◈ Everyone Else is a Regressor (2)

Chapter 1: Living with the Demon Lord (1)

The world after the tutorial had ended.

The lone hero, the Demon Lord, and the Fairy remained silent, watching each other cautiously.

Breaking the momentary silence, the Demon Lord spoke, "What happened to the Earth heroes' tutorial?"

"They restarted it, excluding only him," the Fairy replied.

"Can't they send him back now?"

"It's not possible," the Fairy answered.

"Oh, really."

The Demon Lord sighed, pressing her fingers to his forehead in frustration.

But at this moment, the most devastated person was KiJun.

"Regression... was real?" he asked.

"It was," the Demon Lord confirmed.

"Then why am I still here?"

"That's..." The Demon Lord hesitated for a moment, then suddenly became irritated. "It's because of your unique skill. How did you acquire a skill that resists divine authority in the unique category?"

"It's not unique. I just succeeded in resisting, and it evolved to legendary grade," KiJun explained.

"Congratulations on that! But you can't regress!" the Demon Lord said sarcastically.

"Now, what do we do, Hero?" the Fairy asked.

In the midst of their loud conversation, the Fairy intervened.

When the Fairy referred to the hero, it was, of course, the Demon Lord, not KiJun.

That moth creature had never addressed him so familiarly before.

The Demon Lord, who had been getting angry, looked at KiJun and, with a wry smile, said, "Fine, do as you wish, Hero."

"...Yes, then, Hero, please decide. I don't know anymore!" the Fairy exclaimed.

With a helpless sigh, the Fairy disappeared on the spot, and a system message appeared in KiJun's field of vision: "[Channel closure operation halted]."

Even though she was angry and leaving, she had done her job properly.

"Now then..."

Following the Fairy's advice, only the Demon Lord and the hero, KiJun, remained in the closed world with a radius of one kilometer.

The Demon Lord glanced at KiJun, who had lost all his hostility, and made an awkward expression before speaking.

"What's happening right now might be confusing for you. Let me explain from the beginning."

"Please, I'd appreciate that, Ma’am."

Just an hour ago, KiJun considered the Demon Lord his mortal enemy, but now he understood that the Demon Lord was on his side, at least for the time being.

Unless he was a fool, he knew that the Demon Lord was more trustworthy than the Fairy.

"Ma'am..."

With respect in his voice, KiJun's hostility vanished completely.

The Demon Lord chuckled and nodded, his head tilting slightly. "Koreans, in particular, seem to be quite observant among the Earthlings. That's right; I was a hero as well. I was summoned to a different world ahead of you all... Oh, not here but in another world. At that time, there were no tutorials. We were immediately dragged into the main game without any explanation."

The Demon Lord's story wasn't short, but to summarize, it went like this:

In this universe, there were many civilizations aside from Earth.

These civilizations, representing the heroes, were summoned to a different world to fight.

"Why make them fight?" KiJun asked.

"Well, I don't know either. It's probably just the amusement of the transcendent beings above," the Demon Lord replied.

Initially, there were no tutorials or explanations, but later, they created a 'tutorial' resembling the appearance of this world after realizing that dragging civilizations that knew nothing, including the existence of mana, into the game was both harsh and uninteresting.

"The first time I awakened my mana, I was extremely surprised," the Demon Lord continued.

"I find it more amazing how I didn't know about the fundamental power that constitutes everything," KiJun said.

"Earth was a backward civilization... Anyway, we didn't know about mana or that war was not a common occurrence in other civilizations. They first experienced the tutorial and completed 'simple missions' before participating in the main game."

Heroes who died during the tutorial were resurrected when they participated in the main game.

Because Earth's performance in the tutorial was pitiful, the Demon Lord personally proposed to the higher-ups to allow them to redo the tutorial. As a result, all the heroes were made to regress.

"Strictly speaking, it's not a regression. It's true that the heroes' time was reversed, but the space where the tutorial takes place is different. Everything else has been adjusted to be the same, but maybe the Demon Lord over there will look different from me. They could be of a different gender."

"But the heroes probably noticed that already."

"Yes, the tutorial must have ended. When they enter the main game, the fact that it wasn't a regression won't matter anymore."

Laughing slyly, the Demon Lord finished the explanation. The hero, however, realized that one crucial piece of information had been omitted.

That was about the Demon Lord herself.

Why was she, who had fought as a hero in this world in the past, now serving as the Demon Lord of the tutorial?

But as the Demon Lord had pointed out, the hero was incredibly perceptive. He could vaguely guess the reason why she hadn't mentioned it and refrained from asking further.

Perhaps she sensed his consideration. The Demon Lord narrowed her eyes, laughed, clapped her hands, and lightened the mood.

"Now, it seems like the explanation about your situation is done. Let's think about what to do next."

"Done? But I still haven't heard why I couldn't regress."

"I don't know either. Blame it on your skill, I guess?"

"No..."

KiJun had a unique skill called [Unbreakable Internal Clock]. This unique skill, which he had possessed since he was summoned to this world—no, to the tutorial—had saved his life countless times. It provided resistance against all debuffs affecting his mind and body. Thanks to this skill, he had overcome numerous perilous situations.

However, at the last moment, he had been blindsided like this!

"Nevertheless, you're fortunate. When you're dragged into the main game, even though your level and skill levels are reset, your titles and grades aren't. Just having a Legendary skill at the start puts you in the S-rank category. Kya!"

"Kya! So, what kind of skills are the regressed heroes acquiring by now?"

"We don't know. But heroes who obtain Legendary skills are rare, don't you think?"

"That's true."

The hero agreed. Skill ranks went from Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, to Legendary, but beyond these ranks, there were unknown higher ranks. No one knew the names of these ranks yet.

Even the hero, who could rightfully be called the Last Hero, had only one Unique skill, and he possessed merely three Rare skills. Moreover, his unique skill was something he was born with, making it difficult to speculate about the difficulty level of acquiring higher-ranked skills.

"From Unique onward, the difficulty of acquisition increases steeply... Well, even if you think about it, ordinary people might end up with a few more Rare skills. Lucky and talented ones might obtain a couple of Uniques, and if they're exceptional, they might even reach Legendary."

"I'm so jealous I could die, so stop talking about it..."

The hero scanned his surroundings in the hope that there might be some skills left for him. However, except for the 1-kilometer radius, everything had already disappeared.

Apart from a certain boundary, the world had turned pitch-black, as if tainted by ink. He could discern that approaching that boundary would spell disaster.

"Alright, I've organized my thoughts. I'll tell you the best way for you to grow here."

At that moment, the Demon Lord clapped her hands again, drawing KiJun's attention.

As he stared at the Demon Lord, she seemed a bit embarrassed, scratching her cheek as she continued speaking.

"I mentioned it before, but after the tutorial ends, the only things you can take to the main game are titles, race grade, stat grade, skill grade, and three items acquired during the tutorial. So, it's more efficient to focus on developing important skills intensively, rather than indiscriminately practicing many skills."

So, I'll personally train you—she was about to continue when KiJun interrupted her with a question.

"What are race grade and stat grade?"

"Oh, those aren't very important for you right now. Humans, excluding mutations, start with everything at the Common level, both race grade and stat grade."

So, after the tutorial ends, I'll have to compete against those born with Uncommon or higher from the start...? KiJun was beginning to grasp the situation, his mind sinking into despair.

Just as he was lost in thought, the Demon Lord spoke up again.

"Hey, first, let's check your status window. I've thought about making you drop the shield and hold a weapon, but we need to evaluate the rest by looking at your status window."

It was common knowledge for any warrior that you shouldn't show your status window to others, but at this point, he had no reason to distance himself from the Demon Lord.

KiJun remembered the time when warriors had accumulated shared embarrassing incidents, shouting, "S-Status window!" in the past. He quietly opened his own status window, reflecting on those times.

[KiJun]

[Title ― The Last Hero (Legendary)]

[Human Level 96]

[Strength ― 88]

[Dexterity ― 95]

[Endurance ― 99]

[Mana Power ― 79]

[Charisma ― 50]

"Oh. So you got ‘The Last Hero’ title. That's really rare and great."

"Well, what can I do? I can't even activate it."

The Demon Lord, first impressed by his title, scanned through his stats and then applauded.

"Your mana power is so low, but your endurance is 99. How did you manage to survive until now?"

"It was because of my Survival skills."

"Your dexterity is quite high... These two stats will probably increase in grade soon, right? You're lucky. By now, Earth's heroes are probably struggling to raise their stats due to the stat reset. At least in this aspect, you'll definitely be ahead of the returning heroes."

"The heroes probably don't even know about stat grades."

Suddenly, KiJun felt pity not just for himself but also for all the heroes starting their Second Round.

Hopefully, they are all enjoying their cozy and comfortable Second Round life for now...

Once the tutorial ends, they'll have to face tough opponents with high-grade stats...

"Alright, I've organized my thoughts. Let's focus on how you can grow as much as possible here."

Then, the Demon Lord clapped her hands to catch KiJun's attention.

Looking slightly embarrassed, she scratched her cheek and said, "I mentioned it before, but after the tutorial ends, you can carry over your title, race grade, stat grade, skill grade, and three items obtained during the tutorial. So it's more efficient to concentrate on developing important skills rather than training numerous skills recklessly."

"So, I'll train you personally..."

With that, she was about to continue when KiJun interrupted, asking, "What are ‘race grade’ and ‘stat grade’?"

"Oh, it's not that important for you right now. Except for mutants, humans start at Uncommon grade for both race and stats."

So, after the tutorial ends, humans must compete against others, excluding mutants, who start at the Rare grade and above?

KiJun started to feel a little overwhelmed.

Holding onto his fading sanity, he looked at the Demon Lord, waiting for her to continue.

"Now, let's open your skill window."

"I feel a bit embarrassed..."

Unlike when he opened his status window, KiJun hesitated and then opened his skill window.

[Skills/Spells]

[Common]

[Shield Mastery Lv99, Cooking Lv77, Butchery Lv85]

[Uncommon]

[Dual Wielding Lv72, Strong Provocation Lv99, Boomerang Throw Lv87]

[Rare]

[Persistent Regeneration Lv94, Metalization Lv88, Indomitable Will Lv65]

[Legendary]

[Unbreakable Internal Clock Lv――]

Compared to before entering the Last Battlefield, the skill window had changed significantly.

First, the Uncommon grade Shield Mastery had reached the maximum level, and the Uncommon grade Strong Provocation was the same.

The Rare grade skills had also grown steadily as he desperately faced off against the Demon Lord. It made him wonder if he would have had a chance in the battle if his skills had been at this level before facing the Demon Lord.

The most surprising thing was his innate skill, "Unbreakable Internal Clock."

Originally, it was a Unique grade skill, but now it had abruptly become a Legendary grade.

Seeing this, he felt a mix of emotions. While it was a new experience to have a Unique grade skill become Legendary, thinking that he couldn't regress because of this skill made his feelings complicated.

"Wow, how come you only have this skill?"

The Demon Lord admired his skill window, expressing a different kind of awe than when she looked at his status window.

KiJun responded with a somewhat self-deprecating expression.

"I just didn't have the luck."

"Did you ever get the chance to acquire skills? Did you give up your opportunities to others?"

Skills could be obtained through training, quest rewards, hidden elements, and more. Training was the most challenging method, and discovering hidden elements had the highest expectations for grade.

KiJun recalled the time in the past when he had given away the unique skills he had discovered to his comrades. He subtly turned his head, avoiding the gaze of the Demon Lord.

"...They just didn't suit me."

"Hah, I had a slight hope, but as expected, huh? Look at this naive fool. He should have been the one to regress. He should have lived only for himself now!"

The Demon Lord, reading KiJun's actions from just looking at the skill window, grew frustrated and playfully hit his chest.

Even if he wanted new skills, in this closed-off world, he had no choice but to nurture the skills he already possessed or start from scratch, practicing from the ground up to acquire new skills.

However, as the Demon Lord was hitting his chest, she suddenly noticed something strange in KiJun's skill window.

"What's this 'Dual Wielding'?"

"It used to be a common-level blunt weapon skill. I had a shield and couldn't deal enough damage while holding the frontline, so I picked up an additional weapon."

All of his uncommon-level skills had grown from common-level skills.

Strong Provocation had evolved from Provocation.

Throw had become Boomerang Throw.

...And blunt weapon skills had evolved into Dual Wielding.

"So why did its rank increase, and why into Dual Wielding?"

"It was a rather Copernican shift in my way of thinking. Swinging a blunt weapon made me want to strike with a shield as well, and that's how it happened."

"...So, by swinging both a shield and a blunt weapon, it evolved into Dual Wielding? But Shield Mastery is still common?"

"Yeah..."

The reason the skill window felt embarrassing was because of that.

It clearly revealed his past misguided choices.

"I didn't need to learn a new weapon skill..."

"Enough."

"You already knew, didn't you?"

"Can't you stop now, ma’am?"

"Hero KiJun."

The Demon Lord smiled kindly and placed her hand on KiJun's shoulder.

Then she spoke.

"A blunt weapon suits you better than a shield."