Chapter 66 - The Regressor Accepts Fate (2)

"..."

"..."

I kept stealing cautious glances at Kang Chan. Completely unsuspecting, he was slowly running his hands over the cavern wall.

More than ten minutes had already passed, yet the monstrous wolf showed no intention of revealing itself.

"..."

Was it... scared?

Had Boss Chan's overwhelming presence frightened it? That would make sense. Wolves had keen senses, after all.

Even at this distance, I could faintly feel Kang Chan's presence. The wolf might be sensing it dozens of times more intensely.

In that case, I would have to give it a little push.

"Oh, oh! Up there!"

Feigning shock, I pointed at the wolf's two glowing eyes on the ceiling.

"G-grrrraaah!"

The wolf let out a flustered roar. Apparently, it really had been scared.

It hesitated on the ceiling, then apparently decided it had no other choice and lunged straight at Boss Kang Chan.

"What?!"

But Boss Kang Chan was just as startled.

The wolf was moving so fast in its desperate charge that it was already too late to get out of the way.

In the end, Kang Chan's fist began to glow once more.

The monstrous wolf plunged down from above.

Looking up at the ceiling, Kang Chan punched toward its muzzle.

A brilliant flash.

"... Wow."

With some distance between us, I could appreciate his punch in all its glory.

BOOOOM!

An intense beam of light erupted from his fist. It was less a punch than a phenomenon.

A natural disaster that destroyed everything it touched.

Just before the monstrous wolf met Boss Chan's fist, light engulfed it, and its body vanished entirely.

"A-aaaargh!"

A moment later, a biting gale swept through the cavern, howling out the aftermath of that punch.

"J-just as I thought...!"

Even as I groaned in the winds raging through the cavern, I didn't forget to admire Boss Chan's punch.

Heaven hadn't abandoned me. I'd missed my ride with Choi Jiwon, but an even bigger carry named Kang Chan had been waiting for me.

Come at me, all of you. Kang Chan is a god, and I am invincible...!

RUMBLE.

While I was busy making an absolute fool of myself in my head, an ominous rumbling came from the ceiling.

"Huh?"

Boss Chan's punch had blasted a huge hole through the ceiling, and hairline cracks were spreading out from it in every direction.

The cracks reached the walls, and torches began falling to the floor one by one.

"..."

CRAAACK!

Finally, as the ceiling collapsed and countless rocks began raining down on our heads...

"Fuck..."

I calmly closed my eyes.

[You have taken damage.]

[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 3-5.]

* * *

Boss Kang Chan was not to blame.

If anything was at fault, it was this feeble cave ceiling that couldn't withstand his punch.

But regardless of whose fault it was, not being able to rely on his help against the wolf was a serious problem.

I suspected the ceiling would collapse even if he used his fist after we brought the wolf down to the floor.

Boss Kang Chan was far too strong, and the cave walls were far too weak. The rest of us would have to take care of the wolf ourselves.

So, when we reached the cavern entrance again, I stopped everyone.

"Everyone."

"... Yes? What is it?"

"Why don't we take a moment to explain our abilities in detail? That cavern ahead looks pretty suspicious."

I wouldn't mention that a wolf was hiding on the ceiling. If I did, Boss Kang Chan would leave to hunt down the other wolf.

My goal was to get Ahn Gyeongjun and Dok Suhui to reveal their abilities. Unless I heard that information now, what I was about to say would sound rather strange.

And so, once I steered the conversation toward sharing our abilities...

"Mine is... Spirit Possession. When I feel my life is in danger, a spirit skilled with throwing spears takes control of my body."

"My ability is Enchant."

"... Fists."

"My trait makes me good with a sword. To be precise, it's called 'Swordsmanship.'"

Everyone shared their traits, just as they had on a previous run.

That gave me an opening to take the lead.

"First, wouldn't it be better to make sure we're fully prepared before entering that cavern? We don't know what might jump out at us. Right?"

"... Right?"

"Then we'd be better equipped to handle any surprises if Gyeongjun entered the cavern already possessed, wouldn't we?"

"... Right?"

"But you don't feel your life is in danger right now... So what if we could force Spirit Possession to activate?"

"... Is that possible?"

At Ahn Gyeongjun's question, I turned to Boss Kang Chan.

"Boss Chan."

"... What is it?"

"Your presence was really impressive earlier... Would you happen to be able to focus your killing intent on a single person? Oh, you can release killing intent, right? Sorry for making assumptions."

"... I can."

Having experienced Kang Chan's killing intent firsthand, I knew.

That killing intent was impossible to withstand with ordinary mental fortitude. Even I had struggled considerably, despite how much my repeated regressions had toughened me up.

So what would happen to the timid Ahn Gyeongjun?

Never mind feeling his life was in danger—he might pass out altogether.

"... Wait."

"Oh, if you've sensed another monster's presence, could you focus your killing intent on Gyeongjun first?"

"..."

An oppressive aura swelled.

Kang Chan focused his killing intent on Ahn Gyeongjun, then disappeared off somewhere.

"A-aaaah...!"

Gyeongjun's eyes nearly rolled back into his head. Then, apparently having successfully activated Spirit Possession, his expression abruptly hardened, and he summoned an old wooden spear.

"All right, let's head in!"

Without delay, I pushed the two of them forward. Ahn Gyeongjun's eyes were fixed on the ceiling. He had clearly detected the wolf with his keen senses.

And so the three of us entered the cavern.

WHOOSH!

The possessed Ahn Gyeongjun immediately hurled his wooden spear at the ceiling.

"Yelp!"

Startled, the wolf hastily leaped down. It apparently hadn't expected to be discovered so quickly. Its surprise left it in a terribly awkward position.

"Enchant! Hurry!"

We couldn't miss this opening. I charged straight at the wolf as it fell toward the floor.

"Uh, um... 'Explosion'!"

Dok Suhui promptly enchanted Ahn Gyeongjun's wooden spear with Explosion.

"Hup!"

SWISH!

The monstrous wolf leaped backward, narrowly avoiding my charging sword strike.

But jumping was its fatal mistake. We had a terrifying ranged damage dealer on our side.

"I hunt."

WHOOOSH!

The enchanted wooden spear buried itself in the airborne wolf's body.

CRUNCH!

"Yelp!"

It exploded deep inside the monster, killing it outright.

"Huff, huff..."

Released from possession, Ahn Gyeongjun slumped to the ground.

"... Bravo."

Clean. No, perfect.

We had skipped the entire unnecessary process of running from the wolf.

Now I had a route that let us kill even that wolf without taking any damage.

This was the beauty of Regression: repeating the same situation to achieve the best possible result.

I smiled in satisfaction.

* * *

About thirty minutes later, Boss Kang Chan returned with a trickle of blood running down his head.

"... There was another wolf."

Did that mean we'd dealt with both wolves perfectly?

Now the question was how to get past the mirror room.

If we entered it unprepared, disaster was inevitable.

"Hmm... Gyeongjun?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"Could you explain your ability in detail?"

"Oh, my ability..."

Once I broached the subject, Ahn Gyeongjun slowly explained his ability.

His ability was the spirit itself. Switching who controlled his body was merely a secondary function; the spirit that followed him around at all times was his trait.

"Then do you share your senses? And only control of the body changes?"

"No. The spirit perceives the world separately from me. Though the spirit and my body can't get too far apart."

So rather than sitting somewhere and sharing senses like in the movie Get Out, it floated around in spirit form, observing the world on its own.

"Hmm..."

That meant blindfolding Ahn Gyeongjun wouldn't stop the spirit from seeing the mirror room.

It was obvious what would happen if we entered the mirror maze like this.

The tribesman would shriek, "You dare try to beguile me!" and forcibly possess him, then throw spears and smash mirrors left and right. I'd get hit by a mirror shard and regress in an instant.

I could stay far enough back to avoid the shards, but...

The mirror maze would have mechanics of its own. If the possessed Gyeongjun went on a mindless rampage and fell victim to one of them, we wouldn't be able to proceed. We needed four palms to open the stone doors, after all.

A way to blindfold the spirit following Gyeongjun... A way to keep it from throwing a fit...

"Ah."

Suddenly, I remembered how Kang Chan had focused his killing intent on Ahn Gyeongjun to force him into possession before we killed the wolf.

If... we made him become possessed again, then covered his eyes...

Wouldn't the spirit inside his body be unable to see the mirrors?

It seemed likely to work. No, this would work.

Then what mattered now was...

"Everyone."

How persuasively I could make my case to the others. How I could convince them that we needed to proceed with Gyeongjun possessed and blindfolded.

"Could you... take a look over here for a moment? Doesn't this seem suspicious?"

- Curiosity [A]

- Opposites naturally attract. People feel an inexplicable curiosity about you and instinctively take notice of you.

And this was something I had done countless times in the tutorial.

Author's Note (Afterword)

I'll revise this in the evening...

Thank you, as always, for reading...

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