Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1453. Continental War (33)

Palette's smoke turned into spears that rained down on Valentin. The moment she saw Valentin Alexandro, Palette instantly cast her spell. I believed she had been channeling her attack before he even got here, as evidenced by how instantaneous and deadly the spell was as it flew toward Valentin.

Naturally, Palette had to pay a huge price by casting such a spell. She was the one providing this force with a hideout and safety, and considering what would unfold afterward, she needed to conserve a ton of mana. She had used more power than necessary, but her choice wasn’t foolish. Rather...

‘It was the best possible decision.’

Since Palette also belonged to the Republic, she knew just how dangerous he was, and it seemed that she intended to eliminate Valentin Alexandro here and now, even if it meant striking first.

If her plan succeeded, it would be for the best.

However, things wouldn't always go according to one's wishes. Contrary to the expectations that he would be pierced by countless spears, Palette’s attacks failed to pierce him. They left some marks, but the spears were blocked by his extremely high Hndurance and couldn't go any farther than that.

As for the spears flying toward his face and neck, he caught them all with just his hands. He seemed confident in his own Endurance, but I felt like he wasn't exactly that confident about himself.

‘This bastard is uncool. He's really the uncool type.’

Even the way he smirked was irritating.

“That was quite a rough welcome. Hehehe!” Valentin laughed.

Silence descended as his rough voice pervaded the area. Everyone realized that he was an opponent they couldn’t handle. On top of that, the matchup itself didn’t seem favorable. Even though the area was filled with smoke, he still pinpointed our location.

It hadn’t been confirmed that he had any detection-type skill, but he seemed to have something like instinct or perhaps an animalistic sense. He looked dull, yet he was agile; he appeared foolish, yet he was cunning.

Technically, he seemed somewhat lacking, but what ability could be more specialized for one-sided slaughters than his animalistic sense?

‘Damn, if he were going to come here, he ought to have come alone. It looks like he dragged all his low-ranking subordinates along, too.’

He was absolutely not the type to move alone like Ryu Han.

Just as expected, troops rushed into the smoke in response to his command.

“I have no interest in small fry. Hehehe. Where is the hero?” Valentin asked.

He looked like someone who cared more about small fry than anyone else. Just as Sung Ji-Hoon was grinding his teeth and forcing himself up, a figure stepped into his line of sight, blocking the man’s path.

‘Alps!’

Alps was defeated by Ryu Han, but perhaps she could hold back Valentin Alexandro. When he glanced at her with a hint of suspicion, he immediately saw her rush forward with her sword drawn, swinging it without any hesitation or exchange of words.

Feeling overconfident in his own physique, Valentin Alexandro spread his arms wide as if daring her to cut him down, but the moment he caught Alps' sharp gaze, he hurriedly raised both hands to guard his chest.

A thunderous crash rang out as Alps leaped forward and slashed out. Her sword collided with his arms, driving his feet deep into the ground. Then, he made a cowardly remark. “Hehehehahaha! The continent is truly vast! Who are you, wench?!”

‘Why does that bastard annoy me so much? Seriously.’

In the meantime, the enemy forces surged in like a tidal wave once again.

“Form a tight formation!”

“Republic troops at four o’clock! Tight formation! They’re coming!”

“Gather up!!!”

“Cast your spells!”

“Come this way!”

Kabooooooooom!

The shock elicited by the collision of troops reached all the way here. The hulking figures under Valentin Alexandro slammed into them like tanks. Soon, the troops mixed together, fighting each other.

Palette was pushing them back with smoke, but their numbers were too great for her to handle alone.

“Die, you rats!”

“You traitors, die, just die!”

“Hamgardia!”

“I know!”

‘Damn, I can’t just stand still like this.’

“RUSVILAAAAAAAA!”

“DIE!!!”

“Move! Don’t stop! Push them back while moving! Follow orders! Don’t panic! We’ll shake them off! If we get isolated here, we’ll all die!”

“What about Valentin Alexandro?”

“Leave him to her.”

Paint seemed to instinctively understand that they couldn’t win this battle head-on.

‘An excellent judgment.’

What was important was that they could not stop here.

“Mr. Jin-Ho, open a path!” I shouted.

“But Alps—”

“Alps is fine, so just open the path! Take the lead and break through first!” I interrupted him.

‘She’s fighting well, damn it!’

CRASH!!! Craaack! Kaboooooooooom!

“Hahahahahaha! Not bad! What’s your name?!” he shouted.

‘If we had Shiro, you’d have been taken out in one hit, you bastard.’

“Where on earth has a powerhouse like you been hiding?!”

“...”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

“YURIEL!!! Holy Sword!” Sung Jin-Ho shouted.

“T-this is crazy!” I yelled out.

“Arrows are coming down! Arrows!”

‘This is the most chaotic mess ever, seriously.’

The voices coming from all directions, the sound of metal clashing against metal, the thunderous explosions of spells, the troops mixing together in the chaos, and the smoke constantly brushing past everything around... I had been to many battlefields, but it had been a long time since I saw one this chaotic.

Even in the midst of this ongoing turmoil, Valentin Alexandro’s booming voice kept echoing across the battlefield.

“Kill them all, and capture the Saint alive!” Valentin ordered.

Perhaps he was worried about breaking his promise with Ryu Han.

At that shameless shout, the Holy Sword Hero realized that he was being targeted and became even more anxious.

‘But seriously, when did Ryu Han ever even see me before this?’

I wondered whether there was any common ground between me and Commander Jin from the tutorial days, but the problem was that nothing in particular came to mind.

Whatever it was, it seemed that I met Ryu Han’s personal criteria in some way.

A thought struck me that it probably had something to do with gathering people. Back in the tutorial, Commander Jin led many people through the dungeon, and the Keepers of the Moonlight were also drawing many people to them.

Perhaps people were being drawn not by orders, authority, strength, or violence, but by conviction or human charm and their natural curiosity toward someone like that. Our encounter was brief, but I remembered that I had shown a rather upright gaze at the time, so perhaps that gaze had stuck with Ryu Han.

‘Damn it, was Commander Jin actually kind of sweet during the tutorial or something? Did he sway the masses with some gentle charisma?’

Of course, it was also possible that my future self had met him in the past, but honestly, whether Ryu Han was curious about First Commander Jin or about me wasn't that important.

‘I wasn’t going to raise Ryu Han myself anyway.’

In terms of combat power, he was a top-tier prospect, but from a broader perspective, he was nothing more than an EXP vending machine. I had never heard him make any remarkable achievements in the first life, and since he vanished at some point, it was only right that his story ended with that disappearance.

It wasn’t my role to spend time on him, make him feel something, or help him grow mentally—these were things his parents ought to have done for him. Rather, I was in a position where I had to be cautious that he could end up realizing something, take one more step, and change the future.

Instead of worrying about his character, it was more beneficial to worry about Sung Ji-Hoon, who would soon have to clash swords with him.

The battlefield was already a mess, and it felt like the wild Ryu Han was about to sniff something out and crawl his way toward us.

‘That guy doesn’t seem like he’ll ever be a decent person either.’

Just as expected, I saw a familiar figure.

Through the busy and noisy crowd, the people clashing swords with one another, the thick smoke hanging in the air, I could see that unpleasant-eyed figure stepping forward.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed him.

Our Holy Sword Hero focused on opening a path let his sword drop and stared blankly at him. It almost felt like two people meeting fatefully in an unexpected place, but, unfortunately, this wasn’t a romance novel.

“Mr. Ji-Hoon?” I asked.

I could hear a rinding sound as he gnashed his teeth; his eyes were unmistakably fixed on Ryu Han. For a moment, he rubbed his eyes, seemingly wondering whether he was seeing things wrong, but once he realized that it wasn’t an illusion, he could no longer keep his composure.

Tears even welled up in his eyes. Since Ryu Han was here, he could easily imagine the Nameless Hyung's fate.

The Nameless Hyung was dead.

To save Alps, his arm was injured; to save Sung Ji-Hoon, he was stabbed.

It was still too early to be certain, but there was a high chance that the Nameless Hyung had sacrificed himself to save them.

Sung Ji-Hoon wasn’t stupid, and he could extrapolate from missing data.

“Where’s the nameless hyung?” Sung Ji-Hoon asked, unconsciously.

Of course, Ryu Han wouldn’t hear him, and even if he could, he probably wouldn’t answer. Still, Sung Ji-Hoon muttered as if Ryu Han were standing right beside him.

“Where is the Nameless Hyung?” he repeated.

“...”

“...”

“Where’s the Nameless Hyung, you son of a bitch?!” he shouted.

'Memories must be flooding back in by now, right? All those sword training sessions with the Nameless Hyung, every possible memory, real or imagined, are probably resurfacing at once.'

In truth, they probably didn’t do much beyond training, but in Sung Ji-Hoon’s head, who was born a loser, every little scene had to be playing vividly right now.

Even something as simple as the Nameless Hyung tossing him a water bottle, calmly telling him he had improved, or answering his questions with curt replies had to be replaying in his mind right now.

As expected, tears poured down his eyes as if they were running faucets, and holy power erupted from him. The sight was enough to make one worry that he could turn to the dark side.

“Y-you awful bastard, I’ll never forgive you!” he shouted.

As always, he shouted a line that felt like it could appear out of nowhere in any story and charged straight at Ryu Han. He shot forward with incredible speed as if he were flying. The sheer force and holy energy he radiated made the ground tremble.

A path opened between him and Ryu Han.

Boooooooom!

‘This time, he has Yuriel. It’s round two.’

“Where is the Nameless Hyung?!” he questioned.

“...”

A loud crack echoed, and a small arena naturally formed around him and Ryu Han.

The troops who didn’t want to get caught up in their fight instinctively stepped back.

‘Looks like he can see it now.’

Ryu Han’s stats had dropped, so Sung Ji-Hoon’s eyes were finally capable of following his sword. The two of them clashed blades, and with a slice, Sung Ji-Hoon’s arm was injured, but thanks to Holy Sword Yuriel, his wound healed immediately.

‘Damn, the Holy Sword effect is insane!’

'Did he awaken? Did our Sung Ji-Hoon finally awaken?'

Just when I was thinking that there was nothing scarier than an angry loser—

“Huh?”

Spluuuuuurt!

Blood erupted from Sung Ji-Hoon’s chest.

‘Damn it... he only lasted thirty seconds...’

“...”

“...”

‘I miss you a lot, Hyun-Sung.’

Once again, I felt some longing toward Kim Hyun-Sung, who had left home.