Death. That is the only thing I found when I located the source of the smells.
It took me two days of travelling through the never-ending forest to locate the source of the smell in a small clearing.
A clearing filled with decaying dead bodies, burnt objects that were now unrecognizable, and blood, a lot of blood.
The dead bodies had humanoid forms. Whether they were some fantasy variant of humans or something else entirely, I do not know, since they were charred beyond recognition.
This also means that my primary goal of finding proper clothing has gone down the drain.
.....Honesty, I don't know if it is a good or bad thing that I feel nothing as I watch the decaying corpses of living creatures in front of me.
Did I lose my humanity somewhere during those countless loops? Hopefully not. It would be very inconvenient if I went insane. Again.
'Another dead end. Need to keep moving..'
Suddenly, the scene in front of me was replaced with a different one that sent chills down my spine.
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It was the biggest prison in Korea, made specifically for Hunters. A place where humans were stacked together like animals and were treated even worse.
Some of them, deserving such treatment, while others were thrown there because of various other reasons.
Within its accursed walls, unspeakable horrors unfolded on an hourly basis for decades.
And now, in front of my very eyes, this prison was overrun by grotesque creatures that could no longer be called human as they gave themselves to madness, just like "I" wanted.
"I" Walked out of that hell alone. My plan, which spanned over a decade finally coming to fruition.
Blood coated my fists as i slowly walked over the corpses of many B-Rank and A-Rank hunters, their blood serving as nourishment for my demonic mana.
When "I" was imprisoned here unjustly, the Prison had a population of nearly 600, including the guards, staff, and the prisoners themselves. By the time "I" had done my duty, it was reduced to one.
Kim Minjun, you will pay for your treachery. One way or another.
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I forcefully closed my eyes and suppressed those memories as best as I could.
Fuck! Not this again! Now is not the time for one of these episodes!
Suddenly, the image was replaced with something else, but equally worse.
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"I" held a grim expression, watching as my Knights massacred the village of commoners below us in the name of 'Justice.'
A cowardly excuse used by the church to kill anyone and anything that got in their way. An excuse used to steal what belonged to others and silence any witnesses to their monstrous acts.
"I" hated it, but "I" understood its use.
In fact, "I" may have even enjoyed it at one point.
The thrill of holding power over your fellow man, the boost to the ego you gain when a man twice your size and ten times your level crawls on the ground, begging for the lives of his wife and children, just because you have the backing of a powerful noble family, the Kingdom, or even the Church behind you.
All the while, said family of the man suffers torture beyond imagination.
However, all that enjoyment went down the drain when "I" fell in love myself and started to comprehend what my victims might have felt when they were at my mercy.
So, "I" watched silently from the top of my horse, doing my duty as the Knight Commander of the Kingdom and making sure my Knights didn't end up injured or dead, feeling nothing but apathy for the mortals below.
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I howled in pain and fell to my knees, tears falling down my face, as pain flared across my mind and body while those horrible images and memories flashed through my mind.
I am not a cold and broken Noble from a barbaric kingdom! I am Lee Jinwoo!
I did my best to hold back this new tide of information and memories from pouring in, especially when I am already suffering from another one of my breakdowns right now.
Yet, a dam, once broken, cannot be held back anymore.
Memories and experiences not my own started flowing into my mind, which drank it up without any problems, showing just how inhuman I had become.
Every monstrous act carried out by the noble brat, every inhuman and cold decision i took in the name of saving my loved ones, everything!
For hours on end, memories kept pouring into me, making me live through a life not my own, experiences not my own, actions not my own.
I hated it. I am ashamed of it. Yet, I also understand it better than anyone.
The moster in my memories, the bastard that can only be called a vile creature of darkness, no matter the justification.
I understood him better than anyone.
Because at the end of the day, he was like me, just like I was like him.
Soon, the pain stopped, allowing me to slowly pick myself up from the ground and start walking towards the corpses.
Dead men don't need material objects, but the living do.
And right now, I am the only living person in the vicinity, so my need outweighs theirs.
After looting their bodies and finding practically nothing aside from a few trinkets that I couldn't make heads or tails of, I walked away.
Hate is now a rather integral part of me, thanks to the memories and emotions I inherited. But I will not allow it to overwhelm me.
For now, I need to keep moving and try to confirm something that has been bugging me ever since I inherited the noble brat's memories.
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