The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 343

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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 343
343. The 101st Return (7)
Chaos, the God of Chaos, had been feeling something strange lately.
‘Why can’t I reach my subordinates?’
Nyx, the Goddess of Night; Erebus, the God of Darkness; Aether, the God of the Atmosphere; Moros, the God of Ruin; Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance—and others.
Suddenly, there were countless gods he couldn’t contact.
‘What in the world is happening?’
If he had a back of his head, he would have felt a chill run down it.
‘Gaia, that woman probably knows something.’
Chaos opened a rift in space and found Gaia’s dwelling.
Crack—
Manipulating space freely was Chaos’s specialty.
Though she couldn’t possibly be unaware of this fact, Gaia was visibly displeased, her expression twisted into a scowl.
[What are you doing? What’s this about, barging in without a word?]
[A husband visiting his wife—what explanation is needed?]
[Just state your business briefly.]
Chaos wanted to kill Gaia for making her displeasure so obvious, but he could not.
Not out of moral responsibility against killing one’s wife, but because Gaia was literally an entity he could not kill.
The power of creation applied not only to creations but to oneself as well.
‘Is she still holding a grudge over that incident? Such a petty woman.’
Knowing that fighting would only drain his own strength, Chaos settled for clicking his tongue inwardly.
[Why won’t you answer? Why did you come here?]
‘Should I kill her?’
Chaos, trembling with barely contained rage, exercised patience for the first time in ages.
Regardless of other gods, Gaia was one he could not touch.
Though Gaia likewise could not touch him.
[I’m curious about something and thought you might know.]
Chaos laid bare his doubts to his wife with complete candor.
The answer that came back was cold as ice.
[How would I know your subordinates have disappeared?]
[As the Creator and God of the Earth, shouldn’t you be able to perceive the movements of all living beings?]
[I cannot comprehend everything either.]
She spoke thus and turned her head away coyly, but Chaos knew the truth.
The boundless extent of the power Gaia possessed.
‘Pretending to be humble despite wielding the power of creation.’
Had she possessed the power of destruction, Gaia would surely have ascended to the rank of Absolute God.
‘Still, she’s hiding something.’
Though she showed no outward sign, his instinct spoke clearly.
There was some connection between the disappearance of the gods and Gaia.
[Very well. I shall take my leave.]
Chaos folded the space without further questioning and disappeared.
In the silence that filled the void, Gaia’s sigh escaped quietly.

* * *
‘That was close.’
When Chaos had suddenly appeared to interrogate me, my heart had sunk.
‘I always knew he’d figure it out eventually, but I never expected it to be this soon….’
I’d said I didn’t know, but the truth was different.
I knew exactly what had happened to Chaos’s subordinates.
‘If the existence of Black Scythe is exposed, it’ll be a disaster….’
The human I’d designed and cultivated had completed his second deification.
He was slaughtering Divine Beings and collecting Teras.
My weapon against Chaos was nearly complete.
‘No, it’s practically finished already.’
And yet Chaos had noticed his subordinates vanishing.
Had he caught a whiff of something?
‘No, fortunately he doesn’t seem suspicious. He just left, after all.’
I felt relieved, but only for a moment.
The space opened again, and that detestable face reappeared.
[What is it now?]
I asked with feigned indifference, but Chaos’s reaction was different this time.
He sneered as if he’d found proof of his wife’s infidelity.
[So this is what you’ve been scheming, woman?]
[What are you talking about, suddenly showing up like this?]
[Don’t play dumb. You think I didn’t notice you tampering with the Boss Room settings recently?]
I didn’t even flinch.
I’d already prepared an excuse for this moment.
[So what? I can change the Boss Room settings if I want.]
[Why did you? Why did you add that restriction requiring five or more people to enter the Boss Room?]
[Isn’t it easier to defeat the boss with at least five people? That’s why I changed it.]
[Even so, you changed it without telling me? And during an active round at that?]
Until now, I had never modified the design of an already-created program.
It was natural that Chaos would regard me with suspicion.
I maintained my expression of displeasure.
[Do I need to report everything to you? I simply made a change when it occurred to me. Why are you being like this?]
[You’ve never done anything like this before.]
[That’s because there was nothing to fix until now. Now I thought of something that needed fixing, so I fixed it.]
[Suspicious.]
[What did you say?]
[Your reaction itself is suspicious.]
Chaos stared at Gaia with the piercing gaze of a detective interrogating a suspect.
[You’ve always treated me with cold rationality, without emotion. Yet now you’re agitated in a way unlike yourself. Just like when you parted from your son.]
[Please don’t bring that up. It makes me feel sick.]
[See? You’re agitated.]
[Stop being absurd.]
[It’s not absurdity. It’s not overreaction either. Do you think I don’t know my wife’s nature?]
Chaos’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
[You’re plotting something behind my back, aren’t you?]
[Enough. There’s nothing more to discuss. If you’re going to keep spouting nonsense, would you please leave?]
[Cutting off the conversation because you’re afraid of being caught? Fine. I can guess well enough what you’re scheming.]
Chaos let out a soft laugh and turned away.
[Let me be clear—things won’t unfold the way you’re planning.]
[….]
Gaia couldn’t bring herself to stop Chaos as he opened a portal and departed.
Stopping him would itself be an admission of her hidden intentions.
‘What do I do? How can I….’
Chaos had begun taking interest in the Other World’s system.
If left unchecked, it was only a matter of time before he discovered Black Scythe’s existence.
[Sigh… Black Scythe needs to hold on.]
It was the worst possible situation, one that drew a heavy sigh from her.

* * *
Ryu Min freed not only Kang Han-sik’s family but also the other human souls imprisoned in the dungeon.
Though he didn’t free all of them.
Using his Ruin Hour skill, which discerned evil intentions, he released only the righteous souls.
Having killed Erebus and become the de facto ruler of Tartarus, this task was far from difficult.
‘So many people were suffering.’
They were all innocent souls.
Wretched spirits imprisoned and tortured simply for displeasing the Divine Beings or for being human.
-Erebus. How many guards does Tartarus have in total?
-….
-If you don’t speak, I’ll obliterate you.
-T-thirty, sir.
Through his conversation with the spirit that was Erebus, Ryu Min was able to identify the Divine Beings who participated in the torture.
And he killed them the moment he found them.
With the resolve to spare not a single one.
A few tried to flee when they caught on, but they couldn’t escape from Ryu Min’s grasp—he now controlled Tartarus as he pleased.
‘I’ve killed all the Divine Beings in Tartarus.’
After finishing his hunt of the Divine Beings, an enormous amount of 170 million Terra accumulated.
Obtaining thirty temporary skills was merely a bonus.
‘At this point, I might as well aim for 200 million.’
After releasing the human souls, I locked the gates of Tartarus so no one could enter, then returned.
With Sitri’s help, I visited the Heavenly Realm once more.
It was to obtain information about other Divine Beings from Rubahi.
“I want to know the locations of Chaos’s followers.”
[Before that, I have some unfortunate news.]
“What is it?”
[Chaos has become aware of your existence.]
For a moment, my eyebrows twitched.
Well, it was something I’d anticipated anyway.
“I thought I’d moved as quietly as possible, but he noticed in the end?”
[Given that his subordinates have gone silent and even other Divine Beings are disappearing, it’s only natural he’d find it suspicious.]
“Still, he shouldn’t have any concrete evidence that it was me.”
[There’s no physical evidence, but circumstantial suspicion is inevitable. Wouldn’t he find your level alone suspicious?]
My current level was 635.
Compared to other players who hadn’t even reached 99, it was absurd growth.
Transcending the level cap from the start was the perfect thing to arouse suspicion.
“So he’s watching me?”
[Yes. Since all his attention is directed at you, Gaia warned me to be careful. She said to refrain from killing Divine Beings for the time being….]
“I have no choice then.”
Now only Round 20 and the Final Round remained.
Just like in the previous cycle, there was a high chance Chaos would appear and try to annihilate me and my allies.
‘It’s fine. I’ve already thought of a backup plan for this. I deliberately kept my allies from reaching max level.’
All this time, I’d been managing my allies to receive less experience.
Because of that, even now as Round 20 approached, my allies hadn’t reached max level.
To be precise, they were at level 98, just one level short.
‘In my previous life, I reached max level before Round 20, but that can’t happen this time.’
The reason I didn’t level my allies to max was none other than the invincibility effect.
It was a contingency plan in case of the worst scenario—Chaos appearing.
‘Since I’ve distributed points to my allies, they can reach max level and become invincible if necessary.’
With Round 19 complete, 96 allies remained.
Through my efforts to keep more alive, I’d increased the count by 24 compared to the previous cycle.
Among them were Ma Gyeong-rok and An Sang-chul, and Heo Tae-sik was also alive and well.
Now I had to lead these 96 through Round 20 and survive all the way to the Final Round.
‘This time, I’ll save them all without fail.’
With my resolve set, I looked at Rubahi.
“So since Chaos has caught on, we’re going with the backup plan as scheduled?”
[That’s correct. You already know what you need to wish for in the Wish Room, don’t you?]
“I do. But what if I kill Chaos before even reaching the Wish Room?”
[That will be difficult. With less than 200 million Terra, you can’t stand against Chaos. It’s insufficient to track his spatial jumps.]
“How much do you need?”
[At least 10 billion.]
At such an absurd figure, Ryu Min couldn’t help but sigh.
“That sounds like you’re telling me to slaughter all the Divine Beings.”
[But you wouldn’t want to do that, would you?]
Ryu Min nodded silently.
To obtain Terra, I didn’t want to kill innocent Divine Beings.
“So what do we do now?”
[I’ve already told you the method.]
“The backup plan?”
Ryu Min had asked Rubahi about this before.
What if things went wrong and Chaos tried to stop him?
If he lacked the power to face Chaos, how would he deal with him then?
The backup plan Rubahi had mentioned was precisely for such a contingency.
“There’s no other choice?”
[There isn’t.]
“Let’s try confronting Chaos first, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll resort to the backup plan.”
[Very well.]
After returning to reality, Ryu Min issued a summons to the Saesin Religion.
To devise a strategy against Chaos.

* * *
“Is this the place?”
“The Boss Room?”
Before the long-awaited Round 20 Boss Room.
The 96 companions, excluding Ryu Min, couldn’t help but feel tension at the threshold of the Boss Room.
They had heard in detail what emerged from the Boss Room.
‘In the previous cycle, I didn’t have information myself, so I couldn’t tell them. But now.’
I now know what unfolds because I’ve experienced it.
I’ve grasped most of Chaos’s abilities.
Thanks to that, I could make thorough preparations.
“Let’s go.”
As Ryu Min stepped forward first, the others followed behind him.
[A minimum of five players are required to open the Boss Room.]
[97 players have been confirmed approaching the Boss Room.]
[The entry conditions have been met.]
[The Boss Room opens.]
Grrrrrgh—
The Boss Room opened, revealing a dimly lit interior.
As everyone entered, the previously hidden Quest became visible, and the Red Dragon Karmyugas appeared.
It unfolded exactly as Ryu Min had predicted.
“SCREEEEEECH, ARGH!”
The dragon’s roar was short-lived.
The creature fell pathetically to Ryu Min’s scythe.
As it collapsed with a heavy thud, no one celebrated.
They’d already heard this wasn’t the end.
They knew the true boss awaited elsewhere.
WHOOOOSH—
Brilliant light erupted as colossal wings unfurled.
‘We meet again.’
Though our first encounter in this cycle, the familiar adversary Artaros gazed down at the humans with indifferent eyes.

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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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