While I’m quite tired of seeing all those “going back in time and becoming a stronger hero” setting in novels, this one was genuinely interesting. It’s like groundhog day with liquid nitrogen mixed in or something. Iunno. Ah, I almost forgot to mention, this is a teaser.

Author: Flatter
The Author of this story, Flatter, has full rights over this story, and I am translating this work with his permission.

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Chapter 1. The Record of a Thousand Lives.

“Looking at you always makes my heart beat wildly. Every time. As if it was the first time we met.”

A man said this with an emotionless tone while standing at the last cliff of the world.

As this happened, the Demon Emperor’s lips that resembled saws parted open.

[Human.]

[Why do you not run from me.]

[Come back stronger. So that you may destroy me next time.]

The man’s heart ripped apart along with the world itself.

.

.

In a blacksmith’s workshop.

A single man was sitting on an oak container.

Thump…. Thump….

What made him realize that he came back to the past was, as always, the sound of his heart beating.

On his right hand was a shiny, well-made sword.

It displayed the date, as well as the information of the weapon on his hand.

TODAY:468-P-3(REORKAN)

Rank-Normal

There is a small chance of having the sword spew out light when attacking.

The 468th year of the Reorkan empire, at the 3rd day of the month of the pheonix.

He had traveled 20 years back into the past.
Again.

Kang Yoonsoo looked at the blade of the sword on his hand. He swung the sword lightly. A sound of something slicing through the air could be heard.

Vuun–

He could remember his first life.

In his 1st life, he was a blacksmith.

The tyrannical being who was trying to destroy the world.
He was targeted by the Demon Emperor, and died.

He could remember his 2nd life as well.

He then got targeted by the Demon Emperor, and died.

He could now remember his 3rd life.

Except for the Demon Emperor.

4th life. He only looked towards the sword.

After much time, his skill with the sword reached its peak, and he had already killed up to thirty giant-class monsters by himself. In the end, he chose to take the class “legendary swordsman”. The emperor designated him to be the leader of the First Knight Platoon. As a leader of a knight platoon, he successfully led the army against Pandemonium.
But the Demon Emperor exceeded his skill in both strategy and militaristic force. He got killed by the Demon Emperor.

His 5th life was harsh.

But the Demon Emperor found him. And killed him.

At his 6th life, he began to feel fear.

When the war began, he used everything he could in order to hide himself at the edge of the world. But the Demon Emperor managed to find him. Like this, he got killed by the Demon Emperor.

7th life. Fighting wasn’t everything.

He convinced the emperor to surrender to Pandemonium. The citizens were slaughtered, and the continent was drenched in blood. The palace, however, was safe.
But the Demon Emperor did not accept his surrender. In the end, the Demon Emperor killed him.

After this, he couldn’t remember much. This was because his 8th and his 9th life were filled with too much dread.

10th life.

Sooner or later, he became the most infamous slaughterer in the entire continent. After killing his three thousandth victim, he got a chance to acquire a hidden class known as life eater. There was no one who could defeat him in the entire continent.

Like always, he got killed by the Demon Emperor.

After that point, he kept asking the same question whenever he met the Demon Emperor. Why did you have to keep putting me back in time? The Demon Emperor responded to his question at the ninety-eighth life.

[Keep reviving. Become a worthy enemy for me.]

The Demon Emperor was looking for an enemy. But he, who was simply far too powerful, was unable to find an opponent even in hell. So he chose a single person, and made that person repeat his life over and over again.
That person was Kang Yoonsoo.

[Repeating one’s life makes a person stronger, after all.]

Kang Yoonsoo realized. He was only a toy. The only way to break out of this cycle was to kill the Demon Emperor. But doing that would be harder than destroying the entire world itself.
After finishing explaining, the Demon Emperor killed him.

214th life.

But he was soon turned to dust by the Demon Emperor.

273rd life.

But he was unable to steal the soul of the Demon Emperor.

347th life.

Then he got conquered by the Demon King.

454th life.

The Demon Emperor appeared, and he began to drain the Emperor’s life immediately. But even as a lich, the Demon Emperor’s life energy simply was too much. His body, unable to contain all the energy, exploded.

522h life.

But that all soon changed when the Demon Emperor appeared. He took a stone of invulnerability, in order to stay alive, but the Demon Emperor shattered his body to pieces.

592nd life.

The war began, and the Demon Emperor killed him.

689th life.
After a thousand years of work, he finally found a way to get back to the real world. Thanks to this achievement, his class advanced to become “The Sage Who Forgot The World”. He traveled through dimensions, and returned to Seoul. The Demon Emperor found him, however, and killed him.

719th life.

A friendly martial artist hid him, but the Demon Emperor flew all the way to the Eastern Continent and killed him.

742nd life.
He realized that he couldn’t provoke the Demon Emperor just by raising his middle finger. The Demon Emperor ripped him apart along with the world with an emotionless face.

834th life.

The Demon Emperor killed him.

872nd life.
His emotions dried up. He stopped talking, and his personality became cold and dry. Looking at a smiling child didn’t make him feel happy, and he no longer felt anything when killing something. He didn’t really feel much when the Demon Emperor killed him as well.

915th life.
He lived for 18,000 years. He was tired of getting hidden classes or acquiring new skills. Everything was just getting repetitive. Even getting killed by the Demon Emperor was repetitive at this point.

Crack—!

The window smashed when the sword tip he swung came in contact with it.

He softly put the blade of his sword against the walls of the cold furnace.

Scrape…. Scrape…. Scrape….

A small 正 symbol was drawn 199 times. The last 正 ended at its fourth stroke.

His 1000th life began.