WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 296

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The regressor fights (15)

I had regressed, but the new cycle unfolded exactly like the last one.

"I can help you climb the rankings."

"Didn't you say you couldn't intervene?"

"This isn't intervention."

I heard the details from Jake, the angel. He adjusted the Colosseum's system in my favor and pushed my ranking up. Humans are creatures of learning, so this time went faster than before.

With full backing from an angel who might as well have been the Tower's administrator, my ranking climbed exponentially. 50,000th. 3,000th. 100th.

"Hey, could you help my companion too? Her name's Choi Ji-won. I think she should move up in rank as well."

"Ah, yes. I'll help her."

He took care of Ji-won along the way, and eventually my rank hit 52nd. Around the time Ji-won's rank reached 98th...

Jake the angel tapped my device, brimming with excitement.

"Just 51 more spots and you're there! Climb 51 more steps and you'll qualify to obtain an Elixir!"

"Oh."

"What a relief! Truly, what a relief! With this..."

"By the way, angel-nim."

"Yes?"

"I'm exhausted... could I take a short break?"

Jake's expression froze for a moment before returning to a bright smile. He seemed to remember that I'd been fighting nonstop without rest.

"Ah, yes! Of course! Time is tight, but proper rest always matters! If you're going to rest, how long were you thinking?"

He said take it easy, but he couldn't hide how badly he wanted me back as fast as possible. Pure excitement leaked through that thuggish getup and hairstyle of his.

I felt a little sorry for Jake here, but I was planning on a long rest.

"About..."

"About?"

"About one cycle?"

"What?"

"See you next time."

For reference, this floor's clear condition wasn't to defeat the Heavenly Demon or take first place. It was to break into the top 100.

-You have cleared Floor 28.

After returning to reality, we moved to Ji-won's place and collapsed straight onto the bed. I felt bad for the angel, but there was no answer waiting for us this way.

"Let's sort through what we've got."

Like I said, humans are creatures of learning. I hadn't just been sitting around after reaching first place and getting the Elixir. I'd spent the money and influence I'd built up gathering as much information as I could.

Here's what I concluded.

First. The Archangel was absent. Not just absent, gone completely off the grid.

After getting the Elixir, I watched Jake the angel's reactions very carefully. He seemed to believe, without a shred of doubt, that the Archangel would return.

Jake wasn't quite what you'd call a high-ranking angel, but he handled real operational work, somewhere around the assistant manager level if you compared it to a company. He wasn't some clueless idiot who didn't know what was going on.

"Just wait a little longer!"

He never explained the details, but this implied it had happened a few times before. The Archangel occasionally stepped away, and when something truly urgent came up, this was the signal used to bring the Archangel back. If this had been the first attempt ever, Jake would have looked anxious too.

"You said they were coming."

"Uh, uh..."

But the Archangel never came. The angel's trump card didn't work. Jake's expression grew darker by the day, until at some point, he vanished entirely. I don't know if he fled or got disciplined. Either way, by the time the Heavenly Demon appeared, Jake the angel was simply gone.

It's not like I didn't want the Archangel's help. I'm not stubborn enough to take the long way around when there's an easy, fast, convenient solution sitting right there. But with the Archangel gone, what was I supposed to do? The subordinate angel who knew the Archangel best had already tried and failed. Trying other methods would be pointless. I had to think without counting on the Archangel at all.

"And if the Archangel's gone..."

"...we're the ones who have to stop the Heavenly Demon."

The Empress and Michael Zetter, presumed to be humanity's strongest, had already cleared Floor 28 long ago. Kang Chan, the next most likely candidate, was climbing up slowly. That left Choi Ji-won and me to handle the Heavenly Demon.

Second. The Heavenly Demon.

While my money and influence had been watching the Colosseum as a whole, my own eyes and ears had stayed fixed entirely on the Heavenly Demon, Guntar. I replayed his match footage over and over, trying to grasp his fighting style as thoroughly as I could.

Thanks to that, I'd learned a few things. First, the Heavenly Demon truly never used the same martial art twice in a fight. I don't know if it was simple showmanship or if some other condition applied, but he switched techniques every single time.

Sometimes a spear. Sometimes a sword. Sometimes an axe. Sometimes a whip. Sometimes a dagger. Sometimes, sometimes... he used such a wide variety of weapons that listing them all felt pointless, and just as wide a variety of techniques.

That wasn't all. The Heavenly Demon grew stronger the more he fought. This wasn't some figure of speech people throw around casually. This guy visibly, measurably got stronger.

"When we first fought, he was just 'fast.' By the end, he'd gotten to the point where you couldn't even see him properly."

Did he have some kind of status window leveling him up? Every time he took someone down, his body grew stronger and his techniques grew sharper. That growth curve got steeper and steeper as time passed, and by the three-month mark, it had blown straight through the sky.

"There was a reason I didn't even consider fighting him."

Past three months, the Heavenly Demon wasn't someone you fought. I'd gone up against a giant dragon before, but I felt like a fully awakened Heavenly Demon was simply beyond me. The feeling that you couldn't even close the distance. The feeling of standing before some colossal monster. The feeling that just looking at him might get you killed.

It was similar, in a way, to Kang Chan. The difference was that where Kang Chan radiated a terrifying killing intent, the Heavenly Demon actually radiated mana.

That's right, the Heavenly Demon constantly gave off mana, and packed inside it was killing intent given physical form. Whether that was some Heavenly Demon Sovereign's Gaze or a Domain Expansion or whatever else, I didn't know. But unless you had mana wrapped around your entire body, stepping into that range issued you a one-way ticket straight back into regression.

"I might have a lot of Mana, but... I can't keep my whole body wrapped in it and fight for long."

I couldn't fight someone stronger than me while carrying a penalty like "one hit and you regress." So the option of bulking up with the angels' help and then fighting the three-months-later Heavenly Demon was off the table too.

But what am I? A regressor.

"It takes the Heavenly Demon some time before he really gets going."

He doesn't start raising hell the second I enter the Tower. The newly implanted personality resists for a while, which buys a bit of grace period.

"We fight in that window."

The point when the Heavenly Demon hasn't fought anyone except the Empress. The point before he's grown stronger. The weakest possible point. That's the window to target.

"But how? Didn't you say he doesn't even let anyone get close?"

"For closing the distance itself, I think we can use the angel."

Jake wants to call the Archangel, sure, but if we convince him that we can take down the Heavenly Demon ourselves, I don't think it's impossible. His only real goal, after all, is "make the Heavenly Demon go away." Calling the Archangel is just the method with the highest odds of success.

So if we just manage to beat the Heavenly Demon, everything's fine.

"It's just... the Heavenly Demon uses way too many different techniques."

The Heavenly Demon. Absolutely not an opponent to underestimate. From what I'd observed alone, he used no fewer than twenty-seven distinct techniques, every one of them mastered and every one carrying real destructive power.

"I'll take the first fight."

Choi Ji-won stepped up here.

"I haven't seen every single 'technique' the Heavenly Demon has just from moving around out there, but I know at least half of them. You can fill me in on the rest. And more importantly, I don't regress even if I get hurt."

"That's... true."

Ji-won's current combat strength was stronger than mine, and she carried no regression penalty. If I had to name whoever had the better odds of winning, it was without question Choi Ji-won.

"Start telling me now. Everything about the Heavenly Demon's characteristics."

"...I'll do my best."

From that day on, we started studying the Heavenly Demon's techniques. Some things I had to physically demonstrate myself, and we debated countermeasures day and night.

This was the first time Ji-won and I had ever discussed 'martial arts' this deeply, and it hit me all over again just how high a level she stood at. My own understanding of martial arts climbed steeply through the process of debating it with her.

Right around when the preparations were finally wrapping up...

"Jun-ho."

"Hm?"

"Shouldn't we get around to keeping the memory intact?"

"Ah. Right. I'm always ready."

"Hmm."

Choi Ji-won made a strange little humming sound and vanished into the other room.

"Ji-won?"

Through the crack in the door came the rustle of cloth.

"Hey."

"..."

"Do you actually like this kind of thing?"

Choi Ji-won came back wearing cat ears.

"You're such a pervert, you know that?"

"..."

"It's only because it's you. Ugh, never mind. Come here."

The countermeasures against the Heavenly Demon were ready. We'd rested enough. That was everything I could do.

"I'm regressing now."

"Okay."

Choi Ji-won versus the Heavenly Demon.

Whoever won, it would be a fight for the history books.

Please, let Choi Ji-won come out on top.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 28.]

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