Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1464. Continental War (44)

For some reason, his actions reminded me of those school anti-bullying campaigns.

‘Do I... have to tell them to stop... too?’

Do we all have to shout “Stop!” with our arms stretched out? Lady Paint’s face naturally twisted in disbelief. Of course, the reason behind it was the factions of our Holy Sword Hero, who had unknowingly lost control of himself.

‘This isn’t right. Damn it.’

The original plan had been to strike at the command center, including Ryu Han, and completely disable the enemy’s commanders. In truth, there was no other method. The goal was to make the enemy troops withdraw on their own once their commanders were neutralized.

Naturally, the most important elements of the operation were speed and stealth, so loudly announcing “We’re here!” was one of the worst possible troll moves our hero could have pulled.

Could it be that he simply couldn’t bear to watch people killing each other? Or was his youthful blood refusing to stay calm? Of course, given everything we had seen inside the tunnels, it wasn’t surprising that his suppressed emotions finally erupted upon reaching the surface.

However, the truth was that he had thrown caution to the wind.

Apparently, his two shouts weren't enough, as he gathered all his holy power and roared, “STOP THIS WAR!!!”

What made it even more absurd was...

‘What? Why is everyone stopping?’

...It actually worked.

‘W-what the hell is going on...’

Why was this effective? Had he somehow run a war-stopping campaign in the first life without anyone noticing it?

“STOP!!!”

Everyone just froze, staring dumbfounded at the Holy Sword Hero emerging from the tunnel. The soldiers swinging their blades in the frenzy of war and those gnashing their teeth to avenge their fallen friends were staring at Sung Ji-Hoon.

Some even dropped their weapons. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it, but when I thought about it, it wasn’t completely unreasonable. The radiant light pouring from the Holy Sword across the battlefield could be part of the reason behind this.

‘Isn’t this basically proof that... everyone just wants to stop?’

They were already at their physical limits. They were soaked in blood and sweat and could barely move, but despite that, they had been swinging swords and spears nonstop.

All of them had taken up arms for their country and for their families, and it seemed Sung Ji‑Hoon had made them realize that fact. The fact that this war no longer had any justification.

Why they had to fight, why they had to risk their lives, and why they had to die... Most of them couldn’t find an answer to any of those questions. Perhaps everyone had been waiting all along for someone to stop them.

The hero and the Holy Sword emanating a radiant light were like buckets of cold water thrown over the battlefield. Given the ominous shift in the air, I hurriedly sent messages to Lady Paint and the other combatants.

No one knew how this would turn out, so it was best to take out some insurance first.

‘This might actually work.’

“D‑don’t be ridiculous! T‑Those bastards killed my comrades! You think I can just... just end it like this?!”

‘A scared dog always barks louder. If you want to fight, then fight. Why are you trying to get Ji‑Hoon’s approval for it?’

“Th‑That’s right! You’re telling us to stop now? That’s bullshit!”

‘Yeah, yeah. You’re desperately screaming for someone to hold you back, aren’t you?’

Thanks to the explosion earlier, a significant number of commanders were already dead. No, even those still alive seemed to have realized that the fighting here no longer had any meaning. After all, they were just killing each other and shaving down each other’s forces; tactically speaking, it could only be a net loss.

It felt like a fire that had flared up too easily was now cooling just as quickly. A few soldiers even dropped their weapons.

In the middle of it all, Sung Ji‑Hoon kept pouring out that radiant light, clearly having realized that it was working. No one seemed particularly interested in who the hell he was or where he had come from.

Perhaps as long as there was light, people were willing to just let things slide.

Of course, Ji‑Hoon wasn't only the trigger. The soldiers weren’t looking at the light; they were looking at the carnage around them. The ground was smeared with blood and flesh, and there were corpses sprawled out in miserable heaps.

They finally realized what had happened here. The once‑seething battlefield began to turn awkward and ambiguous, like a drinking party that had suddenly gone sour. What happened next was obvious.

‘The smart ones will bail first.’

Sure enough, voices drifted in from afar. They weren’t soldiers of the Republic or the Union, but groups that had joined the war for money or common interests.

“O‑our mercenary company is going to retreat.”

“...”

“Too many of our comrades have died. The contract is void. Our company is basically finished anyway... so I don’t even know if the old contract still means anything.”

“O‑our guild as well... We’re withdrawing here...”

“W‑What!? Don’t be ridiculous! You think you can end a war like this? By whose authority?! Retreating now is disobedience, punishable by death! Do you think this kind of betrayal will be tolerated?!”

“If you want to keep fighting, then you go ahead. You’ve seen all of this and still feel nothing?”

“What did you say?!”

“We’re done fighting here as well. If you’re so eager to keep going, I suggest heading to the 4‑1 Front line and proving your loyalty to the Empire there.”

Chaos erupted even within the Republic’s ranks. Of course, compared to the Empire and the Union of Kingdoms, they still had a more unified army, but even they couldn’t stop those who were leaving.

Some lowered their arms and started joining the Black Rose Salon and the Keepers of the Moonlight, clearly showing that they were ready to abandon the war entirely.

It was absurd, but...

‘There’s no guarantee that this will actually end here.’

Most of the troops had lost their fighting spirit, but the fire hadn’t been extinguished completely. Even a tiny spark could reignite it, and above all, there were clearly factions that didn’t want the war to end.

After all, the ones who caused the chaos here wouldn’t just stand idly by. Naturally, I used the Telescope. As the troops slowly scattered and tested the waters, I saw those watching this entire situation unfold.

"What... is that?"

"This is an unexpected development. I thought we’d be able to squeeze a bit more fun out of this... Have you heard anything from upstairs, Hee‑Young?"

"Not yet."

"Why isn’t the boss back yet? That guy looked pretty strong. Our boss... he’ll be fine, right?"

"Well... he’s not someone who’d die easily, but... right now, more than the boss, shouldn’t we be dealing with that? Up until a moment ago, they were trying to kill each other, and now what the hell are they doing? And that light, what is it? Don’t tell me some saint popped out of nowhere and is stopping the war or something?"

"This is strange."

"Yeah, I agree."

"What do you want to do, Hee‑Young?"

"If we drop one big spell, they’ll start fighting again on their own."

‘Yeah, that’s exactly what I was worried about.’

"A ceasefire only works if both sides agree, after all."

"Right? We’ve never agreed to a ceasefire."

‘Looks like I’ve gotta stop that, at least.’

I was worried whether I could make it in time, but thankfully, it didn’t look like they were that far away, so the timing could just work out.

"Before that... we should take care of the uninvited guests who’ve come our way first."

"Someone’s here?

"Invisibility magic. The number is... sixteen, no, seventeen, eighteen... Looks like survivors from the debutante ball four years ago."

‘Eighteen?’

Naturally, I hurriedly scanned my surroundings.

‘What the hell? Where did they all go?’

Paint, Brush, Palette, Hamgardia, Rainelpia, Rusvilla, and all the ladies who fought together back at the debutante ball...

‘Where did they go?’

They weren’t here. All I had done was tell Lady Paint that there could be people hidden nearby who didn’t want the war to end. I even gave a hint to pinpoint their location as a precaution, but Lady Paint didn't have to go there along with the other ladies.

The goal wasn’t to capture or kill the enemies, but to suppress them. I thought she’d take only enough troops to handle the operation, but that had been wishful thinking on my part. There was no way I could have imagined her taking every single lady who had survived the debutante ball.

I felt like I got struck in the head by a hammer, but I immediately understood why all the ladies had left.

"Four years ago? Debutante? I don’t really remember that...”

"From the Union of Kingdoms."

"Ahhh... that was when we went to kill Song Jung-Wook."

While the Brigade members were chatting casually, Lady Hamgardia rushed in.

Kabooom!

She jumped, swinging a massive greatsword down toward the tall, lanky guy, but there was no way he would let that attack land so easily. In an instant, his figure blurred, and then he swung his grotesque weapon toward the defenseless Lady Hamgardia.

Boom!

Lady Rainelpia appeared with a shield in hand.

"So it was you guys."

"Who the hell are you?"

"It was you guys."

From behind, Lady Paint appeared, picking up where Rainelpia had left off.

"..."

"..."

"I somewhat expected it, but I never expected to meet you here... Whether that’s lucky or unlucky... it’s been a long time. Four years is a pretty long time. I... never forgot. Not once in all those four years... never ever."

From somewhere, Lady Pastel exhaled smoke.

"Sshhhh... huuuuuuh..."

"We’ve been living in hell all this time... no, it’s more accurate to say we all were in hell. It was exhausting. I spent three years sending people all over to find you. You were so careful that they couldn’t find traces of you. Where were you hiding? What were you doing? There were times when I wanted to give up...

"Sshhhh... huuuuuuh..."

The smoke began to rise steadily.

"But... here we are, meeting at last. The situation isn’t ideal, and this wasn’t exactly the stage I had prepared, but... in any case... finally... we meet. We lost so many friends along the way... haha... How wonderful it would have been if we were all together."

"Whooooooooooo..."

"The Murder Brigade."

"Sshhhh..."

"I don’t really need confirmation, but... I’ll ask you anyway."

"..."

"The things that happened four years ago at the debutante ball... that was your doing, wasn’t it? The assassins of the Brigade, the survivors of the cleanup incident, and the mastermind of that incident, Song Jung-Wook of Little Rock, brought war and chaos to the continent."

"Who knows?"

"..."

"There were so many incidents, I can’t remember them all. Hehe."

‘It’s such a cliche line.’

The masked woman sounded like she was deliberately toying with Lady Paint. Anyone could tell it was blatant provocation, but Hee‑Young seemed to have no intention of continuing the fight here. She was probably judging that completing the mission mattered more than getting into a messy brawl with the ladies.

"Stand down. We don’t have time to deal with you here.

"As if. We finally met... Do you really think we’d just let you walk away?"

A rough‑looking punk stepped forward from behind Hee‑Young and glared at Paint. "You said you knew everything before coming here, right? So why the hell did you come all the way here? You got a death wish or something?"

‘What a stupid question.’

The reason behind it was obvious. As if she had been waiting for that question, Lady Paint revealed eyes that were completely dead in a way I had never seen before as she said, "Revenge."

"..."

"I'm here for revenge."