The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 41

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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 41
41. The Rune of True Intent
“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…!”
Jang Seok-hyun spewed curses relentlessly, glaring with wide eyes at his opponent.
The one who had struck his vital point.
“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you, you bastard.”
The Cafe Owner had fled, but he couldn’t care less about that.
His lust had long since evaporated.
Only the murderous intent to kill the opponent before him gleamed in his eyes.
“Good spirit. If you’d surrendered easily, I would’ve been disappointed instead.”
The opponent’s voice was light, as if amused by the situation.
Whether it was a misperception or not, I could even hear laughter in his tone.
“You bastard! What’s so funny about this?!”
Jang Seok-hyun charged forward despite the pain.
An ordinary person wouldn’t have been able to stand, but as a player, he could still move.
‘If I can just get close enough!’
At close range, he’d be unstoppable.
Fortunately, the opponent didn’t stand motionless.
‘Foolish bastard!’
A dagger materialized in Jang Seok-hyun’s right hand.
He swung it wildly without restraint.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!
He was confident in his technique, having pierced a goblin’s throat before.
But.
His opponent was skilled enough to stab out an eye with a scythe.
With the inferior stats of a level 9, it was nearly impossible to even graze the clothes of a level 30 opponent.
‘He’s… dodging all of this?’
At close range, he predicted and evaded each dagger thrust as if possessed by a ghost.
Stabbing left, stabbing right, slashing diagonally—no matter what nonsense he pulled, only empty air was cut.
“Still wielding a goblin’s dagger, I see.”
The opponent spoke reproachfully, swinging the scythe downward.
Jang Seok-hyun tripped over the shaft and contorted his face.
Pain shot through his center.
“Ugh.”
“Does it hurt?”
My opponent, Ryu Min, smiled behind his mask.
“We’ve only just begun.”
The scythe flashed, and Jang Seok-hyun’s wrist fell with a sickening thud.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Don’t be such a crybaby.”
Ryu Min swung his scythe, severing the opposite wrist as well.
Jang Seok-hyun could no longer grip a weapon.
“Ugh…”
Had he decided there was no hope in continuing?
Jang Seok-hyun rose to his feet, enduring the pain, his body glowing an eerie white.
Or rather, he attempted to glow.
“Huh?”
But as no light emanated, Jang Seok-hyun panicked.
‘What? How is this not working?!’
His hands were gone, but both legs remained intact.
If he used his luminescence ability to blind his opponent, he could escape.
‘I definitely activated it—why isn’t it working?!’
Yet his body gave no response, as though the ability had vanished entirely.
Only darkness remained, not a flicker of light in sight.
Ryu Min laughed inwardly at Jang Seok-hyun’s desperation.
‘No matter how much he glows, it’s useless. Before the Night of Death, no light is permitted.’
I had laid down the Night of Death skill in advance for precisely this reason.
Jang Seok-hyun’s rune was now worthless.
‘If I hadn’t learned the Night of Death skill after surpassing level 20, I would have been the one suffering.’
I would surely have been blinded by his eye technique.
Even closing my eyes beforehand wouldn’t have stopped him from escaping.
‘Well, I would have severed his ankles before it came to that anyway.’
The thought prompted me to swing my scythe once more.
Crunch—!
With a sickening sound, Jang Seok-hyun collapsed pathetically.
Only upon seeing his own severed ankle did he scream belatedly.
“Ugh, gaaahhhhh!!!”
“Now you can’t run away, can you?”
Jang Seok-hyun, having lost both wrists, both ankles, and other vital areas, cried out with a voice full of despair.
“Ugh, you… you demon bastard! Why are you doing this to me, why?!”
“Why, you ask?”
Squelch—!
“Gasp!”
The scythe embedded itself in his thigh, then withdrew.
“What’s the reason for exterminating vermin?”
Squelch—!
The opposite thigh was pierced by the scythe as well.
“Because if left alone, they become a nuisance.”
“Ugh… damn it, you psychotic freak.”
At Jang Seok-hyun’s glare, Ryu Min only laughed.
“Let’s see how long that momentum lasts.”
Ryu Min’s scythe showed no mercy.
Tearing off the creature’s limbs one by one, torturing it slowly.
Severing its appendages, puncturing holes through its body.
Blood pooled outward like a carpet, centered on Jang Seok-hyun.
A hopeless situation—unable to resist, unable to flee.
“Aaaaahhhhh….”
Jang Seok-hyun couldn’t regain consciousness as agony marinated his mind.
‘Damn it… why are you doing this to me? What grudge could you possibly have?’
He felt utterly wronged.
And the pain was unbearable.
‘Would it be better to bite my tongue and die like this?’
Thinking it would be preferable, he began to clench his teeth—
Click—
Ryu Min’s scythe lifted Jang Seok-hyun’s chin.
“What? Trying to bite your tongue and die?”
“….”
The blade held his jaw so firmly he couldn’t open his mouth.
“Did you think I’d let you go so easily?”
“….”
“You don’t get to die on your own terms until you’re begging me to end it.”
The scythe flashed like lightning, striking his back twice.
Thud—thud—!
“Gaaahhhhh!”
Blood sprayed upward as fresh agony arrived.
‘I… I have to end this pain.’
In desperation, Jang Seok-hyun tried again to bite his tongue.
Ryu Min’s blade lifted his jaw once more, sealing his mouth shut.
Thud-thud—thud-thud—!
“Mmmgh!”
Thud-thud—thud-thud—!
“Mmmmmgh!!!”
As holes were carved through his body, Jang Seok-hyun attempted suicide countless times.
Yet each time, Ryu Min sensed it like a ghost and locked his mouth shut.
Scrape—scrape—!
“Ngggghhhhh!!”
His consciousness grew hazy from the torment.
Jang Seok-hyun’s mind held only one thought: death.
“P-ple… ase… kill… me….”
“What?”
“Pl… please… kill me….”
“Are you serious?”
Jang Seok-hyun nodded.
He couldn’t bear the suffering any longer.
Was that answer satisfying?
Behind the mask, Ryu Min’s lips curved into a pleased smile.
“I don’t even understand why I’m going this far. You and I are complete strangers.”
“….”
“Actually, I can’t say we’re complete strangers. Jang Seok-hyun. We’ve met before.”
A flicker of shock crossed Jang Seok-hyun’s eyes.
‘He… knows my name?’
Jang Seok-hyun opened his mouth hesitantly.
“Y-you don’t mean… you’re connected to the Cafe Owner…?”
“No. I have nothing to do with that woman.”
“Then…”
“You kidnapped my younger sibling. And you blackmailed me, demanding information about Hidden Piece.”
“M-me? I never did that…”
“Of course you didn’t. It hasn’t happened yet—it’s a future event. Though for me, it’s already in the past.”
Whether Jang Seok-hyun understood or not, Ryu Min continued speaking.
“If I hadn’t intervened, you would have obtained the Rune of True Heart.”
“The Rune of… True Heart?”
“A hidden rune is concealed in this place.”
‘Really?’
Jang Seok-hyun’s eyes widened at this revelation.
“Do you know the condition for manifesting the Rune of True Heart? Hearing the genuine voice of another person.”
“Genuine… voice…?”
“A voice that springs from the heart, sincerity layered upon sincerity.”
“….”
“If I hadn’t stepped in, you would have heard the genuine voice of a woman begging for her life after you’d raped and tormented her.”
“….”
“And after obtaining the Rune of True Heart, you would have exploited it further in your crimes, strutting about as if you owned the world.”
Jang Seok-hyun couldn’t offer any rebuttal.
Because Ryu Min had seen through his behavioral patterns perfectly.
“It’s a fact verified through multiple iterations. Even setting that aside, you’re nothing but garbage with twelve prior convictions—you deserve to die.”
“If I d-deserve to die… then please kill me quickly…”
Ryu Min shook his head.
“I won’t lay a hand on you.”
“Wh-what…?”
“Why do you think I’ve been talking all this time? I’ve been waiting for you to die on your own.”
Click—
Jang Seok-hyun’s gaping mouth was silenced by Ryu Min’s scythe.
“You’ll die from blood loss anyway. Suffer like this and die slowly.”
“Ugh! Ugh!”
Jang Seok-hyun tried to bite his tongue and end it himself, but it was futile.
The scythe pressed against his jaw, preventing him from even opening his mouth.
“Nnnngh….”
Even lying still, agony poured relentlessly through every puncture wound across his body.
He wanted to break the chain of suffering immediately, but he was powerless to do so.
‘Please… kill me faster… This pain is unbearable….’
He couldn’t even voice the plea his opponent wanted to hear.
‘You said I needed to obtain the Rune of True Heart. That I had to hear the genuine voice from within!’
Unable to speak, he could only stare with desperate eyes.
‘I’m trying to say what you want right now! I’m trying to say with all my heart that you should kill me! So why won’t you let me speak!’
Did Ryu Min read that look in his eyes?
“Why won’t I let you speak?”
Ryu Min answered.
“Because I wanted to test the Rune of True Heart.”
‘What?’
He hadn’t read his eyes at all.
“It didn’t work out, but I already obtained the rune.”
He was reading his thoughts.
“Remember? You already asked me to kill you. With genuine sincerity.”
‘Now that I think about it, I think I did say something like that at first….’
“The rune responded to that genuine voice then. I was able to obtain it immediately. The Rune of True Heart.”
‘Even though he already obtained it, he pretended not to….’
“I ran a performance test on it, and as you can see, it works perfectly.”
‘He got what he wanted, so he should just kill me now….’
“No. You don’t get to die so easily.”
Ryu Min spoke in a cold voice from behind his mask.
“Because the people you’ve harmed deserve better than that.”
‘Damn… demonic bastard….’
Jang Seok-hyun, as if resigned to his fate, hurled a final curse and trembled violently.
His consciousness faded, his eyes growing vacant, and moments later, his breathing ceased.
Ryu Min observed this with indifference.
“Dead.”
A brief observation.
His voice carried no emotion whatsoever.
He had killed dozens of times like this before, after all.
“Still, inflicting maximum suffering before death each time—it’s the right thing for the victims.”
Even if it takes time.
‘I have plenty of time anyway.’
I had obtained the rune I wanted.
There was time enough to afford such indulgence.
I had worried whether the woman I’d saved might flee or simply watch from afar.
‘There were no witnesses in the vicinity.’
My Presence Detection revealed no one nearby.
I could rest easy.
‘Besides, I’m wearing a mask, so even if I were discovered, it wouldn’t matter.’
My gaze turned to the message that had appeared moments before.
[You have drawn forth a genuine voice from your opponent.]
[The activation condition has been satisfied.]
[You have discovered the hidden rune ‘Rune of True Feelings’ concealed in this location!]
[The acquired rune is automatically inscribed upon the player’s body!]
This message had appeared the instant I heard Jang Seok-hyun beg me to kill him.
I opened the information for my newly acquired rune.
[Rune of True Feelings]
-Effect: Read the thoughts of the target before your eyes. By observing them quietly, you can also faintly discern their innermost feelings. Can only be read when within a maximum range of 30 meters.
Literally a rune that reads thoughts.
With continued observation, one could even penetrate the deepest intentions.
‘Even if the opponent is in a state of perfect emptiness.’
Information gathering, situational response, ally-enemy identification, and more.
Its applications were limitless.
It wasn’t for nothing that this rune appeared on the list of eighteen essential runes to obtain.
My gaze shifted to Jang Seok-hyun, now departed to the other side.
“Now that I have what I wanted, I should clean up.”
I activated a common skill I had recently learned.
And then.
Jang Seok-hyun’s corpse vanished as if it had never existed.

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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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