Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 286

Burdel sighed. ‘This is nothing but trouble.’

Six months had passed since he got the order to find the King’s brother in the southern mountains.

Burdel sighed quietly, looking down from the tall tree.

Below him, a huge puma, as big as a small house, walked around.

Even though it was huge, it could jump thirty meters up to his branch in one leap.

If he wasn’t wearing this Tohiren leather outfit, which he liked since the Beast Forest, the puma would have smelled him right away.

‘I’d be found in a second.’

He could probably fight it, but if he didn’t hit its eye and brain in one shot, all the monsters nearby would attack.

And each monster would be as strong as a very powerful knight.

How did he know?

He learned that the hard way two months ago.

‘I’m so tired of this. I thought the Beast Forest was the worst…’

He remembered how hard the Beast Forest was, but he had a bad feeling this place would be even worse if he stayed longer.

‘There!’

He saw flattened plants where the giant puma had walked.

In this forest, everything was huge, so a trail like that must be made by a human or something smaller than him.

And Burdel hadn’t seen anything smaller than himself since entering the deep mountains.

That meant…

‘It’s Prince Ronian’s trail! I finally found him.’

Burdel didn’t understand why the King’s brother would hide in such a dangerous place.

But that didn’t matter for his mission.

He would do his best.

His lord promised to teach him how to become superhuman, make him a knight, and even make him a noble if he really became superhuman.

‘Let’s go.’

With new determination, Burdel jumped up and landed quietly on a branch across from him.

Six months in the southern mountains had changed him.

He felt his sneaky movements and hiding skills were getting better faster than his archery, even though his archery was already almost superhuman.

The ‘Ghostly Shadow’ skill, taught by Sword Master Felix Esperanza, was improving quickly because of his years of hunting monsters.

Burdel wasn’t happy about this.

‘I want to go home.’

He kept thinking of his comfortable house in Gran Castle, not the small hut near the Beast Forest.

But to go home…

‘I need to finish this mission. Focus!’

Burdel frowned slightly, cleared his mind of distractions, and continued to follow the trail below.

He always had good eyesight, but now that he was using Force, his eyes got even better.

He could see things far away as if they were close.

Looking at the trail again, he felt sure.

‘The trail goes on. I’m sure of it. He’s living nearby.’

Burdel’s eyes widened a little.

He could finally see the end of this long, boring mission.

Without thinking, he started walking faster.

About thirty minutes after finding the trail, Burdel saw a cave that looked like a giant animal’s home.

He was on a huge tree branch far from the cave, and it was completely dark inside.

But that wasn’t a problem for him.

‘Eye Opening.’

This was his special Force skill.

He focused Force into his eyes, making him see even better.

The Force light let him see through the darkness inside the cave, even from far away.

And then, Burdel saw him.

‘A person!’

He shouted without thinking, and his fist tightened.

He would have never made such a mistake back when he was well-known in the Beast Forest, but he didn’t even realize he had made one.

It was a costly mistake.

A soft slithering sound.

Just a small sound.

But then, a wave of cold, deadly feeling hit him.

Burdel knew danger instantly and jumped off the branch.

Just then – WHAM! – the branch where he stood broke apart with a loud crash.

Turning around quickly, Burdel saw a huge snake, its head bigger than a man’s body.

Deadly intent, trying to stop him from moving, came from its bright yellow eyes with slits.

The snake wanted to crush him.

Luckily, Burdel had fought many strange monsters like this before.

He was especially good at dealing with eyes and sight, even better than a superhuman.

Because of this, he easily pushed away the snake’s scary gaze just by using his Force.

‘They should call this place the Giant Beast Forest, not the Southern Mountains.’

How did a snake that big sneak up on him?

Thinking about the Beast Forest, Burdel pulled out his bow and shot an arrow while falling.

Even as he fell from high up, right after dodging the snake’s attack, Burdel moved without stopping.

He twisted his body and shot his bow.

A Force arrow, glowing red, flew from the bow.

Whoosh!

Wham!

‘Kieeeek!’

But the first arrow hit the snake’s eyelid and bounced away.

‘What?!’

No matter how huge it was, how could a snake’s eyelid stop a Force arrow that could break rocks?

Before he could even understand how crazy that was, Burdel quickly rolled to the side.

Sssssss.

The plants where he had just been were melting, with white smoke rising up.

Snake venom, dripping from its mouth as it screamed, had touched them.

‘Damn it! That big, and the venom kills instantly? How is that even real?’

He couldn’t think about it now.

‘Kyaooo!’

The giant snake jumped down from the branch.

It moved surprisingly fast and springy for its size.

‘Tch!’

Burdel quickly moved back from the poison smoke and shot arrows one after another.

He fired two Force arrows that could both pierce and explode, hitting the snake’s head each time.

Thud. Thud.

Rumble.

But all that happened was one arrow made a deep cut on the snake’s eyelid.

And the snake’s deadly anger seemed to get even stronger.

‘This is really bad.’

The giant snake now saw him as a dangerous fighter, not just food.

He was in big trouble.

He felt cold sweat on his back and put all his Force into the bow and arrow, aiming at the snake.

His bow, made from Grimdel monster horn, and its string, from Garen tendons, vibrated with his Force, making it super springy.

He made the Force arrow tip smaller and smaller to make it pierce even better, remembering what happened before.

‘One shot.’

He had to hit its eye and brain with just one arrow.

He opened his mouth a little to control his breath, not caring if he drooled.

He knew from experience it was better to look a bit messy than to make any noise by swallowing.

But then, a drop of sweat ran down his forehead, past his eyebrow, and into his eye.

He blinked for a second without thinking.

Sssssss.

Quake Quake Quake.

For a second, it looked like the snake’s head was getting bigger, and then a flood of green liquid rushed out of its mouth like a waterfall.

‘Damn it!’

Burdel shot the arrow without thinking. He saw it vanish into the green venom and quickly rolled away.

Screeeech!

A small hiss sound came, and he saw his leather boots smoking and burning.

Burdel’s eyes went wide with fear.

“Tohiren leather, burned so easily?” he thought.

His special goggles, made to stop poison, were broken right away. A drop of green liquid touched his leg…

His leg became stiff and cold. Everything around him seemed to blur. *I’m going to die!* he thought, screaming inside his head.

Die from snake poison.

*And I haven’t even finished my mission? Killed by a snake?*

Suddenly, anger flashed in his eyes.

“Just a snake?!” he yelled in his mind.

He felt everything at once: fear, anger at the snake, and anger at himself for failing. All of this turned into a hard, strong will.

“You think I’ll die here, alone?!”

Then, the power inside the arrow in his hand grew stronger again. It started to glow with a bright, hopeful light.

This power, pulled out with no care for his own life, made something amazing happen, something beyond what it should be able to do.

But his strength didn’t last.

He felt weak.

His sight went blurry, and the power inside him felt like it was flowing away, like the ocean going back out to sea.

*No!* he thought.

He saw the giant snake’s head coming closer and closer. Burdel opened his eyes wide in fear.

*WHAM!*

Suddenly, something orange flew into view and smashed into the snake’s head.

The huge snake was thrown backwards with great force, rolling away.

“Kraaah!!” the snake cried out in pain.

“Who’s there?” a voice asked.

The words were in the Common Language he knew, and they sounded so good to Burdel’s ears. He felt a rush of relief.

And then he saw red hair and a face that looked familiar…

Burdel understood. He had found the person he was looking for.

“Ugh…” Burdel tried to speak, but no words came out.

His vision was blurry, and he couldn’t move his body.

*No, not like this,* he thought weakly.

He felt like he was falling into the ground.

Even as his mind started to go dark, Burdel fought to open his eyes one last time.

He thought he saw something amazing: a bright orange light, like fire, ripping the snake apart.

Then, everything went black.

***

“He…llo?”

“Are… you… awake?”

The soft voice slowly became louder.

“Hey! Wake up! I know you can hear me!”

Burdel’s eyes snapped open at the clear voice. He sat up quickly.

“Gasp! The snake?!”

“Oh, the snake? Most of it’s outside,” said the young man. “Some of it’s cooking right here.” He smiled and held up a piece of dark, cooked meat from the fire.

Burdel was still confused, but he guessed what it was. Without thinking, he said something he always said when hunting: “You shouldn’t eat snake meat without being careful. Some snakes are poisonous…”

“This one is,” Ronian replied, grinning. “But it tastes good! And if you eat the gall bladder, you become safe from its poison. That’s how you lived, by the way.”

“Ah! My leg!” Burdel suddenly remembered.

Ronian’s playful words made him fully awake. He looked down at his leg and sighed in relief.

There was a small mark like a burn, and it hurt a little. But he could feel it! Just feeling pain was wonderful.

“Phew,” Burdel breathed out.

Thank goodness. Thank goodness my leg is okay.

He knew it was strange to be happier about his leg than about being alive, but the pain in his leg made everything feel real again.

After a moment of strong feelings, he looked up. The young man was holding out a piece of meat. It smelled delicious, like roasted spices and smoke.

“Eat,” Ronian said. “It will make you stronger. It’s good to see another person after being alone for so long.”

“Ah… thank you,” Burdel mumbled, still confused.

He took the meat, still amazed that he was alive. He sighed again, this time with relief, and looked around the cave. Beyond the firelight, he saw strange pictures and writings on the walls.

“Huh?” he said softly.

He focused his eyes on the cave walls. He could now see the pictures and words carved into the stone.

One picture showed a person with a sword. The words next to it explained the picture. Burdel wasn’t a fighter with swords, but he could see that the drawing felt powerful, special.

He saw the word “Aura” many times in the writing.

“What do you think?” Ronian asked, smiling. “Amazing, right? It’s a special way of using a sword, only for people who can use Aura. The person who wrote it said it’s the best sword skill ever. They say he was called the Sword Saint a long time ago.”

“Wait, what?!” Burdel said, shocked.

A special sword skill, so rare it was almost a legend, only known by the Royal Family and the most famous fighting families?

Here, in this cave?

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Ronian said again. “I was really surprised too when I found it. That’s why I’ve been here for over a year. Haha.”

“But… you shouldn’t just tell me about this,” Burdel said, still surprised.

“Why not?” Ronian shrugged. “You’re not a swordsman. Are you going to start learning now?”

Ronian’s easy way of talking, like it was nothing special, was more than surprising. It was unbelievable.

“Well, no, but if I told other people…” Burdel started to say.

“Will you?” Ronian asked, raising an eyebrow.

“N-no, I won’t,” Burdel said quickly.

“Haha. Then it’s fine,” Ronian laughed. “And it’s okay if other people learn it too. I think the Sword Saint put it here so people *could* learn it. But just seeing it doesn’t mean everyone *can* learn it, you know?”

“Huh,” Burdel said, still amazed.

He was again struck by how calm and sure Ronian sounded.

*So, it wasn’t just my imagination.*

The orange light, tearing the snake apart.

He saw the bright light again in his mind. Then, Ronian’s voice brought him back to the present.

“But why did you come all the way into these mountains?” Ronian asked. “You’re clearly a skilled fighter. And you’re not carrying hunting gear or bags for herbs. What are you doing here?”

“Ah!” Burdel said, suddenly remembering why he came.

He felt a little annoyed that he had almost died for this mission, but he knew this man had saved his life.

And this man was the one he was looking for. Burdel took a breath and bowed his head to Ronian.

“I have come to find you, Count Ronian McLaine.”

Ronian’s eyes went wide. For the first time, he looked truly surprised.

“Wait, me?”

“Yes,” Burdel said. “I am here to find you on orders from the King, Your Excellency Ronian.”

“Huh? Why would the King be looking for me? Maybe my brother, but… And ‘Your Excellency’? I don’t have any title.”

Burdel almost said that Ronian was made a Count because he was the King’s brother. But then he realized something was wrong with this conversation.

“I should probably start from the beginning,” Burdel said slowly. “About a year ago…”

As Burdel began to explain, Ronian’s eyes grew wider and wider.