After Regressing, I Gained the Power of the Demonic Dragon - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10
Thump!
The Heart of Collapse beat again.
This time it did not end in mere tremor.
From the heart—vast as a building—a blood-red shockwave erupted, sweeping across the entire ruin.
Crack-crack-crack!
The fissured stone floor flipped over wholesale.
Sang Hyuk dropped his stance to hold firm, but could not withstand the impact and was driven backward.
Before him, a stone slab thrust upward and hurtled toward his face.
Sang Hyuk swept his right hand across at once.
Whoosh!
The stone slab touched by the aura of Annihilation Consumption transformed into black sand and scattered.
Beyond it, the Heart of Collapse came into view.
The heart hung suspended in the air, higher than the ruined tower.
It had no limbs, no weapons—yet with each beat of the heart, a shockwave tore loose and crumbled the ruin further.
Left unchecked, the entire Battlefield would collapse before the Time Limit expired.
‘So that is why it is called the Collapse Battlefield.’
This was no trial that could be cleared by merely enduring the remaining time.
To conquer it, he had to destroy that heart first.
Thump!
The heart beat once more.
This time the ground split apart below it, cleaving in both directions.
The widening fissure stretched toward Sang Hyuk’s feet in an instant.
Leap!
Sang Hyuk vaulted over the cracked floor.
The stone slab where he landed tilted, his body lurching, but he quickly regained his balance and extended his right hand toward the heart.
‘Annihilation Consumption.’
Burst!
Black aura tore across the empty air and engulfed the lower portion of the heart.
Screech!
Where it struck, a crater deep enough to swallow a man was carved out.
Black sand cascaded like a waterfall.
But that was all.
Thump!
As the heart beat again, crimson flesh surged up swiftly from within the crater.
The wound sealed in an instant, and soon all trace of it vanished.
Sang Hyuk’s eyes narrowed.
It was not that Annihilation Consumption was ineffective.
Rather, the Annihilation Consumption launched from a distance could only erode the surface.
A wound so shallow healed completely with a single beat of the heart.
‘Chipping away at the surface will not finish this.’
‘Dragon Eye.’
Heat kindled behind his eyes, and the colors of the ruin dulled.
In the center of the faded Battlefield, the entire heart blazed with brilliant scarlet light.
There was no hidden weak point.
The vast heart itself was the weak point.
The problem was its regeneration.
If he struck only the surface from a distance as before, the wound would recover immediately.
He had to close on it directly and pour forth Annihilation Consumption without giving it a moment to mend.
Having settled on his approach, Sang Hyuk ran straight toward the space beneath the heart.
The height was formidable, but debris lay scattered about—enough to use as footholds.
Leap!
Clearing the split earth, Sang Hyuk bounded upward by stepping from one nearby ruin to the next.
He had just reached the largest heap of rubble.
Thump!
Above his head, the Heart of Collapse beat again.
Crack-crash!
The heap of stone beneath his feet began to crumble from within.
Sang Hyuk leaped upward, treading on the collapsing rocks in rapid succession.
But the very stone he reached for last shattered just before his foot could touch it.
The moment his footing gave way, a crimson shockwave slammed into Sang Hyuk head-on.
Thud!
His body flew backward.
Sang Hyuk struck the ground shoulder-first, tumbling twice before catching himself on his palms and coming to a stop.
His breath caught in his throat, and his left shoulder throbbed with dull pain.
In that same moment, the ground beneath the Heart of Collapse collapsed entirely.
Where rubble had lain moments before, a yawning chasm now gaped—bottomless and vast.
Reaching the heart by jumping from the floor was now impossible.
Sang Hyuk pressed his aching shoulder and pushed himself up, scanning his surroundings.
At the edge of the pit, a ruined tower came into view.
Nearly half of it had crumbled away, and it tilted precariously toward the heart.
From its peak, he could make the jump.
Sang Hyuk dismissed the Dragon Eye and sprinted toward the ruined tower.
Boom!
The Heart of Collapse overhead pulsed again.
As the crimson shockwave tore through the ruins, the stone floor beneath his feet suddenly erupted upward.
Sang Hyuk kicked off hard against the rising ground and launched himself into the air.
Twisting mid-flight, he landed on a stone slab that had risen before him.
Crack!
The moment his feet touched the slab, Sang Hyuk hurled himself toward the tower again.
Crash!
The slab shattered against the ground the instant he left it.
Sang Hyuk landed on the fractured stone floor ahead and immediately resumed running.
Until now, the shockwaves had come at regular intervals.
Between each pulse, there came a brief window—a moment to press forward.
Each time, Sang Hyuk closed the distance to the tower.
When cracks blocked his path, he bounded over the rising stones.
When debris rained down from above, he swung the Annihilation Consumption to carve a passage through.
Shwish-shwish-shwish!
The stones it touched turned to sand and scattered left and right.
Sang Hyuk tore through the swirling spray and kept running.
The tower’s entrance was nearly within reach.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Just before the entrance, the ground supporting the tower gave way.
The entire tower began to tilt into the chasm.
If it fell completely, the entrance would vanish beneath the pit.
Hyah!!!
Sang Hyuk accelerated and threw himself through the entrance before it sank.
Inside, a half-collapsed staircase spiraled all the way to the top.
Boom!
The moment he passed through the entrance, the Heart of Collapse pulsed once more.
The shockwave that followed shook the entire tower.
Crackle-crack!
Fissures spread across the walls and steps.
The stone steps beneath Sang Hyuk’s feet began to split and crumble away.
Hyah!
Before the stairs could give way entirely, Sang Hyuk kicked off with all his strength and bounded upward.
He grabbed the broken railing of the next level and hauled himself up.
His palms scraped raw against the rough stone, but he didn’t stop.
One floor.
Two floors.
As Sang Hyuk climbed, the stairs behind him crumbled from below, cascading into the pit.
Hesitate even for a moment, and he would plummet with the tower.
Sang Hyuk shifted his weight to the next step before the current one could collapse beneath him.
He was just about to reach the next landing when it happened.
Crackle-crack!
The stone wall above split violently, and the entire section toppled down across the stairs ahead.
Crash!
The fallen wall completely blocked the path to the next level.
There was no time to find another way.
Behind him, even the stairs he’d just climbed were crumbling away.
Sang Hyuk ran to the stone wall and pressed his palm against its center.
‘Annihilation Consumption.’
Screeeech!
The spot where his palm touched rapidly transformed into black sand and poured away.
As an opening large enough for a single person appeared, Sang Hyuk thrust himself through it immediately.
The moment he emerged from the hole, the remaining stone wall collapsed behind him.
Boom!
A wave of stone dust struck his back, but Sang Hyuk didn’t look behind.
He ran straight toward the final staircase.
Crack-crack-crack!
Even the last staircase fractured beneath his feet.
Before it collapsed entirely, Sang Hyuk drove off hard from the stair’s edge and launched himself upward.
Bang!
Sang Hyuk landed on the summit of the ruined tower.
A fierce wind swept across the tilted tower, buffeting his body as it passed.
Beyond his toes, an abyss yawned without end.
Sang Hyuk crouched low to steady himself, then raised his head.
The Heart of Collapse floated directly before his eyes.
From the tower’s peak to the heart was roughly ten paces.
But between them, there was nowhere to set foot.
In that instant, the heart’s crimson surface swelled visibly.
The next shockwave was about to detonate.
The question was whether the ruined tower would hold through it.
Sang Hyuk glanced down at his feet.
The tower was already tilting inward toward the abyss, and the cracks spreading across the ground were rapidly approaching his toes.
So then.
He’d have to survive the next shockwave, and then hurl himself from the tower’s collapsing edge toward the heart.
There would be only one chance.
Sang Hyuk lowered his stance and pressed one palm against the fractured ground.
Thump—!
The heart pounded harder than ever before.
A blood-red shockwave engulfed the tower head-on.
Crash!
Violent wind pressed against his entire body.
Sang Hyuk clenched his teeth and held firm, gripping the ground.
His clothes tore and both his feet skidded backward, but his hands wouldn’t let go.
After a moment, the shockwave passed.
Crackle-crackle-crack!
The supports beneath the tower gave way completely.
As the summit tilted sharply toward the heart, the ten-pace distance rapidly closed.
‘Now.’
Sang Hyuk released his grip and ran forward instantly.
As he sprinted down the tilting peak, the stone slabs beneath him fell away one by one into the chasm.
One step.
Two steps.
Just before the tower’s edge crumbled completely, Sang Hyuk drove off hard from the last slab.
Thwack!
Sang Hyuk’s body flew toward the heart.
The crimson surface rushed up to meet him.
The instant his body touched the heart, Sang Hyuk plunged both hands deep into its red flesh.
Squelch!
His fingers sank deep into the crimson tissue.
His feet followed and touched the heart as well, but kept slipping on the constantly writhing surface.
With his left hand anchoring his body firmly in place, Sang Hyuk pressed his right palm harder against the flesh.
‘Annihilation Consumption.’
Screeeeeech!
From the point where his right hand touched, the crimson flesh began transforming into black sand.
It was different from when he’d attacked from a distance.
This time, not just the surface but the flesh deep within the heart itself was rapidly crumbling away.
Thump!
The heart lurched violently, attempting to shake Sang Hyuk free.
As his feet left the surface, his lower body snapped backward into empty air.
But both hands driven into the heart would not slip out.
Supporting his entire weight with his left hand, Sang Hyuk drove his right hand deeper still into the disintegrating flesh.
His left shoulder wrenched as if it might tear from its socket, but Sang Hyuk only burrowed his fingers deeper into the tissue.
Red flesh threatened to fill the wound beneath his right hand, but the moment it touched the Annihilation Consumption, it crumbled to black sand.
Black sand.
Before the wound could seal, an even wider section was vanishing.
If he simply held on, he could finish this.
“The Heart of Collapse is being eroded,” the system announced.
“Battlefield Defense activating.”
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
In that instant, debris scattered across the ruins lifted into the air.
Everything from fist-sized stones to boulders the size of a man’s head hurtled toward Sang Hyuk in unison.
To evade, he would need to release his hands from the heart.
But the moment he let go, the heart would begin healing again.
‘I’m not letting go.’
Sang Hyuk pressed his body against the heart and tightened his grip.
Thwack! Crash!
Stones hammered viciously into his shoulders and back.
With each impact, his suspended body swung sharply.
One massive rock struck his left shoulder dead-on.
Boom!
His left hand slipped nearly halfway free as his body slid downward.
‘Damn—!’
Sang Hyuk thrust his right arm deeper into the wound, barely arresting his fall.
Crack!
He drove his freed left hand back into the red flesh.
Curling his fingers deep, he locked his body in place.
More debris came hurtling down, but Sang Hyuk gritted his teeth and endured.
Then he poured every remaining shred of his magical power into his right hand.
‘Go… Annihilation Consumption!’
Roooar!
The flesh within the heart beneath his right hand transformed into black sand all at once.
The red flesh attempting to seal the wound crumbled away in turn, unable to keep pace.
The Annihilation Consumption spilling beyond the heart’s boundary even transformed the debris bearing down on Sang Hyuk’s back into black sand.
Thump!
The heart beat again.
But this impact was far weaker than before.
Sang Hyuk’s body shuddered once; his left hand no longer slipped.
Sang Hyuk squeezed harder with his left hand and drove his right arm deeper.
Screeeech!
The blackened section expanded rapidly.
Half the heart had already crumbled away.
The sections completely consumed by the Annihilation Consumption no longer regenerated.
‘Just a little more…!’
His magical power depleted, his breathing came ragged.
Both arms had gone numb, and strength was draining from his fingertips.
Yet he had no thought of withdrawing his right hand.
This was his final chance, and now—at last—he could see the end approaching.
Thump.
The heart beat once more.
This time the impact was far gentler, barely rustling the fabric of his clothes.
‘Almost there!’
Sang Hyuk emptied every last drop of his magical power into his right hand.
Then.
Fwoooosh!
The heart, still burning red, darkened rapidly, turning entirely black.
The colossal heart, with less than half its original mass remaining, swelled one final time with tremendous force.
Boom──!
The Heart of Collapse beat one final time.
That was the end.
Whoooosh!
The heart, which had been solid as a building, transformed into black sand and poured away.
No crimson flesh remained, no radiant light to mend its wounds.
Even the place where his left hand had been embedded crumbled to dust, and Sang Hyuk’s body plummeted into the chasm below.
Kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh!
The tremor that had shaken the battlefield ceased.
The fracturing earth no longer shifted, the collapsing ruin no longer fell.
The blood-red sky rapidly drained of its light.
Yet the system notification did not arrive at once.
As Sang Hyuk fell through the bottomless pit, no words appeared before his eyes.
Only after several seconds did the first notification manifest.
「The Heart of Collapse cannot be detected.」
「The target has been completely annihilated.」
Then the notifications came cascading down.
「The Shattering Trial has ended.」
「The Hidden Battlefield, Collapse Battlefield, has been completely conquered.」
「The Shattering Trial has been cleared with more than 25 minutes of Time Limit remaining.」
「Floor 1 of the Infinite Tower has been cleared.」
Flash!
White light enveloped the falling Sang Hyuk.
In that instant, his body halted in mid-air, and the blood-red battlefield rapidly receded from his sight.
At the edge of Sang Hyuk’s vision remained only black sand scattering into the void.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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