The Regression of a Challenger-Level Player - Chapter 5

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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 5. What, you’re not going to come?
I finished a casual match and returned to my room.
“The rewards are better than I expected.”
Even thinking back on it, a smile crept across my face.
▶Strength: 8
▶Stamina: 6
▶Agility: 5
▶Magic Power: 7
▶Luck: 5
[Ability Point: 1]
Not only did I receive an Ability Point from leveling up, but my Strength and Magic Power also increased by 1 each.
Every game on the Channel evaluates a player’s performance and grants rewards accordingly.
Normally, you’d have to place first several times, bust your ass training, or pull off some incredible play just to get a single stat point thrown your way as a consolation prize.
‘I got two stat increases just from winning a single match.’
It seemed the system had taken my current circumstances into account.
At level 5 with no Ranked Matches unlocked yet, my Ability Stats were mediocre compared to others at the same level.
Yet I’d recorded an overwhelming first place by hunting 286 goblins.
And there was even a first-league practice player in the same match, equipped to the teeth with high-end gear.
“Taking everything into account, this reward seems fair enough.”
This is more than satisfactory.
No—it’s beyond satisfactory.
“I’ll save the Ability Point for now.”
An Ability Point is, quite literally, a point that lets you raise a stat of your choice by one.
You earn them primarily through leveling up, though there are a few other sources too.
‘It’s far more efficient to use them later when training alone can’t raise your stats anymore.’
A tip from someone who’s actually made it to Challenger, if I do say so myself.
By the way, if your Magic Circuit breaks, you can’t even use Ability Points to raise Magic Power.
After all, these points are just a means to improve existing stats.
“He said he’d come… but there’s still some time.”
I need to play more regular matches before then.
I want to evolve my constitution soon, and more than anything, I want to unlock Ranked Matches quickly.
I should accumulate as much experience as I can.
‘As for my weapon.’
I glanced down at the Wooden Cudgel in my hand.
It felt wasteful to invest 300 Credits and throw it away after just one use.
Besides, now that I’ve tested it, it’s sturdier than I thought and feels pretty good to swing.
“Might as well keep using it.”
I’ll squeeze every last bit of value out of it, even if it means using it until it falls apart.
I laughed to myself and immediately started the next match.
***
[Regular – Solo Match]
[Genre: Survival]
[Map: Royal Capital ‘Heleim’]
[Objective: Defeat more players than anyone else!]
[Time until start: 5 minutes]
My vision flashed, and I was transported to a different space.
While the last match was a forest teeming with goblins, this was an urban landscape reminiscent of medieval Europe.
Gray brick streets and low-rise buildings. A grand castle stood proudly at the center, its colorful banners fluttering in the wind.
The atmosphere was entirely different.
Which made sense.
‘The last one was Hunting, and this is Survival.’
Solo matches are subdivided by type.
In Hunting, rankings are determined by who hunts the most monsters.
And Survival is, as the word suggests.
‘Who eliminates the most opponents.’
That’s why maps with urban settings or complex terrain—environments more prone to dramatic encounters—appear more often than simple plains.
[Players are entering….]
[Time until start: 4 minutes]
Players were being summoned one by one.
Unlike Hunting, there was no translucent barrier, and players could roam the map freely while waiting.
Of course there’d be differences when you consider how the game worked.
Naturally, no one could attack during the waiting period.
“Ah… of all modes, it had to be Survival…”
“Finally, I can test out the new gear I just bought.”
Other players stood at a distance, waiting for the start.
Some of them were already eyeing prey they could ambush the moment the signal came.
Whether that mattered or not.
“Heleim… Heleim… huh…”
I massaged my temples gently, straining to recall a vague memory that floated through my mind.
There was definitely something on this map that I’d seen before…
“…Ah!”
It came to me at last.
The moment the thought clicked into place, my legs moved with purpose.
……
I deliberately ignored the strange sensation at my back.
Relying on faded memory, I made my way to a specific location.
Third building down the north-south road from the castle at the center.
[—- . — .— .]
An illegible sign and a notably shabby exterior.
At first glance, it didn’t look like it would serve as cover.
‘The real value of this place lies elsewhere.’
I pushed the door open and stepped inside without hesitation.
The interior looked exactly as neglected as one might expect from a place untouched by human hands for years.
A large bulletin board hung on the right wall, and a counter sat in the center.
I approached the counter in the middle.
[-100C]
I exchanged 100 Credits for coins and placed them on the counter.
Then I spoke.
“I’ve come to inquire about work.”
Then something remarkable happened.
The Credits vanished into thin air.
[You have discovered a Hidden Quest concealed within the map.]
[Quest: Outlaw Hunting]
▶Outlaws have descended upon the royal capital of Heleim. As a mercenary, you are requested to deal with them.
▶Objective: Achieve a Kill Count of 30 or higher
▶Reward: <Title: Peacemaker>, <10,000 Credits>, <Ability Point +3>
“Tch…!”
Just as I thought.
No one else had claimed this Hidden Quest yet.
Multiple quests lay hidden throughout the map.
A Hidden Quest is one that only a single player can accept—once and only once—and offers extraordinary rewards.
The Outlaw Hunting quest I’d just received was one such Hidden Quest.
“Of course, the objective isn’t easy, given how generous the reward is.”
A Kill Count of 30.
Considering that the typical Survival victor pulled in around 10 kills, this was a threefold demand.
But that didn’t concern me in the slightest.
Right now, all I felt was.
“Heh.”
An intense anticipation for how sweet this reward would taste.
I wiped the drool gathering at the corner of my mouth and stood before the building’s entrance.
“Hmm… about two of them, I’d say? No, wait—considering the one in back, maybe three.”
Based on the sensation I’d just felt, I formulated a rough plan.
[All players have assembled.]
[Beginning the game!]
The moment the game started, I stepped outside.
And just as expected.
“Hyaaaaa!”
“Hnaaaagh!”
Two players came rushing at me.
They launched their ambush with gleeful eyes, having clearly been waiting for me to emerge.
‘I must look like a wreck.’
From the looks of it, they’d spotted my condition and decided to tail me, figuring me for an easy kill.
In a low-level game like this, even a single kill was rare.
How desperate for kills did they have to be to push this hard?
‘Though I’m hardly one to judge.’
I’d hunted easy kills myself, after all.
Swish!
I slipped out from between the two swordsmen as smoothly as water.
Their blades carved through empty air.
“Wh—what?”
“…!”
They’d been so certain their ambush would land; the shock on their faces the moment it missed was almost comical.
I planted my feet firmly on the ground, keeping my body low from the dodge.
Whoosh…!
I drew the Magic Power knotted in my solar plexus.
From my chest through my shoulders, down my elbows, wrists—and finally through each individual joint of my fingers.
I maintained the smooth flow, amplifying it as it went.
“Hah—!”
I swung the wooden cudgel.
Crack!
A sound that should never come from a human skull rang out.
I caught the head of the one charging straight at me and caved it in.
The sensation of bone and brain matter shattering transmitted down to my fingertips.
‘One kill.’
I counted it off silently.
Thud!
I pushed off the ground, snatched the sword from the corpse’s grip, and drove it into the other one’s neck in a single motion.
Splurt!
As flesh parted, my opponent’s balance crumbled.
“G—gaaaaah!”
Even as his throat tore open, he screamed more in shock than pain.
He must have lowered his Synchronization Ratio quite a bit.
“Next time, check your target before you ambush.”
I offered the advice, then twisted the blade and cut off his breath.
‘Two kills.’
The moment I finished counting, both corpses and their equipment dissolved into light and vanished.
[Player eliminated!]
[Kill Count: 2]
I’d netted two easy kills right out of the gate.
Unlike “Battle Royal,” I couldn’t use the defeated players’ equipment, which was a shame.
‘But if they keep underestimating me, that’s not necessarily bad.’
I smiled faintly and waited—and sure enough, a volley of arrows came streaking toward my position.
“About time.”
The shots came from the rooftop of a building to my upper right.
The angle was clean enough that this one didn’t seem like a complete novice.
I ducked beneath the arrows, then drove Magic Power into my feet and launched skyward.
“-!”
Just as I’d expected, a woman stood atop the building.
She should have been startled by a warrior suddenly taking to the air, but she recovered quickly, nocking another arrow.
At this distance, she probably figured she could land a shot before I came down.
“Let’s see about that.”
[Deploying Gravity Field (D)!]
“I’m just a bit faster.”
A violet barrier unfurled, and my descent doubled in speed.
I slammed into the building before she could even draw the bowstring.
Crash-crash-crash!
The structure crumbled around me.
“Kyaaaah!”
The archer’s shriek pierced the air.
‘There you are.’
It was hard to figure out where they were, but thankfully.
I deactivated the skill and grabbed whatever debris came readily to hand.
Magic Power flowing concentrated through my right arm.
The current surged from my shoulder, spiraling around my wrist to draw up strength.
I hurled the shard of debris with all my might toward the direction I’d heard the sound!
Crack!
I couldn’t see through the dust, but something had definitely taken a direct hit.
[Kill Count: 3]
My Kill Count had just jumped to 3.
“Phew.”
I exhaled cleanly and swept my bangs back.
Three easy kills in less than three minutes of starting.
An incredible record, but I couldn’t stop here.
My goal was thirty kills.
Though I didn’t need to go searching for the others myself.
They’d come on their own—that much was obvious.
“I’ve made enough of a spectacle. There’s no way the scavengers won’t come running, is there?”
I’d literally destroyed an entire building.
Every player in the vicinity would hear that and rush over.
Thud-thud-thud-thud…!
Just as expected.
Multiple footsteps started closing in from all around.
I casually swung my cudgel and stepped outside.
Mealtime again.

Meanwhile.
“Aaaahhh!”
The woman who’d been struck by the stone Shin Jae-ha threw convulsed as she rose in her room.
She blinked dazedly and asked:
“What… what did I just die to?”
-What? I didn’t see anything.
-Suddenly some guy in a hoodie was swinging a cudgel, and then it flew into the sky and then—
-I think I heard some kind of sound.
-The way he reverse-ganked those two ambushers was already sketchy lol
-Oh that’s definitely someone hardened. Touch him and you’re dead lol
“Hey! You guys told me to follow and pick up easy kills!”
-We said follow and pick up easy kills, not get yourselves killed.
-Why are you blaming us? This is too much ㅠㅠ
-So you’re saying you can’t even scavenge easy kills? Trash tier lol
-Though to be fair, that last one wasn’t an easy kill
Channel Streamer.
Those who make broadcasting Channel matches their primary occupation.
“Ugh… let me just check the killcam….”
The female archer who was a Channel Streamer replayed the final moments of the match.
Suddenly the opponent descended rapidly, destroyed the building, and then just… died.
“……?”
Let me break down the footage frame by frame carefully.
Through the dust, a small stone shot forward at tremendous speed and embedded itself in the head.
-????
-Insane lol
-That’s some sense right there
-So reversing the ambush wasn’t a fluke?
-Breaking the building, throwing a stone in the confusion to finish them? How does this kind of sense even show up in unranked casual matches?
-I’m an Iron player. I’m retiring.
-Not bad lol
-How much strength do you need to one-shot a player with a thrown stone?
-Player (killed by rock)
The chat erupted with absurd reactions after seeing the footage.
The streamer herself was even more flabbergasted.
An archer being killed by a warrior with a ranged attack was already bizarre.
‘Throwing a stone to deliver that much power…?’
A player was a superhuman enhanced by Ability Stats.
To kill an opponent with a single stone throw, you’d need at minimum Bronze-tier Strength. If not that, then Magic Power equal to or greater.
And on top of that, the Magic Circuit control to maximize the stone’s impact without shattering it.
“Insane… monster….”
Even she let slip a gasp of admiration tinged with despair.
A Challenger-Tier Player’s Return
Author
: Ki Sa-hon
Publication Date
: August 10, 2026
Publisher
: ACE Systems Media Inc.
Editor
: ACE Systems Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACE Systems Media Inc. under contract with the copyright holder.
Without permission from the company and author, no part of this content may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means.
This e-book is protected by copyright law. 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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