Chapter 8 — Once a Trash NEET, Always a Trash NEET, Even after Being Reincarnated
Jolt and the rest of the battalion fled for their lives. Their terror was so deep that they had no room to even consider the horses under them.
The boy probably wouldn’t attack them, so there was no real need to run so far so fast. But while they understood that, they couldn’t bear to stay in that place. Not only was Darian dead, but he had killed himself. They didn’t know what had happened but understood enough to recognize that it wasn’t normal. They didn’t have the composure to sit around and wait to be told to leave again.
“What was that?! Why did Lord Darian do that?!”
“I heard something once! I heard that when Lord Darian is on the verge of death, he can move back through time!”
“Th-Then he’s going to come back to save us, right?!”
“That’s right. Right, Jolt?!”
Everyone looked to their vice-captain. Although each of them had unbelievable powers of their own, they had relied on Darian for too long. It didn’t even occur to them to use their own abilities.
“No, that’s not what Lord Darian’s power is.”
It was only speculation based on what Jolt had heard and witnessed so far, but Darian’s ability to go back in time only activated after his death, so it served as a final desperate gambit. It was something like sending his soul back in time, so whatever changes he made back then wouldn’t affect the present, as if he were branching off into an entirely different timeline. Darian himself would be able to do things over, but that wouldn’t help the rest of them now.
In short, their leader had abandoned them to save himself.
“No matter what Lord Darian does in the past, it won’t affect us anymore!” he continued.
“Then what are we supposed to do?!”
How am I supposed to know?! Jolt screamed internally. How could things have ended up this way? His second life had been going so well. As long as he was at Darian’s side, there should have been nothing to fear. But now the prince was dead. Everything had fallen apart in an instant.
Before meeting Darian, Jolt hadn’t been so dependent. Back then, he had used the advantages created by his past memories to aim to be the strongest. But now that he knew what stood above him, there was no way he could simple-mindedly follow that way of life again. He knew there was a level of ability beyond that which hard work could ever reach—an incarnation of terror that exceeded all understanding.
All things considered, it would be best to accept his place in the scheme of things and live according to his means, but that had also turned out to be impossible. In the end, Jolt hadn’t changed at all. His childish nature of only being satisfied if he was at the very top hadn’t improved a bit since being reincarnated. It had only been exacerbated by the supernatural powers this world had given him.
“It’s okay! We’re still the Invincible Battalion! As long as we have the armor Lord Darian made for us, we’re invincible!”
“But that kid...”
“Who cares about him?! Ignore him! We just need to leave him alone!”
It sounded too good to be true, but that idea quickly began to win over the other members of the battalion. Even without Darian, they could continue to work together.
Before long they reached the capital and immediately realized that something was wrong. Something was happening. There was an unreasonably large crowd gathered around the city gates. That was strange enough on its own, but to make matters worse, the crowd was in a state of chaos. Roars, screams, wails. Numerous pained voices filled the air as the people fled.
“What’s going on?”
They had been unaware of the events that had taken place in the city. They hadn’t heard about the resurrection of the Dark God Mana or the sea of flesh that had spread through the capital, so they had no way of knowing that this scene was the harbinger of yet more despair. They had been running desperately for their lives, with no idea that they had fled straight into another nightmare.
“What do we do now, Jolt?!”
“Why are you asking me?!”
“Because you’re the vice-captain!”
Although they pressed him for an answer, Jolt was as clueless as his companions. They decided to approach the gates to see what was going on.
It appeared in front of them without a sound. Without any warning, an enormous, four-legged beast suddenly stood before them. It was a wolf, drenched so thoroughly in blood that its fur might have been naturally red. Between its enormous teeth were a number of people, some dead, some still moaning in pain. It’s jaws continued to work up and down, paying them no mind, chewing and swallowing.
The battalion was struck by sheer terror. The strength of the wolf didn’t matter, nor did the question of whether or not they could defeat it. Simply seeing something eating their fellow humans instilled absolute fear in them.
“Keep a hold of yourselves! We’re invincible!” Jolt roared, attempting to encourage himself as much as the others. “Monster or not, it’s just an animal! There is nothing for us to fear!”
The beast was so large that they had to look up at it. It was undoubtedly stronger than a human. But it was still just a wolf. Each member of the battalion had powers that defied belief, and they still had the invincible armor as well. No animal could be a threat to them.
But why had it appeared here? There didn’t seem to be any particular reason for it. It was just a wolf, devouring anything it laid eyes on. Having finished what was in its mouth, it seemed to disappear.
Jolt turned around. He couldn’t follow its movements, but the smell of blood and beast was impossible to hide, indicating its position clearly enough. As expected, it had moved behind them.
Then one of the soldiers vanished. Iris had been snatched up, horse and all.
“I-I’m okay! It doesn’t hurt! Its fangs can’t break through the armor! Everyone, get it now!”
The monster’s speed was hard to believe, but its fangs were ineffective against their comrade. If they could defend against its attacks, they had plenty of ways to fight it.
“Leave it to us! I’ll show this mutt what it means to fear the Invincible—”
Iris abruptly disappeared. She had been swallowed whole. Impenetrable armor didn’t mean much under those circumstances. Even Darian had likely never predicted such an attack.
“She’s...fine, right? She’s probably still alive inside it!”
If she struggled from within, the monstrous creature surely wouldn’t last long. But so far it seemed unharmed. There was no sign of movement from within its belly, and no sword punched out from inside.
“The Wolf King,” someone murmured.
It was the name of an Aggressor. An incarnation of atrocity, perpetually starving, forever devouring everything in reach. It was a beast that had stayed hidden ever since Sage Lain had repelled it.
Jolt was reminded of why the city was surrounded by such a powerful wall, why they had allowed a group as self-serving as the Sages to do whatever they wanted. It was all because of these Aggressors. It was to protect their people from these very nightmares.
Nothing like this had ever happened before. Normally, even if there had been casualties, a Sage would immediately appear to resolve the situation. But there was no Sage here now.
Jolt had no way of knowing it, but the Sage who had lived there was dead. Darian had said that half-demons were necessary to keep something sealed away, but if one of those seals broke and something was revived now, the destruction it would cause likely wouldn’t make a difference.
Before anyone had even realized it, the balance of the world had begun to collapse.
“Why... Why is this happening?” Jolt murmured.
The Wolf King approached slowly, having chosen him as its next target. Jolt closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear the fear of watching those jaws creeping ever closer. Trembling, he waited for that final moment. But it never came. A warm breath, heavy with the scent of meat and blood, blew slowly past him. The Wolf King was right beside him now.
“If you’re going to eat me, just hurry up and do it!” he cried, eyes still shut tight. But the Wolf King made no reply.
Finally, the fear of what he couldn’t see got the better of him, and Jolt pried his eyes open. When he did, he saw two identical young girls standing in front of him. He went rigid at the unexpected sight. The Wolf King stood behind them but was as solid as a statue.
“You are...”
“I’m Malna!”
“I’m Rilna!”
“Together we’re Malnarilna! Yay!”
As they spoke, the girls clapped their hands together.
Jolt was in shock. The atmosphere had changed so drastically that the terrifying scene from a moment before felt like a lie. He realized that he couldn’t smell the beast’s breath anymore. It was as if time had simply stopped.
“Now then, do you know my name, Jolt?”
“My name counts too!”
“The Malnarilna Sect.” It was the name of one of the largest religions in the world, second only to the Axis Church.
“Worshiping a big pole like the Axis Church doesn’t count, though! So really, we’re the biggest religion!”
“That’s right! We’re gods!”
Jolt had never heard of Malnarilna being two separate beings, let alone young girls.
“We’re gods, so we can make time go reeeaaally slow!”
“Coming here without the cute little wolfie noticing is easy!”
He found it hard to accept that they were actually gods, but if they were the ones who had stopped time, their strength must have been the real deal.
“If you’re gods... If you can do this...couldn’t you have saved these people?!”
“What? Aren’t most of the people in Manii members of the Axis Church?”
“Why would we save them?”
Hearing it put that way, it was hard to argue the point. But it made their presence even more baffling.
“We’re just here to tell you what’s up.”
“We’re the reason you were reincarnated.”
“Darian was the same, by the way.”
“You were hopeless trash in your last life, but we wanted to see if you’d turn out better if we gave you a second chance.”
“I thought you’d stay the same.”
“I guess you win, Rilna. Conclusion: once a trash NEET, always a trash NEET! Even after reincarnating!”
“Darian was so serious, he was no fun to watch at all.”
“It would have been more exciting if he’d tried to fight the Sages.”
“Why did he agree to work with them?”
“Why did he try to be some kind of hero?”
“Well, we’re just spectators anyway.”
“No matter what you guys do, we’re only here to watch.”
Jolt was overwhelmed by the rapid-fire conversation. Unable to keep up, he merely stared at them, bewildered. “Then why did you show up now?!”
“You’re gonna die in a second, so we wanted to ask you something first.”
“How was it? Was living as a garbage human fun?”
“How does it feel to learn you’ve been dancing in the palm of a god this whole time?”
The girls peered into his face. Jolt didn’t know what sort of expression he was wearing at the moment, but he was sure he looked like a complete idiot given how confused the conversation had left him.
“C-Can’t you save me?” he begged. If they were gods, they could surely have done something.
“Sorry, that’s not what we’re doing this time.”
“This time is just about carefully, carefully, caaarefully watching the life of a piece of trash.”
“Wh-What do you want from me?! How can you play with people’s lives like this?! Stop messing with me!”
“We thought it would be fun.”
“But it wasn’t, so we’re done.”
As if they had suddenly lost interest, the pair turned around and walked away.
“So what’s next?”
“How about that kid from earlier? I hear he can kill people just by thinking it.”
“What is that? How does that even work?”
Malnarilna disappeared, and time began to move again.
In front of Jolt the open jaws of the Wolf King snapped shut. He couldn’t help but panic as he felt himself being swallowed, but at that point, death almost seemed like a gift.
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