The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 342

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 342
342. The 101st Return (6)
Ryu Min was startled upon seeing the Terra.
‘I’ve only defeated two of them, yet I’ve absorbed twenty million Terra….’
I could feel a tremendous force permeating my entire body.
My whole being thrummed with vitality.
I instinctively understood how to utilize the Terra.
‘When I overlay Terra upon my skills, their effects are amplified.’
The power to track Chaos as he tears through space is rooted in Terra itself.
In other words, consuming vast quantities of Terra would allow me to deal guaranteed damage to Chaos.
‘So that’s why I need to accumulate Terra.’
To inflict certain damage upon Chaos, I require far more Terra.
Perhaps that’s why, despite becoming a Terra magnate in an instant, greed took hold of me.
The desire to slay gods and obtain greater power and Terra.
Yet Ryu Min shook his head and cast off the temptation.
‘I won’t kill innocent gods. For now, I’ll only eliminate those assisting Chaos.’
While the abundance of Terra brings joy, I harbor no intention of committing ruthless slaughter.
Are gods not also living beings?
‘Though I’m hardly one to speak, having annihilated the Celestial Tribe and Demon Tribe.’
After a self-deprecating smile, I examined the newly acquired skill.
[Temporary Skill – Master of the Atmosphere]
-Effect: A passive skill that grants complete dominion over light and air. Can exert various physical forces.
[Temporary Skill – Warden of Hell]
-Effect: A passive skill that allows control and management of the Underground Prison Tartarus.
‘Both are quite impressive.’
My level had risen to 463, and my stats had increased immeasurably.
A satisfying outcome.
Yet the damp surroundings dampened my joy.
There was also a bound figure present.
‘A human like myself? Tortured most brutally.’
The human bound in an X-shape, bleeding profusely, was a face I’d never seen before.
‘At least not a comrade I’ve fought alongside.’
Ryu Min, wondering if this young-looking person might be an eliminated player, suddenly stiffened.
The reason was that I’d read his inner thoughts and discerned his identity.
‘This person is…?’
Determining he posed no threat, Ryu Min first cut the bindings with my scythe.
Thump—
The bound human groaned and barely managed to lift his head.
Upon seeing Ryu Min, who had saved him, he struggled painfully to rise.
“Th-thank you… for saving me….”
“So you were a Player? And one who returned a hundred times at that.”
Was Ryu Min’s statement what startled him?
Focus crystallized in the eyes of the man who had been collapsing, and wariness bloomed within me.
“How did you… know that?”
“I’m a Player as well. You could say I’m your junior, in a manner of speaking.”
“Junior… ?”
Ryu Min introduced himself first to the man who couldn’t comprehend.
“My nickname is Black Scythe. I’m preparing for the 7th Heavenly Demon War, and I’m still running through rounds as a Player. And you?”
“My name is Kang Han-sik… My Player nickname is the same.”
“Are you Korean?”
“Korean? What country is that?”
Ryu Min soon read his thoughts and understood.
This man was not an Earthling from the world I knew.
“It seems the Earth where I am and the Earth where you are must be different.”
“But how did you know I returned a hundred times?”
Given the situation, Ryu Min decided to speak honestly.
‘There’s no harm in revealing secrets to a mere soul.’
Even if Chaos were watching this situation through his omniscient sight, he wouldn’t be able to read our conversation.
“I possess a rune that allows me to read thoughts.”
“Is… is that really true?”
“Yes. I discovered from the depths of your unconscious that you returned a hundred times. You obtained a rune of temporal regression, correct?”
“That’s right. Could it be… you also…?”
“Yes. I also obtained a rune allowing me to return a hundred times.”
“Ah, so that’s why you called me your junior.”
“What happened, Kang Han-sik? From the looks of it, you’ve passed the Final Round. Why are you suffering such humiliation? What occurred during all this time?”
“Sigh… well, that’s quite a long story…”
Kang Han-sik recalled the past with a heavy sigh.
“It was New Year’s Day. A Demon appeared and told me to clear up to Round 20.”
“So your guide was a Demon. Ours were Angels.”
“Is that so? What are the Angels like? Are they truly angelic in character?”
“No different from Demons.”
“Heh, I had a feeling that would be the case. Still, at least the Angels were beautiful—the Demons looked and acted like Demons themselves.”
Kang Han-sik gnashed his teeth as if the memory sent chills down his spine.
“The Game was Hell itself. When the Demon explained Round 1, fear seized me before I could even kill a single Goblin. But fortunately, an incredible rune appeared, and I was given the chance to overcome the trials.”
“You mean the rune of temporal regression.”
“Yes. That rune transformed me from an ordinary person into someone extraordinary. I nearly went mad dying a hundred times… but I never gave up until the end. I held onto nothing but the promise that my wish would be granted.”
“So you passed the Final Round after a hundred returns?”
“That’s right.”
Ryu Min suddenly recalled something.
The tribe that lost in the Heavenly Demon War would gain the opportunity to cultivate humans in the next war.
“Which iteration of the Heavenly Demon War was it?”
“The Final Round? If I recall correctly, it was the 6th.”
The Heavenly Demon War that Ryu Min would be participating in was the 7th.
‘So this person was from my previous cycle.’
Since the Celestial Tribe had won in the 5th Heavenly Demon War, the Demon Tribe must have run the program in the 6th.
If that was the case, then Kang Han-sik was correct.
‘But there was a rune of temporal reversal even in a program run by the Demon Tribe side?’
That meant the attempt to kill Chaos wasn’t the first.
‘It seems Gaia designed it so that weapons could be created regardless of whether the Celestial Tribe or Demon Tribe was in charge.’
What if the Demon Tribe had been assigned as the facilitator instead of the Celestial Tribe for Ryu Min?
‘If I killed the Demon guide, would I get a Reaper class promotion item, and if I defeated the Demon Nobility, would I instead receive a blessing buff from the Angels? But the Akashic Record is in the Heavenly Realm, isn’t it? Then how would I make contact with Rubahi if the Demon Tribe was assigned?’
As I continued thinking, a natural question arose.
‘What’s certain is that this person doesn’t know about them. Rubahi and Gaia.’
He reached the Final Round yet didn’t know of their existence?
In other words, it seemed his completion as a weapon was insufficient, so he never had the opportunity to meet them.
“Kang Han-sik, have you ever killed a Demon during the program?”
“A Demon? How would one kill those things? They’re creatures that can obliterate a person with just a glance.”
‘So the guide on the Demon Tribe side was also given the power of death.’
If Kang Han-sik had never killed a Demon, his growth would have been utterly ordinary.
At least in the eyes of the gods.
Ryu Min took this opportunity to ask the questions that had been bothering him.
“Was the Round 20 boss a Red Dragon for you as well?”
“Yes. I don’t remember its full name because it was so long, but I’m certain. We barely managed to kill it with our allies and advanced to the Final Round.”
‘So the only difference is that the facilitators were the Celestial Tribe and Demon Tribe, but the round contents are identical.’
Ryu Min let out a small laugh and spoke.
“I’m envious, though. You had allies. I wasted one return cycle because we didn’t have enough people.”
“What do you mean? You wasted a cycle because of insufficient numbers?”
“The Boss Room. If fewer than five people enter, it disappears, doesn’t it?”
“Disappears? I have no idea what you’re talking about….”
His reaction was one of complete bewilderment.
Ryu Min, suspecting something, asked in detail.
“There was no personnel restriction when entering the Boss Room?”
“There was no such thing.”
“There was no condition that you’d disappear if fewer than five people entered?”
“Definitely not. Would I forget something about an important round like Round 20?”
To verify the truth, I delved into Kang Han-sik’s mind.
‘It’s the same. The hundred Guardians protecting the entrance to the Boss Room, the transition to the Boss Room upon ascending the platform.’
But there was one thing.
There was a difference in the entry conditions.
‘So their system didn’t have the five-person restriction….’
Ryu Min’s face went blank as if his mind had stopped entirely.
For some reason, I felt like I’d been struck from behind.
Hadn’t I myself throw away the 99th cycle uselessly because of that restriction?
“What happened after that? Did you clear the Final Round alone?”
“Ah, I was getting to that. Yes, I was the only one to clear the Final Round, and I was taken to a place called the Wish Room. And I made a wish. I said I didn’t need power or anything else—just erase all my memories of what I experienced in the Other World.”
“Your memories?”
“It was too painful. The faces of my dead comrades kept flickering in my mind. How could I live alone like that?”
“….”
“But they said I didn’t have enough contribution points to erase my memories. So I asked if they could make me rich instead, and apparently that was possible. So I asked them to do that. I wanted to live comfortably and lavishly for the rest of my life.”
Ryu Min nodded sympathetically.
After returning a hundred times, he must have wanted to rest.
Kang Han-sik’s lips curved into a faint smile as he recalled those days.
“It was such a wonderful time. I didn’t have to worry about being dragged away every month, and my bank account was overflowing with money. I became what people call a silver spoon at twenty years old. Though I’m not sure if you know the term.”
“I do. We use that expression too.”
“Is that so? Anyway, I lived without worrying about money, met a beautiful wife, and had children as cute as rabbits. I lived without regrets like that. I was truly, truly happy even without the system’s power.”
The end of his life was simple.
It was a happy ending—he lived past a hundred years old, watching his grandchildren and great-grandchildren play, before dying of old age.
“It was a good death. A life without regrets. But until the moment I died, I didn’t know. That Hell was waiting for me afterward….”
“What happened?”
Kang Han-sik, who had been gloomy, continued his story with a sigh.
“I’ve been spending time doing labor in the Underground Prison of the Underworld, and I heard from a guard that my wife and children were trapped in Tartarus. When I heard that, I lost my mind. I’m not sure if you know, but Tartarus is a notoriously infamous prison.”
“So you came to rescue your family?”
“That’s right. There was nothing I could do as a mere ordinary soul, but I couldn’t just leave them.”
What happened afterward was predictable.
I infiltrated Tartarus to rescue my family, but was ultimately caught by Erebus, the administrator, and tortured day after day.
“I endured, believing his word that if I withstood the torture, he wouldn’t harm my family. I endured stubbornly, bearing everything for my family’s sake! I felt like I could die at any moment, but dying isn’t possible in this place.”
“You’ve lived like this for several years?”
“Yes. This is the story of my life up until now.”
Ryu Min nodded slowly, reflecting on Kang Han-sik’s life.
Another Earth’s player, Kang Han-sik.
Like me, he gained the ability to return a hundred times, but lacking the resolve to kill demons, he grew ordinarily.
The only wish he made after clearing the Final Round with the Wish Stone was simply to become rich.
‘To summarize, he returned a hundred times but never reached the level where I could be used as a divine weapon. That’s why he never had the chance to contact Rubahi.’
In wanting an ordinary life, he wasn’t much different from me.
‘If I hadn’t killed the Angels… if I’d grown moderately without killing the Archangels and cleared the Final Round… would my life have been different?’
Ryu Min shook his head as if erasing the thought.
It was meaningless, empty fantasy.
It was too late to turn back now.
Above all, looking at Kang Han-sik’s life, it was hard to call it a success.
Wasn’t he living a painful life in the Underground Prison like this?
His wife and children as well.
“Kang Han-sik. Do you know where your family is being held?”
“I do.”
Ryu Min spoke with a smile.
“Show me the way. Since we’ve met like this, it’s fate—let me help you escape.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————