The Nightmare of the Seven Snow Whites

At that time…

“Oh, if it isn’t Ye Sakaki-kun? Come, come, I’ve specially prepared this ‘perk assignment’ for you~”

The young man in charge of task assignments smiled meaningfully.

“Oh! Big brother! I’ll leave it to you then!”

Two-Star Monster: The Seven Snow Whites Extermination Plan

[Brief: Affiliation – Grimm: The seven sisters, abused by their stepmother, fled into the forest and became infatuated with sturdy dwarves. They were once poisoned by an apple, leading to the suspected weakness of ‘Poison’.]
[Mission completion reward: 500,000 USD. (Convertible to equivalent crystal coins.)]

These details were marked on the wooden mission board I had received from the young man.

Yet, for some unknown reason, my memory was suddenly triggered by something unusual in the next instant.

‘Wait?!’

[A meaningful smile]??

‘…In my memory, the details I had initially overlooked began to surface, as if meticulously peeled back layer by layer.’

And the face of that young man…

‘…Seemed… somewhat familiar? Was he the one who had relentlessly pursued my purple-haired senior… only for the sharp blade of that pursuit to ultimately pierce me, the sad human shield?’

…

Ding

A flash of insight, it seemed, had finally struck me, the less-than-astute one.

‘Oh~ So that’s how it is.’

I smiled happily in my mind, but if that expression were to appear on an embryo… it would probably win an Oscar for best horror film.

My thoughts continued to race, like an engine on the verge of overheating.

‘I remembered… the board used for recording missions seemed to be about a centimeter thick, didn’t it?’

…

In my past memories, it seemed every ‘frame’ was exceptionally clear.

What unfolded in my mind was like an ancient tome. It was like a wellspring of memories, ready to be consulted at any moment.

‘Firstly, the mission absolutely couldn’t be false; after all, fabricated missions couldn’t appear on the ‘Wood of Truth’…’

‘Secondly…’

‘…Holy crap!!!’

Beyond that expletive, surprisingly, nothing else could adequately capture my current mood.

‘I’d actually been set up….’

The memories, playing out like a film, abruptly paused at a certain moment.

Within my mind, like a frozen photograph, the scene of my former foolish self holding the mission brief was perfectly captured. On the grand screen of my ‘Memory Cinema,’ looking at the side of the wooden board I held in my hand, I could even discern the fine wood grain and traces of tiny moss…

And… a few lines of minuscule text that even a fly wouldn’t notice.

Yet, ultimately, it still adhered to the branch’s regulations; there was no outright concealment…

‘I truly had been too naive not to notice the truth…’

Through the ‘cinema’s’ display, I saw that on the side of the wooden board, in a space less than a centimeter wide, was written:

–[Currently Assessed Abilities – Seven Snow Whites]
Physical – Reflect
Life Attribute – Absorb
Poison Attribute – Weak / Absorb (or restore equivalent HP or instant death)
Water Attribute – Absorb
Ice Attribute – Reflect
Special Attribute – Seven Lives (Only truly die after being killed seven times)
Additional: As they are extremely rare monsters, defeating them will grant 10 times the reward.
[Total value increased to – 5,000,000 USD]
A warm suggestion from the President: While they are said to be weak, it would be safer to recommend Level-4 or higher [non-Ice/Water attribute] ability users for the extermination, wouldn’t it?

…………..

‘Seriously…’

‘No wonder!’

‘Absolutely no wonder!!’

‘No wonder back then, I’d spent a million Yuan on that ‘high-grade poison’ that the unscrupulous merchant had beaten his chest and guaranteed could ‘kill even a dragon’…’

‘…only for those seven big-faced dolls to drink it down with relish.’

‘So… even with poison… it was a matter of luck after all?!’

Such monsters, for me, who wielded both ice and water attribute attacks and occasionally used modern firearms…

‘It was simply a…’

‘…nightmare!!!’

I recalled the young man’s devilish smile once more.

–‘It’s very dangerous, so be careful~’
–‘Be careful~’
–‘Careful~’
–‘Careful~’
–‘~’

…

‘In truth, the Snow Whites’ attacks weren’t the main issue.’

‘My severe injuries… were entirely self-inflicted!!’

‘Critically wounded by my own reflected attacks… my body ultimately exploded into a frenzy and I died…’

‘Becoming a puddle of human fluid…’

‘This wasn’t my style!’

‘To be manipulated by others, how could that possibly be my style?!’

‘If Heaven could grant me another chance, I would absolutely strangle that young man—whose appearance would make even his own mother sigh—to death.’

…

‘Even if I knelt and recognized him as my great-grandfather, I wouldn’t let him off!!!’

…

‘But now? Heh… forget it.’

‘Besides… who knew where I’d been reborn?’

‘I could only hope I was still human, and not, say, a platypus…’

‘Of course, if I were reborn as a Black American, I’d bite off my tongue and commit suicide, eagerly awaiting my next reincarnation…’

‘I couldn’t stand that kind of stereotypical ‘yo’ humor!’

‘No, no, no… if it came to suicide, I’d still choose cremation! Let the purifying ashes scatter such an existence! If that were truly the case, I wouldn’t want to leave even a shred of proof of my existence!’

‘…Seriously… what was I even thinking…’

I forcefully shook my head in my mind, casting off those dark thoughts.

For someone as thick-skinned as me, who could remain magnanimous even when facing my ‘senior,’ it was better to strive for my current life than to lament my past one.

‘But what could I even do?’

…

Gurgle…

Something else rumbled, but to my ears, it sounded like thunder in broad daylight.

‘Never mind.’

My mental power proved unexpectedly easy to manipulate; compared to my rather unremarkable ‘mental energy’ from before, my current mental energy hadn’t weakened significantly due to death. After all, both had been so weak that even weakening further would have been difficult…

However, I couldn’t detect any ‘abilities.’ It seemed that after my rebirth, the ability I had awakened under extreme stimulation had either been worn away by the passage of time or dissipated with the transformation of my body…

From the information stored in my past life’s memories…

No, to be honest… there wasn’t much memory there at all.

Apparently, my entire year of study at the [World Salvation Branch] had been squandered with excuses like, ‘Oh~,’ ‘Right~,’ ‘I see~,’ ‘Got it~.’

If it weren’t for the ‘Wellspring of Memories’ that now appeared like a system bug, allowing my memories to play out like a film, I probably wouldn’t have recalled those details I’d subconsciously overlooked…

‘Regardless, being able to retain these precious memories meant I had at least tried. As for results and process, merely achieving the former was surely more than enough, wasn’t it?!’

Such shameless self-hypnosis could only be accomplished by the magnificent me!

…

It seemed my pride was entirely misplaced.

…Well~

Like flipping through a book, I delved into the deepest recesses of my memory, surveying my mental world as if through a kaleidoscope.

…This scene, of the purple-haired girl lecturing me, repeated itself again and again.

The girl in my memory poked the blackboard with a slender pointer.

–‘…Listen closely… relatively speaking, what’s called ‘mental power’ is the energy that drives abilities…’

–‘Without an ability, no matter how strong one’s mental power, it could at most unleash one-tenth of an ability’s power… no, that’s too conservative… it should be a few tenths, a few hundredths of the ability… or even have no effect at all… well, that kind of feeling.’

My breathing was steady, yet accompanied by the profound ravages of ‘sleep apnea syndrome’ (which was actually snoring), it remained slightly abnormal.

–‘…Newbie-kun?… Ye Sakaki….?’
–‘Hey! Are you even listening? Snap out of it, hey, hey!!’
–‘…’
–‘Snore…’

The petite figure of the purple-haired senior still lingered on my retina.

………

–‘…Sleeping with your eyes open, are you a fish, hey!’

Slap!

–‘…’

–‘…Oh, oh, oh, I get it, please continue.’

–‘Snoooooore………………..’

…

‘Hmm, I was indeed listening intently with wide eyes. Truly worthy of my excellent academic and moral standing.’

‘My self-assessment was, as always, brimming with confidence~’