The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 392

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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 – Side Story Episode 16
16. Protection of the Hero
A few minutes earlier.
“Kieeeek!”
Having slain Voluark, Ryu Min proceeded smoothly to hunt down the Hosts.
‘Just one more to catch and I’ll be done.’
Though I’d lost my guide, pinpointing the Hosts’ locations wasn’t difficult.
There weren’t many countries left to search.
‘I’ve already marked the remaining Hosts’ positions with the Speed-of-Light Rune, so finding them won’t be hard.’
Now I needed to quickly dispose of the Hosts and clean up the remaining Seeds.
Only then would this world line regain stability.
Whoosh—!
Moving swiftly through the air, I covered hundreds of kilometers in an instant.
Upon arriving at the last country, New Zealand, I found it.
The final remaining Host, harvesting bioenergetic vitality by slaughtering humans.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
The moment I spotted it, I incinerated it with the Lightning Rune.
That made all 300 Hosts captured.
‘Now I need to find the Seeds…’
There was no way to pinpoint the Seeds’ locations.
I had no idea how many were currently disguised as humans.
‘Of course, I have the Eternal Item—the Eye of Insight—so I can pierce through an opponent’s true nature. But…’
I didn’t have time to search through the entire world’s population.
‘Should I head back to Won-i?’
I was about to return home when there was no need.
A notification appeared.
[The target under Protection of the Hero is under attack!]
[You can use the Hero’s Touch for 10 seconds.]
[Please select one of the following.]
└ 1. Move to the target
└ 2. Summon the target
[Time remaining to choose: 00:00:10]
‘This notification… Won-i is in danger?’
My mind snapped into focus as I reflexively made my choice.
‘I choose option 1.’
I needed to see who the opponent was.
There was no other choice.

* * *
A brilliant flash erupted.
The environment shifted in an instant.
What greeted my eyes was my Younger Brother, his throat being strangled.
A sharp metallic sound rang out.
I drew my scythe in one fluid motion, severing the arm wrapped around his neck.
“Gasp… Huh, Brother?”
“Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah… But are you really my brother?”
Why would he say something like that?
Moreover, he was eyeing me with suspicion.
The reason became clear when I read his thoughts.
‘So I was deceived by that creature once before?’
He’d thought his brother had arrived and opened the door, only to be ambushed by some monster.
No wonder he was reacting this way.
“It’s really me, Brother. You’re safe now.”
“Okay…”
“Anyway…”
“Ugh? Who the hell…”
I turned my gaze toward the being writhing slightly in pain from the severed arm.
Reading its thoughts, I instantly identified it.
‘That’s… Arkizar?’
Arkizar had targeted my Younger Brother?
Delving deeper into his mind, I understood what had transpired.
‘Using my face from internet articles as a reference, he accessed the photo records on the wall pad, obtained my home address, and even deceived my Younger Brother with fabricated footage… This guy’s talent for finding people is impressive, I’ll give him that.’
I never expected my home to be completely exposed just from appearing once on CCTV when I captured the Host disguised as the Cult Leader.
I certainly hadn’t anticipated that he would come looking for me first.
“You’re… Black Scythe?”
‘First, I need to make sure Won-i doesn’t get caught up in this.’
The moment the Hero’s invincibility protection expired.
“Enough talking. Prepare yourself for death.”
I erected a barrier, isolating Arkizar from Won-i.
“…!”
Arkizar, suddenly transported to a different space, stared at me with wide, shocked eyes.
“How can a human tear open the Spacetime Rift…”
“I can.”
I approached with my scythe raised.
I’d already gleaned most of what I needed to know from the rune of his innermost thoughts.
“Now it’s time for me to vent my anger.”
“What are you babbling about…”
In an instant, Arkizar’s body decomposed into sixteen pieces.
Thud, thud, thud—
The scattered fragments of black liquid slowly gathered and reformed into a shape.
Horror filled the eyes that had just taken form.
“How does it feel? Painful, isn’t it? I noticed you Divine Beings experience pain from my scythe. It seems to be because of the Withering Branch effect that scrapes away souls, but that works perfectly for me. I can inflict as much suffering as I want.”
Ryu Min’s scythe gleamed once more.
Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash!
This time he was cut into thirty-two pieces.
One might think that in a liquefied state, pain would be impossible to feel, but that wasn’t the case.
Otherwise, Arkizar’s expression wouldn’t have been so contorted when he reformed to his original shape.
“Ughhhh….”
“Does it hurt?”
“….”
“It’s probably unfamiliar to you. Your Seeds are strong enough to toy with Archangels. But here’s the thing.”
Rip! Tear! Tear!
This time he was divided into sixty-four pieces.
“I’m the kind of person who toys with Divine Beings.”
With more fragments scattered, his recovery speed slowed considerably.
“You picked the wrong person to mess with.”
“Wait, didn’t you pick us? Why are you interfering with our work?”
Arkizar complained indignantly, though Ryu Min had his own counterargument.
“You’re the one interfering. Why are you trying to destroy the perfectly fine world I created?”
“You… created it?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“….”
Arkizar was at a loss for words.
The realization that he was fighting an absurdly powerful being.
‘This is not an opponent I can handle. At minimum, Lord Deorant himself would need to intervene to resolve this.’
Opening the Spacetime Rift was one thing, and inflicting pain on him even in liquefied form was another.
He was displaying abilities that defied all conventional understanding.
This was absolutely not an opponent he could overcome.
Now that Arkizar had belatedly realized this truth, there was only one thing he could do.
‘I must inform Lord Deorant of this immediately!’
But Arkizar had no means of contacting Deorant.
Though he had spoken with him before, he hadn’t seen him once since being dispatched to this world line.
‘Lord Deorant sent us here in good faith. Once Seeds and Hosts are scattered, the collapse of the world line is inevitable.’
So it was only natural that he hadn’t given it further thought.
It was only natural that he hadn’t established a means of communication.
The world line’s collapse due to Seeds and Hosts was a foregone conclusion.
Yet even Deorant could not have anticipated that an entity capable of stopping them would appear.
If they had known, they would never have left them to die like this.
‘What do I do? First, I need to escape this situation….’
Arkizar, who prided himself on being a higher being, racked his brain desperately.
But.
Papapapapak!
Before he could do anything, he was simply decomposed by Ryu Min’s scythe.
‘Ugh… this pain is truly unbearable.’
Despite being in a liquefied state where his body should feel no pain, each strike of the scythe brought a burning sensation as if he were being seared by fire.
He wanted to flee with all his might, but trapped in the Spacetime Rift, there was nothing he could do.
‘At least I should counterattack. Perhaps an opening to escape might appear.’
With that thought, Arkizar did not reassemble his body when it was decomposed into 128 pieces.
Instead, he spread the decomposed liquid in all directions, targeting Ryu Min.
The thought was that since the human possessed a physical body, if he could only coat him with the liquid, he could absorb him.
And that thought.
Sizzzzzzle!
Fortunately, it worked.
‘Fool! He must have been careless and let his guard down!’
Arkizar smiled, confident in his victory, but only for a moment.
“Did you think you won?”
“!!!”
At the voice from behind, he turned his head.
“Do you even know where you’re trapped right now?”
Another voice came from the side.
“This is the Spacetime Rift.”
This time it came from above.
“I can do whatever I want here. In other words, you’re fighting nothing but illusions.”
All around were Black Scythes.
So many Black Scythes surrounded Arkizar that it was impossible to tell which was real.
Every single one of those Black Scythes.
Scrape! Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!
Relentlessly slashed at the solitary Arkizar.
Cutting and cutting again until not even dust remained.
‘Kuh… kuh-huh….’
Arkizar, butchered to the point where his very soul was obliterated, teetered on the brink of mental collapse from the agony.
“How dare you target my brother. Don’t expect a merciful death. Monster.”
It was then that Ryu Min raised his scythe high.
The darkness that had enveloped everything dissipated, and the scenery of the house from moments before came into view.
“Brother!?”
“Uh, what’s happening?”
Behind the bewildered Black Scythe, the figure of his younger brother appeared.
“Why did the Spacetime Rift’s barrier dissolve on its own…?”
Judging by his expression, something had gone terribly wrong.
I would have savored watching him panic further, but I had no time for that.
This seemed to be my only chance to escape.
Shuaaak!
I liquefied my entire body and quickly fled to the Restroom.
Ryu Min snapped back to his senses and tried to grab Arkizar, but he had already descended through the drainage pipes.
“…I let him slip away?”
“Brother! Are you alright?”
“Yeah. What about you? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. Thanks to you. But Brother, what was that monster we just saw…?”
“A Seed. They’re a superior species of Host—the driving force behind worldline collapse.”
“Them…? So there’s more than just one?”
“Yeah. I don’t know where the rest are, though.”
“Then what do we do? We still need to eliminate the Hosts.”
Ryu Min shook his head.
“I’ve already dealt with all the Hosts. That’s why I was delayed.”
“So now we just need to handle the Seeds?”
“That’s right. But I let one get away.”
“W-what do we do now?”
“What else? I need to go after it.”
My brother’s face was remarkably composed.
As if he’d deliberately let it escape.
“Wait here. I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To eliminate the Seeds.”
Ryu Min vanished like the wind, leaving only those words behind.

* * *
“Gasp, gasp… What kind of monster is this human….”
Arkizar had returned to his true form in front of the Sewage System.
He had just experienced death.
At the hands of the Grim Reaper known as Black Scythe.
‘He’s no ordinary human. No, he can’t even be called human. There’s no way a human could wield the Spacetime Rift.’
The same held true even if he were a Player.
‘From what I know, Players born from the Survival Game are roughly at the level of Combat Angels. Yet this creature toyed with me, someone who pressures even the Archangel.’
That meant his earlier boast about toying with Divine Beings was no lie.
‘Either way, I was fortunate.’
Thanks to the Spacetime barrier suddenly being lifted, I managed to escape.
Judging from Black Scythe’s expression, he hadn’t anticipated this situation either.
‘Did he face some restriction in using the Spacetime Rift?’
Perhaps he’d exhausted all the necessary energy by overextending his power?
‘Regardless, this situation works in my favor. I need to gather the Seeds quickly and devise a countermeasure.’
Arkizar, believing there was no time to waste, hastily sent out a telepathic message.
It was a telepathic transmission connected to the frequencies of every Seed he knew.
-Can you hear me? Everyone?
-Who is this?
-I am Arkizar, who has received the authority of Commander from Deorant.
-Commander?
Since this was their first conversation, they naturally didn’t know, but all of them accepted Arkizar’s words.
They had heard rumors of a Commander’s existence.
-So you were our Commander.
-Nice to meet you. Why did you suddenly contact us?
-I have an urgent matter and would like us to gather. First, I’d like to meet and discuss it….
-Urgent matter?
A summons from the Commander.
Since they had been bored anyway, not a single Seed refused.
-I can sense urgency in your voice, whatever this is about.
-I’ll head there regardless. Where should I go?
-South Korea. You should have grasped my frequency by now, so track my aura and find me.
-Understood. I’m heading there now.
Thus the gathering was arranged, and Arkizar moved to search for a suitable place to hold the meeting.
Unaware that someone was watching him.

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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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