Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1515. Extinction (25)

The sight of pigeons and humanity tangled together in battle instantly pervaded my line of sight. The remaining soldiers of the Union of Kingdoms and the Federation, the neutral nation of Laios, the few survivors, the routed troops and refugees heading toward humanity’s beacon, and even the soldiers still resisting the enemy on the final fronts of Lindel, Castle Rock, and the World Tree Fronts.

The battles unfolding simultaneously across the same timeframe escalated into something impossible to calculate or judge one by one. I realized that trying to control everything happening across the entire continent was, in the end, pointless.

In the first place, I hadn’t taken in the whole map of the continent in order to win every single battle, so there was no need to cling to it. All of this was simply to keep Mesla Castle safe, even if only a bit safer.

In the midst of that, what caught me off guard slightly was that I saw scenes I once witnessed alongside Kim Hyun-Sung from behind the stage. A very familiar scene started to come into view.

— Just a few years ago, I never would have imagined we’d receive help from humans... From the slave liberation war up until now, if it weren’t for all of you, our kingdom and the other races would have collapsed long ago.

— No, we...

— On behalf of the kingdom, I offer my sincere gratitude to the Black Rose Salon. For recovering my brother’s body, and for standing with us in resistance until the very end... for everything... truly, thank you.

— We’re the ones who should be thanking you, Your Majesty. In many ways... we’ve received so much from you. We only did what had to be done.

— This... will be the final battle, then.

— It seems so. It was long, in a way... and short, in another... but thank you for everything.

— May... Elune’s blessing be with you...

— May... the protection of the Black Rose be with you...

— Light it up!!! Light of the World Tree!!!

— Hold the line!!!

‘That bastard... he’s drawn his sword...’

It didn’t look like they had simply moved troops to pressure Mesla Castle. It seemed they had made up their minds and were fully committed to war. The timing of events was unfolding much faster than I had expected. Of course, it didn’t feel unnatural or strange. After all, we had also played a part in accelerating the coming destruction.

In any case, only the pace had changed; the course of events itself had not changed at all. Even from Castle Rock, which was buried in the fog, I could hear the constant cries of soldiers.

— Castle Rock will never fall! Never! These walls will not collapse!

— Everyone, take up arms!!! It doesn’t matter if you’re combat personnel or not! Pick up a weapon and face the enemy!!!

— Castle Rock will not fall! Hold the line! Kill every pigeon that climbs over the walls!!!

— Aaaaaaaahhh!

— It’s the voice of God!

— O God!

‘There’s no need to get attached.’

The reason I decided to speak to them was not out of sympathy or pity.

— Just a little further and it’s the survivor camp! We just need to make it there!

— It’s the voice of God... M-maybe God hasn’t abandoned us yet... ugh...

— Ah...

— God hasn’t... abandoned us...

‘You all need to live a little longer.’

This was, in the end, just to keep the pigeons tied down and to prevent this battlefield from being shaped according to First Life Ki-Young’s plans.

‘So don’t go looking for some god or anything. There’s no such thing, and don’t hold onto hope that you’ll make it out of here alive...’

It was a simple matter, and it was something even a child could understand. If the continental war were to end right now, where would all those pigeons and the Four Great Archangels go? They would obviously return to the nest to prepare for what was coming or head straight back to Mesla Castle.

In the first place, this happened because First Life Ki-Young couldn’t abandon his original scenario, and while it had to have been a gamble for him, there was no way he thought there was nothing to gain from it.

He knew that I could communicate with the entire continent, and he probably also guessed that doing so consumed some kind of resource.

‘Even in the worst-case scenario...’

His goal was probably to completely drain all of our resources. Honestly, First Life Ki-Young’s prediction wasn’t even wrong. I was only issuing commands through what amounted to trivial, ordinary quests, but because of the sheer scale, an absurd amount of holy power was being drained out of me in real time.

Right now, I was mainly distributing quests to commanders and named individuals, but even so, the loss was significant. On top of that, we had to conserve the mages’ strength while still fending off the pigeons’ air raids on Mesla Castle, which meant a huge amount of holy power was being consumed just to control everyone within the fortress. At this rate...

‘Even if I conserve it, I’ve got only a week’s worth.’

The biggest problem was that the second life was stagnating. Even at this very moment, time in the second life was crawling along like a turtle. In other words, I was working overtime, but the pay that was supposed to come in wasn’t being deposited into my account.

I didn’t know if First Life Ki-Young had calculated all of this exactly, but either way, he had succeeded in limiting our options. Of course, his options were limited as well...

‘This is inconvenient.’

This didn’t mean that it wasn’t a problem anymore.

"Sir! It’s dangerous!” Alps shouted.

“Don’t worry about me, Miss Alps. Focus on dealing with the pigeons landing on the ark,” I instructed.

“Ah... ah! Okay!”

After glancing at Ryu Han standing beside me, Alps nodded and rushed toward the battlefield.

“Miss Yeon-Soo, same for you,” I added.

“Okay, Mr. Ki-Young.”

Ha Yeon-Soo tightened her grip on her weapon before heading into battle as well.

“Keep hammering! Don’t stop working!”

If the technicians and workers were to join the fight, it would be much easier to hold off the attack, but stopping them now would be no different from declaring that we intended to remain stranded here.

“Mages, respond only to aerial attacks and conserve your mana!” I ordered.

Close combat was exactly what the enemy wanted as well. One by one, the pigeons that landed inside Mesla Castle clashed with the Republic forces, devolving into chaotic grappling fights.

The more noticeable pigeons were cut down by Ryu Han’s blade, or had their heads severed by the swords of Lee Chang-Ryeol and Ha Yeon-Soo. Alps, with Shiro at the front, was also at the forefront of the battlefield, rallying the troops while swinging her sword.

All around, the screams of the wounded and the dying erupted, mixed with the sounds of the castle walls breaking apart. The performance of our named allies was impressive, but the number and quality of the enemy pigeons were by no means low.

There were even pigeons that could withstand dozens of exchanges against Lee Chang-Ryeol’s sword, and some even managed to evade Ryu Han’s blade. The Republic’s routed soldiers were at a disadvantage in terms of raw capability.

“This is like a puzzle, right?! Huh?! Alex! We’re doing it right, yeah?!” Kennen asked.

“Just fight, damn it!!! I don’t know either!” Alex shouted in frustration.

“One’s heading over there! I’ll take it down!” Kennen shouted.

“Kennen!! Alex called out.

“I see everything! Great Warrior! Over here! We need help here! Ah! Aaaah! The voice of God! It’s the voice of God! Move! Move!!! Alex! Follow me! We’re heading to the ark!” Kennen continued.

“What?!”

“We’re going to the ark right now!! It’s the voice of God! I heard it again!” Kennen said.

‘Well, what can you do? We just have to push through.’

“The ark! Get inside the ark! Hurry! Fall back while pulling the line back! Retreat!”

“Pull back the line as you retreat! Hold them at the ark! Hold them inside the ark!!”

“If those pigeon bastards attack the ark...”

“Barrier! Barrier!!! Cast it! Cast!!!”

“Don’t stop hammering!!!”

Even as they were dying, the craftsmen kept hammering, and others desperately tried to hold the ark. Amidst all these, I distributed quests, and in reality, we were taking down far more pigeons than our actual combat strength would suggest, but...

‘There’s no helping it when we’re outnumbered.’

They were pushing in recklessly, and with just two assassins, two swordsmen, and one Shiro, it was impossible to suppress this many enemies. If we had a proper mage, it wouldn’t turn out like this...

‘No, don’t dwell on it.’

Unless the mage was someone on Jung Ha-Yan’s level, they wouldn’t make that much of a difference. Even if she were here, I wouldn’t tell her to waste her mana at this stage. There was still a long way to go. The path from Mesla Castle to the nest wouldn’t be easy either.

My gaze kept shifting, from Castle Rock and the World Tree Fronts, the refugee forces, and to Mesla Castle. Of course, I excluded Lindel, where the advancing commander was in charge.

Eventually, my gaze landed on Yoo Ah-Young, who was still sweating bullets as she hammered away.

Even with screams and explosions all around her, she didn’t so much as blink, remaining completely absorbed in her work.

I had seen her hammer countless times before, but it felt like the first time I had ever seen that expression on her face. The technicians assigned to assist her were the same.

An arrow struck her back, but she didn’t let out even a single scream and simply continued her work.

“Protect Yoo Ah-Young!” I ordered

As if he had been waiting for it, Lee Chang-Ryeol shot toward her. No, it looked like he had already been circling around her even before I shouted, but it seemed Yoo Ah-Young didn’t even notice him.

“Move! Ladders! Bring the ladders!”

“Mages, move the materials! There’s no time! Hurry!”

“Cut it! Throw it! I said throw it!”

“Ladders! Move them! Move the ladders!”

“Stop overthinking everything and just start hammering, you idiots! This isn’t the time to show off your craftsmanship!”

“This might be our final masterpiece...”

“Swing the hammer! Bring the materials! Where are the ropes?!”

There was no room to worry about quality. All I could see were people completely focused on shaping the ship. Of course, I knew this shouldn’t be possible. Even in a modern shipyard, how much time and manpower would it take to build a single ship?

Even making something that only imitated the form of a ship would never be easy. No, it was supposed to be impossible. Building it in the middle of a battle made even less sense.

Yet, absurdly enough, something unbelievable was unfolding right before my eyes. Fighters faced the enemy, and maged moving materials with magic while casting barriers on the craftsmen. The craftsmen clung tightly to ropes or ladders without stopping their hands.

It was obvious why they were so blindly devoted to building that thing.

Their faces said it all—they believed something would happen. They believed a miracle would surely occur. They revealed faces that believed that if they followed the voice guiding them, there would be a faint glimmer of hope.

At the center of it all was Yoo Ah-Young. Just like when the continent’s strongest entered a state of extreme concentration, she, too, looked as if she stepped into some kind of higher realm.

‘This might actually work.’

Not that building the ship itself was possible...

‘A miracle... might actually happen.’

I couldn’t help but think that I might truly be able to bring about a miracle. Human talent and human faith sometimes made things like that possible. They could make even the impossible happen, even things that go against the system’s very rules.

It felt like something worthy of issuing a Mythic-rank quest.

Of course, there was also a high chance the reward wouldn’t function properly. Just because one had issued a quest and declared a reward did not mean everything would come true. This was about plausibility. One could not create a Mythic-rank quest like “raise your finger” and set the reward as "increasing Strength by 100."

Likewise, one could not create a Mythic-rank quest to swing a sword and reward someone by turning them into a swordsmanship genius. To justify a reward of +100 Strength, a thousand years of Strength training was necessary. To become a swordsmanship genius, one needed to invest a comparable amount of time.

If a quest lacked that kind of plausibility, it usually either consumes an absurd amount of holy power or simply fails to function altogether.

The point was that one could not offer something ridiculous as a reward. To meet even the minimum level of plausibility, there had to be an achievement to match it.

“...”

“...”

To me, it looked like Yoo Ah-Young was building up that achievement right now. It looked like she was accomplishing something worthy of creating a miracle. It even looked like she was shaving away at her own life force as if she were possessed.

Upon seeing that, I decided to create a quest.

[Creating a Mythic-rank Forced Quest.]

[Completion of the Ark (0/1)]

[Delivering the Mythic-rank quest to Player Yoo Ah-Young.]

[Registering the quest reward.]

“...”

“...”

[Nice Boat]

“Yaaaaaaaah!”

Yoo Ah-Young slammed her hammer on the ark.

BOOM!

[Player Yoo Ah-Young has completed the Mythic-rank Forced Quest.]

“...”

“...”

[Sending the reward.]

Had the ark from the second life torn through dimensions to come here in the first life? The massive ship was shrouded by golden light, and it slowly rose to the skies.

“Wooooooaaaahhhhh!”

“Get on the ark! Everyone! Get on the ark!”

A miracle was here.