The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 289

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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 289
289. Judgment
Ryu Min was taken aback by the utterly unexpected message.
‘Deification in progress?’
To wield divine power and stand as an equal to the gods themselves?
What else could such words possibly mean?
‘Does this mean I’ve become a god right now?’
Yet his body showed no signs of transformation whatsoever.
Not even the slightest visual effect had manifested.
It had proceeded silently and without fanfare—he’d only learned of it through the message.
‘Have I truly become a god? Have I reached a position where I can stand against them?’
As he pondered this, a message seized his attention.
[New Soul Bond Quest available.]
【Soul Bond Quest】
└Slay the Divine
└Divine Beings slain thus far (0/4)
└Upon success ▶ ?????
Upon reading the quest, Ryu Min let out a hollow laugh.
‘Ha, now they want me to kill gods?’
After slaying an Archangel, now they demanded he slay the Divine.
Not just one, but four of them.
Of course, there was no reason he couldn’t do it.
He had debts to collect from the Divine as well.
Michael had told him everything, so he knew the full story.
‘When you think about it, these gods are the root cause of all this mess.’
The bored Divine had treated the conflict between the Celestial Tribe and Demon Tribe as mere entertainment.
They’d wagered on which side would win and desired to cultivate humans as mercenaries.
‘The ones who truly deserve to die are those bastards. Gods who care only about winning their bets while humans perish.’
Thus, Ryu Min could not help but harbor resentment.
The Archangels who carried out their orders were wicked, but the Divine who coerced them from above were equally vile.
‘In fact, they’re far worse.’
In that context, the deification that had just transpired was an unexpected gift—perhaps the greatest reward Ryu Min could have asked for.
Already seething with rage, he’d now been given the means to exact vengeance upon the Divine.
‘But to demand four of them… the question is, who exactly am I supposed to target?’
He had no clear knowledge of which adversaries he needed to face, nor had he ever encountered them.
Of all the Divine he knew, there was only one.
‘Phlunikthos.’
That creature, who reached Divine status within the Demon King’s Castle, would be the perfect opponent to test himself against.
He could finally verify whether he could truly stand against the Divine.
‘Perhaps I can fulfill one of the quest’s requirements.’
I’m not sure how strong Phlunikthos is.
I came here with a somewhat tense expression based on that assumption, but…
Crack—crack!
‘This is way below expectations.’
Phlunikthos wielding his whip posed no real threat whatsoever.
If the sparks don’t touch me, then what’s the problem?
‘Too slow.’
Considering the whip’s speed, trajectory, and the angle of the flames, there was no way he could even graze a single hair on my body.
With so many openings and my speed, I could close the distance to his face in an instant.
‘Is this thanks to the Combat Rune? I can already see the full picture.’
How to attack to kill him in one strike, how much damage I would take in this fight—
All the information was laid bare before me.
Most reassuring of all was that I could read his thoughts.
‘The Rune of Inner Truth, which never worked on Divine Beings, is working on him.’
That meant I now stood on equal footing with a Divine Being.
The deification process was no lie.
‘All Runes work on Divine Beings, and I can even use Divine Power now.’
Divine Power could be understood as the concept of qi that Divine Beings use—similar to mana in fantasy or the Holy Power used by Angels.
This information came from reading Phlunikthos’s thoughts.
‘Because Divine Power is a higher form of energy, Players can’t even scratch the bodies of Divine Beings.’
But moments ago, I had cut Phlunikthos’s shoulder blade.
That meant I had now earned the right to kill Divine Beings.
‘Then there’s no reason to hesitate.’
Ryu Min, his eyes sharp, raised his scythe.
Divine Power naturally radiated from his body, flowing through the blade.
“I’ll make it quick. There won’t be any pain.”
Ryu Min charged at Phlunikthos, who was frantically swinging his whip at the ground.
[Watch this, you insect! I’ll fry you right—Ugh!]
Phlunikthos thought Ryu Min was rushing along the ground, but he was already above his head.
He had leaped across the distance in a single instant, faster than the eye could follow.
[M-my lord, I’m dying!]
Seeing Ryu Min above him, Phlunikthos panicked and swung his whip like a windmill.
Whoosh!
Sparks scattered, but Ryu Min moved freely through the air, his feet finding purchase on nothing.
As long as Darkness existed, there was no space he could not step upon.
“It’s over.”
[Gasp!]
The scythe sliced through Phlunikthos’s neck and passed through.
I expected his massive head to crash to the ground.
‘What…?’
That never happened.
‘There’s no sensation of contact at the scythe’s edge.’
Moreover, the surrounding environment had transformed in the blink of an eye.
Into a pitch-black space where nothing could be seen.
‘I’m not seeing an illusion. I’ve truly fallen into a different space.’
As evidence, I could no longer sense Phlunikthos’s location, which had been within my detection range moments before.
‘Or perhaps they’re interfering with my detection.’
I glanced around with tense eyes, but nothing registered, and nothing was visible.
The sensation of plummeting into the Abyss Dungeon with no bottom in sight.
Just as my impatience was beginning to override my questions, someone appeared.
That being was an Angel.
That much was immediately obvious.
But this was no ordinary Angel like the others—this one was fundamentally different.
‘The darkness around them is being pushed back?’
The Angel’s self-luminous light caused the darkness to melt away like snow, vanishing entirely.
In short, an overwhelming presence.
An Angel whose aura left even me speechless advanced through the darkness, pushing it aside.
‘Wait. That being is…?’
Looking closer, their appearance seemed familiar.
This was an Angel I had seen before.
‘That’s the one. The Angel I first encountered in my 68th return.’
The vaguely remembered face from then overlapped perfectly with the Angel before me now.
An exact match.
The same overwhelming presence and strength I had felt back then.
[So you are Black Scythe.]
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
[Hmm? Have I seen you before?]
“Haven’t we? Anyway, you Angels all look so similar I can barely tell you apart, tsk.”
[Do not treat me as equal to other Angels.]
“Then introduce yourself before spouting such nonsense. How am I supposed to know who you are?”
At my grumbling, the Angel let out a soft laugh.
Not the laugh of someone amused, but rather the smile of someone finding me ridiculous.
[My name is Artaros. I am the ruler of the Heavenly Realm, the Archangel Commander, and an Angel who embodies divinity.]
Artaros.
I already knew that name before they even introduced themselves.
‘I heard about it from Michael. There exists an Angel of a different caliber, one classified as a Divine Being.’
The word “Divine Being” was no exaggeration.
I had read their thoughts through the Rune of True Heart and pierced through their essence with my Eyes of Insight.
[Artaros]
└ Race: Divine Being
└ Disposition: Evil
└ Position: Archangel
└ Special Notes: Ruler of the Heavenly Realm and the sky above the sky. Once a Celestial Tribe Archangel, but was promoted to Divine Being status. Appears angelic in form, but is strictly classified as a Divine Being.
└ Weakness: ….
‘So that angel I met before was him?’
The other party believed it was their first meeting, but Ryu Min remembered that face.
However, what conversation they’d had at that time remained shrouded in hazy fog—he couldn’t recall it.
‘That’s why I deliberately probed him. Asked where I’d seen him before.’
But the other party genuinely seemed not to know.
I’d obtained valuable information: even Divine Beings couldn’t access data from previous cycles.
‘Still, why can’t I read that weakness section?’
I didn’t know the reason, but one thing was certain—he harbored no goodwill toward me.
“Ah, so you’re a Divine Being? Like Phlunikthos?”
[Being compared to a half-baked creature like him leaves a bad taste. Unlike that wretch, my divine power isn’t bound by location.]
“Then what good is all that vaunted divine power if you’re just locking people away in some dingy cell?”
[It’s not a cell. It’s the Space of Nothingness. No one can reach this place, hidden in the gaps between dimensions.]
“So? Why did you throw me into this dump? You, the god of angels who appeared out of nowhere?”
Despite Ryu Min’s sarcasm, Artaros’s expression remained unmoved.
I tried reading his thoughts, but detected no disturbance whatsoever.
‘He’s definitely different from all the small-time players I’ve dealt with so far.’
His appearance and demeanor were like an emotionless statue.
[The reason is simple. I had to separate you from Phlunikthos. Otherwise, you would have died.]
“The Celestial Tribe protecting the Demon Tribe? That’s exactly like saying the president secretly helped North Korea behind the scenes. The Angels would lose their minds if they found out, wouldn’t they?”
[The Angels won’t know. They have no way of learning what happened in the Demon King’s Castle.]
“I’ll go out and spread the word. That the Archangel is secretly conspiring with the Demon Archduke. What do you think will happen then? A coup d’état? Hehehehe.”
I deliberately provoked and mocked him, but Artaros remained as impassive as ever.
[That won’t happen. You won’t be leaving this place.]
“We’ll see about that.”
[And I didn’t save the Demon Archduke out of goodwill. Orders came from above, and I simply followed them.]
“Don’t run from reality. Either way, you’re a spy.”
[This conversation is pointless.]
“Oh, so you came to talk to me? What could the great Archangel possibly have to say to a mere insect of a human like me?”
Ryu Min saw it in that instant.
Just for a moment, Artaros’s eyebrow twitched.
[…I have no time for word games. I shall now reveal your charges and proceed with judgment.]
“Charges? Judgment?”
I laughed as if it were absurd, but Artaros ignored me and continued speaking.
[The Player ‘Black Scythe’ is a brutal murderer guilty of disturbing the order of the Heavenly Realm by slaying the Seven Archangels, as well as the senseless massacre of countless Celestial Tribe and Demon Tribe members.]
“This is ridiculous. And what about you? Who judges you, who have killed billions of humans? Compared to billions, thousands is practically merciful, isn’t it?”
[Furthermore, you have abused power far beyond your station, disrupting the balance and incurring the wrath of the Divine Beings—a capital crime that admits no leniency.]
“What bullshit. You’re killing me because I’m getting in the way of the gods’ little game, aren’t you?”
[Indeed, I, Artaros, Archangel and ruler of Heaven, hereby exercise my authority to render judgment upon the sinner Black Scythe, erasing him from existence and expelling him from The Game.]
“So you’re killing me because I’m inconvenient, right? You’re even buying time so Phlunikthos can escape. Isn’t that it?”
Artaros did not answer.
He simply conjured a sword that shimmered with iridescent light in his grasp.
[The sinner shall not resist and shall accept judgment obediently.]
Before his words could even finish, Artaros’s blade descended.
Ting—!
As Ryu Min’s scythe deflected the sword, Artaros blinked in apparent surprise.
“Go ahead. Try if you 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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