Surviving without God

— Gunther.

Ryan dropped low to the ground, gripping his two-handed hammer more tightly. In his deep breath and the gleam in his eyes, resolve was unmistakable.

— I’ll go first.

— What?

— I’ve actually got old scores to settle with those bastards from the Theocracy.

— ...Scores?

— You catch your breath. I’ll go and wear that bastard down a bit.

It was the first time Gunther had ever heard this, but before he could say anything—

Boom—!

Ryan spun instantly around his supporting leg and launched himself into the air. The blow carried such power that it made one forget his severe wounds.

— Take this!

At that moment—

Dzzi-i-i-ing—!

At the tip of the paladin’s sword, a bluish-black radiance boiled up. And something, accompanied by an ear-splitting grinding screech, lunged forward.

Crunch— ...And that was it. As if an invisible gigantic beast had bitten down in a single snap, Ryan was torn apart—his upper torso was brutally ripped away. The mangled remnant of his body swayed and then collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

— An empty cart always rattles louder.

The paladin snorted mockingly, wiping his boot on Ryan’s hammer. Then he turned his icy gaze toward Gunther.

— Maybe you’ll be more interesting?

— Well, how should I put it....

Gunther, who had been silently staring at Ryan’s corpse, shrugged.

— If you don’t use your shitty tricks, I think you might be worth sparring with.

The paladin’s laughter cut off abruptly.

— ...Shitty tricks?

His veined hand clenched around the sword hilt, trembling slightly. Even the soldiers who had been jeering at Ryan moments ago fell silent in the chilled air. The paladin slowly shook his head and raised the sword diagonally. His gaze became completely different.

— You dare call the power bestowed by a Great Being... shitty?

— Exactly. If a god made a contract with trash like you, then it’s probably a cheap piece of shit itself.

In the same instant, something fetid drifted on the air.

[“The Corpulent King” stares intently at you]

At once, all emotion drained from the paladin’s face.

Ts-ts-ts-ts—

The black radiance enveloping the blade vanished. Bare steel gleamed dully in the midday sun.

— Fine. As you wish—slowly. I’ll kill you so painfully you’ll curse the mother who gave birth to you.

— Too much talking. I’ll die of old age before you start.

— Impudent whelp....

Gunther did not wait any longer and leveled the sword point at the paladin. Noticing his stance, the paladin tensed almost imperceptibly.

“...So he won’t underestimate me.”

Of course, Gunther never once entertained the thought that he could win. The opponent was of the 2nd hierarchy. A level attainable only after reaching the cap of level 50 in the 1st hierarchy. Even by raw stats alone, the gap between them had to be more than twofold.

“His skill set must be far richer too.”

However, the goal of this fight was not victory. It was experience and analysis. He needed to observe an opponent he would eventually have to face, searching for habits and weak points. Gunther focused, gathering every shred of will and—

Ding—!

[You have clashed with high-level swordsmanship]

[Sword mastery increases!]

From the very first exchange, he clearly felt an insurmountable wall.

Ding—!

[You have clashed with high-level swordsmanship]

[Sword mastery increases!]

[By fighting an overwhelmingly stronger opponent, you have broken through your body’s limit!]

[Strength increases by 1]

[Endurance increases by 1]

Ding—!

He wrung every last bit of strength out of himself. But the paladin was faster, more precise, and stronger. An overwhelming gap in every aspect. Gunther had to roll across the ground just to evade even the paladin’s casual swings. Three exchanges passed like this.

Whick—

The paladin deliberately slashed his leg instead of his throat and burst into loud laughter.

— You’re regretting that long tongue of yours now, aren’t you?

Gunther sensed it. Two more exchanges. In that time, he would either die or receive a fatal wound that would prevent him from continuing the fight.

...But it didn’t matter. In this life, he truly had ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) not a single regret left.

— Fuck you!

Gunther roared and lunged forward with his sword.

.

.

.

[You have died]

[Counting death records]

[3/99]

[NEW! Summary of development in this life]

[Level increased by 1]

[Additional attributes increased by a total of 2]

[#3 Life of an Egg]

[No matter how much you, as an egg, bash yourself against this stone, it remains unscathed]

[Karma of the third life: 32]

[Current Karma: 47]

[Accumulated Karma: 147]

Thus began the fourth life.

***

Slap—!

A sharp, ringing sound suddenly echoed through the merchant caravan. Eddie, who had habitually been walking around looking to pick on Gunther, staggered back in shock.

Slap—! 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Because Gunther was slapping himself across the cheeks. Every time the guild master’s daughter cast loving glances at Gunther, Eddie had dreamed of doing something like this, but seeing Gunther do it himself was rather surreal. However, Gunther paid no attention to the shock around him. After giving himself a couple more slaps, he straightened up with a relieved expression.

— Whew... done.

Ryan looked at him with a mixture of disgust and concern.

— Do you have any idea what it’s like to see your friend suddenly go insane?

— What’s it like?

— Terrifying.

— Well then, my condolences.

Gunther merely shrugged.

“Finally, my head’s clear.”

In the previous life, the paladin had been exceedingly cruel, like a cat playing with a mouse. Though he could have killed Gunther instantly, he literally carved him into pieces. In front of the enemy, Gunther had pretended not to care, but it had been a horrifying experience. ...So much so that the aftereffects lingered even after returning. A body that remembered pain had been seized by fear. That was why he had hit himself. Until the fear dissipated.

“...I was prepared for this. This isn’t the time to falter.”

The gods, however, seemed somewhat shocked.

[Alphonse of Red Street looks dejected. He asks whether it wouldn’t be better to just run away]

[The Drug-Addicted Saint flings away the flask she was holding]

[Even the King of Ninety-Nine Defeats does not mention the knightly code of “not a single step back” this time. He merely closes his eyes with fury on his face]

Gunther firmly shook his head at the gods’ unspoken suggestions to flee.

“Running away is not an option.”

The head of the “Silver Compass” merchant guild was a key NPC of the opening scenario. In a situation where the plot was already skewed due to the absence of the Protagonist, if he were to disappear as well, it would be impossible to even predict how badly everything would collapse. Then most of the information he possessed would become useless. And that meant the plan to return to Earth would fail. Gunther needed to steer the scenario as close to the “canon” as possible.

“So I have to fight.”

In any case, the previous life had been productive. He had gained levels, obtained attributes. He had learned the paladin’s fighting style and analyzed the flow of battle in even greater detail. And above all—he had earned nearly twice as much Karma. All of it would pay off. Now all that remained was repetition.

“I just need to keep going like this.”

Joining forces with Ryan had been the right decision. That meant repeating it in this life as well. By becoming stronger, he would achieve even greater results. Gunther was once more filled with fighting spirit.

— Ryan, do me a favor.

— Hm, slap you?

— I already handled that myself....

D-d-d-d-d—!

In Gunther’s blue eyes, distant clouds of dust were reflected.

— Let’s do this again.

— ...What kind of nonsense are you talking about?

.

.

.

But life always loves to spring surprises. He had managed to take down six or seven people. At the moment he smiled in satisfaction, seeing that the pace was far higher than last time—

— ...Huh?

Ryan’s head suddenly flew off his shoulders.

Whoosh—!

Before Gunther could even process it, a sword was already flying toward the bridge of his nose.

“Damn it, what the—?!”

Gunther barely managed to deflect it. From the direction the attack came, an annoyed voice sounded:

— Hm, you blocked it?

— ......

— Should’ve aimed for you first.

Gunther stared with trembling eyes at the paladin returning his sword to its starting position. He tried not to show his confusion, but the enemy’s appearance was far too early.

“...Why already?”

This was only the beginning of the battle. At this time, the paladin was supposed to be fighting Eddie and the elite guards by the carriages. But....

“He came straight to us?”

This was an unforeseen variable.

[The Corpulent King grins grotesquely as he looks at you]

“!”

There was no time left to think.

— Kh!

The paladin unleashed a flurry of strikes. Gunther resisted desperately, but this time the enemy went all out. The bluish-black light on his sword literally boiled, and whenever the blades collided, deep notches were left in Gunther’s sword.

Ding—!

Eventually the sword broke and—

Whick—

Gunther’s chest was pierced without resistance.

— Your... mother.

He looked at the wound with clouding vision. The black radiance devoured his flesh like fire consuming paper.

[The Corpulent King greedily devours your blood and flesh]

[The three gods express their rage each in their own way]

The last thing he heard was the paladin’s quiet whisper:

— Definitely should’ve dealt with you first.

And that was the end.

Thud—!

Gunther’s body collapsed beside Ryan’s, who had fallen first.

[You have died]

[Counting death records]

[4/99]

***

“Hah....”

[#4 Life of a Protruding Stone]

[In the end, you were hammered down. Painful, wasn’t it?]

Gunther turned his gaze away from the status window, which was mocking him to the fullest. The irritation from the absurd death quickly gave way to a sense of despair before the next attempt.

“The paladin’s early appearance.”

A shift had occurred. The paladin, who always tried to capture the guild master first, had decided to eliminate him and Ryan beforehand. The reason was obvious.

“We went too wild.”

In the fourth life, using the experience of the previous ones, he had cut down enemies faster and more efficiently than ever. Even from afar, the change was noticeable. When allied losses exceeded an acceptable level, the paladin had simply decided to intervene personally.

“And above all, that evil god ordered it.”

The religious structure of the Luthien Theocracy is like a gigantic pyramid. At the very top sit absolute beings—the “Seven Evil Gods” and their apostles—and beneath them, numerous lower-ranked evil gods establish their own spheres of influence.

“The Corpulent King” was one of the lower ones. For such petty gods, every believer is literally a lifeline.

“He won’t allow us to kill too many of his soldiers.”

Which meant— from now on, trying to rack up Karma quickly would draw the attention of the “Corpulent King”, and the paladin would come for his soul.

“This is the worst possible situation.”

Did that mean he now had to fight at half strength to avoid standing out? Gunther pondered this while looking at the Karma tally window.

[Karma of the fourth life: 18]

[Current Karma: 65]

[Accumulated Karma: 165]

...No. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t do that. If Return After Death were infinite, that would be one thing. But since the number of attempts was limited, he was obligated to earn as much Karma as possible in each life.

“If I play it safe and try to scrape together 500 Karma little by little, I’ll just waste attempts.”

So what was he supposed to do?

[Return to save point #1]

Ts-ts-ts-ts—

The light heralding the return flared somewhere beyond consciousness.

“.......”

The deliberation was deep, but the decision came quickly. Until now, he had ruled out this option because of the enormous risk, but....

[5, 4, 3...]

Now there was no choice.

.

.

.

— Gunther, good morni....

Yor Ladenbach, daughter of the head of the “Silver Compass” merchant guild, was unable to finish her greeting.

Bang—!

Because the object of her affection suddenly burst into her carriage.

— The holy host will arrive soon.

Together with those insane words.