I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 237

237

‘That was a damn close call.’

I sprinted towards Jang Dong-shik with all my might.

It was a touch-and-go situation.

And when I arrived at the calculated distance, I used the Blink Ring to appear right in front of Jang Dong-shik.

“Damn it.”

I barely managed to get the timing right, but the problem was the simultaneous attack unleashed on Jang Dong-shik.

Whoosh!

First, the ‘visible’ spatial distortion created by Libeane’s ability pushed Jang Dong-shik away, allowing him to evade.

However, there was no time to dodge the fireballs spewed out by his subordinates.

Boom! Boom boom! Bang!

In the end, it was the Shield Stone I deployed that took all the attacks.

Of course, the shield shattered due to the tremendous firepower, and some of the fireballs struck my body.

But thankfully.

I managed to complete the exchange just right, with my chest burning hot and a decent bruise forming.

“Argh!”

I grabbed Jang Dong-shik’s body and immediately leaped away from the scene.

“……”

Libeane’s coldly hardened expression swept over my back. But he didn’t rush to attack.

He seemed confident.

The picture he had in mind was shattered, but he must have decided to deal with me along with Jang Dong-shik since things had turned out this way.

Thump!

In any case, I succeeded in rescuing Jang Dong-shik, facing Libeane and his group head-on from a distance.

“Cough!”

However, the attack just now seemed to have been stronger than I had anticipated.

I put Jang Dong-shik down and ran my fingertips over my chest, coughing up a handful of blood.

The pressure beyond the impact energy that the Special Suit could absorb seemed to have been transmitted internally.

“Kang Shin-hwa! Are you okay? No, why save me instead of Sohee……”

Jang Dong-shik’s eyes were already red as he looked at me.

What, are you already touched? Seeing such a large man, twice my size, with tears welling up was more amusing than touching.

“I have a reason to save you.”

“A reason to save me……?”

“First, step back. You can’t beat those guys with your abilities.”

“The opponent is Libeane. Kang Shin-hwa, it’s difficult even for you.”

“They’re just as wary of me.”

I gently pushed Jang Dong-shik back.

Then, I quickly scanned with Akeron’s Eye, which I took out from subspace.

As I did, I could sense dark energy from everyone, including Libeane.

Especially from Libeane, I could confirm a powerful wave of dark energy. I already knew it, but it was a moment of reconfirming that he was an Apostle [a being empowered by dark energy].

Libeane said.

“Kang Shin-hwa, I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re quite famous in Korea, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I’m flattered that you know me. Thank you?”

“I don’t know why you showed up here. What’s your relationship with Casron? What kind of trick are you playing?”

Libeane seemed uncomfortable with me, who had intruded into the Apostles’ territory.

“You’re the one playing tricks, you Apostle of Rechelo. Why come to Earth to cause trouble when you could live comfortably in the Nas Continent?”

“Kang Shin-hwa, judging from your pathetic dark energy, you don’t seem to be an Apostle. Are you a follower who trails after Casron?”

Libeane was subtly twitching his fingertips. He seemed to be trying to detect dark energy from me.

It was ridiculous to try so hard to find dark energy from someone who didn’t have even a speck of it.

“I’m sick and tired of Apostles and followers, really. My retirement keeps getting delayed because of you rat bastards.”

“……Retirement?”

Libeane tilted his head, as if he thought he had heard an unexpected word.

While we were talking, his subordinates formed a semicircle around me.

“Jang Dong-shik.”

“Yeah.”

“If things look like they’re going to go bad, get out of here no matter what. I can secure an escape route for you.”

“Then what about you? I can’t do that.”

“Do you think I came here to film some bromance movie? If you want to make my help worthwhile, get out of here and save your daughter.”

“……”

“I won’t say much. Don’t get in my way, trying to help me. I might end up beating you up too.”

Just as I was giving Jang Dong-shik my last words, Libeane cracked his stiff hands and continued.

“Kang Shin-hwa, this is my last warning. Don’t meddle in our affairs like a loach [a type of fish] when you’re neither an Apostle nor a follower. If you quietly disappear, I’ll let you live. Of course, you’ll have to keep your mouth shut.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Then you’ll have to be dragged away with Jang Dong-shik and turned into a mindless killing machine forever.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Kang Shin-hwa, then take this.”

Jang Dong-shik threw something to me from behind.

Looking at it quickly, it was the knuckle he had used in the battle with me before.

I had secretly coveted it because of its excellent ability to condense and release magic power, and he lent it to me at just the right time.

“Libeane is EX-rank, and the rest are at least A-rank or higher. Be careful.”

“In the end, there’s no order of precedence for who dies first, regardless of age, gender, skill, or anything else!”

Whoosh!

As soon as I finished speaking, I shot forward like a spring.

After all, what I wanted was a brawl with them, and at the same time, to ensure Jang Dong-shik’s safety.

If I were to be defensive, Jang Dong-shik would be in danger as well. That’s a scenario I definitely don’t want.

“Ismal! Mark Jang Dong-shik directly to prevent him from escaping. The rest of you, eliminate Kang Shin-hwa first.”

I was worried about what would happen if Libeane chased after Jang Dong-shik, but it seems I definitely caught his attention.

Libeane assigned only one subordinate to Jang Dong-shik and ordered all firepower to be concentrated on me.

That was the most ideal situation I had imagined while coming here.

Right then.

Crack.

I saw space distorting right in front of my face, along with Libeane’s incomprehensible gesture.

It was a spatial distortion ability.

‘I can’t predict it right away.’

Swoosh!

I quickly retreated, avoiding being caught in the spatial distortion.

This was the first time in this life that I had seen Libeane’s ability with my own eyes.

In my previous life, I had only heard about it, never actually faced him. Nicholas had no knowledge of Libeane either.

‘I need to analyze it in real-time while fighting.’

I didn’t rush at all.

After all, Libeane would continue to launch attacks aimed at me.

And in the process, my brain, which had grown through modification, would discover some fixed pattern.

‘If that’s the case……!’

Whoosh!

I threw Wilson, summoned from subspace, towards Libeane with all my might. It was a blow infused with a considerable amount of magic power.

I didn’t expect Libeane to die or be injured from this in the first place. That would be underestimating him too much.

What was important was to reduce the numbers.

Tie up Libeane’s hands and feet for a moment, and deal with the other ‘small fries’ in a short amount of time!

That was my calculation.

“Haaap!”

I shouted forcefully and approached the guy who was rushing towards me at the forefront.

He was holding a mace that shone in the moonlight, densely studded with pieces of metal.

“Euhraaaat!”

With a massive body and bulging muscles, he calculated my movements and accurately aimed for my expected path.

If I were to crash straight into him like this, I would be smashed like a watermelon hit by the mace.

Whizzing!

Red light flickered from the mace flying through the air.

If he was an Awakened [a person with supernatural abilities] of A-rank or higher, it was obvious that he would add something more than just a simple weapon strike.

He might have thought it was a powerful move, but well.

It was already an expected pattern.

Right then.

“Heh.”

He was already smiling, expecting his move to work, probably because he had underestimated my skills by a lot.

Of course, he was sharp.

Because it’s difficult to change course when acceleration is at its maximum, unless you exert superhuman strength.

‘So that’s why he underestimated me.’

There’s something that my Team Mystic colleagues repeatedly tell me.

They say that I am an ‘irregular’ who doesn’t conform to the common sense of Awakened. They always say I’m abnormal.

That’s right.

I’m about to show you why I don’t deny those words and nod my head.

The next moment.

Bang!

I kicked off the asphalt ground and launched my body.

It was a change where the body, which had been sprinting forward, defied the laws of physics and soared straight up at a right angle.

“……!”

An enormous load was placed on my body, and pressure was applied as if my bones were breaking and my muscles were bursting.

However, the modified muscles and bones were wisely distributing the impact, each sharing its role.

And.

Using the weight I had put on when leaping, I slashed the guy’s neck with my right arm, which I had transformed into the shape of a sword.

Shwaaaa!

“Guh!”

The situation was instantaneous.

I passed over the guy’s head as if skimming past his neck.

Thud. Thump. Thump.

His neck, cut off like an apple stem, pathetically rolled across the ground.

“Fucking……. What the hell is that.”

The Awakened, who witnessed their comrade dying a miserable death in the blink of an eye, paused.

“Haaap! Hat!”

Without stopping here, I immediately deployed the Advancing Fist.

The magic power in my body was completely exhausted with two Advancing Fists, but it was immediately replenished with the magic power of my heart.

“……?”

“……What?”

The guys who didn’t know the repertoire of the Advancing Fist flinched at my shout and stopped in their tracks.

But after a while.

Boom! Boooom!

“Ugh.”

“Cough.”

Two Awakened fell straight down without even letting out a proper scream, due to the massive explosion that occurred in the middle of their chests.

That’s why the Advancing Fist is so scary.

After being hit.

If you fail to shake off or disrupt the energy of the Advancing Fist attached to your body in the meantime, you will simply explode.

“Damn it!”

At that time, one of the guys with fairly quick movements dug in front of me.

I was tracking his path with my eyes, but the distance closed faster than I thought.

He was holding a sharp dagger, and his aim seemed certain. It was right at my face.

That’s probably because the thickness of the suit revealed through the torn clothes was thicker than he had expected.

He must have judged that it was better to aim for the face, which could not be protected, rather than aiming for the protected parts of the suit.

It was a wise decision.

Aiming for the enemy’s weak points for assassination is an old and unchanging tactic.

“Heh.”

I grinned.

That itself was a clear warning to the opponent.

“Heh.”

The guy responded with a smile as well. He seemed confident.

Whoa!

I put a lot of magic power into the knuckle I was wearing on my left hand.

It seemed to be a very magic-friendly artifact, absorbing magic power as if sucking it up.

Jang Dong-shik probably modified it separately. Otherwise, the magic power absorption couldn’t be this fast.

The next moment.

Whoosh!

Kuuuuung!

The guy’s arm and my arm went in, each aiming for the other from different directions.

He was going to pierce my forehead with the dagger and definitely take my life.

The reason he didn’t back down even while watching me respond was.

He must have had the belief that his attack would succeed ‘first’.

But I was confident.

‘Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’