The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 204

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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 204
204. The 12 Rounds Results Tally
Crumble—
Debris cascaded from the fractured walls of the half-destroyed cave.
Beneath it lay Sariel, severed at the waist.
‘He looks like a corpse, but he’s not dead yet.’
Because I’d branded him with the Seal of Death, I could see his remaining vitality.
Though it was barely hanging on.
‘I never imagined Moonlight Island could do this much damage in a single strike.’
I’d already gauged his level through several exchanges of attacks and counterattacks with Sariel.
‘He’s stronger than Remiel in both strength and agility, but ultimately they’re on the same level.’
Ranking sixth didn’t seem particularly impressive.
Of course, that bizarre wailing he’d unleashed at the end was unexpected.
‘Reading his thoughts, it seemed to be an ability he called the Wail of Souls… If it were anyone else, they’d have been helpless against it.’
But I had a 90.2% resistance to status abnormalities.
There was no way such a trivial trick could affect me.
Especially not now that I’d recently equipped two rings with 40% resistance each.
‘That’s why I’ve been prioritizing resistance increases.’
Satisfied with my decision to boost resistance, I approached Sariel.
He was already as good as a corpse, but his ears still functioned.
“They call you the Archangel of Death, yet you look like you’re actually dying. How disappointing.”
[Guh…]
“For someone like you to rank sixth… I suppose you climbed that position using that obnoxious ability. What a letdown.”
Despite his pride, even as he lay dying, Sariel glared at me with venomous eyes.
[Just… kill me.]
“Before that, I have some questions.”
[Do I… look like I’d answer?]
“I’ll ask anyway. Are you Archangels the ones orchestrating this survival game where humans are abducted? Or is the System conducting it independently?”
[…]
“Who created the System?”
[…]
“Why are you doing this? What’s your objective?”
[…]
Sariel clamped his mouth shut defiantly, but I didn’t need him to speak.
The questions were merely a pretext for reading his thoughts.
-Stupid human bastard. How would I, merely sixth-ranked, know such classified information? Perhaps Raguel, who ranks fifth, would know.
I let out a quiet laugh.
‘Raguel? So that one would know?’
Curious if there might be useful information, I delved deeper into his thoughts.
But it was already something I knew, so there was nothing particularly helpful to gain.
At that moment, irregular breathing patterns registered on Ryu Min’s 60-meter radar.
Turning his head, he saw the Necromancer staring at him with eyes gleaming with excitement.
‘Why is he staring at me so intently?’
Noticing the hunger in the Necromancer’s gaze, Ryu Min moved closer to read his thoughts.
Once he entered the 30-meter range, John Delgado’s thoughts became clear to him.
-If Black Scythe kills that Angel, I should try to make them my servant when the opportunity arises. Though I’m not sure if it’s possible.
Only then did Ryu Min let out a small exclamation of admiration upon grasping the man’s true intentions.
‘Now that I think about it, we do have a Necromancer in the party.’
A Necromancer collected souls to command them as spectral Undead Servants, or raised corpses to fight like zombies.
‘I wonder if it’s actually possible to collect an Angel’s soul?’
Since the body was already severed in half, he was probably planning to turn it into a spectral Undead Servant.
‘Fine. Let’s see how this plays out.’
Ryu Min smiled and approached Sariel once more.
The Archangel’s momentum hadn’t faded, as he continued hurling curses inwardly.
-It would be faster to kill you than to hear your answer, you incompetent human wretch.
“That’s exactly what I was planning to do.”
[What?]
Thwack—!
He drove the scythe down like a pickaxe, severing the head and upper body from the rest.
Instant death.
[You have defeated Sariel, one of the Seven Archangels!]
[Stat Points +3,299]
[Gold +32,990,100]
[As a reward for slaying Archangel Sariel, ‘Condensed Ether’ has been acquired.]
[As a reward for slaying Archangel Sariel, ‘Rune of Darkness’ has been acquired.]
[The acquired rune is automatically inscribed into the player’s body!]
[The Demon Faction’s reputation has increased slightly.]
【Soul Bond Quest】
└Defeat all Seven Archangels
└Archangels defeated so far (2/7)
└Upon success ▶ ?????
Killing an Angel while Demon’s Blessing was active had yielded an enormous reward.
‘More than when I killed Remiel.’
But this one had been easier to fight than Remiel.
It probably felt that way because I’d grown significantly stronger after killing Remiel.
‘A new rune came through, and even a God-tier material.’
Since Condensed Ether had been acquired, visiting the Dwarf in Round 13 was now confirmed.
I would need the Dwarf’s help to obtain other God-tier materials.
Before checking the information on the newly acquired rune, Ryu Min subtly shifted his position.
He stepped aside to give John Delgado room to make his move.
‘Let me see what kind of rune this is.’
[Rune of Darkness]
-Effect: Freely manipulate darkness to gain three distinct effects. However, it cannot be used in spaces with light.
└ Flight ▶ Wings of darkness form behind your back.
└ Barrier ▶ Erect a barrier of darkness. Can block projectiles or catch and deflect them.
└ Scatter ▶ Spray darkness like a blade to attack. Inflicts hybrid damage mixing physical and magical harm equally.
‘Oh, this is quite a useful rune, isn’t it?’
Looking at the rune I obtained from Sariel, its versatility was remarkably high.
‘I can fly with it, use it as a shield, scatter it like a hidden blade for offense.’
I had truly gained the ability to command darkness freely.
The only problem was that it could only be used in dark places.
‘But I have the Night of Death skill.’
As long as I could create artificial darkness, I wouldn’t need to worry about being unable to use the Rune of Darkness.
Ryu Min distributed stat points this time.
While allocating 3,299 stats evenly, the Reaper Transformation was released.
-Strength: 15,368, Intelligence: 16,088
-Agility: 16,160, Luck: 16,960
The effect was tremendous, likely thanks to Min Ju-ri’s buff.
‘It was higher than this before. Despite appearances, Sariel was ultimately a holy-attribute Archangel.’
As long as I possessed a title that doubled my stats against holy-attribute enemies, the Angels would never be a match for me.
‘Hmm, is he moving now?’
After finishing stat distribution, John Delgado began to move in earnest.
The creature, who had been tiptoeing while watching my reaction, soon reached where Sariel was.
Then he urgently chanted an incantation toward the corpse.
“Rise!”
Whether it was a command word for subjugation, the corpse immediately responded.
Uuuuuung—
As purple light swirled, I could see Sariel’s soul being pulled from the corpse.
Sariel’s soul, with an emotionless expression, snapped the chains that bound him to the corpse and knelt before John.
No words were spoken, but it was clear at a glance.
Sariel’s soul had been successfully enslaved to the Necromancer.
“S-success! It’s a success!”
John Delgado couldn’t hide his joy.
Unaware that Ryu Min had approached.
“What exactly succeeded?”
“Gasp!”
Startled out of his wits, John revealed the secret weapon he had wanted to hide.
“K-kill him! Kill that bastard!”
He pointed at Black Scythe and commanded the spectral undead Sariel, but of course it was futile.
Ryu Min was an ally who could not be attacked.
“It seems you forgot that the party hasn’t disbanded yet.”
“Ah….”
Ryu Min let out a scornful laugh at the bewildered John.
“You want to kill me that badly? Even by making an Angel your subordinate? But is that even possible? My original body is already dead, unable to do anything against me?”
“….”
Of course it was impossible.
But John was in a situation where he had to borrow the Angel’s power regardless.
He was already struggling due to the penalty.
“Well, do as you like whether you use the Angel as a subordinate or not. Do whatever you want, but….”
Ryu Min approached menacingly.
“You’d better abandon any thoughts of crawling toward me. If you want to preserve the life you barely managed to save.”
“….”
“Think carefully and make your judgment. There won’t be any mercy next time.”
Ryu Min turned away as if uninterested, but in truth, I was entertaining a fascinating thought.
‘If I kill a summoned Angel, will it count as killing an Angel? Or not?’
If it did, I could easily stack the Demon’s Blessing using the Necromancer.
I wanted to kill Sariel right now to test it, but currently, summoned creatures are recognized as allies.
To run a test, it would be best to do it after the round ends and the party disbands.
‘I’ll keep him alive until then.’
John stood there with a vacant expression, unaware that his life had been spared thanks to the Angel becoming a subordinate.
* * *
[Is everyone gathered?]
Many people had already returned to the Monochrome Space, the starting location.
Ryu Min’s team was transported here not long after capturing the Angel.
[Let me check how many teams survived. Oh my, this is unexpected.]
Angel released a sigh of indifference.
[We started with 7,880 teams, but now only 2,389 teams remain.]
Some teams must have been eliminated because they lacked a tank, mage, or supporter, but most likely died during the final trial.
The fifth trial was one that absolutely could not be cleared without a Summoner.
[Originally, I planned to line up teams that survived more than half in the order they passed the trials quickly, and eliminate the rest, but we’ve come up short.]
The target quota for completion was 3,940 teams.
With 2,389 teams passing below that, 1,551 slots fell short.
Since this was the first time a shortage had occurred, all the players opened their eyes in surprise.
[Since we have a shortage, all 2,389 teams will be considered survivors. The total number of survivors is 9,994, just under 10,000.]
The survivors didn’t come out to an exact multiple of five, but the players quickly understood.
Very few teams had all five members survive.
It was natural, as some were killed by monsters during the trials or were killed by vote before ascending.
[Now I’ll compile the individual rankings. You’ll understand the ranking criteria once you see the results. Shall we take a look?]
As Angel signaled with her wings, a results window appeared.
★ 12 Rounds Results Compilation ★
[Integrated Zone CA-EA001]
└1st Place. Black Scythe (Lv91 Reaper) 200 monsters defeated
└2nd Place. Cheon Ma (Lv60 Dark Knight) 100 monsters defeated
└3rd Place. No Poe-in No-ge-i (Lv60 Dark Mage) 100 monsters defeated
[The ranking criterion for individual standings was the number of monsters defeated!]
“What? Monster count is the criterion?”
“You mean the golems that appeared in the second and third trials?”
“Then supporters couldn’t possibly rank first in this round?”
“Ugh! I should have defeated just ten more golems.”
Sighs rippled through the players as the ranking criteria were revealed belatedly.
[As a note, when defeat counts were identical, we gave preference to those who defeated their targets first. Now then, shall we move on to the rewards?]
Moments later, a familiar message materialized before Ryu Min’s eyes.

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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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