The Life-Review And Necromancy

“No… I don’t want to die…!”

Even if my life would be one of being worked to death as a slave, I don’t want to end it abandoned in a dungeon and killed by monsters.

“【 Necromance 】!”

I shoved my hand into my waist pouch and cast 【 Necromance 】—the skill that moves corpses—on the swallow I trapped this morning.

I threw the swallow’s corpse at the Minotaur, and it beat its wings as if revived—striking the Minotaur’s left eye!

“BRUGAAAHHHHHHH!?!?”

No matter how high-ranked a monster is, it can’t train its eyeballs.

It was a gamble, but I’m glad it worked.

“Now’s my chance…!”

Behind me, Lilium’s barrier magic that left me behind blocks the way, so I can’t go back—meaning I have to push deeper!

“My leg… won’t move like I want…!”

Protecting my injured leg, I dragged my hand along the wall and put distance between myself and the Minotaur.

Then I crawl back to the place where Heavy Warrior Garen had earlier felled an orc with a single blow.

“Against higher-ranked monsters,【 Necromance 】 almost never succeeds… but it’s worth a try…!”

I cast【 Necromance 】on the orc corpse—but.

――Crack!

My arm is repelled by an unseen force.

――Failure.

As I thought, at my level I can’t control an orc….

“BRUGAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

The Minotaur’s roar echoes from behind.

Its heavy footsteps thunder as it advances toward me.

My eyes have grown used to the pain; it’s come to kill me.

“Damn it! Damn it! Why! Why is my life like this! What did I ever do! What did the Shikai Tribe ever do!”

I brace myself against the corridor wall and drag my injured leg, moving deeper and deeper.

I return to the main chamber where the Minotaur. had been.

When I focus on what’s behind me, I can hear the Minotaur.’s footsteps growing louder and louder.

“Hah…! Hah…! I don’t want to die…!”

On the opposite side of the chamber, I spot a door leading further in.

The chamber is wide compared to the corridor, and if I keep moving along the wall, the Minotaur. will catch me.

I press through the center of the chamber, enduring the pain.

And when I reach the center of the chamber—

“BRUGAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

――It catches up!

The Minotaur. raises its battle axe, its weapon.

I leap forward at the last moment to evade.

“Wha!? The floor!?”

――Creak creak creak creak!

When the battle axe digs into the ground, cracks run outward, and the floor beneath me fractures into countless fissures.

And then—the floor disappears.

“Wha!? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!?!?”

The Minotaur.’s strike collapses the chamber floor!

The dungeon’s flooring crumbles into rubble, and I plummet with it into the abyss.

The last thing I see before losing consciousness is the Minotaur. that wasn’t caught in the collapse looming over me as I fell.

…

……

………..

……………

“…?”

――My consciousness returns.

I’m not dead?

I should have died, swept down into the lower levels of the dungeon by the collapsing floor.

I try to look around, but my neck won’t move.

I attempt to move my limbs, but instead of moving, intense pain shoots through them.

“It hurts…!”

My eyes barely open.

My entire body is covered by something hard—I’m probably trapped under rubble.

My limbs, and most likely my face as well, are crushed.

My backpack cushioned the fall and softened the impact.

But then more rubble fell on top of me and crushed me anyway.

“This time… is this the end…?”

Thinking about which is better—being cleaved in two by a battle axe or being crushed under rubble—my consciousness slowly slips away.

“…What did I… live for…?”

Facing death, the pain fades, and a life-review flickers before me.

“Sid! I’ll train you, so come at me!”

When Heavy Warrior Garen. was in a bad mood, he’d call it training and beat me mercilessly with a wooden sword to vent his stress.

My whole body was covered in bruises; I was always injured somewhere while serving as the pack mule.

“Hey, Sid! There’s a crack in my favorite cup! Can’t you even carry the load properly?!”

Lilium had me carry the ceramic cup she used during dungeon breaks, and at the slightest chip she berated me and tightened my slave collar.

She probably didn’t care that much about the cup itself; she just took any excuse to hurt me.

“Sid, watch how you speak… though expecting education from a slave is harsh. Consider yourself lucky that an animal can speak human words.”

Sylvan never directly harmed me, but he was always snide.

He put on a good face, acting like a pillar of virtue outside the dungeon; I couldn’t stand that two-faced act.

And worst of all… he slashed my leg and left me in the dungeon…!

“……”

Ruru… didn’t really do anything.

Always expressionless, neither attacking nor defending me, just staring—she didn’t seem to fit in with the other members either.

“Haha… my life-review is nothing but bad memories…”

I guess that’s to be expected.

I was enslaved by the heresy hunters as a child; there are almost no happy memories left.

“…I still can’t bring myself to die, huh.”

If I die here, my life will have been wasted by those scum.

If I could…

“I want… revenge…!”

Sylvan and the others return to the surface, buy new slaves, do the same thing they did to me until those slaves are used up, and yet they’re praised as heroes by the populace.

There’s no way those people should be left alive…!

But! If things stay like this, I’ll die!

I’ll die without getting my revenge!

My consciousness drifts further and my eyelids won’t stay open.

If I close my eyes next, I’ll probably die.

Think—think—think—a way to survive…!

“【 Necromance 】!…!!”