The Legendary Regressor Devours the Tower - Chapter 40

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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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Chapter 40
Chigro did not rush at Seongun carelessly.
‘Dante has been defeated.’
Dante, who shared the same circumstances as himself.
Though called Art, he was an entity never fully acknowledged.
Only a difference of two or six floors.
The fact that he served as a lower-floor warden remained unchanged.
[Dante is dead.]
While maintaining surveillance of the 6th Floor as always, the sudden report reached him.
Because they shared the same position, he felt a faint sorrow at the news, but anxiety soon crept in.
‘Something’s off… If it was him, then the wardens from the 3rd to 5th Floors didn’t detect him?’
The faint trace of Art clinging to the human before him allowed Chigro to be certain—this was the Climber who’d killed Dante.
The problem was why the warden overseeing floors three through five had failed to detect this human and let him pass quietly upward.
What in blazes had happened?
[Each Art is to prepare thoroughly for when a Climber enters.]
[If you cannot stop them and let them ascend to the next floor, you will take your own life without mercy.]
As if being abandoned weren’t enough, he’d been ordered to kill himself if he let a Climber through?
‘They didn’t notice?’
After instructions came down from above, Chigro watched the Climbers visiting the 6th Floor even more closely.
In that process, news arrived that a Climber had appeared, annihilating the lizardman warriors before even finding the Village, and a faint trace of Art was felt alongside it.
How could they have overlooked something so easy to recognize upon entering the floor?
‘Fine. Since I’ve found them, I’ll kill them here.’
Tasman ordered Lutart to bring the Climber to him.
Chigro, pretending to be concerned for him, handed over a ring he was carrying, falsely claiming it was a Lucky Ring.
This was how he’d been able to track the Climber.
In any case, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.
The first Climber to enter possessed power that belied belief.
“Uuuaaaargh!”
The ring flashed, summoning a massive monster.
[Lv.50 Ogre]
An Ogre boasting level 50, no less.
Being artificially crafted through the ring, the monster possessed zero intelligence.
‘If only this weren’t the 6th Floor…’
Chigro couldn’t hide his regret at the Ogre’s appearance.
The range of that Summoning Ring was determined by the master’s capacity.
As a lower-floor warden like himself, the tower’s absolute law meant both level and ability were downgraded.
Already bitter at not being fully recognized as Art, now downgraded on top of that—he was essentially obsolete.
Had he not descended to the lower floors, he could have summoned monsters exceeding level 200.
“Ah, so this was the trick you were hiding?”
The human before him burst into derisive laughter.
Chigro, sensing easily that it was mockery, felt his face flush crimson with rage.
“Are you insulting Art?!”
“I’m insulting you, Chigro—not Art. Why are you dragging Art into this?”
“Shut your mouth!”
Chigro looked ready to charge at the human then and there, but instead took several steps backward.
Now that the Summoning Ring had been used, he would utilize the Ogre aggressively to cut off the Climber’s breath.
“Uuuaaaargh!”
The Ogre charged at the human, drool dripping from its mouth.
Scrape—
The human drew his sword and struck, and the level 50 monster received a critical wound so severe its right ankle was nearly severed.
‘This insane bastard?!’
Chigro urgently extended his hand and healed the Ogre.
He felt his mana draining rapidly, but the critical wound recovered quickly, and though the ankle wasn’t perfectly restored, he managed to reattach it.
Where Dante wielded Colorless Poison, Chigro commanded Healing and Attack Enhancement.
Seeing the Ogre struggling, he enhanced its attack power.
Mana drained again, leaving less than half, but watching the Ogre’s momentum shift to a different dimension than before, he allowed himself a grim smile.
Whoosh—
As if in answer, the Ogre advanced toward Seongun once more.
Chigro pulled out a pipe and brought it to his lips, blowing—Fwoop!
And with that, needle-like projectiles shot from the holes.
Whoosh!
The needle struck true, embedding itself in the human’s thigh.
‘Perfect!’
Chigro exulted silently.
This needle was laced with Paralysis Poison—a deadly toxin that could numb every muscle and nerve in the body within ten seconds.
Moreover, it could bypass defensive power entirely, making barriers useless against it.
‘Go on! Kill him now!’
Chigro’s eyes gleamed with delight as he watched the ogre respond to his silent command.
The creature raised its fist and drove it toward the human without hesitation.
It was over.
Once he reported the kill to those above, he’d surely earn commendation.
Maybe—just maybe—he could escape this wretched life.
He was already spinning out fantasies when—
A bone-chilling scraping sound.
A thunderous boom.
The same unsettling screech as before, followed by a concussion violent enough to shake the ground beneath his feet.
Chigro’s mind snapped back to clarity, and the sight before him was horrifying.
“Uuuaaaagh!”
The ogre’s right ankle had been cleanly severed, and the creature toppled sideways, losing its balance.
“No… how… how is this possible…?”
The needle had clearly struck the thigh.
The paralysis should have set in within seconds.
Why was the human still moving?
And the enhanced ogre’s foot had been torn clean off in a single blow.
‘This is bad… this is really bad… I’m going to die at this rate…’
Chigro’s body trembled as he began backing away slowly.
* * *
His original plan had been to let the ogre land some attacks to gain experience with Divine Descent.
Crack.
But the Glass Orb he’d kept in his pocket rather than in his inventory had cracked, and the Essence of Lava was seeping out slowly, forcing him to reconsider.
[Absorbing Essence of Lava.]
The scalding essence began soaking into his skin the moment it made contact.
‘I was planning to finish the fight and absorb it all afterward.’
The Essence of Lava was not something to merely carry.
He had to absorb every last drop of it to earn the bonus points.
[Usage Rate of Essence of Lava increased by 1%.]
[Usage Rate of Essence of Lava increased by 1%.]
A sharp sensation.
Then his leg stiffened as acrid pain shot through his thigh.
Chigro had a pipe of some kind clenched between his teeth.
So that’s how he’d fired the poison dart.
Seongun hadn’t expected the toxin to penetrate Divine Descent, and the momentary surprise caught him off-guard.
[Zekrote’s Blessing activates.]
But as the blessing took hold, the stiffness vanished in an instant.
This blessing was multifaceted in its effects.
Life restoration, wound healing, purification, and enhanced attack power for a set duration.
It wasn’t called a Chance for nothing.
True, its current instability had dropped it to B Grade, but once it stabilized, he would unlock Zekrote’s true power.
‘Well? How does Zekrote’s might feel?’
Leonis’s voice brimmed with confidence.
No doubt his pride was reaching toward the heavens.
‘Not bad at all.’
Seongun carried the Trace of Art that had endured all things, so even without Zekrote’s Blessing he would have had more than enough resilience to survive—and yet he was pleased by how cleanly the pain had been washed away.
He turned his attention back to the ogre charging at him again and gripped his sword hilt firmly.
A low whistle of air.
The moment the creature raised its fist to strike, Seongun twisted his body out of harm’s way, then lunged forward and swept his blade in a wide arc.
A scraping sound of metal and bone.
He targeted the ankle that hadn’t fully recovered, and with his attack power now enhanced, he severed it completely.
A heavy boom.
The ogre, missing its right foot, lost its footing and fell hard to its right side.
Seongun brought his blade down across the ogre’s throat, signaling the end of the battle.
The summoned creature gasped its last breath, shimmered in brilliant blue, and crumbled to dust.
Now only Chigro remained.
“Hey.”
Seongun turned his head and called out to him.
Chigro had been backing away when he tripped at the sound of his voice, stumbling backward onto the ground.
“Ugh! No, don’t come near!”
Chigro shrieked in panic, attempting to push himself up, but finding his legs had lost all strength, he abandoned the effort and began crawling away from Seongun instead.
It was all in vain.
Seongun advanced with sword in hand, the distance between them closing swiftly.
“If I just leave now, you’ll die anyway.”
“Damn it, how the hell do you know that?”
“I can tell at a glance.”
Thud!
Seongun launched himself upward with a single jump, landing directly before Chigro’s eyes.
“Kyaaah!”
Chigro’s entire body shook violently at his sudden arrival, terror flooding through him.
“Stop struggling.”
“Wait, plea—”
Seongun, as though he had no more interest in listening, severed his throat.
Squelch.
Chigro’s final words went unfinished as he breathed his last.
[You have eliminated a lackey of Iron Art. Bonus Points awarded.]
Bonus Points added.
This fulfilled the requirements for EX Grade.
—Wow, killing without hesitation again.
—He didn’t kill the coward, but he killed that one… there must be a reason for it?
—Wait, that ring he took from the coward earlier—that’s how the ogre appeared, right?
—When does something like this ever happen?
Seongun reached into his pocket and touched the glass orb.
Over half of its contents had already been absorbed during the battle.
“I traced his location through the ring. I gambled that he wasn’t a simple NPC,” he said aloud.
With that, he crushed the orb in his hand and absorbed all of the remaining Essence of Lava.
Having begun absorption at 22% usage rate, he was only able to absorb 78% of his original 100% capacity.
‘Can we fill in the rest through the Lizardman?’ Leonis offered.
Seongun had been thinking the same thing.
‘That works.’
They were already of one mind.
It might have already been absorbed, but it was worth trying.
Seongun approached the Lizardman shaman and scraped away a piece of flesh with his dagger.
—?
—What’s he trying to do now?
—Uh… uh…?
The audience’s bewildered reactions registered in his peripheral vision, but Seongun paid no mind and brought the flesh to his lips.
* * *
Word of Chigro’s death, the overseer of the 6th Floor, reached the other overseers.
[Overseers of the 3rd through 5th Floors shall take their own lives.]
“Aaaaagh! You’ve got to be kidding! No one bearing the Trace of Art that Dante left behind has ever made it this far!”
Ledder, who had been overseeing the 3rd Floor, let out a primal scream as he drove his axe into the ground with all his might.
“Ledder! What’s wrong?!”
His ally Gale rushed over in alarm at the sound.
“Shut up!”
Unable to contain his fury, Ledder hefted the axe again and brought it down on Gale’s head.
“Aaaagh!”
Gale screamed and collapsed, his head split open.
“I said be quiet!”
At the sound of Gale’s shriek, Ledder brought the axe down again, severing what remained of his life.
[You have killed an NPC.]
[You have been issued a Penalty.]
The Tower’s warning that Ledder had incurred a Penalty for killing an NPC reached his ears, and he laughed like a madman, mocking the Tower itself.
“Penalty? Hell with that. This damned tower. I’m dead anyway—why would I care about a penalty?”
“What on earth—!”
The commotion drew the Deaf Race working nearby, and they began to gather.
They were a species humanoid in appearance, but marked by horns on their heads and tails exceeding a meter in length.
“Ledder?!”
“Surely you didn’t just kill Gale……?”
“Damn it, no?”
Confronted with a sight beyond belief, the Deaf Race froze entirely.
“Why wouldn’t I. If I’m going to die anyway, there’s no point pretending any longer.”
Ledder drew a deep breath with an expression of perfect detachment, then exhaled and brought the axe in his hand down against his own neck.
His head fell to the ground, and his body went limp, crumpling where it lay.
Then something extraordinary occurred.
[NPC Regeneration Initiated.]
The NPC Gale, whose life had been severed by Ledder’s axe, began to restore himself.
The blood pooling on the ground moved of its own accord, flowing back along the severed edges of neck and body, assembling itself piece by piece until it sealed together.
[NPC Memory Reset.]
[0%…… 1%……]
The Deaf Race, released from their shock, turned away without focus and each returned to their posts.
The Greatest Returnee in History Devours the Tower (Serialized)
Author │ Yeon Yi-yo
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Publishing House │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th Building)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Yeon Yi-yo 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and no part of the content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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