The Regressors are Trying to Kill Me

[Translator - Hestia]

[Proofreader - Kaya]

Chapter 26

Baekya, in his past life, was a versatile fighter, capable of both close-quarter combat and long-range firepower.

However, due to his usual role as the raid leader and the efficiency of his cheat skill, Law of Light, he didn't often engage in direct melee combat with enemies.

'I can't remember the last time I did this.'

Ryu Haneul clenched his fists, witnessing the rare spectacle of his senior in a brawl.

"Hiss!"

Ants the size of cars poured out of the ant nest.

Thump!

Baekya dashed forward, swinging the glowing 'Heavenly Lotus Sword' at the head of an ant.

Slice!

Even the steel-like carapace couldn't withstand the Masterpiece-grade artifact enhanced by the 'Radiant Light Sword' skill.

The ant's head melted and was sliced off like butter cut by a hot knife.

Even to Ryu Haneul, the top-tier martial arts class 'Heavenly Demon,' it was flawless swordsmanship.

"...Screech!"

The giant ant twitched its legs and then collapsed.

From Ryu Haneul's perspective, Baekya never swung his sword more than twice to kill a single ant.

'Is this a warm-up?'

He cut off one of its legs, causing the ant to momentarily lose its balance, then sliced diagonally upwards at its head.

Slash!

He leaped into the air, bringing his sword down to separate the head from the body.

Whoosh!

He landed on the ant's head, stomped on its carapace, shattering it, then spun around in place, cutting down countless other heads.

Slice, slice, slice!

"Screech!"

Just then, an ant with particularly thick mandibles seized the opportunity while its comrades were being slaughtered and lunged forward.

Whoosh!

Baekya swung his sword, pushing against the massive mandibles.

The sheer difference in mass pushed Baekya back, but Ryu Haneul realized this was Baekya's intention.

The ant charged, its mandibles gaping like stag beetle's.

Whirl!

Baekya switched his grip on the sword to a reverse grip and spun half a circle, turning his back to the ant.

The ant, thinking this was its chance, missed the blade that suddenly emerged from Baekya's side.

Stab!

The orange blade pierced through its compound eyes and shattered its brain.

Ryu Haneul marveled at the clean maneuver.

'As expected of Senior.'

Baekya was truly the pinnacle of an all-rounder, excelling in everything from close combat to magic.

The ants in the nest frantically released pheromones in response to the annihilation of their vanguard.

"Hiss!"

"Hissss!"

With tremors that made one wonder if the nest was collapsing, a massive soldier ant appeared, dwarfing the surrounding ants.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

If the giant ants they had defeated so far were the size of cars, this one was the size of a dump truck.

【Soldier Ant (B)】

"Rooooar!"

The soldier ant roared towards the sky.

Acidic liquid sprayed in all directions, transforming into a cloud of noxious, burning smoke.

Ryu Haneul unconsciously gripped the hilt of his sword.

'Senior!'

Soldier ants rarely appeared in this power-leveling zone.

This ant, armed with incredibly tough carapace and acidic liquid capable of melting even armored Hunters along with their armor, was...

'Wasn't this floor already cleared?'

It was a monster among monsters, having devoured countless Hunters who had let their guard down, thinking a cleared floor would be safe.

He didn't dare doubt Baekya's skills, but even with the best control, a level 1 couldn't defeat a level 99.

Swish

But Baekya, as if saying "Trust me," stretched out his hand and blocked Ryu Haneul's approach.

'Senior?'

He even let his only weapon, the sword, hang loosely at his side.

Thump! Thump!

The soldier ant, as large as a house, marched forward— its six massive legs moving in unison.

Just as its body fully emerged from the ant nest...

Boom!

Flames erupted from beneath the soldier ant.

The 'Wall of Fire' Baekya had created engulfed and blazed across the soldier ant's entire body.

"Screech!"

The soldier ant charged forward in fury.

Even after escaping the burning ground, the flames clinging to its body didn't die out.

It tried to crush Baekya with its hydraulic press-like mandibles.

Crash!

But by then, Baekya's astral body was already soaring into the sky.

It was a perfect combination of 'Flame Arrow' and 'Descent from the Crimson Flame.'

Twisting his body in mid-air, Baekya descended headfirst.

In his outstretched palm, a skill that Ryu Haneul knew all too well gathered.

Radiant Burst.

Rumble!

A wave that shook the entire space shot out in a fan shape.

Crack!

* * *

The soldier ant, its abdomen crushed, writhed for a moment before dying.

Formic acid poured out from its belly, sizzling and dissolving its own body.

I looked at the endless stream of ants pouring out of the nest and thought.

A black wave that seemed to never end, no matter how many I burned.

It had been a long time.

The 23rd floor was the third floor I had given up on solo clearing and attempted a group strategy.

At that time, I had a perfect understanding of what the 'Epilogue Story' of this Tower was, so I didn't spend more than a year on each floor.

'Hero, please help us.'

On this floor, there was a medieval-style kingdom.

They, tormented by monsters, had summoned a hero to help them, and that was us.

The kingdom was on the verge of collapse due to the endless swarms of ant monsters emerging from the underground.

'Each individual ant could be dealt with by the kingdom's knights, but the knights couldn't stop the devastation of the farmland and the abduction of the citizens. This is the last land we've managed to protect.'

The temporary capital, built on a bedrock layer, was the kingdom's last city.

'But the soldier ants are trying to break through the bedrock. The fate of the kingdom rests in the hands of the heroes. Please help us.'

We started exterminating the ants from that point on.

'We burned down Breeding Ground No. 4.'

'We reopened Passage No. 8.'

'We succeeded in developing an antidote for the pheromones. We found the queen ant's location.'

We appeased the public's plummeting morale.

'A group of soldiers is causing a commotion, saying they can't stand our actions any longer.'

'Ignore them. It's most likely just a power struggle within the kingdom.'

'We'll prioritize distributing the food harvested from the recovered farmland. We'll also teach magic to talented children.'

'Jeongwon, why do you learn everything just to give it away?'

We even eliminated the uncle who was plotting against the princess.

'You beast!'

'Ugh!'

After a year-long Epilogue Story like that, we entered the underground world and fought the queen ant.

'Hyung! Law of Light! Please use Law of Light!'

'How many of them are there?'

'Elite humanoid ants are approaching!'

The battle ended in success.

I had power back then that was incomparable to what I have now.

I burned hundreds of thousands, millions of ants, and erased the Queen Ant, the Princess Ant, and all the drone ants.

And so, the kingdom was saved, and the scenario ended.

I thought it was a happy ending.

The night before we rang the bell signaling the clear.

That was the case, at least until the princess summoned me to her chambers in the middle of the night to reveal a certain truth.

'Princess.'

'You've come. I have one last request.'

'Tell me.'

'There are still ants alive and moving in this world.'

'What do you mean?'

'Do you remember the humanoid, high-ranking ants?'

The princess took off her gloves in front of me, revealing hands that gleamed, encased in black carapace.

'I'm already mixed. Who do you think is the most well-fed and prosperous person in this world? I must have eaten the most contaminated crops grown in this tainted land. You heroes, beings of a different origin, may be safe...'

'Princess.'

'The duty of the royal family and the nobles is to protect the nation. I will fulfill my duty.'

'The ending conditions have already been met. I will ring the bell as soon as the sun rises tomorrow and leave this land... and then you will disappear too. This land, everything.'

'You're still saying things I can't understand. But with your light, you can surely cleanse all the remaining contamination in this land, right?'

That was how the conversation ended.

After ringing the bell, everything disappeared.

Only a few ant nests remained in the form of dungeons.

The royal palace and the people vanished as if they had never existed.

I walked through the 'concluded' 23rd floor, reminiscing about the year-long adventure, and a month later, I challenged the 24th floor.

"Hiss!"

Seeing the ants in front of me brought back memories of that time.

As always, recalling memories from within the Tower left a bitter taste in my mouth.

It was like waking up from a good dream and repeatedly confirming that I could never dream of it again.

"Screech!"

A high-ranking ant, similar in size to a human, stood on two legs and swung its four long arms at me.

Green acidic liquid dripped and shimmered from the long blades formed by its carapace at the end of each arm.

【Praetorian Guard (B)】

Through Insight, I saw its name: Praetorian.

If I remembered correctly, the missing knights, nobles, and royalty had transformed into these.

A surge of disgust made me swing my hand irritably.

【Law of Light】

Fwoosh!

A white light flashed.

The Praetorian Guard's head flew into the sky like butterflies made of light.

I kicked its body, knocking it down.

Green and red magic sparks flew from its fingers.

Such sparks usually appeared when artifacts dropped.

It seemed the drop rate was high because I killed it in one hit.

【Praetorian Guard's Articulated Ring (Masterpiece)】

【An articulated ring used by a Praetorian Guard. It is proof of someone who had a wish they wanted to convey, even at the cost of everything.】

As expected, an artifact dropped.

The jet-black articulated ring resembled the segmented fingers of a gauntlet.

Snap!

I bent down and snatched the articulated ring, then backstepped dozens of meters away from the ant nest.

I immediately put the ring on my left middle finger.

Checking artifacts was always important.

I channeled a bit of mana into it.

As a pyromancer, if I unleashed pure mana without any specific control, a gentle flame should have appeared.

But what shot out from the ring was a thin, sharp beam of heat.

Ziiiing!

A long, burnt mark was left on the ground.

It was tremendously compressed.

"....!"

It might not have any additional abilities, which is why it's only Masterpiece-grade, but in terms of efficiency for killing monsters, it seemed to be on par with Hero-grade artifacts.

I looked up towards the ant nest.

In just a few seconds of distraction, countless ants were swarming again.

It was definitely a power-leveling zone with a high respawn rate.

At this point, it wasn't about the number of ants but the area they covered.

And I was a pyromancer, the most advantageous class for fighting against large numbers.

I channeled mana into the Praetorian's Articulated Ring and swung my hand.

【Law of Light】

Ziiiiing!

Unlike before, the pale light didn't spread out in a fan-shaped gas flame but shot out as a single, sharp beam of heat.

Slice!

It was the sound of the ant army, occupying a whole area, being cut in half.

The ants, sliced horizontally from head to chest to abdomen, collapsed one after another.

"Ha!"

Even to me, a high-ranker among high-rankers, it was an overpowered attack.

【"That's quite impressive."】

It was impressive not in terms of power, but in terms of efficiency.

If it originally took 100 mana to eliminate this many ants with Law of Light, it felt like I had only used about 30 to 40 now.

And no matter how much I used it, the amount of mana recovered remained the same.

【Mana has increased by '1'.】

【Mana has increased by '1'.】

【Mana has...】

【Maximum Mana has greatly increased due to a large amount of Mana being recovered in a short period.】

Aitel system notifications filled one side of my vision.

A refreshing pain, as if my bones were stretching, spread throughout my body.

【"I'll add some more while we're at it."】

【Your constellation 'Sunny' sponsors '5' Mana stats.】

I instinctively sensed significant growth.

'My idol, my hero, my sun.'

'Hyung, yesterday I...'

The kids I taught used to tell me they felt this sensation whenever they overcame a certain wall.

As expected, a flurry of Aitel notifications popped up.

【Maximum Mana has greatly increased. Your Mana is no longer defined within the C-Rank level.】

【Class level up!】

【Pyromancer C+ ‣ B-】

【There is an imbalance between your Mana stat and other stats. It is recommended to balance them to maximize the advantages of your class.】

I couldn't help but turn to Ryu Haneul and shout.

"Success!"

Ryu Haneul ran towards me with a bright smile, as if his own level had increased.

"Congratulations!"

It was a genuinely happy smile that involuntarily softened my wariness.

It seems the future me did a good job raising at least one disciple.

Unlike Cheong Siyeol or Lee Eunwoo, he didn't try to kill me.

* * *

Ryu Haneul guided me out of the ants' attack range.

Once a floor in the Tower was conquered, all the monsters within became passive, and even during combat, one could break their aggro by retreating to a certain distance.

Ryu Haneul, overflowing with excitement, gushed.

"As expected, Senior, you're the best."

His fair face was flushed with a deep blush.

"Law of Light and mana absorption... You're truly amazing and admirable. I'm so glad I'm the only one by your side, Senior. You're my Senior, all mine!"

[TL/N: Uh…]

[PR/N: You sure this ain’t BL??]

[TL/N: 😭]

Even I, who had heard all sorts of flattery, from Cheong Siyeol's dramatic declarations to the adoration of many others, couldn't help but feel a flush creep onto my cheeks at his words.

Suddenly, a question popped into my mind.

"Haneul, but why 'Senior'?"

"Pardon?"

"Most of the others called me teacher, or hyung, or Chairman, or something like that. Some who were a bit more... expressive called me Sun."

"Yes."

"But why do you call me 'Senior'?"

Usually, "Senior" wasn't used for someone who taught you, but for someone who learned the same thing before you, right?

"Uh..."

Ryu Haneul wore an unusually troubled expression.

"Now that you mention it..."

"Can't you tell me?"

"If you don't like it, should I call you something else?"

I decided not to pry.

After all, he was currently my one and only ally who was actually being helpful.

"No, it's just that you're the only one who calls me that, so I was curious. Call me whatever you like."

"I'm the only one? That's exciting."

"No. Don't say things like that."

"Hehe. Senior, you'll come tomorrow, right?"

"Of course."

At Ryu Haneul's suggestion, I thought about the ring on my left hand.

It was a truly efficient artifact.

I was looking forward to seeing how much mana I could gather tomorrow.

[Translator - Hestia

[Proofreader - Kaya]