I Am Not Goblin Slayer Chapter 432: The Curse of Immortality

Gauss looked left and right.

The devastated ground around him showed no signs of any living, moving creature.

If he hadn't been certain he clearly heard a familiar voice speaking just monts ago, he would have thought he was hallucinating.

"Are you still alive?"

Gauss tentatively transmitted a voice using his ntal energy.

"Yes."

The voice continued to co from beside him.

This ti, Gauss was absolutely certain he hadn't misheard.

"Then where are you? I don't see you."

Whether with his naked eyes, ntal energy, or sixth sense, Gauss couldn't detect Eden's presence.

"Demon King Seeds like are very difficult to kill completely." Eden's voice ca again. "You can think of my current state as waiting for resurrection. At this stage, I have no physical form and cannot be perceived."

"After so ti, I will be reborn again."

Eden explained in a very natural tone.

Gauss felt a sudden realization.

So that's why Eden acted so unafraid of death from the very beginning—this is a special characteristic of Demon King Seeds?

Connecting this with the [Demon King Killer] title he just obtained, whose effect is to gain the qualification to completely kill Demon Kings...

Then, do all Demon King Seeds possess this power of undying regeneration?

"Do all Demon King Seeds not die?"

"And what exactly is a Demon King Seed?"

Coincidentally, Eden itself ntioned Demon King Seeds, so Gauss could ask it directly.

After all, before this, he hadn't seed to hear about similar knowledge—at most, he only knew about the existence of demons and Demon Kings.

"No, not all Demon King Seeds can be undying like Eden."

"According to the knowledge in my inheritance, only a small portion of Demon King Seeds possess this ability. Moreover, Demon King Seed itself is a special qualification that only an extrely small number of monsters possess. And among Demon King Seeds, only one can beco the Demon King."

"As for what a Demon King Seed is... I'm actually not very clear about that either."

"The mont I awoke in this body, I was already a Demon King Seed."

"Awoke?" Gauss caught another puzzling word from Eden's mouth.

"Mmm." Eden's voice couldn't help but beco sowhat nostalgic. "Before coming to this body, I was actually a human too."

"But that should have been a very, very long ti ago."

"After I died, my mories first experienced a period of chaos, then I was born into this Sli body."

"I wandered in the outside world for a while, then accidentally entered this Maze due to so mishap, and ti was completely frozen."

"It wasn't until your arrival that ti within the Maze started flowing again."

"So that's how it is."

Gauss also understood why Eden, a monster Sli, had been so friendly toward him, a human.

And the strong desire to communicate also had an explanation—within the Maze, it probably couldn't find many beings to converse with. Even the mushroom creatures with decent intelligence levels were, ultimately, monsters.

Monster thinking is different from human thinking.

"I never imagined a human soul could reincarnate into a monster's body."

This was the first ti he'd heard of such a thing.

He did know so special professionals could transform themselves into monsters, but Eden's situation was clearly not like that.

"I'm not sure either. My situation should be extrely rare." Eden's voice held so confusion.

After the Maze opened, it experienced imnse confusion about its own existence.

Plus, with no beings around to communicate with, even though it beca the Lord of the Maze's fifth level, it always lived a reclusive life and couldn't be bothered to command the monsters on this level, letting them roam freely.

It was the mushroom creature race that misunderstood sothing and dosticated all Slis that looked similar to it.

Originally, there weren't that many Slis on this level—just scattered few.

It was under the mushroom creatures' diligent farming that the Sli population massively expanded.

Only when Gauss and others stepped onto the fifth level did Eden sense that familiar yet strange aura again, eagerly rushing here to et with Gauss's group.

Gauss silently exchanged a few more words with Eden, feeling he had gained considerable knowledge about monsters.

So to beco a Demon King, one first needs to et the prerequisite qualification of being a Demon King Seed.

And it's not just Slis that can give birth to Demon King Seed qualifications—other monsters have the probability too.

After possessing the Demon King Seed qualification, one is naturally stronger than other monsters and also possesses a portion of inherited knowledge and abilities. Of course, Demon King Seeds aren't born extrely powerful—they just have more outstanding innate gifts than regular monsters. If they don't work hard themselves, they could still end up weaker than ordinary monsters.

Eden, the King of Slis, is a living example.

According to its own account, it actually didn't train very hard.

Most of the ti, it was sleeping. Yet its Demon King Seed talent still quietly raised it to level 9 and easily granted it actual combat power capable of crossing several levels.

Yes, Eden didn't exert 100% of its full strength when fighting Gauss.

For it, becoming stronger seed like an unimportant matter.

After all, it couldn't die. Even if temporarily "killed," it would just resurrect again after so ti.

At the very beginning, it even tried suicide, but not long after, it was reborn again.

Plus, possessing mories of a previous life as a human made it instinctively feel extrely awkward about its current Sli body. Sotis, it couldn't help but wonder: if it truly died once more, could it resurrect into a human body?

But its undying talent prevented it from even seeking death.

So, ultimately, it completely gave up.

As for why it thought Gauss could kill it—it was because it sensed from Gauss a power that instinctively made its heart palpitate.

Unfortunately, it seed it still hadn't died.

But it still saw a glimr of hope.

Although Gauss didn't kill it, this resurrection ti was longer than any previous one.

An invisible force seed to be extending its resurrection ti.

"Isn't being undying a good thing?"

Even though it beca a monster, Gauss still couldn't understand why Eden was so fixated on seeking death.

Even if its human mindset made it disdain associating with monsters, it could simply keep to itself and quietly grow stronger.

"No, Gauss, you don't understand. Undying is the most terrifying curse."

"The longer I live, the less sanity I retain. The instincts of this monster body constantly erode . I must struggle to resist to avoid being assimilated."

"And when I resurrect, my mories also experience slight disarray."

"Sooner or later, my consciousness will beco completely unfamiliar."

Through Eden's explanation, Gauss vaguely understood its fear.

It was afraid of becoming a true monster.

Or rather, it already was one.

It's just that its human attachnts still restrained it.

After all, this was Gauss's first encounter with such a special monster, and he didn't know what to say to comfort it.

"By the way, about my situation, Gauss, can you not tell others?"

"Sure." Gauss nodded.

To be honest, he sowhat sympathized with Eden.

After their conversation ended, Gauss's attention returned to reality.

With the "death" of Eden, the King of Slis, the surroundings fell into silence.

He walked to the treasure chest spawned by the Maze and opened it.

Just like the fourth-level clearance reward, it contained many treasures.

There were even three precious high-grade magic stones. He might sell one to exchange for large amounts of other resources.

Additionally, there was an activation stone leading to the sixth level.

But starting from the 6th level, he would no longer have the Crystal Orb's map guidance and would have to rely on his own strength for exploration.

Gauss collected the rewards.

The other Red Dragon Guild mbers were still fighting a small number of mushroom creatures and Slis.

After the 5th-level Lord, Eden the King of Slis, "died," the other monsters scattered like birds and beasts, leaving only the last small group of blood-crazed monsters fighting the Red Dragon Guild mbers.

But given their numbers, they were clearly making a last-ditch resistance.

Because mbers from other adventuring guilds had gradually gathered nearby, and obviously, it wouldn't take long to completely "exterminate" these monsters.

Gauss had no intention of intervening.

He was still digesting the information obtained from Eden.

To be honest, he had always been very confident in his combat power.

Being able to fight across several levels gave him a sense of assured confidence when facing monsters.

But suddenly learning about "Demon King Seeds"—even though Eden said Demon King Seeds were extrely rare exceptions—they still existed.

If Demon King Seeds could all fight across several levels, he would inevitably encounter these troubleso enemies in the future.

Also, if Eden, belonging to the Sli race, possessing Demon King Seed qualification could beco so powerful, what about those races that are naturally even stronger?

For example, Dragons, Titans—would they beco even more powerful on their existing foundation?

Or perhaps they might not awaken Demon King Seed qualifications at all?

He felt his mind was temporarily sowhat confused.

Eden seed to have rather fuzzy mories due to living too long and multiple resurrections, so even though it was happy to answer Gauss's questions, not every inquiry received useful replies.

According to its account, it vaguely rembered that long ago, before entering the Maze, while wandering the land, it encountered another Demon King Seed.

But the specific details about that other party, it had forgotten.

It only rembered they interacted for a very brief ti before separating.

Additionally, it never encountered any other Demon King Seeds.

That's why it believed the number of Demon King Seeds was extrely scarce.

But as long as they exist, with Gauss's Adventurer's Manual that requires killing large numbers of monsters for self-improvent, he would inevitably co into contact with those powerful Demon King Seeds.

At that ti, he, who could usually use his powerful talents to crush beings of the sa level, might not necessarily gain much advantage.

He must raise his level and not neglect single-target kill skills.

Besides area-of-effect skills, he must also put great effort into practicing single-target spells.

Everything must be prepared in advance.

As for the Sli Eden, according to its account, it previously couldn't leave the Maze's 5th level. But after Gauss killed it, it vaguely felt it could use Gauss's existence as a coordinate for resurrection, which also ant...

It could break free from the 5th-level Maze's constraints.

Regarding Eden being able to leave the Maze environnt, Gauss felt so slight hidden worry. But since Eden voluntarily shared this with him, he could only choose to trust its character.

After all, if it truly had other intentions as Eden said, it could have simply not ntioned to Gauss the information about using his location to leave the Maze.

He couldn't intervene anyway.

The two continued communicating via ntal consciousness during Gauss's activities.

Perhaps Eden hadn't spoken to anyone for too long—it was like a complete chatterbox, constantly saying things.

For example, asking about his companions' nas.

Then asking about his family, what type of opposite sex he liked, and similar questions.

Gauss only selected so to answer.

"You worked hard."

Aria ended her fight and ca to his side.

"Is she an Elf? She looks so familiar. Right, I think I've seen Elves before too." Eden comnted.

"Here's a high-grade magic stone for you. Stick it close during ditation—it should aid your cultivation."

Gauss gave one magic stone to Aria.

He also didn't reveal any information about Eden, since he promised it. One should maintain basic integrity.

"This is..."

Aria subconsciously took the smooth stone Gauss handed over. The next mont, she felt a comfortable energy flow through her entire body.

She certainly knew what high-grade magic stones were.

She had used Gauss's high-grade magic stone from the 4th level a few tis.

The cultivation effect was indeed much better than usual.

She just never expected to have a high-grade magic stone of her own so quickly.

"This is too valuable... hehe."

Although feeling sowhat embarrassed, as a spellcaster, she instinctively desired the high-grade magic stone.

No spellcaster wouldn't want a high-grade magic stone unless they already had sothing better.

After all, it can enhance ditation cultivation effects. Over years, this creates a clear level gap with other spellcasters.

Not to ntion, it can subtly nourish the body, improve mana purity, and make the owner's magic more powerful.

One could say this is a treasure that even large amounts of gold coins can't buy.

That's why nobles who own mines producing high-grade magic stones don't let such resources reach the market.

Possessing it increases the probability of a family cultivating high-level spellcasters.

"Just take it."

Gauss could clearly see Aria's contradictory words—just like children hypocritically refusing red envelopes during New Year in his previous life.

"Hehe, then I won't stand on ceremony. In the future, if I have any good things, I'll share them with you too."

Aria smiled, then happily hugged the high-grade magic stone and went aside to admire it.