308 – Fighting the Regressor (27)

The negotiation was concluded.

“I will not touch any players, including you and your companions.”

“You will cooperate with me, and in return, I will tolerate touching the angels.”

“Good.”

I will raise Cheonma. I will help him regain his original strength. Instead, Cheonma stops ‘massaging humans’ and fixes the target of the slaughter on the angels.

In some ways, it’s a win-win deal. Cheonma is happy because he can escape the tower, the climbers won’t get hurt, and only a few angels will die. Well, that’s their karma.

The method is simple.

“Come.”

You just have to fight Cheonma. You just have to hold a fake wooden weapon, don’t use magic power, and just confront him.

Of course, I could deal with it easily. I’ve regressed countless times to get used to these techniques. People are animals that become more skilled the more time they spend with them.

“… How strange.”

Cheonma must have sensed it, because his expression became strange, but he didn’t say much. After all, the guy was actually growing quickly.

He used a wooden sword, a soft whip, and threw blunt weapons… He used a variety of weapons, and each time he used a weapon, he seemed to grow stronger. Why, it was like watching a video of a plant growing at double speed.

Of course, he wasn’t just fighting. My original goal was to gather information. I secretly asked him various questions, but Cheonma didn’t answer easily. To be honest, there was no reason for him to talk.

“I told you, it’s strange.”

“…”

“It’s so strange.”

At first, he told me simple, unimportant things about his past. Or, just interesting anecdotes. However, as I continued to emphasize that I was ‘curious’ even while exchanging vicious hand gestures, Cheonma eventually surrendered.

“Isn’t it strange that the more you fight, the stronger you become?”

“It’s the process of regaining strength.”

“So why do you regain strength the more you fight?”

“Because I regain control of my body.”

“That’s not enough of an explanation.”

“…” “

Cheonma deflected the blade and glared at me for a moment.

“I’ll tell you a story from the past.”

He immediately began his story.

“When I was young. I gained a chance.”

“… A chance?”

“It was an artifact that could turn memories into power. They say it was a remnant of an ancient civilization.” It is said

that Cheonma discovered the chance in a cave just before he starved to death after having a difficult childhood.

“By consuming the memory of one martial art. I was able to gain a temporary understanding of that martial art. And of course, I would never be able to use that technique again.”

“Oh…”

“That’s the same reason Guntar was able to grow strong so quickly. He knew a lot.”

So. By simply consuming the memory of a martial art that he ‘knew’ as information, he was able to gain a deeper understanding of that technique.

It was definitely a pretty good artifact, but its weakness was also clear. Every time he fought, he would lose the memory of one martial art. There are as many types of martial arts as there are stars in the sky, but it is not easy to acquire information about martial arts.

“However, it was no problem for me.”

Yes, unless you are a monster like Cheonma who can understand other people’s martial arts just by looking at them.

Knowing and practicing are two different things. The same goes for geniuses. They could ‘quickly’ make martial arts their own even if they were new to them, but Cheonma could ‘immediately’ make them his own. In a life of struggle, this served as a great advantage.

“At first, I fought to live. After that, I lived to fight. When I copied my opponent’s techniques and returned them better, I felt a kind of pleasure. Yes, it was fun.”

Cheonma’s eyes, as he said it was fun, were empty.

“At some point, I was called the strongest among humans. But at some point, I realized. Humans… are a weak race to begin with. Even if I am the strongest among humans, I will die if I am hit by military weapons.”

“…”

“I wanted to become the most noble in this universe. I wanted to become the greatest. In order to do that, I had to tear down my ‘weak self’. It wasn’t difficult.”

Cheonma became stronger. To be exact, he abandoned himself. He changed the nature of his magical power. He trained his body to be suitable for battle. He created techniques for his new self.

“I wanted to reach the limit, but the fact that I knew too much became an obstacle. I abandoned everything. To find my complete self.”

Cheonma, who knew everything, forgot everything. Only then could he become the absolute ruler of the universe.

“Once I became that strong, everything seemed insignificant.”

Perhaps… The story of erasing a planet must have been from this point on.

“How could I die when I was that strong?”

“The entire universe rushed to kill me. In the end, they failed. My death was my sole choice.”

It may have sounded like a bluff, but at least it seemed true that Cheonma had survived the war with the universe. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to seal himself in the sword.

“But does that have anything to do with getting stronger the more you fight?”

“… “ There is knowledge of various martial arts crammed into this body. They are things that I discarded in the past, and they are obstacles to unleashing my full power.”

“Could it be… that the more I use a technique, the closer I get to my prime?”

“I will correct this to ‘the more I forget’ techniques.”

“…”

“Of course, it is possible to unleash my power right away. However, since it is used in a state where there is a lot of impurities, not to mention the soul occupancy rate, the power will be weak. There will also be some aftereffects. Considering the possibility of angels or archangels intervening in the future, wouldn’t it be right to conserve my power as much as possible?”

That is, the more martial arts he uses, the more he can use his original power. The reason he becomes stronger while fighting is actually because he forgets martial arts. He can still use his original power, but he has to deal with the aftermath in his own way, and he wants to hold back as much as possible when he thinks about fighting angels later.

This sucks. If he takes a little damage, he can kill me at any time. He didn’t exert his power because he was restraining the imaginary archangel. My hatred for angels grew even stronger, and I felt fortunate that Cheonma was hiding.

Looking at it this way, I thought that it would be impossible to kill Cheonma by force. If Cheonma were really pushed to the brink of death, this guy would use his true power. Even though it was weaker than when he was at his prime, it was enough to kill me or Choi Jiwon. From the beginning, he was in a fight that he couldn’t win.

Should I say that it was fortunate that I had grown at least? Should I think it was okay since Cheonma seemed to be making sense?

“Enough with the small talk. Come at me again.”

Cheonma threw away the wooden scythe and put on the leggings on the floor.

“Well, thank you for being honest.”

“Okay.”

“…”

It couldn’t have been just a simple ‘favor.’ I felt it deep down. Cheonma had regained a significant amount of his strength. He could already win against me.

Since his safety was guaranteed, he probably figured it was okay to tell me his weaknesses that he had already overcome. It seemed like he was not the one, but he was moving after calculating thoroughly. He must have built up a sense of intimacy.

The battle continued after that. I fought while controlling my strength just enough for the Ma to feel a sense of crisis and use his martial arts to the fullest. The Ma used the techniques in his memories, and I also used the coping methods in my memories. The Ma had already seen through my martial arts, and I knew it. It felt like a play.

“Something… I feel bad.”

Separately from my feeling bad, the Ma had regained all his strength in just two weeks. Although he was holding back, his unique oppressive energy could be felt from afar, and all the creatures in the arena were reluctant to come to this hallway. The only outsiders were the drones that arrived occasionally.

“Is this enough?”

“It’s almost over.”

“You said you were going to escape the tower… What are you going to do?”

“I’m thinking of tearing the dimension apart.”

“… Is that possible?”

“It’s possible. If I were you.”

A man’s figure seemed to overlap the muzzle of the meditating Heavenly Horse. Not the figure of a wolf-man, but the figure of a middle-aged man with long black hair. Perhaps, it was the original Heavenly Horse.

“It’s done now.”

Heavenly Horse rose from his seat after finishing his meditation. Murderous intent boiled in his eyes.

“I will kill the angel… I will kill the archangel. I will kill the god. I will slaughter them all.”

“Please spare the humans of our world.”

“Let’s do that.”

As the guy twirled his outstretched hand in the air, a small dot appeared where there had been nothing. The dot gradually grew larger, and soon became a hole large enough for a person to pass through. Perhaps, that was the passageway leading out of the tower.

“Your companions, and your world… I will not touch them. I will leave them behind even if I destroy everything else.”

“Thank you.”

“But.”

-Phew.

A sudden sharp pain was felt in his chest. His hand moved so quickly that it was difficult to react.

“You have learned too much about me.”

The guy’s fist had pierced my chest from the front. Since my heart had been cleanly pierced, I couldn’t even use my magic. It was a blow that didn’t even allow for resistance.

“Wouldn’t it be difficult if you told the angels about my throne?”

“… Ha.”

“The world has to be destroyed first to confirm the soul of the climber, so there should be plenty of time. You saved your world for a while with your life, so it must be a proud death.”

In the end, he didn’t trust me. He used me.

I knew that he was from another world to begin with, and that Cheonma was arrogant by nature. I thought he might hit me in the back of the head… but thinking about it and experiencing it directly felt different.

But did he know? That I was doing my best to suppress my emotions right before they went wild. That I was holding my breath to keep myself from harboring ‘intense emotions’. That I… really knew too much.

“… You lost.”

That guy committed the number one act that should not be done in a work of fiction.

Cheonma has now betrayed the returner.

[You have taken damage.]

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