WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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◈ Regression is Too Much

Chapter 091

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The Regressor is flustered (12)

“Kueeeek!!!”

“Krooooar!!!”

The night was pitch-black. Monstrous screams echoed from all directions.

A demonic harmony, filled to the brim with pain, anger, and malice. For the faint of heart, just hearing it would be enough to make the blood drain from their face and bring on a bout of dizziness.

“The castle walls…”

“No way…”

And at the same time, the castle walls began to tremble slightly. The shaking wasn't severe by any means, but the very fact that the seemingly sturdy walls were moving was quite a shock.

“Can you see anything?”

I shifted my gaze from the trembling walls to Baron George, who was standing beside me.

“Hmm…”

Baron George let out a low groan. A blue light shimmered in his eyes.

“…The situation is not good.”

Baron George was a mage, and the spell he had just cast was a reconnaissance-type magic called ‘Eye of the Sky’.

The effect of the magic was simple. It allowed him to look down from high above, observing his current location.

It might seem like an effect of little use, but there was no better magic for grasping the state of a battle. Therefore, in the other world, it was an essential spell used in times of war, one that all nobles were said to learn.

“What’s the situation like? Do you think the walls will be breached?”

“…I’m trying to figure out how to best describe this.”

As Baron George pondered, beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Finally, his lips parted.

“…Have you ever thrown a large stone into a stream?”

“I have.”

“That’s our situation right now. We’re a large stone placed in the middle of a stream.”

The number of monsters was countless. They felt less like individual entities and more like the flow of a liquid.

“The vast majority of them are just slamming themselves into the walls. Some die instantly from the impact, and many others are crushed to death by the monsters pressing in from behind.”

“…So that’s why it’s so noisy.”

Just as a stream constantly tickles a stone, the monsters were endlessly crashing against the castle walls. That was the reason for the shaking and the echoing screams.

“And it seems these monsters have a destination.”

According to Baron George, it didn't seem like the monsters were specifically targeting us. They were simply heading somewhere, and this castle just happened to be in their path.

But because the scale of the monsters was so immense, the castle had naturally become surrounded.

“Lastly, the castle walls… the monsters are piling up.”

A monster slammed into the wall and died.. Pushed from behind and crushed from above, it was pressed to death. The corpse immediately turned into a halo of light, and the walls remained intact for now.

However, some monsters were strong and sturdy enough to withstand the crushing pressure. They were clinging to the walls, swinging their arms as if possessed, and the problem was that these sturdy monsters were gathering to form a base.

Slowly, a hill that the monsters could climb was being formed. Of course, the monsters serving as the hill weren't invincible, so they were constantly dying and disappearing, and the hill would repeatedly collapse... but an environment had been created where it wouldn't be strange for a monster to leap over the wall at any moment.

“…It seems it’ll be soon. I’m going inside the castle now.”

His subjects were waiting inside the castle. Since they wouldn’t be of much help in the battle right now, he had simply moved them out of sight.

"Hoo."

With a sigh, the blue light in Baron George's eyes faded. I had heard that ‘Eye of the Sky’ was a taxing spell. He didn’t show it, but he was probably quite fatigued.

“More importantly… Are you alright?”

Baron George, who had been walking toward the castle, stopped and turned his head to look at me. A complex emotion swirled in his eyes.

“About what?”

“…Never mind.”

Come to think of it, Baron George's hands were trembling slightly. His expression seemed as nonchalant as ever, but it appeared he couldn't hide the trembling of his hands.

“…Let’s see each other alive.”

With those final words, Baron George disappeared into the castle. I turned my head and looked toward the castle wall. Just in time to meet the eyes of a wolf.

“…What are you looking at?”

“Grrrrrrr…”

Led by the wolf that met my gaze, a pack of monsters appeared atop the castle wall. The ‘hill’ that Baron George had spoken of was complete.

“How savage.”

Glistening eyes. Dripping saliva. Fierce snorts.

Unable to hold back any longer, the monsters jumped down from the wall in a torrent. Some landed gracefully and charged forward, while others twisted their legs and collapsed on the spot. And using those collapsed monsters as a cushion, other monsters dropped into the castle’s courtyard.

“Krawr!”

A wolf was the first to charge, baring its fangs at me. It was a laughable specimen compared to the monster wolves I had faced on the 3rd floor.

I swung my sword mechanically. The sensation of piercing through thick fur, parting flesh and blood, and shattering bone was transmitted to my fingertips as the wolf's severed head spun in the air and turned into light.

But the wolf was just the beginning. Orcs. Goblins. A beast with the head of a dog, whose name I didn't know. The monsters rained down endlessly.

“…Shit.”

The struggle had begun.

About 30 minutes after the monsters breached the castle walls.

I cut.

I cut.

And I cut again.

Despite moving relentlessly, my entire body was still overflowing with power. My eyes were sharper than ever, and my heart was pounding furiously.

“Kuaaargh!”

Slice!

An orc tried to block my attack with a wooden shield, but I sliced right through the shield and the orc together.

“Yelp! Yelp!”

Four wolves pounced on me at once. From below, from above, from the left and from the right. It was a formation where even if I blocked one, I couldn't block the other three.

“Hup!”

In that case, I just had to swing my sword four times faster. The four bisected wolf corpses tumbled to the ground.

A terrifying strength that couldn't be considered human, and an overwhelming agility that left no afterimage. It was all the effect of the Hero trait.

Truly a wolf among a flock of sheep, just like Zhang Fei at Changban[1]. Any monster that entered the space my sword could reach spewed blood and died. Thanks to the experience I gained from the arrow trap on the 3rd Floor, evading was also effortless.

But the situation was not entirely optimistic. No, it would be more accurate to say it was bad.

As I cut down a goblin charging with a small dagger, I fell into thought.

If I were to calmly assess my situation… It was extremely complex.

First, I was incredibly strong right now. The swarming monsters? Not a big problem. The passage I was blocking was narrow enough that only three adult men could barely squeeze through, so the number of monsters that could come at me at once was limited. This meant there was no chance of being caught off guard.

Of course, there were some sturdier, stronger monsters mixed in from time to time, but if I focused and cut them down, they too could be dealt with in a single exchange.

Assuming I maintained my concentration, there would be no unexpected blow that would make me regress in vain.

But the aforementioned condition was the problem. ‘Maintaining my concentration’ was the problem itself.

Although the blood and fat on the sword disappeared as soon as a monster died, the blade was dulling in an instant because I was using it so roughly. I needed to check the condition of the blade intermittently and switch swords.

Also, the strong individuals mixed in among the monsters were a problem. They were far too weak to defeat me, but they were strong enough to inflict minor wounds.

If I emptied my mind and swung the sword mindlessly, I would surely get hurt. I had to constantly roll my eyes and exhaust my mind, calculating all possible scenarios.

Yes, the body was not the problem. The body, with the Hero trait activated, was still vigorous and full of power. The problem was the mind.

“Haa…”

Moving repetitively while keeping my mind focused was an act that consumed an enormous amount of concentration. Naturally, the fatigue was considerable, and as my mind grew clouded, my sword path kept wavering.

Of course, I could endure it. It was hard, but I could grit my teeth and fight on. But I am a regressor. This shitty ordeal, I might have to repeat it not once, but dozens, or even hundreds of times. The moment I recognized that fact, every single moment felt like hell.

Should I just use the portal and leave? It's not my business whether other people die or not.

No, I have to see it through to the end at least once. I have to see what's on the 4th Floor.

Swoosh!

While my head was spinning, a sharp axe aimed for the crown of my head. It was an axe swung by an orc twice my size, but I easily dodged it and then took its head.

“…Ha.”

Let’s worry about it after I survive.

The morning sun rose.

“Is it, is it over?”

“Haa, haa, haa…”

The outside of the castle walls was still teeming with monsters, and horrifying screams were echoing from all directions, but… no more monsters were climbing over the walls. It seemed there were no monsters strong enough to support the weight of others for now.

“A-are you alright?”

Joong-hyun, who had run over in a hurry, scanned my body from top to bottom, his eyes wide. Of course, there wasn't a single scratch on me. If I had been hit in the first place, I would have regressed.

“I’m fine. How about your side?”

“There are quite a few injured, but it seems there are no deaths.”

He said the damage wasn't severe because the passage was narrow and the ninety or so players fought in shifts. In the first place, aside from a few individuals, each monster wasn't that strong.

“…That’s a relief.”

A small smile formed on my lips at the thought that my hard struggle wasn't in vain. It felt like I had completed a pretty difficult achievement in a game.

-51 : 02 : 11

But this was only the third day. We still had to survive for two more days, and we needed to rest our weary bodies.

“You’ve all worked hard. I don’t know the exact conditions, but it seems we are safe for now. It must be tiring, but let’s set up a night watch and take turns resting…”

“Jun-ho-nim.”

I stopped talking at the sound of a very hoarse voice from behind me.

The one who interrupted me was Sir Thomas, Baron George's guard. The winter clothes he wore were completely stained with blood.

“Are you hurt? That blood…”

“That’s not what’s important.”

I'll be honest, I was a little excited. Because I felt that I had put up a good fight.

“Thirty-one people are dead. All of them are subjects of the barony.”

“…What?”

Until the sad news arrived.

Footnotes:

[1] This is a famous event from the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The warrior Zhang Fei single-handedly held off a massive army at the Changban Bridge, creating a legendary bottleneck.

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