Re Zero DMMS 72 (Patreon)

Kenma searched for two minutes and quickly discovered a shattered black carapace inside a pit.

It seemed that before sensing the arrival of the crisis, Shaula had proactively used partial beastification, yet she still couldn't withstand the power of this blow.

Stroking the cold carapace, Kenma froze for a few seconds.

The next instant, he smashed a punch into his own head.

Bang!

...

The 150th Loop.

Opening his eyes once more, Kenma did not make any movements. He simply sat down, choosing not to rush out of the cave entrance, and sat quietly like this within the pitch-black cavern.

After a full dozen seconds passed, he finally reached out his hand and touched the crown of his head.

"Hoo... Finally balanced."

The small sharp tip on his head had already vanished without a trace.

Kenma's thoughts were clearer than ever before, and his gaze was calm.

Thinking back to the previous loops starting from the 50th one onward, he couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed.

He actually let his muscles control his brain, and even grew a sharp tip on his head.

Back then, adding thirty or forty points of strength all at once, Super Strength told him that it was time to invest even more attribute points into strength.

Furthermore, due to continuous deaths, his inner self gradually became filled with a large amount of negative emotions.

Although those negative emotions were suppressed deep in his heart, they would not disappear with the passage of time. Instead, they accumulated more and more with each successive death.

After the 100th loop, the negative emotions in his heart completely erupted, and somehow, under a strange whim, he poured all the attribute points from the 100 loops into strength.

This led to a problem for him. His strength had grown far too high. All his other attributes combined could barely compare to his strength, and even Spirit, which had grown due to multiple deaths, couldn't keep up with the growth rate of his strength.

This caused him to experience a state of mental instability.

But now, everything had returned to tranquility.

[Name: Isoyama Kenma (Peerless Form)]

[Gender: Male]

[Strength: 296 (Normal adult male is 5)]

[Speed: 128 (Normal adult male is 5)]

[Defense: 80 (Normal adult male is 5)]

[Spirit: 360 (Normal adult male is 5)]

[Magical Talent: Extremely Weak]

[Swordsmanship Talent: Mediocre]

[Active Skill: Peerless]

[Passive Skills: Avenger, Return by Death, Crisis Mitigation, Rapid Self-Healing, Elemental Immunity, Free Flight]

[Evaluation: Placed among a group of ordinary people, you are an extremely powerful existence. Even in this otherworld where monsters roam, your power has already reached the peak. Aside from the few existences standing at the peak of the world, no one else can contend with you anymore.]

After another 50 loops, Kenma added all his attribute points into speed, making up for his final shortcoming.

Coupled with his Spirit—honed by 50 deaths—reaching 360, his spiritual power completely overwhelmed his strength, leaving his mind clearer than ever before.

However...

Kenma frowned, raising his hand to throw a punch forward.

The air in front of him burst out with a harsh sonic boom. The violent power surged forward, twisting even the air itself.

A faint pain came from his palm. Kenma lowered his head, looking at his skin which was vaguely beginning to tear.

His defense could barely withstand his strength. His strength was nearly four times his defensive power.

Strength referred to the limit that Kenma's muscles could burst out with, but defense determined the toughness of his muscles and the upper limit of the force he could bear.

Now, every time he struck, it would be accompanied by the tearing of his flesh, and he could only rely on Rapid self-healing to recover quickly.

Kenma's face was buried in the pitch-black shadows, making it impossible to read his expression for a moment.

When he raised his head again, crimson light flashed within his eyes.

The last 20 times. Any more than that, and I'm afraid my mind might not be able to take it.

Determination and seriousness surfaced in his eyes, but if one could look into their depths, they would find ultimate exhaustion.

Even in an ordinary game, dying more than 100 times consecutively in the exact same place would be enough to torture a person's psyche, let alone in reality.

Kenma was not completely devoid of pain, and every time, he would still experience the suffocation and discomfort of death.

Right now, he had become a string stretched to its absolute limit. To ensure that this final string wouldn't snap, he could only grind up to this point.

Otherwise, even Kenma himself couldn't guarantee what kind of mental state he would end up in.

Just at this moment, a weak yet excited voice sounded in his mind.

"150 times. You actually persevered and looped 150 times in the exact same place. This is simply fantastic. What a resilient will."

Deep within his soul, Echidna—firmly locked away—had a flushed face. Her immobile soul body was trembling incessantly at this moment, her gaze filled with ultimate excitement.

150 times...

To actually be able to persist in dying 150 times consecutively! What a wonderful possibility!

"Shut up."

With a thought from Kenma, Echidna's voice echoing continuously in his mind vanished, and her five senses were sealed off.

Alright, let's begin the journey of this loop.

Reaching out to twist his neck, Kenma flashed outside the trial cave entrance, charging straight toward the white-haired person slowly walking over from afar.

...

The 170th Loop.

"Fuck! I can't take it anymore! I'm not grinding anymore!"

Kenma stood up and threw a punch straight at his own head.

His head was shattered in an instant by this formidable power, and blood mixed with brain matter splattered all over the ground.

Immediately following that, a brand-new head rapidly regenerated from the broken stump of his neck.

Kenma shook his newly grown head and took a deep breath. "Hoo... Much better mentally."