The Regression of a Challenger-Level Player - Chapter 12

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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 12. I’ll Take the Final Blow (2)
“…Is there really a method like that?”
“There is. Though I should say it’s only my theory.”
Everyone’s expressions shifted through a spectrum of colors at my explanation.
A mix of emotions, but mostly wonder and surprise, with just a thread of skepticism woven through.
“Don’t worry. My analyses tend to be accurate more often than not.”
I said it with confidence, but really—there was no way this could be wrong.
After all, this was the actual strategy for defeating the Minotaur that I’d brought back from the future.
When they inevitably asked how I knew, I’d rather not deal with the hassle, so I’d glossed over it with an airy “just seemed logical to me.”
A peculiar current ran through the team, but no one raised objections or showed signs of resistance.
‘Of course they wouldn’t.’
They couldn’t come up with a more rational plan than what I’d proposed, and since we’d made it this far, there was no reason not to attempt the boss fight.
For them, just reaching the tenth floor or so would already be a net gain—stumbling into the Boss Room was a windfall.
“…All right! Let’s do this!”
“I’m in too. Somehow, I just trust you when you say something.”
“I have fully committed the details to memory.”
The swordsman, the mage, and the support player nodded in turn.
“This is going to be amazing! I’m in.”
Last of all, Teyah’s lips curved upward as she gave her assent.
From the fragments I caught her muttering—”the viewer count is going to explode” and “today’s stream is legendary”—she seemed genuinely thrilled about it.
“All right then. Let’s begin.”
We’d rested enough for our stamina to fully recover.
After one final check of the strategy.
Squeeeeeak!
I opened the door that led into the Boss Room.
***
[You have entered the Boss Room.]
[The deep, abiding resentment of those trapped in the Underground Prison presses down upon your shoulders…!]
The moment we stepped inside, I felt my body grow sluggish.
[Debuff: Weakness (Lv.1)]
A Boss Room that inflicts a debuff upon entry—impressive audacity.
Truly worthy of a dungeon that every player unanimously calls filthy.
“One moment, please.”
Our support player halted us before we could advance further.
[Breath of the Goddess
](C)
They activated a blessing.
Warm light enveloped my body, the debuff dissolved, and my limbs felt light again.
‘The Breath of the Goddess.’
For a first-class support player, they’re learning remarkably high-level skills.
I advanced one step further, genuinely impressed.
Whoosh!
Blue flames ignited simultaneously in the torches lining the walls, and my vision opened wide.
What came into view was a vast, circular space reminiscent of a colosseum.
Yet everything was weathered and rusted through—the sight of a massive underground prison, exactly as advertised.
At its center, bound in iron chains and hanging its head.
“Grrrrrrrrgh…!”
A creature half-man, half-bull.
Fur with a subtle indigo sheen, imposing horns, and a body covered in steel plate armor.
“*Gulp*…!”
“That… that’s it, right…?!”
“Yes.”
That creature was the notorious boss of the Underground Prison.
[The Bound One, Minotaur]
“Wow! You watching this, folks? Not many streamers have gotten live footage of the Minotaur!”
Teyah spoke toward her viewers, her voice trembling with emotion.
I signaled everyone to prepare for combat.
“Get ready. Here it comes.”
“Grrrrr….”
The Minotaur’s head began to rise slowly.
[A monster imprisoned in the dungeon grows excited upon seeing the intruder.]
[The Captive, Minotaur, lets out a roar!]
[Boss battle commencing!]
Boom!
Along with the notification, the creature snapped its chains asunder and seized its Halberd in both hands.
[The Minotaur was forcibly fitted with restraints to suppress and control its savage nature.]
[Yet they could not quell the violence bred into its very bones, and ultimately became nothing more than a shield for the Minotaur’s ferocity.]
[The Captive, Minotaur]
▶[Buffs: Armor (Lv.10), Berserk (Lv.3)]
‘Finally.’
The buff that made the Minotaur an impenetrable bulwark.
The moment the boss battle began, it was granted an Armor defense-boost buff at the absurd level of ten.
With such grotesque defensive power, ordinary attacks left barely a scratch on its durability.
“Operation begins.”
I gripped the Club with both hands.
Boom!
Condensing magic in my knees, I sprang forward and burst straight toward the creature’s front in a single explosive motion.
“Grrraagh!”
“Looking at you, I’d say the beef’s going to be tough, friend.”
The Minotaur had a particular quirk: it prioritized attacking whichever enemy was closest.
The creature gripped its Halberd with all its might and struck downward with the singular intent of splitting me in half.
Naturally, I wasn’t about to take that blow.
Just as the Halberd was about to touch my skull, I slid my foot half a step to the side and pivoted out of its arc.
Then came the immediate follow-up: my Club strike.
Crack!
I’d poured considerable force into it.
‘Not a scratch. Not even a scratch.’
If anything, the creature’s eyes flared with fury at being touched, murderous intent dripping from its gaze.
“Don’t be so angry. You’ll spoil the meat.”
“Graaaaaaagh!”
Whether it genuinely understood my words or merely reacted to my voice, the Minotaur launched into a furious barrage.
The blade of its axe swept past my body with barely a margin to spare.
For a time, the creature was entirely focused on catching me in its relentless assault.
“Over here!”
Three Daggers flew in from the flank.
They clattered off the Armor and horns, falling uselessly away.
Thud.
The Minotaur, which had been thrusting its Halberd like a maddened stallion, suddenly ceased its movement and turned its head toward Teyah, who had thrown the Daggers.
“Ha… haha… This is a bit unsettling….”
The Minotaur does prioritize the nearest opponent, but there are exceptions to this rule.
One of them is the Charge Pattern.
‘If you touch the Minotaur from a distance while it’s mid-attack—’
It switches its target to you.
“Grrr…! Graaaaaaagh!”
Then it charges forward with manic fury.
The Minotaur lowered its massive horns and launched into a charge directly at Teyah.
“Don’t panic—just dodge! It can only move in a straight line anyway!”
“Aaaaaahhh!”
Teyah threw herself to the ground and rolled across the floor.
Boom!
Meanwhile, the Minotaur slammed its body directly into the wall.
The entire space trembled as though struck by an earthquake, and the resulting boom hammered against our ears with terrible force.
“Kyah!”
The mage nearly lost her footing from the impact.
‘First collision successful!’
Whenever the Charge Pattern triggered, if Teyah dodged at precisely the right moment, the Minotaur couldn’t slow its momentum and smashed into the wall.
When it did, the impact would shake the entire chamber—
Patter-patter-patter!
Corrupted green water dripped from the ceiling.
A concentrated essence of poison: sewage from the sewer rats that infested the Underground Prison, the rotted fluids of ghouls, all pooled together into toxic dregs.
A single drop was enough to trigger the Corrosion Debuff—the liquid was rotten through and through.
“Don’t let even one drop touch you!”
I threaded nimbly between the streams of corrosive liquid, evading them with practiced footwork.
The swordsman and mage, lacking mobility, relied on the supporter to deploy protective barriers and shield them from the spray.
Which left the Minotaur as the only one exposed to the corrosive liquid.
Ssshhhhick!
The liquid cascaded onto the steel armor with an ominous, hissing sound.
But there was still no major change—not yet.
“Pressing forward!”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
The swordsman swung his blade at the Minotaur, who had barely pulled his horns free.
Predictably, the sword rang off harmlessly—clang!—and the creature wheeled on his nearest opponent, swinging the Halberd in a wide arc.
“ROOOOOARRR!”
In that same moment, a magical projectile streaked toward the back of his skull.
[
Magic Arrow](D)
The mage had grabbed his aggro.
“Krrgh?!”
Right on cue, the Minotaur readied his Charge Pattern.
He stopped mid-swing, dropped his horns forward, and scraped the ground with his hooves.
“Supporter!”
“On it.”
At my command, the supporter cast a blessing on the mage.
[Wind’s Step(
Wind’s Step)](D)
A basic blessing that temporarily increased reaction speed and agility.
“Ahhh—kyaaaa!”
Even with limited physical stats, the mage now had the reflexes to dodge the charging trajectory at the right moment.
Crash!
The Minotaur slammed into the wall again, and the corrosive liquid came pouring down.
Ssshhhhick!
The liquid rained down on his massive armor.
A dark brownish discoloration spread across the surface, and the shine of the armor began to dull.
[Captive, the Minotaur]
▶[Buffs: Armor (Lv.10), Berserk (Lv.3)]
▶[Debuff: Corrosion (Lv.1)]
At last, the Corrosion Debuff had appeared.
I clenched both fists, grinning silently to myself.
‘To make the Minotaur slam into the wall, you have to dodge when he’s at maximum range—there’s no other way.’
Of course, no sane player would stand their ground and take a full body check from that thing, which is why everyone evades the charging trajectory in advance as a matter of course.
And even if you somehow managed to drive the Minotaur into the wall, most teams avoided doing so because the cascading liquid would inflict a debuff the moment it touched you—a nasty mechanic.
‘But this liquid affects the Minotaur too.’
More precisely: if you exposed him to the liquid two or three times in succession, he would accumulate the Corrosion Debuff.
It was the only way to pierce through that damned armor.
“My turn again.”
I grinned wickedly at the beast as he pulled his horns free from the wall.
“Ever thought about being Gonjiam’s mascot? They’ve got amazing beef head soup there.”
“GYAAAAAAA!”
I evaded the whistling swing of the Halberd, and a Dagger flew through the air.
Crash!
He collided with the wall and the corrosive liquid spilled down.
“HHRRAAAHHH!”
The swordsman swung to grab aggro, the mage fired from range to bait the charge, then—
Crash!
—we slammed him into the wall again, releasing another torrent of liquid.
Repeat this cycle enough times, and—
▶[Debuff: Corrosion (Lv.5)]
we could stack the Corrosion Debuff up to level five.
“Grrrrgh… kughhhh!”
The gleaming armor shifted to a sickly yellow, emitting a strange grinding sound.
It was like watching the corroded hull of a shipwreck that had been abandoned on the ocean floor for centuries.
“The… the armor…!”
“It’s actually corroding!”
“Wow……”
My teammates gaped in amazement, clearly not expecting the attack to actually land.
But the monster’s buffs were still holding strong.
“Hey, Minotaur.”
I stepped forward, gathering mana, directly into its path.
“Come on.”
“Grrrrr!”
The Minotaur charged at me, radiating raw killing intent.
I gripped the club low and prepared to swing with everything I had.
“Careful…!”
I ignored the warning from behind without hesitation.
Instead, I drove forward and tightened my grip on the club.
“One… two…!”
I spread my legs wide, dropped my center, and ducked under the halberd’s arc before charging straight through.
“Three!”
I swung the club clean and crisp, the way a baseball player drives for the fence.
[Swing] (E)
Crash! Crack-crack-crackle…!
From the point of impact, massive fractures spiderwebbed across the armor.
[Corrosion Debuff has stacked to critical levels!]
[Armor is being destroyed!]
The armor shattered completely, crumbling into fragments.
So different from just moments before, when it hadn’t even scratched—now it crumbled like a chocolate bar in the heat.
“Yes!”
A sharp thrill shot through my fingertips.
Not even a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth would feel this good.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“Wait, it actually broke?!”
“Incredible! Guys, you’re seeing this—the armor actually shattered! Wow! The chat’s moving at light speed!”
“Wow……”
Witnessing something so rare, my teammates’ reactions were genuinely worth watching.
“Craaaaaah!”
The beast suddenly widened the distance between us.
“What? Getting nervous without your armor?”
“Grrr…! Grrrrrrrr!”
“Now we’re getting somewhere. This’ll actually feel like a real fight.”
I kicked at the armor fragments scattered across the floor, smirking with obvious satisfaction.
[Constraint nullified. Ferocity unleashed!]
▶[Buff: Berserk (Lv.5)]
The Berserk buff surged to level five.
The Minotaur’s muscles swelled further, its fury growing wilder and more savage.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
Not anymore.
The attacks are landing now.
Kick.
I shot it a smug grin, then turned to my teammates waiting in the rear.
“Let’s begin. Time to hunt.”
The real boss battle had officially started.
Challenger Grade Player’s Return
Author
: Knight’s Soul
Production Date
: August 10, 2026
Publisher
: ACIS Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: Acesis Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work has been published by Acesis Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder.
No part of this content may be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and author.
This e-book is protected by copyright law, and unauthorized reproduction or copying may result in legal liability.
UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260730114

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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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