The Regressed EX-Class Martial God Decided to Become a Thousand-Star Hunter - Chapter 51

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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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Episode 51
51.
Jigyeol Ki-gong had crossed a threshold.
The unique skill he gained from it was Limit Maintenance.
Its effect was that even in severe internal and external injuries—including exhaustion of vital force—it would permit fighting despite the pain, while preventing the backlash from returning.
Duration of effect: three minutes.
Some might judge it a lesser version of Death Reprieve, but it served an entirely different purpose.
Death Reprieve allowed one to endure death itself, but couldn’t push beyond a limit already squeezed to its absolute end.
Limit Maintenance, by contrast, was a skill that let one fight while maintaining that very limit—wrung dry as it was.
To borrow the words of illegal financiers from some era, it was a technique that forced a person to keep fighting the way one wrings water from dried squid.
It held physical stamina, magical power, and even mental fortitude at their absolute extreme.
Which was why.
A unique skill of such magnitude, with a duration capped at three minutes—that was the reason for the limit.
Literally because no one could predict what kind of reversal it might create.
For Ju Do-gyeom, who wielded Cheonsal-seong—a killing weapon—it was beyond argument.
Recognizing this, Ju Do-gyeom found himself nodding without thinking.
‘The strain was worth it, then.’
For him, barely arrived at C Rank just moments before, to maintain Cheonsal-seong and execute a high-speed breakthrough as he had just done was, even from the perspective of Ju Do-gyeom who had regressed, undeniably pushing himself beyond his limits.
But looking back, he had lost nothing because of it.
Quite the opposite—what he gained was certain.
Well, if you wanted to be picky, he’d burned through several bottles of Recovery Potion, each worth over a billion won.
Ju Do-gyeom had earned far more than that from stocks in the past few weeks.
Anxiety about Cheonsal-seong’s psychosis potentially running rampant from excessive use of the Killing Eye’s mechanisms?
That was a risk he’d factored in.
He’d steeled himself for the possibility that he might have to drill another hole through his own skull.
But the moment.
He opened his eyes and caught sight of Kim Han-ryul, her own eyes as hollow as his, wide and vigilant as she scanned all directions standing guard for him—he couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
The Cheonsal-seong he’d been monitoring through Bunsim Yi-gong gave off a scent of discontent at just that, then settled quietly beneath the surface of consciousness and vanished.
It clearly understood that now was not the time for it to make a move.
Ju Do-gyeom’s expression turned satisfied as he opened his mouth.
“Kim Han-ryul.”
“……!?”
At those words, her gaze snapped toward him.
Her eyes were filled with concern for Ju Do-gyeom.
She drew near urgently and asked.
“Are—are you okay? Captain? You drank that potion without even any anesthetic……!”
“It’s something I’m used to.”
Now, in an era where Hunters could afford to carry anesthetics, they took potions with the comfort of those drugs. Back then, it was different.
In the future when he’d fought the calamity, such luxury was unthinkable.
Enemies poured in like endless waves, boundless as the sea—how could you afford to inject anesthetic into your body?
That was just asking to die.
So there were quite a few occasions when he drank potions and fought through the pain.
Of course, not everyone could manage Ju Do-gyeom’s method.
The agony that came rippling back from a Recovery Potion’s rebound was the kind of pain that made your brain feel like it was burning.
Only a select few.
Among those twelve called the strongest and the last, only two people—including himself—had ever pulled it off.
Because of that, there were times when humanity’s survival actually hinged on it.
In any case, being used to it was true enough.
Ju Do-gyeom rose from his seat and asked.
“How many hours have passed?”
“Um……well, that is……about, roughly……how long was it?”
She’d been keeping actual track of the time well enough, but her perception of duration had warped the hours, creating confusion.
Fortunately it didn’t last long.
“Calm yourself, Kim Han-ryul. You can answer slowly.”
With just one word as he always spoke, Ju Do-gyeom quickly steadied her mind.
“……Two hours. Yes. Exactly two hours have passed.”
“Less time than I thought, then.”
“Are you going to move again right away?”
“Hmm…….”
Ju Do-gyeom paused to consider.
The effect of nearly three hours of frenzied flight was considerable.
At Yolius’s Party’s full strength, it would take more than twice that duration to catch up with them.
Ju Do-gyeom’s gaze fell on the darkened shadows beneath Kim Han-ryul’s eyes.
Quick-witted as always, Kim Han-ryul shook his head firmly side to side.
“Ah, this? I’m fine. It’s nothing new in a dungeon, trust me. I can move. Don’t worry about me—just do what you think is best, team leader.”
“What I think is best is you resting.”
“I’m really okay.”
“Han-ryul. The reason I made such a commotion tearing around on that motorcycle was to deny them any time to recover.”
“Ah…?”
“Once provoked, I knew they’d have to move.”
He’d known for some time that Ju Do-gyeom was more methodical than he appeared.
But to have calculated even that?
It was a fresh shock to Kim Han-ryul.
Ju Do-gyeom spoke again.
“But if we lose focus and fall behind ourselves, that’s a problem. So rest.”
“Yeah, okay….”
“It won’t be long.”
As he’d said.
The margin they’d opened was just over double.
But if they spent all of it now, the time they’d worked so hard to gain would become meaningless.
“Two hours. That’s all the rest you can afford. Close your eyes.”
“Right.”
Kim Han-ryul settled into place and quietly shut his eyes.
He judged that sleeping would aid recovery better than expending mana to create a bunker for rest.
Ju Do-gyeom watched him for a moment, then took a seat at the edge of the space and resumed his cross-legged meditation.
Two hours of rest.
‘I can’t waste it either.’
He poured his full effort into wielding the Cheongyeol Ki-gong.
One step further.
Close enough to touch six-star rank.
Mana from the dungeon flowed quietly through his body with each breath, gathering at his dantian.
* * *
“Damn it all, there’s no end to them!”
“Hahahaha—! It looks like twice as many as last time, boss!?”
Yolius swung his blade with curses pouring out, while Amy beside him laughed as she wielded her axe.
They seemed at ease, but the reality was different.
Yolius’s armor, once lustrous with casual shine, had lost its polish, and scratches had multiplied across its surface.
Amy’s body, unprotected by heavy armor, was covered in wounds.
Still, the two of them were in better condition than the rest.
First, there was Anton, the leader and strategist of Anton’s Party.
He excelled at tracking, hunting, and sniping—strong in scouting and one-on-one combat—but in a situation like this, moving at high speed with monsters swarming from all directions, he was proving to be of little use.
As a result, he was struggling merely to shake off the monsters clinging to him.
Frankly, if Amy hadn’t repeatedly risked serious injury to rescue him, he might well have lost a limb by now.
Of course, even losing a limb wouldn’t necessarily be a major problem.
Anton’s Party had Howl Ferreira, a B+-Rank healer.
If they could gather up the severed arm or leg and carry it back, they could have it reattached at the Rest Area.
The pain would be excruciating, true, but it beat losing a limb permanently, didn’t it?
That said.
Even Howl Ferreira wasn’t proving useful in the current chaos.
His healing ability was as impressive as the title of healer suggested.
It was undoubtedly powerful, but it came with clear risks.
Specifically, pain rebound, the same as with Recovery Potions.
Fortunately, a healer’s recovery skills caused far less pain than potions, but there was still a critical weakness.
‘You can only endure it the first time or two.’
From the third use onward, pain equivalent to potions would arrive.
The fourth time?
Best to think of it as drinking an entire potion straight with no anesthesia.
So healing couldn’t be used carelessly.
It was fortunate he’d acquired some Buff Skills to support with despite being a healer, but it was clear they weren’t making much difference.
Just like Anton, he was someone who needed protecting rather than protecting others.
And amid all this, the worst part was none other than Emil, the mage of Yolius’s party.
He should have been their greatest asset in such a situation, yet currently he was completely unable to participate in combat.
His job class was already weak in stamina, and he’d pushed himself to move recklessly?
In the beginning, he’d fired off large-scale spells in quick succession, eager to pin down Ju Do-gyeom’s group?
Of course, that was part of it, but the more fundamental issue lay elsewhere.
‘He took internal damage.’
The reason wasn’t clear.
His expression had been poor from the moment he first cast magic.
By the third spell, he suddenly coughed up blood.
According to Emil, the Tracking Magic he’d cast on Ju Do-gyeom’s group had snapped, causing a small backlash, and it seemed the cumulative effect had caught up with him.
And to protect Emil, the last member of Anton’s Party—
Matteo Visconti, the Janitor class who would be most useful in this situation, had fallen back to the rear.
“Damn it. Hell, those Korean bastards.”
The curses came unbidden.
How on earth did they even know about the existence of the Purification Flower, which remains unknown to the world?
And how did those two manage to pierce through this path so quickly on a motorcycle, no less?
There was only one conclusion he could draw.
‘Obviously, one of them is a mage.’
And a mage powerful enough to overwhelm Emil, who is B+ Rank.
At the very least A Rank, perhaps even A+.
‘It’s probably Ju Do-gyeom, that bastard.’
He appeared thin on the surface, but upon closer inspection his body showed clear signs of training, so he’d mistaken him for a close-combat class.
But having faced him, it was evident he was a mage.
‘Deceiving people like that? Damn Korean son of a bitch. If I meet him next time, I’ll kill him for sure.’
An A+ Rank mage superior to him?
He wasn’t afraid.
An unprepared mage was naturally easy prey for a close-combat class.
But Ju Do-gyeom’s party consisted of only two people, didn’t it?
And his own class, Paladin, was considered the natural predator of magic Hunters.
‘I will absolutely shred him to pieces, Ju Do-gyeom.’
From his blade, which spilled forth seething rage, white heat shimmered upward, hacking apart the monsters that lunged toward him.
And in that moment.
From his armor, which had lost its luster, light slowly began to emanate.
Yolius, eyes blazing, cried out.
“I’ll open a path! Everyone run!”
“Run! Ahahaha—!”
Amy’s delighted laughter burst forth.
Whoosh—!
Light erupted from Yolius’s armor, sweeping across all directions.
Boom—!
* * *
Two hours.
Ju Do-gyeom, who had been operating the Cheongyeol Ki-gong while precisely measuring time with the Bunsim Yi-gong, opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
“Phew……!”
Then he switched the Bunsim Yi-gong again, this time to observation of Cheonsal-seong.
『Skill, Bunsim Yi-gong (4-Star) is being promoted.』
Ju Do-gyeom, ignoring the familiar system message, approached Kim Han-ryul.
“Kim Han-ryul, wake up.”
“Mmm…… Five more minutes…….”
“…… Kim Han-ryul.”
“Really, just five more minutes.”
“…… .”
Ju Do-gyeom deliberated for a moment, then nodded and sat down.
He counted the time in his head.
Exactly three hundred seconds.
“Five minutes are up. Kim Han-ryul.”
“I don’t want to…….”
Ju Do-gyeom nodded.
Then he rose from his seat, lifting Kim Han-ryul’s body and legs as he slept.
It was what one might call a princess carry.
“Mm……?”
Kim Han-ryul’s mind was slowly returning to itself as the situation shifted abruptly.
Before her eyes, Ju Do-gyeom’s face swam into blurred focus.
‘Team……leader……?’
What was he doing here?
She’d been asleep at home just moments ago.
Her thoughts hadn’t even finished connecting.
Splash!
A bright flash of light cut through Kim Han-ryul’s mind as she plunged into the central lake of the Rest Area.
“Gaaahhh—! Uwaaahhhhh—!”
“Stop making that awful noise and get out. Kim Han-ryul. Five minutes have passed.”
“No, it’s freezing! It’s cold! You could just wake a person up normally, you know. Why throw them in the water—!”
“We don’t have time, Kim Han-ryul.”
“Ugh, for real!”
Grumbling, Kim Han-ryul dragged herself out of the lake.
Still half-asleep, her body shivered violently.
Ju Do-gyeom placed his hand on her shoulder and channeled his Internal Power.
Whoosh!
Heat flooded through her body, and the water evaporated in an instant.
Her soaked clothes dried quickly.
“What—what is this? How did you do that?”
“With proper use of Internal Power, it’s possible.”
“Huh……?”
She didn’t understand, but Ju Do-gyeom offered no further explanation, as always.
Instead, he spoke his usual command.
“Motorcycle.”
“Sure…… yes, yes. Your personal shuttle is ready for duty.”
With a sigh, Kim Han-ryul summoned the motorcycle.
And shortly after, the two of them began their journey once more.
* * *
This journey was not a long one.
Before they had traveled far, Ju Do-gyeom’s true destination appeared.
Like the Rest Area, an eerie forest filled with skeletal branches sat incongruously in the middle of the plain—the Barren Forest.
“Found it.”
Even as Ju Do-gyeom smashed monsters to pieces with his Yusseong-chu, he spoke with perfect calm, turning the motorcycle in that direction.
Kim Han-ryul naturally followed behind him.
The moment they entered the forest, the monster attacks ceased once more.
Roooaaarrr!
Despite the motorcycle’s loud rumbling as it sped forward.
Kim Han-ryul spoke.
“This doesn’t feel like the Rest Area either. It’s strange—why aren’t there any monsters at all?”
“…….”
Ju Do-gyeom remained silent.
Was this the natural state of things?
No, the opposite.
The last time he had passed through the Barren Forest before the Regression, monsters had swarmed everywhere.
It had felt even more chaotic than the outside areas.
But now it was silent.
Another variable had emerged.
And Ju Do-gyeom’s dark eyes were already tracking its source.
The wind that blew carried an unusual chill within it.

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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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