Regression is Too Much - Chapter 90

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 090

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The Regressor is flustered (11)

"There are countless of them..."

The roaring wind seemed to have died down for a moment.

"...Huh? Huh?"

"What… what did you say?"

The people who heard my words fell into a panic.

"Why aren't you coming over here? Isn't it all over?"

"So what do we do now?"

Those who were relatively far away and had a weaker grasp of the situation were joking around, trying to be leisurely.

"Joong-hyun-ssi, William-ssi, first, please gather everyone and make them aware of the situation. I will leave the otherworlders to Baron George."

"Ju-Junho-nim..."

"I have things to think about. For now, we must gather the people."

"Understood."

Joong-hyun and William, clenching their teeth, ran around to gather the people, and Baron George hurried down below the castle walls.

"..."

And my gaze was fixed beyond the darkness, on the monstrous horde that must be swarming towards us.

"Have I already failed?"

A number of monsters so great that counting them was meaningless. I had to discard any thought of fighting to win early on.

But if the true objective of Floor 4 was to simply endure that onslaught, then I could only think that I had missed something, and had already failed.

Or was the goal of Floor 4 to get out alive through the portal? Was it, from the very beginning, a floor with a hellish difficulty where only five out of one hundred could survive?

No, that couldn't be it. It was still only the 4th floor. I felt that it couldn't be a floor with such an absurd level of difficulty this early.

"If that's the case..."

For now, there was no choice but to do my best. Even if I had to regress later, first I would gather all possible forces and resist.

If it seemed truly impossible, I would regress, clear quickly through the portal, and then look up other people’s reviews online. This would be the most rational course of action.

"Everyone has gathered."

I heard Joong-hyun's voice calling for me. I lifted my head to check behind me, and saw hundreds of people gathered in the wide courtyard, looking up at me.

"Is it… is it true that monsters are swarming in?"

"Are you sure about this?"

Voices filled with terror erupted spasmodically from here and there. I imagined this was probably how people would react to the news that a nuclear missile was flying toward Seoul.

"...It is true. Monsters, in a number so large they look like a tidal wave, are flocking to this place."

"...My god."

"Shit, shit, shit..."

Despair descended upon the crowd. There were some who doubted the truth of my words, but if they just used their heads a little, they would realize that there was no reason whatsoever for me to lie.

"...So. What are you planning to do now?"

The man with the familiar grumpy expression asked.

"I imagine you must have some sort of plan, to stand so confidently before everyone like this. If there was truly no hope, you would have hidden long ago."

"That's right. I intend to resist until the very end."

I turned my gaze from the people and looked around at the tall castle walls.

"By any chance, is there anyone here who has a trait useful for large-scale killing? Something like a wide-area attack..."

Everyone's gaze turned toward the woman with the jutting chin, but she lightly shook her head.

"...My trait is powerful, but that means I can't use it multiple times. I overdid it earlier, so I think two more times will be my limit."

Her words certainly had a point.

"In that case, is there anyone who has a ranged weapon, like a bow?"

"The Tower only gives out close-combat weapons, what do you mean a bow?"

That, too, was a fact.

Unlike the towers in other fantasy settings, the weapons provided in the Tower so far had all been melee weapons. This meant that weapons like bows or even crossbows had never been distributed.

"Yes. I expected as much."

I turned my head again and looked down at the people in the courtyard.

"Therefore, I believe it's right for us to boldly abandon the castle walls."

"Why, why would we abandon them?"

"Because they're too wide."

The castle walls. Under normal circumstances, they would have served as our most reliable defensive barrier.

But a thing like a castle wall is meant to be used in fights between humans. Against a nearly infinite number of monsters like this, the area was far too vast.

If the castle walls could stop the monsters, that would be great. But if the monsters had the ability to break through the walls, we did not have the ability to stop them.

"When we have no ranged weapons and no large-scale killing traits, defending the castle walls seems like a distant dream. Even if we could stop the monsters from climbing up, it's a structure where the moment one person gets tired and a breach is made, everyone is doomed."

"Then..."

"Let's hold out inside the castle."

Narrow passages. A small number of entrances. It's perfect for waging a defensive battle. After all, the most important thing when fighting against superior numbers is to narrow the front line.

"Thanks to the narrow passages, we don't have to worry about being surrounded. We just need to block what's in front. If we can block off the passages leading into the castle, we can survive."

There were a total of six passages into the castle. Today, Baron George had hastily blocked three of them.

"Baron-nim, the barricade work. Is it possible to do it now?"

"...I don't know what the speed of the monsters will be, but at best, it would be about one more location. I'm too exhausted from work during the day."

"That's more than enough."

If we were to block a total of four passages, then the remaining two would be open.

"What you all have to do is simple. Please take turns with each other and just block one passage. And please, survive until the very end. That will be enough."

"B-but, aren't there two passages? If we only block one..."

A player asked with a confused expression. At that moment, Yoon Joong-hyun, who was next to him, lightly tapped his shoulder and cut him off.

"Don't you feel it?"

"...What is it?"

"Ha, honestly."

Joong-hyun glanced up at me and let out a hollow laugh.

"It's not like I was revealing my full power either... but I never imagined it was to this extent."

In that smile, astonishment, a sense of inferiority, and relief were all mixed together.

"Joong-hyun-ssi is right. One of the passages, I will block it."

Looking down at Joong-hyun, I smiled lightly.

[The effect of the Hero trait has been activated!]

"Alone."

-54 : 10 : 41

Now, without needing to shoot up a flare, the horde of monsters was visible from the top of the castle walls. Although it was dark, with a number that large, there was no way they couldn't be seen. To my senses, the remaining distance was about 10km.

Rumble...

The ground shook, and a grotesque groan, a mixture of all sorts of breaths, cries, and screams, echoed out. It was the kind of sound that felt like it could drive you insane just from listening to it.

"I'm starting to think we might have discovered this horde of monsters extremely early. If this were like other people's Floor 4, they would have been sleeping and would only now be waking up in a panic..."

Gyeong-nam joked while looking down at the monster horde. But seeing as his face was deathly pale, it was obvious he was forcing himself.

"Grrrr!"

"W-woah!"

As if my prediction had been true, the moment he heard an animal growling from somewhere, he panicked and fell over disgracefully.

While Gyeong-nam hurriedly got up and dusted off his behind, I looked down below the castle walls and saw a single wolf growling at the base of the wall. With their numbers being so great, it seemed some individuals had run ahead of the pack.

"Um... where is the person who shot the flame earlier?"

Seeing that wolf, the thought that I needed to run an experiment occurred to me, and I looked for the only player on the 4th floor who was capable of a ranged attack.

"I'm here."

The woman with the jutting chin stepped forward upon hearing my words.

"...What is your name?"

"It's Lee Miju."

It was a bit awkward to keep calling her the woman with a jutting chin, so I got her name.

"Right, Miju-ssi. By any chance, could you shoot a flame at that wolf-like creature running up ahead?"

"..."

"I am aware that it's a significant burden. But this is something that is absolutely necessary. Please."

"...Understood."

Lee Miju, having nodded, focused her mind and created a ball of fire the size of a person's head.

"Heup!"

A ball of fire flew towards the wolf growling right below the castle wall. Just before the fiercely flying fireball could strike the wolf.

Swoosh!

"Oh!"

The wolf, with a swift movement, dodged the fireball. Lee Miju let out a sound of regret, but…

Boom!

"Kweeeeeeeek!"

A small goblin that had been standing right behind the wolf was hit directly by the fireball and spectacularly disintegrated.

"...I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. My goal was just to hit any one of them, after all."

I only aimed at the wolf because it happened to catch my eye, my goal was simply 'to try and kill one monster'.

I gave Miju a nod as if to say it was fine, then turned my gaze to look down at the goblin.

The goblin, while on fire, writhed violently for a moment, and then, as if its breath had been cut off, it went limp on the ground.

"Oh, dear."

Seeing the sight of the corpse immediately turning into a halo of light and scattering into the air, I let out an exclamation without even realizing it.

If the corpses remained, the monster corpses themselves could be used as a barrier. It would have been good to completely stuff the passages with corpses to hold a siege. It would be unsanitary, but not so lethal as to kill us within three days.

But the goblin turned into light the instant it died. This meant that using the corpses was impossible.

Well, so be it. It was something that would have been nice if it worked, but it was fine if it didn't.

After about another 30 minutes passed like that.

"..."

Now, I could see the expression on the face of the orc running in the lead. I could see a wolf running while drooling. I could see a life form I was seeing for the first time, something resembling a purple octopus.

The common denominator was that they were all running with their eyes rolled back into their heads. I couldn't find the light of intellect like that of the Goblin Shaman in any of their eyes, they were all charging towards the castle as if they had become mere beasts.

"Haha."

The view before my eyes was completely filled with monsters. This sight—my entire field of vision completely covered by monsters—had a certain resonance even for my jaded heart, and I felt an impulse to capture it in a photograph.

No, a normal person would probably have felt the urge to run away.

After letting out a hollow laugh, I slowly descended from the castle walls and headed toward the passage I had decided to take charge of.

Just as I was walking across the courtyard.

Booooom!

With a tremendous roar, the castle walls began to shake like crazy.

"Kuoohhhhhh!!!"

"Krrrrrrraaaaaaw!"

"Kuwaaaaaaaak!"

The cries of the monsters erupted, almost like a harmony.

Finally, the wave of death had crashed against the castle walls.

Footnotes:

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