After Regressing, I Gained the Power of the Demonic Dragon - Chapter 52

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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 52
The moment Only Fun For Me finished speaking, the Promotion Condition materialized before the four players’ eyes.
[Shared Objective]
– Protect the Central Guardian Stone for 20 minutes.
– Keep all four towers in normal condition until the battle ends.
[Tower Infection]
– Infection Rate rises each time an Infected Entity touches a tower.
– A tower whose Infection Rate reaches 100% ceases to function.
– Failure to complete the Shared Objective if even one tower stops functioning.
[Cooperative Players must satisfy both the Shared Objective and Individual Contribution criteria to earn Match Rewards.]
[10 seconds until the match begins]
Only Fun For Me descended the stairs of the Western Tower and set his Staff on the ground.
Then, instead of moving toward the outer edge where battle would commence, he walked toward the center.
Shield Won’t Fold’s expression hardened.
“You’re giving up on the victory reward too?”
“I can just get rewards again next time.”
Only Fun For Me turned to Sang Hyuk with a grin.
“I didn’t want to miss seeing Impossible Seat fail in a Promotion Match.”
Arrow Saver gritted his teeth.
“Lunatic.”
[5 seconds until the match begins]
Sang Hyuk shook his head at the sight of him.
A Troll Player he’d only heard stories about.
He’d never imagined they’d meet in a Promotion Match.
‘If one person’s gone, I just make up for them.’
Sang Hyuk gauged the distance between the Southern Tower and Western Tower.
The Circular Battlefield had a diameter exceeding a hundred meters.
By standard logic, it would be difficult for one person to defend both positions.
Sang Hyuk pointed to the Western Tower.
“I’ll take the Western too.”
Shield Won’t Fold narrowed his eyes.
“You’re taking both positions alone? The Southern and Western are at opposite ends. While you’re running between them, one will fall.”
“No need to run. I sweep the Southern first, then move straight over.”
Sang Hyuk was already moving toward the Southern Tower.
“You two just hold your assigned positions.”
[3]
[2]
[1]
「Beginning the Four Towers of Plague.」
[Time Remaining: 20:00]
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Rifts opened wide from four directions simultaneously.
Hounds with rotting flesh exposed and knights clad in rusted armor poured forth.
[Plague Hound Lv.35]
[Infected Knight Lv.37]
Sang Hyuk sprinted toward the wave pressing in from the South.
‘Dragon’s Oppressive Aura.’
Woooom!
The Dragon’s presence swept across the southern passage.
The legs of the hounds running at the vanguard froze.
Those following behind collided with the stationary ones and tumbled chaotically.
Two Infected Knights pushed through the oppression and rushed at Sang Hyuk.
One brought a rusted Great Sword crashing down; the other thrust a long spear forward.
Sang Hyuk drew Mana up from the Heart of the Apocalypse Demon Dragon and sent it through both arms.
Screech!
Black Scales erupted from his hands up to his shoulders.
Sang Hyuk knocked the Great Sword aside with his left arm, then seized the spear shaft with his right hand.
Crack!
Breaking the spear shaft, Sang Hyuk drove his shoulder into the knight’s chest.
Crash!
The knight flew backward and swept another with him.
Sang Hyuk seized both fallen knights by the head and slammed them into the ground.
Boom!
Sang Hyuk swept through the tangled hounds without breaking stride.
Dull collision sounds erupted in succession, and the first wave pressing toward the south sprawled across the floor.
[Southern Tower Infection Rate: 0%]
Meanwhile, at the western post, infected entities pressed toward the tower without any resistance.
Arrow Saver, defending the north, glanced at the west and clicked his tongue.
“Damn.”
Arrow Saver turned his body, aiming at the west.
Blue mana swirled above the arrow nocked on the string.
Twang!
The arrow split into six shafts the moment it left the string.
Blue trajectories pierced through the front legs of different hounds and embedded themselves in the stone floor.
But there was no time to send a second arrow.
The infected knights at the north had pushed right up to the tower’s base.
As Arrow Saver turned his bow back toward the north, one of the western hounds leaped over the fallen mass.
It bit straight into the tower’s foundation.
Dark crimson liquid oozed between its teeth and seeped into the tower’s cracks.
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 18%]
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 31%]
Only Fun For Me sat perched on the central stairs, watching the western tower.
A sneer spread across his face.
“You said you’d handle the west, and it’s already falling apart like that?”
Sang Hyuk did not answer.
He kicked off from the southern passage and bolted toward the west.
Dash!
Sang Hyuk cut across the central ground and reached the base of the western tower in an instant.
Just as an infected knight moved to drive his sword into the tower, Sang Hyuk’s right hand seized the knight’s wrist.
Crack!
Sang Hyuk tore the knight from the tower and hurled him at the hounds pressing in behind.
Crash!
He then unleashed Annihilation on the infected entities surrounding the tower, one by one.
Even after the last hound crumbled into black sand, the western tower’s infection rate did not stop climbing.
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 67%]
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 82%]
The dark crimson liquid that had first seeped in continued to spread through the inside of the tower.
The blue light connecting from the summit to the Central Guardian Stone grew dimmer by the moment.
Only Fun For Me lifted the corner of his mouth.
“What good does it do to clear out the infected entities? The plague that’s seeped into the tower keeps spreading.”
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 93%]
Sang Hyuk’s eyes deepened to a dark crimson.
‘Demon Dragon’s Eye.’
The structure inside the tower revealed itself in his sight.
The original mana flowed along a blue passage at the tower’s center.
The plague shed by the infected entity had seeped in from outside, then spread across the surface of the passage.
It was not a mixture of forces.
The tower itself remained intact.
He only needed to remove the clinging plague.
Sang Hyuk placed his right hand against the tower’s base.
‘Only the plague.’
In that moment.
Thump!
The Heart of the Apocalypse Demon Dragon beat hard.
A strange vision overlaid the tower before his eyes.
A vast Dragon Vein flowed across a fractured earth.
Dark crimson decay gnawed at the light’s current, which was thicker than mountain ranges.
Before it stood a black dragon wreathed in roiling darkness, turned away.
As the Apocalypse Dragon extended its front claw, thick darkness consumed the entire Dragon Vein.
Whisper-whisper-whisper.
But only the decaying portion had vanished.
The intact luminous current flowed on unbroken, surging forth with renewed vigor.
The vision disappeared between blinks.
The Apocalypse Dragon in his memory had not shown any act of destruction.
It had simply revived the rotting Dragon Vein as it was.
This memory too differed from what the world knew of him.
But there was no time to dwell on the question.
Before his eyes, the Infection Rate of the Western Tower continued to climb.
Sang Hyuk triggered Annihilation only against the plague, leaving the blue passage untouched.
Screee-eee!
Black energy bloomed from his right hand and seeped into the tower.
The black energy avoided the blue passage entirely, following only the plague that covered it upward.
The reddish-brown sections began to dissolve one by one from below.
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 97% → 61%]
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 61% → 22%]
[Western Tower Infection Rate: 22% → 0%]
Whoooosh!
The tower, fading into darkness, blazed blue once more.
The light extending from its peak joined the protective barrier of the Central Guardian Stone.
[The Western Tower has returned to normal.]
Arrow Saver’s eyes widened as he watched the blue light return above the Western Tower.
He checked the Infection Rate before him several times over.
“Wait—it’s really zero percent?”
“It was ninety-seven percent just now. You’re saying you cleared it all in one go?”
Shield Won’t Fold, defending the eastern sector, shoved back an Infected Knight with his shield while glancing toward the west.
The blue light flowing from the tower to the Central Guardian Stone showed no breaks in its course.
“The tower is… intact?”
Shock flashed across Shield Won’t Fold’s taut features.
“Is it actually possible to reverse an infection?”
Only Fun For Me, who had been sitting on the central staircase, had already raised himself up and was staring at the Western Tower.
The smile that had played at his lips was gone.
But sensing the gaze of others on him, he leaned back against the stairs.
“It’s not like one reversal means we’re done, though.”
He forced his mouth into a grin.
“These Infected Entities keep coming. Can you really repeat that for twenty straight minutes?”
The moment his words ended, the four Rifts tore open wide again.
Crack-crack-crack!
Reddish-brown light flashed within.
Moments later, new Plague Hounds and Infected Knights poured forth.
Sang Hyuk’s gaze fixed not on the incoming Infected Entities, but on the ground beneath his feet.
A reddish-brown force extending from beneath the Circular Battlefield split into four paths, leading to each Rift.
Each time that force surged, new Infected Entities were born within the Rifts.
All four offensives stemmed from a single source hidden beneath the center.
Sang Hyuk opened his mouth toward his teammates.
“The source creating new Infected Entities is directly below the center. If I destroy it, the offensive should stop. I’ll go down and handle it.”
Shield Won’t Fold shoved back an Infected Knight charging at him with his shield.
“How long do we need to hold?”
“Thirty seconds.”
Shield Won’t Fold’s eyes swept rapidly across the eastern and southern passages.
“That’s enough. I’ll take the eastern and southern approaches.”
He drove his Square Shield deep into the narrow chokepoint of the eastern passage with full force.
Boom!
Light rippled outward from the shield’s surface, stretching to both walls and sealing off the passage.
The Infected Entities swarmed forward, only to tangle against the barrier.
Shield Won’t Fold pivoted and sprinted toward the south the moment he confirmed the result.
Arrow Saver glanced back and forth between the northern and western passages, then reached into his quiver.
But as his fingertips brushed the specially bundled Blue-Feathered Arrows, he stilled.
Each arrowhead shimmered with blue Mana like heat haze.
These were the special arrows he had saved, not a single one used until now.
“These really are expensive…”
Arrow Saver clicked his tongue in disappointment but ultimately pulled out a bundle of arrows.
He nocked three of them at once on the bowstring and spoke to Sang Hyuk.
“I’ll handle the north and west. If I hold back and don’t get rewarded for it, that’s even worse.”
Only Fun For Me watched him and let out a soft chuckle.
“Two of you covering four fronts? You’ll be lucky to last ten seconds.”
The two did not respond.
In the south, Shield Won’t Fold shoved back the Infected Knights with brutal force.
Those pushed toward the east could not cross the barrier spread across the passage.
Arrow Saver drew the bowstring all the way back.
The Blue-Feathered Arrows blazed like flames.
Twang!
The arrows shot high above the Circular Battlefield instead of at the Infected Entities.
The moment they reached their apex, the three arrows split into dozens of blue shafts of light.
Whoosh!
Half poured north, the rest curved sharply and cascaded west.
Thunk-thunk-thunk!
The Infected Entities in the front ranks fell, pierced by arrows.
The remaining arrows embedded themselves in a semicircular pattern on the floors and walls of both passages.
Hummmmm!
Blue mana flowed between the arrowheads, forming a dense barrier.
Each time the pursuing Infected Entities struck the barrier, sharp gusts of wind exploded outward, driving them back.
The offensives from north and west halted simultaneously.
Arrow Saver had no time to regret the expenditure of all three special arrows before nocking fresh ones on the string.
In mere seconds, all four fronts were sealed again.
Sang Hyuk confirmed that the two had taken their positions and sprinted toward the Central Guardian Stone.
‘Demon Dragon’s Eye.’
The blue light flowing from the four towers converged at the Guardian Stone, passing just below the ground.
The crimson force spreading plague ran through depths far below that.
Sang Hyuk drove his fist down into the gap between the two currents.
Crack!
The stone floor split apart, revealing a passage below.
Without hesitation, Sang Hyuk leaped down into it.
Boom!
Thick roots twisted across the walls and ceiling of the narrow passage.
The crimson force flowing through the roots led deeper still.
Then the wall ahead of the passage crumbled, and a massive Infected Knight emerged.
[Plague Gatekeeper Lv.40]
It swung the Iron Mace it held in both hands in a wide arc.
An attack meant to seal off the entire narrow passage.
Sang Hyuk did not dodge. He extended his right hand.
“Annihilation.”
Screeeech!
Before the mace could touch his palm, it transformed into Black Sand and crumbled away.
“……!”
The creature’s shock was palpable as it stared at the handle alone remaining in its grip.
Sang Hyuk surged through the gap and extended his right hand toward the creature’s chest.
Screeeech!
Annihilation burrowed deep through the armor and chest.
But the level difference prevented him from obliterating the entire body at once.
Sang Hyuk pressed deeper and drove his left shoulder into the creature’s chest.
Crash!
The massive body flew backward and slammed into the wall.
Rubble from the collapsed stone buried both its legs.
Sang Hyuk wasted no time finishing the Gatekeeper.
He passed it and continued running toward the source of the crimson force.
At the end of the passage lay a vast circular chamber.
Suspended in the center floated a crimson crystal the size of a human head.
Four streams of force emanated from the crystal and spread through the ground toward all cardinal directions.
Each time the crystal brightened, the sound of new Infected Entities pouring from the Rifts above reached his ears.
This was the Plague Source.
Without that crystal, the Infected Entities would stop multiplying.
Sang Hyuk didn’t hesitate.
‘Decay.’
A black sigil carved itself across the crystal’s surface.
The rapidly flickering light visibly slowed.
The four streams of power flowing across the ground grew thin.
Sang Hyuk stepped closer and reached out his right hand.
‘Annihilation.’
A shrill shriek tore through the air.
Black energy swallowed the crimson crystal whole.
The crystal pulsed desperately with light, but weakened by Decay, its power couldn’t push back the black aura.
A soft crumbling sound.
The Plague crystal transformed into Black Sand from its edges outward, disintegrating into powder.
The moment the last fragment vanished, all four streams of power running through the ground snapped at once.
[The Plague Source has been destroyed.]
[Generation of Infected Entities from the Rift is halted.]
[Tower Infection is halted.]
The four Rifts open across the land sealed simultaneously.
A deep, resonant rumble echoed through the air.
The Infected Entities fleeing the Rifts vanished in crimson light.
Those already on the battlefield suddenly lost their strength and collapsed to the ground.
Arrow Saver’s astonished voice burst through the squad channel.
“It’s stopped! All four Rifts are closed. Nothing new is coming out!”
The last Infected Knight standing before Shield Won’t Fold froze, Great Sword still in hand.
A moment later, its rusted armor crumbled weakly and scattered across the floor.
Shield Won’t Fold quickly checked the status of the four towers appearing before his eyes.
“East and South are secure. North and West are fine too. All four held.”
Only Fun For Me, who had been sitting on the central stairs, shot to his feet.
Confusion swept across his face as he looked back and forth between the sealed Rifts and the motionless Infected Entities.
“What…… Did you really just destroy the source? It hasn’t even been four minutes.”
Sang Hyuk bolted back up the passageway he’d entered through.
He pushed off hard against the cracked floor and soared toward the Central Guardian Stone.
A heavy impact echoed across the arena.
Not a single moving Infected Entity remained anywhere on the battlefield.
[Time Remaining: 16:18]
「The source of the assault has been eliminated. The Promotion Match is ending early.」
[Match Duration: 03:42]
[Towers Secured: 4/4]
[Central Guardian Stone Durability: 100%]
[Tower Normalizations: 1]
[Individual Contribution Threshold Met: 3/4]
「You have met the Silver Promotion Condition.」
[Individual Contribution Rank: 1st]
[South Korea / Lv.33 / Private]
[Individual Contribution Threshold Not Met]
[China / Lv.41 / Only Fun For Me]
[This player cannot receive Match Rewards.]
Only Fun For Me’s gaze fixed on that last line.
His mouth twitched, but this time he couldn’t force a smile.
Meanwhile, Arrow Saver checked the status of the Northern and Western Towers several times before raising both arms in triumph.
“We actually did it! The three of us held all four towers!”
Then he turned to Only Fun For Me with a smile tugging at his lips.
“You said we couldn’t last ten seconds?”
Only Fun For Me had no reply.
He simply picked up his Staff from the ground with rough, jerky movements.
Shield Won’t Fold pulled his Square Shield from where it was planted at the Eastern passage and slung it across his back.
He approached Sang Hyuk and held his gaze for a moment.
Shield Won’t Fold gave a short nod.
“Your reputation is well-earned. Now I understand why people are so captivated by the Impossible. Congratulations on your Silver promotion.”
Just as Sang Hyuk was about to respond, a new notification appeared.
“A special individual reward will be granted to the player who directly eliminated the source of infection.”
[Purified Corruption Crystal]
[The infectious property generated by the Plague Source has been removed.]
[Only the power to corrupt remains.]
The crystal that entered the Inventory glowed a deep crimson.
In that instant, the Dark Codex within the mindscape opened of its own accord.
The newly opened chapter of Reconstruction responded for the first time.

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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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