A Heart That’s Still Human

I activated the Auto Hunting Drone, a support item that targets every monster attacking me. The drone fired machine gun rounds infused with EtherCode Ignis, incinerating the surrounding zombies.

Ignis EtherCode is highly effective against the zombies on this floor. It burns them completely and neutralizes the toxic smoke they emit.

Normally, to clear this floor, a team needs sabers, casters, or shooters with strong Ignis (fire) or Aether (light) EtherCodes. At least that’s what Ayane told me back when we conquered this floor together. She said she finished this area with her Scarlet Sanctum guild members, most of whom wielded Ignis.

Now I understood how they managed to get through it.

But how did I defeat this floor and the Zombie Queen before? I kept coming back to this floor over and over, grinding to level up.

Eventually I reached Level 5 and unlocked Ascendant EtherCode, the stage where a player’s element evolves to a higher tier. Along with stronger skills, every EtherCode gains a special effect: Ignis burns longer, Glacies freezes longer, Terra slows more, and so on.

My EtherCode is Volta, and I’ve already reached Ascendant level. Along with stronger paralysis, high-level Volta also gains Scorch, similar with Ignis which can burns enemies into ashes, but Volta use high-voltage lightning. It was enough to kill the Zombie Queen.

I kept commanding the Auto Hunting Drone to protect me, clearing my path toward Necroval. It switched to missile mode and blasted apart the zombies in front of me.

“Now’s the time. [Ascendant Volta skill: Lightning Flash Mode!]”

I spent 100 EP and activated the skill. Electricity surged across my body like a living aura. Anyone I touched would be incinerated instantly. My hair and eyes shifted into bright electric blue, sparks crackling around me.

[Lightning Flash Mode activated!]

[This mode lasts 10 minutes]

[Once ended, the skill will enter a 3-hour cooldown]

I glanced at the notification and said without hesitation, “Ten minutes is more than enough to wipe out every last one of these bastards.”

“Waaah, Kyouze, your whole body is glowing! Hahaha! I want to swallow you up and make that light disappear forever!!” Necroval regenerated her massive body again, laughing like a lunatic as she swarmed me with mutated zombies poison bombers, dog-like biters, and berserker zombies.

But none of it mattered. With one spinning slash, I burned them all to ashes.

Even when she tried to stall me, the Auto Hunting Drone shielded me and cleared my route.

I dashed straight toward Necroval. In a matter of seconds, I sliced off the giant creature’s leg, causing it to fall. She tried to strike me with both fists.

“Pointless,” I muttered and activated [Volta Slash: Double Strike] slicing both her hands right off, leaving them charred and unable to regenerate quickly.

“What incredible power, Kyouze—” She couldn’t even finish speaking before I severed her other leg.

The massive zombie body collapsed. Now I stood face to face with her true body embedded in its forehead. She was covered in blood, but still laughing, with her eyes full of madness.

I pressed my blade to her throat.

But suddenly her expression changed. The madness vanished. Her eyes softened. She looked like the Val I met before all this horror began.

“Kyouze… please kill me,” she said quietly.

“As you wish...”

“Good… I want you to be the one to finish me off and ends my suffering…”

I paused, staring at her. Then I asked, “Any last words?”

“Can… I…can I hug you?”

“….why? You’ll get burned.”

“….It’s okay…I just want to do that..”

I don’t know why, but something in me froze.

I had never seen someone face death with a smile like that.

She wasn’t human. Just an NPC.

Yes. That’s right. Val was only an NPC I met in this world.

And she turned out to be the boss of this floor.

NPCs aren’t people like me or the other players from Earth trapped here.

Then why… why couldn’t I refuse this one last request?

Maybe the idea of an “NPC” only exists if you call this a game. But this isn’t a game anymore. This is another world. These people… they’re real. 

In this world, Val wasn’t an NPC, she was a girl who was tortured, betrayed, and turned into a monster by her own world.

Slowly Val wrapped her arms around me. Her body was electrocuted by my Lightning Flash Mode.

I couldn’t cancel it! the skill remains until its duration ends. Five minutes left.

Bzzzzztt!!

In the middle of the surging voltage, she kept hugging me tightly.

“You idiot!! Let go of me!!” I tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t release her grip.

“Argh… I just wanted to say goodbye properly… but Kyouze, didn’t you say you were going to kill me? Hehe, so why are you trying to escape?” she said, even as half of her body burned away.

“This is… too much for me…” I muttered.

“I know it…Behind that cold shell of yours, there’s a warm heart,” Val smiled.

Just as I was about to raise my sword again, she leaned in and whispered something into my ear.

What she said shocked me.

Then, as if the monstrous part of her returned, Necroval reawakened and swallowed me whole inside the giant body. I allowed it, because I understood what I had to do. I searched from the inside for the Abyss core.

I had one minute left before my skill ended. This has to end now.

“There you are…”

At the center was a red mechanical core, pulsing and glitching.

Val’s whisper told me to destroy that, and end it all.

I clenched my sword tightly and channeled my Volta EtherCode with all my power.

“Burn to your roots — [Overburst Slash!! Maximum output!!!]”

BAM!!

A massive lightning blade exploded through the entire core. Everything around me was scorched. The Abyss core shattered completely. Necroval’s massive body disintegrated into scattered particles.

[Lightning Flash Mode deactivated]

I rose to the surface. 

Val’s body had returned to normal form, being a normal human again. She fell from the sky.

I caught her in my arms like a princess.

She was still conscious, but her legs began turning into pixels and dissolving.

“Hehe… I always wanted someone to carry me like this… you granted another dream again, Kyouze. Thank you…” She rested her head on my chest.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and now even her upper body began to fade.

“Even though my life was filled with tragedy… I’m grateful I found love at the end of it,” she whispered.

“Val… I…already-”

I tried to respond, but she gently placed a finger on my lips, smiling peacefully.

“You don’t need to say anything… Kyouze..hehe let me go with this feeling..”

“And this is my last request to you…Keep living, Kyouze…Keep living and defeat the Abyss…”

Hearing her words made me certain now that Nether and the Abyss are linked… and the Abyss is what turned Val into this.

If I reach the final floor, Floor 10,  I’ll find the truth behind all of it.

I nodded and said to her, “Val, remember my real name… I, Mikazuki Kyouya, will destroy the Abyss! That was my plan from the start..”

Her eyes widened softly. She smiled again.

“So that’s your name… it’s beautiful…”

“ Goodbye… Kyouya…”

Those were her final words.

Her body vanished completely, fading into light.

I held onto the last glimmering particles in my hands. For some reason… tears began falling down my face.

So I still have these feelings… feelings of a human.

[Congratulations, you defeated Necroval the Zombie Queen!]

[You gained 70,000 EXP]

[You obtained: Tears of the Zombie Queen]

The gate to Floor 4 opened.

I wiped my face with my sleeve and stepped forward.

…

..

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