Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1274. Encountering the Brigade (2)

“I think I can help you,” I said and looked at Jung Jin-Ho. I caught sight of his stern face.

“...”

“...”

‘That's not the reaction I was expecting from him.’

I wasn't expecting him to welcome it with open arms, but the lack of response was colder than I thought.

Just then, Ahn Ki-Mo whispered, “Are you really going to help them? At the camp, I happened to hear them say that these people are... a bunch of lunatics...”

‘Come on, seriously...’

When my elbow landed in his gut, Ahn Ki-Mo seemed to snap out of it. He coughed lightly and assumed his previous stance. I couldn’t tell whether Jung Jin-Ho heard Ahn Ki-Mo muttering under his breath, but it felt like the suffocating tension had lightened slightly. It made me realize that I was more tense than necessary.

‘Well... what’s he going to do, anyway?’

He had no other options. The choice to trust us or not was entirely up to him, but I was the only lifeline he had here. Whether we would be helpful to him or not didn’t matter at all.

The ground was collapsing beneath him, so he had no choice but to hold on to anything.

“What do you mean?” Jung Jin-Ho asked.

“What do you think it means? It’s like I said. I’m not saying that I’m going to actively jump in and help,” I answered.

“...”

“To be honest... you probably understand what with just the people here, getting you all out of this place won’t be easy. Regardless of my party members' skill levels, the circle is closing in fast.

"And it’s not like the people chasing you are some random people... they are elite adventurers from across the continent...” I continued.

“...”

“Of course, the chance of failure is high. To be honest, you’re most likely going to die. Whether you accept my help or not, the odds of survival are slim,” I informed him.

“You’re talking nonsense,” Jung Jin-Ho said.

“I don’t think you’re afraid of death... but what do you say?” I asked.

I remembered Kim Hyun-Sung's words back then.

"Anyway, the killer Jung Jin-Ho died after being struck by hundreds of arrows. He screamed, wept tears of blood, howled in agony, looked up at the sky, and smiled. He left behind words expressing regret that he couldn’t kill even one more person. It was a somewhat terrifying sight."

With that in mind, he couldn’t refuse this offer of mine.

“...”

“...”

“Even if you must die... don’t you want to take as many people with you as possible?” I asked.

Kim Hyun-Sung clearly said that Jung Jin-Ho regretted it.

“I know you want to kill more,” I said while smiling brightly.

“...”

“There might not be much time left... It’d be a shame to waste it,” I added.

Just then, I felt a chill, and my eyes landed on Jung Jin-Ho, whose mouth was twitching. His face was hard to read. He was neither smiling nor frowning. It looked like a slightly sad smirk. What was clear was that his face made me feel unsettled.

I didn’t want to look at him, even for a moment.

‘Damn it...’

I wanted to look away, but of course, there was no way I could do that. As

he stared straight at my face, a voice full of twisted delight slipped from his lips.

“How can you help me?” he asked.

“Have you decided to trust me?” I asked.

“Well... it’s not like I have any other options. We understand our situation well... and whether I choose to trust you or not, the result will likely be the same... There are still a few things that bother me... but overall, I liked it,” Jung Jin-Ho replied.

“What?”

“I’m saying that I liked your offer,” Jung Jin-Ho clarified.

‘He trusts people pretty easily.’

Of course, I knew that they were just empty words.

‘The guy got betrayed and chased all the way here... What’s there to trust? If I were Jung Jin-Ho, I’d probably have trust issues too.’

He didn’t know my name or anything about my identity. If he were to trust me, it would be really strange under these circumstances, but I offered my hand to him, and he took it.

A temporary alliance was made just like that.

“Now... can you tell me the details of your plan?” he requested.

“You lost your leader, right?” I asked.

“I don’t really want to talk about that...” he said.

“It's only going to be temporary, but I can be your leader for now. If things take a serious turn for the worse... I’m prepared to intervene directly, but we have our own issues, so I can’t promise that I’ll actually do that,” I told him.

I saw Jung Jin-Ho staring at me. It felt like he was trying to decide whether I really had the power I claimed.

I just claimed that I’d be stepping in for First Life Ki-Young and First Life Ji-Hye, so it was only natural for him to react that way, but it seemed like he wasn't underestimating me because I looked like a kid.

After all, the fact that he managed to lead a force of that scale meant that mere appearances weren't really important for him.

He had to have realized that there was more to this than just some casual alliance.

I was sure he had noticed how Ahn Ki-Mo, Yoo Ah-Young, the Friendship Guild members, and Rafael were treating me. For the Friendship Guild, I was probably the Saint of Sacrifice and Revival, while Rafael was looking at me as if I was a holy being or something.

Rafael was looking at me as if I was a sacred relic.

‘Maybe I really do look like some secret cult leader or sacred figure.’

“Of course, I’m not trying to control what you do. I’ll just be sharing stuff like escape routes and spots that are less heavily guarded,” I said.

“I think that’s enough,” Jung Jin-Ho said.

“Actually, it’s not enough,” I said.

“...”

“Because Kim Hyun-Sung is here, and...” I trailed off.

“...”

“You’re all... addicted,” I said.

“That scamming little rat...” Jung Jin-Ho mumbled.

Obviously, it was Ki-Young's work.

“It’s not a deadly poison. He probably wanted it to work without being noticed... so this was likely the limit of what he could do,” I told him.

“...”

“The problem is that this has been going on for quite a while now... You’ve been getting steadily addicted. For at least a few years... You won't notice any obvious changes, but you’ve already reached your limit,” I continued.

I could hear him grinding his teeth, which made sense. This wasn’t an impulsive betrayal born out of necessity. From the moment he joined the brigade, they had been ready to stab him in the back. How could he accept that?

‘Feels like the balance is way off...’

Even though I was somewhat relieved that Jung Jin-Ho and the low-ranking members managed to escape, I couldn't help but feel worried that they would get caught too easily.

The time traveler had stepped onto the stage, and the fractured bond between the Blue Guild and the Red Mercenary Guild began to weigh heavily on my mind.

Ideally, I wanted Jung Jin-Ho to become a real threat to those two. The best-case scenario was Cha Hee-Ra and Kim Hyun-Sung teaming up to take down Jung Jin-Ho together.

I thought becoming their leader and supporting them was the way to go, but with these guys getting weaker from their addictions, the idea became unlikely.

And I couldn’t risk pulling in my own party.

We still hadn’t even found the hunting dog, Lee Joo-Hyuk, and it also wasn’t worth risking a deathmatch against the attackers.

‘Judging by how addicted he is, no wonder he’s going to die from arrows.’

Not only would it be impossible for him to escape, but he would also struggle handling the overwhelming wave of troops.

Perhaps he was suffering from some kind of aftereffect, but he looked worse than when he fought Rafael. The more he used his mana or pushed himself, the more injured his mana circuits would become. Becoming strong quickly was the top priority here.

Whether it was changing gear or learning new spells, I hoped Jung Jin-Ho’s party would become even a bit more powerful.

Just when I thought there was no solution, an idea came to me.

This idea could actually work.

“Mr. Ki-Mo, please get rid of them,” I ordered.

“Pardon?” Ahn Ki-Mo asked.

“...”

“Ah! O-Of course. I’ll get rid of them right away,” he said.

Naturally, the Friendship Guild and Rafael vanished from my sight. I wasn’t trying to scare anyone, but I spread my wings right away. Wings made of light came into view.

Normally, I would add a radiant light visual effect, but right now, I couldn’t do that. Even without it, the impact was massive.

“That's...” Jung Jin-Ho's face clearly showed shock at the sudden appearance of pure white wings of light. I tried to hide my presence, but there was no way to conceal my overwhelming divine energy.

He was staring at a god, or something close to one.

Jung Jin-Ho’s wide eyes told me exactly what he was feeling. He never really believed in gods, and even after seeing me, it seemed like he was still going to deny the existence of such a being. Yet for some reason, he looked as if he was actually considering the possibility that gods probably existed.

This was the power of Shiva Wings. The wings had the power to turn atheists into believers. Even though he took out his self-defense dagger at his waist, he remained frozen.

Meanwhile, I cut my wrist right there and then...

‘Shit, that hurts.’

I caught the droplets of blood and poured them into an empty potion bottle. It would have been great if I had a more fitting container, but I didn’t have the time to prepare one. Unlike the potion bottles here, our bottle had a vintage design, so the overall image wasn’t too bad, at the very least.

‘This is effective, right?’

Since a dragon's blood was effective at strengthening someone, then a god’s blood would definitely do something. I never really had the time to do some research on it, but I was confident that—whatever was going to happen—would be helpful in some way.

My divine transformation ought to be way more advanced than it was with Song Soo-Kyung, so the effect had to be stronger, too. Of course, avoiding side effects would require a massive refinement process, but they were all going to die anyway, so...

‘Why bother worrying about it?’

If their bodies ended up exploding, it wouldn't be my problem.

“Drink it. It’ll help. Share it with your comrades too,” I said.

No one questioned why they were supposed to drink it. With slightly trembling hands, Jung Jin-Ho lifted the potion bottle and cautiously brought the blood of a god to his lips.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and it went down surprisingly well. True to this psychopathic nature, he drank the whole thing without a second of hesitation.

‘He really drank it just because I told him to do so.’

Clearly, he wasn’t normal. If someone told me to drink that, I’d think they were insane, but these lunatics actually drank it.

After Jung Jin-Ho, the others followed, too. Passing the bottle around like they were performing some bizarre religious ritual was an eerie sight, but the effects were undeniable.

“Wh-What the...”

The problem was that...

‘Damn it... what the heck?’

It was too effective. Even I was taken aback by their violent changes.

The criminals clutched at their chests and throats.

“What... is this...?”

A burst of mana erupted from them, and the wave of mana was so powerful that it seemed like it was going berserk.

‘Wh-What the hell... Why are they acting like that all of a sudden... What’s going on?’

The psychopathic killer was now exuding a presence so overwhelming it made his earlier self seem like a lie.

‘Why... did you... suddenly... transform?’