I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 282

282

‘Wow, this talent is insane.’

I knew it from the start, which is why I thought it was worth a shot, but the battle was far from easy.

গাইটস [Gaits] was incredibly aggressive, relying heavily on his counterattack ability, and relentlessly charged at Shin-hwa.

It was practically an invitation: ‘Hit me if you dare.’

Even if he sustained ten points of damage, he was confident he could return nine, guaranteed.

Plus, he believed he could mitigate the damage by one or two points with his swordsmanship.

An Awakened One completely unfazed by taking hits. This was definitely a first.

So, Shin-hwa engaged in a series of ambiguous offensive and defensive maneuvers, sometimes hitting, sometimes holding back.

Then, extending his fist defensively, গাইটস deliberately ran into it.

The next instant.

“Ugh!”

“Cough!”

The damage rebounded almost instantaneously, without even a tenth of a second’s delay.

Shin-hwa and গাইটস groaned in unison, forced to retreat, both clutching their numbed chests.

‘Damn it. If I had a talent like that, I would have taken over the world a long time ago.’

গাইটস’s ability was wasted in Shin-hwa’s eyes. It felt like it had fallen into the wrong hands.

With a talent that potent, practically a family treasure, he should have risen to the top of the world ages ago.

গাইটস seemed to be a prime example of someone failing to fully harness their potential.

That probably explained why Frauda hadn’t yet established a strong foothold in Russia.

Moreover, even when ranking all the Awakened Ones or guilds globally, he and Frauda remained outside the top ten.

‘The fact that reality doesn’t match the talent’s potential suggests there’s definitely something wrong with গাইটস.’

Shin-hwa mused.

There had to be a limitation to the talent itself that was holding him back.

But he hadn’t pinpointed it yet. He had only suffered triple the damage from unexpected counterattacks.

Furthermore, গাইটস was popping painkillers and chugging recovery potions mid-battle to offset the damage.

In other words, he was compensating by getting hit… I couldn’t see a way to break through this reckless strategy.

But then.

‘Huh……?’

Very faintly, so faint that even with his enhanced vision, he could barely discern its shape.

Shin-hwa detected subtle force fields enveloping গাইটস’s entire body.

It was precarious.

It demanded intense focus, like spotting a tiny speck of dust floating in the air.

It had been completely invisible until now, but now, with unwavering concentration, he could just barely perceive it.

“Huhu, finding it tough?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit rough. This damn talent is practically invincible.”

Shin-hwa nodded in agreement with গাইটস’s triumphant remark. He was being sincere.

His combat style, which relied on brute force, was proving completely ineffective, leading to frustration.

“Kang Shin-hwa, you’re just an Awakened One from Korea, not some righteous paladin representing the country.”

“So?”

Shin-hwa interjected, welcoming গাইটস’s words as if deliberately trying to create a lull in the fight.

He wanted to concentrate harder and identify the guy’s weakness, and গাইটস was handing him the opportunity.

Of course, গাইটস didn’t suspect that Shin-hwa was searching for a way to overcome his counterattack ability.

That’s because Shin-hwa had been struggling throughout the fight and had even been caught off guard a few times.

In fact, Shin-hwa was the first to spit blood.

গাইটস intentionally triggered a counterattack with a wild punch that Shin-hwa had thrown out to test the waters, with no real intention of hitting.

গাইটস was hit while in a defensive stance against the wild punch, significantly reducing the physical damage.

Shin-hwa, receiving the damage at the same time as the attack, had no time to defend.

So, in the back-and-forth, he was forced to endure consecutive losses without even achieving a single equal exchange.

“Let’s join forces. If you open the path to Korea, I’ll shower you with more wealth and honor than you can imagine.”

“I don’t need money, and I have enough power. Don’t you have a more tempting offer?”

“Do you want beautiful women? If you want, I can arrange for you to have three female celebrities you’ve seen on TV right now.”

“Hoo… That’s a little tempting. But polygamy isn’t really my thing.”

“There are many amazing flowers yet to be discovered by the world. I can give you a list of dungeons where you can find those flowers.”

“If there are such flowers, you should have enjoyed them yourself. Why are you offering them to me?”

“…….”

At that moment, গাইটস realized it.

That Shin-hwa wasn’t seriously listening to his offer, but thoroughly mocking him.

“You don’t seem to realize who has the upper hand here, Kang Shin-hwa.”

“Yeah. I definitely don’t seem to know.”

“……?”

“Then shall we rush in again like moths to a flame! Haaap!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shin-hwa’s body sprang forward like a coiled spring, charging towards গাইটস.

Unlike before, there was no hesitation in Shin-hwa’s movements. It felt like there was no turning back now.

‘It’s no use.’

But গাইটস believed he could respond in the same way he had been doing, as proven by their previous exchanges.

He adopted a defensive posture.

He prepared to minimize the damage from Shin-hwa’s attack.

Furthermore, he even planned to exploit Shin-hwa’s weakness to return the damage with his swordsmanship.

It was perfect.

গাইটস was so confident in his ability to counter Shin-hwa’s rush that he briefly wondered if there was a trick, but the attack pattern was the same as before.

“Haaaaap!”

This time, too, গাইটস responded to Shin-hwa’s charge with an even more proactive approach.

Soon, Shin-hwa’s fist was inches from গাইটস’s body, and he naturally braced himself against it.

But then.

Swoosh!

Without the slightest hesitation, Shin-hwa, who seemed poised to strike গাইটস, abruptly pulled his arm back.

No, to be precise, he withdrew his hand with an inexplicable grin, rather than in haste.

And.

Thwack!

In a split second.

He twisted his body, using the momentum to strike গাইটস’s face.

The change happened in that instant.

“Cough……!”

Fssssst! Kuung! Kung!

গাইটস, completely exposed to Shin-hwa’s attack, tumbled awkwardly across the cold ground.

So far, so good.

After all, if he had been struck with that much force, Shin-hwa would have sustained equivalent damage.

Because his talent always inflicted a blow equal to the damage he received, regardless of the offensive or defensive maneuver.

গাইটস thought, or rather, was certain, that he would never lose in a damage exchange, whether he initiated the attack or not.

But that belief shattered.

“Why, does something seem off?”

“……Huh?”

When গাইটস wiped the blood from his mouth and looked up.

Shin-hwa was already standing in front of him. Moreover, he appeared to be in perfect condition, as if the previous attack hadn’t affected him at all.

‘What is this……?’

Without even having time to analyze the cause and effect.

Kwaaaa!

With a sonic boom, Shin-hwa’s wild punch came flying again.

Judging from the sound of space ‘exploding’ for a moment, it seemed to be on a completely different level than the previous wild punch.

“Do you think I’ll let you hit me!”

গাইটস braced himself.

He didn’t know how he had been struck earlier, but he responded with confidence in his method, as always.

But.

“I think I will!”

This time, too, Shin-hwa paused slightly before the wild punch landed, then unleashed it again, slightly out of sync.

The first attack was a ‘feint.’

The second was the ‘real’ one.

And the attack that Shin-hwa unleashed as the second option was the Pabung Fist, the tenth form of the Wild Punch.

“……?”

In an instant, a look of mixed emotions crossed গাইட்ஸ்’s face.

A look that sensed something was terribly wrong.

And at the same time, a look that realized it was already too late to turn back.

The next moment.

Kwaang!

A roar that shook the heavens and the earth erupted from গাইட்ஸ்’s face.

Judging by the sheer volume of the sound, গাইட்ஸ் was গাইட்ஸ், but it was a sound that Shin-hwa wouldn’t have escaped unscathed.

If this attack had struck any building, the walls and windows on that floor would have shattered.

Because it was such a powerful attack. And such an attack was as fatal to Shin-hwa, the attacker, as it was to গাইட்ஸ், the defender.

‘It has to be…….’

The face of গাইட்ஸ், who was flying in a parabola through the air, no longer had eyes, nose, or mouth.

In other words, it had been torn, crushed, and mangled beyond recognition.

The place where his eyes should have been was covered in blood that had begun to gush out as his eyeballs burst.

The nose, which gave the face its three-dimensional shape, was no longer convex but concave. It was pushed deep into his face.

And the mouth was not only torn apart on both sides, but also filled with teeth that had been dislodged and scattered.

“Cough…….”

“You’re taking those hits well, aren’t you?”

The ordeal didn’t end there.

Shin-hwa’s presence loomed in গাইட்ஸ்’s senses, which were being overwhelmed by an irresistible force. Right above him.

That meant Shin-hwa had seized the opportunity to attack from above while he was airborne.

Counterattack doesn’t work.

গাইட்ஸ் was mortified.

His counterattack had never been so thoroughly penetrated in succession.

Even if it had happened, it was only occasionally, truly unexpectedly, once.

That’s why there was no problem even if a variable occurred.

Of course, it was an opportunity to realize that ‘I’m not perfect either,’ but at least it didn’t hold him back.

But Shin-hwa had somehow perfectly found his weakness and inflicted tremendous damage in a series of attacks.

In the meantime, not a single counterattack had landed, so Shin-hwa’s condition looked not only fine but very good.

“Damn it.”

With a short metallic sound.

Stab!

“Ugh!”

Shin-hwa’s Stellard sword pierced through গাইட்ஸ்’s abdomen.

Attacks using swords can of course be countered, so it’s an attack that can’t be used carelessly.

Shin-hwa stabbed without hesitation as if he had already finished calculating, and গাইட்ஸ் was hit without hesitation.

গাইட்ஸ், who was skewered like meat on a skewer in the air, had no choice but to fall helplessly.

Kuung!

“Cough!”

গাইட்ஸ், who collided head-on with the ground without even having time to properly protect his head, neck, or back, vomited blood.

Swoosh!

“Keuheo!”

Shin-hwa drew his sword again.

Stab!

“Kkyaaaa!”

This time, he pierced the left collarbone area with his sword.

Squeeze.

Then, after gently pressing down on গাইட்ஸ்’s right shoulder with his left foot, he bent down and looked down at him, continuing to speak.

” গাইட்ஸ், that’s why. Awakened Ones have to research their talents to the extreme.”

“Cough. Cough…….”

“Your counterattack talent isn’t a talent that always protects you like a constant force field.”

“What…… did you say?”

“You really don’t know?”

“…….”

গাইட்ஸ் closed his mouth because he was too embarrassed to admit it and too ashamed to deny it.

And.

“Your talent is.”

Shin-hwa sneered with an arrogant expression and continued to speak to গাইட்ஸ்.