I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#7. Dungeon (1)

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Scorching heat that burns away the northern cold, the scent of war.

Clatter— Clatter— Clatter—

Messengers announcing the expedition race off in all directions.

From the blacksmith’s furnace, red molten metal poured out without cease.

Receiving the people’s fervent farewell, the expedition party departed through the castle gate.

At the front, the Mörsolt Knights rode on horseback.

Their armor and helmets gleamed in the sunlight, and the cloaks draped over their shoulders fluttered grandly in the wind.

Behind them, soldiers with high morale marched in formation.

The sound of military boots shook the ground, and the clanging of weapons rang out loudly.

The beginning of winter.

Finally, the Orc Subjugation had begun.

Hoooooooo… Hoooooooo… Hoooooooo…

The resounding sound of conch shell horns echoing powerfully.

Countless citizens gathered in the plaza before the castle gate scattered flower petals while sending cheers toward the expedition force.

Intense red petals that bloomed through the frost scattered through the sky, embroidering it with color.

Sunlight sparkled on the armor and weapons visible between the petals.

The faces of the soldiers departing on the expedition bore solemnity.

What they sought to protect were the citizens filling these streets, and their families.

The cheers now ringing out hotly behind them would become a weapon stronger than any other.

The power to defeat monsters, the strength to protect their families.

Blood and sweat, glory and honor, molten metal and cheers.

And survival.

The hearts of the warriors bearing so much beat in unison.

Clatter— Clatter— Clatter— Clatter—

The loud sound of hoofbeats gradually grew distant.

Passing the citizens filling the plaza, the expedition party advanced toward the blue Northern Mountain Range along the dusty road.

Leading them were Soleil, the Family Head of the Mörsolt Family, and his eldest daughter Cardona.

“….”

Featherback, who was in charge of Administrative Supply Management for this war, remained at the mansion.

He wanted to follow his father and elder sister to the battlefield, but it wasn’t time yet.

‘Instead, I shall fulfill the role of one left behind.’

Featherback thought.

The Mörsolt Family Fortress, now completely empty.

In that silence, Featherback was showing a somewhat different course of action.

* * *

Kuuuuuuuu…

Inside the room, cold and hot storms swirled together in a chaotic mix.

Crackle— Whoooosh!

On one side of the wall, blue frost was freezing solid while on the other side, crimson flames rose up, burning the wallpaper.

Featherback was floating in the center of that strange storm.

With his eyes closed, he was concentrating on Mana Cultivation.

Tssssssss…

Cold and hot energy rapidly swirled through Featherback’s blood vessels.

The waste materials pushed out by that energy were burning away, spewing black smoke from every pore of his body.

Bubble bubble bubble bubble bubble bubble bubble!

Featherback’s heart was beating hotly like a small furnace.

Molten metal originating from there was boiling and overflowing, circulating through his blood vessels and burning away the waste materials.

People of this world call that boiling molten metal by this name.

Mana.

A mysterious power that forms the foundation of this epic-like worldview.

The source of power with formidable might, and the origin of all mysterious beings in this world.

However, this existence called mana is extremely biased in its favoritism.

To those who suit its taste, it clings to them and grants tremendous power even if they don’t desire it, but for those who don’t, it will never allow them close no matter how much they yearn for it their entire lives.

Humans studied these characteristics of mana over long ages and finally learned how to control it.

Inheriting the blood of those chosen by mana, and following their methods of cultivation.

That was the only way to accumulate mana within one’s body.

And the system created through this was precisely the ‘Mana Hierarchy.’

It consisted of a total of seven stairs.

…The first stage, 1-Star. Those who can see and hear the existence of mana.

…The second stage, 2-Star. Those who can feel mana in tactile form.

…The third stage, 3-Star. Those who can gasify their accumulated mana.

…The fourth stage, 4-Star. Those who can liquefy their accumulated mana.

…The fifth stage, 5-Star. Those who can solidify their accumulated mana.

…The sixth stage, 6-Star. Those who can shape mana exactly as they envision it in their mind.

…The final stage, 7-Star. Those who twist the causality of the world through mana.

Before his regression, during his days as a good-for-nothing, Featherback had originally remained at 1-Star.

‘Normally, it would take more than 5 years just to advance to 2-Star.’

But the current Featherback was different.

‘Today. Today I will break through to the 2-Star Realm.’

Featherback’s entire body heated up even more intensely.

The mana hole in his dantian pulsed vigorously.

A bright and intense sun existing at the center of the universe that was his body.

It drew in the surrounding mana while radiating hot and brilliant energy.

The Mörsolt Family was a prestigious knight house that had produced powerful mana users for generations.

Therefore, Featherback was born with mana sensitivity.

A being whose every cell had been refined and conditioned to be suitable for mana.

Crack— Crack— Craaack—

The mana hole continuously burst and regenerated in an endless cycle.

Quantitative Expansion.

It was accompanied by pain that would be unbearable for ordinary people, but suffering was the food of growth.

The space expanded as much as it hurt, and boiling mana filled it completely.

It was such an eccentric act that ordinary Mana Practitioners would stick out their tongues and call him insane.

But Featherback was proceeding with all of this without hesitation.

‘I can see it.’

He was trying to comprehend in just one night a realm that would take others fifteen years, or even a full twenty years of cultivation to achieve.

Featherback was skipping all the unnecessary intermediate processes and attempting to reach the Awakened State directly.

‘It was worth killing those Orcs and being drenched in their blood.’

His body, which had grown cold on the Snow Mountain, was now boiling hot again.

The sensation he recalled from killing Orcs again and again led him back to his previous life from decades ago.

Tssssssssss…

The mana that began spreading like roots soon burned away the impurities accumulated in his blood vessels.

The mana that first extended down to the lower left became hot flames that swept through his entire leg.

Featherback’s leg convulsed.

The skin on his leg burned and turned pitch black.

The charred flesh crumbled away, revealing pure white bone.

‘….’

It was agonizing just to look at, but Featherback didn’t let out a single scream.

But the pain was brief, and soon an tremendous sense of liberation came.

His entire left leg felt as light as if it had turned into feathers.

It was the result of all the waste matter in his body being burned away.

The mana that had purified his left leg now moved to his right leg.

Hot flames devoured his skin and melted his muscles.

Soon, his right leg also became as light as his left leg.

He felt like his body would soar upward with just the slightest touch of his feet against the floor.

Kururururuk—

The mana that had burned everything down to his very bones now turned upward.

As if finding pleasure in exploring Featherback’s body, the mana began to race faster and faster.

Hot molten metal rushing rapidly along his blood vessels.

Each time it swept past his body, flesh burned away and new flesh sprouted.

The mana that had swept through each part of his body now began to gather toward his heart.

Extreme agony.

But Featherback’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest.

‘Pain is temporary, but power is eternal.’

Pain was already far too familiar to Featherback.

Before his regression, his body had already been torn to shreds by intense pain and agony.

…The Third Battle of Blade Valley.

‘Full-body burns and blindness in my left eye from the Demon Army 7th Corps Commander’s surprise attack. That was quite painful.’

…The siege of the Northern Front’s Last Fortress.

‘286 penetrating wounds from throwing spears all over my body except my head during battle with a platoon of Giant Special Forces. I really thought I was going to die then.’

…The siege of the Undead Tower in the Demon King’s Deep Territory.

‘Twenty-five consecutive cutting wounds to the heart during a duel with a Supreme Death Knight. A memory I don’t even want to think about. Even after surviving that, I couldn’t believe I was alive for about a month.’

Featherback stroked his neck.

The awakened blood of Mörsolt possessed eerily strong regenerative power.

As long as the neck wasn’t severed, any ordinary wound would heal easily.

It was the supernatural power unique to the Mörsolt bloodline that had blossomed simultaneously with the Demon King’s revival.

Eventually, Featherback continued to burn away the impurities in his body.

Patstsstststs!

Eventually, a strange pulsing could be heard from deep within his heart.

…Thump!

It gradually grew stronger along with the hot heat.

…Thump! …Thump!

Featherback felt the signs of Sacred Awakening.

…Thump! …Thump! …Thump!

The ember that began to burn red within the ash heap soon became a fierce flame that soared upward.

Paaaah!

Who was it that once said.

‘Let there be light.’

As light emerged from the darkness, the world opened wide.

‘It’s done.’

Featherback sensed it intuitively.

He had passed the most dangerous stage.

Now only stabilization remained.

Tssssssss…

Featherback’s body slowly sank to the floor.

Eventually, Featherback opened his eyes.

His gaze was distinctly different from before.

Now Featherback possessed enough power to be called a 2-Star Knight.

He had taken his first step into a realm that he had only reached after age twenty-five in his previous life, now at the mere age of fifteen.

However, despite this achievement that would astound others, Featherback remained indifferent.

“…I’ve barely met the minimum requirements.”

It was only natural, as he had merely finished preparing to move to the next stage.

* * *

It was a pitch-black night.

The only sound from outside was the howling of the wind.

The castle interior was quiet as death.

Since all the soldiers had gone on the expedition, only women, children, and old men remained in the castle.

Thanks to this, the Family Head’s quarters of the Mörsolt Family were shrouded in silence.

Creeeeak…

The quiet door to the Family Head’s quarters opened stealthily.

Rustle―

Someone a bit too large to be called a little rat crept toward the Family Head’s office.

Judas. Mörsolt’s administrator.

His face was filled with worry and anxiety.

“Where is it? It should definitely be around here somewhere….”

Judas began thoroughly searching every corner of the Family Head’s office.

He carefully examined the desk and bookshelves, even behind the paintings hanging on the walls, but what he sought was nowhere to be seen.

Cold sweat formed on his forehead as his search came up empty.

“No, I must find it… Without that…!”

Lately, as the atmosphere within the family had been growing increasingly strange, he had been feeling anxious.

The expedition he had vehemently opposed had ultimately been approved.

Some factions within the family who saw Judas being helplessly crushed by the Family Head turned their backs on Judas.

Just as they had chosen Judas before, when the tide turned toward the Family Head, they quickly switched sides.

Because of this, Judas decided to execute a plan he had been considering for a long time.

He was thinking of betraying the Mörsolt Family and defecting to another family.

To do that, there was something absolutely necessary he needed…

Judas searched the room even more persistently, but in the end, he couldn’t find what he was looking for.

‘Damn it, where the hell is it!’

He pressed his trembling hand against his forehead.

‘The seal. I just need to find that. If I can just find it and stamp my double ledgers with it…’

The seal that symbolized the Family Head’s authority.

But no matter how much he searched, the seal was nowhere to be seen.

The drawer where the seal should have been stored was already empty, with only dust swirling around.

‘The Family Head wouldn’t have taken the seal to war with him. Could he have hidden it somewhere else? Why suddenly? Did he notice my plan? Or maybe he entrusted it to that bastard Featherback… Surely the Family Head wouldn’t be crazy enough to give it to such a fool?’

Judas thoroughly searched the desk and bookshelf once more.

He carefully examined everything from inside the fireplace piled high with ash to under the wolf skin rug… but there was no trace of the seal anywhere.

Then, Judas felt an eerie gaze upon him.

Judas’s heart sank with a thud.

Trembling with fear, he turned his head to see red glowing pupils beyond the darkness outside the window.

“Huh!?”

For a moment, Judas felt his heart drop with a thud.

However.

Caw—

The source of the gaze was just a single crow.

“Good grief, what a scare. You damn crow!”

When Judas shook his fist, the crow finally flew away.

But Judas’s unease didn’t fade easily.

“Is it just my imagination? This eerie feeling seems to keep continuing…”

He looked around outside the window once more.

But outside where nothing could be seen, only deep silence had settled.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Judas thought it was just his own needless worry and left the office.

‘I’ll have to search other places. Places where the Family Head might have hidden the seal…’

* * *

A place so far away that an ordinary person’s gaze would never reach it.

Featherback was looking at the Family Head’s Room window through the window of his own room.

That place, hundreds of meters below, appeared in detail as if it were right before his eyes.

When he infused mana into his eyes, such a feat was easy.

‘Judas, the family’s traitor. Did he try to search the Family Head’s Office for the seal while taking advantage of the expedition?’

It was quite an unfortunate matter for him.

Because Mörsolt’s seal was already in Featherback’s hands.

Family Head Soleil had handed over the family seal to Featherback just before departing on the expedition.

This too was quite an unprecedented move.

‘It seems Father had anticipated Judas’s betrayal to some extent.’

In truth, Featherback wasn’t paying much attention to that matter.

One who seeks to hunt dragons does not waste their gaze on lizards crawling before their eyes.

‘If I focus on my own affairs anyway, it will naturally resolve itself before long.’

Featherback left the room and headed toward the back of the mansion, to the most secluded spot within the fortress.

The cliff edge behind the mansion.

There was a cave used for training in that place.

It had been sealed off long ago due to the dangerous weak underground foundation, but Featherback deliberately intended to go there.

Because….

‘The discovery of treasure there was supposed to happen fifteen years from now, wasn’t it.’

Because sleeping there was the key that could awaken the Mörsolt clan’s unique ‘Iron Blood.’

A dungeon.

An ancient one that no one had discovered for hundreds of years.

Featherback intended to conquer that very place.

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