The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 270

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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 270
270. Round 17 Begins
“W-wait, Black Scythe!”
Heo Tae-sik and Alex lowered their weapons with flustered expressions.
They had actually attacked Black Scythe.
Unintentional or not, it was unthinkable.
“Are you alright!?”
“As you can see.”
“I-I’m terribly sorry, Black Scythe.”
“But how did you end up here…”
At Heo Tae-sik’s question, Ryu Min offered only an invisible smile.
I couldn’t very well admit that I’d been tailing Alex.
‘Um Jun-seok had contacted me. He said Alex was forming a faction.’
Tracking Alex down because it seemed impossible led me all the way here.
Though I hadn’t expected to find him fighting Heo Tae-sik.
“How I got here isn’t what matters. What matters is why you two, who should be on the same side, were fighting.”
“Black Scythe! I can explain everything!”
As if fortune favored him, Heo Tae-sik shot Alex a glare before explaining to Ryu Min.
“Over the past week, that man has been meeting with followers in secret. Dorothy, Victor, Sophia, Russell, Jo Yong-ho, and others from different nations. I witnessed it with my own eyes. He must be plotting something sinister—creating a faction among our followers to bring down the Saesin Religion!”
It matched what I’d heard from Um Jun-seok.
Though the details were more thorough, as if he’d investigated personally.
“Having heard one side, I can’t ignore the other.”
Ryu Min’s gaze turned toward Alex.
“Alex.”
“Yes, Black Scythe.”
“Do you have nothing to say to me?”
When I asked in fluent English, he furrowed his brow and launched into an impassioned defense.
Pointing his staff at Heo Tae-sik as he spoke.
“Black Scythe! Be careful of Patriarch Heo! He lured me here with a false message, then suddenly bound me with a skill and threatened to kill me!”
“And you have no idea why?”
“I don’t know. He kept insisting I had some scheme and demanding I confess, but I’ve done nothing of the sort!”
“Hmm…”
Alex wore an expression of profound grievance.
Was his story true?
The Rune of True Heart was invaluable in moments like these.
No need to agonize over whether someone’s words were truthful.
‘It’s the truth.’
Even if he wore a wronged expression, one could endlessly doubt him, but Alex was speaking from the heart.
“Yet contrary to your claims, Patriarch Heo appears to be plotting something sinister behind the scenes…”
“Me? Plotting? That’s absurd!”
“Because I saw you contacting other believers across the world. I thought you were secretly forming a faction.”
“Ah….”
“Is it true?”
“It’s not true! I was trying to form a team, but….”
“You were trying to form a team?”
Alex openly explained his reasons for gathering team members.
“During the 16th round, I saw everyone facing monsters together and realized something. When we unite, we become this strong. That’s what teamwork is. But after watching my comrades get slaughtered by Angel, I started thinking differently. Teamwork can’t last forever. I can’t save all 576 people. Eventually, our numbers will dwindle, and only a select few will survive.”
Alex’s voice sounded as heavy as a waterlogged sponge.
“So I made a decision. To operate more efficiently, I would form a team. If I selected skilled members and synchronized our teamwork, wouldn’t it be easier to survive?”
“Because it’s impossible for all 288 people to synchronize their teamwork, right?”
“Exactly. If I preselect people who might be helpful later and form an elite team to build synergy, wouldn’t we be able to respond much more flexibly when a crisis strikes?”
Ryu Min nodded in agreement.
Alex’s argument was this:
Preselect superior talents capable of surviving until the 20th round and establish teamwork early.
While it seemed cold-blooded in some ways, it was a reasonably rational approach.
In a sense, it resembled what Ryu Min had been doing all along.
“So you were planning to gather capable people and synchronize your teamwork in advance.”
“Yes. It was never about ambition for a leadership position or using it for anything nefarious.”
“But Heo Tae-sik doesn’t see it that way. He believes you’re forming a faction to betray the Saesin Religion.”
“No… absolutely not! What would I gain from betrayal? How could I even think of it with you here, Black Scythe?”
Alex cried out indignantly, and his anguish was genuine.
In fact, Alex harbored the hope that forming a team would be helpful to Black Scythe.
“Did everyone you met agree with your idea?”
“Yes. They all viewed my intentions favorably and promised they would gladly join a team with such a purpose.”
Even if Dorothy and Sophia weren’t close, Victor, Russell, and Jo Yong-ho readily agreed?
That alone was enough for Ryu Min to recognize that Alex was a trustworthy man.
Though he couldn’t allow him to form a private team.
“I understand your intentions. But since it looks bad, let’s drop the team idea. Haven’t you already been suspected of betrayal?”
“Well… that’s true, but from an efficiency standpoint, forming a team would….”
“No, there’s no problem even without synchronizing teamwork. I’ll coordinate everything anyway, and all you need to do is follow my lead. That’s how teamwork is established. The Saesin Religion itself is essentially a team.”
“I, I see. If you say so, Black Scythe… I understand. I apologize for acting on my own.”
Alex’s apology came from the heart.
But perhaps because of the language barrier?
Heo Tae-sik, unable to sense that sincerity, asked with a displeased expression.
“Black Scythe. What excuses did that bastard make?”
“He claims he has no ulterior motives. Says he’s innocent.”
“That can’t be right. We should torture him until he confesses….”
“There’s no need. It was a misunderstanding from the start.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“I’ll explain.”
Ryu Min summarized what he had heard from Alex and explained it.
It was a reasonable explanation, but Heo Tae-sik’s frown didn’t ease.
“He’s lying! That bastard is lying right now. Otherwise, why would he have attacked me first?”
At those words, Ryu Min turned his head to look at Alex.
“Did you attack Heo Tae-sik first?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To survive. When someone binds your limbs and glares at you as if they’re about to kill you, how could you not counterattack?”
Alex had merely responded defensively.
I relayed this fact as it was, but Heo Tae-sik still didn’t believe it.
“He’s clearly lying….”
“It’s not a lie. I can tell. It seems there’s been a misunderstanding between you both all along.”
“….”
Once I rendered my judgment, Heo Tae-sik couldn’t say anything more.
“Now that you understand it was a misunderstanding, reconcile with each other.”
I spoke in English so both could hear, but only silence flowed between the two.
“At least say you’re sorry, won’t you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was sorry.”
Only after showing some discomfort did the two apologize.
Watching the two remain distant, I clicked my tongue behind my mask.
‘What a mess.’
Over such a trivial misunderstanding, allies were drawing blades to kill each other.
‘Language barriers really do cause these kinds of incidents.’
Alex bore some fault for acting suspiciously on his own, but Heo Tae-sik was equally at fault for suspecting first without understanding the full situation.
‘From what I hear, he was planning to bind his limbs and force a confession….’
I couldn’t believe he’d acted on mere suspicion alone.
I hadn’t thought Heo Tae-sik’s character was twisted to that degree.
Glance—
I turned my eyes to peer into Heo Tae-sik’s heart.
‘Hmm?’
There was another misunderstanding lurking in his mind.
I needed to clear this up right now.
“Heo Tae-sik.”
“Yes, Black Scythe.”
“Just to be safe, let me tell you this: don’t obsess over the order in which I called your names. It wasn’t based on who I favor.”
Heo Tae-sik’s eyes widened.
It was a remark that seemed to pierce right through his heart.
“Ah, wasn’t it? I thought you called them in order of importance….”
“No. The top three receive rewards, so I called the Priest and Buffer first because they contributed the most, but after that, I simply called whoever came to mind. There was no specific criterion.”
“Ah….”
“So if you think I don’t value you, I’d appreciate it if you’d clear up that misunderstanding. I’m not an idiot, and I wouldn’t dare slight the founder of the Saesin Religion.”
“Black Scythe….”
The eyes that had been blazing with fury moments before now glistened with overwhelming emotion.
Heo Tae-sik was the sort to crumble at even the smallest morsel of flattery.
‘Like master, like follower, I suppose.’
With that, the misunderstanding that had sparked this commotion came to an end.
“Let’s go. To the Saesin Religion.”

* * *
Accumulating stacks of the Hero’s Rune was hardly a difficult task.
All I needed to do was eliminate the Demon I summoned with the black seed while surrounded by members of the Saesin Religion.
[Hero’s Rune Stack: 100/100]
[All stats increase by 100 through the Hero’s Rune effect.]
[By consuming 100 stacks, you can use ‘Hero’s Protection’.]
‘Perfect. Now I can protect my Younger Brother.’
Satisfied, I patted Heo Tae-sik on the shoulder as I passed him.
“Well done, Patriarch Heo. You’ve been a great help.”
“Ah….”
Heo Tae-sik didn’t particularly care what help he’d provided.
The mere fact that he had been useful to his god filled him with an overwhelming sense of exhilaration.
‘I should praise him like this from time to time.’
Having belatedly discovered the method to handle Heo Tae-sik, I smiled with satisfaction and took my place on the platform.
To explain the strategy for clearing Round 17.

* * *
May 1st, midnight.
Unlike the previous round, people opened their eyes in their avatars’ bodies.
“We’re back in our avatars after a couple of months, right?”
“Two months?”
“That’s all? I could’ve sworn several months had passed.”
“Starting as an avatar is oddly comforting.”
Satisfaction was written all over their faces, as if they’d slipped into clothes tailored perfectly to their frames.
By now, it felt strange not to open one’s eyes as an avatar upon entering the Other World.
“At least we don’t need translators anymore. That’s convenient.”
“Tell me about it, Max.”
“Hey, Fernando.”
“You made it? Mr. Wang?”
Was it because their numbers had dwindled?
Or perhaps because they’d all narrowly escaped death together in the last round?
Despite coming from different nations, the Saesin Religion followers greeted one another with genuine warmth.
Among them, Min Ju-ri and Christine, who had played prominent roles in the party, were the most popular.
“Hello, Buffer?”
“Yes, hello.”
“Krishi. Thank you for healing me last time.”
“Think nothing of it.”
In the midst of it all, Alex and Heo Tae-sik’s eyes met, but they quickly turned away without acknowledging each other.
Ryu Min paid it no particular mind.
‘It’ll improve with time.’
There was no anxiety about the future either.
My heart felt at peace, knowing I’d cast the Hero’s Protection on my younger brother.
‘Even if the Archangel appears, my brother is safe now.’
The only variable would be if the Archangel targeted my brother while I was in the Other World, but that wouldn’t happen.
‘Heavenly beings lose ninety percent of their power when crossing into the Human World, after all.’
It was information I’d gleaned from reading the Archangels’ true intentions.
‘Michael will probably show up this round.’
I felt both fear and anticipation about how strong he’d be.
My opponents so far had fallen far short of my expectations.
Besides, if I defeat him, I can complete the Soul Bond Quest.
I’m curious what reward awaits.
‘I just hope he doesn’t suddenly appear and interfere with hunting the dragon.’
I planned to hunt a dragon this round.
Round 18 will be consumed by war, so my opportunity is limited to this round or Round 19.
Then a clear, melodious voice rang out from the colorless sky.
[Hello, 288 humans. Welcome to Round 17.]
She said she welcomed them, but Angel’s expression seemed dissatisfied.
[Quite a few of you have survived, haven’t you? Originally, this many shouldn’t have remained in this round….]
Angel, her brow furrowed, spoke with a suddenly bright smile.
[Well, many will be eliminated this time. Unlike before, this round requires using your mind rather than brute strength.]
The players weren’t curious about Angel’s words.
They already knew from Black Scythe.
[Then shall we reveal the Round 17 Quest?]

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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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