.

He probably didn’t even have the mindset to see other paths.

As they say, people need to experience appropriate suffering periodically.

It’s really horrifying to think what would have happened if Lust, who tried to eliminate suffering from the world, had won against me.

“Here.”

I sealed one skill in the barrier and coated it with <Slime> to separate it.

“What is this?”

“Ah. This is the [Spacetime★] skill. You don’t have something like this at your house, right?”

The human me’s eyes widened.

He jumped up from his seat.

“Could it be that I can go back to the past?”

“Yes. In reality, it’s impossible, but here in the simulation, it’s possible.”

“Simulation?”

“Yes. What if the curse went to others instead of me getting it all? This is the simulation based on that assumption, which is you.”

“What…?”

Deep betrayal settled on the human me’s expression.

“For reference, the failure is your fault. From what I heard, there are cases where it succeeds properly.”

But when I pointed out it was his own fault, that betrayal turned into regret.

“…Is that so. It’s my fault….”

“So take it.”

The human me didn’t accept it.

“Why did you come here?”

“I have business with the friend who made this simulation. It’s really hard to meet them.”

“If you’re challenging something difficult, wasting strength like this is a loss.”

“There’s a powerful skill called [Reproduction★], so even if I give away a skill, it’s not a big problem. But it’s still a hit.”

“Then shouldn’t the real you be using it?”

Even in such a situation, thinking of others.

As expected, I am me.

“I am the real one. You are a fake created in the simulation.”

At least that’s how I see it.

“So, do you think you’re fake?”

Even though it was in a simulation, the human me had lived his life.

“…No.”

I asked with a smile.

“What’s wrong with me saving myself?”

The human me’s gaze changed.

Willpower settled in.

“Hey, me.”

“Why, me.”

“I was once called a saint, but what are you called?”

“God.”

“Pfft. Haha. That’s right. God is an upgrade from saint.”

The human me accepted the [Spacetime★] skill I offered.

The world began to change as if rewinding a video.

“Don’t be late this time?”

With those words as the last, I was ejected from the world.

Since his head got broken once, he’ll do better next time.

I placed my hand on my chest and gauged for a moment.

“About 10%?”

I consumed about 10% of the power I brought.

Even if I had just gone with the subjugation method, I could have cleared that stage.

Then I would have finished with much less power.

Well, it doesn’t matter.

I can’t recover the power.

If I miss this opportunity, there might not be another.

What meaning does all that have anyway.

I don’t like ignoring what’s visible while struggling not to let go of what’s in my hand.

Makina’s aim is simple.

To drain my power.

It seems she wants to make me use up everything I’ve built and expose my foundation.

She probably doesn’t intend to meet me until I reveal my foundation.

Oh, but using power meaninglessly isn’t good.

Because it seems like there’s something she wants to confirm in the process of me consuming my power.

It’s 11 years. 11 years.

I’ve been intimately acquainted with it for 11 years.

From what she’s prepared, I can get a glimpse of her intentions.

“Come on, Makina. Let’s continue the game.”

You want me to consume my power?

Then I’ll use it very extravagantly.