Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha! Novel - Chapter 311
Pick me Up – Chapter 311 – Ashes (1)
Siris Agentheim opened her eyes.
“……”
A fog-filled sky.
A field stretched out, tinged with gray.
The moment she saw a woman lying in the field, Siris sensed this place was a dream.
She always had this nightmare when she was in a bad state.
‘Here again?’
Siris gave a bitter smile.
Once the nightmare began, there was no way to stop it.
There was no choice but to watch until the end.
“Cough… cough!”
The woman coughed violently.
Each time she did, blood overflowed and stained her chest.
A torn and shattered leather armor.
Blonde hair that used to be clean, and white skin now dirty with blood and dust.
‘That woman is…’
It was Siris herself.
More precisely, her before making a ‘pact’ with the goddess.
The scenery shortly before the destruction of Niflheim, the land of fog.
“Kihehek!”
A laugh that sounded like it dragged phlegm.
A man stood in front of the fallen woman.
Tattoos covered his entire body, his skin was a pale gray, and he had horns on both sides of his forehead.
‘They are White Demons.’
They were the rulers who dominated all of Niflheim.
With physical abilities superior to humans, a fierce nature, and a reproductive capacity similar to that of rats, they had taken root throughout the continent, eventually ruling over all races there.
Humans were mere subordinates in this place.
No, they were something even lower.
‘They were cattle.’
The main food of the White Demons was human flesh.
“Did you really think someone like you could defeat me?”
The man with horns crushed the sword on the ground with his foot.
An old iron sword that Siris had obtained with great difficulty after years.
Crunch.
Just by stepping on it, the iron sword broke in two.
“You are weak. Ignorant and slow. You don’t know what honor is. Humans are just alive, they are trash. Born only to die at our hands, they are insects.”
Siris couldn’t refute in the past.
She only looked at the man in front of her with trembling eyes.
‘That man was…’
The killer of her father.
He had torn him apart out of sheer boredom.
Siris had tried to avenge him amidst the chaos when some unknown creatures attacked their village, but she had failed.
“Did you think, because some creatures attacked, the world would end? Revenge? Kihaha!”
Thud.
The man kicked the woman.
She vomited blood and rolled several times.
“What is that swordsmanship? An imitation of a knight? You’re just a vulgar pig.”
“Haa…”
Only a harsh breath escaped her mouth.
The man drew a dagger while sticking out his long serpent tongue.
“Where should we start dismantling?”
“……!”
“Let me hear your sweet screams. I don’t kill my prey easily. There were times they lived until they were skinned ten thousand times.”
The sharp dagger touched her thigh.
The woman’s eyes filled with terror.
“First, I will cut your soft thigh. Then the calf. After that, the buttocks. While I listen to you scream… I will savor your fresh flesh.”
The blade sank slightly into her thigh.
Just when it was about to tear the skin.
“… Stop!”
She opened her mouth, crying.
“What did you say?”
“Please… stop… I… was wrong…”
“You speak informally.”
“I… was wrong…”
Tears rolled down her eyes.
“Begging for your life to your father’s killer?”
Siris closed her eyes as she looked at her former self.
Still, the nightmare continued.
“Repeat it. What did you say?”
“Please… forgive me…”
“Your attitude is not right. You must kneel.”
She quickly adopted the position, kneeling.
Her knees bled as they dug into the stones, but she didn’t care.
“Prostrate yourself, cattle.”
She prostrated herself.
The man smiled contentedly and placed his foot on her disheveled hair.
“Revenge for your father? Did you want to be like a knight?”
“No…”
“Humans have no honor. They don’t have a superior civilization or a god to serve. If we say die, they die; if we say live, they live. They are pigs, trash like insects. But that trash… dared to raise its hand against me…?”
The man stomped on her head with force.
She trembled and couldn’t move.
“I have decided, human. I will offer you as a sacrifice to our goddess. I needed a fresh human heart.”
“No… No!”
“Relax. You will die quickly when they rip out your living heart.”
Her eyes filled with despair.
‘Pathetic.’
Siris bit her lips as she watched her former self.
That woman had given in to fear when her revenge failed.
‘No honor.’
It was natural.
Humans here received no education.
They were raised as cattle to be eaten by the White Demons.
Sometimes to be eaten.
Sometimes to be enjoyed.
Sometimes as meat shields in their territorial disputes.
‘Niflheim.’
A land without hope.
The continent where she lived was shrouded in fog all year round, making visibility difficult, with more than half the year being winter and the climate relentlessly desolate.
‘A living hell.’
Humans here were born to die.
‘She couldn’t understand.’
What friendship was.
What love was.
What camaraderie was.
What it felt like to be alive, she couldn’t comprehend it back then.
An existence similar to cattle.
The man’s words were true.
Siris’s revenge was just a crude imitation.
Her father used to tell her stories about knights.
The knights in the stories were majestic, honorable, and beautiful. Fascinated by those stories, Siris had planned a futile revenge.
“Please…! Forgive me…!”
“Kihahaha! Hahahaha!”
The man dragged Siris towards the twin goddesses’ temple, not far from the field.
There he planned to offer her as a living sacrifice.
“Your heart will make the goddess happy. Consider this an honor! Not everyone gets this opportunity. You, for the future of our great race…”
「Didn’t I say we didn’t need sacrifices?」
The man stopped.
Not far away, a young girl was looking down at him.
“What? What is a pig doing here…?”
「It seems they call humans pigs here. Once, Niflheim was one of the most prominent places in Mobius. The land of eternal fire has decayed quite a bit.」
The young girl smiled slightly and approached the man.
His eyes filled with veins.
“Do you want to die…?”
「Close your eyes. If you don’t want to die.」
The young girl’s eyes emitted a chilling light.
The man trembled standing up and suddenly prostrated himself before her.
“It can’t be…! Lady Hela!”
「Was my name Hela here?」
“Yes, goddess! What brings you to this humble place!”
「In short, your world is doomed. In a week at most, the Reapers will reach the continent. You won’t be able to stop them. Your forces are pathetic. You are not united. In short, a garbage world.」
“What do you mean…?”
「Didn’t you receive the oracle? I said you had to make a pact with me if you wanted to save the world. That’s the job of your heroes, isn’t it?」
The man blinked.
The young girl, called goddess, smiled disdainfully.
「I came to see the priest, but he wasn’t even worthy of being called a hero. It seems your strength is greater than that of humans… but your civilization is primitive.」
“Goddess! What…!”
Thud.
The horned man’s head flew through the air.
Blue blood spurted from his severed neck.
“Ah!”
The woman stepped back in terror.
The young girl’s eyes turned towards her.
「…1 star.」
The young girl murmured briefly.
「At most, 2 stars. With luck, 3 stars. No talent. This world is already dead. It’s better to discard it.」
“Who are you…?”
「It seems you received no education. Are all humans here this primitive?」
The young girl in front of her was not a common existence.
Siris, in her present, knew very well the identity of the young girl.
‘The goddess of compassion.’
President of Mobius, the company that created Pick Me Up, and representative of the Pantheon.
In Taonier, where Siris’s master, Loki, resided, they called her ‘Tel’.
「I thought of something interesting.」
Suddenly, the young girl smiled.
As if she had found an amusing toy.
「If there are winners, there must also be losers. It wouldn’t be bad to have some traps mixed here and there. For the heroes’ faction… yes! I will use you, the humans. You will be able to avenge the White Demons who have oppressed you.」
“…What?”
「I will give you a chance for revenge. I could turn you into monsters, but the power difference would be too great. It would be like a fight between a rabbit and a lion. It wouldn’t be a game.」
The woman didn’t understand the goddess’s words.
Things about games and such, in her ignorance, she couldn’t comprehend it.
She only blinked with her emerald eyes.
「Je! Kuhahaha! This will be fun. I wonder which unfortunate master will have to deal with you. Who could lead these half-formed creatures… and face hellish missions? I’m looking forward to it. Aren’t you?」
“…”
「Oh, right. I will give you an extra favor. Even a trash account must have at least one high-ranking hero. To pull some money, there must be a minimum of respect. Let’s see, a 4-star should be sufficient. With a little cheat in the status window, it should work.」
The woman took a step back.
Although she didn’t understand the words, she could feel that the young girl had malicious intentions.
「Come here, my child.」
“No, I don’t want to…”
「Why not? I’m offering you the chance to be a 4-star hero, no less. In other worlds, you don’t get such a high rating without being someone important.」
“Stay away from me!”
「Since when does cattle have the right to refuse?」
Her feet stopped.
The young girl slowly approached her and whispered.
「What’s your name?」
“4… 47…”
「A number?」
“Daddy called me… Siris…”
「Fine, Miss Siris. I suppose you don’t have a last name. I’ll give you a cool one. How about Agentheim? Sounds nice, right? Your initial class will be knight. It’s an important class.」
“Kni… ght…”
「It’s a class that lives and dies by honor. I think you’ll like it. Though, of course, you are just half-made trash. I saw how you crawled like an insect, begging for your life.」
“…”
「I wonder what unfortunate master will take you. If it were me, I’d use you a few times and then discard you. Try not to get synthesized. Hahaha!」
The young girl burst into uncontrollable laughter.
「This is ridiculous! No one can use this account! It’s trash among trash, an insect among insects. What master could overcome such conditions? If that were possible… I would call them a god! Ahaha! Hahahaha!」
The nightmare always ended the same way.
With the young girl’s laughter.
“…Ha.”
Siris opened her eyes.
She recognized the familiar ceiling.
The 13th floor of Niflheim, her lodging.
‘Once more.’
She didn’t know how many times it had been.
Since the master left, Siris had been having this nightmare every night.
She drank the water in the glass next to her bed in one gulp.
The cold water running down her throat cleared her mind considerably.