NOVPUBWhen Daniel woke up again, he had completely lost his fear.
All that remained in his heart was rage. Damn it, it was bad enough that he couldn’t beat the creature and kept getting eaten, but he also kept getting resurrected only to be eaten again.
What was this, an all-you-can-eat buffet?
Even capitalist exploiters knew to take turns shearing the sheep, but this abomination seemed to be fixated on him alone.
"F*ck off and get out here," Daniel cursed, "You can’t tell me a Desert Eagle with infinite bullets can’t kill you, you carbon-based life form!"
The monster appeared at the door.
"Didn’t Sophia come with you?"
Daniel raised his hand and immediately shot, "Come on, you motherf*cker! Die!"
He shot the monster’s head off, and feeling unsatisfied, he strode over and kicked its body away.
He fired frantically at the body, the pistol shooting at the speed of an automatic weapon.
"Insignificant bug, become my nourishment!" the monster declared.
"F*ck your nourishment! I’m going to kill you!" Daniel retorted.
Of course, it was no surprise that he was once again swallowed whole by the monster’s gaping maw.
Daniel lost count of how many times he had died.
Ten times, or maybe a hundred. He seemed to have gotten used to death.
He had even lost the fear he should have had towards death, one could say he had become indifferent to life and death.
During this period, he tried many methods.
He tried punching, kicking, and even biting, but nothing worked against the monster.
If he couldn’t beat it, surely he could run away?
However, when he tried to run in the opposite direction, meaning running to the right after exiting the door, he would always end up bumping into the monster’s backside.
After several attempts, Daniel realized that the corridor was a closed loop, a square with no exits!
What was even more terrifying was that he realized there was only one room in each corridor!
Daniel built a mental map of this level, using the central area of the corridor as a reference, with four corridors running in the cardinal directions - east, south, west, and north.
Each time, he found himself resurrected in the room within the eastern corridor, as it was only in this room that the compass pointed true north and south.
With fear of death no longer a concern, Daniel was suddenly struck by a terrifying thought.
Perhaps he wasn’t resurrecting, but reincarnating!
That would explain why he was always reborn in the eastern room, why the monster always appeared at the bend of the northern corridor, and why there was no trace of his previous deaths in each room.
He was trapped in an infinite loop, returning to this room each time he died.
It was like a save point in a video game; unless progress was updated, he would always start from here!
No wonder the monster kept repeating the same phrase each time it appeared!
Daniel’s mind raced. Perhaps this was what Hols and Taylor referred to as the Divine Inheritance!
He wondered where Hols and Taylor had reincarnated.
Soon, Daniel woke up again.
If anyone saw his eyes at that moment, they would surely be terrified.
Those eyes were devoid of light, filled with a deathly stillness.
There was no hint of hope.
If eyes were the windows to the soul, then Daniel’s windows were utterly shattered.
However, a careful observer might detect beneath that stagnant water, a seething rage and madness.
After dying hundreds of times, Daniel had become an embodiment of rage.
Only by killing the monster could he calm the madness within.
Upon hearing footsteps in the corridor, Daniel fell into deep thought.
How could he deal with this monster?
No matter how much its body was shattered, that mouth always managed to wriggle out.
Suddenly, something occurred to Daniel.
He stood by the door, silently waiting for the monster to appear.
The footsteps rang out again, and ’Rachel’ entered the room not long after.
Expressionless, Daniel half-glanced at the creature, mentally reciting to himself.
Begin appraise!
[Age]: Has existed on Earth for a million years
[Condition]: Not the original body, cannot evaluate the condition
[Detail]: An entity beyond human understanding, with no fixed form. It can change its appearance at will, manifesting different images for different observers. It may manifest as a distressing ball of dark energy or present a beautiful and enchanting appearance. All are merely illusions, no one knows its true form.
[Appraisal]: An entity that no human can compete against. If encountered, there is only one outcome - become its loyal servant!
[Market Price]: (Incalculable)
[Buyback Price]: (Incalculable)
A monster this powerful and it’s not even its original form?
Daniel was somewhat bewildered.
This monster was invincible, capable of devouring an entire person.
In the outside world, it would undoubtedly cause panic in human society.
If a mere copy is this powerful, one could hardly imagine the power of the original!
The monster looked at Daniel, smiling faintly, "Didn’t Sophia come with you?"
Ignoring the question, Daniel raised his gun and fired a shot that struck the monster’s head.
He swiftly approached and shoved the gun into the shattered skull, rapidly firing additional shots.
"Screw you!"
"So the mouth comes out from here, huh?"
"Taste this!"
"Screw you!"
"Taste my heavy-caliber firepower!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The thunderous gunfire echoed throughout the room, even Daniel felt a sting in his own ears.
But he didn’t stop.
Since the mouth emerges from the body, he’d blow it up from the head down.
He couldn’t believe that the monster could withstand the damage from the Desert Eagle!
He was willing to take a bet on that.
Dozens of bullets were fired, their powerful force completely shattering the monster’s body.
It was his last attempt, and he was even prepared for it to be futile.
However, to his surprise, the monster was thoroughly reduced to a pile of shredded flesh, with no further movement.
Among the scattered flesh, there was no sign of that fanged mouth.
After waiting for a few minutes, Daniel was certain.
He had killed the monster!
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Daniel couldn’t help but let out a roar, trying to vent all the pent-up frustration from his countless previous deaths.
No matter how heart-wrenching his shouts, it still didn’t feel enough, didn’t bring enough relief.
Maybe it’s because he only killed a clone, and the original still existed somewhere in the world.
With that thought, Daniel regained his calmness.
Unconsciously, he muttered, "Atelarxus, huh?"
"You wait. I’ll find you. As long as I can resurrect, I’ll fight you to the death. You have to die."
His tone was very calm, devoid of any emotional fluctuations.
If one didn’t interpret his words literally, it would be hard to grasp the chilling promise they held.
Daniel was ready to venture out to find the exit when something flickering among the bits of flesh caught his eye.
Nonchalantly, he reached into the gore and felt around, quickly retrieving a crystalline gem.
It was like a piece of crystal, yet more pure than crystal.
If it weren’t for the real touch in his hand, he wouldn’t even know there was something in his palm.
Daniel was about to appraise it when suddenly, the gem emitted an indiscernible light.
It transformed into a beam and quickly burrowed into Daniel’s forehead.
The system’s voice also rang out at this moment.
[Host has obtained a special power object!]
[Initiating automatic detection!]
[Item]: Echo Stone
[Age]: Pre-universe
[Condition]: Well-preserved
[Detail]: Possesses a powerful ability to rewind time and space. The activation method is the death of the host, which can trigger a brief rewind in time and space through the power of the Echo Stone.
[Appraisal]: This is not a complete Echo Stone, so it only possesses a portion of the Echo Stone’s power, and the number of rewinds is significantly reduced, with only ten opportunities per day.
[Market Price]: (Incalculable, handle with caution!)
[Buyback Price]: (Incalculable, handle with caution!)
Echo Stone, space-time rewind!
Daniel thought he had become indifferent to life and death and wouldn’t be surprised by anything.
But at this moment, he couldn’t help but shiver.
Space-time rewind, although only ten chances a day, was already freakishly powerful.
After all, who could die ten times in a single day?
However, why was this Echo Stone inside Atelarxus’s body?
And since it was in its body, why couldn’t it make time rewind?
Daniel thought for a moment, he couldn’t be sure if time hadn’t rewound because even if it had, he wouldn’t know.
Maybe it had rewound ten times already, but each time Atelarxus was killed by him.
What a turn of events!
After getting the Echo Stone, Daniel’s mood improved quite a bit.
Even though he didn’t understand why he could rewind before, he no longer cared.
His hatred for Atelarxus, however, remained undiminished.
That damned thing deserved to die.
But now that he had the Echo Stone, his hope of killing the real Atelarxus increased a bit.
Daniel took his gun and crouched down to leave the room.
In the corridor, there were only the sounds of his footsteps.
Another problem lay before him: this level of the pyramid was a closed loop, how could he get out?
He looked up at the ceiling, unsure of how many meters underground he was.
If he tried to dig, he might not make it out.
