The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 199

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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 199
199
Through combat, Sban came to understand several important considerations firsthand.
At the most basic level, there was the principle that monsters abandoned by the tank needed swift marking for rear support to function smoothly—and more useful insights, like how monsters positioned behind the tank would target not just him, but also attempt to strike at the tank’s back.
Yet what he felt most acutely was something else entirely.
‘This person is extraordinary. Is he really a beginner?’
Sban observed the man standing beside him, sword in hand.
A man who moved in an entirely different dimension, dispatching monsters with masterful ease.
He bore no resemblance whatsoever to a fellow novice.
Ujin, as the man was called, treated it all as trivial, his expression remaining impassive.
Thanks to this, both Aji and Hallak from the rear could provide their full support.
With Ujin handling one target completely, the pace accelerated, and the party’s efficiency reached its zenith.
Faster hunts meant higher experience gain accumulation.
Sure enough, not long after, Ujin’s level rose, followed by Aji’s, then Sban’s.
“Oh! Sban’s level has risen too! Congratulations.”
“Congratulations.”
“…Congratulations.”
“Ah, thank you all! Haha, thanks to you, I’m leveling up quickly.”
Even if leveling was difficult, with a party of this caliber, rapid advancement was inevitable.
Since experience distribution was based on contribution, Sban’s level-up came slightly later, though the overall pace remained fairly even.
What was slightly odd.
‘Why haven’t those two leveled up?’
Hallak and Palsia, who had mentioned being level 2, showed no signs of leveling.
Surely he couldn’t miss it—light always burst forth when someone leveled up.
So why hadn’t they advanced?
As he pondered this oddity, Palsia shouted to Sban.
“They’re coming! Focus!”
His words were clipped, but the moment was urgent, after all.
Sban accepted this and turned his body.
Hallak, positioned at the rear, fixed Palsia with a sharp glare.
Then, from the back, he sent Palsia a discreet message.
[Hallak: Don’t do unnecessary things. You could get us caught.]
[Palsia: Sorry, but the kid seemed suspicious, so I had to cut it short.]
With that, Palsia moved to intercept the Cobolts.
This time, five of them.
Normally, if he revealed his full strength, he could bind all five, but now he had to play weak.
He intended to restrain only three.
Then a message came from Hallak.
[Hallak: Hey, bind only two.]
[Palsia: Huh? Okay, but why?]
[Hallak: That Ujin bastard has pretty good control, so we’ll need to wound him beforehand. You lead while asking Ujin to handle two of them.]
From Hallak’s perspective, they themselves were fairly skilled at control, but this Ujin character didn’t seem ordinary either.
Was it simply a lack of adaptation to the character, as befitted a beginner?
There were moments where he flinched noticeably.
Usually there’s a discrepancy between real-world movements and in-game ones, causing reactions to lag momentarily.
Ujin had quite a few of those moments.
In Hallak’s assessment, Ujin’s control was superior to even their own.
Still, a beginner is a beginner.
If he weren’t a beginner, he wouldn’t be level 1 in the first place, and if this were an alt account, he should have adapted much faster.
So if we suddenly throw two at him?
He’ll definitely panic, and the probability of injury is high.
[Palsia: Oh! Genius, okay I got it.]
[Hallak: The Boss Room is coming up soon, let’s move fast.]
As they spoke, Palsia bound the two creatures with his shield.
Then, as if by accident, he cried out.
“Oh no! One more got away!”
At Palsia’s words, Hallak quickly shouted.
“While Ujin handles two, we’ll quickly support and assist Palsia! Please hold on just a bit longer!”
At those words, Ujin’s eyes snapped open sharply, then he nodded.
“…Of course.”
Normally, you’d support the dealer first, not the tank.
The tank can endure far better than a melee dealer.
Yet they’re doing this—either they truly don’t know, or…
‘These damn novice hunters really can’t hide it.’
Ujin—or rather, Jin-woo—thought this inwardly and let out a quiet laugh.
Their scheme?
It was so transparent that it was harder to fall for it.
Aji—or rather, Gia—knew this all too well.
So she stayed quiet to see how they’d play it.
But they came at it this blatantly.
Were they going to strike already?
As Jin-woo observed, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Rather, it seemed they were doing this to drain his strength.
Were they aiming for the moment before the Boss Room?
Well, it wasn’t bad.
Thinking he’d stop them when the time came, Jin-woo watched the two creatures rushing toward him.
‘Well directed.’
He rated Palsia’s ability to direct the two creatures precisely to him quite highly.
It was almost a waste for him to remain merely a novice hunter.
But if that’s how they chose to live, what could he do about it.
I need to dial it back.
I’ve been holding back my genuine feelings from spilling out, and now I’m getting jittery because of it.
I need to find a way to control myself.
While Jin-woo was thinking this, Hallak gave instructions to Gia from behind.
“As I mentioned, we’ll send support to Palsia first, not Ujin, your boyfriend. Don’t worry too much. It’ll be over quickly.”
At those words, Aji nodded without any visible reaction.
An attitude that showed no concern whatsoever.
Or perhaps they had fought?
For some reason, Hallak didn’t think much of it.
When couples played Pantheon together, there were often those who became overly immersed due to its remarkably realistic feel.
It wasn’t uncommon to see people who would become quite absorbed and enraged when their partner died.
That’s why he had mentioned it to Aji.
Seeing her nod so indifferently, he didn’t harbor great concern.
He entered the battle thinking things wouldn’t go awry.
While Palsia was tying down two Cobolts.
Sban was facing one, and Ujin was facing two.
According to the original plan, it would have been right to send support to Ujin first, or to support Sban, rather than Palsia.
Since he was the tank meant to hold the line.
Especially since Palsia could bind even four Cobolts like these, the fact that he was only binding two meant he had room to spare.
Support wasn’t even necessary.
It was a tactic designed purely to deal damage to Ujin and Sban.
Even Ujin could have panicked if facing two of them from the start.
But what was this?
He was blocking far better than expected.
“Grrrrrowl!”
“Arf! Woof!”
These Cobolts knew how to fight better than anticipated.
Especially creatures with canine heads, accustomed to pack life.
Their hunting was the same.
Like dogs hunting, one would charge first, then give a very brief opening before the other charged immediately after.
If you blocked one, you’d inevitably fail to block the one coming behind.
But it was also awkward to ignore the one charging first.
They were relentlessly targeting Ujin specifically.
Dodging was impossible.
He had to face both simultaneously.
For a novice dealer, it wasn’t easy.
Not wielding a massive shield like a tank, but just a single sword against two beasts—it wasn’t a simple task.
Even for those trained in martial arts, it was the same.
But Ujin did not hesitate.
He jumped high toward the beast charging at him.
The creature charging forward saw Ujin suddenly leap up and tried to jump as well, but since he was already running at full speed, he shot forward and missed Ujin.
As he twisted his body to change direction, his foot caught and he tumbled over. The creature behind him was startled by Ujin’s sudden leap, but quickly braced himself and tried to bite Ujin with his ferocious fangs.
However, Ujin extended his foot toward the Cobolt’s bridge of nose.
Thwack!
A sound like his head was splitting echoed out, and the Cobolt flew backward.
As he landed, he twisted his legs first, then his body, and kicked off the ground again, spinning like a cartwheel to rapidly change direction and charged toward the Cobolt that had been sent flying.
The creature who had tumbled over scrambled back to his feet, but the time to prepare a counterattack was far too short.
There was no time to dodge.
All he could manage was to block.
The Cobolt trusted his armor and threw his body toward Ujin’s blade.
He was wearing crude leather armor.
It wouldn’t be cut through in a single strike.
But that too was a miscalculation.
Squelch.
I thrust my blade toward the gap in the leather armor, at his collarbone.
The armor hindered the thrust, preventing it from going deep.
“Screech! Screeeech!”
The Cobolt cried out in pain and flew backward.
The pain caused him to instinctively retreat.
In that moment, the Cobolt whose head had been kicked hard regained his senses and charged at me again, but—
His condition was far from good.
Stagger, stagger.
As I swung my blade toward the neck of the creature staggering and unable to regain his senses—
A critical hit animation flashed, and the Cobolt’s head rolled across the ground.
Seeing his ally die, another creature was seized not by panic but by frenzy, charging at me without a care for his own wounds.
This one too was in poor condition.
His body wavered from his injuries, and his frenzied charge lacked preparation, causing him to stagger.
Seeing such abundant openings, it would be rude not to plant the blade, so I thrust my sword sharply forward.
Squelch.
My blade thrust again, aiming precisely at the Cobolt’s brow, and a critical hit animation appeared as the sword buried itself deep in his skull.
His limbs went limp and he faded to ash.
I casually wiped my blade clean and then fixed my gaze on Palsia.
Flinch!
Palsia suddenly flinched in surprise.
And Hallak was the same.
The Cobolt that Palsia had been fighting was long dead.
Now only the Cobolt that Sban was facing remained.
In that instant, Hallak and Palsia’s eyes met.
At this rate, there was no hope.
Wouldn’t it be better to do it now?
Palsia’s eyes spoke volumes.
And Hallak was no different.
Their intentions aligned.
Palsia let out a primal roar.
“Arrrgh! Die!”
Palsia charged at Ujin while screaming, and behind him came Hallak, drawing his bowstring to target Aji.
Ujin watched them approach and smiled faintly.
Then he spoke.
“Took you long enough, you cowards.”
Sban was still locked in a soul duel with Cobolt.
Palsia aimed to attack Ujin, while Hallak targeted Aji.
But what was this?
I had just finished the previous battle and thought all my skills were exhausted.
Yet Ujin’s blade suddenly blazed with azure light as he rushed toward the charging Palsia.
In a moment of hesitation, Palsia tried to shield himself with his guard, but it was already too late.
Ujin kicked off the ground, angling his approach nearly ninety degrees to pierce through Palsia’s defenses.
It was a position the shield could no longer cover.
Palsia twisted his body and pulled the shield closer, but the moment had already passed.
*Slash!*
“Gahhh!”
Palsia cried out in agony, taking massive damage.
The skill itself was devastating, but what truly hurt was the critical strike aimed precisely at his vital point.
As his health rapidly drained before his eyes, Palsia’s face turned ashen. He resolved to block this time and raised his shield—
[Critical hit landed.]
[You are afflicted with ‘Stun’ for 1 second.]
“Ah.”
Palsia turned his head, thinking he had no choice but to wait for Hallak’s aid.
But Hallak was already engulfed in flames from Aji’s relentless barrage of magic.
Only then did the truth become clear.
They had touched an opponent they could not handle.
*Slash.*
With the sound of the final blade, both Palsia and Hallak’s connections severed.
And what remained was…
“W-what in the world is this?”
Only Sban stood dazed, having won his soul duel against Cobolt, with Jin-woo and Gia watching him.
Only Sban stood there dazed after winning a one-on-one battle against the spirit, with Jin-woo and Gia watching him.

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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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