Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1277. Encountering the Brigade (5)

“Th-that bastard... has gone... completely insane.”

‘Th-that lunatic...’

Had he always been this insane? I couldn't help but keep on thinking that way. Sure, I had always known that he was a psychopathic killer, so it wasn't exactly a surprise for me that he had a few screws loose.

However, the current Jung Jin-Ho wasn’t anything like the Jung Jin-Ho I remembered. He was the type to keep his true self hidden. I couldn't say for sure if there was ever a time when he was truly rational, but at the very least, he used to pretend to be rational.

Granted, my experience with him was limited to the early part of the second life, but Mind’s Eye would never lie.

He was a calculative killer, and that nature of his hadn't changed at all.

However, he was nothing like that now.

He was going on a rampage, killing everyone in sight like he had completely lost his mind. It was like he believed that he was Hee-Ra noona or something. His energy was off-the-charts.

I honestly wondered if someone had injected something into his brain. Naturally, I had no choice but to look at him with Mind’s Eye again. Besides the stats, there was something else I needed to check.

[Checking Player Jung Jin-Ho’s Unique Habit.]

[Solitary Blood Puddle]

‘Damn it.’

[Changing Player Jung Jin-Ho’s Unique Habit.]

[Checking Player Jung Jin-Ho’s Unique Habit.]

[Seeker in the Blood Puddle]

'What the hell does that even mean? Since when did this psycho killer seek spiritual enlightenment? A seeker, my ass.'

"I love it! I love it so much! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"

‘What the hell is this, seriously?’

Just then, Rafael finally appeared.

Booooooooooooooom!

An explosion reverberated, and it was generated by the collision between Rafael’s sword and the maniac killer’s blade.

Smoke and dust exploded, enveloping the skies in an instant, eliciting coughs from the people nearby.

When the smoke disappeared, I saw the party members.

I saw Rafael, the Friendship Guild, and Ahn Ki-Mo.

Ahn Ki-Mo was still making that annoyed face. He looked like he’d totally lost his will to fight, which was a bit worrying, but I knew that he would come through when it counted, so there was no need for me to worry about him.

"Get the wounded!"

"Ah... how are we supposed to beat this thing... He’s really... too much. That thing clearly looks like a monster... Whoo... I’m not even a guild master."

"Do you think you can handle it, Tae-Geon oppa?"

"Me? I don’t know. I just leave it all to the will of the Saint of Sacrifice and Revival.

"Whoo... whoo... That thing’s a total monster. Not quite... Bahamut-level, but still..."

"And we’re not exactly in a great position either. Our strength is a bit..."

"Bastard," Rafael muttered. "I’ll take care of that one. I’ll leave the rest to you.

‘Honestly, there’s no other way.’

Of course, I never intended for them to fight until the end. Unless Rafael decided to spread his wings, the party stood no chance against the enhanced brigade, and I know that better than anyone.

Tactics and formations would only work when a party was at a certain level, but...

‘At the very least, I can keep them from losing.’

"Ahhh, right, right! You were all here, huh? Hahahaha! Where is he? Where is he hiding?!"

"You... what’s your goal?"

Watching Rafael talk with the lunatic didn’t feel reassuring at all.

Ahn Ki-Mo exclaimed, "He has completely lost it. That guy... he’s not someone you can reason with, Mr. Rafael!

"I lost it?! Me? Me?! No! It’s the opposite! I’ve never felt more clear-headed. It’s like I’m finally seeing what I couldn’t see before. Finally! Finally! I feel like I’ve found who I truly am. Hehe... cough..."

"Bullshit..."

"Through understanding... I can be complete. Because of him, I can be complete."

‘That bastard...’

“...”

‘Was he just a loser who needed someone like himself?’

It was a bit of a crude expression, but I couldn’t think of a word that described him better than that. Visually, he was terrifying. The guy was drenched in blood, with bits of what looked like guts stuck all over him. He was laughing like a maniac, spraying spit all over the place.

I had seen every flavor of crazy out there, but his presence was scary enough for me to wet my pants.

It was no wonder Ahn Ki-Mo wanted nothing but to leave. At this point, fighting a monster would actually be less stressful, as the really terrifying monsters were lunatics like Jung Jin-Ho.

Jung Jin-Ho made monsters look like weaklings.

He was the kind of guy people would instinctively want to avoid. I was sure everyone would instantly cross the street upon seeing him walking on the same street as them.

He cast away all rational thoughts. As for why he suddenly became like this, well, it was pretty obvious. He had been going on and on about it enough that one would have to be an idiot not to notice it.

‘Did he... really think he was understood?’

"Y-you lunatic!"

"I’ll kill you! You dumb bastard!"

‘So this is why he started the brigade.’

It was just my own little theory, but the whole story came together in my head.

‘Maybe all he ever wanted... was to find someone like himself.’

I wasn't a psychopath or a sociopath, so there was no way I could truly understand what was going on in his mind, but he was probably questioning his existence.

Even someone with antisocial personality disorder or a psychopath would ask such questions at some point in their lives.

The question probably started when he was young and when he began killing small animals. Of course, the question was most likely this—“Why am I different from everyone else?”

I was sure the question had been haunting him since then, and it remained unanswered until today.

He dissected himself mentally, again and again, and somewhere along the way, he ended up here. Perhaps he started thinking that there were more people out there like him.

After all, killing and getting killed were common here. Of course, it wouldn’t have taken long for him to realize that he wasn’t the same as the others, but I was certain that he never gave up hope.

There could be others like him out there, or so he believed.

I was sure that was the reason he made the brigade.. The so-called “Murder Brigade” wasn’t like the Moon Breakers with their grandiose goal of breaking apart the moon.

They had no clear goal or ideology. They were just a bunch of scums with no goal. Some joined for fun, some for revenge, some to discover who they really were, some out of religious convictions, and some... joined simply because they believed that the world had thrown them away.

Jung Jin-Ho merely gathered the ones he thought resembled him a lot.

‘And even after all that... he still thought that he was never understood.’

“I guess trash comes in all kinds...”

Even among the scums who enjoyed killing, it seemed Jung Jin-Ho had never really found anyone he felt was like him. That pig over there—too busy stuffing humans down his throat—was clearly nothing like Jung Jin-Ho.

"Mmm... Mmmgh..."

The masked woman looking at him like he was something disgusting was unlike him.

"Can’t someone do something about that? It’s nauseating to watch."

The tall man was definitely different from Jung Jin-Ho.

"A-amazing... this power...”

Even the one who seemed relatively normal wasn’t like Jung Jin-Ho.

"He’s eating even more than usual today. But... what was his name again..."

That guy... saw a god in his moment of desperation. A god that whispered, “Don’t you want to kill just a bit more? I’ll help you.”

‘Was my face too psychopathic or something?’

'I swear I was just joking around. I said it playfully, didn’t I?'

‘Damn it. Was I that creepy?'

He was swinging his sword around and casting spells like he had just found salvation, and of course, his attacks were lethal. The others were scattered, trying to stop the others, while Rafael Jung Jin-Ho occupied.

‘He looks like he’s barely holding it together.’

He was one of the top ten on the continent. However, his performance was kind of disappointing, even though he had yet to spread his wings.

Sure, Jung Jin-Ho had powered up, but more than his power, his attitude was the one that was really grinding my gears.

“Whoo...”

"Hyung?"

He must’ve realized why I sighed. His jaw was clenched tight... but even so, there wasn’t any noticeable change in his performance.

‘Has he gotten soft from peace?’

"Haa... seriously..."

‘Has this loser been basking in that Hero Party glory, touring around like some celebrity instead of doing some actual training? Did he just stop caring?’

"..."

The moment their swords clashed, a thunderous boom echoed. It looked even at first glance, but the Gray Warrior ended up getting pushed back.

Rafael always had that signature confidence in a situations like this. His only real strengths were his stamina and that endless pool of mana and energy inside him. He was competent with a sword, but he was nowhere near the level of someone like Kim Hyun-Sung.

I had seen many top-tier fighters, but Rafael never stood out among them. His technique was somewhat balanced and heavy, but compared to Thronus, whose swordsmanship stood shoulder to shoulder with Hyun-Sung’s, or Templar Gen, who had textbook-perfect fundamentals, Rafael just couldn't cut it.

If we were to compare him to the likes of Cha Hee-Ra, Woo Hyo-Yeol, or even Bahamut, who fought with sheer instinct and raw talent...

‘Rafael falls short.’

All he had going for him was that old-school rookie energy. He wasn’t even that young anymore. He was aging, slowly, but surely.

‘It’s almost time to let him go.’

He used to be a well-balanced swordsman, solid in every area, but now, all his strength had faded away. Why would I keep someone who was aging? Why would I keep someone whose physical abilities were declining, and who could no longer bring anything useful to the table?

No matter how I looked at it, Rafael was basically a stock destined to crash.

He wasn't aging like fine wine; he was rotting like fruit.

‘Worst case, I can just call him out for a drink and end it there. Honestly, it’s about time I drop him...’

To be honest... I couldn't help but feel like Jung Jin-Ho was actually more experienced.

‘At least he’s practical.’

He was clean, efficient, and lethal. His style had obviously evolved for the sole purpose of killing. In terms of form and finesse, he probably couldn’t compare to people like Thronus or Kim Hyun-Sung, but honestly, calling that swordsmanship would be a stretch.

It wasn’t swordsmanship; it was just murder.

What filled in the gaps of his crude technique were his spells, but they weren't the kind of spells that blanketed the battlefield like Jung Ha-Yan’s large-scale spells. His spells were precise, sharp, and dangerously lethal.

The fact that he could fight like that and still cast spells mid-battle was enough to earn him the title of "genius."

Whenever a streak of light appeared in mid-air or before him, Rafael would take a few steps backward. He was gritting his teeth, but that was all. Nothing was changing.

“Let’s switch to a more defensive approach,” I ordered.

"No, I-I can do this."

“Sigh... No, listen to me,” I said.

‘Just go die already. Geez... I really can’t stand him.’

Rafael gnashed his teeth.

‘You got a problem with that, you little bastard?’

He looked as if he was being wronged, but he was steadily following the path I had laid out for him.

Just then, I noticed something about Rafael’s movements. They were changing.

‘But...’

Strangely enough...

‘He’s got potential.’

Perhaps he remembered receiving that merciless beating from Kim Hyun-Sung, but...

‘He sure knows how to take a hit well.’

He was different from tanks like Park Deok-Gu or Yoo Ah-Young. Rafael wielded a greatsword, so he couldn't really carry a shield to block attacks, but he was focused on defending and counterattacking using his two-handed sword.

‘He’s... definitely showing room for growth.’

The gray dove before me was growing in the middle of combat.

He probably felt that he was changing as well.

He kept his center of gravity steady and made moves to extend the battle. What was even more impressive was his transition from defense to offense. It was so fluid that it almost looked like a single movement. It was a difficult thing to pull off, but his strong sense of balance made it possible.

He wasn't crossing the line. He stood firm, waiting patiently for his opponent to become exhausted or show an opening. He was like a massive, unwavering tree rooted deep in the earth.

Just then, a swordsmanship I had never seen before burst out of him.

‘Wh-what the hell?!’

‘Is he actually growing stronger?’

Naturally, I couldn’t help but cheer for the young warrior fighting for justice.

“Y-you can do it, Mr. Rafael!” I shouted.

“...”

“You will overcome this!” I added.