Chapter 165 – The Regressor (4)

*Fwoom!*

As the Regressor’s shortsword and my two-handed sword clashed, time resumed its normal flow.

*KABOOOOM!*

With a massive explosion, I rolled backward and got to my feet.

A red curtain fell over my right eye, and I wiped it away with the back of my hand.

The Regressor walked out through the dust and smoke.

Seeing the flickering light on her body, I knew she had healed her wounds again.

And here I was, injured.

“Hey, is that the delivery man?”

“What, are they fighting?”

“He’s fighting a Villain! Holy crap, for real!”

Thanks to my barrier shattering, the people nearby were now witnessing the battle.

The Regressor looked at them. Then she muttered under her breath.

-Healing Factor.

A mechanical voice rang out.

As the voice faded, a green magic circle formed around the Regressor.

To stop the casting, I fired a Shadowless Dart.

But it dissolved before it could even touch her body.

Dammit, is she immune to projectiles?

With an effect like a green tree sprouting from the ground, the dead Villains rose to their feet one by one.

Look at this. She’s even using high-level priest skills?

The newly zombified Villains immediately charged at me.

Meanwhile, the freak was using buffs, her hands clasped as if in prayer.

“Ah, ah? Aaaah!”

Just then, a woman tripped, unable to dodge a Villain rushing toward her.

The Villain pounced on her, its fangs, which had grown beast-like, aiming for her neck.

*Crack!*

I kicked the Villain squarely in the head.

I pushed aside the Villain that had been on top of her as it collapsed, spewing blood.

“Get back!”

Other Villains began to attack the civilians.

“Declare Domain!”

I deployed the barrier once more.

Light rose from the Hexa-Blocks that defined my domain, successfully creating a new dimension and sealing it off from the outside world.

“Amazing. Wow, just amazing! In a life-or-death situation, you actually cast a barrier to save people?”

Kei, who had been watching, clapped and jeered, trying to get under my skin.

“You’d die even if you used your remaining mana to fight. Are you stupid, or just a busybody?”

Meanwhile, the freak had covered herself in all sorts of buffs.

Red, yellow, green, blue, white, black. She was plastered with every color imaginable.

I thought she was a Christmas tree.

No longer able to attack the people because of the barrier, the Villains turned their attention to me.

I sliced the necks of the charging Villains.

“…!”

Even with its head gone, the body kept moving. I sent a zombie clinging to me flying with a knee to the body.

It still kept moving.

Just then, I saw a vast beam of light hurtling toward me.

*KABOOM!*

A railgun blast the thickness of a tree trunk flew at me. I narrowly dodged it.

Ha.

It wasn’t just one shot.

I poured my mana into the two-handed sword and deflected the next one.

*Shatter!*

The two-handed sword spectacularly broke upon contact with the railgun blast.

*Thud, thunk.*

A fragment of the shattered sword lodged itself in my abdomen.

Dammit, my HP Shield had dropped significantly without me noticing.

-Hero, you have to run.

Olivier was saying something useless.

All I had asked for was a report on the situation.

-Your synchronization rate hasn’t even recovered. It’s not foolish to plan for the next…

“You’re wrong.”

One retreat only invites a second.

If I had retreated every time things got a little difficult, the me of today wouldn’t exist.

Of course, if this continues, I’ll lose.

It’s a feeling I haven’t had in a long time.

I took out Sword Number 3, Dragon Slayer, from my inventory.

*Vweeeeng-!*

A brilliant ether washed over the thin blade.

A sword with the greatest cutting power but the worst durability.

It seemed to suit my current situation.

“A savior, you say. Let’s see if you can save your own life.”

I heard Kei’s sneer.

My current synchronization rate is 82%.

My strongest skill is Sword Formation.

But in my current state, I can only use it once.

I’ll take the risk.

“You said you could see the branching paths of the future, right?”

“That’s right, I see them clearly. I see your death.”

“I don’t think so.”

Kei scoffed at my words. But soon, his expression hardened.

That expression was all the answer I needed.

“Declare Domain.”

Earlier, Kei had said it.

That I had foolishly wasted mana to save people.

He was half right and half wrong.

I cast the barrier to win.

This place, my inventory, is now the domain.

Which means.

“…What…?”

This is my turf.

As Kei let out a bewildered mutter, I took a step forward.

*Swoosh-!*

I instantly teleported behind the Regressor.

Blink.

Within the domain I created, I can move as I please.

The Regressor turned around, but it was too late.

It was already over.

*Shhhink!*

Sword Number 3 and the Regressor’s shortsword met.

Sparks flew as ether clashed with ether.

She blocked it.

I expected her to block it. So I followed up with a combo.

Blink. Blink again.

I kept flickering in and out of sight, relentlessly pushing the Regressor.

For the first time, I could sense a hint of panic from her as she faced an unexpected attack.

I can’t give my opponent time to adapt.

Besides, I didn’t have enough mana left to keep this up anyway.

That’s why, right now, I went for the finishing blow.

Rephilia Resode Type 0: Sword Formation.

I poured every last drop of my mana into it.

As if there was no tomorrow.

From a point to a line. From a line to an arc.

I brandished my sword freely, as if painting on the world as my canvas.

*Slice, slice!*

Everything in the vicinity was cut down. The Regressor’s arm was severed and tumbled to the ground. Seeing her fall as her waist and neck were slashed, Sword Number 3 shattered as if its job was done.

*Hoo, haa.*

My breathing grew ragged for the first time in a while. Perhaps because I had put everything into that one moment.

“Ha…”

Kei laughed as if in disbelief.

The outcome was not what he wanted. I was standing, and the Regressor was down.

“Ha. This is insane. Someone with the power of a god… Ha. And you beat her?”

Kei raised his hand, a smirk spreading across his lips.

He grabbed his own finger and bent it backward.

“It’s an honor to kill you with my own hands.”

***

Kei bared his teeth in a cheerful smile.

He was about to use the ability he received from the Demon King, using his finger as a sacrifice.

An ability fitting for taking revenge on the Hero who had rejected his rightful throne.

“…”

Through his True Eye, he saw something absurd.

The Hero looked like he could collapse and die from exhaustion at any moment.

And yet, the future he saw through his True Eye showed him being counterattacked if he were to attack.

In other words, he would die.

‘Isn’t he out of mana?’

A chill ran down Kei’s spine.

The Hero looked like he could barely stand. But he was getting stronger.

Even without having regained his full power, he had defeated the Regressor.

Of course, the Regressor was still in an unstable state, having only recently been restored.

Still, she had inherited the power of a god.

It was incomprehensible that such a being could be pushed back by a mere Hero.

‘I choose.’

The Regressor wasn’t dead yet.

Her body was regenerating. A truly monstrous ability.

“Right.”

Kei changed his mind.

“I’ll be back for your head soon.”

He still had much to do.

Thanks to the Hero, his grand plan to destroy this place had gone awry.

Even the Demon King Gamigin, one of the beings who had granted him power, had been killed by the Hero.

The true sovereign.

The hero who saved everyone.

It was the Hero who embodied the image of the hero-king that the people had so desperately wished for.

But he left.

He turned his back on the people who chanted and called his name.

Kei, like those people, had been disappointed.

Because he had wanted the Hero to become the monarch.

The hero left, and on the surface, the continent appeared to be united.

But with the Hero, the focal point of everything, gone, that relationship began to crack.

Did he know?

That because he had achieved everything, the void he left behind was just too large.

Riding through a crack in the Gate, 100 mages invaded their world.

Faced with their overwhelming firepower, many people died.

The end of a continent that couldn’t truly unite.

Many people prayed, calling the Hero’s name.

That he would save them again. But he never came.

Of course, a new hero did appear. But he fell to corruption and became part of the Demon King’s army.

The continent, already in shambles from the 100 mages, was thrown into utter chaos with the appearance of a new Demon King.

This was all the Hero’s fault.

If he had been there, none of this tragedy would have happened.

Kei decided to take revenge on the modern people. And so, with his ability, he was granted power by the absolute beings.

When Kei crossed over to the modern world, he saw it.

They had turned another’s world into an uninhabitable land, yet they themselves were enjoying peace to their hearts’ content.

Looking at the faces of the modern people, who lived lives untouched by starvation and death, an endless hatred welled up inside him.

He swore he would not become like the Hero.

He would become a monarch.

He would crown these filthy modern people with sin and inflict pain upon them by committing an equally great massacre.

He had fired the first shot of the counterattack, and as long as the meddlesome Hero was gone, it was entirely possible.

Kei watched as the Hero’s barrier crumbled and broke his own finger.

What he did was spatial teleportation.

*Swoosh!*

In an instant, his surroundings changed, and he arrived at his familiar hideout.

“Guuuhk!”

The pain washed over Kei a moment later.

He swallowed a painkiller. The only silver lining was that the Regressor’s body was almost fully regenerated.

What a disappointment.

The Regressor was certainly powerful. But she had lost.

Because she was still unstable? The Hero’s power was unstable as well. That was no excuse.

In the first place, the Regressor hadn’t fought properly.

Kei had felt it.

He didn’t know why, but he did.

“Grrr.”

Kei groaned like a beast. All his network members had been captured. All because of that damned gangster elf.

All his comrades captured by the agency were annihilated.

For a plan that had sacrificed his right-hand woman, Kim Yeo-jin, the result was disappointingly empty.

‘But, compared to the value of killing the Hero…’

Even if other pieces are captured, all that matters is the checkmate.

“My apologies. You are certainly strong, but perhaps it was too much to take on the Hero in your unstable state.”

Kei whispered to the Regressor.

She still had her uses. A wild card. If she could defeat the Hero, she would be the strongest in this world.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help your synchronization rate recover completely. Just tell me whatever you want. As for the Hero you couldn’t handle, I’ll take care of the finishing touches.”

Kei took out his phone.

He had one final move left after the Regressor.

The Hero, even in his battered state, would go to help his comrades.

And the people from the Tushin Guild were there too.

The paladin, Seol Ji-hoon, was grinding his teeth, eager to kill the Hero.

Kei had already given Seol Ji-hoon orders, just in case.

Even if the Hero was lucky, he would be heading to a battlefield completely worn out.

It was the perfect opportunity to kill him.

It was delightful.

Kei closed his eyes and used his True Eye to predict the outcome of his chosen path.

“…What is this?”

Something was wrong.

He couldn’t see anything. All he saw, once again, was his own death.

“That’s not right.”

Just then, Kei heard someone’s voice.

There was no one here but him and the Regressor.

“You can’t kill him.”

Kei turned his head.

Standing there was the Regressor, her body having already finished regenerating.

*Drip, drip.*

Hot blood stained the floor.

Kei coughed up a mouthful of blood. His pupils widened in disbelief.

The shortsword held by the Regressor had pierced straight through his chest.

Blood gushed from Kei’s mouth. Even in this situation, he couldn’t face reality.

The window of red static that had been covering the Regressor’s eyes vanished.

The moment he saw her, Kei’s pupils trembled.

Then, he…

“Ha.”

He laughed.

“Haha… Damn… it all. Don’t tell me you’re…”

He never expected it.

He had believed she would help him achieve his goal, he had even put his faith in her.

But he had just been a puppet on someone else’s strings.

“From now on, the board…”

The Regressor looked down coldly at Kei’s dying face with her cross-shaped pupils, which glowed with a faint golden light.

“Is mine to set.”