Chapter 13: Death Reload

Ailia had left.

The castle grew quiet at night.

Zhe Zilin lay on the bed, squinting, unable to feel any drowsiness.

So he flipped over and started doing push-ups, trying to tire himself out enough to fall asleep.

He did a hundred in one go. His forehead only broke a slight sweat.

Fifteen points of Strength exceeded his imagination. It was only five points higher than an ordinary person, yet the actual improvement could only be described as a leap.

Could an ordinary person do dozens of push-ups in one go? No. Absolutely impossible.

As a shut-in who spent every day with soda, he struggled to do even ten push-ups. So he absolutely refused to believe an ordinary person could do dozens in one go.

It had to be because of the stat points. His Strength had increased almost exponentially.

Right now he was only in the swordsman range. If his title upgraded again, it probably would not be as simple as doing push-ups without getting winded.

After all, this world had people who could slay dragons.

After tossing and turning, Zhe Zilin felt a bit drowsy. He ran another lap around the castle before finally stopping. He took a shower and prepared to sleep.

These past few days he had developed a habit of waiting for Ailia’s goodnight. No matter how late it was, Ailia would push open the door and say goodnight.

Now there seemed to be no goodnight. It always felt like something was missing.

Zhe Zilin looked toward the door, lost in thought.

If he were not here, on a day like this in the past, Ailia would probably have already gone to sleep. Or perhaps she was also lying awake in a daze.

Living alone in the castle for who knows how long, feelings of loneliness and solitude must have arisen countless times.

From the knight’s attitude this morning, it was clear that the people of the North did not respect witches. More than that, they were wary and… disgusted?

He did not know Ailia’s past, nor could he imagine a petite body living alone in this terrifying forest.

Of course, setting aside her magic, all in all she was still quite pitiable.

Thus, under this thought, he recalled Ailia’s youthful face and could not help listing her good points one by one: unfathomable strength, no need for any expensive rewards, one touch and one kiss were enough to satisfy her.

In the face of absolute value for money, Ailia’s flaws were infinitely minimized.

What possessiveness, what paranoia, what madness — that was a unique form of special treatment, a persistent determination!

For some reason, Zhe Zilin discovered that Ailia was actually quite normal.

Except when she was not having an episode, and her personality was a bit repressed.

Zhe Zilin suddenly came back to his senses and felt greatly surprised.

I haven’t even conquered Ailia yet, and I’ve already been conquered by her!?

No. I don’t want to spend my whole life in this castle. I have to get out.

Zhe Zilin dispelled the thoughts in his mind, buried his head in the blanket, and forced himself to sleep.

……

“Hurry up, One-Eye. I can’t wait anymore. I love this feeling of licking blood off the blade tip too much.”

The half-orc named Scar tightly gripped a broken sword in his hand. Foul-smelling saliva sprayed everywhere.

In front of him was One-Eye. Behind him stood three half-orcs: Gan, Wen, and Cui.

Scar was so excited his whole body trembled. He kept urging One-Eye on.

“This is the witch’s castle. If she finds out, we’ll definitely die horribly. Hahaha.”

One-Eye shot Scar a glare. The spellstone in his hand was slowly cutting open the barrier.

The moment it touched the barrier, the blood on the spellstone acted like sulfuric acid, melting an opening in the invisible shield. As time passed bit by bit, the opening expanded into a circular hole about seventy to eighty centimeters in radius.

“That’s enough, One-Eye! Let’s go in already!”

Scar lifted his sword and was about to crawl inside when smack — One-Eye slapped him.

“Idiot! Don’t make noise. Don’t wake him up!”

The five half-orcs slipped through the hole and quietly crossed the grassland under cover of darkness, arriving at the base of the castle.

Scar covered his mouth and secretly laughed.

“We’re in. We actually got in. I love this feeling so much.”

One-Eye glanced at him with a look that said “you’re an idiot,” then led the four half-orcs to the stable, planning to kill the remaining horses to prevent any accidents.

Gan spoke up to remind him, “Won’t killing the horses make too much noise? It’ll wake him.”

After brief thought, One-Eye nodded and signaled to go straight into the castle.

The five half-orcs carefully pushed open the door, keeping their footsteps as low as possible. Under One-Eye’s command, they locked the main door.

“With five of us, we can’t possibly lose to him alone. Let’s just go straight in.”

Wen was getting impatient with One-Eye’s caution and suggested this.

One-Eye turned his head to explain, “This guy might be a knight, so we have to be careful.”

“With just us few, we can’t beat a knight. We’d barely be enough to sharpen his blade.”

Scar covered his mouth. Laughter leaked out from between his fingers.

“This is great! It’s a knight. We’re finished!”

Except for the excited Scar, Gan, Wen, and Cui started having second thoughts and stopped moving forward.

“A waking knight we can’t beat. But this is a sleeping knight. What are you afraid of? He doesn’t even have a sword in his hand right now.”

One-Eye gritted his teeth, his expression fierce. Under his explanation and ruthless demeanor, Gan, Wen, and Cui continued following.

They stealthily made their way to Zhe Zilin’s door and hid on both sides, exchanging glances.

“I’ll count to three. We’ll rush in together and hack at the bed.”

“One.”

“Two.”

Just as One-Eye was about to kick the door, Scar suddenly stopped him.

“Wait. I’m too excited. I need to pee.”

One-Eye could no longer control himself. He kicked Scar aside and then kicked open the room door.

He charged in first. Gan, Wen, and Cui followed closely behind. Scar climbed up from the ground, afraid of being one step late and missing this thrilling scene.

The five half-orcs raised their weapons and wildly hacked at the bed, not holding back even a little.

Bang! The bed collapsed.

One-Eye stopped the four who were still madly hacking. Only Scar ignored him and continued swinging his broken sword with all his might.

“This is thrilling!”

One-Eye kicked him again, sending Scar tumbling to the ground. The room finally quieted down.

He lifted the blanket. There was no one there.

In truth, when the first slash produced no blood, he had already started to suspect. But the atmosphere had reached this point, so he had no choice but to keep going.

“No one!?”

Gan and Wen panted, feeling a bit of lingering fear. They had made such a big commotion. They had definitely alerted the enemy.

One-Eye also felt a wave of dread. He looked at the bed, thinking about what to do next.

Scar sat on the ground laughing uncontrollably. In his peripheral vision, he suddenly noticed a hand resting on the doorknob behind the door.

“Over there!”

In a flash, Zhe Zilin charged out with his sword. His target was directly One-Eye. He had observed from behind the door for a long time and was certain this guy was the leader of these half-orcs.

To shoot a man, first shoot his horse. To capture bandits, first capture their leader.

In the chaos, One-Eye knew he could not escape in time. He grabbed Cui beside him and used him as a shield.

Whoosh!

The Dragon Slayer sliced off Cui’s head in one stroke, as easily as cutting a watermelon.

“He’s a knight! He must be a knight!”

Seeing that One-Eye had not been killed, Zhe Zilin swung his sword again.

As the saying goes, momentum fades after the first burst. One-Eye got a breathing space and immediately ran to the side, standing together with the remaining three half-orcs.

For a moment, facing four broken swords pointed at him, Zhe Zilin found it difficult to make a move.

Both sides formed a brief stalemate.

The half-orcs had witnessed Cui’s fate and feared Zhe Zilin was a knight.

Zhe Zilin, on the other hand, worried that his Strength, only fifteen points above an ordinary person’s, was not enough to deal with the four half-orcs before him.

However, this stalemate did not last long.

A sudden icy hand releasing cold air grabbed the windowsill, attracting everyone’s attention.

Immediately after, a creature covered entirely in ice, with a green face and protruding fangs, poked its head in.

It exhaled a breath of cold air from its mouth. Looking at the Dragon Slayer in Zhe Zilin’s hand, it revealed a strange smile.

“Ice… Ice Demon!”

One-Eye’s eyes widened. The moment he uttered those words, the Ice Demon outside the window let out a cold laugh.

Immediately, thousands upon thousands of corpses poured out from the cut-open hole, forcibly bursting apart the barrier.

Without giving Zhe Zilin any chance to react, the corpses rushed into the castle and destroyed everything.

[You died]

[The witch’s barrier finally had a problem. The Ice Demon, who had been waiting for a long time, did not find the witch but saw the Yaojin Sword in your hand. So he decided to kill you.]

[In the North, Ailia sensed that the barrier had been broken. She immediately rode back to the castle at full speed, but everything was too late. By the time she arrived, your corpse was nothing but severed limbs.]

[Thus, she removed all restrictions and walked alone into the polar region to take revenge on the Ice Demon.]

[This journey was one of certain death, but you were already dead. She had no heart to distinguish right from wrong and was determined to kill every last Ice Demon.]

[New death ending unlocked: Ice Demon’s Corpse Slave. This ending is an accidental outcome. Special reward obtained: Disguise.]

[Skill LV1 Disguise: You can disguise yourself as any person or corpse for three minutes. No one will be able to detect you.]

[Remaining reloads: 2]