Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 409

409―――――

No Hope

The battle commenced as anticipated, a direct confrontation between Kim Yu-hyun and the highest-ranking celestials opposing him.

With explosive speed, Kim Yu-hyun surged forward, as if intent on annihilating any obstacle in his path. Almost simultaneously, five orbs of light ascended, seemingly poised to engage him head-on.

‘Five, which means only one top-tier celestial remains with the main force.

Including Sia, that makes two!’

Kim Yu-hyun likely anticipates that after these five are dealt with, the remaining celestial will attempt to shatter the Allied forces’ morale, ultimately leading Kim Yu-hyun to fight alone once more.

“Don’t even think about it!”

Rishikda voiced Zion’s unspoken thought.

As his guard knight, her primary duty was to remain by Zion’s side. However, if the enemies here were not vanquished, they would pose a grave threat to the very person she was sworn to protect.

Therefore, with unwavering resolve to safeguard Zion and a fierce determination not to be outdone by the other women, she spurred her horse onward with relentless fury.

“Charge!

Charge!”

“Aaaaargh!”

A massive melee erupted, transcending a mere clash between attackers and defenders. It was a chaotic free-for-all where survival was the only objective.

The soldiers of Holy Prussen, Hispannia, and Nudia locked shields, each side waiting for the other to falter, while the fairies from each faction rained arrows upon the enemy ranks.

Beastmen warriors charged in from every direction, disrupting formations, and the celestials, not to be outdone, spread their wings and soared into the sky, unleashing a barrage of attacks upon the Allied forces.

Shwook!

Ka-crack!―

Amidst the chaos, Rishikda swung her sword with unrestrained abandon for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

A woman who had learned much from Kim Yu-hyun, enduring even harsh training disguised as beatings, and finally earning a modicum of recognition from him.

She possessed the innate talent to reach the level of an upper-class knight at a young age. Kim Yu-hyun, the craftsman, had merely refined a prepared gemstone into a masterpiece.

With each flash of that brilliant gem, fairies and celestials alike fell.

By Zion’s side, she was a stoic knight silently guarding him, or a girl happily contemplating what more she could offer her beloved. But on the battlefield, she was transformed.

An upper-class knight infused with Kim Yu-hyun’s genes, a living weapon.

“Kuh-erk!”

“Y-you human!”

Three or four fairies, rushing in without thinking, were instantly felled, spraying blood.

Fairies are not mere archers; they wear light armor.

They are as skilled in swordsmanship as they are in archery, and they enter battle fully equipped for close combat.

Yet, each time these fairies approached Rishikda, something scattered into the air—the fairies’ wrists or arms.

―Life is fleeting, but also incredibly tenacious.

In a one-on-one duel, this wouldn’t happen, but in a large-scale battle or melee, it’s necessary to subdue enemies who are bothering you with minimal movement and force.

―

This was another instance where Kim Yu-hyun’s training shone.

If they are not targets that must be eliminated, it is enough to simply prevent them from fighting.

In that case, instead of expending all your time and energy to kill each one, just sever their wrists or arms.

In battle, having the hand holding a sword or spear cut off is more devastating than any other injury.

It’s obvious that they won’t be able to return to battle, and it also lowers the morale of the surrounding enemies, so what could be better than killing two birds with one stone?

Remembering Kim Yu-hyun’s teachings, Rishikda executed what she had learned from her master with ruthless efficiency.

Skeok!―Pick!

Pshoo-shook!

“Ugh, ughaaack!”

“Aaaah, aaaaaargh!”

With each flash of the knight’s sword, red blood splattered, accompanied by screams.

Witnessing this scene, Friedrich, the Holy Prussen’s Stigmata holder [a person who bears the wounds of Christ], resolved to eliminate that woman first.

His Stigmata was optimized for speed, and he believed he would never lose a quick sword fight with that knight. He prepared to move behind Rishikda.

Nyaaang!―

‘Kuh?’

A chill ran down his spine, and the Stigmata urgently halted him.

Simultaneously, Friedrich instinctively twisted his body to the side, feeling something sharp graze his Adam’s apple, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

‘Fast, incredibly fast!’

Friedrich was unparalleled in speed.

Even the celestials admired his ability, claiming that the Light had bestowed wind upon him. He excelled not only in movement speed but also in dynamic visual acuity to track it.

Yet Friedrich was ambushed with a speed he couldn’t even perceive for a moment.

Then, with even greater speed, she vanished into the fierce melee.

Swish―.

It would be better to escape this forest of humans.

At the Stigmata’s whisper, Friedrich nodded in agreement and surveyed his surroundings.

Armies were locked in a massive, chaotic battle, but even in chaos, there were pockets of space.

Such as around skilled individuals, like the terrifying knight who neatly severed the wrists or arms of approaching enemies from afar, constantly attracting fairies and celestials.

‘The one who attacked me is still aiming for me.

If they intend to finish me off, they must be thinking the same thing as me, wanting to fight in a place without interference if possible.’

Thinking so, Friedrich created some distance, mercilessly cutting down the Hispannian and Nudian soldiers around him.

Instead of merely wounding them and attracting more enemies, he cleanly severed their necks, causing those who were frightened to shrink back and quickly move the battlefield elsewhere.

As a result, both enemy and allied forces retreated little by little around him, creating space, and after a while, a woman emerged from behind a Holy Prussen soldier who collapsed, spurting blood.

“Nyaang.”

Swish, lick―.

A woman who appeared to be a beastman slowly approached, licking the blood off her hand with her tongue.

Rather than a bewitching allure, she exuded a sense of purity that amplified her terrifying presence.

“Are you from the Myo-eun clan [a clan of beastmen known for their speed and agility]?

Even so, you’re too fast. So you’re similar to me.”

“Are you?”

“The trace where God, where the Light has stayed.

Stigmata!

If you have it, you should be here, led by the descendants of Light.

Why are you standing there, siding with sinners!

It’s because of guys like you, those who use power in strange places, that the world is becoming more disgusting!”

Thwack!―

Friedrich’s sharp attack flew straight towards Lia’s shoulder.

It seemed like an attack that didn’t need to be blocked, one that could be easily avoided, but Lia instead rushed inward as if accepting the challenge.

She had discerned that the opponent’s main weapon was not the longsword held in one hand, but the relatively short sword held in the other, and she was trying to close that distance.

‘Did she notice right away?

As expected!’

As if he had anticipated it, Friedrich threw the dagger he was holding straight at Lia.

In this way, the opponent would mistakenly believe that his attack was actually a dagger throw, but his combat method was to dash forward, faster than the sword flying with all its might, reach the opponent before the sword, swing the longsword, and then catch the dagger flying behind to finish them off.

Lia’s speed momentarily decreased as if she had noticed the dagger flying towards her.

Friedrich didn’t miss that point and charged forward with tremendous momentum, stabbing the longsword straight and accurately.

However, Lia narrowly dodged his attack by bending her body, and even the following dagger completely escaped her reach by smoothly rolling her body to the side.

It was the first time he had faced an opponent showing such speed, so Friedrich exhaled in disbelief, but he didn’t give her a moment to breathe and pressed the attack.

In a battle of speed against speed, the one gap that inevitably appears would be the decisive cause of defeat and a divine move. To forcibly open that gap, attacking was the only answer.

After several exchanges, Friedrich finally found Lia’s gap once again.

He was about to swing his sword with the intention of landing an attack this time, to cut the enemy’s advantage of speed in half.

Pshweek!―

‘···Huh?’

Suddenly, he felt a stinging sensation right below his armpit.

That sensation instantly turned into a tearing pain, engulfing him with such tremendous agony that he dropped one of the swords he was holding.

“Kuaaaaack?”

What on earth, what on earth was going on!

If he had suffered such an injury, he, or at least the Stigmata, would have sensed it.

There had been nothing wrong until now, no pain, so why had he suddenly suffered such an injury!

“People like us have to be careful of small wounds rather than big ones.”

“Kuh-euk!

W-what are you talking about···.”

“Because we overwork our bodies too much.

So even a very small wound quickly widens and tears, eventually becoming a fatal injury that damages the muscles.

Nyaang.”

Saying that, Lia slightly bent her waist and pretended to scratch something with her fingers, then wore a faint smile on her lips.

In that moment, Friedrich immediately realized what situation she was explaining, what she wanted to say.

Lia had narrowly avoided his critical blow a moment ago.

But it wasn’t just narrowly avoiding the attack; it was through a very small gap.

She had cut through Friedrich’s gap, which had appeared in that very instant, which could only be described as fleeting.

At first, it was such a small wound that neither he nor the Stigmata had noticed it.

Especially since a battle was unfolding right before their eyes, and in a speed battle where one wrong thought could lead to immediate decapitation.

So, as he used all his senses and exerted all his strength to move his body, the wound that had only been slightly cut at first endured and endured, and finally tore when he used great force for a decisive attack.

‘Did she plan even this!’

Friedrich groaned and hurriedly examined the wound.

It might not be a life-threatening injury, but since the muscle was damaged, it would be difficult to use that arm freely.

If that were the case, his specialty, the dual swordsmanship with two swords of different lengths, would be completely blocked.

Inevitably, he decided to fight with the remaining longsword.

Clang!

Cha-claang!―

Just because he couldn’t use dual swordsmanship didn’t mean Friedrich had become weaker.

Rather, he was a promising knight who had risen to the rank of intermediate knight using only one sword, just like others when he first started using a sword.

Then, by chance, he was discovered by the celestials who were looking for a Stigmata holder, and with their help, he gradually developed the power of the Stigmata, accepting the opinion that using two swords, adding a dagger to one sword, was the most suitable way to bring out his full potential.

“Ha!”

The sword drew an elegant line in his hand and flew towards Lia.

The distance was too close, and his attack speed was not insignificant, so Lia ended up with a faint but long sword wound on her shoulder.

“···Nyaang.”

At the last moment, she pushed her shoulder inward to prevent it from being completely cut off, but she couldn’t perfectly evade the attack.

Since Lia also needed to use her body properly to unleash her full potential, it was clear that even this small injury would widen or tear like Friedrich’s after a few exchanges.

Knowing this well, Friedrich stared at Lia with a fairly relaxed expression, gesturing with his sword as if to say, “Now you come in first.”

“···.”

Twitch―.

The moment she saw that provoking gesture, one of Lia’s eyebrows shot up.

“···Kim Yu-hyun didn’t do that either.”

“What?”

“He never provoked me like that.”

Who is Kim Yu-hyun anyway, was the moment Friedrich reflexively asked the question.

“Ugh!”

Kwa-jijijijik!―

Claws with a blue aura of murderous intent flashed right before her eyes.

After that, something blue flashed, and goosebumps ran all over his body.

‘Wh-what.

What was that just now···.’

Without time to think any further, Friedrich had to break a sweat dodging and blocking the attacks that flew like lightning.

As if the attacks so far had been just to test the waters, Lia pressured Friedrich with bizarre movements that were impossible to grasp.

Even though they had the same injuries, were in the same situation, and their wounds were getting worse, her movements became faster and sharper as time went on.

If an attack seemed to be coming from the front, she would suddenly aim for the side, and if he felt an attack from behind and turned around, she would conversely face the front and try to leave a long gash on his stomach.

A series of dizzying attacks, a perfect harmony of attack and feint.

Above all, she was so familiar with this kind of fight that she showed no hesitation in her entry and the skill to pull back her body immediately after.

‘Damn it, what kind of woman is she!’

Friedrich himself had accumulated a lot of practical experience, so he could tell for sure.

This Myo-eun woman, who seemed to have good movements, had accumulated even more practical experience than him, and furthermore, she was someone who had continued to perform acrobatics on the boundary between life and death.

She showed no fear or surprise even when seeing a sword passing right before her eyes, and the way she threw feints in the narrow gap between stabbing an attack and turning her body.

Rather, the smile on her face seemed to be comparing something to Friedrich’s attack.

‘At this rate, I’ll lose nine times out of ten.

I have to inflict a bigger injury or a fatal wound.’

Friedrich subtly stopped his offensive and switched to defense, trying to grasp the part that was still unconsciously repeated in Lia’s unpredictable movements.

And soon, he confirmed that Lia was aiming for the injured arm whenever a gap appeared.

‘This is it.’

Stagger!―

After exchanging dozens of attacks, Friedrich decided to use a very elaborate trick, just like Lia had done.

The more he used his body excessively, the more he increased his speed, the more the burden on his body would increase exponentially, and the wound would widen and tear.

Since he couldn’t deceive the opponent with pure trickery alone, Friedrich decided to give them something that looked real and mix a feint into it.

Until now, he had been careful not to worsen the wound, but this time he gritted his teeth and swung his arm even more, and soon the wound widened, and blood splattered.

After unleashing an attack as if overcoming that, he tried to recover from the body’s convulsions caused by the injury, turning his body and throwing a feint of staggering in that fleeting moment.

“···!”

Sparkle!―

A light flashed in Lia’s eyes.

In a battle of speed against speed, where a fleeting moment dominates everything, even that small tremor becomes a dividing line that separates life and death.

So, the moment she dug inside to take advantage of that gap, Friedrich endured the pain and burden of the widening wound and lashed out with the sword in his opposite hand, which he had been hiding with his body.

An attack that would inflict a serious injury that would prevent her from attacking recklessly, no matter what.

However, it was Friedrich who screamed as red blood spurted from his body.

“Kuaaaack?”

He couldn’t understand.

He had clearly thrown a perfect feint, a feint that could not be avoided.

Even the opponent seemed to have fallen for it, so how could his move have been read?

Thud―.

Seeing Lia’s claws placed on his chest, Friedrich sensed the end.

“Kim Yu-hyun is stronger after all.”

Puhwak!―――――――Author’s Notes―――――――

Yu Da-hee, Nyaang