The 7th-Run Regressor Collects Calamities - Chapter 50

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

Episode 50. The Collector (2)
How long had they been fighting?
Eun Seo-jin, who had spent what felt like an eternity cutting through endless waves of wraiths, exhaled heavily.
“Are you holding up all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Im Jae-hyeok asked while using his shield to drive back the mass of wraiths.
“We need to finish this quickly and push forward, but it’s difficult.”
“Just pace yourself and think of it as building momentum for the Guild Master. Let’s go at it steady.”
The composure Song Ji-hu displayed in the face of such a vast enemy was sharp and clear in the eyes of his two companions.
Strength returned to Im Jae-hyeok’s feet, which had begun to give way.
‘That’s right—if Ji-hu stays this calm, there must be a way.’
‘The Guild Master already has the answer.’
In the short time they’d fought together, how many dungeons had they cleared?
Both knew that Song Ji-hu’s calm was no affectation.
‘So for me…’
Eun Seo-jin adjusted his grip on his sword.
‘I just have to hold the line while the Guild Master sets everything in motion.’
That blind faith had the paradoxical effect of loosening the tension that had wound Eun Seo-jin tight, and in that same moment, his blade’s trembling edge grew cold and steady.
“I’ll match that pace as much as I can. Though I still can’t shake the feeling we should finish this quickly and rejoin you.”
“Heh… I share that sentiment myself.”
It was not overwhelming force that dominated the moment, but composure.
That composure was what steadied his allies’ hearts in the face of crisis.
[You’re doing well.]
Song Ji-hu sent a brief thought through the Mental Link.
[Take your time joining me. I’ll keep him occupied.]
With those words, the ragged breathing of Im Jae-hyeok and Eun Seo-jin found its rhythm.
“This is interesting.”
Song Ji-hu met the gaze of the Collector, who was staring at him with unrelenting greed—clearly viewing him as a walking treasure, a collection to be seized.
“Let… go….”
Even in agony, the creature reached out again, unable to abandon its obsession with the artifacts.
“I can see why it would be that way.”
The treasures it had coveted across eons were within arm’s reach, accompanied by other items equally capable of stoking that collector’s hunger.
Bang!
In its pain, whatever blocked its vision was merely an irritating obstacle.
The creature reached out again, not even noticing as its precious collection fell from Song Ji-hu’s aura.
“Never realizing that obsession like that would become your own undoing…”
Song Ji-hu swung his blade again, and the creature flinched, pulling its hand back.
Yet in the next instant, it extended its other hand toward him.
“I sought it all my life….”
Song Ji-hu did not flinch. Instead, he stepped aside—as if clearing the way.
Then, slowly, he twisted his mouth into a smile.
“And yet, standing right here, you’ll never have it.”
Song Ji-hu’s low voice carried a distinct mockery.
“And I… have learned to savor moments like this.”
This was his seventh life. At the end of each regression, the Abyss Lord had laughed at Song Ji-hu’s failure.
It had savored the despair on his face as it destroyed nearly-completed plans with its own hands. Those years of humiliation rose up in his chest, setting it ablaze.
And now.
For the first time, the roles of mocker and mocked had reversed.
Thousands of eyes in the Collector’s head blazed at once, their overlapping voice contorting with greed into something grotesque.
“That… was meant to be mine. From the beginning, it was always mine.”
Song Ji-hu tilted his chin upward, looking down at the monstrous form.
“There’s a reason you could never possess it.”
Song Ji-hu drew the Undying Will’s Light from his pocket.
‘That this tool was forged to kill you. Only you don’t know that.’
The creature’s collecting instinct intensified, and now it reached out toward the artifact Song Ji-hu held, heedless of what happened to its own body.
“How… beautiful…”
Then came the moment.
Whiiiine—!
The instant the Undying Will’s Light entered the Collector’s reach, it erupted into a fierce, brilliant blaze.
These items, as Song Ji-hu had planned, were far more than mere tools or materials.
A weapon. A weapon for vengeance.
“I understand. You don’t need to push so hard—I’m fine with it. We share the same purpose, after all.”
The light had finally, finally met its enemy, and it blazed forth with a radiance saturated in murderous intent.
Only as the light began to surge did the Collector’s countless eyes flicker, sensing that something had gone terribly wrong.
But it was already too late. Song Ji-hu opened his mouth softly.
“Yes. That which you’ve hungered for all your life.”
Song Ji-hu’s lips curled even colder.
“I’m going to cram it down your throat right now.”
The moment those words ended, light erupted upward like an explosion.
“Screeeeeech—!”
A blinding flash swallowed the crumbling castle in pristine white.
In the heart of that brilliant whiteness, the Collector’s countless eyes twisted for the first time not with hunger, but with agony and terror.
Thud. Thud.
The treasures that had clung to him as if fused to his very flesh began to fall away one by one, splattering on the ground along with chunks of rotted meat.
“I told you. Let’s level the playing field first.”
When the light finally faded.
The Collector’s massive frame had visibly shrunk.
The body that had towered over ten meters was now reduced to nearly half its size. Where the plundered treasures had melted away, hideous black flesh was carved out in jagged wounds.
“Now I don’t have to crane my neck so much.”
Though it still loomed nearly six meters tall.
“…You.”
The layered voice now boiled over with rage.
“How dare you… how dare you take what is MINE!”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Twisted with fury, the Collector brought its enormous fists down mercilessly, rolling its feet as if crushing insects underfoot.
Stone shattered into fragments, and thick dust rose into the air. The loss of even a portion of the treasures it had gathered drove it into a greater frenzy.
With each thrash of its body, Song Ji-hu gripped the Compass Blade tighter and drove himself into the creature’s embrace.
Clang!
The silver blade raked across the Collector’s forearm, shearing away chunks of festering, rotten flesh.
Yet the gaping wound writhed grotesquely as it was filled in by flesh plundered from elsewhere.
The Collector paid no heed to its own wound, driving its fist down toward Song Ji-hu.
Crack!
A shard of metal at its knuckle met the Compass Blade, sending sparks flying. But Song Ji-hu did not meet it head-on stupidly. At the precise moment, he twisted his body and let the attack slip past.
C-Rank, and with levels and skill proficiency both lacking—it didn’t matter. He would fill what was missing with hard-won experience.
He slipped away from the fist by a hairsbreadth before impact.
“Wretched little insect!”
Unable to land a single blow, the creature—perhaps in frustration—began to target the space around Song Ji-hu instead.
With each movement, the castle shattered, its rubble scattering in all directions and sweeping away wraiths.
Song Ji-hu slithered through the gaps like a serpent. The subtle shift of weight in his feet, the angle of his torso’s twist, the precise timing of his breath.
The experience accumulated through countless regressions wrung his meager C-Rank body to its absolute limit.
Of course, it was no easy task. It was like forcing a sedan engine to drive an F1 machine.
Every muscle and tendon in his body screamed in protest, yet Song Ji-hu’s expression remained as cool as ever.
‘Look at this thing.’
The Collector’s attacks were bizarre in the extreme. It wasn’t trying to tear Song Ji-hu apart and kill him outright.
Even as its own flesh was being torn away, its countless eyes still coveted the items Song Ji-hu carried.
“…I want it. That too. Everything, for myself.”
A hunger utterly true to its name. An endless collecting frenzy that would even try to seize the very blade wielded against it.
‘Insane.’
Song Ji-hu clicked his tongue inwardly.
But that obsessive fixation became a vulnerability instead. Distracted by the urge to steal rather than focused on killing, the Collector’s attacks fell just a beat behind each time.
Song Ji-hu wove between the creature’s legs, his Compass Blade cutting relentlessly, stabbing at its eyes.
When the giant swung its arms, he burrowed into the opening, shearing away flesh and thrusting his blade into the eyes fixed upon him.
When it rolled its feet to send out shockwaves, he opened the distance one step ahead, then dove back in to drive his blade home.
Cut and evade. Cut again and evade again. The breathless exchange continued without end.
“Nngh—!”
Song Ji-hu kept his full attention on the creature, his Compass Blade leaving endless lacerations.
But that was all.
The creature, too, was adapting—shaking off the damaging energy, replenishing its stamina with wraiths.
“I need one decisive strike…”
Song Ji-hu bit his lip. Dozens of minor wounds sustained indefinitely would take far too long to bring down this colossal body.
‘This is attrition. We can’t sustain it.’
Song Ji-hu’s ashen eyes grew cold and sharp. He needed someone—anyone—to buy him time for one decisive blow.
“I can’t do this alone.”
Crack!
In that instant, an entire section of the rampart shattered, and two figures burst through the breach.
“Guild Master! We’re sorry we’re late!”
Eun Seo-jin and Im Jae-hyeok.
Im Jae-hyeok shoved back the Wraiths clinging to his shield with brutal force, the thick armor across his body already dented and warped from combat.
“Man, these things just keep pouring in without end. Right, Seo-jin?”
“They do seem rather numerous.”
The problem was the Wraiths themselves.
They sliced, froze, beat them down, killed them—and yet it never ended.
From beyond the Audience Chamber, from every broken corner of the castle, corrupted Wraiths gushed forth like an inexhaustible spring.
Even as Eun Seo-jin cut through their ranks with Frost Step, shattering entire hordes with Frost Soul Strike.
“Did he turn every soul in this kingdom into a Wraith?”
At those words, a theory surfaced in Song Ji-hu’s mind.
“This… obsessive madman.”
The Collector—that deranged creature—had undoubtedly collected every single soul that ever lived in this kingdom, without exception, and now commanded them as his puppet Wraiths.
“Guild Master! We can’t possibly kill them all!”
Im Jae-hyeok slammed his enormous shield into the narrow corridor, sealing it shut with a thunderous crack.
“Instead, create a ring.”
“Seo-jin!”
Before the words had fully left his lips, Eun Seo-jin received the gist of the plan through Mental Link and moved.
Shatter!
Eun Seo-jin unleashed the Eternal Snow Prison, sealing one side of the ruined rampart with a colossal ice wall.
Im Jae-hyeok drove a boulder the size of a house against his shoulder, completely blocking another passage.
They brought down the castle’s structure, raised walls of ice, and sealed every entrance save one.
They had fashioned a single, immense arena for a direct confrontation with the Collector himself.
Rumble.
When the final passage sealed shut, only the Collector and three figures remained in that narrowed battlefield.
“If we don’t kill him here, no matter how many we catch, it’s all for nothing, isn’t it?”
“You’re right.”
Song Ji-hu withdrew two other artifacts from his possession and handed them to Eun Seo-jin and Im Jae-hyeok.
“Simply holding these will deal him damage.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear!”
The solidly forged metal of Guardian’s Core went to Im Jae-hyeok, and the warm-glowing metal of Purification’s Blessing to Eun Seo-jin.
These were items to be divided among them after clearing the Dungeon anyway.
The Seventh Regression Collector of Calamities
Author
: Song Tan
Publication Date
: July 13, 2026
Publisher
: ACESMEDIA Inc.
Editor
: ACESMEDIA Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
This work is published by ACESMEDIA Inc. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and the content may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher and author.
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law, and unauthorized copying or reproduction may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260709064

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