WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 273

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The regressor proves himself (13)

Research into 'traits' was an active field being pursued all over the world, even now. Here's an excerpt, for instance, from a report by a military contractor in Costa Rico. (It leaked later.)

"Your trait is 'the ability to make weapons sharper,' correct?"

"Yes. If you look here, like this..."

"We've confirmed the ability. What matters is where you've tested this trait so far."

"Uh... I tried it on a kitchen knife. Last time I borrowed a real sword and tried it once."

"What about a tree branch?"

"Excuse me?"

"Does this trait add sharpness? Or does it amplify sharpness that's already there? Let's run a test, starting from a completely blunt branch all the way up to a finely honed masterwork blade."

"Y-yes sir!"

Research at this corporate scale was active, but individual-level research was no less intense. Plenty of people studied traits to climb the Tower faster, to grow stronger. But even more studied them out of pure curiosity. After all, 'player' was one of the hottest topics on YouTube right now.

"All right, today's experiment! If we use the 'Communication' trait, can we make migratory birds fly in a heart shape?!"

"Next up in the news. A cancer patient in Peru has reportedly made a full recovery thanks to a 'Self-Healing' trait."

"Research is currently underway into agriculture using player traits..."

"Educating smoking delinquents using the Illusion trait! Let's try it right now!"

Whatever the intentions behind it, people's understanding of 'traits' had genuinely deepened. And of course, having lived through the future myself, my own understanding of the field was that much deeper too.

So what was I trying to say?

I wanted to point out that traits enhancing ability generally fell into two broad categories. Some traits 'added' new power. Others 'reinforced' something that already existed.

Traits that add grant a fixed amount of power. Something like a dying old man suddenly regaining his vigor falls into this category.

Reinforcing traits, on the other hand, amplify existing performance. A heavy object gets heavier. A sharp object gets sharper. But they can't add a function that wasn't there to begin with. A tree branch doesn't turn into a keen weapon.

Stop rambling, you say?

...Fine. This is an excuse.

I'd never tested the effects of the Hero trait separately, but it clearly belonged to the 'reinforcement' category. Every time the number of people I protected increased, it doubled my current physical abilities. And the magnitude of that increase grew larger the stronger my base strength became. In gaming terms, it was a multiplicative operation.

I wanted to say it was only natural that I hadn't adapted to my own power yet, and that I'd made one very small mistake because of it.

"Jun-ho?"

"Uh, yeah."

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

Honestly, it was embarrassing. Painfully embarrassing.

I'd been in the middle of some weighty, philosophical musing about the dark mage's success and failure, about the warriors' reason for living, and then I went and slammed my head into the thing... it felt like my dignity had taken a hit. I supposed I should be grateful Choi Ji-won's memories didn't carry over. I was the only one who remembered it. If I just forgot too, it could count as never having happened.

But then, did that mean a man nobody remembers might as well not exist at all? Now that was a fairly philosophical topic.

"Jun-ho!"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry."

The massive Ice Dragon's gaze turned toward me. How many times had I faced that huge body now?

Maybe it was because I wasn't some genius. Or maybe it was because my physical growth had recently stalled. Either way, adjusting to my changed body wasn't easy. Really wasn't easy. Just when I thought I'd gotten the hang of it, a mistake would slip out of nowhere.

Kachaaang!!!

"Argh, my wrist..."

I'd tighten my grip on the sword a beat too late, and my wrist bone would snap.

"Kuh, kohk..."

"Jun-ho?!"

"My heart..."

I'd lose my grip while channeling my strengthened mana, and the chill would stop my heart cold.

"Dodge!"

"I know! I'll dodge upward!"

"J-Jun-ho?"

Shwaaaak!

"...Ah?"

I'd jump too high trying to avoid a tail sweep along the ground, and end up taking a full claw strike before I even landed.

The blunders kept repeating, each one more absurd than the last, but people are creatures of adaptation, and I was, after all, some kind of person too.

"Jun-ho, left..."

Fwiik!

"Hup!"

"N-nice."

Eventually I reached the point where I could land a hit on my own, without Ji-won having to call it out first.

This dragon had no intelligence. It was like some giant, programmed game boss. Meaning its reactions were identical every single time.

Approach the head, it tries to bite. Approach from the side, it swings an arm or whips its tail. Climb onto its back, it rolls over in place.

An intelligent creature thinks. It plays mind games, forces the opponent into a corner, or reads the enemy's intent and turns it back on them. You know how fiction sometimes says, "this is nothing but an oversized scarecrow"? That dragon was exactly that.

Of course, for a scarecrow, it was extremely, extremely huge, fast, powerful, and tough. But predictable movement still meant we could respond to it.

"Right armpit! Got it!"

"Left too!"

My 'chill' couldn't affect the dragon much. Just as I was less affected by the dragon's power since I wielded the same kind of force, the dragon was less affected by mine. Still, that was fine. Even setting aside the cold property of the mana, its raw destructive force alone was more than enough to deal with the thing.

"Now!"

"----!!!"

A green fireball dropped from the sky. It was the dark mage's attack, but the dragon sensed it instantly and rolled across the ground to dodge.

"Ji-won!"

"Yeah!"

And we'd already predicted that movement. Well, not predicted exactly, we'd already lived through this exact situation, but in this current cycle it counted as prediction all the same. Choi Ji-won and I had already moved to the spot where it would roll, since its body was so massive and the mountain so cramped in comparison that its movement options were limited.

"...!"

I sprinted forward with everything I had, like I was pouring out overflowing strength. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and my vision narrowed, focusing entirely on the destination.

The dragon hadn't yet recovered from the aftershock of its roll. Rolling that huge body was threatening in itself, but it demanded no small amount of strength. It wasn't a move to spam carelessly. Of course, without reason, the beast had no way of knowing that.

The eye was the target. From the previous cycle's experience, I'd learned that cutting through those hard scales required a massive technique. Ordinary attacks wouldn't even leave a scratch. Which meant only Ji-won's and the dark mage's attacks, built up over a long time, could actually kill it.

But would the dragon just take that attack head-on? It would dodge or intercept. That was exactly why the eye mattered. This strike was meant to strip away its means of resisting in advance, to take away its sight.

"----!!!"

We charged straight at its face. The Ice Dragon stared at us and opened its jaws wide. A terrifying roar tore out of its mouth, but I'd braced with mana beforehand, so I avoided being stunned. I steadied my rattled mind and kept charging.

"----!!!!!!"

The Ice Dragon's eyes went wide. It looked badly rattled, but it hadn't given up either.

Its mouth was already open. It thrust its head forward as it was, trying to swallow me whole. Its limbs couldn't move from the aftershock of the roll. Its wings had been in bad shape from the start. This counted as its last desperate struggle. The problem was, there was no way to dodge it.

"Go!"

Right, that is, if Choi Ji-won hadn't been there.

Choi Ji-won, wrapped in blue lightning, leapt up and cut the Ice Dragon's lower jaw, slamming it shut. Thanks to her, instead of landing between razor teeth, I touched down on the bridge of the dragon's nose.

"Sorry about this."

I poured my boiling mana entirely into the tip of my sword and cut through the massive reptile's eye.

"...!!!"

And the moment I cut it, I felt it. Something was wrong.

Was it because the strange fluid spurting from the eye disgusted me? Some psychological discomfort at harming a creature that couldn't fight back? No. It wasn't that.

"...."

The dragon howled. Not the overbearing roar from before, nor some incomprehensible, terrifying voice. It... wailed mournfully. It sounded almost like a heartbroken woman sobbing, or maybe like a small child bawling its eyes out.

White smoke leaked from its snout. The sky turned white. No, not turned white. It was freezing over.

"...Ah."

Only then did I understand why people had wanted to 'seal' the dragon.

The dragon's heart exploded. Space froze solid. The whole world did.

That was the end of it.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 27.]

"Now I get it."

I'd just felt it firsthand. Fighting to win wasn't an option. We couldn't win, period.

However we managed to win, whatever massive energy lay sleeping inside that body would come pouring out all at once. Even if I somehow survived through sheer dumb luck, every other living thing, Ji-won included, would end up frozen solid without exception.

We... couldn't kill the dragon. I couldn't let Choi Ji-won die just so I could grab a reward for myself.

"Ji-won."

"Yeah?"

"Did you bring the elixir?"

But there was still one last option left.

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