After Regressing, I Gained the Power of the Demonic Dragon - Chapter 32

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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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Episode 32
Two battlefield options unfolded before Sang Hyuk in sequence.
[Candidate 1]
[Battlefield: Abandoned Smeltery]
[Danger Level: Moderate]
[Primary Rewards: Rare Metal / Smelting Kindling]
[Candidate 2]
[Battlefield: Ownerless Spirit Vein]
[Danger Level: High]
[Primary Rewards: Spirit Vein Crystal / Magical Power Recovery Equipment Materials]
Sang Hyuk examined the rewards both candidates offered.
The rare metal and smelting kindling could be used for Il-sung’s equipment research.
The spirit vein crystal was also a necessary material for growing the Spirit Vein Ring.
Either choice promised immediate utility.
Then.
Click.
A small metallic chime rang from within his inventory.
The Sealing Key of Dragon’s Treasure Vault, its first seal now broken, trembled faintly with a crimson glow.
[The Sealing Key of Dragon’s Treasure Vault has detected traces of an entrance.]
[An unregistered candidate has been added to the Irregular Battlefield list.]
Crackle.
A third option materialized beneath the first two.
[Unregistered Candidate]
[Battlefield Name: Unreadable]
[Danger Level: Pending Evaluation]
[Primary Rewards: Pending Evaluation]
[Status: Passage Severed]
[Estimated Recovery Time: 72 hours]
The key’s vibration intensified as the third candidate appeared.
Sang Hyuk immediately drew the key from his inventory.
Whoosh!
A deep crimson light erupted from the key, illuminating the third option.
The unreadable information began to shift rapidly.
[Unregistered Irregular Battlefield]
[Battlefield: Threshold of Dragon’s Outer Treasury]
[Zone: Outermost Storage of Dragon’s Treasure Vault]
[Stored Items: Records / Materials / Sealing Tools]
[Status: Passage Severed]
[Estimated Recovery Time: 72 hours]
[Selecting the third candidate will restore the passage leading to Dragon’s Treasure Vault.]
[Choosing this will eliminate the remaining candidates.]
Sang Hyuk’s gaze settled on the newly revealed third option.
The rewards from the smeltery and spirit vein were tempting enough.
But with Dragon’s Treasure Vault within reach, there was no question of choosing elsewhere.
“The third one.”
[You have selected Threshold of Dragon’s Outer Treasury.]
[Irregular Battlefield Selection Right — 1 use consumed.]
[Remaining Selection Rights: 0]
Rumble.
Crimson light surged from the floor of the Settlement Space.
When the light faded, a massive stone frame stood in its place.
But within the frame lay only impenetrable darkness.
The passage to Dragon’s Treasure Vault had not yet opened.
[Restoring passage to Threshold of Dragon’s Outer Treasury.]
[Time Remaining: 72:00:00]
[Time Remaining: 71:59:59]
[You may enter Individual Climbing and Channel League while the passage is being restored.]
Sang Hyuk watched the countdown begin to tick away.
The passage would restore itself from here on.
There was no reason to stop climbing or the rookie league in the meantime.
Sang Hyuk placed the key in his inventory and activated his league participation voucher for that day.
Moments later, the format for the second match was announced.
[Iron Rookie League Second Match]
[Match Format: 4v4 Team Survival]
Sang Hyuk formed an ad hoc team with three other individual participants from his country.
Once the team composition was finalized, the battlefield for this match was revealed.
[Battlefield: Collapsing Aerial Fortress]
[Victory Condition]
– The team with more surviving members when the time limit ends wins.
The aerial fortress crumbled in places throughout the match.
It was a battlefield where survival—staying alive until the very end—determined victory or defeat.
「You are being transported to the battlefield.」
* * *
Flash!
As the light cleared, enormous stone slabs and fractured fortress walls hung suspended in the void.
The slab on which Sang Hyuk and his three teammates stood tilted sharply to one side.
Beyond its edge, a dizzying abyss yawned open.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The fortress shook, and stone fragments cascaded away from multiple points.
Sang Hyuk immediately gathered magical power into his eyes.
‘Dragon’s Eye.’
Through the washed-out gray of his vision, he could see at a glance which footholds would crumble first.
“Three paces to the left.”
Sang Hyuk moved first to the left slab.
His three teammates hesitated, caught off guard by the sudden command.
“To the left? Right now?”
“The ground beneath us is about to give way.”
Crack!
Before the words had even left his mouth, the slab beneath the three men fractured.
“Move. Now.”
The three teammates scrambled urgently to the left.
Rumble-rumble-boom!
The moment they cleared the space, the slab they’d been standing on broke away entirely.
The three watched the stone plunge into the void below, then immediately pressed close to Sang Hyuk.
“Where next?”
“Follow me.”
This time, no one asked for an explanation.
Sang Hyuk hurled himself forward, tracing the fracture lines visible through the Dragon’s Eye.
He chose only the slabs that would collapse immediately after all four of them had crossed.
“Step only where I step.”
His three teammates followed, placing their feet precisely where he had stepped.
The moment the last teammate reached the far side, the slabs behind them began to fracture.
One more footfall would send them crashing down completely.
At that moment, the sector occupied by the opposing team began to tilt sharply.
“Cross that way!”
The path the Korean team had just traversed looked like the safest route to them.
But only Sang Hyuk knew that the interior of those slabs was already on the verge of collapse.
The instant all four members of the opposing team charged forward one after another—
Snap-crack!
The slab under the leader’s feet split cleanly in two.
The connected fracture lines spread in seconds, and the remaining platforms collapsed in rapid succession.
Crash-crunch!
The four members, already halfway across, could neither retreat nor leap to safety.
All four members of the opposing team plummeted with the crumbling stone into the fathomless void.
Flash!
[Opposing team has been eliminated.]
[Survival match is over.]
[Korean Team survivors: 4/4]
[Opposing nation survivors: 0/4]
「The Korean Team is victorious.」
[Korean Team Channel League Season Score +3]
“The match’s most outstanding player has been selected.”
[Korean Team / Public Name Undisclosed]
[Iron Rookie Individual Record: 2 Wins 0 Losses]
[Winning Streak: 2 Consecutive Victories]
[MVP: 2 Consecutive Times]
The three teammates glanced at Sang Hyuk almost in unison as they checked the final item on the Settlement Space screen.
“Two wins, no losses, and back-to-back MVP awards……”
One teammate, who had been studying the black mask intently, spoke up hesitantly.
“I was wondering—is it really impossible?”
Another teammate added, skepticism thick in his voice.
“So many people wear black masks copying Impossible these days that I figured it wasn’t him again……”
Sang Hyuk nodded slightly, and the three erupted in exclamation.
“It really was him!”
“Back-to-back MVPs in Annihilation and Survival matches—it was truly fortunate to be on the same team as you.”
“All thanks to you for following my lead without hesitation.”
“We just moved according to your instructions. Without that, we’d have been eliminated the moment everything started collapsing.”
After exchanging farewells with his three teammates, Sang Hyuk closed the Settlement Space screen.
He immediately checked the reconstruction time for the passage connecting to Dragon’s Treasure Vault.
Since the match had ended so quickly, the reduced time wasn’t much.
He still had to wait before the Outer Treasury would open.
Sang Hyuk closed the reconstruction notice and left the Settlement Space.
* * *
That night.
Word spread across PlayerNet that Impossible had not only kept all Korean Team members alive in the Survival match but had claimed his second consecutive MVP.
[Korea/Lv.24] AlarmThreeCustomized: MVP in both Annihilation AND Survival? Is there anything this guy can’t do!
[Korea/Lv.42] SojoWithSoju: Knocked out the entire opposing team without even fighting. So it wasn’t just brute strength—there was real strategy here. Crazy.
With the second match ending in victory, attention quickly shifted to the next Individual Climbing challenge.
[Impossible <Flawless Climbing> Tracking]
[Current Record: Individual Climbing SSS 20 Consecutive]
[Next Challenge: Floor 21]
[If SSS Achieved: Historic Solo Record]
[Floor 21 Individual Trial: <Legacy of the Demon King>]
[Hostile Demons: 117]
[Current SSS Achievers: 0]
[Public Record Holder]
[Record Holder: Second Seat <Limitless>]
[Demon Deaths in Gorge: 1]
[Clear Rating: SS]
To achieve SSS on Floor 21, Sang Hyuk would have to move the Demon King’s Horn while keeping all 117 ferociously tearing demons alive.
Even Limitless had failed to prevent one demon’s death, ending his consecutive SSS streak there.
[Korea/Lv.47] LimitlessRecordPreservation: Floor 21 requires keeping all 117 mutually attacking demons alive. No wonder no one’s hit SSS lol
[Korea/Lv.33] NewbieGuardians: But Impossible has a record of stopping an entire demon legion mid-combat on Floor 15, and he even made the Floor 20 Demon King surrender. Doesn’t he have a shot?
[Korea/Lv.52] LimitlessVideoOnly: That was a legion with a Command Stone, or a single demon—totally different. This time it’s 117 of different species.
[Korea/Lv.30] CommonmanCalculator: Since even Limitless couldn’t pull it off, I honestly have no idea this time.
A poll opened beneath the comments.
[Can Impossible achieve SSS on Floor 21?]
[Possible: 49.6%]
[Impossible: 50.4%]
With the condition being one that even Limitless had failed, the vote hung almost perfectly balanced.
[Korea/Lv.47] LimitlessRecordPreservation: If 21 consecutive happens, I’ll compile Impossible’s climbing records myself.
[Korea/Lv.38] BathroomBeforeBossRoom: Screenshotted. No backing out later.
[Korea/Lv.47] LimitlessRecordPreservation: Do whatever. Nothing to compile anyway.
Now all eyes turned toward the Floor 21 Public Records Board.
Individual climbing couldn’t be observed in real time, however.
Success or failure could only be known after the test ended and the Public Records Board was updated.
Yet countless players kept the records board open, waiting for Impossible’s new entry to appear.
* * *
The next day.
Whoosh!
As the light faded, Sang Hyuk found himself standing at the entrance of a gorge carved between towering cliffs.
On the black altar directly ahead lay a horn the size of a man’s forearm.
On the far side of the gorge stood the succession altar where the horn needed to be delivered.
Clang.
Beyond seven iron gates embedded in the cliff faces on either side, red eyes gleamed.
Growwwl.
Snarl.
The hungry cries of demon beasts filled the gorge.
「You have entered Individual Climbing, Floor 21.」
「Floor 21 trial commencing.」
[Trial Name: 〈Legacy of the Demon King〉]
[Basic Objective]
– Transport the Sealed Horn of Demon King to the succession altar.
[Hostile Demon Beasts: 117]
[Demon Beast Levels: Lv.19~23]
[Evaluation Criteria]
– Damage to the Demon King’s Horn
– Number of times the player is struck
– Time to clear
– Number of demon beasts slain in the gorge
Soon, a Hidden Objective surfaced as a bonus reward from the accumulated benefits of Flawless Climbing.
[Hidden Objective revealed.]
[Subdue all 117 demon beasts in the gorge without killing a single one.]
The difficulty of this trial lay not in the strength of the demon beasts.
To earn an SSS rating, he couldn’t allow even one to die.
To achieve the Hidden Objective as well, he had to break the fighting spirit of all 117.
Sang Hyuk recalled the Power Enhancement Voucher he hadn’t yet used.
He hadn’t decided which ability to apply it to.
This trial would let him test how many beasts his newly acquired Dragon’s Pressure could affect, and which opponents could resist it.
After seeing those results, he could decide which ability to enhance.
Sang Hyuk lifted the black horn from the altar.
Hummmmmm!
Red light flashed from within the horn.
The howls echoing from beyond the iron gates ceased all at once.
Boom!
All seven iron gates rose simultaneously.
More than a hundred demon beasts burst through the opened gates and charged into the gorge.
The earth trembled beneath their hooves and claws, and dust erupted in all directions.
Fanged wolves and iron-plated boars.
Red-scaled lizards and black-hoofed mountain goats.
They were all different species and sizes, but they all fixed their gaze on one thing.
The Demon King’s horn in Sang Hyuk’s left hand.
Roarrr!
The fanged wolf that charged out in front lunged at Sang Hyuk.
At that moment, the iron-plated boar running alongside slammed its side into the wolf.
Crash!
The boar shoved the wolf aside and charged straight toward Sang Hyuk.
Meanwhile, the red-scaled lizard descended on the wolf sprawled on the ground and went for its throat.
They pushed and bit each other, competing to seize the horn first.
If left unchecked, demon beasts would begin dying before they even reached Sang Hyuk.
Just as the lizard’s fangs were about to pierce the wolf’s neck.
Thump.
The heart of the Apocalypse Dragon beat powerfully.
‘Dragon’s Pressure.’
[Ability Dragon’s Pressure activated.]
Crimson Magical Power erupted from Sang Hyuk, crushing the entire gorge beneath it.
This was nothing like when he had forced out the incomplete pressure on Floor 20.
Now, without even squeezing his Magical Power, the majesty of the Apocalypse Dragon reached all the way to the far end of the gorge.
Even the lizard that had been lunging for the wolf’s throat froze, jaws agape.
The iron-plated boar that had been charging at Sang Hyuk stopped short, trembling violently in its entire body.
The surrounding beasts hunched their bodies low, struggling to withstand the Dragon’s Pressure.
Crunch.
Claws and hooves dug deep furrows into the earth.
But they couldn’t hold out for long.
The saber-fanged wolf pressed its belly to the ground first.
The armored wild boar and black mountain goat soon followed, throwing themselves flat.
Those charging from behind lost momentum one by one.
Even the beasts farthest away stopped in their tracks and lowered themselves.
Thud.
Boom!
The earth trembled each time a massive beast collapsed.
Bristling fur settled, and gaping jaws snapped shut.
In the eyes of beasts that moments before had tried to slaughter one another, only fear remained.
Not a single creature lay dead.
The horn in Sang Hyuk’s grip bore not a scratch.
But it still wasn’t over.
Growl.
Among the prostrate beasts, only three alphas kept their heads raised, glaring at Sang Hyuk.
[Armored Mane Bear]
[Lv.23]
[Crimson-Eyed Saber Tiger]
[Lv.23]
[Twin-Headed Venom Scorpion]
[Lv.23]
Red magical power surged from the bodies of the three alphas.
Though their frames trembled under the pressure, not one of them bowed its head.
Though the Dragon’s Pressure, now a proper Authority, had subdued 114 beasts all at once, it could not break the three high-level alphas in a single blow.
The armored mane bear struck the ground with its front legs.
The crimson-eyed saber tiger crouched low, baring its fangs.
Twin streams of dark venom dripped from the twin-headed venom scorpion’s jaws.
The eyes of all three remained fixed on the horn Sang Hyuk held.
Sang Hyuk could not withdraw the pressure.
If he did, the 114 prostrate beasts would surge to their feet once more.
Yet if he killed the three alphas, the hidden objective would fail.
He had to keep 114 beasts pinned under the pressure while forcing the remaining three to submit through direct confrontation.
Sang Hyuk hid the horn behind his back with his left hand and extended his right palm forward.
Roar!
Black energy of the Annihilation Form bloomed from his right hand.
‘Subdue them without killing.’
In that instant.
The three alphas charged at Sang Hyuk in unison.

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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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