WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 011

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The regressor is too lazy (3)

“Huup!”

Ssshk.

“Haah!”

Sskk.

I hacked down goblins left and right with my sword.

The scene looked grotesque, yet instead of feeling sick I found it downright refreshing, like playing a slightly violent video-game.

After hearing so many dying screams, I guess my mind had adjusted a bit. Fists are messier anyway.

“Hoo… hoo…”

When the sun dipped toward the horizon, I decided to rest, sheathed my blade, and headed for the clearing.

Time to swap weapons too, the edge had gone completely dull. It was only natural. I killed more goblins today than in all cycles before.

Maybe once I reach Ji-won-ssi’s level I can cut goblins without nicking the edge, no, why stop at weeds, maybe cleave sky and earth.

Amusing visions filled my head as I returned and found water and rations neatly placed at the entrance I had carved.

“…Oh.”

Glancing over, I saw Ji-won-ssi with her back to me, silently swinging her sword.

“…”

She really was kind. Not only did she look after everyone in the clearing, she even set aside food for the lunatic who spent all day trimming grass.

I poured a little water, wiped sweat and blood from my face.

Ah, the freshness.

Thanks, Choi Ji-won. I will pay you back one day.

After thanking her in my heart I wolfed the food down and fell asleep at once. That night I dreamed a happy dream, though I could not recall the plot.

Repeat. Repeat. And repeat again.

During the grind a thought struck me.

“…Status window.”

[Name: Kim Jun-ho] [LV: 2]

[Traits]

-Regression [EX]

“Hmm…”

Nothing new except the level, now at two.

Did the level carry over or was it local to this cycle? No idea yet. The point was, I had slain dozens of goblins in this run alone.

Unlike the quiet folks who sneaked outside the brush, I advanced noisily, cutting a path and drawing far more aggro, so my encounters skyrocketed. Even conservatively I killed at least twenty, yet my level climbed only one step.

Is it just me, or is everyone like this? Games nowadays shower you with early levels.

Second point.

“…I had better not count on level-ups as lucky breaks.”

My level rose and I never noticed. Which means no instant wound-clearing or energy restore on level-up. I had hoped to time it on purpose, but that was impossible. I never even saw a “Level Up!” pop-up.

Possibly, levels rise only when you sleep, so I might not notice. Either way, I cannot exploit it in battle. I should forget about using level-ups.

“…Tch.”

Clenching and unclenching my fist changed nothing. No obvious strength boost, no bigger stamina bar. Without stats, I could not gauge growth. Maybe once I level a lot more, I will feel it.

Lost in thought, I kept cutting.

“Whoa!”

I whiffed a swing and almost toppled. Close call. Why did the blade miss? I lifted my head slowly and saw ground.

“…”

Soil, dirt, mother earth—things I had not seen for ages because of the tall grass. I had finally escaped the green hell.

Freed from the tight prison, yet the landscape did not change dramatically. The grass now barely brushed my ankles and trees multiplied, that was all.

Oddly, no monsters showed themselves. The thicket had held more.

“…Maybe that makes sense.”

Think about it. I underwent a bizarre training path to get here, but for others this is only clearing the tutorial of the tutorial. If strong monsters attacked the moment they stepped out, everyone but a Ji-won-class monster would die.

I rolled my shoulders and looked back.

“…”

From outside, the dense ring of grass looked even stranger. No wonder it served as a safe zone, even monsters would hate pushing through.

Well then.

I scratched my head.

What now?

Escaping had been the primary goal, but once outside, I saw no clear objective. We were told to gather Golden Marbles, yet I had no clue where to look, and monsters were nowhere in sight. I felt adrift.

Should I follow that firefighter ahjussi’s lead and search for water? Or climb a tree for a better view?

While I pondered,

“KYAAAAAAA!”

A woman’s shriek tore through the woods, not far off.

“…”

My next destination chose itself.

If there is a stock tutorial monster, it would be goblins or slimes. Both are famous featherweights of fantasy worlds.

Yet that only applies to plain goblins. Add an adjective and the pushover label vanishes.

Goblin sounds weak, but Warrior Goblin or Elite Goblin, those drip menace.

“KYAA! Help! Kyaaa!”

The scene before me proved the point. Two men lay bleeding, life ebbing out, while a terrified woman screamed.

“Kerrrk… kerrrk…”

Half a dozen goblins with wooden spears ringed her, and another three rummaged through the fallen men’s packs.

“…”

The men had gashes behind their thighs, it was an ambush from the rear. The wounds were punctures, not slices, meaning spear thrusts rather than teeth or claws. First, they crippled the legs, then poked from a distance until strength failed. A very human hunting method.

These creatures were worlds above the thicket goblins. If those were beasts, these were ape-men.

“S-someone… anyone…”

The woman rasped, voice ruined.

“Kerrrk… kirrk, kik…”

The goblins drooled as they closed in.

“…”

Saving her was right, but I could not help weighing it. I had invested a lot just to get out here, three straight days of cutting grass. The opportunity cost was steep.

I did not fancy another three days of mowing.

Problem two: the goblins carried spears. Swords are the king of weapons, but in low-level scraps, reach is everything. Their shafts were not two or three meters, yet still a bit longer than my blade. One scratch and I would regress. I had only faced claw goblins and Ji-won, never spears. Winning unscathed looked impossible.

“…No…”

While I wavered the goblins grabbed the woman.

“Kirrk… kirrk…”

One searched her waist with a nasty grin. Was it really going to perpetrate that? Were we flipping genres to adults-only?

“Kerrk!”

No. The thing produced not a filthy appendage but a jagged stone knife. Same adults-only rating, different subgenre, much worse.

I could not just watch another human get butchered. I would regress anyway, so I might as well hurry. I started to rise, aiming to strike from behind—

SWAEEEEEAK!

“Huh?”

A razor wind sliced the air.

“Kerrk?”

In the blink of an eye every goblin lost its head. It felt like a bad B-movie special effect. Someone had cut them faster than sight, every neck at once, a feat only one person I knew could manage.

And from her angle, this looked very easy to misunderstand.

“I, uh, it’s not like I deliberately refused to help…”

I tried to explain, but,

“Excuses later.”

Smack!

Choi Ji-won clubbed the back of my head with her scabbard.

Sadly, Ji-won-ssi was the type whose fist moved faster than her words, so I got no chance to clarify.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 0.]

Footnotes:

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