The Regressed Magic Swordsman Devours the North - Chapter 19

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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 19. Gumseong Tournament (4)
In that moment descending from the arena after victory—brief though it was, I found it unforgettable.
The roar of the crowd, the thunder of applause.
The sound born from the masses rippled through the air, vibrating. Those waves escaped their origin and collided with one another. Breaking, shattering, tangling and interweaving.
In the end they became a single surge, rolling in like the tide to strike my eardrums.
I flicked the blood from my blade with a dry motion and descended from the stage without hesitation.
Leaving the applause and cheers behind, I melted into shadow and made for the restroom at the far end of the waiting area corridor.
A space the spectators could not enter—reserved for participants alone. In that silence, I stepped inside and locked the restroom door.
Click.
Inside the stall, I opened an old bag I’d prepared beforehand. I shed the ornate uniform and pulled on the rough garments of a laborer, stained with grime and oil.
But the transformation didn’t end there.
I inserted murky brown contacts into my eyes, obscuring their abyssal depths. Over my golden blonde hair I pressed a tangled red wig, and finally, when I fitted the dentures snug against my gums, my once-sharp jawline and mouth dulled into a coarse, unremarkable shape.
Last, I slipped a ring onto my finger—an artifact emanating a subtle blue light. Within it dwelt the Stealth effect.
I stowed the old bag in the ceiling cavity, then stepped out of the stall. I faced the mirror.
Hum—
As the ring’s cool mana enveloped my entire body, the mirror no longer reflected the third son of House Karsen, but a laborer from the Northern Region.
Seeing myself like this, I remembered the days when I was Duckie. Back then, I could disguise myself as anything.
The artifacts I’d used tonight were ones I’d gathered bit by bit during the Gumseong Tournament, visiting the 12 Mado-gu shop in Seiron District 14.
Thinking of that place made me smirk.
‘The shopkeeper’s attitude had changed quite a lot.’
-Heh, you’ve come again, have you?
The proprietor of 12 Mado-gu—a white-haired elder—beamed the moment he saw me, drawing out a heavy box from beneath the counter.
-I have a son. That boy always enjoyed researching and creating things.
I nearly said, “Soon his grandson will do the same,” but I stopped the words at my teeth.
-When he heard that someone had bought his wares at fair price—indeed, at a high price—he was overjoyed. So he sent more items he’d been hoarding away in a corner of his workshop.
The box was full of treasures. Practical artifacts, the culmination of Mado Engineering technique.
Early masterworks of the brilliant Mado Engineer who would one day rule the continent. I knew their true value better than anyone.
-Give me all of those. I’ll buy the whole lot.
The old man shook his head at my words, his expression turning deliberately stern.
-Of course I prepared them to sell to you, young master. But this time I cannot accept a premium as I did before. My son set a specific price and sent it over—at that price alone will I sell them, not a coin more. It’s his stubbornness about conducting honest trade. This time, I’d appreciate it if you’d pay exactly that amount and take them.
To an outsider, it might have seemed like audacious haggling, but I rather liked such integrity.
-Understood. Ah, and one more thing—could you ask him whether he can make more of those Thunder Strikes and April Sprouts I bought before? Tell him I’ll pay generously.
-Of course.
With a smile, I paid the price the old man quoted without hesitation. For the cost of earning the trust of a future legendary craftsman and his family, the price was absurdly cheap.
Now was the time for the Stealth Ring and disguise tools I’d thus obtained to shine.
Before Regression, the strong tournament favorite Sylvia had been defeated shamefully in the semifinals by a nameless wandering knight.
Was that knight stronger than Sylvia?
Not in the slightest.
On this stage where young warriors thirty and under compete for supremacy—save for myself, a Returnee—there is no one capable of defeating my childhood friend Sylvia Maier.
Yet at that time, she performed at barely half her usual strength and suffered defeat, crushed beneath that weight of loss and wandering through a swamp of despair for a long time.
I am certain a turncoat’s interference was involved in that loss.
Why? Because the wandering knight who won the Gumseong Tournament and entered the Platinum Knight Order—the strongest order in the Northern Region—was a turncoat planted by the demon race.
‘I won’t let it happen this time.’
Not for Sylvia’s sake. But to stop the turncoats from infiltrating further.
Beneath my discreet disguise, I wandered the corridors of Kaiseus. Sometimes as a janitor, sometimes as part of the crowd.
Along the way I had a beer, bought some food. I was hungry, after all.
How long did I walk like that? I arrived near the waiting room of Sylvia Maier—my opponent in the finals. Beyond this point was a zone inaccessible to the general public.
I slipped into the crowd and watched in silence for any suspicious movement.
Tick—tick—
But with sight alone, I could not discern those thoroughly disguised.
Tick—tick—
Time was passing, and soon Sylvia would take the stage. My mind grew anxious.
‘How can I…. Ah.’
In that moment.
Suddenly, an idea struck me.
There was a way. A method to perceive my surroundings in far greater detail than sight or intuition alone.
I activated Mana Detection.
Hum—
Pure mana waves spread outward. Countless pieces of information flowed into my mind. Dizzyingly so. And yet—
Thump—thump—
The sanctity of Lumen, rooted in my heart, responded violently and began to organize countless streams of information.
The pulse of sanctity started to filter through the indiscriminate data, and soon pinpointed with precision a single man among the massive crowd—one dressed as an ordinary laborer.
Upon closer inspection, I could see it: a thin wisp of black mana wavering in his heart.
‘There he is.’
Certain he was a turncoat, I gave chase, concealing my presence entirely.
Sure enough, the moment the man reached a blind spot beyond the crowd’s sight, he withdrew a small Mado Bottle from his coat.
Pop. As he uncorked it, colorless, odorless smoke began to drift out—invisible to ordinary eyes, but impossible to escape my Mana Detection.
The smoke followed the man’s direction, settling along the path where Sylvia would pass.
Without hesitation, I drew Flame-system Mana from my Sacred Wheel to pursue the poisoned smoke.
Most mages must manifest their power at their fingertips or through a staff, but I could cast at a distance far removed from my body—a magic born of difference.
The mana chased after the smoke, rippling across the air, and the moment it made contact—
[Fire Ball]
Whoosh—
Flames erupted in an instant. The colorless, odorless poison smoke ignited and dissolved into nothingness.
“……?!”
The man sensed the poison vanish and went pale. He spun around and hurriedly fled from Kaiseus, and I pursued him while maintaining my Stealth.
The man moved through the alleyways of Seiron. Then he pulled out the empty Mado Bottle again to check it—as if questioning whether he’d imagined things.
“You didn’t imagine it.”
“……!”
My voice made him flinch violently and spin around.
“W-who are you?”
“A renowned knight, shall we say.”
“……W-what?”
He tried to bolt away, but it was far too late. My blade had already pierced through his throat. Skin split, tendons severed, and as the cold steel passed through his esophagus and trachea—
“Gh-ghck…… ghck.”
The man, unable even to scream, collapsed to the ground. Blood welled up from his neck in thick spurts. He thrashed like a fish cast onto dry land, but soon went limp.
Chill—
A cold, alien gaze washed over me. I turned to its source and spotted a small Crystal Orb artifact ingeniously embedded in the dead man’s clothing.
‘Remote surveillance.’
I stared directly into the Crystal Orb, my lips curling into a cold smile. Then, toward whoever was watching from beyond the artifact, I slowly raised my middle finger.
And then.
Crack.
I shattered the Crystal Orb.
The gaze vanished.
Whoosh—
I poured flames onto the corpse and incinerated it without leaving a trace. Then I melted into the darkness.
As I made my way back to Kaiseus from the alley, the streets were livelier than ever.
Everyone was savoring the festival that had come around at last.
I felt a sudden loneliness. Not a soul among all these people knew what the future held.
Stagnant water, born of peace.
And beneath it, the shadow of oblivion, clawing deeper.
That the world would end in the extinction of mankind—only I knew this truth.
And yet I walked on. I would continue down this path with unwavering resolve. Because this was what my Regression was for.
After returning to Kaiseus, I stopped by the restroom to change back, then watched the Gumseong Tournament.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The semifinals had already begun.
Sylvia was fighting.
A beautiful, formidable knight maiden in combat.
The crowd was in a state of near-frenzy.
Sylvia’s deep blue hair was frosted with Arctic mana, and her sapphire eyes gleamed with an even colder brilliance than usual.
Her opponent, a wandering knight, attacked her with grim determination, but he was no match for her.
Each time Sylvia swung her blade, a frozen aura erupted, glazing the arena floor with ice.
The wandering knight stiffened like a shard of ice before he could even mount a counterattack, and fell.
The crowd erupted in cheers mingled with awe. They praised the overwhelming might that had carried her to victory, and they praised her beauty as well.
I’m not sure what beauty has to do with it, but in any case.
Sylvia descended from the stage with the stern bearing befitting a knight of the Northern Region.
Yes. This was Sylvia’s history.
Somehow, a smile spread across my face.
Though I hadn’t acted for her sake, I was glad it had turned out well.
***
At that same moment.
A dark chamber outside the arena.
Anger flickered in the old man’s eyes as he watched the spectacle through the Crystal Orb.
In the Crystal Orb, the image of a man with red hair and cloudy eyes—whose identity remained unknown—was etched with clarity.
“Where did this rat crawl out from? ……I’ll make sure to crush him to death.”
Toward the nameless intruder who had ruined his plan, the old man recited a soft kill intent.
He summoned his allies in secret.
“The plan has gone awry.”
“……How in the world did you bungle this?”
“Someone interfered.”
“You should never have given them the chance!”
Several of them vented their rage. Some even raised the specter of responsibility—what would they do if their superiors found out? Then.
“We haven’t even begun the plan yet. Don’t get ahead of yourselves.”
One voice stepped forward to mediate, and silence descended over the chamber.
“We’re not being tailed by the Inspection Bureau, are we?”
“That’s not the case. Only that—”
The old man showed everyone the man reflected in the Crystal Orb. Red hair, cloudy eyes, a blunt facial structure.
The plan to neutralize Sylvia had come to nothing. The man who had interfered in ‘our’ affairs.
“The red-haired man……. Find him, no matter what.”
None of them had dreamed the red-haired man could be Sion Karsen. They simply etched a new enemy into their minds.
Meanwhile, in another hidden chamber in the Northern Region, hostility toward Sion was already beginning to bloom.
A secret research organization that had been quietly expanding its power in the darkness of the Northern Region—Post 24.
Though its headquarters was in the Central Empire, the researchers had moved north for convenience of operations.
They received a report that Jepren, the bioengineered test subject they had poured their heart and soul into creating, had been subdued by Sion Karsen.
“Sion Karsen. Have you ever seen such a bastard?”
“Jepren is property of our research facility.”
A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the laboratory.
“We will never forgive the one who destroyed what is ours.”
The fishing hook that Sion had cast was swaying temptingly.
The Returned Magic Swordsman Devours the Northern Region
Author
: Bangsim
Created on
: June 16, 2026
Published by
: Aces Media Inc.
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: Aces Media Editorial Team
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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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