WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 165

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The regressor wanders (1)

The reward for Floor 13 was an Elixir of Experience and a trait called 'Quick Reflexes.'

-Quick Reflexes [C]

-You no longer need to worry about tripping over your own feet. Your reflexes improve in proportion to your stats.

Perhaps because the backdrop of Floor 13 was a wasteland, the skill given was fitting for a gunslinger of the wild. After running a simple test with Ji-won, the improvement in reflexes was unmistakable. To be more precise, responses to incoming attacks had gotten faster. It felt like the density of thought in extreme situations had thickened.

"Ji-won, did you get this trait too?"

"Yeah. Looks like everyone got it, not just us."

"Hmm..."

In truth, both Ji-won and I had always fought by predicting our opponent's movements to a certain degree. Since our reflexes fell slightly short of our physical capabilities, the more accurate way to put it would be that we fought by reading an opponent's posture and gaze to anticipate where and when an attack would land, then moving preemptively. The reason battles were decided in split seconds was precisely because those predictions clashed and fell apart.

The fact that I was able to subdue the top-tier players on Floor 11 wasn't just because of regression. There were hidden circumstances like these behind it as well.

But now reflexes were getting faster? That made the mind games far more complicated. An opponent could react at the last moment before my attack landed, and conversely, I could respond to a surprise attack and inflict a wound in return. From my perspective, where taking damage meant regression, it was fair to say this put me at a disadvantage.

"But the way I see it, the real beneficiaries of this trait are the lower-mid-tier players."

Ji-won said this while resting Bung-bung on her shoulder, tapping the blade idly.

"Think of it as the skill floor being raised. As long as someone's stats are decent enough, they could fight purely on physical ability alone, even without any technique whatsoever."

"That's true."

"The gap between players who cleared Floor 13 and those who didn't will probably widen, and the gap with ordinary people will grow even larger."

If the fights up until now had been sword against sword, this felt like everyone had been handed a shield. If that shield grew bigger and thicker someday, then perhaps even bullets would no longer work on players.

"Well, let's table that for now."

This wasn't something I could control. No matter how many regressions I had, I couldn't stop every player from climbing the Tower and getting stronger. That was simply an unstoppable force.

"The way I see it, there's still something on Floor 13 that hasn't been discovered."

What I needed to focus on now was Floor 13 itself. The structure of Floor 13 wasn't like Floor 11, where everyone shared a single world. Instead, it was structured like Floor 4, where a new world was created every time enough people filled in. And as far as I could tell, Floor 13 still had secrets left to uncover.

"But... the Association said there was nothing like a hidden route."

"You can't blindly trust the Association's statistics. I've told you this before."

"Mmm... actually, the Association did mention that players tend to be tight-lipped about things. You might be right."

Of course, the 'hidden route' I was referring to might not exist at all. But there were definitely undiscovered secrets. Because the structure of Floor 13 was different from the other floors.

Floors 11 and 12 were designed so that if any one person got greedy, the consequences fell on everyone else. To put it with a bit of exaggeration, it wouldn't be a stretch to call them floors that encouraged betrayal.

But Floor 13? Floor 13 had no such mechanism. On a surface level, one could argue that 'failing to protect the carriage' served as that mechanism, but wasn't that too simple? An 'escort mission' wasn't that straightforward. Traps and twists, that was what escort missions were all about.

The monsters that charged in with bloodshot eyes. The mustached man who appeared at the beginning and never showed up again. The nun who suddenly popped out inside the village, and the invisible barrier that had been concealing it. There were still secrets left to uncover.

"If we can't get information in reality, then there's no helping it."

I would just have to smash into it headfirst.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 13.]

If I had to pick the most suspicious thing on Floor 13, it would be this 'carriage.' The horses neither ate nor drank yet pulled the carriages along, and the insides were packed with suspicious wooden crates.

From what I could gather, opening the crates on this carriage seemed highly likely to kick off some kind of event chain. Something along the lines of, once the crates were opened, something other than monsters would attack.

"So... you're saying you want to open the contents inside the carriage?"

"That's right."

"Mmm..."

Honestly, the cleanest approach would be to throw someone else in as bait. There would inevitably be players who couldn't contain their curiosity and would try to rummage through the carriage, so all I had to do was leave them be and the information would come rolling in on its own.

But knowing something was going to happen and just standing by didn't sit right with my conscience. I would open it myself first, and if things really went south, I could always have someone else do it next time.

"I can just regress. Right?"

"...Fine."

After barely managing to convince Ji-won,

"The carriage must absolutely, absolutely not be damaged! You must escort it with the utmost dedication!"

just like before, the mustached man gave his explanation and the carriages began to move. Everything up to this point unfolded exactly as it had in the past. If I was going to act, now was the time, while everyone was still standing around in a daze.

"W-wait!"

"What are you doing?"

Slash!

Without hesitation, I drew my sword and cut the canvas covering the lead carriage clean in half. The fabric fell away limply, revealing the countless wooden crates inside.

Crack!

The instant I brought my fist down hard on one of them, pitch-black smoke came streaming out in thick tendrils, dyeing everything around it dark.

"...!"

I held my breath instinctively and backed away a good distance. But my skin had been momentarily exposed to the smoke. What was this smoke? Should I regress?

"Cough, cough... what the hell?"

"Dude, are you insane?"

"..."

But even after waiting quietly, there was no sign of regression. My body was perfectly fine, and I couldn't sense anything wrong. What had changed? There had to be a reason that pitch-black smoke came pouring out.

"Hey, man. I said, are you insane? You got a death wish?"

"I... I'm sorry. I definitely heard a sound coming from inside the crate, but I must have misheard."

"You think sorry cuts it? We all nearly got screwed because of you."

"He said he's sorry, can't you just let it go?"

"Then what are police for, and what are laws for... Choi Ji-won?"

"I'll work even harder to make up for it. Let's just move on. The horses are still moving as we speak."

"...Fine."

Thanks to Ji-won running cover for me, I managed to avoid getting jumped right then and there, but my head was still a complete mess. Was that it? Just black smoke and nothing else? There had to be some kind of change.

"...The hell is that guy's deal?"

"No idea. Must be Ji-won's man or something."

Enduring the glares of the other players boring into me, I searched desperately for any kind of change. After circling around the carriage like that, I finally managed to spot one.

"The horse... looks a bit different."

The carriage whose crate I had smashed. The eyes of the horse pulling that carriage had turned red. Now that I thought about it, its breathing did seem rougher, and it kept baring its teeth and snorting.

It had changed to resemble the 'monsters' that had been attacking the carriages all along. Since every other horse was perfectly normal, there was clearly a causal link with the broken crate.

"...If a certain number of crates are broken, the horses turn into monsters?"

That would actually make sense. We didn't know the way to the 'village' that was our destination, and we were moving entirely in the direction the horses led. But if every horse pulling every carriage turned into a monster? Game over. With no way to clear the floor, a future of withering away in the wasteland was all but certain.

"..."

But something still nagged at me. Because I hadn't been able to see the pattern from Floors 11 and 12, the kind where 'one person's greed or incompetence comes back to hurt everyone else.'

"Should I deliberately turn the horses into monsters and then follow wherever they go? No, that doesn't seem right..."

"Let's just wait and see for now. Something's bound to change."

"...Got it."

Following Ji-won's advice, I continued observing without taking any action. A full day passed like that, and finally, something unusual was observed.

"My body... what's going on?"

One of the players reported a noticeable decline in physical ability.

"No, seriously, I was perfectly fine just yesterday. But all of a sudden... I don't know if I should call it dizziness, or like my body just won't listen to me. It's really weird..."

When Ji-won and I cleared Floor 13, this man had been in perfect condition right up until the very end. But now, out of nowhere, he was feeling unwell? There was only one explanation.

"If even one crate is broken... one of the players gets hit with a debuff..."

If that was the case, it satisfied what I had mentioned earlier, the pattern where 'someone's mistake or greed gets passed on to someone else.' If a player who couldn't contain their curiosity at night pried open a crate, the horse pulling that carriage would mutate, and another player's body would deteriorate. It wasn't a system that rewarded the selfish player, but the principle that one person's actions caused everyone to suffer was exactly the same.

"Jun-ho. Isn't that enough?"

"..."

"We just got lucky and were skilled enough to clear Floor 13 perfectly on our first try. Since there was no damage to the carriage at all, there were no debuffs, which is why it felt so easy."

The first attempt was a flawless success? It certainly made sense. My rational mind was nodding along in agreement.

But something... some inexplicable unease still lingered in my chest. Ah. I figured out the cause.

"There's still something I haven't confirmed."

"...?"

"I haven't checked the real mastermind yet."

The one who went out of their way to have these dangerous crates escorted. There was a certain nun who had concealed herself behind an invisible barrier, playing innocent.

If something was hidden, it would be there.

"I need to go inside the village."

The village... I had to check the village.

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