WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 306

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The regressor fights (25)

The Heavenly Demon had proven himself the worst monster that had ever crawled onto Floor 28. His mana crushed every other mana it touched, and his fist could punch straight through a human heart. The problem was that I had to kill this thing.

In the middle of that mess, Bung-bung proposed something. That we regress together with the Heavenly Demon.

"You're not saying we should turn the Heavenly Demon into a companion or something, right?"

"Of course not."

"Are you trying to negotiate with him? Reveal that I'm a regressor, tell him he can't beat me... something like that?"

"Not that either."

"Hmm."

I already had a strong aversion to the idea of adding more regressors to the mix, so I wasn't thrilled. But I figured I'd hear her out first. Choi Ji-won must have thought there was some chance this could work, or she wouldn't have brought it up at all.

I folded my hands and settled into a listening posture. That seemed to give her some confidence, and she started talking.

"So basically, what Bung-bung means is, we should use regression actively."

"Actively?"

"Yeah. Push the information advantage even harder."

"..."

Information advantage. I already had plenty of that over the Heavenly Demon.

The martial arts he used. The fact that I regress. My mana. My regression trigger. His mana. All of it. Wasn't I already using it actively enough?

"Think about what regression actually is, at its core."

She kept explaining.

"I looked into regression a bit myself, you know? Some people say it's time turning back, some say it's jumping between world-lines, some say the whole world just resets. Turns out there are a lot of theories."

"...You actually did your research."

"Anyway, there's no way for us to know which theory is right. But in the end, isn't the core of regression really just 'memory'? Right?"

The status window carrying over was a difference too, but the heart of it really was memory. If only the status window regressed without the memory, you'd just get stuck in the same vicious cycle, like back on Floor 23 with that monster hunt.

"Bung-bung wants to try using that memory aggressively."

"You mean plant memories?"

"Exactly."

That was when I finally understood her plan. Bung-bung was suggesting we plant a false memory in the Heavenly Demon.

"If we don't get caught, I think it's actually a good plan. He doesn't know you're the one causing the regressions, and he doesn't know that regression triggers whenever he grazes you."

Say, for example, we planted a memory like, "Eating an orange brings disaster, then a regression." Every time the Heavenly Demon ate an orange, something bad would happen to him right afterward, followed by a regression. Would he believe in regression? He'd experience it firsthand, so how could he not? I'd already spent a long time on this floor, but for the Heavenly Demon, every cycle was still his first. Actually, for every living thing except me, life was always a first cycle. Noticing regression on your own was impossible unless you were archangel-tier.

So the Heavenly Demon would be thrown off by the sudden regressions. He wouldn't believe it, not for the first cycle or two. But if disaster kept striking every time he ate an orange, he'd eventually notice the pattern. He'd figure it out. That oranges were the problem. He was a genius, and he learned dozens, hundreds of times faster than anyone else.

His memories? The weakness of having figured out regression? All I had to do was kill him and move to the next floor. The choice was mine. Even if he held onto memories from the past, once he died, that was the end of it. No undoing that.

"But if he catches on... the risk is way too big."

That was the real problem. The risk if he ever figured out regression.

"This 'memory planting' Bung-bung's talking about won't work in one or two tries. We'll need trial and error. We'll have to regress over and over."

That repetition was the issue. The Heavenly Demon wasn't stupid. For a companion regression to happen, both of us needed to feel intense emotion at the same moment, and that was exactly the problem. Fine for the first cycle or two, but if a regression kept happening every single time he felt something intense toward me, someone as sharp as him would catch on eventually.

"To hide that, planting the memory would get harder in the opposite direction. If we're laying down a smokescreen, the information we actually want to plant gets diluted."

"...That's true, but."

"And if we go through all that and still can't kill him, that's a total disaster. There's no covering for it."

On top of that, the risk of failing to kill him was enormous. If the Heavenly Demon ever realized regression was happening because of me, he'd come straight for me to seal me away. That much was near certain.

"There are too many holes in this."

"...Yeah, there are."

Choi Ji-won nodded, convinced. It was still a plan full of gaps.

"But..."

"But?"

"Let's hear him out first, and think it over again after that."

Still, I felt like this could become one of our last resorts. If we packaged it well and refined it, it might actually help.

"Let's rest about a week. Then let's go make something like an alliance with him. We need to dig up information, don't we."

The Heavenly Demon had told me to stop. I wanted to hear what he had to say.

[You have taken damage.]

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

Pushing the Heavenly Demon into a corner had gotten easy. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say I had simply gotten used to it.

His combat style worked by reading his opponent's capabilities, then pulling out whichever martial art from his hand would work best. I had steeped in this for so long that I already knew exactly what he'd throw at me.

Regression was unfair like that. Even with a gap in raw ability, even with a gap in talent, it let me push him around anyway. What did it feel like for him, knowing everything about me while I knew nothing about him? I didn't know. Didn't want to know, either.

"I'll admit it. You're... a difficult opponent. My road ahead is long, so I'll make you a generous offer."

After about fifty exchanges, the Heavenly Demon acknowledged, again, that I was an opponent he couldn't beat without using his mana.

"I'll guarantee your safety and your companion's. Why don't we each go our separate ways for now?"

On the surface it looked generous, but given enough time, the Heavenly Demon could unleash his full strength. He was the one who needed time, in the end, and here he was offering me a deal that bought him exactly that. Was it cunning or clever? Maybe both.

Anyway, in the last cycle, I'd turned down this offer. And then I got to hear my own heart burst from his punch, in full 3D surround sound.

But this cycle was different. And I wasn't just going to accept the offer.

"How about we cooperate instead?"

"..."

"There's probably something I can help you with. And I bet there's something you can help me with too."

I intended to suck this cycle dry of information. I intended to expose every single thing he was hiding. That was why I was proposing not just a non-aggression pact, but outright cooperation.

Naturally, he didn't answer. He'd already caught fragments of my regression, which was why he kept muttering things like "strange" or "odd" every cycle.

A strange, odd bastard suddenly proposes cooperation? No way he'd just accept that.

So I decided to dangle a little more bait.

"I know part of your true identity."

"...True identity?"

"Heavenly Demon. Right?"

"...!"

He had never once called himself the Heavenly Demon. No one in this Colosseum knew his true body was the Heavenly Demon. I only knew because an angel had told me, so I brought it up without a second thought, but everyone else just believed Guntar had gone insane.

"...How did you know that."

"Tell me you'll ally with me, and I'll tell you."

"..."

This was the regressor's privilege. Bringing up information from the past that shouldn't be knowable in the present. Seizing the initiative through an information advantage. There was a reason people talked about regression, reincarnation, possession stories the way they did. Information only I knew could function like a cheat code, depending on how I used it.

But one thing was certain. This guy was in a pretty urgent situation himself. He was carrying some enormous restraints. Otherwise there'd be no reason for him to hoard his mana, no reason to hide his strength. I bet on the idea that the Heavenly Demon was cornered too, mentally.

"..."

Either way, he didn't move for a full three minutes after my proposal. He stood there, weapon still in hand, thinking it over the entire time.

How long had it been?

"There's a condition."

"What condition?"

"What do you think of angels?"

He asked with his arms crossed, his eyes glinting sharp. It reminded me, oddly, of the way Ji-won's gaze could see straight through something.

"Whether we ally or not depends on your answer."

"..."

Thank god. Really, thank god. I already knew the Heavenly Demon held some grudge against angels. And the lucky part was that I hated angels too. I hated that they'd let something like him loose. I hated that I was the one left to clean up after it. I hated that they were still just watching, even now.

"I hate them. No, I loathe them."

I meant it, with everything I had. The one exception was the placard angel, Anael. Beyond him, I'd never once felt anything positive toward an angel.

"Hm."

The Heavenly Demon seemed to sense my sincerity too. He slowly closed his eyes.

"Understood."

At once, the pressure that had been radiating faintly from his body vanished. He'd completely dropped his hostility toward me.

"Follow me."

He put his weapon away. A drone chattered something in the air, but he reached out and crushed it in his hand.

"We can be of use to each other, after all."

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