I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 101

101

“Kuaaaak!”

In his desperate state, Park Hyung-san screamed without realizing it.

It was the first time since becoming an Awakened that he had been caught off guard like this.

But screaming wouldn’t change the situation, and soon his body was helplessly falling under Shin-hwa’s grasp.

Crack!

“Kueuk!”

Unbearable pain started from his waist and spread throughout his body along his spine.

Fortunately, the enhanced suit he was wearing was quite expensive, so his body didn’t fold in half.

However, the force concentrated on his waist was directly transmitted to his abdomen, turning his internal organs into a shaken mess.

This caused an unbearable feeling of nausea to rise.

“Cough!”

The price was not small.

Park Hyung-san vomited blood.

Blood that seemed to have surged up from deep within his body poured out of his mouth.

The durability of his suit was reduced by more than half, and he felt tremendous pain in his waist.

“Aaaagh!”

Even the slightest movement of his waist felt like being stabbed with needles and rubbed with shards of glass.

Park Hyung-san bit his lip tightly and endured, releasing a shockwave towards Shin-hwa.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Not bad.”

Park Hyung-san was able to escape from Shin-hwa’s grasp with a quick counterattack.

However, the price for another failed attempt was high.

A great humiliation.

The sight of the leader of an organization being defeated like that was quite embarrassing.

“Damn it……”

“I thought you’d fold like a flip phone, but your suit is pretty good. How was the ride?”

“You son of a bitch.”

Park Hyung-san cursed at Shin-hwa’s provocation. The humiliation was infuriating the more he thought about it.

On the one hand, he felt fear and dread.

The rank of Shin-hwa that Park Hyung-san knew was at best below B-rank.

It was nothing compared to his own SS-rank. Even if he was B-rank, wasn’t there a difference of three ranks between them?

Even a close match would be absurd, but he was now in a situation that was no different from being at a disadvantage.

Theory and reality did not align.

Park Hyung-san felt the need to make a more sober assessment of his opponent, Shin-hwa’s, skills.

Just then.

Flash!

He saw Shin-hwa, who had regained his breath, rushing towards him again.

A definite counterattack was needed.

Park Hyung-san decided not to be picky about methods and took out his first counterattack.

Swish-.

A hand seal formed in the air.

In that moment, Shin-hwa’s eyes changed.

It was the first change in his consistently relaxed expression in a long time.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Small and large explosions occurred all over Shin-hwa’s body.

It was one of Park Hyung-san’s unconventional attacks, ‘Atmospheric Mana Explosion.’

He always released a small amount of mana along with magic during battle, leaving it on parts of his opponent’s body.

That mana didn’t ignite on its own or cause any damage by itself.

However, if he infused a special power with a hand seal to give it a triggering effect, it would explode using the mana as a medium.

“Kueuk! Ugh! Ugh!”

This time, Shin-hwa was hit.

The reason Shin-hwa, who could detect the foreignness of mana early on, hadn’t noticed it until now was because it was such a small amount.

So the damage wasn’t very great, but it was enough to cause injuries in various parts of his body momentarily.

Click. Gulp- Gulp-.

Park Hyung-san took out a red potion from his pocket and chugged it down.

It was a drug.

It was the famous ‘Chinese Drug’ made by the Five Stars Society of China, a drug exclusively for Awakened.

“Haa……”

Soon, an indescribable sense of ecstasy washed over him, and madness flickered in Park Hyung-san’s half-open eyes.

Five Stars Awakened Drug (五星覺藥) [a powerful, highly addictive stimulant for Awakened individuals].

It was also known as a drug that was highly addictive once taken and put a great strain on the heart.

Of course, it was a drug that was banned from being sold on the market.

Purchase, sale, and consumption were all treated as serious crimes punishable under the Awakened Special Act.

However, for the boss of Moonlight, who was based outside the boundaries of the law, it was not a consideration at all.

In particular, the Five Stars Awakened Drug was one of the main sources of income for the Five Stars Society, and demand in the underworld was always high.

‘He’s gone all the way.’

Shin-hwa carefully examined Park Hyung-san, caressing the wounds where he felt a stinging pain.

The guy, who was already difficult enough to deal with at his current level, had powered up with drugs.

‘Should I aim for the dilemma of awakening? No, that would be the most certain way.’

Shin-hwa quickly sorted out his thoughts and took aim again.

Just as there is no such thing as certain defeat in a battlefield full of variables, there is also no such thing as invincibility.

The dilemma of awakening that occurs because the body reacts much faster than expected as the senses are opened transcendentally.

‘Should I tough it out with my body?’

Shin-hwa, who was already used to being beaten up since his past life, shook his stiff joints from side to side and took a defensive stance.

For now, the turn to attack had passed to Park Hyung-san. For better or worse, he would have to be a punching bag for the time being.

* * *

I took quite a few injuries.

I may be exerting superhuman strength that transcends several ranks, but Park Hyung-san, who had taken a heavy dose of drugs, was not someone to be ignored.

If my mana recovery rate wasn’t overwhelmingly higher than others thanks to my mana lungs and liver.

I would have exhausted all my mana by now and been torn apart by his attacks.

For five minutes, I stubbornly confronted Park Hyung-san in a form of defense first, then counterattack.

Park Hyung-san, whose reaction speed had increased, was able to gauge the distance more accurately than before and relentlessly harassed me.

I didn’t take the unreasonable risk of approaching him, even if it meant taking heavy damage.

Instead, I immediately launched a counterattack as soon as he came within range that I could target with ‘Transcendental Acceleration’.

However, there was only one problem.

The expensive enhanced suit made by Hwang Seok-cheol was gradually stiffening.

Stiffening.

It was a phenomenon that occurred when the durability dropped below 30% of its original state, making the movement of the joints not smooth.

‘The analysis is complete.’

As I expected, the Five Stars Awakened Drug, or rather the drug, gave Park Hyung-san powerful strength.

But it created a berserk state that was difficult to control, and that inevitably exposed gaps.

Whenever I counterattacked with all my might, he reacted with a very quick predictive response that was beyond what I had expected.

It was a phenomenon that occurred because his body and head reacted simultaneously, rather than with a slight time difference.

It exerted a very powerful force because it allowed him to be two or three steps ahead of his opponent.

But if you think about it the other way around, it became a ‘variable’ that I could use against him, knowing that he could be three steps ahead of me.

The dilemma of awakening.

It was the result I had acquired through practical experience while dealing with the Five Stars Society guys who used drugs like they ate rice in my past life.

It was a gap that paradoxically occurred because the body reacted so quickly, so excessively, and so rapidly that it was uncontrollable.

Perhaps the Awakened of the 2020s wouldn’t know much about this dilemma.

It was in 2031 that I started researching it, paying a heavy price in practical combat with my own blood and flesh, and it was in 2045 that I finished it.

To the Awakened of today, stimulants and drugs are omnipotent. They are also an irresistible temptation.

‘Then.’

The calculation is complete.

All that remained was to end the situation quickly, before Park Hyung-san could relearn my changed attacks.

Flash!

My own rampage, with a definite aim like his, had now begun.

* * *

‘How did this……?’

Three times.

The number of hits that Park Hyung-san unexpectedly allowed him after Shin-hwa’s counterattack.

After confirming that Shin-hwa was openly approaching him, Park Hyung-san actively responded with the intention of tearing him apart and killing him.

Close combat was difficult, but there were no cases as powerful as deploying magic at close range.

His senses, which had entered a state of great awakening, were at a level where he could easily predict Shin-hwa’s movements.

But a dissonance occurred.

A variable had arisen in Shin-hwa’s attack, which he thought he could easily respond to with his amplified senses, as if he were dealing with a child.

Shin-hwa, who had drastically changed his pattern, did not move as predicted at all.

But his body, which was fully intoxicated with the drug, had already started, and it was irreversible.

As a result.

Thwack!

Several of Park Hyung-san’s front teeth fell out as Shin-hwa’s kick, like being hit with a sledgehammer, struck the area below his chin.

Clang!

Park Hyung-san’s body, which was caught in succession, was slammed down onto the cold cement floor several times.

Bang! Bang!

He even tried to use magic to counterattack, but was blocked by Shin-hwa at the stage just before it was released.

As a result, a catastrophic event occurred where the shockwave exploded in place, which could be said to be a self-destruction.

30 seconds.

The time it took for his situation, which he thought was extremely advantageous, to be reversed.

It felt longer than the dozens of years he had lived so far, and it was more like a sewer than the worst frustration in his life.

He experienced hell.

He saw the devil.

Park Hyung-san was quickly torn to shreds like a piece of paper by Shin-hwa’s relentless attacks, who didn’t think about the aftermath.

He wasn’t even allowed the luxury of looking ahead to the next move or the next plan.

Shin-hwa’s expressionless face, as if he was trying to ‘pulverize’ his entire body, was like a Yaksha [a fierce, demon-like figure].

Park Hyung-san felt the fear of death for the first time in his life.

It was a fear of Shin-hwa, who seemed to know his repertoire from A to Z like a god.

How could an Awakened of a much lower rank than himself predict his moves?

He even designed a plan to reverse the senses that had been maximized by awakening, and he was completely defeated by it.

‘Damn it…….’

It was humiliating and degrading.

But there was still one more useful trick left to lament.

‘Mana Great Explosion.’

It was Park Hyung-san’s last resort and ultimate move that he was going to use when the greatest crisis of his life came.

It was also a desperate measure commonly called ‘mutual destruction’.

Click.

At that moment, Park Hyung-san pressed a button located on the back of his suit.

Defense enhancement option.

A device that maximizes the defense power of the enhanced suit for about 10 seconds by using all the power of the dimension stone.

‘You disgusting bastard.’

Shin-hwa’s expression darkened as he confirmed Park Hyung-san’s last resort that he had finally taken out.

As it was, it seemed that he had no choice but to utilize the ‘Instant Death Strike’ ability he had obtained from Katabella before.

One-hit kill!

The time had finally come to make a decisive move.