The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 149

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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 149
149. Al-Baghdadi
*Thud—!*
Victor doubted his own eyes.
Abubakar lay trembling beneath his feet, reduced to tatters.
The very boss of Boko Haram who had tormented him for an entire year.
“Aahhh… aahhh…”
Watching him bleed profusely with all his teeth knocked out, Victor felt no pity.
Instead, he felt a murderous urge, as if seizing an opportunity.
Considering the suffering he’d endured in captivity, tearing him apart wouldn’t be enough.
“Please don’t kill him just yet.”
The savior in the white mask spoke in English.
From his voice, he sounded male, though I couldn’t determine which country he was from.
Victor first offered his gratitude.
“Thank you so much. Thanks to you, Ricky and the children are safe. Ricky, go ahead and thank him.”
“Thank you, thank you so much.”
Watching Ricky bow shyly, I thought to myself.
‘This child—seeing him for the first time, it seems he was originally destined to die.’
Had I not stepped in, he would have certainly perished.
Once Victor and the children offered their thanks, had their guard dropped?
People who had kept their distance moments before gradually approached and expressed their gratitude to me.
“Thank you, Masked One.”
“Thank you for saving our lives.”
“Thank you for dealing with those bastards.”
Reading their thoughts, they recognized me as a complete ally.
I had slaughtered every member of Boko Haram’s organization and even captured their boss.
Who wouldn’t consider me an ally after witnessing that?
The eyes of those looking at me were filled with deep respect and affection.
Then Victor posed a question on behalf of everyone, one they were all curious about.
“Masked One, may I ask your name?”
“…”
“Ah, I understand it’s difficult to reveal. That’s why you wear the mask, after all. But please consider our position too. You’re our lifesaver, yet we don’t even know your name—wouldn’t we carry regret for the rest of our lives? If it’s too difficult, at least tell us a nickname.”
“Black Scythe. That’s my nickname.”
“Ah…!”
While the others, being ordinary people, didn’t know, Victor couldn’t hide his shock upon hearing that name.
“Are you… truly Black Scythe?”
“Do I look like someone who would lie?”
“Ah, it’s not that—it’s just so hard to believe…”
A legendary figure that any Player would know stood before him.
And as his lifesaver, no less?
It was only natural that Victor found it hard to believe.
“To think I’d meet the number one ranked Black Scythe… It’s an honor. I’m Victor Zafarile, a Player and a level 40 alchemist.”
“Is that so?”
I already knew all about his background, so I responded without much interest.
“But what was that you said earlier? Not to kill him yet?”
“He still has value to me. I need to draw out the leader of IS through this man.”
“The leader?”
Though Victor had been held captive by Boko Haram for a year, even he didn’t know who the IS leader was.
Being a decentralized organization with many members and a hard-to-find headquarters, the leader kept his identity tightly concealed.
“What are you planning to do….”
“I’m going to send a message. Along with a photo of this man. Since we’re on the subject, let’s cast the bait right away.”
I took a photo of the battered Abubakar and found the IS leader’s contact information through text.
I already knew who the leader was from checking in the previous cycle.
‘I had already sent him a message saying this man was under attack.’
Thinking it worked out well, I sent the photo along with the message.
[Abubakar: The man has been defeated. If you want him alive, get here immediately.]
After reading the message, Victor tilted his head in confusion.
“Is this person the IS leader?”
“Yes.”
“How did you….”
“I just know.”
“No, but will he really come just because you sent this? Wouldn’t he more likely not come?”
A cold-blooded IS commander wouldn’t be shaken by such a threat.
They could simply appoint a new Boko Haram boss if needed.
That was the reasoning behind his question, and I agreed with him.
But I had certainty about this.
“He’ll respond. Definitely. In fact, he’ll find it interesting.”
In the previous cycle, I had already cornered the leader Al-Baghdadi this way.
Sure enough.
A message came flying in immediately.
[Al-Baghdadi: Wait there.]
Perhaps he became interested upon hearing the name Black Scythe, but learning that I had destroyed the organization alone would have piqued his curiosity even more.
“Wow, he really did respond.”
Victor’s eyes widened in surprise as he read the message.
But his expression quickly turned worried.
“Surely you’re not planning to wage war against IS?”
“Since I’ve already started, I’ll uproot all IS members.”
“Isn’t that too dangerous?”
“Me? Or them?”
At my confident words, Victor let out a dry laugh.
It didn’t feel like mere bravado or arrogance.
He was a man with the strength and credentials to back it up.
“I suppose my worry was unnecessary.”
“Victor, what will you do now?”
Victor answered quietly to Ryu Min’s question.
“I should return to my hometown, Lagos. If I go now, I’ll see my family for the first time in a whole year.”
Ryu Min nodded and waved his hand toward the exit.
“Go quickly. Leave this to me.”
His gesture suggested he’d let them go without hesitation.
Of course, having read his true intentions, Ryu Min knew Victor wouldn’t actually leave.
“Why aren’t you going?”
“I’m going to stay and watch.”
Victor’s eyes held the gleam of someone who had already made his decision.
“I need to see this through to the end—to witness what fate awaits the demons who tormented me here.”
“What about the rest of you? Do you all share Victor’s thoughts?”
The people hesitated at Ryu Min’s question before nodding in agreement.
“Honestly, I don’t want to be here for even a moment, but if Victor is staying, we’ll stay too.”
“We’ll remain and see what becomes of IS.”
While Ryu Min appreciated their resolve and courage, he quietly shook his head.
Considering the battles ahead, they would only be a burden.
“Victor is a Player, so he might be fine, but you are ordinary people. In a situation where even a grazing bullet could put you on death’s door, you want to stay at an IS outpost? It’s too dangerous. You must leave immediately. You’ll be able to hear the results through the news afterward.”
“Hmm….”
Since his words were undeniably true, no one could argue against them.
Truthfully, they didn’t want to remain in such a perilous place either.
Especially with the IS leader supposedly coming?
They yearned to flee down the hillside as soon as possible.
They were only hesitating in their response out of loyalty to Victor.
Realizing this, Victor smiled and spoke.
“Black Scythe is right. You shouldn’t be here. It’s far too dangerous. Please return to your homeland quickly before IS arrives. Don’t you need to look after the children here as well?”
“Well, if you put it that way, I understand.”
“Victor, thank you so much for treating and protecting us all this time.”
“No, I haven’t done anything worth thanking me for.”
“That’s not true. We were able to endure because you were here.”
“Thank you for saying that. Oh, Marcus! You said you live in Lagos, didn’t you? Would you be able to look after the children just until I return? There are many who have lost their parents and have nowhere to go.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure to return the children to their parents. The ones without parents, I’ll keep them with me.”
“Thank you, Marcus. There are plenty of vehicles down below, so you can take any one you like.”
“Got it. Let’s meet again alive.”
“Ha, yes.”
“Then we’ll be on our way.”
“We’ll learn what becomes of IS through the news. I hope for a good outcome….”
“Please take care of yourselves.”
“Let’s go, everyone.”
Fourteen adults and ten children began to leave the IS Outpost.
Ricky, who had been glancing back repeatedly, finally couldn’t help himself and ran to throw his arms around Victor.
“Sob, sob… Uncle. We’ll see each other again, right?”
“Of course, kid. Wait for me at Marcus’s home. I’ll come find you as soon as this is over.”
“Yes. You have to come.”
Victor patted Ricky’s head and sent him off.
Ricky kept turning back several times until he disappeared from sight.
‘Ricky, make it down safely.’
There were plenty of vehicles from the Mob Organization down the hill, so there shouldn’t be any problem escaping.
Victor turned to look at Ryu Min and Yamtti.
“You’re confident we can win, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
Ryu Min spoke with certainty, but Victor couldn’t shake his anxiety.
The leader of IS wouldn’t show up empty-handed.
“My profession is an alchemist.”
Victor suddenly pulled out several bottles of potions from his inventory and offered them to Ryu Min.
“Take these. They’ll help in combat.”
“I appreciate it, but I’ll have to decline. There’s no need to go this far.”
“Still, it would be better to boost your strength a bit…”
“Trust me. If I thought I’d lose to IS, I wouldn’t have started this in the first place.”
At those words, Victor had no choice but to put the potions away.
His face still etched with anxiety.
Thus Ryu Min, Yamtti, Victor, and the tattered Abubakar entered the building and waited for the enemy to reveal themselves.
Until the sun set, night fell, and the Early Morning arrived with stars twinkling brightly.
They waited and waited, but for some reason, the leader of IS never appeared.
‘I hope they made it back safely.’
Victor, exhausted from waiting, was lost in thought about the people who had departed.
Tap, tap—
He turned his head at the feeling of someone tapping his shoulder.
“They’re here.”
“They’re here?”
Coming to his senses, he heard the sound of multiple vehicle engines.
He went outside the building and looked down the hill.
People poured out of dozens of trucks in succession.
Ryu Min activated his reconnaissance skill and watched the growing red dots.
‘They’ve gathered quite a force.’
Watching the Mob Organization members swarm toward the IS Outpost, Victor went pale.
‘H-how many of them are there?’
At a glance, more than three hundred personnel were entering the IS Outpost.
Ryu Min gestured silently to Yamtti with a nod.
“Hide inside the building with Victor. Leave Abubakar outside.”
“Yes, Black Scythe.”
Yamtti retrieved the hostage she had bound according to his instructions, then closed the door with Victor.
Ryu Min led Abubakar and the hostage out to the wide clearing.
Meanwhile, Victor watched the situation unfold from the window.
Organization members surrounded Ryu Min.
‘This is bad. There are far too many of them.’
Victor, who hadn’t anticipated such overwhelming numbers, turned to look beside him with a grave expression.
“Will Black Scythe be alright? There are so many of them….”
“I have no idea what you’re saying. I really should learn English to deal with this frustration.”
After observing Yamtti’s grumbling, he turned his gaze back out the window.
Ryu Min was surrounded by an uncountable number of personnel—they had apparently mobilized nearly their entire force.
Footsteps echoed.
A bearded man stepped forward from among them.
“Who is Black Scythe?”
“That’s me.”
Ryu Min, wearing a white mask, answered with confidence.
“You’re Black Scythe?”
“Yes.”
“Pleased to meet you. I am Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Baghdadi, leader of IS.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, I came as you requested. Release Abubakar.”
“But you didn’t come alone?”
“When did I ever say I’d come alone?”
“I thought you’d come by yourself since you’re holding my subordinate captive.”
“Your head must be full of flowers. Did you really think I’d sacrifice myself just to save some subordinate?”
“….”
“If you’re going to touch IS, you should have been prepared for this. Surely you’re not scared by this force?”
“Scared of these small fries? Not a chance.”
Ryu Min let out a soft laugh.
Of course, I had anticipated they would gather and come like this.
“The one who’s scared is you, Fake Al-Baghdadi.”
“….”
At those words, the man’s shoulders flinched momentarily.
He tried not to show it, but it was visible.
The panic and confusion swirling within him.
Of course, that man was merely a stand-in pretending to be Al-Baghdadi.
Not the real one.
“If you’re going to pull off a con, you need to read people first. Do you really think I’d call out your name without knowing your face? Did you honestly believe I’d fall for it just because you paraded your subordinates in front and set up a stand-in?”
“What nonsense are you—”
“I know you’re hiding in the back. Stop stalling and come out. I’m willing to hear whatever you have to say.”
“What kind of insane talk is this? I am the leader of IS—”
That was when it happened.
“Enough. Drop the act!”
A middle-aged man stepped forward from the crowd.
Ryu Min’s eyes shifted the moment he saw him.
This man was the true Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Baghdadi—the IS leader he remembered.

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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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