I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 260

“If Shin-hwa needs it, we can cover the flame side by burning the Silver Thread… Ah!”

“Just take care of the non-attribute types. I’ll handle the rest!”

Before Marina could finish her sentence, Shin-hwa dashed forward, leaving a sudden request.

As Shin-hwa said, there were quite a few ordinary monsters that didn’t have attributes.

‘What on earth is he planning to do?’

Marina tilted her head.

In fact, Shin-hwa had glossed over and vaguely skipped this part of the strategy during the pre-briefing.

‘Just leave this section to me. I have a way.’

At the time, she thought it was fine, but Shin-hwa was an Awakened who didn’t have attribute-based attacks.

The reason why many Awakened teams had no choice but to increase their numbers to enter this dungeon was…

Precisely to deal with these attribute-type monsters.

Flame, Ice, Lightning.

To match these three attributes, an Awakened specialized in the corresponding attribute was essential.

This meant that the minimum number of people had to be more than three.

Usually, Awakened who can use attribute attacks are ranged dealers, so including someone to protect them at close range.

No matter how few, there had to be at least four people. But there was no one else in this team composed of two people.

Right then.

“Alright! Got it!”

Shin-hwa’s shout was heard.

Wondering what he had caught, Marina released the Silver Thread and looked ahead.

“What is that…?”

Thwack! Thwack!

Shin-hwa confidently rushed in, grabbed the two legs of the approaching monster, and was thrashing it around like laundry.

It was a bird-type monster with a red body, nicknamed ‘Fire Chicken.’

“Kke-ek! Kke-eeek!”

The Fire Chicken, its mobility lost because Shin-hwa grabbed both legs, was desperately flapping its wings.

Of course, flames were created from the flapping, enveloping Shin-hwa, but it couldn’t melt Shin-hwa’s skin, which was reinforced with ‘Tough Skin.’

The monster’s strength was the flames it spewed like breath through its mouth.

But it had one fatal weakness: it needed a preparatory motion to spew flames.

It had to stop in place, bend its legs to support its body, and then spew flames like a cannonball.

But with Shin-hwa grabbing its legs and spinning it in the air, there was no way it could perform the necessary preparatory motion.

“Crazy…”

It was called a Fire Chicken, but in terms of size and bulk, it was comparable to an ostrich.

So no one even thought of lifting it up and swinging it around… Shin-hwa shattered common sense once again.

‘But what’s his aim?’

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Kkuwehk!

Even while keeping an eye on Shin-hwa, Marina steadily took care of the non-attribute monsters.

The monsters without attributes were at the B or C rank level, so Marina had no problem subduing them.

The next moment.

“Eat this, you seasoned chicken bastards!”

Shin-hwa jumped into the Fire Chickens, then swung the grasped monster with all his might, starting to beat them up.

Kkiaaaak! Kkuweeek!

The screams of the Fire Chickens echoed pathetically as pig-slaughtering sounds were heard from everywhere.

‘Ah… That was it?’

Marina was impressed.

Shin-hwa’s aim was to use the body of an attribute-type monster to attack monsters of the same type.

Even if he didn’t use breath, his whole body was specialized in one attribute.

He used the body of the Fire Chicken he was holding as a kind of ‘attribute weapon.’

It was like using a ‘flame attribute club.’ And his aim was accurate.

Keheeehk!

The Fire Chickens coughed up blood and collapsed from Shin-hwa’s brutal, one-sided beating.

Shin-hwa’s suit and muscles, swollen as if about to burst, and his eyes shining with murderous intent, were the epitome of rampage.

Thwack! Thwack! Cracking!

The Fire Chickens, according to Shin-hwa’s choice given to each of them like fate, either died with their heads exploding.

Or they died with their necks broken, or their ribs shattered, piercing their hearts and killing them instantly.

Or their spines were shattered, unable to walk and wriggling in place before their internal organs burst and they died.

There was only a difference between dying quickly or dying late, but there was no difference in the fact that they suffered a terrible fate and died.

And.

“You’re dead too… No, you’re already dead.”

Shin-hwa, wanting to end the life of the Fire Chicken he had used as a weapon, threw it to the ground.

It had already stuck out its tongue and crossed the River Jordan [a euphemism for dying] with its eyes rolled back.

And on the hill in front.

Ksh! Ksh! Kshsh!

This time, a new monster appeared, with cold air emanating from head to toe.

“Frost Wolves.”

Their names alone felt chilling. They were A-rank monsters that neutralized most physical attacks by freezing their bodies from time to time.

They were also monsters that Marina hated because the Silver Thread was almost ineffective.

“Ice to ice!”

But Shin-hwa grinned and ran into the middle of the Frost Wolf pack, just like he did before.

The Frost Wolves, seeing a human running at them without fear, drooled.

It was because of the instinct of a beast full of anticipation of eating delicious human flesh after a long time.

But…

Auoooo!

Kkauoooool!

The sound that started to be heard in less than a minute was none other than the Frost Wolves’ mournful wails.

“Is that… a person or a monster?”

Marina, who was keeping a close watch on Shin-hwa while dealing with the small monsters called ‘trash mobs,’ shook her head.

He was now using the Frost Wolves, who had frozen themselves with ice, as clubs, beating up their wolf brethren everywhere.

Usually, when entering a frozen state, attacks would bounce off, similar to when Shin-hwa used Steel Enhancement.

But.

Kachiiiing!

The reality unfolding before Shin-hwa’s attack, which he struck down with all his might, was very different.

The Frost Wolves were not dying but breaking apart.

The Frost Wolves, shattered while frozen, were torn to pieces without even realizing they were dead.

How great was Shin-hwa’s power that the Frost Wolves, whose daily routine was to freeze their bodies at will and mock intruders!

They couldn’t even dare to use their essence and specialty, ‘Freezing.’

Because if they froze, he would brutally strike down their bodies and shatter them altogether.

The problem was that if they didn’t use freezing…

Kkyauoooool!

Auoooool!

They had to take the incoming attacks head-on.

They were greatly embarrassed.

They had seen intruders struggle so much because of attribute attacks that they were not at all familiar with the method of attacking using the bodies of their own kind like Shin-hwa.

In fact, it was such a ‘stupid method’ that no one could easily think of it.

The fact that tremendous strength was needed to make such an action possible also played a big part.

“Now, slowly get behind me, okay? The attribute-bearing trash mobs are no threat at all. Let’s go quickly!”

Marina’s tense heart was completely relieved by Shin-hwa’s bright and cheerful smile.

Every time she was with Shin-hwa, it was a series of surprises in a good way.

But this time, it was really more so.

In a good way, Shin-hwa felt like he was crazy.

The way he found appropriate solutions whenever a crisis struck, rather than panicking.

That was what Marina had felt from the first moment she saw Shin-hwa.

‘Amazing, amazing.’

Which Awakened in the world could come to a dungeon comparable to EX rank and do this kind of ‘Lu Bu act’ [referring to Lu Bu, a powerful warrior in Chinese history known for his unmatched strength]?

Shin-hwa would probably be the only one.

Marina could guarantee it.

* * *

After the Fire Chicken and Frost Wolves, attribute-type monsters continued to appear.

This was the reason why the Dungeon of Attribute’s Flower was notorious and the characteristic of the dungeon itself.

Because they were tormented by attribute attacks, this dungeon was recognized as a large-scale raid dungeon in my past life.

It was necessary to form Awakened teams specialized in each attribute.

But thanks to my past life’s experience, we knew the optimized strategy, so two people were enough.

Sandstorm Scorpion.

Infernal Assassin.

Lightning Eagle.

Various forms of attribute-specialized monsters appeared, but the way I responded was consistent.

‘Grab one guy for sure and beat up the other guy.’

This one major premise was enough, and the monsters blocking our path quickly died.

Certainly, the dungeon, which had not been properly cleared for a long time, was full of dimensional energy.

So, every time they fell, they spat out a series of high-grade dimension stones, worth 100 million won each.

I fell into a trance and focused on beating them up, advancing and advancing.

When we cleared all the A points, the section where attribute-type monsters appeared.

Marina and I each had nearly 50 billion won worth of dimension stones piled up as spoils.

“How much is this…? Shin-hwa, aren’t you happy that we hit the jackpot just by acquiring dimension stones?”

Before heading to point B, Marina’s expression as she checked the state of the acquired dimension stones was happiness itself.

She looked as if she was buried in a pile of money, hugging the dimension stones, not knowing what to do.

But I said to her with an indifferent expression.

“I’ve already saved enough for retirement. I should buy long-term treasury bonds with this money. Bury it and forget about it.”

“Wow… Have you transcended money?”

“If I set my mind to it, making money is easier than breathing. Haha, is that too much of an obnoxious statement?”

“It’s obnoxious, but it’s true, so I can’t deny it. Hehe.”

Marina laughed.

Only in the early days of regression, she was so happy that she cheered when she collected money in units of 100 million won.

Now that she had secured and filled the necessary money to some extent, she didn’t have much attachment to the money itself.

The problem was ‘power.’

What if I didn’t have the power to solve the problems ahead of me?

Even if I had not billions but trillions [조 and 경 are Korean units of currency, roughly equivalent to billions and trillions respectively] of money, it would be of no help. Because everything ends when I die.

“Honestly, I was surprised by the strategy. I never thought we could pass point A without any damage like this.”

“If it wasn’t designed to be a dungeon that you could push through with numbers, you have to think about the method within it.”

“That’s… right.”

“It’s a chronic disease of Awakened. If they think the specs are not enough, they just push through with numbers. The Awakened who are caught up in that stupidity die meaningless dog deaths.”

“…I have nothing to say.”

This is the downside of ‘firepower omnipotence,’ which is prevalent in the world of Awakened.

Rather than examining the problems of strategy and tactics, they prefer attacks that press down with numbers and overwhelm with damage.

Ten years have passed since the Great Cataclysm of 2010, but frankly, the level of Awakened was still low.

The time when they will clear the dungeon by setting up more clever and sharp strategies and tactics.

It will take at least another 10 years.

Also, if Nicholas doesn’t regress…

The ‘Renaissance’ of the Awakened world, which begins with his appearance, may not begin.

“Now, let’s speed up a bit. This dungeon itself is short in section, so we can quickly go to Vargas.”

We hurried our steps.

Because there was still a long way to go.