The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 137

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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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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 137
137. Subjugation Complete
“Shrieeek!”
“Kyiiieeet!”
Lizardman screams echoed from all directions.
Shlick-shlick-shlick-!
Shlick-shlick-shlick-shlick-!
The sound of countless bodies being cleaved filled the air.
Every player’s gaze snapped toward the source of that noise.
And without exception, their faces twisted in disbelief.
“No way. That’s not… Black Scythe, is it?”
“Black Scythe chose to subjugate the Lizardmen?”
“And what in the world is that weapon?”
“How is it that every swing drops a dozen of them like stalks of grain?”
It was a bizarre scythe.
The blade extended like a whip, severing the waists of a dozen creatures at once before retracting.
The attack speed was so blinding that the motion itself became invisible.
All they could see was the lizards falling apart with each blink of their eyes.
A hand of death itself.
A reaper’s grip that carved monsters into pieces.
“But looking at the numbers, it seems like the monsters were scaled for our group size…”
“And Black Scythe is just… sweeping them all up.”
One monster per person was the intended challenge, yet he was soloing the entire swarm?
It wasn’t even frustrating—it was absurd.
“…”
Even the NPC remained silent, merely watching.
Min Ju-ri had been staring blankly at Black Scythe’s combat when realization suddenly struck her.
‘Ah, now I understand why Black Scythe said his combat wouldn’t be helpful.’
This was a massacre—there was no opportunity to study the Lizardmen’s attack patterns or characteristics.
It would be far more beneficial to observe another player’s battle instead.
Having reached that conclusion, Min Ju-ri shifted her position.
The other players, meanwhile, were desperately hunting lizards, terrified that Black Scythe would steal their share.
Ryu Min, however, focused solely on the slaughter.
‘I won’t even need to use Moonlight Island for this.’
Originally, I had planned to go all out, even deploying Moonlight Island, but the damage output made it unnecessary.
‘I knew this scythe was designed for mass slaughter, but not to this degree.’
Thanks to Min Ju-ri’s buffs, my speed and power felt noticeably sharper and stronger.
“Kyiiieeet-!”
Only after killing the final Lizardman did I turn to look back.
The players were staring at me with eyes full of resentment.
‘Did I catch too many?’
I had swept up monsters as if I’d entered my own world, so it was hardly surprising that I’d earned some resentment.
My gaze suddenly shifted to the corner of my vision.
[Current Kill Count: 823/100]
‘When I came down from the tower, it was 402. So I’ve caught 421 since then?’
With 602 players, that meant 602 monsters had spawned.
If I’d claimed 421 of them, that was roughly 70% all to myself.
‘I can’t blame them for that look.’
I didn’t bother avoiding their stares.
The players flinched and turned their eyes away first.
They were frustrated, but as the weaker ones, they had no choice.
‘If you’re upset, become as strong as I am.’
Growing stronger was an ability, and catching more monsters was an ability too.
There was no reason to view superior ability as unfair.
After all, this was the result of my own effort.
Having lived in a competitive society, I couldn’t possibly fail to understand that.
This was why everyone kept quiet around Black Scythe.
Of course, the bigger reason was not knowing what might happen if they dared to talk back.
‘Thank goodness we’re not in a party.’
If we were, they might have protested fearlessly, knowing that party members couldn’t attack each other.
‘Actually, they wouldn’t just know it—they definitely would have protested. Told me to hunt a bit more reasonably.’
Of course, I had no intention of monopolizing all the Lizardmen.
I needed to leave some for other players, or the number of survivors wouldn’t increase.
While I was thinking this, Min Ju-ri approached and gave me a thumbs up.
“Wow. Black Scythe. You’re really amazing. I didn’t know that weapon was so good. Ah, of course, it’s because of your skill too.”
“It’s a weapon I went through a lot to obtain, so naturally.”
Even at the praise, I responded with an indifferent expression.
“Have you fought any Lizardmen?”
“Yes. I’ve caught about two, and they were easier than I expected. Even easier than when I first caught Orcs.”
“I told you. You’ve grown stronger.”
“Hehe, I guess I really have gotten stronger. If things go well, I might even hit level 40 this round?”
She spoke cheerfully, but Min Ju-ri was inwardly worried.
-If Black Scythe keeps monopolizing monsters like this, it might be difficult… No, level 40 isn’t the problem—it’s whether I can even make it into the top rankings…
It was a natural concern when lives were on the line.
It was also a worry that all the other players currently shared.
‘I know. You think I’d kill off all the other players just to gain a little experience? Don’t worry.’
From the start, I’d planned to stop hunting after catching a thousand monsters.
‘A thousand will be more than enough to secure first place across all districts.’
In the previous round, no player besides me had ever caught a thousand monsters.
‘Just a bit more. Not much left.’
Since monsters caught at the Tower of Trials count toward the total, I only need to hunt about 200 more.
Then I’ll pass safely.
“What’s your level right now?”
“Mine? It’s 38.”
“Just two more levels and you’ll learn a new skill.”
With those words, I set out to hunt without hesitation as the Lizardmen attacked again.
As I swept up monsters with my sickle once more, the players looked flustered, though only briefly.
When I stopped hunting after catching 200 monsters and reaching my target, confusion flickered in everyone’s eyes.
‘Why did he suddenly stop hunting?’
‘Is he taking a break now?’
‘Either way, this is our chance! We don’t know when he’ll start again!’
But after that, I didn’t lay a hand on another Lizardman.
The players seemed both puzzled and relieved.
“Black Scythe? Why aren’t you hunting anymore?”
To Min Ju-ri’s innocent question, I answered magnanimously.
“I’ve caught plenty. These creatures give pittance for experience—hunting more would only be a burden to the other players.”
“Ah… so you’re doing this for us on purpose?”
‘Us? If I’m being honest, it’s because of you.’
Those words rose to my throat, but I swallowed them down.
Min Ju-ri would misunderstand and blush again, conjuring strange fantasies.
“There are still plenty of monsters to hunt. Hurry up and reach level 40. I’m curious what skill you’ll learn too.”
“Yes! Just wait a little longer!”
With spirited determination, Min Ju-ri reached level 40 after defeating 280 Lizardmen.
“I finally became Expert rank!”
“Congratulations. What’s the skill?”
“I’ll cast it right away!”
Light flowed from Min Ju-ri’s hands.
True to her nature as a Buffer, the skill she learned this time was also a buff.
[Safety Barrier skill has been applied.]
[You are protected once against physical attacks.]
[Duration: 00:29:59]
Safety Barrier.
An absolute protective shield that blocks one physical attack.
‘Most barriers have durability limits, but this skill doesn’t.’
It blocks any physical attack without exception—a broken skill.
In other words, it would even defend against my full-power strike.
It was an excellent skill for surviving unexpected ambushes.
“It seems to block any physical attack once. To reuse it on the same target, you need to wait 30 minutes.”
“That makes sense for such a powerful skill.”
It wasn’t strange that an absolute barrier had individual cooldowns applied to it.
‘Later on, it won’t just block physical attacks—it’ll also shield against magic.’
Once the skill strengthens at level 60, it will defend against both physical and magical attacks.
Beyond that, I’ve never leveled Min Ju-ri high enough to know.
“Bless and Swift have been enhanced too. Would you like to try them?”
“Sure.”
With Min Ju-ri’s buffs, all my stats, attack speed, and movement speed increased by 70%.
The two enhanced skills were responsible for that.
“That’s quite an improvement. But you shouldn’t settle for level 40. Keep hunting.”
“Yes!”
The subjugation continued.
I could hear several other players cheering as they reached level 40, just like Min Ju-ri.
After three hours, the subjugation finally ended.
Kaltz, the subjugation commander, turned to face the players with a satisfied smile.
“Everyone, the subjugation of the Demon Beast Swamp is now complete. You’ve worked so hard that the Lizardmen are nearly extinct. For the foreseeable future, the merchants of the nearby Braham Kingdom will be able to travel their trade routes safely. It’s all thanks to you! Hiring warriors from the Other World was truly the right call!”
Kaltz’s gaze suddenly fixed on one person.
A man who, after an overwhelming display of power at the beginning, hadn’t caught a single monster since.
Kaltz’s eyes shone with wonder as he looked at Black Scythe.
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work. The subjugation is now concluded. You are all dismissed!”
The moment Kaltz finished speaking, a message appeared.
[The Lizardman subjugation has been completed.]
[You receive 100,000 Gold as a subjugation reward.]
[Your achievements are recorded in the Mercenary Group.]
[Your Mercenary Group rank has risen from ‘Apprentice’ to ‘Skilled’.]
“Whoa, 100,000 Gold?”
“Whoa, jackpot!”
“This system is more generous than I expected!”
The players cheered at the unexpected reward.
Ryu Min, however, felt no particular excitement about the gold.
After all, I already had 1.5 million Gold in my possession.
‘Since I earned 1 million Gold from the Tower of Trials, 100,000 Gold hardly registers.’
While climbing the tower this time, I defeated monsters and earned gold from each floor’s rewards.
In total, I’d earned 1 million Gold from the tower alone.
So 100,000 Gold was naturally nothing to celebrate.
‘Now that most players have reached level 40, gold trading should become more active.’
Now I could trade gold through the trading function.
Once we returned, more players would likely use the gold feature instead of cash.
And merchants would increase who received gold in exchange for using public skills.
‘Like using Erase Traces to dispose of corpses, using Tracking to find someone, or using Repair to fix equipment durability for gold—that sort of thing.’
The Pul-Pul Market would be the same.
People would want to trade items for gold instead of cash.
In preparation, Ryu Min had instructed Ma Gyeong-rok to set up a direct gold trading option in advance.
Once the round ended, gold trading would be activated, but I already had more than enough gold.
‘Besides buying legendary material items at Pul-Pul Market, there’s hardly any reason to spend gold.’
Then where should I use all this gold?
‘Nowhere else but with NPCs.’
Gold was a currency that circulated even in the Fantasy World.
Now that trading functionality existed, gold transactions with NPCs became possible.
‘Right now it seems like there aren’t many uses for gold, but later there will be plenty of opportunities to spend it.’
Gold was spent as tithes when raising the Temple’s reputation, and it was used when acquiring materials or items from blacksmiths.
‘It’s also used as bribes for important figures of power, and its uses are quite varied.’
That’s why gold was something that, even if useless now, would only become more valuable the more you had later.
[Extermination complete.]
[You will be transported to the starting point shortly.]
As I blinked, the Demon Beast Swamp vanished, replaced by the Monochrome Space.
The starting location.
Players appeared from all directions, apparently finishing their exterminations at the same time.
Just as before, when thousands of people gathered, Angel appeared.
[So, how did the extermination go? As expected, difficulty 1 was the easiest, wasn’t it?]
The players nodded in agreement.
Having experienced it, the difficulty ranking was indeed in order.
[By the way, don’t you think the number of people has decreased compared to the beginning?]
“Hmm, now that you mention it, it does seem that way…”
[Unfortunately, all 571 players who chose difficulty 5 failed to survive.]
“Gasp…”
The extermination monster for difficulty 5 was the Minotaur.
If one appeared per person, it would have been certainly difficult to handle.
[There were some deaths in the other exterminations as well, but don’t be sad. Rather, isn’t it a good thing that your competition has decreased?]
“…”
Honestly, not a single player felt sorrow.
In an era where even blood relatives would turn their blades on each other, who would grieve for strangers’ deaths?
[Then let’s see the tally results right away!]

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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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