I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 178

CHAPTER 178

‘Wow, this is killing me.’

I smiled, but I could feel my insides deteriorating more and more.

It felt like slowly dying while remaining fully conscious.

It’s a unique experience, to say the least.

‘But there was no other way.’

I smiled brightly, holding Gaia’s sickle.

‘There were weapons and medicines, but I couldn’t use them.’

The nectar was a remedy made solely for the gods from the start.

A human body couldn’t withstand it. 

Its effects were too strong, making it toxic instead.

‘If it had worked for humans, I would have made and consumed it the moment I opened my eyes in this body.’

I wiped the blood flowing from my mouth.

In short, the nectar was like food in a painting for me.

‘The same goes for Gaia’s sickle.’

It was a weapon capable of delivering a decisive blow to the Lord, but unfortunately, it was a sickle Gaia made for herself.

It wasn’t made for a human to kill a god.

‘In other words, even if I used it, I wouldn’t have been able to inflict significant damage.’

Considering the arrogant nature of the gods, I would’ve been more likely to get hurt.

So I planned to use the evil god’s hand to deal with the Lord.

‘And this is how it turned out.’

I smiled, feeling the power of temporarily being in the position of a god.

Sounds from afar felt as if they were right next to me, power surged within me, and it seemed like I could upend the earth and control the weather with a single gesture.

With such overwhelming power, I was dying.

‘I tried to avoid using this power as much as possible, but I had no choice if I wanted to use the nectar and Gaia’s sickle.’

I kept wiping the flowing blood. 

But the amount of blood I wiped was less than what was flowing out.

Blood dripped from my nose, eyes, and mouth.

<…Withdraw that power even now.>

The Lord, already impaled by Gaia’s sickle twice and unable to move properly, ground his teeth.

<Do you wish to escape the wheel of life and disappear forever!?>

<I don’t particularly care.>

Oh, telepathy is great.

If I had to use my real voice, I probably wouldn’t have been able to speak.

<I’ve lived long enough already.>

I gripped Gaia’s sickle tighter.

<And I decided to use this power a long time ago.>

This was the power I almost used when Kyres attacked me and Arkin.

Well, back then, I wouldn’t have needed to use it for as long as now.

Kyres would’ve vanished just by slightly releasing the divine energy through his possessed corpse.

<I’m not afraid of disappearing.>

I sneered, looking at the Lord’s increasingly darkening face.

<But you aren’t, are you?>

Step down from the throne you thought you’d sit on forever.

I’ll personally teach you how to crawl on the ground.

I heard the sound of the Lord grinding his teeth.

<…Get away, you insect!!>

Power gathered. My vision flashed.

A colossal light, enough to bring down the divine realm, poured toward me.

At this point, he didn’t care about the divine realm or anything else—he just wanted to save himself.

<How cowardly, O King of the Gods.>

My entire body was engulfed in light. 

I won’t be able to withstand this for long.

‘But it’s manageable.’

Foolish Lord.

I wiped the blood from my mouth again.

The power that temporarily elevated me, a mere human, to the position of a god was the Lord’s power itself.

Yet he attacked me with his own power—how could that possibly work?

‘Might as well try to flood a lake with a single drop of rain.’

I smirked.

The Lord surely knew this.

He’s just thrashing about in desperation now.

<King, Father. Can you hear this?>

I taunted, laughing.

<Your lower gods are vanishing because of your power.>

It was the truth.

Even my temporarily god-elevated ears could hear the screams of the lower gods.

So, the Lord must be hearing it too.

One by one, the screams filled with agony ceased.

<Father!>

Even the twelve main gods were raising their voices.

<Please stop your power!>

<Please, Father, stop!>

<Everyone is dying!>

<Shut up!!>

The Lord roared.

<The most important one is me. Me! As long as I live, the divine realm can always be rebuilt!>

<…!>

Voices of shock echoed before abruptly falling silent, one by one.

The twelve main gods should be able to withstand this power.

‘They must be too shocked to speak, or they’re thinking of retreating because this isn’t right.’

Ha ha ha, a father who kills both his subjects and his children.

Even I’d hate that.

Right?

Ha…

‘Dizzy…’

My body swayed violently.

Was it because the time I could draw on the divine power had ended, or was it simply that my body could no longer endure?

The grip on Gaia’s sickle weakened.

<…!!>

Seizing the moment, the Lord shoved me away forcefully.

Thud, I fell to the ground in my human form, panting heavily.

My vision blurred again, and my ears rang.

Death, which I had experienced dozens, hundreds of times, was approaching.

<Ha, ha ha.>

The Lord, realizing that I was dying, laughed loudly.

<I won.>

But the laughter soon stopped.

His face turned pale, blood pouring from his side as he spoke.

His voice, squeezed out with difficulty, was twisted.

<As expected, a mere human cannot, cannot defeat me…>

His voice broke off. 

What followed was a desperate scream.

A tremendous power condensed into one spot and then vanished.

“He ran away…”

A familiar voice reached my ears.

Splash, splash, splash.

The sound of footsteps, mixing with blood and water, echoed rhythmically.

A shadow fell over me.

Through my blurred vision, I could barely make out Lionel.

Clank, something fell from Lionel’s hand with a loud noise.

It was a piece of Gaia’s sickle.

The one I had struck was still embedded in the Lord’s side.

This must be from the Evil God.

‘…’

I struggled to raise my gaze.

There stood my disciple, more battered and burnt than I had ever seen him.

Yet, among all his wounds, the one that seemed to hurt the most was…

“…”

His blue eyes look down at me.

“Master.”

Lionel tilted his head to the side.

“Are you going to die?”

No, I’m not.

I wanted to answer, but all that escaped my lips were rasping breaths.

Even those were growing fainter.

“…Leaving me behind to die again?”

No, no.

I wanted to shake my head, but I didn’t have the strength to move a single hair.

‘This can’t be happening.’

I had faced death hundreds of times, but the times it brought me relief could be counted on my fingers.

On the contrary, I had never fought against it this much.

‘I had gotten used to it…’

My first death was masked by the satisfaction of saving Lionel.

The second one, I was too young and in too much pain to think clearly.

As I grew accustomed to dying, I never felt resistance to approaching death in any life.

All that was left were regrets.

Not living long enough again, not completing the nectar, thinking if I’d just lived a bit longer, I would have achieved more.

Death to me was not an end but a tiresome new beginning.

‘But not this time…’

The Lord had fled the divine realm, grievously wounded.

I couldn’t be sure if the power he had granted me would work again.

This could truly be my final death.

‘I was prepared.’

Since the moment I put the nectar in my mouth.

Honestly, since I devised the plan to drag the Lord down from the divine realm, I had steeled myself.

Even if by some miracle, I went back a few hours, I would do the same thing.

But now, a new regret kept surfacing.

‘I don’t want to say goodbye.’

To the people I loved and those who loved me.

To my family and you.

‘I don’t want to say goodbye.’

My already blurred vision grew hazier with tears.

I wanted to wipe them away, but I couldn’t move a finger.

Death was at my feet.

‘I want to live.’

I had never felt this before.

Not when I took a blow meant for a comrade.

Not when I pushed others to safety from a sudden flood.

Not when I charged into a plague-ridden village to cure the sick.

I had never been scared before.

‘But now, I’m scared.’

Honestly, I’m not an idiot—I knew it would come to this.

I had prepared myself for true death when I took action.

But ironically, in my final moments, I found myself wanting to live.

So I should smile.

I should smile for you, who must be even more afraid than I am.

‘It’s okay.’

I forced my lips into a smile.

‘I’ll come back to life, you know that.’

“…”

‘Find me.’

Even just moving my lips took all the strength I had left.

‘Come find me again.’

With that, I expended all my remaining energy.

This life was over.

My vision went dark. Thoughts faded away, and cold death enveloped me.

“It’s okay, Master.”

The last thing my fading hearing picked up was Lionel’s voice, sounding oddly joyful.

“I’m here.”

And then…

“…What?”

I opened my eyes to a familiar ceiling.

For a moment, I thought I had been reborn into a new life.

But then I realized.

‘Wait, this isn’t a new life?’

Long navy hair, pink eyes.

A frail body with no abilities or health to speak of!

I looked at myself in the mirror, shocked.

What’s going on?

Why am I still alive??

Why?