Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1466. Continental War (46) [Illustration]

— I found the guild master.

"I'm sorry?"

— I have located the guild master and am currently in pursuit. I apologize for not contacting you earlier, but the Goddess’s Hand Mirror was destroyed.

"It’s fine. That’s what I expected... Still, I’m relieved you’re safe. More importantly, you said you found Hyun-Sung? Right... Hyun-Sung... Hyun-Sung..."

- Yes.

It would be great to hear Lee Chang-Ryeol’s story first, ask about his condition, and offer him some comfort, but right now, Lee Chang-Ryeol wasn’t the priority.

After losing an arm and getting stabbed, Chang-Ryeol was still on the move, and I found him to be quite pitiful, but what could he do? Compared to a far more critical issue, the injuries Chang-Ryeol had sustained were no more than scratches.

I don’t know about others, but Lee Chang-Ryeol could definitely withstand those wounds.

‘He even went through pain tolerance training. Losing one arm is no big deal. The emergency treatment is already done as well.’

His Goddess’ Hand Mirror was destroyed during the battle with Ryu Han and he had to have discovered Kim Hyun-Sung on the way back. Lee Chang-Ryeol had to have wanted to return as well. After all, he wasn’t in good condition, and he only had one arm, which had to have been inconvenient.

Even so, Lee Chang-Ryeol judged that pursuing Kim Hyun-Sung came first. It was, after all, the most important mission of this operation, so I understood his decision, but still...

‘He’s a truly loyal subordinate.’

It was easy to understand why he had been unreachable all this time.

‘He must’ve been too busy chasing him. Since he's too busy, it's a good thing that he still managed to contact me.’

"Then right now..."

— I’m contacting you through Belier’s Hand Mirror, which I received from an assassin under my command.

"I see. Ah, but... right now... what’s more important than Mr. Hyun-Sung is you... Mr. Chang-Ryeol... are you okay?"

Of course, a few words of concern were necessary so that his loyalty wouldn’t fade.

— I’m fine.

"B-but!"

Sniff!

"Those aren’t the kind of injuries you can just say it’s fine..."

— I’ve already received first aid, so there’s no need to worry.

‘See, he says he’s fine. Our Chang-Ryeol’s tough. He’s a real man.’

"..."

- ...

A brief, awkward pause of concern hung in the air. As expected, the ever loyal subordinate, unwilling to cause any worry, hurried to speak first.

— I’m currently following his tail. I can’t determine his exact location yet, but I believe I’m on his tail.

‘Trustworthy.’

Since Lee Chang-Ryeol of all people had said that he was following someone's tail, then he was definitely extremely close to that person. After all, Lee Chang-Ryeol wasn’t just a top-tier assassin; he was also a ranger of exceptionally high caliber.

Sure, compared to Ha Yeon-Soo of the Black Swan, who had come along with him, one could say that he was slightly behind when it came to gathering intelligence, but that hardly meant Chang-Ryeol was incompetent.

To exaggerate a little, he was the kind of man who could look at a single footprint in the dirt and immediately figure out who had passed through and where they were headed.

Of course, Kim Hyun-Sung wasn’t an idiot either, so he would cover his tracks to some extent, but how well could he really erase them?

There was also a good chance he hadn’t bothered cleaning up at all, not expecting that we would be chasing him in the first place. The doctor and that woman who seemed to be the mastermind were variables, sure, but Chang-Ryeol had said that he was following their tail, so success was practically guaranteed.

‘It'd sting his pride a little, but if he were to work with Ha Yeon-Soo, the odds would only go up...’

Even if Chang-Ryeol hadn’t asked her for help, she was probably moving independently anyway. She had to have heard the situation from Belier. With two of the continent’s best rangers in motion and Chang-Ryeol’s information guild hunting him down as well, results would come soon enough.

With Sun Hee-Young and the Second Commander Jin acting as the control tower, capturing Kim Hyun-Sung could simply be a matter of time. There was only one thing bothering me.

‘Damn it... can I really just run away like this?’

The problem was that I couldn’t move.

‘Should I just bolt anyway?’

Was I supposed to drop Sung Ji-Hoon and everything else before going straight after Kim Hyun-Sung?

For now, checking the surroundings through the Telescope came first. Sung Ji-Hoon and the soldiers on the 4-2 Front were teetering on the edge of complete chaos.

The new Black Rose Salon and the Keepers of the Moonlight seemed to be protecting those trying to escape the fight, but the moment I looked away, a battle that was barely short of open warfare had already broken out.

The battlefield was so massive that it was impossible to contain it, and to make matters worse, Sung Ji-Hoon was shining with light and swinging his sword, trying to suppress the ones turning their weapons on each other.

“Stop right now!” Sung Ji-Hoon shouted.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you bastard! Like I give a damn! Damn it!”

“Shit!”

“STOP THE WAR!!!” he shouted again.

Some of the soldiers even turned their spears on Sung Ji-Hoon. Having committed himself to a nonlethal approach, he did nothing more than subdue them. At that point, it almost felt like wiping out all the commanders could actually be the easier solution.

Things looked a little better on the young ladies’ side, but it was still unstable, looking ready to tip over at any moment. If Jung Jin-Ho, who was currently locked in a full-blown clash with Ryu Han, joined the fray, any talk of balance or revenge would go straight out the window.

‘Look at that. Just look.’

The clash between Jung Jin-Ho and Ryu Han started off flashy, but somewhere along the way, it fizzled out into something disappointingly flat.

Whenever Kim Hyun-Sung and Jung Jin-Ho fought, they looked like they genuinely wanted to kill each other. They bared their hatred, traded taunts, and fought with their blood pumping full of adrenaline, almost like they enjoyed tearing into one another, but these two were different.

Instead of fighting, it looked more like they were filming some awkward reconciliation scene. Even after their swords had crossed countless times, there was a strange distance between them. Stiff, uncomfortable. There was no killing intent, no hostility.

Jung Jin-Ho didn’t seem to want to keep fighting anymore. Rejoining his Brigade clearly took priority. If his opponent had been Kim Hyun-Sung, he would’ve stayed, but right now, he looked like he wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

Ryu Han was the same. He seemed eager to finish Jin-Ho off quickly, but after catching sight of the moonlight radiating from Sung Ji-Hoon, he didn’t appear keen on facing Jin-Ho either.

It was as if both of them had suddenly found somewhere else to be.

Jin-Ho was nothing but a nuisance, as he had been stirring up trouble.

The whole thing felt less like enemies clashing and more like two people who had run into each other by accident, exchanged a curt greeting, and were just waiting for a chance to leave. Neither of them welcomed this encounter.

Sure enough, after forming a spear out of the blood around him and hurling it at Ryu Han, Jung Jin-Ho immediately moved away, and Ryu Han simply watched him go. It didn’t look like he had missed him. It looked like he had deliberately let him leave. They didn’t even bother with a parting shot or a final exchange.

At this point, I'd be grateful for at least one line of banter and some interaction, but there was nothing. Jung Jin-Ho looked like he had seen something he wasn't supposed to see—he looked disgusted.

Meanwhile, Ryu Han never seemed interested in him from the start.

‘Damn it... this is turning into a mess.’

Jung Jin-Ho had taken off. I didn’t know exactly where he was headed, but odds were high that he was moving toward the Brigade members fighting the young ladies. Ryu Han also withdrew from the battlefield and turned his head toward the moonlight.

It was obvious he would run into Sung Ji-Hoon soon enough. From the beginning, Ryu Han was supposed to be handled by our Holy Sword Hero, so that wasn't supposed to be a problem, but...

‘Even if I have to beat someone to death, the balance must be maintained.’

“...”

“...”

‘Damn it, then who the hell is supposed to stop Jung Jin-Ho?’

Just as I was thinking about sending Alps out, a voice drifted in from far away. It was a voice I absolutely didn’t want to hear, thick and phlegmy, like someone clearing their throat.

“Where are you, girl?!”

‘Valentin Cowardsandro. Damn it. That son of a bitch! If you’re going to fight, go fight the Brigade members instead.’

“I know you’re here somewhere. Hehehe. Do you really think you can fool my eyes?!” he shouted.

“Sir,” Alps said.

“End it as quickly as possible,” I ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Alps drew her sword and shot forward without hesitation. At this rate...

1. Sung Ji-Hoon would face Ryu Han.

2. The young ladies would deal with the brigade members.

3. Alps would take on Valentin Alexandro.

Three separate battles would happen at once. The balance wasn’t bad. The real problem was Jung Jin-Ho. With Ryu Han gone, he was completely free to rampage wherever he pleased.

‘It’s a disaster, damn it.’

Ryu Han was already dangerous enough, but there was no one who could restrain that deranged, psychopathic killer. If anything, he was even more terrifying than Ryu Han. At least Ryu Han only killed when necessary.

However, Jin-Ho didn’t even have that much restraint. No matter how I thought about it, there wasn’t a single piece on the board that could stop him. Sending troops wouldn’t help. They would just be mowed down without landing any meaningful attacks.

They could stall him for a while, but odds were he would still reach his destination in the end. Sure enough, he was cutting through people as if trying to cleanse himself after fighting that creepy doll.

‘Completely insane. He’s truly insane.’

The battlefield had just been calming down, and both sides were on the verge of disengaging peacefully, but the small projectile he had fired reignited the battlefield in an instant. He was basically pouring oil on every spark he could find.

“YOU BASTARDS!!!”

“Ha... hahahahahahahahaha!”

This wasn’t the hunter-like composure he had shown when fighting Ryu Han. This was something else entirely.

He was a tiger. His movements weren’t even swordsmanship anymore. Calling it a technique would be generous. It was simply a method of killing people, nothing more. He was strong against the strong, but even worse against the weak. Like a wolf dropped in the middle of a flock, he began tearing through everything in sight.

I knew that was one of his strengths, but seeing it again just made my head throb. He wasn’t even bothering to distinguish between friend and foe, as he swung his weapon blindly at anyone nearby.

Blood arrows and spells flew everywhere, and right in the middle of it all, he was swinging Juliena like a madman. Anyone unlucky enough to cross his path on the way to the Brigade got cut down without exception.

He stood out, as he had a massive physique and was on a rampage. Of course, I felt anxious at the sight. It wasn’t because the young ladies were precious to me or because of some sentimental talk about friendship. It wasn’t anything that trivial.

To put it bluntly, the girls we had raised to prepare for the war against the Outer Gods weren’t meant to die in a place like this.

They were pieces meant for a far bigger board. They hadn’t built up their stories just to get slaughtered by some psychopath.

If there was one thing I had to make sure...

‘I have to make sure that he will never reach the young ladies.’

Jung Jin-Ho had to be steered away somehow to ensure that he wouldn't meet up with the Brigade members. In other words, I had to make a move myself.

‘Damn it... I should be going to Hyun-Sung... damn it.’

“...”

“...”

‘Damn it. I need to go to Hyun-Sung.’

“...”

‘Going to... Kim Hyun-Sung comes first.’

When I thought about how badly things had ended last time, I couldn't stop thinking about Kim Hyun-Sung. Honestly, the idiot still annoyed me, but still...

‘Maybe I can at least pretend to apologize for what I had said back then.’

In the end, I had no choice but to speak to Lee Chang-Ryeol again.

"How long do you think it will take to find Mr. Hyun-Sung?"

— It’s difficult to give you an exact time, but... we should be able to reach him today. If we’re lucky, then very soon.

"If you find him first... would you be able to hold him there?"

— ...

"There’s no need to fight if you can avoid it, but in an emergency..."

— Are you saying that I may attack the guild master?

"Yes. I know it won’t be easy, but..."

— I’ll do my best.

"..."

— ...

"And..."

— ...

"One more question. Was Mr. Hyun-Sung alone?"

— We believe someone else is with him.

‘Damn it...’

"Who?"

— It’s presumed to be... Dr. Michele.