WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 305

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The regressor fights (24)

Pitch-black mana burst from Heavenly Demon's body. Sensing the danger, I reflexively released my own mana, but deep down, I'd already accepted the regression. There was no fighting Heavenly Demon's mana. That was a kind of power I couldn't beat.

"...Huh?"

But my body was still fine. My mana was losing ground against Heavenly Demon's, but it was holding up remarkably well. Why?

Weak. Heavenly Demon's mana was far weaker than the mana I remembered. Three months in, Heavenly Demon's mana had been destruction given form, an aura that drained life just by touching it and forced you to your knees on instinct. Now, it fell well short of that.

But when he'd subdued Choi Ji-won with his mana, it felt way stronger than this. Why?

"Ah."

Short. The fight itself had been much shorter, and Heavenly Demon had only had about half the time to grow. He clearly hadn't wanted to use his full strength either, which meant there had to be a reason behind it.

In other words, Heavenly Demon had pushed himself hard, dangerously hard, just to try to kill me right now. This was a situation where he wasn't supposed to use mana at all, and he'd forced it open anyway.

"..."

"..."

The fact that Heavenly Demon didn't retreat even after seeing my mana was also good news. Back when he wasn't using mana, he'd read the nature of my mana and immediately put distance between us. Now, though, he could use mana too, so his calculation was probably that he could just smash through me head-on. Looked at that way, the initiative in this fight belonged to Heavenly Demon. He just didn't know it himself.

"You're going to kill me?"

Let me sum up my advantages. I could use mana, and my swordsmanship had improved tremendously.

My disadvantage was that Heavenly Demon had also released his mana, and he'd started using his fists. He was probably more used to fighting with his fists in the first place.

"Come on, then."

So it was obvious that this state was close to Heavenly Demon's full strength.

Let's see. Let's see just how strong Heavenly Demon's full strength really was.

The Colosseum's waiting room. All sorts of species were killing time in all sorts of ways. Some were tense. Some chatted at ease. Some just lay there, sprawled out and blank.

This was the largest Colosseum in the universe. Every species imaginable gathered here, and every culture bled together in the same space. With cultures from across the entire universe layered on top of cutting-edge technology, this place had become somewhere nothing seemed too strange to happen.

Someone lying naked out of nowhere, someone mating right in the middle of a hallway, someone singing and dancing for no reason at all. "Largest in the universe" conjured up sights beyond what you could even imagine.

Fwoosh.

In a place like this, someone suddenly appearing out of thin air wasn't anything special. People teleporting into the waiting room through the transport devices was a fairly common sight.

"Cough...! Kkk..."

But a human who'd just teleported in, suddenly bolting upright and coughing dryly over and over, that wasn't a common sight. Patting frantically at his own chest, looking around like he couldn't believe it, letting out a sigh of relief. It looked like something out of a stage play.

"Mental case."

"I hear humans have chips implanted in their brains that give them drug-induced hallucinations. Probably an addict."

"Tsk, tsk..."

Whether or not the shaggy beastmen clicked their tongues at the sight, the human who'd just arrived was too preoccupied checking his own condition, opening and closing his hands over and over. Yeah, no point hiding it. It was me. I'd just regressed.

"What the hell was that..."

Heavenly Demon's straight punch had torn through my chest and burst my heart. I never expected to hear the sound of a human heart bursting, and I definitely never expected it to be mine.

The Heavenly Demon who fought with his fists couldn't simply be described as "strong." It was... incomprehensible. I'd clearly cut him, yet he wasn't cut. I'd clearly dodged, yet I hadn't dodged anything. It felt like he could see into the future, exactly where I'd move next, like every thought in my head sat open on his palm.

What the hell was that. What was I even supposed to do. An enemy like that shows up on Floor 28? Sure, they called it a mistake, but was I supposed to just accept that? Those useless angel bastards. Was it fine to handle things this sloppily? You guys get fired and that's it, but the rest of us end up dead.

"...Calm down."

Right, I was the one who'd die, not the angels. Whining wouldn't get me anywhere. I steadied my breathing and stroked the fur of one of the beastmen watching me, over and over. When the beastman tried to resist, I froze it with chill and kept petting. Touching something soft made my mind settle a little. Calm down. Get my thoughts in order.

I'd pushed Heavenly Demon plenty hard. I'd broken through most of the martial arts he used. In the process I'd grown enormously, and gained real confidence in myself. It had been hard, but it had felt worthwhile. It was the kind of situation anyone would look at and say, "You did well." I'd been proud of myself too.

But once Heavenly Demon showed his true strength, he stomped me flat, right in front of me. He knocked my sword aside and crushed my heart in his grip. I'd been climbing those stairs with everything I had, but Heavenly Demon had already been looking down at me from the summit the whole time.

A genius uses the same amount of time differently. I'd thought I caught up to ten minutes of a genius's time by pouring in six hours of my own. But Heavenly Demon had already poured decades, maybe centuries, into martial arts. If catching up to a genius's time meant I had to pour in several times more hours myself, then how much time would I have to invest to overcome a Heavenly Demon who had already put in that much effort? What kind of sacrifice would it take to beat someone who'd already spent hundreds of years at it?

"Haah..."

Worst-case scenario. It was confirmed now: Heavenly Demon really had been hiding his strength, and he could unleash it if he pushed himself hard enough. If this were a game, this would be the point where you'd call the admin, except the admin was currently absent.

Just how strong was the Empress, to have gone toe to toe with Heavenly Demon like that? Or maybe not, maybe she hadn't fully recovered her strength back then either. Should I be resenting myself for not finishing off the Empress when I had the chance?

There was still the option of talking to Heavenly Demon and trying to pry information out of him, but right now I just didn't want to move. I'd been beaten so shockingly hard that I think I'd lost my will to act. Burned out, maybe.

The drone led me back to the arena, and I didn't say a word until I met up with Choi Ji-won again. We managed to wrap up the first match somehow, then decided to return to reality and take a break. I needed time to recover.

"Heavenly Demon can go all out...?"

Choi Ji-won asked, eating fried chicken.

"Not quite all out. Maybe ten percent of his full strength, based on how it felt."

"Hmmmm..."

We'd both seen Heavenly Demon three months in, so we knew roughly how strong he could get. The Heavenly Demon with his seal broken was massively weaker than the one three months out, but he still wasn't an enemy I could take down.

"Even chill doesn't work on him, he resists it with mana. His physical stats seem similar to mine, but his mana-based martial arts are ridiculously tricky."

"Yeah... that fist of his was definitely off, somehow."

Thanks to my achievement level, my mana pool ranked among the very top of all players. Since the Tower didn't encourage sidepaths like bows or magic, most players by default poured their stats into physical ability, and naturally their mana stayed relatively low. That was why I, with the highest achievement level granting stats across the board, had the most mana of anyone.

"Heavenly Demon... had even more than me."

Heavenly Demon's mana pool was bigger than mine. Twice, maybe three times as much. And it wasn't just quantity, the quality was superior too, so I got outmatched in a direct clash.

Was his technique lacking, then? No, not that either. His fists were... beyond comprehension. I couldn't understand them. A punch thrown out seemed to bend mid-flight at some point, and each step he took felt like he was folding space itself to close distance.

Heavenly Demon. There was no other way to describe it. Even weakened, he reigned. Because that was what Heavenly Demon was.

"Of course, the power Heavenly Demon puts out doesn't seem risk-free. In fact, he doesn't pull out his hidden strength until he's pushed to the very last resort."

Heavenly Demon must have made some resolve of his own. He must have accepted some degree of cost.

But what did any of that matter when I could just regress right now? A protagonist's temporary doping has a certain thrill that makes your chest swell, but when the enemy gets to use it, there's no power more unfair than that. Shortened lifespan, a body breaking down, Vitality failing, so what? I was the one about to die right now. How many people in the modern world would gladly trade lifespan and Vitality for strength if they could get it? Calling that a penalty was a joke, and it just made me more irritated.

"Should I... negotiate?"

Beating Heavenly Demon might be possible. But at that point, I might genuinely have to brace myself for regressions counted not in years, but in decades, maybe centuries. Even this much repeated regression already left a person exhausted and worn down. Doing it for decades might actually break me for real. (Fun and grueling are two different things.)

So if there was some way to stop Heavenly Demon without beating him outright, some way to buy time until the Archangel arrived, wasn't that something I should seriously consider? Right around when that thought crossed my mind...

"Jun-ho-ya."

Choi Ji-won, who'd been resting her chin on her hand in thought, suddenly spoke up. Bung-bung, sitting on the table, gave a sly little vibration.

"Bung-bung just gave me an idea, actually... but it's kind of a weird thing to say."

"Hm?"

Normally, when Choi Ji-won had something to say, she just came out and said it. She never hesitated like this. This was practically the first time Bung-bung had ever offered up an opinion. What in the world was that sword about to say, to make her hesitate like this?

"Tell me if it sounds off. If you really think you can't beat Heavenly Demon..."

"Then?"

And Bung-bung's plan was.

"What if we... plant a memory in Heavenly Demon?"

"You mean have him regress with me?"

"Yeah."

It was the most shocking plan I'd heard yet.

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