The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 141

141. The Forest of the Fallen (3)

“Kill him.”

“Okay.”

Crack- Charrrr……!

At Kang Si-On’s words, Choi Hyun-Ji squeezed the black object tightly without hesitation.

Chaeng was crushed inside the black object, like an orange being squeezed for juice.

Chaeng, who had confessed all the facts to the expedition, died just like that.

From the start, Kang Si-On had no intention of letting Chaeng live.

Because he was a monster.

The sound of ghouls approaching grew louder.

Soon, a group of ghouls emerged, pushing through the bushes.

Each of them was holding a torch.

The embers of the torches did not go out even in the pouring rain.

Suddenly, Kang Si-On was more concerned about the material of those torches that didn’t go out in the rain than the fact that the ghouls had come.

The ghouls all had red eyes, with long fingernails and toenails, drooling.

It was exactly like Chaeng’s appearance before he died.

And those eyes were all focused on one place.

It was Jin Jae-Hee’s finger, stained with dried blood.

“Ah, beautiful. Blood. Blood.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen such a beautiful being like an elf. It’s almost too good to offer to the Witch.”

The ghouls, who were admiring Jin Jae-Hee’s appearance, turned their eyes back to look at the other members of the party.

They now began to sniff madly and smack their lips.

“Mom. I’m hungry!”

“Wait. I’ll quickly roast that sturdy one for you.”

“I like the right leg. If you skewer it with a spear and roast it…….”

“The delicacy is the eyeballs.”

“I like the heart……. I like the heart…….”

“How delicious would it be roasted whole? The village must be busy preparing?”

The ghouls surrounded the expedition and chattered incessantly.

Eyes gleaming with desire.

Not a trace of reason could be found.

The ghouls were meticulous enough to fear the Kang Si-On expedition and plan to slowly trap and kill them, but now those appearances could not be found.

They seemed to be moving only by instinct.

It was like a few young lions rushing towards a huge buffalo.

The fallen ones, forgetting what position they were in, abandoning themselves solely to gluttony.

It was the power of black magic that made them lose their reason.

A white-haired man walked out from among the ghouls.

It was the village chief of Bitnam.

“It’s a really beautiful figure. Luminous. It looks like an elf. If it’s that beautiful, the Witch will give you a great reward.”

While listening to the bizarre conversations of the chief and the ghouls, Kang Si-On remembered something.

And he looked at Jin Jae-Hee, who was next to him.

“I forgot to ask about Jun-Ho.”

Even Kang Si-On was overwhelmed with disgust and had forgotten one important fact.

Jin Jae-Hee answered calmly.

“Shall we capture just one?”

“…….”

Kang Si-On hesitated for a moment and then looked back at the chief and asked.

“The wanderer who was said to have the name Kang Jun-Ho. Is that story also a lie?”

“Kang Jun-Ho……. It’s true. They passed by. Beyond the corrupted land.”

“When.”

“Well, time has no meaning for us…….”

The chief chuckled to himself and then burst into laughter.

“He seems like a pretty precious person……. But what to do! You are destined to be eaten here!”

Kang Si-On grabbed the back of his neck and stretched lightly.

And he let out a sigh.

He knew it wouldn’t be helpful.

The chief continued.

“If you leave only the woman……. I won’t harm you. Disappear.”

“What did you do to the other humans?”

“…….”

Kang Si-On persistently asked other questions.

The chief remained silent.

“I’ll leave what you want, so answer me well. What did you do to the other humans?”

“…….”

“Huh?”

Choi Hyun-Ji glared at Kang Si-On at his absurd promise.

To say that he would abandon his comrades so casually.

Choi Hyun-Ji squinted and looked at Kang Si-On’s profile, and the chief’s lips curled up.

“A livestock that understands words…….”

“Don’t say useless things. Answer the question. What did you do?”

Kang Si-On was asking about the support team from Myeonggyeong [a major city or faction in this world] who had brought these supplies.

If time flowed slowly here, the support team would also be trapped here.

But in the past three days, the expedition had not seen the support team.

They had only seen corpses.

Then the chief stroked his stomach and answered.

“The pretty ones are in the Witch’s cauldron……. Some are jerky……. Some are barbecue party……. Some were eaten raw, I think?”

The ghouls each said a word at the chief’s words.

“It wasn’t bad. Hehehe.”

“The one I ate then had a bit of a fishy smell.”

“It was best when we ate it as barbecue. Hahahaha!”

“These days, livestock keep running around, so the hunters have been working hard.”

“Chaeng fought the most, right?”

“There were a few strong ones among them.”

“It was easy to fill the quota to present to the Witch.”

The ghouls’ laughter filled the forest.

Choi Hyun-Ji shuddered, as if goosebumps had risen all over her body.

The chief said to Kang Si-On.

“Now, leave the woman and go.”

“…….”

The Myeonggyeong support team.

They were all people who had left Myeonggyeong to help Kang Si-On.

Maybe…… they knew they might die here.

Even so, the reason they came here was one.

In case the King of Myeonggyeong, Kang Si-On, was still alive.

In case he was hungry.

In case he got lost.

In case he was captured by a strange group.

The soldiers of Myeonggyeong continued to set foot in this forest to save their king.

Even though no one had returned for a year, Kang Si-On’s influence was absolute enough to send a support team.

Therefore, it seemed that Kang Si-On did not need to forgive the ghouls who had eaten the search party.

Kang Si-On said to Jin Jae-Hee in a small voice that the ghouls could not hear.

“Kill them all.”

“Okay.”

Kang Si-On, Choi Myeong-Jun, and Choi Hyun-Ji approached the ghouls.

As they approached, the ghouls gradually made way.

Soon, only Jin Jae-Hee was left here.

The ghouls surrounding Jin Jae-Hee laughed viciously.

“She’s been abandoned……! Ah!!! She’s been abandoned……!”

“Kyaaaaaaak! Kyaaaaaaak!!”

“I can’t stand it anymore……. I’m so hungry!”

“How should I eat her? Ah, I’ll take that smooth neck with my mouth……! Ah……!”

“I’ll eat the ears!”

Ghouls in the form of women, ghouls in the form of men.

Not to mention the elderly, even ghouls in the form of children.

Each of them bared their nails and gnashed their teeth.

They slowly approached Jin Jae-Hee, and she summoned the Holy Sword.

Brilliant silver began to pour into the dark forest, and her black hair turned silver.

* * *

“H, Hyungnim [term of respect, like ‘older brother’], what do we do now.”

Thoughts.

There were many things to think about.

In the end, to get out of this forest, we had to clear the quest.

But.

‘One year in a week.’

Everything was dark.

Even if we wasted a little time in this forest, time would pass quickly outside.

Of course, it was by no means to think that Myeonggyeong would collapse in such a short time.

It was a roughly skimmed report, but Myeonggyeong was sailing smoothly.

Ha Yun-Ha seemed to have been reborn as a fairly competent administrator, and Myeonggyeong was growing as scary as it could be.

But the world outside the forest was turbulent.

It wouldn’t be strange if anything happened while I was away.

I would have been comfortable if I could directly respond to such changes, but now I was stuck in this forest.

It wasn’t good.

The problem wasn’t just Myeonggyeong.

Jun-Ho’s location.

The village chief of Bitnam said that Jun-Ho had left the forest.

Jun-Ho would be looking for me.

As I did, my brother would be spending every night worrying about me.

He would have searched and searched every place he could reach to find me, and would have flowed into this forest.

‘First, we have to go back to Myeonggyeong.’

Until now, I moved to find traces of Jun-Ho.

It became clear that Jun-Ho had caught the dragon and completed the quest, and I also learned that the time in the forest was distorted.

There was no time to delay.

The purpose has changed.

Now I had to chase the quest again.

Finding the Witch’s traces.

It was right to clear the quest as soon as possible and return to Myeonggyeong to reorganize.

Thinking about how to pass the poison zone I saw earlier was the next step after finishing the reorganization.

“Wanga. What should we do now?”

At Choi Hyun-Ji’s question, I turned around.

Both Choi Hyun-Ji and Choi Myeong-Jun were looking at me intently, their eyes shining.

They showed a determination to do anything if I just gave the order.

The hardships they had experienced in the forest had made them like this.

And soon, the thoughts were organized.

“We return to Myeonggyeong as quickly as possible and find a way to pass through the poison zone.”

But there was something left to be settled before that.

“Before that, we have to go to Bitnam and take revenge.”

In order to return to the forest with the Myeonggyeong search party, it was necessary to clean up the forest.

We must not leave any loose ends.

Besides, we had to avenge our subordinates.

-Kieeeek!

The scream of an unknown ghoul echoed from afar.

Choi Hyun-Ji and Choi Myeong-Jun kept turning to the side where the sound was coming from, but I didn’t.

I just slowly moved forward along the road back to Bitnam.

* * *

Thud……. Thud…….

Silver flames burning without regard to the scattering raindrops.

The forest was burning with that silver, sacred light.

The flames did not devour the trees and the frail things of the forest.

Only the enemies.

Only the ghouls were devoured.

The ghouls were cut by swords, their bodies burned, and they screamed.

Their screams echoed throughout the forest.

“S, Save me!!”

The ghouls who had boldly rushed at Jin Jae-Hee were no more.

There were only prey running away from death.

The ghouls each had their limbs blown away, their heads blown away, and scattered in all directions.

Koo-oong!

Jin Jae-Hee lightly swung her sword.

A sonic boom that was hard to believe came from the sword shook the forest.

A giant pillar of light.

The silver pillar of light extending from Jin Jae-Hee’s sword swallowed the ghouls.

“Kieeeeeek!!!”

Several at once.

Perhaps dozens of ghouls died.

The ghouls screamed and fell.

But even that didn’t last long.

After most of the ghouls were hunted, the screams of the ghouls gradually subsided.

Jin Jae-Hee stood still in the center of the silver flame and looked around.

‘Is it over.’

Jin Jae-Hee counted the number of ghouls she had cut down.

But for a moment, Jin Jae-Hee shook her head.

What meaning would there be in numbers?

There was no ghoul that could escape from her.

Jin Jae-Hee’s hair, which had been shining silver, gradually returned to black.

At that time.

“S, Save me…….”

Jin Jae-Hee turned her head towards the direction of the sound.

A ghoul was gathering his own intestines pouring out of his abdomen.

The ghoul was breathing weakly, leaning his back against a pile of corpses.

Now the ghouls seemed to have regained their reason.

“P, Please……. T, The Witch told me to. W, We are innocent……. The Witch said she would give us eternal beauty. So please save me.”

The ghoul’s eyes shone.

Those eyes were full of longing for life.

It was not the eyes of a monster.

It was the eyes of a human.

“Huh? Please……. Ah, Witch……. We only did what we were told…….”

Excuses.

Evasion.

He was squeezing his head to survive.

Perhaps because he had lost too much blood, the ghoul was begging for his life, mixing in nonsense.

Jin Jae-Hee slowly approached the ghoul.

“H, Hiiik!”

The ghoul struggled with his limbs that didn’t move properly and crawled backwards.

Jin Jae-Hee slowly approached him and took out a small dagger that she was wearing on her waist.

Jin Jae-Hee asked in a cold, calm voice.

“Witch?”

“T, The Witch told me to capture these guests alive no matter what. So p, please…….”

Witch.

A clue to the quest.

It was a word that the ghouls had been constantly talking about since earlier.

The fact that the ghouls were related to the quest was now certain.

But.

They had crossed the line a long time ago.

Jin Jae-Hee stabbed the ghoul’s neck with a dagger.

Poohk!

The ghoul dropped his head powerlessly.

Soon, Jin Jae-Hee left the ghoul’s corpse behind and disappeared into the forest.

It was to join Kang Si-On and finish the cleanup.

(Continued in the next episode)