Chapter 1 Living Dead
「Follow me, End.」
The Lord made a curt command and exited the room that resembled a research lab. I silently followed behind him.
My body was moving. My hands and feet were functioning as how they should. Just how many years has it been since I last walked normally like that——
Having a painless body felt so inconceivable. This doesn’t feel real at all… it felt like I was dreaming.
After exiting the room, the Lord suddenly stopped in his tracks and turn around to face me. He watched me with those shining golden eyes that looked as if he could see through everything.
「Hmm… It seems like my words are getting through to you. It’d be useless if you don’t understand my commands in my language.」
「...」
If your commands in your language… don’t work?
I don’t know what he’s talking about. However, I remembered that shortly after regaining consciousness, my body heeded the Lord’s words before my mind could process it.
This was——really bad. There was no room for opposition. Even though I couldn’t quite grasp the situation, I understood this fatal sensation instantly.
I have heard that Necromancers could freely manipulate the living dead. I was nothing more than a puppet to the Lord.
For some reason, the Lord nodded to himself in satisfaction after observing me. He then continued on his way and I followed behind him.
The corridor outside the room I was just in was just as dark and gave off a strange feeling of pressure.
Really, I have no idea what is happening.
Why was I resurrected? Where was this and what was he going to have me do? I had no clue at all——be it the reasoning, the process or the future that lies ahead. He couldn’t possibly be simply saving me from my agony.
But there was one thing I knew for sure.
What I should do now, is not ask the Lord any questions, or escape, but to get hold of the situation.
Fortunately, I was good at using my head. All the time I spent groaning in pain, desperately resisting death, the only thing I could do was think. Even though there wasn’t much difference given the current circumstance, compared to all the pain I had to go through back then, this wasn’t too bad.
I’ve been following behind the Lord for a few minutes now. We walked down a flight of stairs and arrived at the basement. The Lord then entered through a large metal door.
I didn’t expect for there to be such a wide room underground.
I almost gasped aloud, but I managed to swallow it back down. There were countless corpses, all lined up in the room. The numerous bodies were all laid on equidistant stone tables. Unlike me, there weren’t any signs of movement from those bodies.
This was the first time I had ever seen corpses. I should be afraid but for whatever reason, I didn’t feel an ounce of shock or fear for them.
「Stay in this room until I give you an order.」
White air came out of the Lord’s mouth as he gave me a short command while sending a cold look my way.
§
The Lord’s footsteps slowly faded away. I waited till it was completely gone before I started moving about.
First things first, I should check my body movements. I tried stretching my arms out and kicking my feet. All the pain that had been tormenting me for so many years were all gone. Whether it’s swinging my arms around, moving my head, stretching my back, or jumping up and down, I felt incredibly comfortable doing them. It’s almost like a dream.
As much as I wanted to laugh out loud, I could only laugh inwardly to myself. This place was underground so even if I made a little noise, I doubt it would cause the Lord to come back. However, I was ultimately clueless about my current situation so I’d best take caution.
The room that the Lord left me in was like a mortuary. No, rather than a mortuary, it might be more accurate to call it the Necromancer’s storage room.
There were about five authentic human bodies laid atop the stone tables. They’re all men, properly clothed and seemed to be between the age of 10+ to 30. They don’t appear damaged in any way, but they were undeniably lifeless.
I was surprised when I first entered the room, but after being in here for some time, there really wasn’t much to say or feel about it. After all, even when I was alive, I was virtually living like a corpse. And with how it is now, I had (probably) died once.
Maybe some of these corpses might become my colleagues. Even such nonsensical thoughts crossed my mind.
The mortuary had a simple structure. There was one door, other than the stone tables with corpses, the only furniture was a large set of drawers placed against a wall. The surrounding wall appeared to be made of stone as well. Lightly knocking on it felt really hard and sturdy.
While thinking in my head that my room from before had been better in terms of livability, I decided to inspect the drawers.
For now, I want to gather all the information that I can, however little there was.
I carefully opened the drawers and it looked like they weren’t locked.
I guess Lord Holos didn’t expect the dead to move about freely.
「......」
The first drawer I opened spiritedly turned out empty, so did the second and the third. Although the fourth drawer wasn’t empty, it contained some fangs which were useless to giving me some clue to my current circumstances. The fifth one was empty and the sixth housed some bottles containing unknown liquids. As I was feeling disappointed over the empty seventh drawer, my eyes rounded when I got to the last one.
「Well isn’t this a gem…」
I couldn’t help saying out loud. My hoarse voice sounded in the room of the dead.
It’s been a while since I spoke, hasn’t it? And as expected, it didn’t hurt.
It’s really just so amazing that there wasn’t any pain. With a happy feeling of wanting to hum a song, I took out the contents of the drawer.
It was a square mirror. Wiping off the layer of dust on the surface, I looked at myself in the mirror.
The reflection in the mirror was exactly as I remembered.
The delicate lines, slender face, and sunken eyes. The only difference was my hair. Unlike the messy hair from my memories, my hair now was nicely groomed.
Perhaps my appearance was properly taken care of after my death. I’m really grateful for that.
I felt deeply moved as I looked in the mirror. After a while, I carefully returned the mirror back into the drawer.
I managed to confirm that I was me. It’s a pity I couldn’t find anything else, but this was enough for now.
After doing a check of the entire morgue, I finally walked towards the only entrance to the room.
The Lord had left the door unlocked when he left the room. There was no doubt about it because I listened out for it. With light steps, I made my way to the door without making a single sound.
I don’t know the blueprint of the mansion, nor what was happening. However, there was just too little information in this room.
I——don’t know anything. But I want to find out more about this place and necromancy. I want to know just what on earth I had become. I am different from my previous life——I now have a body that could move about freely.
Necromancers are malevolent beings. Although I wasn’t certain if the Lord is truly like that, I can’t know for sure. If so, I should do what I can.
I put my hand on the brass knob and turned it slowly, careful not to make any noise.
Compared to how tense I was, the knob turned very easily. As I thought, it wasn’t locked.
With my ear against the door, I gently opened the door. I didn’t hear anything. It was completely silent. I couldn’t even hear the sound of my heartbeat, or the blood flowing through my veins. Nothing. There was only complete and utter silence.
I felt relieved as I tried to push open the door to check the outside.
「...?」
The door was already opened, albeit only a few millimetres, it was most definitely open. However, no matter how hard I pushed at it, I couldn’t get the door to open any more.
It’s so stiff…? Did I need a key? No, that’s not it. After checking around for a bit, there weren’t locks of any sort. There were also no signs of the door being fixed in place by something.
I put my palms against the door and tried to push with my entire body’s weight.
Then——it hit me.
The shock of the realisation felt as if I had been struck by lightning. I lost all strength in my legs and fell to the ground.
The door is made of metal, so there was definitely some weight to it. But this shouldn’t be a matter of how heavy it was.
Once again, I placed my hands on the door that slightly ajar. As a slight tremble, I made up my mind and pushed the door with all my might.
I should be pushing on it.
Even as my hands shook from the force I was exerting. No matter the amount of strength I put in, I couldn’t get the door to open further.
The words the Lord left me when he went away suddenly flashed through my mind.
『Stay in this room until I give you an order.』
I see. It’s probably not that it’s『stiff』but that『I am unable to open it』.
My body was prioritising the Lord's orders over my will. Thinking back, that was the case when I knelt at his feet by his command when I had just woken up.
A chill went down my spine. My brain wasn’t working very well at the moment. I desperately pushed the door with trembling hands, but despite how I felt, my body was not on the same page as me. It wouldn’t move as I willed.
I planned to try and understand, but mind you, it was just a『plan』.
My eyes rounded as my shoulders quivered. The emotion that welled up in my heart was neither fear nor consternation.
It was anger. It’s been a long while since I felt such intense emotions. That was the first time I found out that a person’s facial features could become this tense when their blood was boiling.
I didn’t shout. I didn’t lose my sense of self. But I kept that feeling deep in my heart.
I thought I was finally free. I was ecstatic at the thought of obtaining a body that allowed me to jump around without any pain. I thought that I would finally be able to do anything under the sun with a normal body like that.
However, the reality was the total opposite. Nothing had changed. Better than before? What a joke.
The endless pain that coursed through my body when I was alive, my weak limbs which couldn’t gather any strength. All I could do then, was bury myself in thought, in hopes of diverting my attention from the pain. Even though it didn’t really work very well.
But at the very least, the control of my own body was never taken away from me by another.
It’s okay that I have to listen to his orders. The Lord was, in a sense, my saviour. Even if he was an evil mage, I would gladly assist him.
However, this was unforgivable.
I do not know what his intention for reviving me was, but I cannot forgive him for having control over my fate.
Even I was startled by the strength of these burning feelings. Looks like I have made my resolve——I don’t want to die.
No matter what, I didn’t want to let this『Second Life』I was lucky enough to obtain slip away from my grasp.
That’s right, regardless of the means I would have to resort to.
Realising that I had stopped breathing, I tried to take deep breaths. When I placed a hand on my chest, I didn’t feel any heartbeat. Ah, how stupid of me! I finally understood what kind of abomination I had become.
Yes, the body moves. Yes, there was no pain. However, I wasn’t alive. I was simply moving.
Come to think of it, on our way here, there was white smoke coming out from the Lord’s mouth when he spoke. The bodies lying in the mortuary also showed no sign of rotting. That’s right, it must be extremely cold here, but I didn’t feel anything. So a part of my senses was gone.
To begin with, I was in a room with no windows or any light source, yet my vision was clear as day.
Something about me had changed. Perhaps that was why I didn’t feel any sort of fear towards the corpses.
I immediately shook my head at the thought that flashed through my mind.
It’s alright. I still had my consciousness. I can think. I——am still here. I can still experience the life I had always yearned for.
I spent my days sick and bedridden, enduring agony from an unknown disease. Back then, I could be considered a『Dead Living』. It’s just that now, I had become a『Living Dead』instead.
If that’s the case, I should just accept it. Even if I had become a being of darkness, compared to a meaningless life that ended with nothing to speak of, it really wasn’t big a deal.
I got back to my feet and gazed at the door which was slightly ajar and quietly closed it. The door that wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I pushed, effortlessly went back to its original position.
I wasn’t surprised by this sight, it was because of the Lord’s command after all. Was absolute command that even overrides my will, a special right of the person who summoned the dead?
However, there should be loopholes. Definitely. At the start, the Lord had commented that『It’d be useless if you don’t understand my commands in my language』. Which meant that there was the possibility of『linguistic commands being unable to go through』to the summoned dead, such as myself.
No matter what——I will survive.
(lilies: hehe reminds me of the song)
I have to gather information, all the information needed for me to escape the control of the Lord.
Really, just how ignorant was I? I haven’t the faintest inkling about necromancy, this mansion, and even my changed self.
For now, my main goal would be information collection. I have to be patient, endure and sharpen my fangs. My patience was second to my thinking. Just the thought of its use from here on out, made me think that maybe there was some meaning to the life I spent enduring.
Pulling myself back together, I went back to the place where the Lord left me and looked straight ahead.
With my body rooted to the ground, I started counting in my head.
I don’t feel sleepy, fatigued or hungry. My eyes don’t dry out even when I keep them open.
I simply stared straight ahead, counting emotionlessly. Like the bodies that laid around me, I pretended I was a corpse.
§
By the time the Lord returned to the room, I had counted to about 20,000.
Still dressed in the long jet-black robe, the Lord checked that there wasn’t anything different about me from when he left the room and handed something to me.
「Take it.」
In his hand was a large hatchet about one metre in length. There was still blood stuck to the dull, wide blade, yet it looked strangely polished.
I did as I was told and took the hatchet from him. But the hatchet was so bloody heavy, I almost fell from the sheer weight of the thing.
Watching as I held the hatchet with both hands, the Lord snorted. Apparently, there was nothing strange about it.
「Come with me, we’re going for a test run.」
The Lord made a curt command and exited the room that resembled a research lab. I silently followed behind him.
My body was moving. My hands and feet were functioning as how they should. Just how many years has it been since I last walked normally like that——
Having a painless body felt so inconceivable. This doesn’t feel real at all… it felt like I was dreaming.
After exiting the room, the Lord suddenly stopped in his tracks and turn around to face me. He watched me with those shining golden eyes that looked as if he could see through everything.
「Hmm… It seems like my words are getting through to you. It’d be useless if you don’t understand my commands in my language.」
「...」
If your commands in your language… don’t work?
I don’t know what he’s talking about. However, I remembered that shortly after regaining consciousness, my body heeded the Lord’s words before my mind could process it.
This was——really bad. There was no room for opposition. Even though I couldn’t quite grasp the situation, I understood this fatal sensation instantly.
I have heard that Necromancers could freely manipulate the living dead. I was nothing more than a puppet to the Lord.
For some reason, the Lord nodded to himself in satisfaction after observing me. He then continued on his way and I followed behind him.
The corridor outside the room I was just in was just as dark and gave off a strange feeling of pressure.
Really, I have no idea what is happening.
Why was I resurrected? Where was this and what was he going to have me do? I had no clue at all——be it the reasoning, the process or the future that lies ahead. He couldn’t possibly be simply saving me from my agony.
But there was one thing I knew for sure.
What I should do now, is not ask the Lord any questions, or escape, but to get hold of the situation.
Fortunately, I was good at using my head. All the time I spent groaning in pain, desperately resisting death, the only thing I could do was think. Even though there wasn’t much difference given the current circumstance, compared to all the pain I had to go through back then, this wasn’t too bad.
I’ve been following behind the Lord for a few minutes now. We walked down a flight of stairs and arrived at the basement. The Lord then entered through a large metal door.
I didn’t expect for there to be such a wide room underground.
I almost gasped aloud, but I managed to swallow it back down. There were countless corpses, all lined up in the room. The numerous bodies were all laid on equidistant stone tables. Unlike me, there weren’t any signs of movement from those bodies.
This was the first time I had ever seen corpses. I should be afraid but for whatever reason, I didn’t feel an ounce of shock or fear for them.
「Stay in this room until I give you an order.」
White air came out of the Lord’s mouth as he gave me a short command while sending a cold look my way.
§
The Lord’s footsteps slowly faded away. I waited till it was completely gone before I started moving about.
First things first, I should check my body movements. I tried stretching my arms out and kicking my feet. All the pain that had been tormenting me for so many years were all gone. Whether it’s swinging my arms around, moving my head, stretching my back, or jumping up and down, I felt incredibly comfortable doing them. It’s almost like a dream.
As much as I wanted to laugh out loud, I could only laugh inwardly to myself. This place was underground so even if I made a little noise, I doubt it would cause the Lord to come back. However, I was ultimately clueless about my current situation so I’d best take caution.
The room that the Lord left me in was like a mortuary. No, rather than a mortuary, it might be more accurate to call it the Necromancer’s storage room.
There were about five authentic human bodies laid atop the stone tables. They’re all men, properly clothed and seemed to be between the age of 10+ to 30. They don’t appear damaged in any way, but they were undeniably lifeless.
I was surprised when I first entered the room, but after being in here for some time, there really wasn’t much to say or feel about it. After all, even when I was alive, I was virtually living like a corpse. And with how it is now, I had (probably) died once.
Maybe some of these corpses might become my colleagues. Even such nonsensical thoughts crossed my mind.
The mortuary had a simple structure. There was one door, other than the stone tables with corpses, the only furniture was a large set of drawers placed against a wall. The surrounding wall appeared to be made of stone as well. Lightly knocking on it felt really hard and sturdy.
While thinking in my head that my room from before had been better in terms of livability, I decided to inspect the drawers.
For now, I want to gather all the information that I can, however little there was.
I carefully opened the drawers and it looked like they weren’t locked.
I guess Lord Holos didn’t expect the dead to move about freely.
「......」
The first drawer I opened spiritedly turned out empty, so did the second and the third. Although the fourth drawer wasn’t empty, it contained some fangs which were useless to giving me some clue to my current circumstances. The fifth one was empty and the sixth housed some bottles containing unknown liquids. As I was feeling disappointed over the empty seventh drawer, my eyes rounded when I got to the last one.
「Well isn’t this a gem…」
I couldn’t help saying out loud. My hoarse voice sounded in the room of the dead.
It’s been a while since I spoke, hasn’t it? And as expected, it didn’t hurt.
It’s really just so amazing that there wasn’t any pain. With a happy feeling of wanting to hum a song, I took out the contents of the drawer.
It was a square mirror. Wiping off the layer of dust on the surface, I looked at myself in the mirror.
The reflection in the mirror was exactly as I remembered.
The delicate lines, slender face, and sunken eyes. The only difference was my hair. Unlike the messy hair from my memories, my hair now was nicely groomed.
Perhaps my appearance was properly taken care of after my death. I’m really grateful for that.
I felt deeply moved as I looked in the mirror. After a while, I carefully returned the mirror back into the drawer.
I managed to confirm that I was me. It’s a pity I couldn’t find anything else, but this was enough for now.
After doing a check of the entire morgue, I finally walked towards the only entrance to the room.
The Lord had left the door unlocked when he left the room. There was no doubt about it because I listened out for it. With light steps, I made my way to the door without making a single sound.
I don’t know the blueprint of the mansion, nor what was happening. However, there was just too little information in this room.
I——don’t know anything. But I want to find out more about this place and necromancy. I want to know just what on earth I had become. I am different from my previous life——I now have a body that could move about freely.
Necromancers are malevolent beings. Although I wasn’t certain if the Lord is truly like that, I can’t know for sure. If so, I should do what I can.
I put my hand on the brass knob and turned it slowly, careful not to make any noise.
Compared to how tense I was, the knob turned very easily. As I thought, it wasn’t locked.
With my ear against the door, I gently opened the door. I didn’t hear anything. It was completely silent. I couldn’t even hear the sound of my heartbeat, or the blood flowing through my veins. Nothing. There was only complete and utter silence.
I felt relieved as I tried to push open the door to check the outside.
「...?」
The door was already opened, albeit only a few millimetres, it was most definitely open. However, no matter how hard I pushed at it, I couldn’t get the door to open any more.
It’s so stiff…? Did I need a key? No, that’s not it. After checking around for a bit, there weren’t locks of any sort. There were also no signs of the door being fixed in place by something.
I put my palms against the door and tried to push with my entire body’s weight.
Then——it hit me.
The shock of the realisation felt as if I had been struck by lightning. I lost all strength in my legs and fell to the ground.
The door is made of metal, so there was definitely some weight to it. But this shouldn’t be a matter of how heavy it was.
Once again, I placed my hands on the door that slightly ajar. As a slight tremble, I made up my mind and pushed the door with all my might.
I should be pushing on it.
Even as my hands shook from the force I was exerting. No matter the amount of strength I put in, I couldn’t get the door to open further.
The words the Lord left me when he went away suddenly flashed through my mind.
『Stay in this room until I give you an order.』
I see. It’s probably not that it’s『stiff』but that『I am unable to open it』.
My body was prioritising the Lord's orders over my will. Thinking back, that was the case when I knelt at his feet by his command when I had just woken up.
A chill went down my spine. My brain wasn’t working very well at the moment. I desperately pushed the door with trembling hands, but despite how I felt, my body was not on the same page as me. It wouldn’t move as I willed.
I planned to try and understand, but mind you, it was just a『plan』.
My eyes rounded as my shoulders quivered. The emotion that welled up in my heart was neither fear nor consternation.
It was anger. It’s been a long while since I felt such intense emotions. That was the first time I found out that a person’s facial features could become this tense when their blood was boiling.
I didn’t shout. I didn’t lose my sense of self. But I kept that feeling deep in my heart.
I thought I was finally free. I was ecstatic at the thought of obtaining a body that allowed me to jump around without any pain. I thought that I would finally be able to do anything under the sun with a normal body like that.
However, the reality was the total opposite. Nothing had changed. Better than before? What a joke.
The endless pain that coursed through my body when I was alive, my weak limbs which couldn’t gather any strength. All I could do then, was bury myself in thought, in hopes of diverting my attention from the pain. Even though it didn’t really work very well.
But at the very least, the control of my own body was never taken away from me by another.
It’s okay that I have to listen to his orders. The Lord was, in a sense, my saviour. Even if he was an evil mage, I would gladly assist him.
However, this was unforgivable.
I do not know what his intention for reviving me was, but I cannot forgive him for having control over my fate.
Even I was startled by the strength of these burning feelings. Looks like I have made my resolve——I don’t want to die.
No matter what, I didn’t want to let this『Second Life』I was lucky enough to obtain slip away from my grasp.
That’s right, regardless of the means I would have to resort to.
Realising that I had stopped breathing, I tried to take deep breaths. When I placed a hand on my chest, I didn’t feel any heartbeat. Ah, how stupid of me! I finally understood what kind of abomination I had become.
Yes, the body moves. Yes, there was no pain. However, I wasn’t alive. I was simply moving.
Come to think of it, on our way here, there was white smoke coming out from the Lord’s mouth when he spoke. The bodies lying in the mortuary also showed no sign of rotting. That’s right, it must be extremely cold here, but I didn’t feel anything. So a part of my senses was gone.
To begin with, I was in a room with no windows or any light source, yet my vision was clear as day.
Something about me had changed. Perhaps that was why I didn’t feel any sort of fear towards the corpses.
I immediately shook my head at the thought that flashed through my mind.
It’s alright. I still had my consciousness. I can think. I——am still here. I can still experience the life I had always yearned for.
I spent my days sick and bedridden, enduring agony from an unknown disease. Back then, I could be considered a『Dead Living』. It’s just that now, I had become a『Living Dead』instead.
If that’s the case, I should just accept it. Even if I had become a being of darkness, compared to a meaningless life that ended with nothing to speak of, it really wasn’t big a deal.
I got back to my feet and gazed at the door which was slightly ajar and quietly closed it. The door that wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I pushed, effortlessly went back to its original position.
I wasn’t surprised by this sight, it was because of the Lord’s command after all. Was absolute command that even overrides my will, a special right of the person who summoned the dead?
However, there should be loopholes. Definitely. At the start, the Lord had commented that『It’d be useless if you don’t understand my commands in my language』. Which meant that there was the possibility of『linguistic commands being unable to go through』to the summoned dead, such as myself.
No matter what——I will survive.
(lilies: hehe reminds me of the song)
I have to gather information, all the information needed for me to escape the control of the Lord.
Really, just how ignorant was I? I haven’t the faintest inkling about necromancy, this mansion, and even my changed self.
For now, my main goal would be information collection. I have to be patient, endure and sharpen my fangs. My patience was second to my thinking. Just the thought of its use from here on out, made me think that maybe there was some meaning to the life I spent enduring.
Pulling myself back together, I went back to the place where the Lord left me and looked straight ahead.
With my body rooted to the ground, I started counting in my head.
I don’t feel sleepy, fatigued or hungry. My eyes don’t dry out even when I keep them open.
I simply stared straight ahead, counting emotionlessly. Like the bodies that laid around me, I pretended I was a corpse.
§
By the time the Lord returned to the room, I had counted to about 20,000.
Still dressed in the long jet-black robe, the Lord checked that there wasn’t anything different about me from when he left the room and handed something to me.
「Take it.」
In his hand was a large hatchet about one metre in length. There was still blood stuck to the dull, wide blade, yet it looked strangely polished.
I did as I was told and took the hatchet from him. But the hatchet was so bloody heavy, I almost fell from the sheer weight of the thing.
Watching as I held the hatchet with both hands, the Lord snorted. Apparently, there was nothing strange about it.
「Come with me, we’re going for a test run.」
Anddd Chapter 1 is up~~
In case it's confusing, 'Lord', 'Mage' and 'Necromancer' all refer to Holos Carmen, the person who raised End from the dead. This is like one read through so I probably missed a lot of mistakes lmao Hopefully someone will pick this up ^3^
(So I can leech off them hehe)
Please feedback to me in the comments below if you find any typos or terrible grammar, etc that you think I should change. Or maybe you think my interpretation is completely off lol Help me help you have a better reading experience ahahah what a tongue twister XD
Thank yous!! (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!!
You can support me by sending some love in the comments or through the button below
peace lilies~
In case it's confusing, 'Lord', 'Mage' and 'Necromancer' all refer to Holos Carmen, the person who raised End from the dead. This is like one read through so I probably missed a lot of mistakes lmao Hopefully someone will pick this up ^3^
(So I can leech off them hehe)
Please feedback to me in the comments below if you find any typos or terrible grammar, etc that you think I should change. Or maybe you think my interpretation is completely off lol Help me help you have a better reading experience ahahah what a tongue twister XD
Thank yous!! (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!!
You can support me by sending some love in the comments or through the button below
peace lilies~
Thanks for the chapter.
ReplyDeleteThank so much!
ReplyDeletethank you for translating this chapter... this one is so good!
ReplyDelete