I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 90

90.

Phat!

I channeled Transcendental Acceleration into my legs, instantly maximizing my speed.

It was a movement truly deserving of the term ‘lightning speed,’ like a car whizzing past at 300 km/h.

Fwoosh!

As my right arm transformed into a sword, I felt something slice cleanly through the air.

“Kuh-erk.”

In that fleeting moment, the severed neck of one of the black mages tumbled through the air.

He didn’t even seem to register his death, blinking and moving his lips in confusion.

If there had been only one opponent, I might have indulged in a victory celebration, but two remained.

Paaht!

I kicked off the ground again, pivoting to face directly upward.

To me, each moment stretched into an eternity, but unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for them.

Despite their comrade’s demise, the remaining target couldn’t even muster a proper defense.

Only the middle-aged black mage, seemingly the leader, frantically wove signs, erecting a dense defensive barrier.

As expected, age and experience counted for something.

“Eek, eeeek!”

The opponent, his thoughts and body out of sync, finally managed to complete the signs with a strange exclamation.

But it was far too late.

Thwack!

The sharpened blade, extended in a straight line, pierced his heart with deadly accuracy.

“Cough!”

Less than a second.

I had claimed the lives of two black mages in rapid succession.

Judging by their reaction speed, they were likely around 3rd class mages by Nas Continent standards.

Since the realm of mages is divided into nine levels, that’s not a particularly high rank.

Thud! Plop!

The headless body and the one with a hole in its heart both collapsed forward, side by side.

The sole survivor.

I flicked the blood of my victims from my hand, observing the middle-aged black mage sweating profusely.

“…….”

He maintained an awkward silence.

“Pathetic skills.”

I shrugged, projecting an air of余裕 [composure]. His earlier response had already revealed his limitations.

The surviving black mage was, at best, a 5th class mage.

If he were stronger, his defensive magic would have been significantly more potent.

This was a judgment only I could make, having faced numerous mages from the Nas Continent as both ally and enemy in my past life.

“Do you speak the Nas Continent language?”

“I know it. Of course, I know it.”

“Could it be… did you arrive before us? What affiliation do you have? Are you with the rebels? Reveal your identity.”

“Well, the Lechnat Order calls those righteous people who try to drive you out ‘rebels,’ right?”

“A rebel! But your appearance isn’t from the Nas Continent….”

The black mage was barking up the wrong tree. The situation on the Nas Continent is complex.

To put it simply, the Lechnat Order, led by Lechero, holds dominion over the entire continent.

They are commonly known as the ‘Dark Order.’

Conversely, forces persistently resist them, and Lechero labels these individuals as rebels.

The black mage seemed to mistake me for one of them.

After all, the Nas Continent language remains entirely unknown on Earth, so his assumption was understandable.

“What’s your name? I’m Kang Shin-hwa.”

“Gashina?”

“…I said Kang Shin-hwa, you moron.”

“Is that a name laundered for localization?”

“It seems you refer to the process of secretly arriving and adapting to Earth as ‘localization,’ right?”

“Don’t feign ignorance when you clearly know. More importantly, let’s find a compromise. Spare me, and I’ll offer you a reward worth your while.”

Just then.

I subtly noticed a faint ripple emanating from the back of the black mage’s right hand, which was displaying his palm.

“Hey, black mage.”

“……?”

“Are you trying to deceive me from the start?”

As I spoke, my body surged forward with shooting-star-like acceleration, unleashing a strike that sliced through the air faster than the wind.

With the three elements instantly aligned, I brushed past the middle-aged black mage’s waist in a flash.

And then.

Swish!

“Kuaaaaa!”

The black mage screamed.

His right knee and wrist had vanished along the sharp, diagonally drawn sword path.

Severed in half.

The attack from my right arm, its sharpness maximized by condensing magic power to the extreme, was devastating.

“You suggested a compromise?”

Thud! Thud!

I kicked the black mage’s severed feet and hands, sending them flying like soccer balls.

“Kuh-heuk!”

Ignoring his agonizing screams, I forcefully pressed the sole of my foot against the black mage’s face.

He couldn’t even control his own body, let alone mount a counterattack.

“I’m going to kill you regardless. I don’t even need to recount the countless innocent people you’ve experimented on and murdered under Lechero…”

“They all deserved to die!”

The black mage, clinging to his beliefs, spat out his justification.

“Of course, you would say that.”

Even villains rationalize their actions.

Slice! Snip!

Without a change in expression, I severed his remaining arms and legs.

“Kuaaaaaaaa!”

A scream so deafening it seemed to shake the entire dungeon erupted.

Is it too much?

You might think so because you don’t know.

Rape, sexual assault, live experiments, forced organ harvesting, live burial, torture, abuse… All these horrors define the Lechnat Order.

They are beings tainted with evil from birth, so vile that even China’s three major evils [historical figures known for extreme cruelty] wouldn’t dare to compare.

If these guys succeed in ‘localizing,’ they’ll undoubtedly become a dark force, stabbing you in the back in the future.

It’s obvious.

“Tell me what Lechero is currently researching and what he’s trying to achieve. Then I’ll grant you a swift death.”

“Jo…”

“I knew it.”

Thwack!

“Kueaaaaaaa!”

Before his final words – a curse that sounded like he was telling me to screw myself – could escape his lips, I immediately stabbed him in the groin.

In my past life, I learned from these guys how to inflict slow, agonizing deaths.

Now, it’s my turn to repay the evil deeds they’re likely committing somewhere at this very moment.

I had no intention of killing him until I extracted the information I needed, just like with Park Sang-hyun, who tried to assassinate me.

And then.

“Repent and die. Then you’ll go to heaven.”

Thwack!

The process of extracting information to the extreme began, marking the start of his demise. Just like with Park Sang-hyun, who attempted to assassinate me earlier.

* * *

[They are intensely interested in Earth, where magic in nature is overwhelmingly abundant, and there are significant civilizations and cultures to exploit.]

[To establish a long-term presence on Earth, they are dispatching trained black mages.]

[They are seeking a way to accelerate the connection with Earth, having discovered clues and are actively pursuing it.]

[The three black mages sent this time are ordinary exploration teams, ranking in the lower-middle tiers within the Order.]

This was the information Shin-hwa gleaned from the leader of the black mages.

Unable to endure the hellish pain Shin-hwa inflicted, he divulged everything he knew.

Overwhelmed by self-disgust, he bit his tongue and committed suicide.

Shin-hwa first collected some spoils from the black mage’s corpse.

The first was obsidian, a raw stone that neutralized dimensional energy.

While unnecessary for him, an Awakened capable of freely traversing dimensions, it was still worth studying.

The second was a ring with a spider pattern engraved on its surface.

According to the black mage, proximity to another person wearing the ring would create an energy resonance between them.

‘If I had safely escaped the dungeon, it would probably have been used to identify allies who don’t know each other’s faces.’

Only the leader wore this ring, suggesting it was reserved for those with significant authority.

And finally.

There was a montage [collection of images] that Shin-hwa retrieved from the leader’s chest.

Within that montage was a picture of a famous American Awakened whose face Shin-hwa recognized well.

It was a picture of Elijah Rowe’s face. Not just a vaguely similar face, but an exact match.

‘Elijah Rowe. Is he one of the black mages sent by Lechero and localized?’

Since the leader had committed suicide, he couldn’t obtain a definitive answer, but he could infer.

Shin-hwa’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.

He felt like he was uncovering increasingly unpleasant secrets.

‘It’s a bit disappointing that I can’t absorb black magic abilities.’

Shin-hwa glanced at the black mages, now cold corpses, with a hint of disappointment.

Talent absorption through disguise was impossible on humans, only on monsters or certain inanimate objects.

“Hoo-ah.”

He sighed involuntarily.

It felt like he alone possessed a monumental secret.

Nicholas had never mentioned this in his past life.

He knew that his contact with the black mage Lechero occurred on January 1, 2025, when the Nas Continent was connected.

He had never revealed that such an organized and systematic arrangement had been in place beforehand.

“Hey, seriously… I hate reasoning and inferring things.”

Shin-hwa bit his lip tightly and kicked the ground nervously.

Innocent clumps of dirt scattered in all directions.

Whoosh!

But unfortunately, the wind shifted, blowing sand into Shin-hwa’s mouth.

“Ptooey! Ptooey!”

Was the god of the earth displeased? Shin-hwa scratched the back of his head and closed his mouth.

“Nicholas, when are you coming…!”

Waaaaaaaah!

Shin-hwa’s unanswered shout echoed throughout the dungeon.

* * *

The next morning.

Shin-hwa greeted Marina and Han So-joon, who had just woken up, as if nothing had transpired overnight, and immediately initiated the attack.

It was a winning streak.

Several tricky monsters emerged, but the tactic of luring only a few at a time and eliminating them individually proved effective.

Shin-hwa possessed considerable power, but he didn’t recklessly charge in.

Step by step.

Instead of rushing, Shin-hwa and his party continued their relentless assault, and before they knew it, they had reached the final area before the boss room.

“It’s the final hurdle. The boss monster is a problem, but this place is even more problematic….”

“I wish we had a light aircraft for transportation. The terrain is so frustrating.”

Marina and Han So-joon sighed almost simultaneously, gesturing to the landscape before them.

The scene that unfolded was an endless frozen river.

To confront the boss monster, they had to cross this river.

The challenge was that high-speed movement was impossible on the icy surface.

Furthermore, the river was too wide for Shin-hwa’s 50m jump. He certainly couldn’t carry both of them across.

“As soon as you step onto the river, Icarites will appear. If you get surrounded in the middle, you’ll be wiped out before you even see the boss.”

Marina asserted.

Icarites are monsters resembling gorillas, possessing abnormally high stamina and strength.

Their rank is above average A-rank, making it difficult for Shin-hwa to eliminate them as easily as the previous Touger.

Marina suggested.

“Should we backtrack to the upstream where the river is narrower, even if it’s a detour? It would be safer.”

“No, it’s more dangerous there than here. There’s an Icarite King there.”

Shin-hwa shook his head.

The king of the Icarites.

He was an opponent that even the current Shin-hwa lacked the confidence to face head-on, whether through a surprise attack or trickery.

He would rather face the boss monster, Katabella, a hundred times over.

“Then… what are you going to do?”

Knowing that he always had a plan when he spoke those words.

Han So-joon asked Shin-hwa with a curious expression.

Shin-hwa tapped the cold ice and smiled, adding.

“Water ghost operation.”