I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 279

279

‘Is this a dream…?’

When anyone experiences a shock they can’t process, they instinctively deny reality.

The immediate reaction is to mistake it for a dream.

Because it’s too absurd, because there’s no way it could be happening, they convince themselves it’s a dream.

Dreams often feel more real than reality anyway.

Paiola’s thoughts followed this exact pattern.

He wondered if he was dreaming.

When Shin-hwa first struck him in the face, he dismissed it as carelessness, a lucky hit.

But the moment he was struck again on the forehead and the crown of his head, his perception shifted.

His neck had broken.

The pain was immense.

Ironically, this led him to believe he was in a vivid dream.

There was no way he, who feared nothing and considered himself virtually invincible, could be defeated so easily.

Numerous followers revered him and Isla as gods.

His skills were far beyond the level that anyone could easily challenge and overcome.

But….

Crack!

-Guh.

Paiola’s life ended instantly, contradicting his thoughts.

“No way.”

Iosif’s expression changed as he was forced to watch the battle unfold from a distance.

A device measured the unique dimensional energy emanating from monsters to estimate their rank.

Based on that, the Paiola and Isla brothers ranked at least SSS+, even with conservative estimates.

Even if Shin-hwa was EX rank, he shouldn’t have been able to finish them off so quickly.

But Paiola’s head was now turned a full 180 degrees, facing backward, and his breathing had ceased.

The clear evidence was that Paiola’s flames, which had been burning intensely, rapidly died down.

-Aaaaaah!

Isla, who had been full of energy moments before, screamed and recklessly charged at Shin-hwa.

Isla seemed to have lost his mind at his brother’s sudden death.

‘What am I witnessing?’

It wasn’t just the dead Paiola who thought he was dreaming. Iosif felt the same way.

The fantasies he’d entertained about Shin-hwa seemed to have morphed into an absurd nightmare.

-I’ll kill you!

Whoong! Whoong! Kwaaaang!

Isla’s enraged sword strikes erupted with explosive force.

Each swing generated an extreme blizzard.

Anything caught in the storm froze instantly, whether animal, plant, or inanimate object.

Whiriririk!

Only after Iosif swung the Iron Fragment of Annihilation to divert the storm’s path did he manage to stay safe.

Of course, the Iron Fragment froze in the process, forcing him to continuously inject magic power to melt it.

Whirrle.

“…It’s getting worse.”

Meanwhile, Shin-hwa’s entire body was engulfed in massive flames, burning fiercely.

As if the God of Fire had descended into reality, Shin-hwa radiated an imposing presence.

-Just who… are you?

“Who am I? I’m the grim reaper come to collect you.”

-How can you freely wield the abilities that we possess?

“Didn’t you say you’d chew me up? Tear me apart? Now you’re changing your tune? Are you scared?”

-This kind of power disrupts the natural order. It shouldn’t exist.

“Even if you’re a boss monster, I expected you to show some guts even as you die, but all you’re doing is denying reality.”

-This can’t be happening.

“Well, then die and find out whether this is reality or a dream!”

Shin-hwa ended the brief exchange and charged toward Isla.

The battlefield was vast and expansive.

He couldn’t waste time on these guys. Aside from the flower, they were irrelevant anyway.

-Die!

Having regained his composure, Isla unleashed a sword strike infused with even more intense cold air.

A thrusting attack.

It was a dangerous attack because it delivered the sword strike with maximum speed. But.

Flash!

Shin-hwa used the Blink Ring to instantly teleport behind Isla.

Shin-hwa’s movements were a beat faster than Isla anticipated and predicted.

This was thanks to brain alteration [enhanced cognitive processing].

Contrary to Shin-hwa’s expectations, Isla was a monster with many unrefined aspects.

‘He’s limited by being a learning monster. His initial composition and thought processes are extremely crude.’

Shin-hwa’s confidence was well-founded.

What is a learning monster?

Just as artificial intelligence trains by repeating numerous mistakes and successes to upgrade its skills,

it refers to a monster that improves its attack and defense strategies while fighting humans or enemy entities.

The Russian Cataclysm became a large-scale disaster in his past life because the boss monsters were all ‘learning types.’

If they had been suppressed early on, there wouldn’t have been a problem.

However, many awakeners were defeated in the initial battles, or attacked haphazardly and were annihilated.

The boss monsters quickly acquired and learned knowledge about the attack patterns and talents of the awakeners.

As a result,

by the time a well-organized awakener unit arrived, the monsters had already undergone significant upgrades.

Consequently, the awakeners were caught in the monsters’ strategies and tactics, suffering heavy losses.

Isla and Paiola were also learning types, but unfortunately, they ended up studying Shin-hwa first.

It was like starting survival training in front of a predator instead of in nature. The outcome was predetermined.

Koo-oong!

-Keuh!

Shin-hwa used his body, now the embodiment of the God of Fire, to slam into Isla’s back with full force.

Confident in his close-combat abilities with his altered body, he found this level of collision barely registering as pain.

‘Thank you, Elijah.’

He never imagined that the God of Fire buff he received from Elijah would be so useful.

With Shin-hwa consuming the flower of attributes and adding the God of Fire buff,

he was literally hellfire incarnate.

To borrow an expression used by the wizards of the Nas Continent, this was true Hell Fire.

-Kua! Aah! Kuaaaak!

Shin-hwa remained pressed against Isla’s back, which had buckled forward, intensifying the flames.

The cold air that Isla emitted failed to extinguish Shin-hwa’s flames. It only pushed him back momentarily.

However, Isla’s body, once as hard as a glacier, was melting like ice cream in the sun.

As the ice that formed his outer skin disappeared, the bones and flesh beneath were exposed.

This was Isla’s ‘inner flesh,’ which he had never revealed even to Paiola.

“Hang in there. You need to learn what patience is, right?”

Shin-hwa grinned and plunged his right arm into Isla’s exposed flesh.

It was like sticking your hand into an open wound and digging around inside.

In other words… it was excruciatingly painful.

-Kuaaaaaaaa!

A deafening scream erupted from Isla’s mouth, shaking the vast field.

The sheer intensity of it made Iosif tremble, even from a distance.

This was an enemy that even a decent unit of awakeners—a group of ten skilled individuals—would struggle to face.

Yet, against two such enemies, Shin-hwa had overcome the numerical disadvantage and gained an overwhelming advantage.

As a result.

Kwag! Kwag! Jjeo-eo-eo-eok!

-Keuheok…….

Eventually, Shin-hwa’s right arm, which had pierced through Isla’s back, emerged from his abdomen.

And after a moment.

Crunch. Crunch crunch.

Shin-hwa ravenously devoured the ‘flower of resurrection’ that had bloomed near Isla’s heart.

It was a gruesome sight for Iosif, watching from behind, as if Shin-hwa was ripping out and eating his heart.

“…Awesome.”

With that single word, Iosif summarized all his thoughts and feelings about Shin-hwa.

And he concluded:

Kang Shin-hwa must be an ‘ally’.

Having someone like that as an enemy? That would be a true living disaster.

* * *

‘One more life.’

He felt a surge of pride.

The flower of resurrection is exceptionally valuable compared to other flowers.

From an ‘attacker’s’ perspective,

the knowledge that you can die and return provides considerable confidence and encourages proactive engagement.

Isn’t that true in games as well?

If there’s a way to come back to life, you can push your limits right up to the moment of death.

You can attack the enemy relentlessly, without fear of dying.

“Shin-hwa.”

“First, shh.”

Iosif was about to speak, but I silenced him and moved more quickly to the west.

The reason was simple.

When a boss-level monster dies, an explosion occurs.

In his past life, this was called the ‘purification explosion’.

The death of the boss monster completely annihilates the surrounding monsters.

Just then.

Puh-uh-uh-uhng!

An explosion created a blue mushroom cloud. The source was Isla and Paiola.

Kueeee! Kihek!

Keuheureureu…….

The monsters caught in the shockwave of the explosion turned into handfuls of ashes, scattering uselessly.

The monsters that shared the same dimensional energy as Paiola and Isla were all dead.

Shin-hwa and Iosif were unharmed.

Only those of the same species and origin as the two were eliminated, as if being plucked out with tweezers.

To quickly contain the Russian Cataclysm, boss monsters had to be dealt with swiftly in this manner.

Simply catching the small fries was an endless task.

The RSA in his past life, unaware of this, built a defense line and struggled to block the ‘ 잡몹(japmob) ‘ [cannon fodder] that were rushing in, and suffered greatly as a result.

‘The guy I’m going to give the flower of resurrection to next will take some time. About two days?’

The boss monster known to possess the flower of resurrection, like the ones he caught this time, would appear in two days.

The sign was clear.

It would descend when meteor showers rained down.

Of course, just because there was time left didn’t mean he intended to sit idly by until then.

While the flower was the top priority, he was also here to prevent the disaster of the Russian Cataclysm.

For the next two days, he would deal with any monsters he encountered, collect loot, and save lives.

Besides, KSA agents and Team Mystic colleagues would be joining soon.

If he diligently fought to find loot that would benefit both him and his colleagues, time would fly by.

Meanwhile, at the same time.

“Thank you. I don’t know how to thank you for taking such quick action to support us.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m just doing my patriotic duty to protect my country.”

The RSA agents were overjoyed to see the ‘support troops’ arriving on a large scale.

These were the guild members of ‘Pravda’ [Truth], the guild solidifying its position as number one in Russia.

And to top it off,

Pravda’s guild master, Gaiz Mukhlynsk, had also arrived on the scene. The core force had arrived.

Gaiz shook hands with RSA officials and casually posed a question to an agent.

“Excuse me, may I ask you a question?”

“Yes, please feel free to speak.”

“By any chance, where is Kang Shin-hwa from Korea? I would like to actively support him.”