296 – Regressor’s Fight (15)

Even though I regressed, the new round went the same as the previous round.

“I’ll help you raise your rank.”

“Didn’t you say I can’t intervene?”

“This isn’t intervention.”

I heard the inside story from the angel, Jake. He modified the arena’s system to my advantage and raised my rank. Since humans are creatures of learning, it was faster than before.

With the full support of the angel, who could be considered the tower’s manager, my rank rose exponentially. 50,000th, 3,000th, 100th.

“Uh, could you help my colleague too? Her name is Choi Ji-won, and I think she should raise her rank too.”

“Oh, yes. I’ll help you.”

I also took care of Choi Ji-won, and finally my rank was 52nd. When Choi Ji-won reached 98th place,

Angel Jake excitedly tapped my terminal.

“Now I just need to go up 51 more places! If I just climb 51 more steps, I will be eligible to obtain the elixir!”

“Oh.”

“Thank goodness! I am so lucky! With this…”

“But Angel.”

“Huh?”

“I’m so tired… Can I rest for a bit?”

The Angel’s expression hardened for a moment, but soon returned to a bright smile. It seemed that he remembered that I had been fighting without rest.

“Oh, yes! Of course! I don’t have time, but getting enough rest is always important! If you say you will rest, how long do you plan on resting?”

He told me to rest comfortably, but his feelings of wanting me to return as soon as possible could not be hidden. I could feel pure excitement through my gangster-like clothes and hair. I felt

a little sorry for Angel Jake here, but I planned on resting for a long time.

“One…”

“One?”

“Around one round?”

“Huh?”

“See you next time.”

By the way, the clear condition for this floor is not to catch the Heavenly Horse or get 1st place. It is to get over 100th place. –

Cleared the 28th floor.

**

After returning to reality. We went to Jiwon’s house and went straight to bed. I feel a little sorry for the angel, but there is no answer like this.

“First… let’s organize things a bit.”

As I said before, humans are creatures of learning. I didn’t just sit back and do nothing after getting 1st place and the elixir. I spent all the money and influence I had accumulated to gather a lot of information.

That’s the conclusion I came to.

First, the archangel is absent. Not just absent, he has completely disappeared.

After obtaining the elixir. I observed Angel Jake’s reaction very carefully. He seemed to believe without a single doubt that the archangel would return. Jake

was not a high-ranking angel, but an angel in charge of some practical matters. In a company, he would be like a deputy manager. He was not an idiot who didn’t know what was going on.

“Just wait a little bit!”

Although he didn’t go into detail, this implied that something similar had happened several times. The archangel was sometimes absent, and when there was something really urgent, he would send a signal like this to make the archangel return. If this was the first time he had tried this, Jake would have been anxious too.

“You said you were coming.”

“Uh, uh…”

But the archangel didn’t come. The angel’s desperate plan didn’t work. Jake’s face darkened as the days went by, and at one point he disappeared completely. I don’t know if he ran away or was punished. Anyway, when Cheonma appeared, there was no Angel Jake.

It’s not that I don’t want to receive help from the Archangel. I’m not so foolish as to take a different path when there is an easy, fast, and simple way to solve it. But what can I do if there is no Archangel? The method attempted by the subordinate angel who knows the Archangel the best failed. It would be meaningless to try various other methods. I have to think without the Archangel.

“And there is no Archangel.”

“We… have to stop Cheonma.”

The Emperor and Michael Jeter, who are presumed to be the strongest in humanity, have already cleared the 28th floor. The next most likely, Kang Chan, is slowly climbing up. I and Choi Ji-won have to solve Cheonma.

Second. Cheonma.

If the money and influence I had spread were to observe the entire arena, my physical eyes and ears were solely focused on Cheonma, Guntar. I replayed the guy’s match videos over and over again, trying to understand his fighting style as much as possible.

Thanks to that, I found out a few things. First of all, Cheonma didn’t really use the same martial arts when he fought. I don’t know if it was just for show or if there were other conditions, but he used different techniques every time.

Sometimes a spear. Sometimes a sword. Sometimes an axe. Sometimes a whip. Sometimes a dagger. Sometimes, sometimes… He used so many different weapons and showed off so many different techniques that it would be pointless to explain.

That wasn’t all. Cheonma got stronger the more he fought. This isn’t some common idiom. He really got visibly stronger.

“When we first fought, he was ‘fast.’ Later, he got to the level of ‘I can’t even see him well.’”

Did he have some kind of status window where he leveled up? Every time he defeated someone, his body got stronger and his techniques became sharper. This growth graph became steeper as time went by, and after three months, he pierced the sky.

“It wasn’t for nothing that I didn’t think about fighting.”

After three months, Cheonma shouldn’t fight. Even though I’ve fought giant dragons, I feel like I can’t deal with a complete Cheonma. It feels like I can’t even approach it. It feels like facing a giant monster. It feels like I’ll be killed just by looking at it. It’s similar

to Kang Chan. Unlike Kang Chan who exudes a terrifying murderous aura, Cheonma really exudes magical power.

That’s right. Cheonma was constantly releasing magical power, and it was filled with embodied murderous power. I don’t know if it’s the Cheonma Gunrimbo or the expansion of the territory. Unless you’re covered in magical power all over your body, entering that range is a direct ticket to return.

“Even if I have a lot of magical power… I can’t fight for a long time with magical power all over my body. I can’t

fight an opponent stronger than me with the penalty of ‘regressing even if I get hit once.’ So the option to bulk up with the help of angels and fight Cheonma after 3 months was also deleted.

But what am I? I’m a regressor.

“It takes some time for the Heavenly Demon to become fully active.”

The guy doesn’t start rambling as soon as I enter the tower. There’s a bit of a grace period given because the newly inserted personality has time to resist.

“You can fight during that gap.”

When the Heavenly Demon hasn’t fought anyone except the Emperor. When he hasn’t gotten stronger. When he’s at his weakest. That’s the moment to aim for.

“But how? Didn’t he even allow access?”

“I think we can use an angel to access him.”

Angel, Jake wants to call an archangel. If we can convince him that we can defeat the Heavenly Demon, I don’t think it’s impossible. After all, the guy’s goal is ‘to make the Heavenly Demon disappear,’ and calling an archangel is just the method with the highest probability.

So, if we just defeat the Heavenly Demon, everything will be okay.

“The Heavenly Demon… uses too many different techniques.”

Cheonma. She is definitely not an easy opponent. I’ve watched her use 27 techniques, all of which were martial arts with guaranteed skill and destructive power.

“I’ll fight her first.”

Choi Ji-won stepped forward.

“I haven’t seen all of Cheonma’s ‘techniques’ just because I’ve been around. I know at least half of them. You can teach me the rest. Above all, I don’t regress even if I get hurt, right?”

“That’s… that’s right.”

Choi Ji-won’s current power is stronger than mine, and she doesn’t have the penalty of regressing. If I had to pick who had a higher chance of winning, it would definitely be Choi Ji-won.

“Tell me from now on. Things like Cheonma’s characteristics.”

“… I’ll try my best.”

From that day on, we began researching Cheonma’s techniques. Some of them I had to demonstrate myself, and we discussed destruction methods day and night.

This was the first time I had such a deep discussion with Jiwon about ‘martial arts’, and I realized once again that she was incredibly high-level. During the discussion, my understanding of martial arts also increased rapidly. As I was

slowly finishing up my preparations,

“Junho.”

“Huh?”

“Shouldn’t I start to maintain my memories?”

“Oh. Right. I’m always prepared.”

“Huh.”

Jiwon Choi disappeared into another room, making a strange snorting sound.

“Jiwon?”

The sound of rustling clothes could be heard through the crack in the door.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Do you like this?”

Jiwon Choi, wearing cat ears… came back.

“You’re really a pervert. Do you know?”

“…”

“I’m doing it because it’s me. Ugh… No. Come here.”

**

The countermeasure against Cheonma was prepared. I also got enough rest. With this, I did everything I could.

“I’ll return.”

“Yeah.”

Jiwon Choi vs. Cheonma.

Whoever wins, it will be a fight that will go down in history.

Please, I hope Choi Ji-won wins.

[You have taken damage.]

[You return to the moment you first entered the 28th floor.]