Regression is Too Much - Chapter 354

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 354

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Regression (2)

Regression. Not the half-formed kind I'd been living with, but regression in the true sense. If that was even possible, it would solve everything.

"If I start over from the very beginning, I'll be able to do better, because I'll know everything. I can fix things exactly the way I want them."

The way web novel protagonists desperately wish for regression in their final, most desperate moment, I wished for it too. I wished to go back to the start.

Well, that made sense. Who hasn't imagined regressing at least once, in a world like this? Who doesn't regret their present? If only I'd made a better choice, if only I'd gone a different direction, that's the kind of thrashing all humans do.

"...What are you going to do?"

The real question that mattered was method. How to regress. What I'd do after regressing mattered too, but the method of regression itself mattered just as much.

Honestly, the best-case scenario would be my ability evolving. I awaken the true meaning of my power, Regression, and regress using an evolved, higher-tier version of it. The protagonist unlocking a hidden power! Awakening! Victory!

"...if only."

I wasn't that kind of talent-blessed protagonist, as everyone already knew. I wasn't a man burning with passion, and I definitely wasn't the type who got stronger at the moment of crisis. I didn't even bother hoping for that.

What I was actually decent at, though... thinking. Planning. And trying.

"Was it Floor 17, or 18? Remember?"

"...Which floor was that again?"

"You know, the one where you had to awaken your mana."

"Ah."

Floor 17. A floor you could only clear by awakening your mana. Since I'd already awakened mine, I cleared it easily, but that floor had actually been one of the biggest crises I'd faced.

The moment you entered Floor 17, it delivered a mana-based shock to your body, structured to knock you unconscious the instant you stepped in. The purpose was to stimulate the dormant mana sleeping inside your body and force a faster awakening, but for someone like me who regresses the moment I take damage, it suggested a terrifying possibility: I could get trapped there forever. (Thankfully, having already awakened my mana, I avoided triggering a regression.)

At the time, I thought, "Might there be an enemy later on who interferes using mana?" and started training to resist the "mana shock" that hit the moment you entered Floor 17. Fortunately, I was already fairly used to mana, so I adapted quickly.

-The current judgment shows... climber-nim, you are still registered as not having entered Floor 17.

Surprisingly, Floor 17 determined "entry into the floor" based on whether you received that mana shock. Since I'd resisted the shock, the system judged that I'd never entered Floor 17 at all.

Of course, back then, I never thought to apply this to regression itself...

"It might work."

As strong as I'd become now. It might actually work. No, this was the only answer there was.

Not the limited kind of regression that sent me back to the moment I entered each floor, but a true regression, one that took me all the way back to the beginning. A regression back to the Tutorial. A regression that let me start everything over. If that kind of regression was possible, I could break through this crisis too. I could overcome it.

"I've got two methods in mind right now."

First. Recognizing the "judgment" that triggers regression, and resisting it.

Just as Floor 17 judged entry based on the mana signal, regression probably had something similar. Something that recorded the fact I'd entered a floor, and when I regressed, sent me back to that recorded point.

What if I could catch that signal? What if, the moment I entered a floor, I could resist that signal? What if I could twist the judgment into "has not entered Floor 29"?

Maybe... I could go back even further, back to Floor 28.

And if that didn't work? I had one more plan.

"At the same time."

Remember the "training to regain composure" I've always been doing? Every time I entered a floor, I trained myself to recover my senses as fast as possible in case of threats, and by now I'd reached a level where I could confidently say I recovered my wits far faster than an ordinary person.

If I grew that ability, and grew it more, developed it to its absolute limit.

"What if I took damage at the exact same instant I entered the Tower?"

Taking damage sends me back to the moment I entered each floor.

But what if the moment I took damage and the moment I entered the floor were completely identical? Nothing might happen at all... but maybe I'd wake up on the previous floor instead. Yes, that was plausible enough.

All of this was still just possibility, but if the me from "that world" had actually succeeded in regressing to the past, then this was the only way. This was the only answer there was. Which meant I had to succeed, no matter what. To set everything back the way it should be.

"Ji-won-ah, what do you think?"

"...There's a chance. I think it could work. It's a very you kind of plan."

Choi Ji-won listened to my whole plan and then nodded slowly.

"But it's not a plan without problems."

"..."

"The doppelgänger on Floor 5, sure, let's say it's friendly toward you, like you said. I don't know if it'll step aside for you again, but fine, let's assume it will. Since you said so."

Regressing meant starting everything over from the beginning. But it wasn't a completely clean slate. Because of my companion regression, anyone whose memories had been carried along would keep those memories. That was what regression meant. That was the difference from a world that had lost its connection to the World's Center.

But if memories were retained...

"What are you going to do about the Heavenly Demon? We fought so hard to take him down."

That meant the Heavenly Demon's memories would be retained too.

Choi Ji-won, as always. She went straight for the weak point in my plan without hesitation.

"The Heavenly Demon went through companion regression too. He'll have every memory intact. So what happens once we're back in the past?"

The Heavenly Demon, the one we'd defeated using companion regression. This was the biggest problem.

To start, he was a broken existence in every sense. Even without the "regress on taking damage" condition, he was strong enough that he couldn't be beaten down, and winning through a straight fight was impossible. Short of bringing in someone on the level of the Hero from Floor 29, going up against him was out of the question.

The problem was, in the most recent cycle, I'd provoked him more than I should have. I'd made him believe there would be a "next chance," then killed him, and he'd accepted death quietly, probably grinding his teeth in silence, planning to hunt me down later.

It didn't matter right now, since he was already dead. But what if I regressed again? What if the Heavenly Demon, with all his memories intact, woke up inside Guntar's body? Not only would he have plenty of time to prepare, but what if he also realized that Choi Ji-won and I hadn't even reached Floor 28 yet?

I didn't know. I had no idea what would happen. But one thing was certain: it would become an enormous variable. If he decided to come kill me, there'd be no answer for it. If he stayed quiet out of concern for a nonexistent archangel, that would just be luck. And if he ever tested it by killing someone and discovered "there is no angel overseeing regression, I was deceived"... that would be a disaster.

"Jun-ho, you've gotten a lot stronger through this whole 'process,' so maybe you could pull our bodies out of there. But what about everyone else? If the Heavenly Demon stays on Floor 28 and kills everyone there, what happens to the other players?"

"..."

The biggest flaw in my plan. The single greatest weakness. The Heavenly Demon.

"If I use the ring..."

Use the ring on the Heavenly Demon? He didn't even have a status window to begin with, so it wouldn't work. Then should I use the ring on the Book again, like before?

"No. Absolutely not."

That would make me no different from the Kim Jun-ho of "that world." Absolutely not. I still remembered that sorrowful look in his eyes. He'd succeeded in getting Choi Ji-won back, but it was a false Choi Ji-won. Not the Choi Ji-won who'd truly shared everything with him. Since companion regression was impossible for him in the first place, she might as well have been a different person entirely.

"..."

Regressing to the past was hard enough on its own, but defeating the Heavenly Demon was even harder. The problem was, the moment we went back further into the past, we absolutely had to stop him.

Which meant I had to figure out how to stop the Heavenly Demon first, before I could even think about how to regress into the past. But could I actually stop him? Could I deceive a Heavenly Demon who'd retain every single memory, all over again?

Fighting him head-on was impossible. Even if I activated the Hero trait on everyone in the Colosseum, the Heavenly Demon couldn't be beaten. I didn't even know how strong he really was, and even if my strength under the Hero trait matched his exactly, I still couldn't afford to take a single hit. Beat an equally matched opponent without taking one hit? Impossible.

Was there no way. No way at all. No way, no way...

I sank into thought. Choi Ji-won thought alongside me. I couldn't lose her. I had to find a way, no matter what. But even in a relatively stable state, my head wasn't turning over the way it should. Focus, damn it, focus. Find the way.

Kim Jun-ho. How had the Kim Jun-ho of that world defeated the Heavenly Demon? He couldn't deceive the Heavenly Demon. Which meant he couldn't kill him either... did he just clear the floor as it was? Did he just push through clearing Floor 28 without worrying about the casualties afterward? But that's not my style.

Right. Think like him. Recall the past. Trace back over every step I'd taken so far, and find a new path. I'd been through everything by now, every hardship there was. The answer had to be somewhere in my experience. I was the regressor. I'd spent longer in the Tower than anyone, suffered more than anyone. If it's me, I can do this. If it's me, I can figure this out.

"...If it's me."

The Hero's face suddenly flashed through my mind. That cold look in her eyes.

"I can do it."

There was a chance. It might work. No, it would definitely work. This would land.

"The Heavenly Demon... can be taken down. At the very least, I can neutralize him."

The Hero. If I used what happened with her... it would definitely succeed. Certain of it now, I explained my plan to Ji-won.

"That's actually perfect. If you can handle the Heavenly Demon..."

And if the problem of the Heavenly Demon was solved, at least in theory.

"Regression... want to try it?"

All that was left was to carry the plan out.

The name of the plan was... a little corny, but.

"Let's do it."