The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 15

#Episode 15. Capturing the Flag (2)

“One step more.”

“Yes… Sir!”

Fssssss-!

Three people spraying fire extinguishers.

Three people shooting arrows.

Three people handing over arrows.

I received an arrow from the man and placed it on the bow.

I couldn’t tell if it hit or not.

However, the moment I heard a sound, we all shot in the direction of the noise.

Shwook, shwook!

I kept shooting arrows towards the sound.

The arrows continued to fly, cutting through the white smoke.

I heard the shouts of the enemies from the opposite side.

At the same time, I heard Kim Dong-gil’s voice.

The battle had officially begun.

Pshhh-. Fshhh.

The students continued to spray fire extinguishers around.

They frantically waved the fire extinguisher nozzles around, trying to create as much ‘smoke’ as possible.

Eventually, their efforts paid off.

“Umm. H-hyung [older brother or male friend]. We’re out of fire extinguishers.”

“Don’t ask, just keep using them.”

“Y-yes… Sir!”

The student hurriedly grabbed another fire extinguisher and sprayed it wildly.

The white smoke spewing from the fire extinguishers covered everything.

Even with flashlights, it would be difficult to distinguish friend from foe.

Already, all the space on the 3rd floor was filled with smoke.

We had sprayed a total of 9 fire extinguishers.

But a fire extinguisher is just a fire extinguisher.

It’s not a smoke grenade.

The fog will clear quickly.

Before that, I just hoped my plan would work.

I focused on the front.

The black silhouettes of the enemies grew larger, then smaller.

It meant they were moving quickly.

According to plan.

And now is the time.

I looked back at Kwon Kyung-soo, who had just returned, and said.

“Kyung-soo, now! Hurry!”

I ordered Kwon Kyung-soo, and he, though breathless, moved immediately.

The main force, armed with spears, went down the stairs, and Kwon Kyung-soo’s special forces went up.

Remaining here were Lee Se-beom, Lee Joo-yeon, and myself.

I said to the two siblings.

“Remember. Kill only one person and get out immediately.”

The siblings nodded almost simultaneously.

I tightly wrapped the goblin dagger-wielding hand with a towel.

The siblings also held their daggers, staring ahead.

At this moment, my heart started beating like crazy.

In a few minutes, no, a few seconds, I would commit murder.

Soon, several people rushed towards us from a close distance.

“Now!”

Swish!

The moment they were in sight, we all rushed forward.

“Ah… Kyaaak!!!”

The Blue Team woman screamed in surprise, but I didn’t hesitate and stabbed her in the heart.

Thwack!

And with all my strength, I pushed her down.

Pshoo-! Pshwooook!

The woman’s blood spurted out like a fountain.

The woman under me struggled and screamed.

With the sword still in place, I twisted the blade in a cross shape.

Crack!

I heard something break.

The goblin dagger broke, and the woman’s heart soon stopped.

Dugun, dugun, dugun! [Sound of a heart beating fast]

My heart was pounding.

Pounding like crazy.

I grabbed the kitchen knife she was holding.

Turning my head, I saw that the two siblings had each taken care of one person.

They signaled to me that they had killed.

We retreated again.

“Haa… Haa…”

I had to hold my breath, but I was panting.

I moved carefully, making sure not to be seen by them.

What we just did was murder.

But I strongly urged the two siblings.

Never, ever feel any remorse.

The moment our hearts weaken, it would be us, not the Blue Team, who would die.

A new era has new rules, and killing others to survive is that new rule.

I strongly demanded it.

And they did it. As I said.

The surroundings were still filled with smoke.

The sound of Blue Team members rushing around filled the air.

At the same time, the screams continued.

The operation is just beginning.

“Let’s get out of here. Hurry.”

I ran back to the stairwell, holding the kitchen knife.

Lee Se-beom and Lee Joo-yeon ran after me.

Now, there wasn’t a single Red Team member left on the 3rd floor.

* * *

The battle continued.

People tangled and stabbed each other with knives.

The smoke blocked people’s vision.

So, as soon as they saw someone emerging from the smoke, they stabbed them with a knife.

“Die!! Die!!!”

“Aaaagh!”

“Ugh!!!!”

Screams and blood splattered everywhere.

This place was already a slaughterhouse.

People with weapons tangled together, aiming for each other’s lives.

Two women clung to a fallen man, hacking him with knives, while a man rushed at a woman and stabbed her in the stomach with a kitchen knife.

An old man with a hammer smashed the head of a young man from behind.

A woman crying and wandering in the white smoke was hit by an emergency escape axe that flew from somewhere, her skull split open like a knife stuck in a cake.

Some people formed teams and rushed to tie up anyone they saw.

“Here! Stab him!”

“Ugh… Ughhhh!!!”

The person tied up helplessly screamed, but the person with the knife didn’t hesitate.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

And another person waiting rushed in and stabbed the abdomen several times with a knife.

Flashlights swirled around, creating cruel shadow plays that created tragedies everywhere.

A window shattered with a loud noise.

At the same time, a woman with a hole in her lung died, calling for her mother who would never come.

The bodies of people piled up.

Someone would often trip over the corpses.

Kim Dong-gil watched all those scenes with his own eyes.

“Puhahaha! How dare you… how dare you ignore someone’s kindness?!”

Kim Dong-gil, consumed by madness, watched the slaughter scene and laughed.

His guards stood on either side, their eyes blazing as they looked around.

Kim Dong-gil checked his status window.

Because he was confident of victory.

But at that moment, his pupils contracted.

‘Huh?’

The number of Blue Team soldiers was noticeably decreasing.

Kim Dong-gil glanced around.

He couldn’t see anything.

In the store, which was filled with darkness, the lights that were occasionally shone were filled with white smoke.

He could see silhouettes of people running around, but he couldn’t tell who was who.

In the rapidly changing situation.

The screams were everywhere.

The store floor was already overflowing with blood.

But it was strange.

No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.

The Red Team was fighting evenly against the Blue Team.

‘That can’t be. There are only about twenty of them, right?!’

The number of Blue Team members is overwhelmingly larger than the Red Team.

Even if their vision was not secured, it didn’t make sense for them to resist the Blue Team to this extent.

A man, clutching his bleeding arm, ran to Kim Dong-gil.

“B-branch manager! Those Red Team bastards… they have knives!”

“What?”

No way.

Kim Dong-gil’s heart started beating like crazy.

He is the branch manager here.

The knives are only on the restaurant floor.

The weapons in the furniture and general merchandise stores are also within the Blue Team’s area of control, so it is impossible for them to possess them.

This is a fact.

All that’s downstairs are scissors and knives.

There’s no way scissors and knives can be a match for kitchen knives.

But the Red Team is fighting back with knives?

No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

“Branch manager! I can’t see anything!”

“B-branch manager…! The Red Team bastards’ resistance is too strong.”

People ran to him from all directions, delivering news.

Kim Dong-gil adjusted his glasses and thought.

Cold sweat formed on his left cheek.

No matter how he thought about it, something didn’t add up.

At that moment.

Something came to mind, and Kim Dong-gil shouted to the people.

“Fall back!!! Stop!!! Blue Team!!! Fall back!!!”

At his shout, people stopped fighting and retreated to the escalator one by one.

The other side was still filled with screams.

There were many dead and bleeding people.

Even now, he could see more than seven corpses.

“Come back quickly! Quickly! You idiots!!!”

Kim Dong-gil continued to shout, and the main force of the Blue Team flocked to the escalator.

Soon, all the Blue Team members gathered at the escalator.

“Haa, haa.”

“Ugh… Ughhh…!”

“Ugh… Uweeek!”

People with injuries all over were panting.

Kim Dong-gil stared at the front.

But the battlefield where the Blue Team had retreated was eerily quiet.

At that moment, Kim Dong-gil felt a chill in his heart along with a sense of ‘ah-oh’.

“…Shit. Shit, no way.”

Thump, thump.

Kim Dong-gil silently walked forward alone.

A subordinate nearby stopped him, but he stubbornly walked ahead.

Time passed.

Soon, the white smoke cleared.

The Blue Team’s lights shone on the front.

And in the place where the lights shone.

Only the Blue Team members were bleeding and collapsed.

The Blue Team’s soldiers couldn’t help but fall into despair when they saw that sight.

“W-what is this…?”

“…S-so, were we killing each other until now?”

Not even a single injured Red Team member could be seen.

Only the Blue Team.

The Blue Team had been fighting and killing each other until now.

He now understood that the Red Team was holding kitchen knives.

‘Damn it… I’ve been had.’

Kim Dong-gil’s clenched hands trembled.

He had been completely defeated.

He had been completely tricked by the enemies’ scheme.

Inability to distinguish friend from foe.

People’s fear.

If so, they would stab whatever approaching life form they saw.

Moreover, these were ordinary citizens who had not undergone professional training.

They were stabbing anything out of fear.

“Branch manager… Branch manager… Save… Save me.”

A man who had fallen, bleeding, grabbed Kim Dong-gil’s ankle.

His abdomen was stabbed with a knife and burst open.

Even so, the man was begging Kim Dong-gil to save him.

But Kim Dong-gil had already lost his reason.

At that moment, Kim Dong-gil indiscriminately stomped on the fallen man with his opposite foot.

“You stupid! Bastard! Why! Are you dying fighting each other?! Huh?! Huh?! Huh?! Don’t you have eyes?! Don’t you have any senses?! You peasant bastard! You dog-like peasant bastard! That’s why you’re at the bottom your whole life! Huh! Huh?! Stupid! Stupid! Too stupid!”

Squish, squish, squish!

Each time Kim Dong-gil stomped, blood splattered everywhere.

His employees ran up to him, leaving him excited, and said.

“What do we do now? Shouldn’t we just go down to the first floor like this?”

“Kill all those X bastards!”

“Haa… Haa…”

Kim Dong-gil calmed his excited mind a little.

When he slightly moved his foot, there was a man’s face that had already been crushed beyond recognition.

Kim Dong-gil looked around.

They had stabbed and cut each other.

It was rare to find someone who was unharmed.

If they went on like this, it would be a massacre.

What was fortunate was that the Blue Team’s king was not here.

So, there was no chance that the Blue Team would be massacred in an instant.

Capturing the target monster was an easy task.

The broadcast echoed from the 3rd floor, filled with the Blue Team’s blood.

[The Blue Team has acquired the target flag!]

And 5 minutes later, another broadcast echoed.

[The Red Team has acquired the target flag!]

* * *

1st floor, Red Team base.

The broadcast echoed in the base.

[The Blue Team has defeated the target monster!]

As expected, the Blue Team killed the target monster.

This was expected.

The Red Team hid behind the barricades, aiming their arrows at the front.

But the Blue Team didn’t come down anymore.

Only then did I raise my head.

“Situation ended.”

When I spoke, the other defense personnel finally relaxed.

The defense operation was fortunately successful.

A situation where vision was not secured.

An invisible enemy.

Perhaps they were tangled and killing each other.

Even if they were to confirm each other’s faces at a close distance, there was nothing they could do.

Like us, they were people who had only met two days ago.

The probability of knowing each other’s faces was low.

I used that point to subtly lure the enemies so that there would be no damage on our side.

Fortunately, the operation worked.

All I did was light the fuse.

The student trio next to me were excited and said to me.

“H-hyung [older brother or male friend]. That’s amazing! It really worked?”

“I honestly didn’t think it would work. That was really cool!”

“Oppa [term used by females to address older brother or male friend], how could you come up with a plan like that in such a short time?”

The students were excited as if the game was over, but the game was not over yet.

“Keep watching the front. It’s not over yet.”

“Yes!”

“…Yes! I understand!”

The students were united and guarded the front again.

We still had the Red Team’s target monster left.

Now we had blocked their first attack.

Now it was our turn to break through their defense.

The fact that they didn’t come down here meant that they had turned their troops to defend the 9th floor.

“Still, Kwon Kyung-soo went as the advance team, so wouldn’t he achieve something?”

Lee Joo-yeon leisurely chewed on goblin jerky and asked.

Kwon Kyung-soo, along with 3 people, took advantage of the chaos on the 3rd floor and went up the stairs.

The primary mission was to kill the monster, but he probably wouldn’t be able to do it.

I ordered him to retreat if the number of enemies was large or if it seemed like they would lose.

Se-beom said in my place.

“He probably won’t be able to kill it. When I saw it earlier, it seemed like all the Blue Team members didn’t come down, but left a defensive force on the 9th floor as well.”

“Then what do we do?”

Lee Joo-yeon asked, looking worried.

There was nothing we could do.

In order to avoid the penalty, we had to go up to the 9th floor as well.

But the enemies would already be building a defense line.

It wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t like there was no way.

I instructed the students again.

“Guys. Get new fire extinguishers. In 5 minutes, we’re going up again.”

The students immediately nodded and scattered to get fire extinguishers.

People waited for my command, holding spear mops.

The re-attack would be after Kwon Kyung-soo returned.

And the timing was perfect.

Clunk-!

Kwon Kyung-soo came down from the stairwell.

He quickly approached me, took a little breath, and said.

“There were already about 10 people guarding the monster. All I could do was draw attention.”

“It’s okay. You did a good job.”

10 defensive soldiers.

Now it would have increased to dozens of people.

In any case, the biggest purpose of this attack was not the subjugation of the Blue Team.

The goal was the monster.

All we had to do was kill the monster.

I checked the inventory.

I hadn’t used a single bullet yet.

Now was the time to use the gun.

Kill only the monster with the gun and come down.

That was the key to this attack.

I looked around at the people and said.

“Let’s start again. Follow me.”

We had to attack before the enemies reorganized their ranks.

I took out the gun from the inventory.

And I walked through them, and the prepared Red Team soldiers followed.

But when we stepped on the escalator, a sound that caught everyone’s attention rang out.

[The Red Team has defeated the target monster!]

I was startled and looked back at Kwon Kyung-soo.

Then Kwon Kyung-soo shook his head as if he didn’t know what was going on either.

How did this happen.

I stopped on the escalator and looked up at the upper level.

It was all black.

The thought soon led to a conclusion.

The regressor, Jin Jae-hee.

She was still on the upper level.

‘But how?’

That was the question.

(Continued in the next episode)