The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 290

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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 290
290. Versus Artaros
I could hear Artaros’s true thoughts.
-You blocked my blade?
He was surprised internally, but his expression remained utterly composed.
Ryu Min was equally pretending otherwise.
‘This one is no pushover.’
For just a moment, I lost track of his movements.
Without the rune of foresight, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge.
His blade was that fast.
‘It’s not just speed. There’s tremendous weight behind it.’
When I parried it with my scythe, I felt the crushing force.
In strength and speed, he didn’t fall short compared to me?
‘If things go wrong, I might actually lose a life here.’
I could revive through the title effect of the Time Reversal Wanderer one last time, but I might have to use it this time.
Honestly, I didn’t feel confident I would win.
‘Then I’ll give it my all. It’s been a while.’
Having decided to kill him, Ryu Min’s eyes filled with murderous intent.
Sensing the change, Artaros flinched and looked over.
[Death’s Aura activates.]
[All stats of the target decrease by 50%.]
I wanted to use Reaper Transformation on top of this, but unfortunately it was on cooldown.
However, Ryu Min had points earned from killing the Seven Archangels and a thousand Angels.
Specifically, 83,961,988 stat points.
‘I’ll distribute 20,990,497 evenly across Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Luck.’
As I quickly invested using the command word, my stats swelled absurdly.
Stats that barely exceeded twenty million rose to 170 million.
In other words, I had become more than eight times stronger.
‘Amplify.’
Crackle, crackle—
Adding attack speed and movement speed buffs, sparks erupted from Ryu Min’s body.
I bounded forward and swung my scythe with all my might.
Clang—!
Artaros was startled once more by the clearly different power compared to before.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang-clang!
With each swing of the scythe, sparks flew.
As I unleashed a barrage of strikes, my body vanished, leaving only afterimages.
Yet as if knowing where I was aiming, Artaros calmly folded his wings.
Clang—!
His wings, solid as a shield, blocked the scythe aimed at his head.
Artaros, wearing a faint smile, immediately scattered rainbow-colored sword energy in all directions.
Unable to block them all, I quickly evaded, but Artaros was faster still.
[I cannot afford to give him my back.]
Whoosh—!
His blade, which had somehow appeared behind me, pierced through my chest.
[It’s over….]
Yet sensing something amiss, Artaros lowered the smile that had begun to form.
Instead, he merely wrapped his body with his wings like a turtle retreating into its shell.
Clang!
My scythe was narrowly blocked by his wings.
A hair’s breadth difference.
Artaros’s reaction had been faster.
“You thought it was a clone?”
[Such parlor tricks are useless against me.]
“Then what about this?”
A dark shadow flew forth with a piercing shriek.
Ting—ting—ting!
Though the shadow dagger could pierce steel plating, against his wings it was like throwing an egg at a boulder.
[You’re wasting your effort.]
Crackle—!
I unleashed [Charging] to push him back instead of responding, but Artaros neither dodged nor flinched—he simply blocked it with his wings.
‘He’s not moving?’
Even Death’s Grip produced the same result.
The opponent who should have been pushed back stood motionless as an ancient tree.
[You’re testing yourself against me, but such effects are meaningless before my barrier.]
“Yet stat reduction applies just fine, doesn’t it?”
[The same goes for you, doesn’t it?]
I didn’t answer.
Though I said nothing, I was watching the message that had appeared in the corner of my vision.
[You have entered the Space of Nothingness.]
[No external buffs apply within this space.]
Blessing, Swiftness, Safety Barrier, Saint’s Blessing, Weapon Refinement, Equipment Refinement—all of them.
Every buff applied to me was now locked.
It seemed that within the domain Artaros had created, I couldn’t use buffs even temporarily.
‘It’s not just his stats that have dropped. Mine have fallen below half as well.’
The fortunate part was that only buffs received from others were disabled; runes and buffs I activated myself still applied.
‘What do I do? I’ve invested all my available stats, but his strength is formidable….’
Even without Blessing, my stats exceeded 170 million.
Despite being over eight times higher than when I had all my buffs stacked, I’m matching Artaros in power and speed—barely.
‘No, to be honest, I’m being pushed back slightly.’
I dropped my stats by half, yet he still holds the advantage over me?
‘Just how high were his original stats?’
He was truly worthy of being called the ruler of Heaven.
‘Finally, an opponent worth facing.’
There was no choice now.
I had to sacrifice flesh to gain bone.
As Ryu Min flashed a grin, Artaros tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
[Have you lost your mind? You should have already confirmed the difference in our abilities.]
“You don’t know the true length until you measure it yourself.”
[I commend your confidence. Now comes the time of atonement.]
The moment Artaros drew his sword, Ryu Min’s form vanished.
[Such tricks won’t work against me.]
He spun around and swung his blade.
Clang!
The sound of the scythe colliding with the sword rang out.
Simultaneously, the invisibility shattered and Ryu Min materialized.
Artaros was precise enough to sense his presence and block the ambush perfectly.
[No need to drag this out. Vanish now.]
A rainbow radiance erupted from the blade’s edge.
The luminescence, which not only pushed back the darkness but transformed the surroundings into broad daylight, completely incinerated Ryu Min’s body.
There was no escape—a dead end.
‘It’s over.’
Watching Black Scythe dissolve into his technique, [Light of Annihilation], Artaros’s lips curved upward slightly.
But then.
‘Hm?’
There was something Artaros had overlooked.
Ryu Min possessed a title that blocked 80% of holy-attribute damage.
Furthermore, he also had a title that nullified mental-type damage embedded in divine power.
“I told you.”
Within the radiance, what emerged was Black Scythe with eyes glowing crimson—[Crimson Moon].
“You don’t know until you measure it yourself.”
Kiiiiiing—
His scythe released an eerie wail, then exhaled an ominous moonlight.
A five-hit combo of Moonlight Island shot toward Artaros.
He reflexively shielded himself with his wings, then withdrew the action.
‘This… I cannot block.’
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
Boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
The Space of Nothingness trembled from the successive, catastrophic impacts.
Of course, not all of those attacks would land on Artaros.
For someone who could match Ryu Min’s speed, dodging a single technique was child’s play.
Yet, as if aware of this fact, Moonlight Island flew at him from a cunning angle that left no room for evasion.
As a result, I succeeded in severing his wings.
[I can yield my wings, at least.]
“Did you think I only came for your wings?”
The moment Moonlight Island finished its arc, Ryu Min appeared as if he’d been waiting.
The scythe bore down on his face at terrifying speed.
Artaros tried to block with his wings, but realized too late—
most of them had already been severed.
‘This won’t do.’
Judging that he couldn’t block, he twisted his head and thrust his blade.
The scythe grazed Artaros’s cheek, shearing away strands of hair and the tip of his ear.
Simultaneously, his sword pierced toward Ryu Min’s abdomen.
Or rather, it seemed to.
Ting—!
‘The blade deflected?’
Thanks to Thanatos’s dark armor, which blocked attacks with a 73.7% success rate, Ryu Min avoided a fatal wound and brought his scythe down again.
Already sensing the chill of danger, Artaros warped his body away in an instant.
Behind Ryu Min.
But that was Artaros’s critical mistake.
“I knew you’d do that.”
Ryu Min, already reading his opponent’s thoughts, swung his scythe in a wide horizontal arc.
Artaros tried to slip away with quick reflexes, but it was already too late.
Skreeegh—!
A long gash opened across his flank, and crimson blood dripped down in torrents.
Pressing the advantage, I unleashed a storm of scythe strikes, and bewilderment flickered across Artaros’s face.
‘Now. If not now, I cannot defeat him.’
Having finally drawn blood, Ryu Min clung to him relentlessly, swinging his scythe to carve through Artaros’s body.
Clang—! Clang—!
Artaros raised his blade to parry and retreated, but with each exchange, blood seeped steadily from his torn flank.
Like a cornered beast, his movements began to slow, no longer matching his earlier pace.
Kachang—!
As blade and scythe collided, Artaros used the recoil to leap back.
He sought even a moment’s respite, but Ryu Min clung to him like a leech, allowing no such opportunity.
‘Troublesome human.’
Still wounded and defending, Artaros realized this wouldn’t do and activated a skill.
With [Blazing Radiance], he drew forth divine power from his entire being, a buff that enhanced all physical abilities by 50%.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
As his speed increased noticeably, Ryu Min found it difficult to keep pace.
The situation had reversed before I knew it.
Now I was the one being pushed back.
‘This is insane. He prevents me from receiving buffs while boosting all his stats by 50%?’
Ryu Min, who was being driven back, bit his lower lip hard.
At this rate, the match would be decided in mere seconds.
‘Then I need to take a gamble too.’
Dragging this out wouldn’t work.
I’d taken a direct hit from his technique moments ago, and my condition wasn’t good.
My entire body felt hot and feverish, as though I’d suffered severe burns.
80% damage reduction and mental damage immunity, plus the set effect of 30% reduced incoming damage.
I’d managed to reduce the damage with all these effects, but I hadn’t blocked it completely.
‘This won’t do. When he aims for my heart, I’ll aim for his throat.’
Struggling to block the sword, Ryu Min deliberately opened a gap to let his armor be struck.
He decided to trust the Black Armor, which had a 73.7% chance to evade attacks.
The moment Ryu Min showed an opening, his opponent took the bait.
Even reading his thoughts revealed no suspicion whatsoever.
‘Now.’
Ryu Min didn’t defend—instead, he rushed forward.
To claim his enemy’s throat in exchange for exposing his chest.
‘It’ll evade again this time.’
As expected.
Ting!
Though the blade touched his heart, it glanced off with a metallic sound.
It was fortunate.
Ryu Min, silently exulting, poured even more force into the scythe already in motion.
Since the scythe was already cleaving through his throat, there was no space to escape.
Squelch!
Artaros’s head fell downward.
Thump.
‘It’s over.’
Just as I thought it had finally ended.
Whoooosh—
Artaros was engulfed in light, and his severed head reattached to its body.
As if time itself had rewound.
My eyes widened in shock.
‘…He has resurrection ability?’
Reading an opponent’s thoughts didn’t mean understanding every technique they possessed.
I hadn’t anticipated that he would revive so instantly.
Artaros, rolling his neck as if stiff, spoke with an emotionless face.
[I am cursed. Cursed with a fate where I cannot die even in death.]
“….”
[I never imagined a mere human would discover my curse….]
Artaros raised his sword of light.
[Now that he knows, I cannot let him live. Though I intended to kill him anyway.]
Artaros’s form vanished in an instant.
I turned around, assuming he’d approached from behind, but all I saw was his afterimage.
[Over here.]
The moment I turned my head.
Artaros’s blade pierced through my neck.
Or so it seemed.
Until the Rune of Combat activated.
[You have received a fatal attack.]
[The Rune of Combat activates.]
[The opponent’s attack is reflected.]
In that instant, Artaros’s eyes widened in shock.

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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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