Chapter 70 - The Regressor Takes a Beating (1)

"...!"

A fraction of a fraction of a second. Not even a tenth of a second has passed in real time.

My brain is working so hard it feels ready to burn out. My eyes dart desperately around, rapidly taking in the situation.

Boss Chan is only just turning around, Dok Suhui is reaching inside her clothes, and Ahn Gyeongjun's already pale face has gone positively blue.

It's a perfect ambush. I never dreamed the chunks of metal scattered around us would assemble themselves into an enemy.

"..."

This is very, very bad.

We were watching the path ahead, never expecting an attack from behind, and our formation is in disarray. On top of that, the golem assembled itself at an absurd speed. Even turning around to dodge its attack might be too much to ask.

What the golem is made of is another problem.

That unidentified metal reflects physical force. My weapon is a sword—an exceptionally bad match against an enemy that hard. Add the metal's properties to the equation, and my hand will be torn to shreds before I can cut through the golem.

Based on that alone, there is absolutely, positively no way I can beat it.

But.

But what about Boss Kang Chan?

What about his fist, which unleashes something beyond mere physical force?

WHOOSH.

The metal golem raises the chunk serving as its arm high overhead, preparing to bring it down.

As I expected, its movements are unnaturally fast. They're practically on par with the giant wolf that ambushed us from the ceiling.

WHOOOOSH!

The metal golem's arm comes crashing down. It's too late to dodge.

Kang Chan must instinctively realize that too, because his face twists into the deepest scowl imaginable.

At that instant.

"...!"

ROOOOAR!

An immense amount of killing intent pours from Kang Chan's body.

Just before the golem's fist reaches him, he releases a thick, intense wave of killing intent incomparable to anything he's shown before.

BOOOOOM!

A deafening crash rings out, and dust billows everywhere.

* * *

"Urgh...!"

The ground shakes like mad, and the dust filling the passage blocks my view.

I can't see exactly what happened, but judging by the sound... it was probably the golem being shattered by Kang Chan's punch.

"..."

But Dok Suhui's expression is strangely rigid.

"...‘ Wind’!"

"... You can use an enchantment like that too?"

She throws a dagger with a trembling hand. A fierce wind blasts out of it, sweeping away all the dust.

"Boss...!"

I hurry forward to support Boss Chan, expecting him to be staggering from exhaustion, but...

"... Huh?"

With the dust gone, neither Kang Chan nor the golem is anywhere to be seen.

Why? Where did they go?

Something that shouldn't have happened has happened. Still unable to grasp the situation, I freeze in place.

"Snap out of it! Get a grip!"

Dok Suhui grabs my shoulders and shakes me.

"Hmmmmm!"

Beside her, Ahn Gyeongjun is under Spirit Possession, keeping watch with a somewhat ornate spear rather than the worn one he always brings out.

"No, no..."

I know I need to move, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

Where did Kang Chan disappear to? And the golem? Where could something that big have gone?

But Dok Suhui seems to sense something. Her face deathly pale, she hastily reaches inside her clothes.

"Oh, fuck!"

She frantically pulls out those chopped-up pieces of wolf heart.

"Move!"

Only then do I notice it too. The ground is shaking differently than before.

CRASH!

The metal golem bursts out from directly beneath my feet.

"Ngh!"

WHOOSH!

Startled, I retreat and reflexively swing my sword, striking its head.

CLANG!

The centrifugal force starting at my waist and flowing through my shoulders, the strength of my arm, and the gravitational pull on the sword's weight—all that powerful physical force is reflected back at me, tearing my hand to shreds.

"...!"

Even as droplets of blood scatter, my eyes remain fixed on the golem.

The metal golem swings its arm at me as it emerges from the ground.

And its fist is smeared with a huge amount of blood.

"..."

Could Kang Chan have... not run away, but—

The realization goes no further.

My consciousness is slowly fading.

[You have taken damage.]

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

* * *

"..."

"... Get up, rookie."

"... Hey."

"...?"

"Let's talk for a minute."

Kang Chan.

My suspicions began when this man suddenly left, saying he was going to hunt another wolf.

On the previous run, when I hadn't mentioned the wolf, he'd followed along quietly. Yet once I told him a monster was hiding right under our noses, he disappeared somewhere. Forget me—even a snot-nosed three-year-old would find that suspicious.

But after seeing his overwhelming strength, I believed him. I believed there really was a second wolf, and that he'd gone to fight it.

It did occur to me that the wound on his forehead after the fight was remarkably consistent, but I believed him anyway. I thought someone that strong had no reason to lie.

But let's reconsider the last thing I saw.

Kang Chan disappeared immediately after encountering the golem. And the golem's fist was drenched in blood.

There was no dazzling light heralding his punch, nor any enormous hole punched through the ceiling or walls.

He simply disappeared.

Judging by what I saw, there's a very high probability that the golem killed him.

Which naturally raises a question. Why? How?

This is a man who throws punches I can't even react to.

A man who didn't just kill a wolf, but blew away the ceiling and collapsed the cavern.

How could someone powerful enough to obliterate a trap-filled passage with a single punch fall to a golem without putting up any resistance? It wasn't as though he didn't have time to react.

That brings one hypothesis to mind.

"Kang Chan."

"... Do you know me?"

"Your ability has a time restriction, doesn't it? A really severe one, too."

It makes sense if Kang Chan didn't choose not to resist, but couldn't.

It makes sense if his combat strength plummets after throwing one of those ridiculously powerful punches.

If this hypothesis is true, it answers a number of questions.

Why someone capable of throwing such an immensely powerful punch is so slow to dodge.

Why he tries to avoid fighting whenever possible, despite being so strong.

Why Kang Chan, who destroyed the trap passage, went down against the golem without being able to do a thing.

Why he agonized so much before throwing a punch at me.

"..."

Kang Chan turns his head as if I'm not worth dealing with. He looks confident on the outside, but he must be quite rattled inside.

"Where are you going?"

He starts walking, but I have no intention of letting him leave. I doggedly stick to him and keep talking.

"You. Your punch ability has a long-ass cooldown, doesn't it? That's why you can't just use it whenever you want. Right? Huh?"

"... You're insane."

ROOOAR.

Perhaps I've hit a nerve. Kang Chan directs his killing intent squarely at me.

But I've already experienced it several times, so I don't back down.

"Show me."

"..."

"If you think everything I'm saying is bullshit that isn't worth listening to, show me how strong you are."

"... Floor 3 appears to be structured to require cooperation between four people. I have no intention of causing needless conflict."

"Really?"

I plop down right where I stand.

"Then I won't cooperate. Not until you show me your strength."

"..."

"Threaten me or torture me if you like. But I'm not moving until I see your power."

Even as the killing intent pouring from Kang Chan grows stronger, I don't budge.

He keeps intensifying it, but when I still refuse to move, he finally speaks, looking thoroughly fed up.

"... What do you want?"

"I want to know about your ability."

"What would you do with that information?"

Now I give him a reason to cooperate.

"... I'm a regressor."

"..."

"And just now, while we were going through Floor 3, you got killed by a golem. At this rate, we might never clear this floor. That golem's stats are insane."

I give Kang Chan a brief account of what happened after I entered Floor 3.

"... You expect me to believe that?"

"You've got some weird red orb item, right? You brought it along so you could use it to bullshit us when a monster appeared, didn't you? And another thing... I think you have two abilities. One that releases killing intent, and a punch ability with an extremely long cooldown. What do you think?"

"..."

Kang Chan's expression hardens to a frightening degree. He's sensed it instinctively too. Everything I'm saying is true.

"Kill me if you want. I'll just regress."

"... Why tell me this? No, was that a stupid question? You intend to regress anyway? After getting all the information you can?"

"... That's right."

"... Perhaps it's because this is the highest difficulty. I've barely arrived, and already something absurd is happening."

Kang Chan closes his eyes and takes his time thinking.

"... Ha."

He lets out a brief, incredulous laugh.

At the same time, the killing intent pouring from him quietly subsides. That murderous aura, which seemed capable of killing dozens of people where they sat, vanishes in an instant.

"... Yes. You're right."

His stiff, expressionless face slowly relaxes.

"I'm not the monster people think I am."

He sinks down with his back against the wall, his face etched with deep exhaustion.

Looking at him now, he merely has a vicious-looking face. That sense of being utterly unapproachable is gone.

Kang Chan slowly lowers his head. I get the feeling this is who he really is.

"I deliberately played the part of someone overwhelmingly powerful."

Head bowed low, Kang Chan makes his confession in an even voice.

"To survive."

The story he tells is quite shocking.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

Thank you, as always, for reading.