The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 487

BOOM!

A distant skyscraper collapsed with a deafening roar, having been split cleanly in half. Shockwaves of mana-infused energy were sent surging with bursts of light.

KROOOAR! RAHHHHHHH!

The roar of a monster then followed, clashing with the battle cries of the responding heroes. Several skirmishes were erupting everywhere, causing several heroes running through the streets to flinch—before veering off into quieter areas instead of joining the fray.

At first glance, anyone would think they were deserters abandoning their allies. The truth, however, was they were just heading toward another battleground… one that they had to brace themselves for what was to come.

“It’s been confirmed that designated targeting disperses power; switch to full manual control! Take it down the moment it shows up!”

“Channel all barrier authority to a single node! If we scatter and get hit, we’re all going to collapse instantly!”

Dozens of heroes surrounded an entire city block, laying down a complex network of magic arrays. The enemy had yet to even appear, yet every single one of them stood their ground with absolute certainty that the battle was imminent.

And as if on cue, an eerie silence fell over the area just as the preparations finished.

Rumble-

The land shook, foretelling the arrival of the monster that had just finished devouring an entire underground shelter through the bedrock.

BOOM!

Gelatinous black tendrils through the earth in all directions, wrapping around buildings and gripping the streets tightly to drag its massive body up.

Finally, the heroes saw it: a head resembling a bison’s with a hulking frame that was cloaked in thick hide and bulging muscle. Easily over ten meters tall, the monster’s sheer size alone was terrifying—yet there was something much more ominous the heroes were focused on.

SPLAT!

Its entire left side was coated in a black, oozing slime that refused to hold a consistent shape. The grotesque, formless mass just endlessly melted and reformed, making the heroes’ expressions all twist in horror.

“Shit…”

“So it was true…”

Recognizing the faint outlines taking shape within the slime, the heroes all tensed. Ordinary people wouldn’t have known, but to the high-ranking heroes gathered, it couldn’t be more clear: citizens who had been swallowed up with the underground shelter and fused into the monster’s body.

The grim reality of it all, previously known only through comms, was confirmed by their own eyes. Not a single person moved, frozen, until the commanding officer snapped back to his senses.

“COMMENCE CAPTURE!”

Jolted by the shout, the heroes all snapped back into action at once, activating every prepared incantation they had.

Swish!

From magic arrays inscribed across buildings and pavement to chains, ropes, and massive phantom hands, countless restraints were launched to bind the monster’s massive body.

KRAAARGH!

The monster thrashed violently, shrieking in rage as its entire form was being bound. Thankfully, even though the dozens of containment spells were trembling on the verge of snapping, the heroes’ magic held them together through sheer force.

“Ugh… This isn’t just Rank A—it’s A+! What the hell is this?!”

“No way… Hey! Call in for backup now! This thing’s a devourer type!”

Realizing the monster had grown exponentially from consuming both the shelter’s citizens and the heroes guarding them, the heroes scrambled to subdue it. They were dealing with a far more dangerous entity than anything they had ever faced before…

CRACK-

The monster’s head split vertically, revealing an enormous maw.

“I’m hungry.”

CRUNCH!

As the sickening sound echoed from within the black slime, the monster’s right side doubled in size. Then, the monster swung its now enormous fist.

BOOM!

More than half the binding spells were ripped apart, and even the barrier they had prepared as a last resort had been destroyed before it could even activate—all with one blow.

“Urgh…”

“Agh!”

Feeling the mana backflow ripping through their bodies, the heroes collapsed to the ground as they coughed up blood. Then, they all slowly looked up as they were covered in a massive shadow looming over them.

“I’m hungry…”

Splat-

The monster drooled hungrily from its gaping maw, looking down at them as it tore away the last of the restraints with ease.

“This is going to leave some serious trauma…”

“Pretty sure I’ll need therapy from the Netherworld after this.”

Staring up at the creature radiating bloodlust and hunger, the wounded heroes managed faint, bitter smiles. They all forcibly gathered their remaining mana as the monster’s maw approached. In their eyes, it was better to die cleanly and descend to the Netherworld than be absorbed into the monster and turned against their allies.

Resolute, they concentrated the last of their internal mana—

“Set-”

Dozens of crimson magic arrays appeared all over the monster’s body.

“Explosion.”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

From its feet to its skull, the magic arrays ignited one after another in a chain of explosions that tore the monster’s body to shreds. But it survived, its mutilated form writhing as it regenerated—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A second wave—not too strong, not too weak, but perfectly calibrated—overwhelmed the regeneration and set its entire body ablaze.

Before the awe-inspiring bombardment, the wounded heroes froze in marvel.

Woong-

The magic arrays changed, overlapping and forming zigzag perforations all the way down the black slime. At once, the monster instinctively understood the danger, causing it to gather its strength in a hurry.

“Death Bite.”

But it was too late.

CRUNCH!

It was shredded by an invisible maw, losing all the people it had trapped.

“Now!”

Swoosh!

Rushing in at the signal, the heroes who had been waiting leapt in from all sides; some of them caught the falling civilians with conjured mana-formed nets while the rest surrounded the barely surviving monster to turn it into ash for good.

“Phew… This is seriously revolting.”

Watching the battle come to a close, Luize fell into thought on the rooftop. Out of nowhere, multiple monsters of the same kind had appeared in the middle of the city. Then they even swallowed people and held them hostage.

And, more than anything else, the monsters were unlike the feral beasts they used to be… as if they were driven by a sinister aura full of malice.

We’re still holding out for now… but the situation isn’t good.

For some unknown reason, the Heroes Association’s surveillance network kept failing to detect the monsters. And because of that, by the time they were found, the abominations had already consumed shelters and residential zones. Having consumed so much, they were much more difficult to subjugate.

They were now always on the back foot, shifting most strategies toward restraining over defeating them outright—but that too came with a cost.

This takes more manpower than extermination, and the collateral damage is enormous…

While the monsters endlessly appeared from who-knew-where, the number of heroes only dwindled. The area she was in was only holding on because she was there. Elsewhere, many zones had likely already fallen.

Maybe it’s time for the Einherjar to step in.

To replace the heroes whose ability to fight was restricted due to fear of exclusion from the Blessing of the Eternal, the Einherjar—undead warriors tied directly to the Netherworld—were perfect.

Yet they never came. At some point, the Heroes Association, which had been hoping to avoid conflict by waiting for reinforcements from the Netherworld, could no longer contact Se-Hoon.

That guy wouldn’t be late without a good reason…

Had he been attacked by the Demon Force before they were and was wounded badly enough to delay everything?

Luize tried to reassure herself that a monster that surpassed even the Perfect Ones wouldn’t fall so easily, but she couldn’t stop her eyes that drifted, almost reflexively, to the Ascension Ring on her left ring finger.

There was a vague, gnawing sense of unease tightening in her chest, drawing a frown across her face—

KRAAARGH!

The entire city shook from the deafening roar of dozens of monsters bursting onto the surface all at once, each radiating power on par with the one just slain.

Luize’s face turned grim. This is dangerous.

There were just too many of them for her to control the battlefield while carefully restraining her power like before. On top of that, if even one managed to free the sealed ones, it was a given that the chaos would spiral out of control.

If even a single one escapes…

There was something within her telling her that those captured would suffer a fate far worse than death—one that was horrifying and painful.

And thus Luize let go of her earlier hesitation.

She raised her hand to summon Akasha through the Ascension Ring, ready to draw out her full strength—

Whoosh!

Portals flared open across the city: the army of undead had arrived.

RUMBLE-

The reinforcements were endless, seemingly numbering in the thousands.

“They-they’re finally here!”

“We’re saved!!”

Cheers erupted from all corners of the battlefield at the arrival of the long-awaited reinforcements from the Netherworld. All of them were certain: sent by Se-Hoon, the one who had led humanity to victory time and time again, they were the key to turning the tide.

In one go, the despair was banished and replaced by a newfound hope.

They watched as the undead army charged into the monsters overrunning the city, answering their hope.

Bang!

Only to see them all smashed aside like bowling pins struck by a runaway ball.

“…Huh?”

Luize blankly stared at the once-formidable undead being utterly swept away.

“No way…”

“What… is this…?”

The watching crowd forgot to despair, only able to stare slack-jawed at the situation so far from what they expected.

“Who’s the strongest person here?!”

“Even the second or third strongest is fine! Just tell us quickly, or we’re just going to die again!!”

Hearing the urgent shouts of the ghosts who had come with the army that were fluttering around the city, the heroes glanced around at each other. Startled and confused, they were unsure of what to make of the ghosts’ bizarre plea.

Still, as if on cue, they all unanimously turned their gaze to Luize. Immediately after, the ghosts zipped straight toward her, hovering above the rooftop.

“Are you the strongest one here?!”

“An S-rank? Even quasi-S is fine!”

Frowning at them, Luize nodded.

“I guess I count, yeah.”

“Found her!”

“Commander! Beginning handover protocol now!”

“Wait—”

She couldn’t even ask anything. The ghosts had already drawn in mana, causing the words floating like smoke within their forms to merge into a single entity.

“This is…”

Just as Luize recognized it was Lea’s enchantment, the fragments in each ghost’s body assembled and launched upward above her head.

Woong!

A glowing golden halo, formed by enchantment magic, floated over her head. Bewildered, Luize blinked and was about to ask again what was happening…?

PUFF!

The undead army, which had been taking a brutal beating, suddenly retaliated.

“Now I can finally see clearly!”

“You bastards… I’ll kill every last one of you!!”

They turned the tide in an instant, dazzling the battlefield with their attacks. Even when the monsters raised the civilians they had swallowed as shields, the undead didn’t flinch.

“You think that’ll stop us?!”

“In this age, dying is milder than getting a cold!”

Compared to those unfamiliar with the Blessing of the Eternal, who hesitated in the face of death, those tethered to the Netherworld struck without fear. They all instinctively knew death would not trigger a loss.

“What are you guys doing! Go support them now!”

“No need to fight directly against the monsters—just cover them!”

The tide turned so fast that Luize was left dazed.

“What in the world is going on?”

If the undead were so strong, why had they been so weak at first? As she searched for the answer, her eyes naturally drifted to the halo above her head.

Is there something about this “commander” that those ghosts said earlier…?

Was there an operational issue with the undead corps? As Luize studied the halo, trying to find out, a faint voice abruptly sounded in her ear.

“Pass-pass-pass-pass-error-rebuild-pass-pass…”

A soft, monotone chant, as if someone were reciting a ritual. She immediately recognized whose voice it was.

“Lea?”

Silence fell… then the voice through the halo returned.

“Ah. So you’re the newly appointed squad leader, Luize. No wonder things are going smoother now…”

“Squad leader? Never mind that—what’s going on? What about Se-Hoon?!”

“He got ambushed by Heaven Eye and is still recovering. He’s not in danger, but his synesthetic mindscape took a hit, so he can’t use any of his powers or skills right now.”

“What?!”

Luize’s eyes shot wide in shock. The man who used to pop his heart like it was a balloon was too injured to use his powers?! She nearly dashed straight toward the Netherworld, just barely restraining herself when her eyes caught the still-raging battle across the city.

“…Tsk.”

If she ran over out of worry, all she’d get was a scolding. She calmed her pounding heart.

“Then who sent this army? Was it Richard?”

“Nope. I sent them.”

“You?!” Luize blinked in disbelief.

She was sure that Lea didn’t have any skills related to necromancy. How could she have summoned so many undead?

“I’m faking Se-Hoon’s command using my Unique Skill. A kind of workaround, really,” Lea answered without missing a beat, still drawing enchantments.

With the Sphere, which was connected to the Netherworld, Lea infused a fabricated synesthetic mindscape into the undead to direct them. However, it had been difficult to control them since there was a limit to what she could simulate through Phase Manifestation—at least until Se-Hoon devised another workaround: a command structure.

“I act as captain and deploy the undead in Se-Hoon’s place. The strongest heroes on site act as commanders, supporting the system’s computation and aiding the fight. That’s our current system.”

In fact, the undead weren’t just deployed where Luize was but all over the world. Every newly appointed commander was fighting in their own way.

Boom!

The second they confirmed that killing the monsters had no effect on their selection criteria for the Blessing of the Eternal, Sung-Ha, Amir, and Aria began massacring the monsters without hesitation.

Whoosh!

Eun-Ha and Jake also advanced, but cautiously led the undead while minimizing civilian casualties.

Krooar!

And before the undead even arrived, the Inoue siblings had already subjugated every monster and cleared their battlefield.

Observing it all, Lea kept inputting new commands and enchantment patterns into the Sphere, adjusting and refining them in real time.

Woong!

Naturally, for Lea, it was far more taxing than synchronizing when she synchronized the surface with the Netherworld earlier. Yet Lea pushed forward, through the pounding headaches and grinding mental strain.

“Until Se-Hoon fully recovers, we’re keeping things this way. So you’ll need to…”

“Don’t worry.”

Luize gently tapped the metallic mask covering her lower face and narrowed her eyes at the battlefield.

“I’ll finish this before that happens.”

Since the monsters rising below would be handled by the undead and other heroes, Luize’s task became crystal clear.

Swish!

A thick tome—Akasha—emerged from the Ascension Ring, flaring open and inscribing words in the air.

“Visualize all spatial rifts that have formed in this area.”

Woong!

A crimson magic lens formed in front of her eyes, revealing a transformed view of the city. Now, at the very site where the first monster had appeared, she could see it: a cloud of dark mist pulsing and the traces of a gate that had vanished.

That’s the source from earlier…

It didn’t feel like a typical spatial rift. There was… something fundamentally wrong about it, something deeply unpleasant.

Luize drew in mana slowly as her frown deepened.

If I trace that back, I might find the enemy’s location.

If she could pass that on to Lea, they might be able to send the undead through and turn the situation around.

Planning it out, Luize poured mana into the Ascension Ring to boost her spatial abilities—

“Now, that’s going to be a problem.”

WHOOOSH!

At the soft whisper flowing through the air, Luize teleported instantly as a black gate opened right in front of her.

BOOM!

She just barely dodged the massive hand that slammed down where she stood, flattening the rooftop. As the building crumbled, turning to dust, a massive giant tore its way out through the black gate.

Observing the grotesque and mangled mess of a monster, which had a crudely stitched together body with a severed head, Luize felt a pang of recognition.

Glurg-

Black slime bubbled up from its neck, replacing the head. Then, from it, a plague doctor mask emerged from within and fastened itself over where the face should be.

Seeing the distinctly recognizable mask, Luize narrowed her eyes.

“Care to play with me for a bit?”

After vanishing for months, Tuner once again returned to the world to stand before Luize.