Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 374

374

Counterattack

“The Royal Knights have begun to move, Captain!”

“Good. Everyone, hold your positions. We shall punish those who dare to cause such a disturbance within the Royal Castle with the light and justice of Hispania.”

The knights of the Royal Guard, while not quite on par with the Royal Knights, were far superior to most knights. They blocked the path, preventing the enemy from advancing any further.

Unfortunately, a massive fire had broken out in a busy area of the Royal Castle, engulfing the southern residential district and claiming many lives.

He felt a natural rage towards the one who committed such a mad act, but their duty now was to evacuate the people and protect the soldiers engaged in firefighting.

Furthermore, if the culprit of this incident were to appear, they would personally cut them down in the name of Hispania and make them pay for their crimes.

Fssst―.

“…What is it?”

One knight muttered, cautiously reaching out his hand.

He tilted his head, looking at the firefly that landed on his fingertip.

‘Was there ever a firefly in the Royal Castle, of all places?’

‘Come to think of it, this firefly seems a bit more… red than the others.’

The thought that something was wrong crossed his mind, followed by an inexplicable chill down his spine.

Just as the beautifully sparkling firefly seemed to flash for a moment, a roar erupted, turning the surrounding area into chaos.

Kwaaaang!

Kwakwakwang!

Whirr!―

“Uwaaaagh!”

“Extinguish it, extinguish it!

It’ll be a disaster if the fire spreads further!

We have to catch it before the wind picks up!”

Thanks to this, the soldiers who had been engrossed in firefighting had to carry water again and move busily, and the residents of the Royal Castle also devoted themselves to helping put out the fire.

Even mages were mobilized and thrown into the firefighting efforts. Watching this scene, a woman with hair as red as the flames slowly disappeared somewhere.

Clack, clack―.

Even though the flames were still raging fiercely, the woman fearlessly stepped into the fire.

It seemed as if she would be swallowed by the fierce fire and turn into ashes at any moment, but she had a very relaxed expression, as if she were taking a stroll.

Moreover, the flames retreated as if clearing the way for her, reducing their size.

“…”

Finally reaching an empty space, the woman glanced around and opened her mouth with a sneer.

“Stop the pathetic act and come out.”

“…”

“If you’re thinking of running away, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth and kill you. If you’re thinking of fighting here, I’ll capture you alive and burn your eyes out one by one.

If you surrender without resistance, I’ll burn you in one go without pain.”

“…”

“I think that sounds pretty good.”

Trisha, the woman as red as a burning flame, taunted her opponent with a sneer.

She never expected that the person would be a Stigma user with the same abilities as her.

In this case, the outcome would be determined solely by their skills, without any excuses.

If she lost, she would die, and if she won, she would definitely receive praise from Zion.

Therefore, the opponent had to die by her hand.

“I have no luck with women.

How come every woman I meet is a crazy bitch?”

The man finally revealed himself, pushing back his hood and opening his mouth.

The man, with red hair similar to Trisha’s and orange eyes, was Ryu, the Stigma user who had entered the Royal Castle with Enri.

He lightly clenched and unclenched his hands, trying to gauge what kind of woman his opponent was before the fight began.

‘She looks like an ordinary woman on the surface, but seeing as she passed through my flames, she must be a Stigma user like me and Enri.

Moreover, a Stigma with abilities very similar to mine.’

The flames within him whispered.

‘The woman in front of you is crazier than you, never less.’

Even if she is a Stigma user, if the flames retreat on their own, she will definitely be a formidable enemy.

‘Nothing new.

Everyone was already completely insane.

Why would that woman be any different?’

Ryu muttered and decided to ask as a formality before fighting.

Why would she choose to suffer as a slave to someone weaker than herself, even though she knew how strong her power was and that its source was sacred, incomparable to magic?

Since she was going to use that power anyway, wouldn’t it be better to burn and sweep away everything she didn’t like, every world that didn’t satisfy her, and create a new world where we could be the new beginning?

“…”

Trisha listened to Ryu’s words quietly.

As if she was contemplating his words, as if the content was quite appealing to her.

Watching her, Ryu didn’t let his guard down, but still thought there might be a slight chance she would come over to his side.

The Stigma was a gift that completely transformed even a guy like him, who only knew how to burn forests to create farmland, into such a great being, and it was proof that God loved him.

If you had it, it was natural to wield it only for yourself, and Ryu thought it was natural to use it to prevent anyone from treating you carelessly.

“What a load of bullshit.”

However, it seemed that Ryu’s words were really just a load of bullshit to the woman in front of him.

Kukwakwakwa!―

A huge wave of flames surged and poured towards Ryu.

The entire area had already been burned down by Ryu, so Trisha judged that even if she attacked so openly, it would not harm others.

“…Crazy bitch.”

Muttering that, Ryu quickly retreated, scattering the fireflies he had transformed into the most suitable form for his use in front of him.

The small flames that had entered the area soon caused a massive explosion the moment the huge wave approached, causing the flames to head towards Trisha instead of Ryu.

Trisha twitched her eyebrows, facing the situation in front of her.

Until now, there had been monsters who simply split her attacks in half, or women who dodged the attacks, or cats who preemptively attacked and prevented her from using the Stigma from the start.

But the man in front of her was the first opponent to create flames in the same way, cause an explosion to change the direction, and combine all the flames to push them back at her.

Originally, it would be right to avoid it.

Flames can never be blocked just by blocking them.

Even if you stand firmly in that spot and endure, the damage will eventually accumulate.

For that reason, Kim Yu-hyun also found Trisha’s fire quite troublesome and avoided being trapped in the hellfire she unleashed as much as possible.

But Trisha didn’t want to run away from the man who was wielding fire just like her.

More than anything, avoiding the attack here would be proving that she was being pushed back, and that was something her pride would not allow.

Whirr!

Trisha, surrounded by flames, took the massive flames head-on, as if she were taking a shower.

The flames that had been burning around her quickly died out, and soon the flames that had been combined filled the space, creating a scene of hell.

“That’s one seriously crazy woman.”

Ryu smiled in disbelief as he watched the scene.

Even if the opponent was a Stigma who controlled flames like himself, there was always a limit to what each of them could handle.

If that limit was exceeded, even the greatest Stigma, even the solid body of the Stigma user, would be broken, burned, and shattered.

Didn’t he himself get knocked out by Enri’s punch after messing with her once?

‘If you know your flames are hot, you should know that other flames are just as hot.’

In the meantime, the flames that had been flying towards Trisha quickly diminished.

When fire meets fire, it usually becomes one bigger fire and rages, but as if completely different forces were fighting, one side eventually devoured the other.

“You endured well.

The Stigma is good after all.

Isn’t it?”

“Good?

It’s always chattering; it’s so noisy I could die.”

Trisha, emitting pure white smoke from her whole body, casually threw off her outer garment, which had already been burned to a crisp by the heat, not the flames.

It was fortunate that Lucia had spent a fortune to make underwear out of a material that could withstand heat and flames to some extent, as it was common for her to burn her clothes.

“Ooh.

A good sight to see.”

As the woman’s bare skin was revealed, Ryu exclaimed as if provoking her.

Originally, women would get excited if they thought their bodies were being shown to strangers.

Because they could get excited and angry, and show gaps that didn’t exist.

Ryu thought so and wondered if the woman in front of him would show such weaknesses.

But the opponent was, as expected, a woman who was very, very crazy.

“I told you.

I’m going to pluck out your eyes and burn them.

I’ll make you not even remember what you saw.”

“…”

It’s not a joke or a threat.

That’s just a casual statement as if she’s really going to do what she says.

Ryu, confirming that madness was blazing in her eyes, clicked his tongue and caused another massive explosion.

‘That woman has strong firepower but weak control.

The fact that she can’t control the flames at will and just spews them out means she’s only at the level of a sprouting seed.’

In contrast, he had been discovered by the 천족 [celestial race] early on and had undergone training to control his abilities to a very precise degree.

Like the way he attacked the Royal Castle, he could contain explosions more powerful than most magic in these small flames that looked like fireflies, and he could scatter the flames like pouring arrows and then summon them all at once to create a giant spear.

Pasasasa!―

Thousands of fireballs covering the sky fly towards Trisha.

She stared blankly at the scene, looked at Ryu standing in front of her, and suddenly started running at an incredible speed, as if she was going to die together.

‘Did she realize the weakness?’

Area attacks create unavoidable blind spots, forcing the enemy to take damage.

Then the only way to avoid that attack is to go to the caster and force the enemy to cancel the attack, or take the attack together.

Therefore, Ryu also knows the weaknesses of this attack well.

However, before that, he just had to shove these flames into the enemy who was trying to stick to him and explode them.

That’s what’s happening now.

Trisha seemed to be quickly sticking to Ryu, but soon Ryu’s flames headed towards Trisha much faster, and in the end, she failed to achieve her goal and was covered in flickering flames on her back and one arm.

“Boom.”

Poong!

Boom!

쾅!

Small and large explosions occurred, and the flames that arose from them instantly swallowed a woman.

Acrid smoke and a burning smell spread everywhere, and Ryu, thinking it was over, quickly raised his head at the chilling sensation he felt in his head.

‘When did she?’

That woman was definitely caught in the explosion.

He felt it, and his Stigma felt it.

She might be dead, or even if she wasn’t dead, she would be trying to retreat with considerable injuries or serious internal damage.

“Die!”

But Trisha didn’t seem to have any intention of retreating as Ryu wished.

Clearly, she had taken damage, and her back and arm were on fire, but Trisha didn’t care and aimed at Ryu with one hand dripping with flames.

“Crazy!”

That woman is not simply controlling flames through the Stigma, but she herself has become a giant flame and is rushing in.

As if she doesn’t know anything else and is just going to completely incinerate the enemy in front of her, it was literally an attack that only looks forward and has no back.

Even if you control flames, it should be moderately hot, but that has already far exceeded the level of being hot, and it was much more correct to see it as just crazy.

‘Is it okay as long as the attack goes in?

How stupid.

Even if you are a Stigma user, if you receive a serious level of damage, you will eventually die like a human.’

Ryu lightly kicked the ground, secretly setting a trap under his feet at that timing.

The moment Trisha’s attack was in vain, vines made of flames that had been waiting in advance grabbed her ankles and momentarily blocked her movement, and the moment Trisha tried to shake them off, countless fireballs flew towards her from all directions again.

Kwaang!

쾅!

Poong!

With the sound of explosions, the area is completely engulfed in a firestorm.

It was a flame that would have turned an ordinary person, as well as a skilled person, into a handful of ashes and disappeared from the world, but Ryu did not let his guard down.

Unless he pierced her heart or cut off her neck, Stigma users like himself are ultimately monsters no different from 천족 [celestial race], 마족 [demon race], or 용인 [dragon people].

All the attacks so far were just part of an effort to finish things off for sure.

Whirr!

Above all, the opponent is a woman who wields flames at will like himself.

Just like he did, that woman can definitely 받다 [receive] it back.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it was certainly possible to use her Stigma to prevent the flames from rushing towards him, as he had just seen.

‘This won’t work.

We can’t win like this.’

If he drags on here, more enemies will flock to him.

What he had to do was not to kill more enemies and die with them, but to let them know what true fear is, who the true sinners are, and what punishment awaits those sinners.

Ryu rushed towards Trisha, who was dangling one arm completely broken and 돌리고 [turning] her flames with her remaining hand to another place.

It could have been a trap, but unlike her, who had already taken considerable damage, he was fine.

Ryu thought that he could ignore such a trap, or even get hit by it and pierce her heart, which wouldn’t be bad either.

“Heup!”

Ryu plunged into Trisha’s chest, who had broken through the flames and was facing him.

If he hit her like this, a hole would be created in her chest and she would die, so he wanted to quickly end this fight that had nothing to gain and finish what he was doing.

···Whirr!

‘···?’

That’s until the Stigma that had been dormant inside him suddenly screamed in surprise.

He was about to ask why, but the answer was given not by the Stigma but by Trisha in front of him.

···콰지지직! [crackling sound]

콰직! [snap]

At that moment, Ryu had to doubt his eyes.

Suddenly, a streak of yellow light flashed from the woman’s body, pushing the flames outward and starting to draw a circle as if enveloping her master.

The woman’s eyes, which he had simply thought were the same flames as himself, flashed with lightning.

The woman was creating flames just like him, so he thought that the opponent’s Stigma was almost the same as his, and he had been dealing with her accordingly as much as possible.

“Two?”

He didn’t check.

No, he didn’t even think about it.

He never knew that a bright yellow lightning bolt was hiding its existence in that red flame.

Even while taking all of his attacks, even while suffering extreme injuries to her body, what she had been aiming for was exactly the situation like now, where the opponent came in on their own!

‘Damn it!’