The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 222

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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 222
222. VS Uriel
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Bang—!
Trees splintered and collapsed, leaving behind an endless chasm.
A flash of light like a lightning strike consumed everything in an instant.
Yet not a single thread on Ryu Min’s collar bore the slightest scorch mark.
The mercenaries were equally unscathed.
[Ha! Look at you scurrying away so skillfully. Like rats!]
Watching Black Scythe, who had already saved thirty mercenaries, Raguel felt a stubborn pride burning within her.
‘This damned insect. How does he dodge every single attack?’
She had boasted that she would slaughter every human except Black Scythe, yet she hadn’t killed a single one.
She’d unleashed techniques and even swung her blade directly, but each time Black Scythe evacuated and rescued the humans one step ahead.
As if he were predicting her attacks.
‘I’ll admit the bastard has speed.’
This wouldn’t do.
Her pride wouldn’t allow her to keep letting the humans escape.
‘I’ll kill them all at once with a grand technique.’
If Black Scythe happened to die in the process, so be it.
The goal was to bring him back alive, but ultimately he was meant to die anyway.
If he proved stronger than expected and she had no choice but to kill him, she could simply make excuses.
‘Whether I kill him in the Heavenly Realm or here, it’s all the same.’
Raguel unfurled her folded wings and gathered the energy around her.
Simultaneously, she crossed her blades and raised them toward the sky.
This was the preparation stance for using [Celestial Judgment], the technique she’d employed thus far, on a massive scale.
‘Let’s see you save this many people at once. Kekeke.’
But Raguel didn’t know.
That Ryu Min’s Hero’s Rune Stack had just reached its maximum.
That there was no longer any need to protect the mercenaries.
[Hero’s Rune Stack: 100/100]
[All stats increase by 100 from the Hero’s Rune effect.]
[You can use ‘Hero’s Protection’ by consuming 100 stacks.]
‘Perfect. I’ve accumulated the stacks I wanted. Now I don’t need to just defend.’
Ryu Min’s lips curled into a smirk as his gaze fixed forward.
Raguel stood with her arm raised, gathering energy for her technique.
‘Standing defenseless like that while preparing a technique… you’re practically asking to die.’
That foolish angel clearly needed a lesson in the difference in power.
Swallowing his contempt, Ryu Min launched himself forward in the blink of an eye.
[Ah.]
Just before her technique could be completed, Raguel’s eyes went vacant as she saw Ryu Min right before her face.
She clearly hadn’t expected him to attack at this precise moment.
“Haven’t I been playing defense this whole time? Isn’t that being far too careless?”
[This…!]
In her moment of panic, Ryu Min’s scythe cleaved through Raguel’s waist, and she should have been bisected and killed.
She should have been.
If only Uriel hadn’t intervened.
Flash—!
With the brilliant light, Ryu Min’s scythe found only empty air, its target lost.
Raguel, who had been right before my eyes, had somehow moved to Uriel’s side.
[U-Uriel!]
[I stepped in at the right moment, didn’t I?]
[Thank you. I was honestly terrified.]
Though the technique she’d been preparing was interrupted, at least her life was spared.
“Tch.”
Ryu Min’s expression showed disappointment, yet beneath it lay an entirely different smile.
‘Just as I expected—that one would save her.’
I’d already predicted through my Future Sight rune that Uriel would intervene at this timing.
But knowing this, I attacked Raguel anyway.
Even deliberately slower than usual, making it easy to counter.
‘There’s no reward for killing her, so I can’t just kill her.’
It might have looked like an assassination attempt, but in truth, I had no intention of killing Raguel.
Uriel was the same.
After all, there was no Demon’s Blessing involved.
‘To gain a real benefit, I need to place the Demon’s Blessing first, then kill her.’
But currently, I’d only filled one stack of the Demon’s Rune.
I could only use the blessing after capturing ninety-nine angels—that’s what it meant.
The reason I hadn’t killed them outright despite being able to, the passive defensive stance I’d maintained—it was all for this purpose.
‘There’s no benefit to killing without the blessing. If I’m going to kill, I need to capture ninety-nine angels, place the blessing, and then kill.’
Killing an Archangel now would be like throwing away the chance to gain thousands of stat points.
That’s why I kept my eyes fixed on the angels.
‘So what should I do? Should I threaten their lives like I did with Remiel and coerce them into calling their subordinates?’
Inwardly, I shook my head.
Unlike other angels, Raguel—burning with such righteous fervor—wouldn’t yield to threats.
‘She’d choose death over compromising with a criminal.’
Her superior, Uriel, also seemed unlikely to compromise.
Despite appearances, she seemed to have a cunning side to her.
‘Even if I promised to spare them if they called their subordinates, she wouldn’t believe it.’
In the end, the coercion method was rejected.
So then, how could I make them call their subordinates?
‘Yes, that would work well.’
As the strategy came to mind, I heard the angels’ conversation.
[From now on, I shall join this battle. You alone cannot face me.]
[Sigh, I had hoped to avoid borrowing Uriel’s power if possible… but it seems unavoidable.]
The two Angels fixed their gaze upon Ryu Min.
Unaware that they had already assessed his strength and were looking down upon him.
Sling—
Uriel drew a small dagger from within his robes.
For a moment I thought it might be an assassin’s style, but reading his thoughts revealed the truth.
‘Not an assassin. This one fights as a mage.’
Indeed, the jewel embedded in the dagger began to glow, and twisted runes swirled into being.
Ryu Min, who discerned the incantation through thought alone, hurled his body aside.
In the next instant, a golden scroll wrapped around the space where he had stood.
Crash—!
The tree that had been bound in Ryu Min’s stead shattered into fragments.
The scroll possessed a grip strength far too formidable to dismiss.
[I acknowledge your speed. But—]
Uriel chanted another incantation.
[This you cannot block?]
The dagger flared with light before leaving Uriel’s hand.
Shrieeeek—!
The dagger shot forth like an arrow, grazing past Ryu Min’s head.
His skull nearly flew from his shoulders, but that was not the end.
Like a boomerang, the dagger curved its trajectory and dove toward Ryu Min once more.
As if guided by a homing missile.
‘If I cannot evade, I must block.’
Ryu Min raised his scythe to strike the dagger away.
But the moment the dagger made contact—
Boom!
An explosion erupted, sending Ryu Min tumbling through the air.
“Ugh.”
For the first time since fighting the Archangel, I rolled across the ground.
Uriel’s eyes widened in surprise as he watched Ryu Min rise, his expression burning with frustration.
[‘Explosive Shuriken’ struck him directly, yet he bears no significant wounds. What manner of body does this creature possess?]
Uriel, unaware of the title that reduced damage from the Holy attribute by eighty percent, raised his hand once more.
Flash—
The dagger, which I thought had vanished in the explosion, materialized in his grasp, and he began another incantation.
“A troublesome opponent indeed.”
Though the damage was not severe, this adversary was certainly more difficult than Raguel.
Ryu Min, having decided to target Uriel first, charged forward while the incantation was still being woven.
In that moment, as the spell neared completion, Uriel drew the dagger through empty air.
[I absolve you of your sins through death.]
Sensing the danger, Ryu Min twisted his body in a split second.
Kuwakwakwakwakwabang—!
By the narrowest margin, a storm of light and flames swept through the Demon Beast Forest.
[He dodged it? Well, that’s what I expected.]
“What?”
Light glimmered from Uriel’s dagger as he completed his dual casting.
Before Ryu Min could comprehend the situation, a prison of light plummeted from the sky.
Kuwoom—!
Trapped helplessly within the prison, Ryu Min’s visible panic was unmistakable.
Clang—clang clang—! Clang!
He attempted to shatter the iron bars with his scythe, but they wouldn’t even scratch.
[It’s over.]
[Humans can never escape from the ‘Prison of Divine Punishment’.]
Raguel and Uriel wore victorious smiles.
Their expressions radiated relief at finally capturing the bothersome pest.
[Truly, Lord Uriel is magnificent. To bind this human so effortlessly, even I struggled against him.]
[His movements are quick, but fortunately he’s more foolish than expected. Or perhaps he’s foolish exactly as I anticipated? Human intelligence is so predictably dull.]
[Kehehehehehe.]
The Angels openly mocked him as though he were a rat in a cage, but their laughter was short-lived.
“Reaper Form.”
Ryu Min’s entire body turned pitch black, and his aura transformed entirely.
Kuwang—! Kuwang—!
Even the sound of striking the iron bars was different from before.
I truly felt the extraordinary destructive power only after the fifth swing.
Pakang—!
The prison shattered, and I emerged outside.
[Th-this—!]
[W-worm! How dare you crawl out!]
The panicked Raguel crossed her blades to invoke Heavenly Judgment, while Uriel began chanting a spell.
But the distance had already closed to within arm’s reach.
[Gasp! This worm… Gaaaaahhh!]
The startled Raguel was struck by the staff’s end and bent like a shrimp.
Swinging the staff to strike the back of her head, it crashed down with a bang—her head was driven into the dirt.
But was it thanks to Raguel buying me time?
[Wash away your sins with death!]
Uriel’s flames rushed toward Ryu Min, who had no time to evade.
Kuwakwakwakwakwakwabang—!
Seeing the direct hit land perfectly, Uriel’s lips curved upward.
[Heheheh, foolish human. In the end, you’ve turned to dust and vanished….]
“Who vanished?”
Uriel’s smile vanished at the voice that emerged from the dust.
A rectangular barrier of darkness stood erected like a shield.
Whoosh—
As the barrier dissolved, Black Scythe’s form appeared without a single scratch.
[How… how is this possible?]
“How did I survive, you ask?”
Ryu Min stepped forward with a contemptuous smile playing at his lips.
“Obviously because I’m strong enough to survive. Don’t believe me? Take a hit yourself. Just one blow and you’ll understand immediately.”
Ryu Min exploded forward, stamping the ground with such force that he seized Uriel’s wings in an instant.
Crack—!
[Kyaaaaaaah!]
Ripping them away like pulling up a leek, feathers scattered and fell in a cascade.
He immediately chanted a spell to erect a protective barrier of light, but—
Boom— Boom—
It proved insufficient to withstand the power of the death-transformed scythe strikes.
Boom— Crash!
[Gasp!]
As the barrier shattered and the scythe came through, Uriel hastily fired arrows of light, teleporting his body to the opposite side.
He’d nearly had his throat severed.
[Tch, let’s see you block this as well.]
Chanting a spell, Uriel completed and hurled the explosive shuriken that had previously struck Ryu Min.
Whiiiiiine—!
It was a homing attack that could never be evaded, yet Ryu Min took it head-on without hesitation.
Boom!
But this time, unlike before, not a single scratch appeared.
He’d already wrapped his entire body in a barrier of darkness beforehand.
“Do you think I’m an idiot? Getting hit by the same attack twice?”
[Tch.]
Just as Ryu Min, wearing a leisurely smile, was about to press his advantage against Uriel—
Clang—!
Raguel suddenly appeared from behind in a surprise attack.
Of course, Ryu Min, who was already reading her presence, would never take the hit.
[Die! You filthy human wretch… Gack!]
After evading the attack, he hooked her foot with his staff and sent her tumbling.
“Did this angel woman owe me a debt in a past life? Why is she so desperate to get at me?”
[You lowly human scum… Kyaaaah!]
Ryu Min, seizing the moment, tore her wings out with a sickening crunch.
Whether Raguel screamed or not, he ripped them away relentlessly before bouncing back.
A scroll of light appeared by the narrowest margin, sweeping through empty air before vanishing.
“I told you, didn’t I? I don’t fall for the same attack twice.”
Ryu Min was laughing and about to rush forward again when it happened.
“Ah….”
Unfortunately, his Reaper Form came undone.
Ryu Min’s bewildered expression was laid bare before the Angels without filter.
“Damn it.”
Leaving only a curse in his wake, Ryu Min immediately spread his wings and fled the scene.
As Black Scythe vanished into the distance, the Angels stared after him in utter disbelief.
[W-what just happened? Why did that bastard suddenly run away? Uriel?]
[How should I know?]
Uriel himself was caught off guard, having been pressed into a defensive position.
[We had the advantage—why on earth…?]
Only two Angels remained in the devastated surroundings.
The other humans had already fled long ago.
That’s when Uriel snapped his fingers.
[Ah! I think I know why he ran!]
[Why?]
[Didn’t he flee because his power ran out?]
[His power?]
[Think about it. That bastard—didn’t he suddenly become explosively stronger after his form turned black?]
Now that he mentioned it, that was indeed the case.
The creature who had struggled against their combined assault became dramatically stronger after his transformation.
[And when his form came undone, he panicked and ran.]
[Ah… so that’s it?]
[Right. He ran because his power gave out. Once that black transformation ability wore off, he judged he couldn’t handle us both anymore.]
Raguel nodded as understanding finally dawned.
[Then this is our chance! Let’s find that worm and kill him quickly!]
[I’d like to, but as you can see, we’ve both lost a wing.]
Having lost their flight capability, the Angels could only watch Ryu Min disappear like a dog chasing a chicken off a roof.
[Grraaahhh… Damn it! We finally had an opportunity and we have to let it slip through our fingers!]
[Don’t be so frustrated, Raguel. There is a way.]
At the mention of a way, Raguel’s excitement subsided.
[What way?]
[We request reinforcements. Contact the Heavenly Realm immediately and deal with him together.]
[Pardon? But if the higher-ups find out, our reputation will be damaged….]
[Who doesn’t know that? Of course we call them without the higher-ups knowing.]
[Without them knowing?]
[We exclude anyone of the 3rd rank and above—their information reaches the higher-ups’ ears. Instead, we summon Angels of the 4th rank and below. That way, even if we capture Black Scythe, we can claim the credit for ourselves. The higher-ups will never hear about it.]
[Ah, so that’s how….]
Indeed, if they mobilized Angels of the 4th rank and below—those in the lower-middle hierarchy—they could clean up the mess without the Archangels ever knowing.
[I’ll send the reinforcement request right away. How many should we call?]
[When he wasn’t shrouded in that dark transformation, his power was nearly equal to both of ours. From that perspective, we wouldn’t need overwhelming numbers.]
[But what if he transforms into that darkness again?]
[Then we’d be in danger.]
The destructive force he wielded in that darkened state was on an entirely different scale from his normal form.
Calling too few could invite disaster.
[So what do we do? How many should we summon….]
[Hmm….]
A sigh escaped Uriel’s lips as he weighed the matter carefully.
[There’s no choice. We’ll have to call as many as we can.]

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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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