Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1461. Continental War (41)

‘You’re really gnashing your teeth. You really did reset your mindset.’

It felt like the word "ruthless" suited him perfectly. And on top of that...

‘He’s adapting much faster than I expected.’

His progress was incredibly quick. Of course, it was true that Lady Hamgardia and Lady Rainelpia weren't exactly the best training partners, but the training wasn't easy. The fact that all of his senses except his sense of vision were sealed made it even harder.

He had no way of guessing where the attacks would come from or where they were headed, and on top of that, Lady Palette’s smoke was interfering with Sung Ji-Hoon’s movements. Even though the only thing he could rely on was his vision, he was reacting to Hamgardia and Rainelpia’s weapons as they intermittently appeared around him.

“Hyaaah!”

Boom!

He didn’t have enough time to fully stabilize his stance and lost his balance as a result, but he clearly blocked Lady Hamgardia’s sword, and then he blocked the mace swung by Lady Rainelpia as she appeared from the opposite side.

The moment the two of them hid themselves again, arrows made of smoke poured down on Sung Ji-Hoon. Since they were ladies who had worked together more than once, their teamwork was excellent, but our awakened Holy Sword Hero was deflecting all of those attacks as well.

It wasn’t that he suffered no injuries, but what mattered was that he didn’t allow a lethal attack to land on him. After all, any ordinary wounds would quickly heal thanks to Yuriel.

“Haa... haa... haa...” Sung Ji-Hoon panted.

“You look pretty exhausted.”

“Are you all right, Mr. Ji-Hoon?”

Of course, he didn’t have infinite stamina. Anyone could see how tired he looked. He had been going at it for several hours now, so it was only natural for him to be exhausted. Lady Hamgardia and Lady Rainelpia were also catching their breath, so it was obvious how exhausted he was. Even so...

“Mr. Ji-Hoon, how about taking a short rest?” Lady Hamgardia asked.

“Hoo... hoo... No, I am fine,” he answered.

“What? But right now—”

“It’s... It’s nothing. This much training... The other masters...” he mumbled.

‘That talk about the other masters really needs to stop. Seriously.’

“I-I can do it too. I can become stronger. I-I’m still in my growth phase,” he added.

The guy just waved his hand while wiping off sweat. What was really annoying was that he wouldn’t even look my way. He kept his eyes fixed on the opponent in front of him as if he wanted to focus solely on them.

Was it just my imagination, or did it feel staged? Was it just my imagination that it felt like he was showing off, asking to be seen as working hard? It was like he was trying to prove that he was more diligent and hardworking than the other masters.

“Hyaaaaaah!”

Bam!

Kaboooom!

“Hyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Kaaaaaaaaaboom!

“Aagh! Again!” he shouted.

Regardless of the reason, the fact that he was fired up was something to welcome.

'Right. To be honest, there really was no time to rest right now.'

‘Even at this very moment, people are dying because of the war.’

It was better to work hard while he could still do so.

Due to what was happening outside, there was no room for him to take a break. Of course, he needed to recover before heading into the decisive battle, but there was still quite a lot of time left before our deployment.

It was best to increase the odds as much as possible. After all, to deal with the Republic on the 4-2 Front, a clash between Ryu Han and him was absolutely unavoidable. He wasn't the only one busy. Everyone in the temporary camp was moving frantically, and among them, the busiest of all was...

‘Lady Paint.’

Even in this situation, she had to find a breakthrough point no matter what. Since we arrived at this shelter that barely qualified as one, she hadn’t been able to rest even for a moment. The commanders under Brush and Paint were the same. Trying to stop the war in a situation where the Republic forces and the Union forces were mixed together in battle wasn’t an easy task.

In fact, it was close to impossible.

Battles had been raging for hours across the entire 4-2 Front.

‘It’s like looking for a needle in the desert.’

To reach the core regionwhere Ryu Han was located, they would have to push through troops who were fighting as if they had lost their minds. She had been staring at the map with a bit of hope, but even to me, there was no clear path.

With the battle so evenly matched, it felt even more airtight.

‘That just means people are dying in huge numbers.’

Neither side had any intention of backing down, which meant they were forcing their troops into battle. Even a quick look around through the Telescope showed people dying everywhere. They thrust swords and spears at each other, while arrows and magic rained down on both sides without end.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaagh!"

"Don’t retreat no matter what! Charge! Charge! Charge!"

"Move! Move!"

"If any bastard turns their back on the enemy, I will personally cut their head off. Move! Move! You there! I said move!"

"Hyaaaagh! Aaaagh!"

"Save me... Please... save me!

"You sons of bitches! Dogs of the Republic!”

Even a rough glance at the most eye-catching scenes made me frown unconsciously. Soldiers who tried to flee were beheaded by their own commanders, and others were pushed forward, advancing as if they were forced to swallow poison. Whether from fear of death or sheer tension, the soldiers swinging their swords without really understanding what was happening had tears welling up in their eyes.

They screamed in shrill, desperate voices as they were forced to move from where they stood.

"Heuk... aaaaaaagh! Just die already! You sons of bitches! Please!"

"Aaaaaaagh!"

"Where is the magical support! Medics! Mediiiiics!!!"

"Kill them all! Every last one!"

"Kabooooom!"

"Magic on the right! It’s a fireball! Scatter! Scatter!"

"Kabooooooom!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Soldiers engulfed in flames screamed, but no one came to help them.

"Load! Fire!

"Push! Push! Push!"

"Moooooom! Sob! Aaaaaaagrh!"

I had been spouting nonsense about wanting to stop the war while playing as the Saint, but the sight told me something crucial.

‘Damn, if I don’t stop this, things are going to go completely off the rails.’

One way or another, the thought that this insane hell unfolding before my eyes had to be stopped took root. It wasn’t because of some half-baked sense of justice or sympathy.

‘Too many people are dying...’

This was the problem. People were dying far too easily.

Of course, I knew that expecting a war to have only a small number of casualties was ridiculous, but even taking that into account, an excessive number of soldiers were being cut down.

To make matters even worse, the soldiers sent in to fill the gaps left by the dead were being swept away just the same.

Normally, a few dead soldiers wouldn’t even register in my head, but at this scale, there was no choice but to think differently. To put it bluntly, this war wasn’t going to be the last one. The Continental War was only one of many incidents yet to come.

Sure, a war of this size wouldn’t happen again for a while, but if the number of able-bodied people was reduced drastically, there would be no soldiers left to fight on other fronts.

Moreover, who could say for sure whether those soldiers were just common soldiers? What if one of them could have become an important cog in the future battles had they not been killed in the Continental War? Even among those burning away like moths to a flame, a legend could be born.

Even if none of those people could become an important cog or a legendary figure in the future, the sight before me remained problematic.

‘Damn, this is really bad.’

"S-save me..."

"Mom... heuuuk..."

"S-someone... please... heuk..."

"Please... someone stop this. Someone, please..."

When a battle was going back and forth, the front line would get rebuilt, leading to a lull, but since neither side had any intention of yielding, the only thing increasing was the number of casualties.

No matter where one looked, all one could see were humans being cut down. To the boy soldier trembling as he gripped his weapon, this place had to look exactly like a living hell.

Of course, the opposite was also true.

‘To some people, this was paradise.’

Jung Jin-Ho and those Brigade bastards definitely felt that way. When I turned my gaze toward the area where a large number of people were dying, I saw those psychopathic killing fiends.

"Kill them! Kill them!"

"Is it okay to kill all of them?"

"Yeah. They said it’s fine to kill every last one."

"The captain did?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

‘These bastards... they're like fish in water, damn it.’

The contrast with the expressions of the other soldiers was so stark that it sent a chill down my spine. Jung Jin-Ho was hiding his true nature and putting on a gentlemanly act in front of his Brigade members, but there was a smile lingering at the corners of his mouth.

He was probably feeling pleased by the soldiers who kept flooding in, no matter how many of them were killed. At times, his eyes even curved into crescents.

"I suppose we should at least thank Mr. Ki-Young and Miss Ji-Hye, Captain."

"Hahaha. Really? In that case, I should make sure to pass along the message personally."

"..."

He was laughing as he swung his sword in the middle of this living hell. Each Brigade member had their own style, so their methods of killing were all over the place. Some tortured their victims painfully before killing them, and others would sever limbs before finishing them off.

Even the twins tossed severed heads around like toys.

Of course, I also saw Hee‑Young moving in sync with the others.

‘Damn it... even that pig is here.’

I even saw the man-eating pig that had followed me back then. Jung Jin-Ho was taking his time as if he had brought his eccentric Brigade to a playground, but of course, he was also carving through people with ease.

The soldiers around him couldn’t properly block his sword, and they fell one after another. Since he could wield blood magic, the battlefield soaked in blood was practically his home turf.

"Don't you think Captain looks pretty pleased?"

"You’re right, but I still can't figure him out."

"Well, it’s good for us, isn’t it? We can run wild like this without holding back."

‘Ah, damn it.’

"Ahhhh!

"Ack!"

Blood and flesh splattered across the ground along with screams and explosions.

Amidst all that, I saw him with his arms outstretched, seemingly lost in ecstasy.

‘Damn, this is insane... What a twisted pervert.’

The Brigade members were all busy, yet for some reason, he kept grinning with his arms wide open as if he couldn't care less whether someone was staring at him.

‘Shouldn’t someone stop that bastard? If he keeps this up, won’t everything fall out of balance?’

Naturally, even the Republic was keeping a close eye on the strange phenomena happening in the area where these guys were.

"Haha... right when we were having fun... an unwanted guest actually showed up."

“...”

“...”

"What do you mean? What’s wrong? Captain... kgh... ugh... ah..."

Our hero appeared, severing the head of a Brigade member. The hero of the Republic, the one who would stop the atrocities of those insane psychopathic murderers, was ironically... a psychopathic killing machine himself.

‘It’s Ryu Han!’

For a brief moment, the two stared at each other, and it was Jung Jin-Ho who spoke first.

"It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jung Jin-Ho."

"..."

"You’re the First Pillar of the Republic... I knew we’d meet... Can I call you Ryu Han?"

"..."

"You’re no fun."

‘This is a full-blown clash of psychopaths.’

When Ryu Han placed his hand on the hilt of his weapon, Jung Jin-Ho's channeled spell manifested arrows of blood that rained down on the former from all directions.