WeTried Translations
Translator: ZEROSUGAR
Editor: Abstract
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◈ Regression is Too Much
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Chapter 300
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The regressor fights (19)
"There are plenty of reasons you have to be the one to fight this, Jun-ho."
Choi Ji-won gently covered my hand with hers.
"Chill has good synergy against him, that's one reason. Me regressing too much isn't good either, that's another. And there's also your own growth to think about."
"Hmm..."
Thinking it through carefully, and factoring in the future, it made sense for me to be the one to take down the Heavenly Demon here. I had no choice but to agree with that.
"Right?"
"...Right."
"Then it's settled. Okay, there are three things we need to confirm."
Choi Ji-won expanded the device on her wrist into something like a chalkboard and started scrawling on it.
"First. Why does the Heavenly Demon use so many different weapons? Is there some kind of restriction behind it?"
The reason the Heavenly Demon used a variety of weapons.
"Second. There's power sleeping inside the Heavenly Demon's body. Is he choosing not to use it? Or is he unable to?"
The reason the Heavenly Demon was hiding his power.
"Third. Whether chill actually works on the Heavenly Demon. And if it does, how much."
Whether my mana would even land on him at all. The information we needed to gather from here on out was laid out clearly, point by point.
I looked it over from every angle and couldn't find a single flaw. I found myself nodding without meaning to.
"You're really smart..."
"Fighting well takes brains too. When physical stuff gets pushed to the extreme, the smarter side wins. On top of the mental game, you can use the rules to your advantage."
Choi Ji-won argued there was a common bias that athletes must be dumb, but that came from not digging into academics, and their natural intelligence was often excellent. Honestly, that made sense to me too. I felt like I'd read an article somewhere saying guys who were only strong but dumb got figured out fast and never lasted long.
Thinking that someone who used her body well could also use her head that well made me a little jealous, but then remembering that person was my girlfriend filled me with a certain pride too... anyway, enough of the sappy thoughts.
"The third one we can just test directly. But how are you planning to handle the first and second? Do you have a plan?"
"Yeah. I do."
Whether the Heavenly Demon "had to" use a variety of weapons, and whether he was choosing "not to" use his power or simply "couldn't," weren't things you could confirm intuitively. It wasn't like he'd just answer if we asked. We had to figure it out indirectly.
"The first one's easy. You just show him an obvious weakness."
"A weakness?"
"The Heavenly Demon's going to use a sword again this time, right? Watch how he changes his swordsmanship. Then watch how he changes weapons. Expose a big weakness on purpose. You can tell from whether he reacts."
"Ohh..."
"The problem's the second one. I won't know that until I'm right on the edge of beating the Heavenly Demon myself... and right now that doesn't look easy."
If the Heavenly Demon really "couldn't" use his power, Choi Ji-won would win eventually regardless. But if he was choosing "not to," he probably wouldn't use it unless things got desperate. There had to be a reason he was hiding it, and to make him abandon that reason for the sake of the fight in front of him, she'd have to corner him hard.
But to drive him into that kind of corner, she'd basically have to beat the Heavenly Demon while his power was still hidden. What kind of miracle plan did Choi Ji-won even have for that?
"I don't have one."
"...Huh?"
"That one's on you to figure out, Jun-ho."
Ah. So I was the one who had to find it.
"I'll find out the secret behind the weapons the Heavenly Demon uses this time."
Choi Ji-won smiled softly.
"For now, let's hold on to our memories."
"...Sounds good."
[You have taken damage.]
[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 28.]
This time too, Choi Ji-won fought brilliantly. She nearly pushed the Heavenly Demon to the brink. (At least, that's how it looked to me.)
But she still failed to draw out his hidden power, and the instant the Heavenly Demon used mana, I regressed. Back to the small room from before.
Still, we'd gained information now. The Heavenly Demon's core secret...
"Ugh..."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't get it..."
She hadn't figured it out.
"For now, I know his different martial arts don't mix. He can't blend techniques from different styles together. Even when I exposed a weakness, he showed no sign of exploiting it. If anything, he looked interested that I'd aimed at his own opening."
"Why, do you think? Because he stole them?"
"That... I still don't know. But what I really don't get is why he's so obsessed with using so many different weapons."
Why did the Heavenly Demon use so many weapons. Why did he have to use such a wide variety of them.
"I'll try again."
"Okay."
She tried again, fought hard.
"I just can't get a read on it..."
Fought again, lost again.
"What is this?"
Again. Again. Again.
By the time enough cycles had piled up, Choi Ji-won, who'd been slumped over the table with her head in her hands, suddenly shot upright.
"Jun-ho. Listen."
"Hm?"
"What if the Heavenly Demon can't use the same martial art twice?"
"..."
I paused and traced back through my memory of what she'd said. It was true. The Heavenly Demon had never used the same martial art twice within a single cycle. It hadn't stood out when we weren't fighting him directly, since he cut down every human he met in one blow. And when he fought Choi Ji-won, she'd always lost before we saw the full picture. But within a single cycle, the Heavenly Demon had never repeated a technique.
"Hmm..."
If that was true, two possibilities came to mind right away. First, a cooldown. Second, permanent loss.
Either there was some restriction that kept him from using a technique again for a certain period, or he lost the ability to use it forever. Either way, it didn't matter much, since we had to settle things with the Heavenly Demon within a short window regardless.
Was using a technique itself the trigger for him growing stronger? Or was it just an unavoidable constraint? I didn't know.
"Waiting for the Heavenly Demon to burn through all his techniques... probably won't help. He'll just keep getting stronger regardless."
There was no point trying to bait him into using more techniques either. He'd only grow stronger the more he fought, no matter what. What did it matter if he used up a technique, when his true body just kept getting stronger underneath it all?
"Is it really pointless, though?"
"Hm?"
"This is just a theory, but."
Choi Ji-won looked me straight in the eye.
"Jun-ho, if you get used to every single one of the Heavenly Demon's techniques..."
"..."
"Wouldn't the Heavenly Demon... run out of techniques to use?"
Several more regressions followed after that. Data piled up, and eventually it became almost certain that the Heavenly Demon "couldn't reuse a technique once he'd used it." Of course, "learning every single one of the Heavenly Demon's techniques" was still absurd to even consider. That was truly a last resort.
"I can't push any further. I don't think there's anything left to figure out."
"You think there's no way to beat him at all?"
"Seems tough. I don't... have a finishing blow. Something to put that guy down for good."
"Ngh..."
It was disappointing, but I couldn't blame Choi Ji-won for it. At this point, she'd done everything she possibly could. She'd given it her all and handed me more than enough information to work with.
Now there was only one thing left to test.
Whether my chill actually worked on him.
"Whew."
I let out a tense breath.
Guntar. Or the Heavenly Demon.
The worst enemy I'd ever faced stood right there. Weapons of every kind scattered across the floor around him, he loosened his body and stared at me without expression.
Standing face to face with him, I understood things whether I wanted to or not. I could feel it. His killing intent. It pulsed. His vitality.
The Heavenly Demon was strong enough that it was hard to believe he was even holding power back. And it wasn't just his physical strength. His soul itself was different.
We call someone who's mastered a single field a craftsman. Someone who devotes their whole life to one field, a master. And among those, the especially brilliant and famous ones, we call a grandmaster. If that was the standard, then the Heavenly Demon standing there deserved to be called a grandmaster of combat. No, to put it more bluntly, a grandmaster of killing.
The small step of his left foot. The right hand hanging loose at his side. The left hand gripping the sword lightly. The subtle bend in his waist. Every part of it was a calculated move meant to kill me. A preparation stage meant to finish off a human being like me. The depth of it was on another level entirely.
From here on, I had to get used to his techniques. Setting aside whether chill worked on him or not, I had to become able to respond to him at all. That was the only path to victory.
It wouldn't be easy. But I would pull it off. I would win. Because there was no one else who could do it if not me. Because if I lost, humanity might never be able to clear Floor 28 at all. Because that Heavenly Demon was just a bastard, plain and simple. Because once I overcame this trial, I'd come out the other side monstrously strong.
There were plenty of reasons, but none of that mattered. I'd already made up my mind. So I would pull it off.
"Here I go."
Right before I took my first step.
"Ha."
The Heavenly Demon laughed.
"You really are a strange human."
I laughed too. I couldn't cry, so laughing was all I had left.
Kaaaaang!!!
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