I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 188

188

“……”

Ju Cheon-ho didn’t respond.

There’s a saying that silence implies consent, and it seemed he was keeping his mouth shut because I’d hit him where it hurt.

This might be the last conversation I have with Ju Cheon-ho.

In a battle where we have to risk our lives, we won’t be given the luxury of exchanging words so leisurely.

“You’re going out of your way to create bad blood, Kang Shin-hwa.”

“You were the one who started it by siccing Jang Seong-yeong, who you were using as a subordinate, on someone who was minding their own business.”

“Hmm, I’ll concede that point.”

“And when Jang Seong-yeong turned out to be a bigger moron than expected, you were the one who started trouble, demanding the antidote and whatnot.”

“Are you asking me to concede that too?”

“What, were you some spotless saint, and only Jang Seong-yeong was a dirty bastard…? Is that it?”

“Forget it. There’s no point in arguing any further. Why waste words on a guy who’s about to die anyway?”

“True. Unless you come back as a ghost to chatter away. Right?”

“That’s right.”

We looked at each other and laughed heartily. Probably because we were both confident that we could win.

“I’m going to catch you today and offer you to the Black Demon without fail.”

“I was wondering when you’d say that. You even took the Black Serpent Elixir; you seem completely out of your mind.”

“Oh, you know about the elixir?”

“Of course. I’m exceptionally good at recognizing that kind of drug. You’re really something, to even drink a drug that puts your life on the line.”

“As long as I don’t die, there are plenty of ways to detoxify, so there’s no need for useless worries.”

“Really? That’s unexpected.”

I hadn’t heard anything about an antidote.

Perhaps the Black Demon had a way to detoxify directly. The Black Demon is skilled in handling poison.

“Kang Shin-hwa, I’ll give you one last chance. Why don’t you stop this unnecessary conflict with me and join forces instead?”

“Why?”

“With my connections, I can get you in touch with people in China, Russia, and even the Avengers.”

“And if I get in touch?”

“There are more people interested in your skills and talent than you think. It was a bit of an extreme expression, but the Five Stars Society had already shown interest.”

“Right. They tried to kill me.”

“They were just trying to ‘bring you in’ a bit roughly. If you had complied willingly, that mess wouldn’t have happened.”

“You package bullshit so seriously that it almost sounds plausible.”

“Is that a no to the negotiation?”

“Yeah. I have no desire to get involved with dirty bastards like you. I just want to finish this job as quickly as possible and rest.”

“Yes, I heard about that. Kang Shin-hwa, why are you so eager to retire?”

“Because dealing with scumbags like you is awful, why?”

“……A wise answer to a foolish question. Heh heh.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

I gave him a dumbfounded look as Ju Cheon-ho chuckled.

I was being serious, but he seemed to take it as a joke.

“Good. For your retirement, I must be an obstacle that needs to be eliminated.”

“You’re right. And don’t worry. Not only you, but those above you will follow the same path if they block my way.”

“I like that spirit, Kang Shin-hwa.”

“I know, right? If you like it, go to the afterlife and cheer me on.”

“I somehow wish we had met as comrades, not enemies, from the start.”

“Out of the blue?”

“Well… just an impression from someone who recognized your true worth.”

“That’s really out of the blue. Enough with the bullshit, come at me. Let’s end this.”

“I will kill you with all my strength.”

“Yeah. Please do.”

I provoked Ju Cheon-ho one last time, and he leaped back, creating enough distance.

When I first regressed, Ju Cheon-ho felt like a ‘final boss’ to me.

But two months have passed since then, and now he feels more like a mid-boss.

What’s certain is that if I can’t overcome Ju Cheon-ho, I obviously can’t dream of anything beyond that.

‘I finished doping a long time ago too. This will be a fight between two Awakened who have reached their maximum limits.’

I closed my mouth firmly and prepared to engage in battle.

It starts now.

* * *

Soon, the battle began.

Ju Cheon-ho unleashed a barrage of attacks on Shin-hwa, using all of his maximized abilities.

Feelings like acknowledgment were naturally absent, and he used every killing move from the start to eliminate Shin-hwa.

But it wasn’t going smoothly.

‘What incredible talent.’

What Ju Cheon-ho found most absurd was Shin-hwa’s reaction to the arrows fired with a moderate amount of magic.

Instead of blocking them with a shield or using the liquid transformation ability like during the first attack…

Clang!

Seeing the incoming arrows, he used his arms, which were strengthened as if they were about to burst, to knock the arrows away.

Despite the projectile, the arrow’s speed, being extremely fast, Shin-hwa ‘saw’ it with his eyes and reacted.

That wasn’t all.

He also used various covers located in the surrounding building forest to launch guerrilla-style attacks.

But Shin-hwa was already there the moment he notched the arrow or hid behind cover.

Ju Cheon-ho didn’t know it well, but it was thanks to Shin-hwa’s sense of smell and hearing, which were enhanced by Modification.

‘Did I underestimate him too much?’

During the battle, Ju Cheon-ho was clearly ‘acknowledging’ Shin-hwa, but at the same time,

he realized that he had been underestimating him.

He felt it most strongly when he jumped high and secured a position in the sky.

The moment he took a position where he could see Shin-hwa’s movements clearly and aimed from above.

“Hap!”

He was helplessly knocked down by the magic released by Shin-hwa along with a shout.

If he hadn’t regained his balance in an instant and landed on the ground, he would have suffered a major injury somewhere on his body.

“……”

At some point, Ju Cheon-ho was sweating without realizing it.

It wasn’t because of the heat, but a phenomenon that occurred because concentration inevitably increased when nervous.

In other words, his whole body was tense due to Shin-hwa’s abilities and responses, which far exceeded expectations.

Did he get some kind of estimate?

As if drawing a line in time,

Ju Cheon-ho was surprised by Shin-hwa’s shift to a ‘major offensive,’ completely breaking away from the defensive.

The battle situation, which had been flowing according to Ju Cheon-ho’s pace until just now, changed in an instant.

Shin-hwa rushed in fiercely, as if he had nothing to lose, and began to unleash attacks like crazy.

It was Ju Cheon-ho who was flustered.

He expected there might be some kind of scheme, but he didn’t expect the style to change so abruptly.

As a result, Ju Cheon-ho, who was so focused on attacking that he didn’t have time to pay attention to physical enhancement, ended up exposing a weakness.

Shin-hwa, who had approached right in front of him by maximizing Transcendental Acceleration, unleashed a series of True Fist and Exploding Fist.

“Keuk! Ugh!”

Just two attacks.

It was a meaningful attack that struck Ju Cheon-ho’s abdomen, who had not allowed Shin-hwa a single attack until now.

However.

“Cough! Cough!”

He suffered severe internal injuries from those two attacks.

It was so severe that his internal organs were shaken up, not just painful enough to brush off.

“Haaat!”

Shin-hwa was relentless.

As soon as he confirmed that a valid hit had landed, he rushed at Ju Cheon-ho again, who was staggering backward.

“……!”

Even in the midst of groaning in pain, Ju Cheon-ho concentrated his mental strength and magic to fire an arrow.

One strike – kill!

It was a sure shot with power in a form close to a finishing move, although it was only a single attack.

But.

“It doesn’t work, this.”

Shin-hwa grinned.

At the same time, Ju Cheon-ho’s arrow passed right through Shin-hwa’s body, which had turned into a liquid form.

It was rather a bad move.

If it had been stuck, Shin-hwa would have needed time to pull out the arrow.

Swoosh.

Shin-hwa easily restored his original body state in that state and immediately continued his approach attack.

It was an insane response that other Awakened would never be able to do.

Because he was penetrated by an arrow!

So, paradoxically, it was an absurd situation where he suffered no damage at all.

Ju Cheon-ho, who missed the timing to step back, spat out a word with a pale face.

“Damn it.”

Thwack!

“Keuheok!”

Shin-hwa’s fist struck Ju Cheon-ho’s abdomen.

A fist that flew so fast that it was impossible to follow with the eyes!

It was a fast strike that didn’t even leave a fleeting afterimage, as if seen only in movies or novels.

It was also the most destructive and powerful blow among the many fists Ju Cheon-ho had ever taken.

Even though he had just used physical enhancement to make his whole body strong…

He suffered another internal injury.

It was a serious injury that seemed to have severely ruptured or greatly damaged one of his internal organs.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Even in the midst of this, the defense system diligently fired arrows periodically.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shin-hwa dodged the attacks too easily, simply by tilting his head or taking steps forward and backward.

It was such a light response that Ju Cheon-ho himself was ashamed of preparing such a device.

The subsequent exchange of attacks further deepened Ju Cheon-ho’s shame.

There was a thorough loss where he would get hit twice for every one hit he landed, and four times for every two hits he landed.

Clearly, his combat power, which had been boosted by the Black Serpent Elixir, was the strongest it had been since becoming an Awakened.

But it didn’t work at all against Shin-hwa.

If Shin-hwa was an ordinary Awakened?

He should have been injured in some way by the arrow attacks that poured out with explosive firepower. That was the obvious thing.

However, Shin-hwa intentionally let the strikes with excellent penetration power flow away using his liquid transformation ability.

In the case of attacks with low penetration power, he endured by making his body strong with steel enhancement.

As a result, no matter which option he took, he was in a situation where he couldn’t get any fun from the attack at all.

“Why, is something not working out?”

Shin-hwa, who recognized that Ju Cheon-ho was psychologically shrinking, began to push in more aggressively.

Combat is clearly a battle of skills classified by rank, but it is also a battle of momentum.

Ju Cheon-ho was becoming increasingly discouraged as his successive attacks returned to nothing.

He thought he was hiding such emotions well.

‘I can see it all in my eyes.’

Shin-hwa could tell.

That anxiety and fear about the unpredictable him were rising in Ju Cheon-ho’s eyes.

It was ‘fear’ that grew in Ju Cheon-ho’s heart, regardless of the gap in rank between A and SS [Awakened rank classifications].

“You’re quite something, Kang Shin-hwa.”

Swish.

Ju Cheon-ho wiped away the blood that continued to flow from the corner of his mouth.

Judging from the fact that blood kept gushing out every time he breathed, the accumulated internal injuries seemed considerable.

“Do you know the difference between you and me?”

“My real fight hasn’t even started yet.”

“So you were trying to start by giving me a handicap?”

“I’m saying that I underestimated you and didn’t use my full power. But now I have no choice but to admit it. I will now fight you with all my strength.”

“That’s what I wanted. But what exactly is that ‘full power’?”

The next moment.

“……”

The ultimate weapon that made Shin-hwa’s lips, which had been speaking so confidently, close for a moment came from behind Ju Cheon-ho.

‘Why is that coming out from here?’

It was the appearance of an unexpected artifact.