WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 270

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The regressor proves himself (10)

"Let's go kill that Ice Dragon."

"...What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Kill the Ice Dragon, and undo this ward. Let's find out."

Some might see what I was about to do as even worse than before. Complete and total mockery of a defeated man.

Telling someone who'd already failed, "There's a better way, so do it my way," left plenty of room to look like deception.

But what I wanted to do, what I wanted to say, had nothing to do with the dark mage's failure.

"...Who are you?"

"I'm a climber. This place is inside the Tower. Your world's already been destroyed, and became part of the Tower."

"...What?"

I explained, slowly, everything that had happened in the previous cycle. Judging by the expression on his face, like he was hearing all of it for the first time, it seemed no memory of it had carried over to him.

"You despaired. Because your plan failed. Because your sacrifice meant nothing. And when a regressor like me told you that you hadn't even given your 'best,' that must have made you even angrier. Do you understand now why I apologized?"

"...My head's spinning."

"If you still can't believe it, you can use that technique of yours, the one that drags people into your inner world, on me. See the memory for yourself. That should convince you."

"..."

The dark mage pressed a palm to his face. He stood there thinking for a moment, then glared at me through the gaps between his fingers, hand still pressed to his face.

"What's your purpose?"

"..."

"I get that you have some tremendous power. I get that you want to apologize to me. But from where I'm standing, I'm seeing you for the first time, and naturally, I feel no grudge. The one you owe an apology to is already gone."

"...I know. That it's just self-satisfaction."

"Since you know that, I'll ask again. What's your purpose?"

"I'm curious. And I figure you probably are too."

"...Keep talking."

Light flickered in the dark mage's eyes, visible between his wrinkled, purple fingers.

"First... I want to defeat the Ice Dragon myself. Since this is the Tower, there's probably some reward for it, and it's probably a path no one else has taken. Plus I use cold-attribute mana too, so it might be a chance for me to grow."

"Honest of you."

"I figured honesty would land better. The dark mage I saw in your memories was that kind of person."

"Keep going."

By telling me to keep going, the dark mage was silently agreeing.

"At the same time, I was curious. Whether you'd really failed."

"...What do you mean?"

"Whether you failed to stop the Ice Dragon... or whether you actually succeeded in stopping it, and the world was destroyed sometime after."

"...Even if I'd succeeded, what would it matter, if the world was destroyed anyway?"

"Who knows. Maybe you succeeded, and then a hundred years later the world was destroyed anyway. Maybe it wasn't your fault at all."

Defeat the Ice Dragon. If that happened, the dark mage would no longer need to keep the ward up. Sure, right now he doubted my word, but if he killed the Ice Dragon, he could afford to lift the ward covering this place.

And then what? The outside world would open up. Of course, this was the Tower, and Towers usually had some kind of "wall you cannot pass" built in. But that might only apply to players, and even if it didn't, the dark mage probably had some means of connecting to the outside.

Floor 16, or was it 19. I'd confirmed before that the Tower wasn't just a space for fighting, that entire worlds were rendered whole inside it.

So there was a chance here. A chance to see beyond the time ward. To see the world.

"..."

"Let's join forces and kill the Ice Dragon. Then let's check outside. What do you say? Aren't you curious too?"

"...You're an absurd one."

The dark mage shook his head and let out a hollow laugh.

"I refuse."

Thump. His staff struck the ground.

"This was always meant to end in death. Whether it succeeded or not means nothing."

"..."

"Just like your apology is your own self-satisfaction, my actions were nothing but my own self-satisfaction too. And more than that."

Snap. The staff swung to point at me.

"You seem to think of me as some hero who sacrificed himself. I'm nothing but a villain who had a change of heart at the very end."

"..."

"Whether you apologize or not doesn't matter. Watching someone like you, raised in an ordinary family, who got good traits, who's doing well for himself... watching someone hailed as a hero of the world, it just eats at me. I can't stand it."

Mana swirled at the tip of his staff.

"Honestly, I still can't fully believe what you're saying. But if this really is the Tower, and killing me is the Tower's goal... then we'll have to fight eventually anyway."

Right. No matter what I said, he wasn't going to just take my word for it.

"So I came prepared."

"?"

"I didn't come straight here, you know."

I glanced toward the cave entrance. Footsteps, far off, drawing slowly closer.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

And at last, someone stepped into view.

"...Are you the dark mage?"

A warrior with a hardened face. The shirtless leader. The Captain.

"..."

The Captain's face twitched with fury, irritation, and shock all at once. Instead of looking at the Captain, the dark mage kept his expressionless eyes fixed on me. It almost looked like he was avoiding the Captain's gaze on purpose.

"I want to kill you."

"..."

"I want to kill you right now. Kill you, tear you apart, rip you to shreds... hng."

Smack! The Captain slapped his own cheek.

"I heard you made us. I heard you controlled us. I heard you raised us to be hunted, the way you'd hunt deer."

"That's true."

"So I'm holding back. Even wanting to kill you. I thought it was because you'd been controlling us that I wanted to kill you this badly. But now I want to kill you even more..."

The Captain's words came out stuttering, choked with excess fury.

The Captain was a simple man. You could say his head was empty. Low intelligence, no civilization to speak of.

But even with somewhat lower intelligence, even with nothing much rattling around in his skull, he was still, undeniably, human. He had a soul that could be offered up to a demon. He was a person, same as anyone. More than enough to feel betrayal and rage at what was happening right now.

Of course... there was no way to explain to him the concept of "the Tower."

"You, you... you...!"

"What is the meaning of this?"

The dark mage, still ignoring the Captain completely, asked me what I thought I was doing.

"You said you enslaved these people to offer their souls to a demon."

"..."

"You knew too, didn't you. That they were people."

"So what?"

"Honestly... to me, you and these warriors are all dead already. Your true selves are gone. What's left are beings bound to the Tower, living out repeating lives. Isn't that exactly why you think it's meaningless? Because it's already over."

"..."

"But then... don't these people... deserve better than that? People you sacrificed unilaterally. Shouldn't we at least check whether their sacrifice actually meant something?"

My mistake was my own mistake. This, though, was entirely the dark mage's fault. It was also the logic I needed to persuade him.

In the memories I'd seen, the dark mage had craved recognition from others. That meant some trace of humanity still remained in him. If he'd been a complete cold-blooded monster, he wouldn't even be listening to me right now.

Borrow the strength of a powerful ally to take down the Ice Dragon. Find out whether the deaths of the dark mage and his warriors had meant anything. That was the whole plan I'd designed.

"..."

He listened to my words, eyes closed, thinking in silence for a long while. Then at last, the dark mage looked at the Captain.

"What do you think?"

"...What?"

"You were born to be used by me. You were used. And right now, you're being used as a fixture of the Tower. Your entire life has been a life of being used by others."

"..."

"And now, after everything's already over, someone shows up out of nowhere and says he wants to find out whether your life meant anything. Do you want that?"

The Captain's face still hadn't lost its fury. He roared.

"You idiot!"

"...Are you calling me..."

"You're an idiot! A stupid, brainless idiot!"

The Captain clenched his fists and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"If you did something like that, shouldn't an apology come first! Where do you get off looking for meaning like it's something to be proud of!"

"That's just the kind of man I am."

"No one's just 'that kind of man'! Didn't your parents teach you anything!"

"No."

"..."

The Captain fell silent for a moment. Then he quickly gathered himself and glared back at the dark mage.

"I don't care about the Ice Dragon or whatever. I don't really understand the Tower either. There's only one thing I care about."

Snap. He pointed straight at the dark mage's throat.

"Whether we could've killed you. And whether your plan would've failed."

"You're all pathetically weak, and even weakened as I am, I'm not about to die to the likes of you."

"You don't know that!"

The Captain shouted again.

"And even if we fail to kill you... if your plan falls apart, that's enough."

"..."

"Go kill that Ice Dragon. And go check what's outside that ward. Those fifteen hundred years you endured. That long, endless stretch of time you spent using our clan. Let's find out if any of it meant something."

The dark mage pressed his fingers to his brow. On the ground, the demon's grip twitched briefly, then vanished again.

"...Fine."

The dark mage rose to his feet.

"Let's find out. Whether it meant something."

Complicated emotion swirled in his eyes.

"Good."

Now all that was left was to kill the Ice Dragon.

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