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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 333
[You have entered an unidentified space.]
Before regression, Jeong-hoon obtained an unknown power while preventing the first apocalypse.
This unidentified space is exactly where he obtained that power.
A place filled with nothing but darkness.
Even though a red flame was blazing at the center, it failed to illuminate the surroundings.
‘Master, is that it?’
‘At a glance, it looks like a flame, but it’s not. It’s pure energy.’
Anima was right.
That was not a flame, but energy.
A ridiculous power that sent Jeong-hoon to the past—
More precisely, to the past of a parallel world.
“Let’s get it quickly and get out.”
Obtaining the power was simple.
If he brought his hand close to the flame, it would coil around and be absorbed swiftly.
Just like before regression, Jeong-hoon brought his hand close to the flame.
Then the flame wrapped around his hand and began to be absorbed quickly.
A familiar sensation coursed through his right arm.
At the same time, the power settled deep within his lower abdomen.
<Human, can you hear my voice?>
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice echoed in Jeong-hoon’s mind.
“Tenebris?”
<…How do you know that?>
His voice wavered, seemingly surprised.
“There’s a way to find out everything.”
Through Baal, he had learned that this was the place where Tenebris was sealed.
So it was only natural to conclude that the one speaking to him must be Tenebris.
<Kuhaha! Finally, a useful one is complete.>
After a brief silence, Tenebris burst into hearty laughter.
“A useful one?”
<Yes. To take revenge on those who cast me out.>
“…So in the end, you intended to use me as a tool for revenge?”
<It wasn’t a bad deal for you either, was it? Didn’t you want to prevent the destruction of the dimension?>
He wasn’t wrong.
If not for the regression, Jeong-hoon wouldn’t have even dared to stand against the Architect.
“I get it. Then take care.”
Jeong-hoon turned away without hesitation.
Now that he had obtained the power, he would prevent the remaining apocalypses and eliminate Escanon to restore peace.
That was Jeong-hoon’s final goal.
<Wait!>
Then Tenebris urgently called out to him.
“What now.”
<Release the seal!>
“The seal?”
<Yeah. I don’t know how you managed to grow so much, but at this point, you should be able to break my seal.>
“I don’t want to.”
<…What?>
Jeong-hoon shrugged and added,
“What I want is to eliminate the Architect and end this game. I have no intention of helping you get revenge.”
<Don’t tell me… you really think everything will be over just by hunting one Celestial-class being? If so, that’s disappointing.>
Jeong-hoon’s eyebrow twitched.
“Wouldn’t taking out the Architect also end the game?”
<Look. Those who possess the power of Creation are none other than the Named. You get what that means, right?>
“Are you saying… we have to eliminate the Named to end it?”
<Exactly. Even if you manage to hunt a Celestial-class, the apocalypses will continue.>
“So you want me to break your seal? Because stopping the apocalypses will be possible if your revenge succeeds?”
<Revenge is impossible.>
“Impossible?”
<I lost most of my power the moment I was defeated.>
The fact that he was defeated implied Tenebris was also at the Named level.
For a Named to be sealed for such a long time, it was inevitable that his power would be stripped away.
Even if Jeong-hoon managed to break the seal, it likely wouldn’t be of much help to him—but if he determined there was something to gain, he might consider it.
“Then what exactly do I gain by breaking your seal?”
To that, Tenebris responded as if he’d been waiting.
<The power you just absorbed—I’ll help you stabilize its use.>
“The power to regress?”
<Yes. The power to reverse a timeline itself. But I’m guessing you have no desire to return to the past now, right?>
“Of course not.”
He had no confidence that repeated regressions would allow him to surpass his current state.
Besides, since it involved moving into parallel worlds, there was no telling how many more dimensions would be sacrificed.
So everything had to end in this life.
<Then all the more reason you must learn to control that power properly.>
“…Are you saying it can go berserk?”
<You catch on quick, human.>
Tenebris let out a short sound of admiration.
‘What? Berserk?’
‘What does that mean?’
Mukho and Anima reacted with confusion.
‘To put it simply—when I die, the power goes berserk and forcibly reverses the timeline.’
‘Reverses the timeline?’
‘So that’s how you were able to regress…’
Jeong-hoon nodded.
Both James Marcus and Jeong-hoon—
the condition for regression had always been death.
When death occurred while possessing the power, it would run rampant and forcibly trigger regression.
“But before I regressed, I was able to control that energy.”
Jeong-hoon had successfully controlled it just before his death.
The crimson mana that flowed throughout his entire body.
<Puhaha, that’s because you were teetering on the boundary between life and death.>
“…Really?”
<And right now, you’re thinking about it all wrong.>
“Thinking wrong?”
<Have you ever used Psyche’s power?>
“…I have.”
The goddess of fate, Psyche.
Through Psyche’s pocket watch, he had once traveled to a future in a parallel world.
There, he met James Marcus and learned that he had regressed into a parallel world.
<Don’t believe it.>
“What?”
<That power only sends you back into the past. Nothing more.>
“Wait a second. So it’s not actually regression into a parallel world?”
<Parallel world… I see. So that bastard manipulated it like that.>
“Manipulated?”
<Yeah. You think Psyche would’ve willingly handed over her power to you?>
“Then everything I saw—are you saying it was all fake?”
<Most likely. When that power went berserk, your time was forcibly rewound.>
Then was the fact that James Marcus was a regressor also a lie?
“Was there someone who repeatedly regressed before me?”
<Hmm? Yeah. Before you started regressing, there was another human who went through it repeatedly. But no matter how many times he tried, there was no sign of improvement. So it was handed over to you instead.>
“The name of that regressor—was it James Marcus?”
<How did you know?>
“I was told that in the future I traveled to using the pocket watch.”
<…So you already knew.>
Tenebris’s voice sank to a lower tone.
It wasn’t hard to guess why.
It meant the ones above had seen through everything.
Psyche already knew that Tenebris had been forcing regressions through humans in an attempt to resurrect.
<Tch, they say the tail gets caught if it’s too long…>
It was a path that couldn’t avoid detection from the start.
And yet, the fact that there hadn’t been much interference meant there must be another reason.
<Well, it doesn’t matter. I can more or less guess why Psyche showed you all that. It was probably to get you to capture me somehow.>
“Huh?”
<How do you think I was able to meet you in this place? Even while you were repeatedly regressing, without being caught?>
“You erased your presence?”
<Close, but not quite. I’ll skip the detailed explanation—no time. If you stay here too long, it’ll become a problem for me. So make your decision quickly.>
“Got it. Then how do I break your seal?”
<You're going to release it?>
Jeong-hoon nodded.
“If what you said is true, then taking out Escanon won’t be enough to stop the destruction.”
If he wanted to struggle even a little, he had no choice but to release Tenebris’s seal.
That’s the only way you’ll be able to wield the power now settled beneath your energy center.
<Now you’re finally making sense.>
Then, Tenebris explained how to break the seal.
The method was a bit complicated.
It required extracting fragments of power from the Named and amplifying it, then using a ritual Tenebris would teach to release the seal.
“How do I extract their power?”
<The Named's power is infused everywhere. It’ll be faint, but it’s there.>
The Named held the power of creation.
In other words, while the ones beneath them—the Celestial Rank—designed the monsters, it was the Named who actually created them.
“So basically, I need to hunt monsters?”
<The energy settled beneath your core is my power. When you hunt monsters, a trace amount of their power will accumulate into it. Gather as much as you can.>
“…Got it.”
<The second destruction—if you can stop it, you’ll be able to return to me. There’s no time, so hurry.>
With that, Tenebris’s voice faded away.
* * *
As soon as he stepped out the door, Baal approached as if he had been waiting.
<Was there nothing at all?!>
Baal asked urgently, and Jeong-hoon paused, wondering how to answer.
‘He’s a Transcendent too. Then it’s better to hide it.’
Though Baal had taken his side, he was still a ruler of the 96 Demon Realms.
Jeong-hoon couldn’t trust him completely just yet.
“Yeah.”
<Nonsense! That’s where Tenebris is sealed—are you saying nothing happened?>
“What exactly is Tenebris, anyway?”
<…An Evil God.>
“Evil God?”
<Yeah. It’s only what I’ve heard, but supposedly, there weren’t always five gods—there used to be six.>
Baal’s story wasn’t all that interesting.
Put simply, Tenebris had been plotting to annihilate all Transcendents, including the gods themselves, and when the other five gods noticed, they joined forces and successfully sealed him.
‘Honestly, sounds like a good thing.’
If Tenebris had really wiped out all the Transcendents, then the destruction of dimensions—like what happened to Earth—might never have occurred.
“Anyway, there was nothing in there.”
<…Really?>
Baal glanced at the symbol engraved on the door.
A mark resembling the sun was embedded in the door.
It was the symbol of Tenebris.
“Either way, I’m heading back.”
An unknown power.
No—now that he had obtained Tenebris’s power, there was no longer any reason to stay.
‘I’ll have to start hunting monsters like crazy until the second destruction begins.’
That’s the only way he could stop the second destruction and return to break Tenebris’s seal.
<Wa, wait! I’m coming with you!>
* * *
Despite having successfully prevented the first destruction, Earth was still in utter chaos.
As the difficulty of dungeons increased, there was no one capable of clearing them, and penalties continued to accumulate.
Penalties didn’t just bring about disasters.
Just like when the phenomena first became real, monsters began pouring out and attacking people.
They even had the ability to detect humans, making it impossible to hide in shelters.
[Lv.840 Grand Master Orc]
[Lv.855 Grand Master Ogre]
Monsters at levels 840 to 855.
Unlike ordinary orcs and ogres, these had physiques not so different from humans and were armed with high-grade weapons and armor.
“Kill all the humans!”
“Kill them!”
From the start, the monsters headed straight for the shelters and massacred the humans. Those who barely escaped ran for their lives.
“Uwaaah!”
“It’s a monster! A monster appeared!”
“Please, save us!”
“Gahk!”
“Kyaaaagh!”
But they didn’t get far before being caught by the monsters.
“Human, I’ll kill you painfully.”
Grinning slyly, the monster began cutting off fingers one by one.
“Gaaaaagh!”
Those who died in the shelters suffered less, but those who fled died slowly, experiencing unspeakable pain.
Fwiish!
Then it happened.
An arrow flew from somewhere and pierced straight through the Grand Master Orc’s head as it was focused on killing a human.
“Guhh!”
The arrow effortlessly penetrated the helmet and shattered the orc’s skull.
The orc collapsed lifelessly to the side.
“Who’s there!”
“Who did that!”
As one of their own went down, all the monsters turned their heads in the direction the arrow had come from.
There, a single human was walking toward them slowly.
“I’ll start by killing you first.”
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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