303 – The Returner’s Fight (22)

I will admit it. At some point, I was also enjoying it.

Regression is not fun at all. Repeating the same actions to control variables is an act of sacrificing mental strength. In order to fight Cheonma, I have to contact an angel, fight a water man, persuade the arena management… I have to repeat all kinds of nonsense. In the process, except for Choi Ji-won, the symptoms of looking like NPCs or environmental objects have relapsed, but this is just a minor mental illness. It will get better after a little recovery, so don’t worry about it.

The fun of growing. I felt it.

Strictly speaking, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the optimal environment, a kind of level-up event. Excellent auxiliary facilities. An enemy who is physically similar to me, but is close to perfect in terms of technical perfection. A great teacher and lover who only supports me.

In every regression, I gained something. There were things to fix, and things to learn. My swordsmanship was being perfected. My attacks were sharper. My defense was solid.

The feeling of getting better, the belief that I could get better, pushes a person’s back. It becomes fuel. The fun of learning is one of the greatest pleasures a person can feel. I was learning. I asked myself how I could become stronger, and I answered myself.

Fighting. Defeating. Organizing what I had learned during the period leading up to the fight with the Heavenly Demon. Fighting. Organizing. Fighting. Organizing. Defeating.

Learning. Defeating. Learning. Defeating is the only way to learn a lot, but most people die when they lose. With the fraudulent characteristic of regression, I learned more, more, more. Again, I gathered my wits. The

Heavenly Demon’s sword swung. Blocking. Stabbing the sword. The Heavenly Demon blocks. Slashes. Dodges. Blocks. Stabs. Slashes. Bends.

Stabs. Lifts. Deflects. Deflects. Deflects. Downstroke. Dodges. Hits. Hits. Hits. Hits. Hits. Hits. Is that a real weakness? No. It’s a trap. Don’t be greedy, and aim for the wrist. Failed. Regress. Again. Again.

Again. Again. Again. Again. I can see it. I can see it little by little. The difference between a false weakness and a real weakness…

“You.”

“?!”

I woke up from a strange trance because of Cheonma’s voice. The guy was looking at my sword instead of me, and he kept tilting his head.

“You are truly bizarre.”

Cheonma spat out while their swords were still facing each other .

“I’ve seen many geniuses. They use their talent to fill the time resource. They solve concepts that would take others three days to understand in one sitting.”

“… What do you want me to do?”

“But there is a lack of smoothness that only time can polish. No matter how great a genius is, there are bound to be parts that they miss, and parts that they don’t consider for immediate growth. Even if you are an ordinary person, if you look closely, there are parts that can be improved.”

Time. Cheonma was referring to that. Talent is not omnipotent. There are parts that can be grasped with a superior brain and intellect, but there are also parts that are inevitably lacking. There are many areas where a genius excels more than an ordinary person, but there are often areas where an ordinary person who has invested a long time is better.

“Your swordsmanship is a swordsmanship created by time. It is a martial art that I have honed and refined for a long time. I can see the effort.”

“…”

“Normally, you would think of it as a secret swordsmanship. Your swordsmanship fits your body perfectly. If it wasn’t made for you, I don’t understand.”

The guy’s words were true. This swordsmanship was created by me and my clone fighting on the fifth floor, and it is a swordsmanship that I perfected while fighting Cheonma. It is a technique that I developed while racking my brain for an indefinite amount of time. It is essentially a swordsmanship that I created for myself.

“But you are young. There is no sign of your body being replaced. It doesn’t seem like it was replaced by a machine. The martial art that you use in such a situation is a swordsmanship that focuses on extreme attacks that suits your personality. You lack the intelligence to be called a genius, and you are not as smart as a dullard. You are truly a strange person.”

“So what? What are you trying to say?”

“What are you?”

Cheonma laughed.

“Did a fearsome master create a swordsmanship just for you? Or did you come back in time from the future? You are a creature that cannot exist. You are an unreasonable human. While I am curious about your secret, I cannot stand the disgust you feel.”

“Disgust?”

“Your excessive power that does not match your trash talent, how could I not be disgusted?”

– Saeaek!

The sword aims for my neck. I backed away late, but my neck was cut thinly. I prepared, but it was too late. Blood drops flew.

I thought to myself that trash was too harsh, but I thought that with that level of talent, I might feel like trash. I also grew, but that guy grew so fast that he made fun of my growth. He caught up on foot the distance I ran away from.

But does Cheonma know?

“Do you know that?”

“?”

“I can see it now.”

I am slowly becoming accustomed to the sword Cheonma is pulling out. I can see everything from his habits to his weaknesses.

The guy figured out my swordsmanship and pulled out new techniques to match. That series of actions was like a teacher’s whip pointing out my shortcomings. I improved on the shortcomings Cheonma pointed out in the next round.

I’m getting better. If a genius spends 1 hour like 100 hours, I’m pouring in 200 hours. I’m constantly dripping water on the cornerstone. ”

I’ll win soon.”

Water can penetrate stone. A turtle can jump over a rabbit.

Me.

“Wait.” I

can beat Cheonma.

[I took damage.]

[I return to the point where I first entered the 28th floor.]

***

“Are your feelings okay?”

Choi Ji-won asked me one day.

“Is Cheonma regressing?”

“I don’t think so.”

I hated Cheonma. I wished he were dead. However, my feelings weren’t so intense that my teeth chattered. It wasn’t an ‘intense feeling’.

“Actually, the more I fought, the less I started to hate Cheonma. Isn’t this how I’m going to like him?”

“… Don’t even joke around like that.”

“Okay, okay.”

Cheonma was my own notebook of mistakes. He showed me various martial arts, pointed out my mistakes, and stabbed me mercilessly if I had any weaknesses. Compared to what he gave me, I could forgive the minor rudeness of stabbing my body with a sword every time. The gap

between us was gradually narrowing, but at the same time, growing further apart. The more we fought, Cheonma used more diverse swordsmanship. That’s how I knew. How deep Cheonma’s understanding was. How much of a martial arts genius he was.

“Jiwon.”

“Huh?”

“I just had a thought, but it seems like Cheonma using martial arts itself is a penalty.”

“… Why?”

“No matter how I look at it, it all seems like they’re using other people’s martial arts.”

Cheonma said he could steal other people’s martial arts just by looking at them. And from what I felt, the techniques he used were all other people’s.

“It’s great that he uses various weapons, but don’t you think his understanding of how to use them appropriately is also scary?”

“That’s true, but…”

“But compared to his scary understanding, the martial arts he uses are… a level lower. It’s a bit off. Even just looking at what I can do right now, you can tell. Isn’t that right?”

“…”

You’ll learn how scary a munchkin Cheonma is. On that note, you’ll also learn how weak he is right now.

“I’m fine with it.”

But what? What do you want me to do? If you try, come back in full condition. If I can just defeat him, that’s all I need.

Again, I’ll start mind control to fight Cheonma. Against the heavy sword… dodge. Against the illusion sword, block. Against the quick sword, attack in return. As for the strong sword… it’s still ambiguous. Choi Ji-won explained it to me, but I don’t think it’s a method I can implement.

What is a sword? Its fundamental purpose is a sharp blade to kill the opponent. It’s a weapon to efficiently kill my enemies. That is the essence of the sword.

However, the more I studied it, the more I could not shake the thought that the sword had more potential than that. A sword with magical power could contain meaning. It could contain will.

Choi Ji-won’s sword is a sword for victory. It is not a sword for ‘killing’. Victory can be achieved without killing. That righteousness is contained in the sword.

Cheonma’s sword… I can’t define it. Since each sword technique he used had a different meaning, I became convinced that the martial arts Cheonma used were not his own.

And my sword… If I were to define it, it would be a coward’s sword. A sword that would regress if hit even once, so I studied and studied a method to never get hurt. A sword that subdues the enemy before he can hit me. A sword that is perfected over time.

I always prepared for the worst. I regressed while worrying about things that had not even happened. That may have been realized in the form of a sword.

Cut. Cut the enemy before he cuts me. Win. Win before he gets hurt.

Now. Now, if I cut off his arm…!

-Kyaaah!!!

The sword I was holding flew away. I was hit by a sudden blow, and I lost my grip on the sword in an instant. Thanks to the transparent gloves, I was not hurt, but now I had no weapon. I was defeated again.

“Hahahahahaha!!!”

“… Are you crazy?”

I had no weapon. Cheonma was on the verge of killing me. Despite that, I laughed. I was happy. I laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes.

What Cheonma was holding in his hand was a spear. He let go of the sword. He instantly picked up the spear from the ground and stabbed me in the stomach.

He had made a judgment. He couldn’t exploit my weakness with a sword. He said he could only exploit my opening with a spear.

It felt like my strict teacher acknowledging me.

“You put the sword away for now?”

The world was infinitely cheerful.

[You took damage.]

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