After Regressing, I Gained the Power of the Demonic Dragon - Chapter 9

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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 9
Moments later, three standard battlefield names appeared in sequence on the panels above.
All three were marked Easy difficulty.
The newly revealed crimson choice below, however, displayed different information.
[Battlefield Name: ]
[Classification: Hidden]
[Difficulty: Unmeasurable]
[Rewards will be distributed differently depending on your clear method.]
Sang Hyuk’s gaze fixed on the last line.
Rewards distributed differently depending on clear method.
It was a condition that didn’t exist in standard battlefields.
As Sang Hyuk reached toward the crimson choice, a warning appeared.
「If you select , you cannot change to a standard battlefield.」
「If you fail, today’s single Challenge Right for this floor will be consumed.」
Failure didn’t mean death.
Fatal wounds sustained during solo climbing were restored upon return to reality.
But today’s Challenge Right and all rewards earned in the battlefield would vanish.
From day one, his goal of “one floor per day” could already be derailed.
Yet this was an opportunity granted by an Impossible Achievement.
It was worth staking a single Challenge Right.
Without hesitation, Sang Hyuk placed his hand on the crimson panel.
‘Collapse Battlefield.’
「Entering Hidden Battlefield .」
The three standard battlefields that had been floating above vanished simultaneously.
At the same moment, a crimson light spread rapidly, swallowing Sang Hyuk’s vision.
Whoooosh!
His feet gave way beneath him, and his body plummeted downward.
Thud!
Sang Hyuk’s feet touched the cracked stone ground.
The crimson dust that erupted from the impact rose to knee height.
As hot wind swept the dust away, the shape of the devastated battlefield revealed itself.
Fractured earth stretching to the horizon.
A tilted, crumbling tower.
Black rubble filling the spaces between.
[Hidden Battlefield: ]
[Primary Objective: Survive the collapsing battlefield.]
[Time Limit: 30 minutes]
[As the Collapse Stage progresses, hostile entities will grow stronger.]
[Time Remaining: 30:00]
The moment the numbers dropped to 29:59, a violent tremor rose from beneath Sang Hyuk’s feet.
Crack-crack-crack!
The stone ground split open.
Black fingers jutted through the cracks, and stone-armored soldiers pushed earth aside as they rose up.
One.
Two.
The sound repeated across the battlefield in rapid succession.
In moments, dozens of Collapse Soldiers surrounded Sang Hyuk.
[Collapse Soldier]
[Lv. 3]
Sang Hyuk was Lv. 1.
For an ordinary new player, even facing one would demand risking their life—the gap was that severe.
Then the closest Collapse Soldier raised its stone sword.
The thick blade fell toward Sang Hyuk’s head.
Whoosh!
Instead of stepping back, Sang Hyuk—
raised his right hand, extending it toward the flat of the blade.
‘Annihilation.’
Screeeech!
Before the stone blade could touch his palm, it darkened.
The blade crumbled into black sand, and the force surged past the handle, consuming the soldier’s arm in one sweep.
Whoosh.
As the Collapse creature, stripped of its arms and shoulders, lurched forward, Sang Hyuk pressed his palm against its exposed chest.
Crack!
The remaining body crumbled into black sand and poured away.
In that instant, three more Collapse creatures behind it swung their weapons in unison.
This time, Sang Hyuk swept his right hand to the side.
Whoosh!
Black energy rippled from his fingertips, engulfing both stone sword and spear at once.
Against the Annihilation technique, even hardened weapons and thick stone armor were nothing but sandcastles.
Sizzle!
The stone sword and spear scattered into black sand first.
The black energy consumed those three and swept up another three Collapse creatures charging from behind.
Whoosh.
Six Collapse creatures crumbled at once, leaving only black sand on the ground.
Rumble!
The remaining creatures kicked off the earth and rushed at him from all directions.
Rather than retreat, Sang Hyuk drove straight into their midst.
A stone spear flew at his face.
Sang Hyuk struck the spearhead away with the back of his hand, wreathed in black energy.
Crack!
The entire stone spear scattered into black sand.
When a shielded Collapse creature stepped forward to block, Sang Hyuk pressed his palm against the center of the shield.
Sizzle!
Both shield and the body behind it crumbled into black sand.
One lunging from the side needed nothing more than a light touch across its throat.
Thump.
Its head fell to the ground as its neck vanished.
A spinning kick aimed at Sang Hyuk’s knee simply disappeared the moment his fingertips touched it.
With each step Sang Hyuk took, one Collapse creature vanished.
Twenty had become ten in moments, and soon only one remained.
Before the last creature could even raise its stone sword, Sang Hyuk closed the distance.
He pressed his palm directly against its chest.
Sizzle.
The creature’s body transformed into black sand from the chest down, pouring onto the ground.
[Remaining time: 29:31]
Not even thirty seconds had passed since combat began.
“All hostile entities of the first Collapse Stage have been eliminated.”
Even after the notification appeared, the battlefield did not immediately advance to the next stage.
Instead, stone fragments scattered across the arena trembled and gathered over the black sand.
“Attempting to reconstruct hostile entities.”
Click-clack.
The stone fragments bonded together, beginning to reform the Collapse creatures’ bodies.
But any stone touching the black sand immediately darkened and crumbled away.
Once consumed by the Annihilation technique, a Collapse creature could not rise again.
“Reconstruction failed.”
A moment later, a notification arrived, noticeably slower than usual.
“Hostile entities have been completely annihilated.”
“Battlefield difficulty is being readjusted.”
Boom!
Before the final notification could finish, the tilted ruined tower collapsed.
The stone blocks that poured from the tower rose into the air, fused together, and became a massive golem.
[Collapse Golem]
[Level 5]
The completed golem immediately raised a fist the size of a house.
Whoosh!
That enormous fist came crashing down toward Sang Hyuk’s head.
The sheer pressure from the impact was enough to crush his entire body.
But Sang Hyuk did not dodge.
Instead, he thrust forward a fist wrapped in the Annihilation technique, meeting it head-on.
Crack!!!
There was no collision.
The moment Sang Hyuk’s fist made contact, the golem’s fist simply crumbled into black sand and scattered downward.
The power of Annihilation traveled straight up his arm, consuming the golem’s shoulder and torso.
Crack-crack-crack!
The tower-like body lost its form within seconds.
As the last of its head turned to black sand and poured down, Sang Hyuk lowered his arm.
The moment the golem vanished, crimson flames burst forth over the ruins.
From within the inferno, humanoid magical constructs revealed themselves one by one.
[Collapse Magical Construct]
[Lv.4]
Creatures made entirely of flame stretched both hands toward Sang Hyuk.
Whoosh!
Dozens of fireballs poured down at once, filling the space before him.
Again, Sang Hyuk did not evade. He simply extended his right hand forward.
‘Annihilation.’
Blast!
Black energy erupted from his palm and spread outward in a wide arc.
The fireballs that met it turned black and extinguished one after another.
The black energy did not stop there—it swept over the magical constructs behind them as well.
Fwoosh!
The bodies made of flame transformed into black ash and scattered in an instant.
「All hostile entities in the second Collapse Stage have been eliminated.」
[Remaining Time: 28:47]
Less than two minutes had passed since combat began, yet the second stage was already complete.
Even so, his Mana reserves remained abundant.
When fighting the Guardian of the Collapse, he’d had to place his palm directly and pour every drop of Mana into the skill.
By contrast, the enemies before him were far beneath the guardian’s caliber.
Annihilation was sufficient to sweep them away using only a fraction of his power.
Sang Hyuk gazed at the black energy still pooling thickly on his palm.
‘At this rate, I could go on indefinitely.’
The Battlefield itself seemed to sense that Sang Hyuk still had reserves to spare.
「The third Collapse Stage is being opened ahead of schedule.」
「Hostile entities from the final stage will be deployed simultaneously.」
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
The entire battlefield trembled violently.
At the same moment, knights in horned helms burst forth from the earth.
Three crimson beams of light descended from the sky, striking down upon the ruins.
* * *
At that very moment.
The National Crisis Analysis Division of the Korean Player Association.
The front screen displayed South Korea’s projected score for the current quarter.
[Tutorial Special Achievements: 2]
[South Korea Achievement Points: +120,000]
[Projected Shortfall for This Quarter: 29,720]
[Estimated Risk: Small to Medium Rift Emergence Zone]
[Confirmed National Ranking: 64th / 64 Countries]
They had avoided the zone for large Rifts to open.
But 29,720 points still remained in deficit.
“Can the shortfall be covered through climbing by existing players alone?”
The government liaison shook his head in response to the analyst’s assessment.
“This figure already reflects all major strategy achievements scheduled for this quarter. Without a first-clear or additional special achievements, small and medium Rifts will be unavoidable.”
The government liaison’s gaze shifted upward on the screen.
[Achiever Public Name: Undisclosed]
[Affiliated Country: South Korea]
“It seems we’ll have to find this player after all.”
“Among registered new players, no one fits the criteria. If they haven’t filed an Awakening report, it will be difficult to identify them before they leave traces outside the Tower.”
“If China or Russia finds them first, it becomes even more problematic. Let’s broaden our scope to include Conditional Awakening records and deduce likely candidates.”
A senior officer from the Association brought up the Conditional Awakening management roster on the screen.
These were individuals who had undergone diagnostics at the Awakening Research Institute in the past to find their blooming conditions, yet remained listed as unawakened in the Association’s records.
If someone among them had recently met the conditions and entered the Tower without reporting it, they could very well be the undisclosed player.
The staff cross-referenced each name against the diagnostic records one by one.
Midway through, one employee stopped, finger hovering over the screen.
“What about this person?”
[Sang Hyuk]
[Identity: Ilsung Group Chairman’s Family]
[Registration Status: Conditional Awakening]
[Bloom Report: None]
[Official Tower Ascent Record: None]
“He appeared recently at Ilsung’s equipment verification facility. There’s also a rumor going around that he underwent an Awakening not long ago.”
“His characteristic?”
“Nothing confirmed. However, because of reports that he was involved in identifying equipment defects, he’s suspected to have a research or analysis-type characteristic.”
Thanks to Kim Do Hyun’s information control, Sang Hyuk’s precise abilities and the existence of the Record Stone remained hidden from the outside world.
Still, his presence in Ilsung’s technical sector on the day of the verification had been witnessed by several people.
Combined with recent rumors of his Awakening, the speculation had grown that Sang Hyuk was involved in uncovering the equipment defects.
The Association executive displayed the anonymous player’s two Achievements beside Sang Hyuk’s profile.
[Destruction of the Diamond Guardian Scarecrow]
[Defeat of the Collapse Warden]
Both were Achievements that required overwhelming destructive power to accomplish.
For a newly Awakened research or analysis-type player to have set such destructive records was too improbable.
“Hmm. No matter how I look at it, they don’t seem to be the same person. Still, don’t strike him from the list entirely.”
The employee added Sang Hyuk’s name to the candidate list.
[Candidate: Sang Hyuk]
[Estimated Type: Research/Analysis]
[Tracking Priority: Secondary]
[Action: Confirm Additional Information]
The answer had made it onto the candidate list, but it was pushed to the very bottom.
* * *
At that moment, at the Collapse Battlefield.
Boom!
Three crimson pillars of light crashed down upon the ruins.
Where the light cleared, three massive forms carved from stone stood towering.
Each of them bore only a single wing, and the shapes of their wings varied.
[Collapse Executioner]
[Lv.9]
Before the Executioners stood a line of horned knights.
[Collapse Knight]
[Lv.7]
But that was far from all.
Across the battlefield, new golems and mages materialized in succession.
With the knights and Executioners added to the mix, the entire ruin teemed with enemies.
Enemies that should have appeared only near the time limit had been deployed all at once, barely two minutes into the challenge.
[Time Remaining: 28:31]
Sang Hyuk surveyed the enemies surrounding him with deliberate calm.
Their numbers were greater than before, and their levels far higher.
Still, nothing would change.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Collapse Knights locked shields together and rushed forward as one.
Thick stone armor interlocked with layered shields formed a massive wall bearing down toward him.
Sang Hyuk did not retreat. Instead, he extended his hand—wreathed in Annihilation—toward that advancing wall.
Screech!
The foremost shield transformed into black sand.
Annihilation pressed forward, consuming the shields and armor of those behind in turn.
Crash!
The seamless shield wall collapsed from its center.
Sang Hyuk walked forward, dispersing the scattering black sand in his wake.
At that moment, the mages on either flank unleashed torrents of crimson flame.
Sang Hyuk spread his hands wide, expanding Annihilation across a broad front.
Whoosh!
The flames that touched the black aura extinguished one after another.
Where the fire vanished, the black aura surged forward, engulfing the mages themselves.
Crack!
The flames that formed the mana constructs’ bodies extinguished all at once.
Only black ash drifted through the void.
As the mana constructs vanished, two golems from opposite sides drove their massive fists downward simultaneously.
Sang Hyuk lowered his body and pressed his palm against the ground.
‘Annihilation.’
Whoosh!
Black energy spread wide from beneath his palm, engulfing the feet of both golems.
Crumble-crumble-crumble!
The golems’ legs transformed into black sand simultaneously and crumbled away.
The massive bodies, robbed of balance, tilted inward from both sides and collided with each other.
Crash-crash-crash!
Their heads and torsos shattered into fragments.
The rubble that fell onto the ground where Annihilation had spread transformed into black sand and scattered.
Then, one Collapse Knight vaulted over the crumbling golem.
The knight swung a greatsword wreathed in crimson mana toward Sang Hyuk’s throat.
Sang Hyuk reached out to meet the descending blade.
Crumble.
The greatsword transformed into black sand and vanished the moment it touched his fingertips.
As the knight’s empty hands sliced through the air, Sang Hyuk stepped inside his guard.
His palm pressed against the knight’s chest.
Shriek!
The Collapse Knight’s body transformed into black sand from the chest outward, armor and helmet dissolving with it.
As the Collapse Stage advanced, the enemies grew stronger.
But the speed at which they vanished before Annihilation did not change in the slightest.
[Remaining time 27:46]
The last Collapse Knight scattered into black sand.
“All hostile entities of the Third Collapse Stage have been eliminated.”
“All standard hostile entities of the final stage have been annihilated.”
The battlefield fell silent once more.
No sound of restructuring was heard.
After several seconds of silence, a new notification appeared.
“The highest-ranked hostile entity of the battlefield is commencing combat.”
The three Collapse Executors, who had only watched the battle from behind until now, finally moved.
As they unfurled their wings simultaneously, violent wind swept across the ruins.
The executor at the forefront raised a colossal axe above his head.
Whooooom!
Crimson mana converged upon the axe blade.
It was a blade so vast it could obscure Sang Hyuk’s entire body.
The executor brought the axe down.
Whiiiiing!
The colossal axe blade cut through the air and descended upon Sang Hyuk’s head, but—
Sang Hyuk did not evade.
Instead, he raised his right hand to meet the falling blade.
‘Annihilation.’
The axe blade and his palm collided.
Shriek!
The crimson mana dissipated first.
The colossal axe blade transformed into black sand before Sang Hyuk’s palm.
The force of Annihilation consumed the axe shaft and the executor’s both arms.
Shrieeeek!!
The executor attempted to retreat too late.
His massive form, blackened from the chest to the head, collapsed entirely.
Crumble-crumble-crumble!
“A Collapse Executor has been annihilated.”
‘One down.’
Two remained.
This time, Sang Hyuk moved first.
He scattered into black sand, passing through the first executor, and drove straight between the remaining two.
Whoosh!
The Executor on the right aimed a greatsword at his neck, while the one on the left thrust a spear toward his chest.
Sang Hyuk seized both blade and spear point with his palms wreathed in Annihilation.
Screeeee!
The greatsword and spear transformed into black sand and scattered in his grip.
Sang Hyuk didn’t pause, extending both arms further.
Both palms struck the Executors’ chests simultaneously.
Whoooosh!
The remaining two Executors crumbled into black sand all at once.
[Time Remaining: 27:31]
Less than three minutes had passed since combat began.
In that brief span, every enemy the Hidden Battlefield had prepared had vanished.
「No hostile entities remain on the battlefield.」
「The vanquished hostile entities cannot be reconstructed.」
The notification paused there.
More than twenty-seven minutes remained, but there were no enemies left to challenge him.
A new notification soon appeared.
「Primary objective cannot be maintained.」
「Survival Trial is discontinued.」
「Forcibly converting to Destruction Trial.」
Craaaaaack!
The blood-red sky tore open down its center.
A heart the size of a building, crimson and immense, descended slowly through the widening rift.
Thump!
With a single beat of the heart, the entire ruins trembled violently.
Debris from the ground shot upward, and the fractured earth split further open.
A new objective materialized before Sang Hyuk’s eyes.
[Updated Objective: Destroy the Collapse Heart.]
[Time Remaining: 27:30]
This time, his opponent was not an enemy created by the battlefield.
It was the battlefield itself.
Sang Hyuk lifted his gaze toward the Collapse Heart.
‘Now the real fight begins.’

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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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