Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Bullshit After Thirteen Regressions
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A peculiar thought flashed through her mind.
‘Thanks to me?’
Kagagak!
But there was no time to get lost in thought.
Edgar’s light spears and skills slammed into the scrap metal barricade.
“For now, let’s get out of here.”
A one-use talisman coin emerged from Ju Gonghyeok’s claw.
The coin looted from Haraan—the elite who’d died lunging at Kisua: 「Thousand-Li March (S++)」.
As the coin shattered, a spatial transfer gate materialized, and the elites swiftly leaped inside.
Spotting their blatant attempt to flee, the hunters’ avatars began appearing one by one.
“You think we’ll let you leave?! 『Spriggan (B+)』, block their skills!”
“『Izanagi (S+)』, seal the underworld gate.”
[Detecting spatial distortion. Deploying interference gravity.]
Avatars capable of warping space or wielding magical effects disrupted the 「Thousand-Li March (S++)」.
The spot where Kisua’s group emerged from the gate was dozens of kilometers away, in a barren wasteland.
“Where’s this?”
“Look over there, Shrine Maiden! The humans’ massive army is visible.”
The hunters and machine god tribe had formed ranks and were advancing.
It was distant, but to Babel’s frontline superhumans, distance meant little.
They’d pinpointed the group’s location while interfering with the Thousand-Li March and would catch up soon.
“We were supposed to cover a thousand li (400 km), but we only made it a hundred li (40 km).”
Ju Gonghyeok patted the dirt off his knees as he stood.
“You lot join up with the Hound Clan warriors first. Run fast, and they won’t catch you.”
Kisua caught the odd undertone in Gonghyeok’s words.
“Wolf’s Heart Gonghyeok. It almost sounds like you’re not coming with us.”
“I’m staying here.”
Kisua and the elites’ faces hardened.
“Gonghyeok, we know your skills, but…”
“Don’t posture like that. No one survives being left behind in a place like this.”
Holding the line at the rear of a retreating army to buy time by tangling with the enemy.
The most honorable act for a warrior—but nine times out of ten, it meant death.
“Someone has to do it. You’re not the only ones running. I’ll hold them off until you’ve gotten far enough.”
Yuri, who’d been silent, finally spoke.
“By yourself?”
“By myself.”
The air vibrated as distant cannon fire echoed.
Ju Gonghyeok gazed toward the horizon.
“They’re coming.”
Overwhelming size and mass.
A barrage of metal shells rained down.
“Urk!”
As the elites raised their iron spears to counter.
Gonghyeok’s hand reached for his inventory.
Kwaang—!
The metal shell rocketed into the sky like it had been hit for a grand slam.
A fierce gust battered them, and Kisua barely pried her eyes open.
“What’s that?”
“Picked it up since it was just lying around.”
What Gonghyeok had swung was a 40-story iron pillar.
The armament of spearman Kosellete.
Photon Thermal Lance.
Stolen spoils after smashing the generator.
Its original photon thermal energy conversion function was unusable, but right now, only its size and strength mattered.
Kung—
Swinging the spear sideways pulverized an innocent sand dune.
“Quit screwing around and go. I’ll catch up slowly.”
“We can’t do that!”
“Don’t get the wrong idea, Shrine Maiden.”
Ju Gonghyeok’s back rippled dynamically as he gripped the iron pillar, like a snake slithering across it.
Invisible mechanical arms vented steam violently, crackling with intense electric current.
“I can do it, so I’m doing it. The proxy chieftain isn’t faking it like you—he can really handle this alone.”
Kisua flushed red.
“That’s different from this! I wasn’t planning to fight! I was going to smash the generator alone and slip out!”
“That’s no honor in that, is there?”
Honor?
Her face went blank for a moment.
Gonghyeok grinned and gave her a light shove.
Yuri grabbed Kisua’s waist and pulled her back.
“Tell the warriors and Seosin. I’ll hold the rear alone. Someone’s gotta buy time, right?”
“But…”
“Lost honor and pride don’t come back if you just sit there. Someone has to stand up and reach for it.”
Kisua fell speechless.
Ju Gonghyeok spat once and turned his head.
“Talked too much. Go.”
An intangible pressure emanated from inside Gonghyeok’s fur cloak.
The elites caught Kisua as she unwittingly stepped back.
“Shrine Maiden, he’s right.”
“Leave this to the Wolf’s Heart and hurry.”
“……”
Without a word, she turned and walked away.
The four wolves, including the shrine maiden, glanced back at him sporadically as they departed.
The gray wolf sank into solitary thought.
‘Honor and pride.’
He’d once had such things.
Unlike Kisua, he’d trampled them so thoroughly they were beyond salvage, tossed into the trash.
Spouting such lofty words that didn’t suit him felt like thorns sprouting on his tongue.
The enemies were closing in.
“Target sighted—one enemy!”
“Wear him down with ranged attacks, then close in and crush him!”
“Once the bombardment ends, charge and trample!”
“Frontline hunters! Ready charge skills!”
Enemies he couldn’t afford to kill even one of.
Nathaniel sat beside him.
- Are you okay? Won’t it be tough?
“I’m fine. I swore an oath, didn’t I?”
The regressions were over.
This world, where she lived, was the last.
No one would destroy the world.
No one had reason to die by his hand.
This world where all lived deserved a proper ending.
* * *
Kwaaaaaang!
A massive explosion rocked the land, shaking the earth.
Kisua turned back.
The steel pillar Gonghyeok had swung carved up the ground, reshaping the terrain.
Through the dust, she saw enemy lightning and laser barrages pouring down.
“Lady Kisua?”
She halted and fell into thought.
For several minutes.
Then she turned on her heel.
“Gien, lead the warriors. The elites’ absence has them uneasy.”
“What do you mean?!”
“You’re the only one to lead the warriors and us, Lady Kisua.”
She shook her head.
“I’ll go with the Wolf’s Heart, the last to withdraw.”
“Lady Kisua!”
Ignoring the elites’ protests, she spoke calmly.
“A Hound Clan warrior does not abandon a comrade to fight alone.”
“……”
“No matter the foe, we fight at the forefront. No matter the situation, we do not abandon comrades who fought beside us. That is our pride and integrity. Any true Hound Clan warrior must uphold it.”
The honorable elites of the Hound Clan.
A heavy silence fell among them.
Gien and Guyo knelt.
“Shrine Maiden, your safety comes first, no matter what.”
“We pray for Proxy Chieftain Gonghyeok’s fortune in battle and your well-being.”
Guyo and Gien licked her hand in the traditional manner.
They obeyed the order but dragged their heavy feet.
They wanted to escort her, but that would insult her resolve as a warrior.
Only Yuri nodded without a change in expression.
The three elites departed again, and she gazed toward the rising dust.
“Lost honor…”
In this era, where even protecting one’s life was a struggle for warriors.
In this era, where countless warriors secretly slew kin in the mud and oppressed the weak.
“Can we pursue ‘honor’?”
To Kisua, honor was something she’d been losing since birth.
A value she’d been taught existed before she was born.
‘Honor and pride.’
Something she, who’d struggled even to preserve her crumbling tribe’s dignity, had never once felt.
The longing from her childhood welled up.
A golden heart blossomed.
* * *
A day had passed since smashing the generator and fleeing.
The sun now hung midway in the sky.
Seosin, crossing the wasteland with the elites, tilted his head quizzically.
“Something’s off.”
No matter how much time passed, the awaited reward never came.
Seosin opened 「The Scroll of Duties (Quest Window)」.
Messy brushstrokes etched across the scroll.
[Mission: 「The Sweetness of Betrayal」]
- The treasure ‘Bell of Betrayal’ has rung.
- Rewards granted equal to the number of Hound Clan made to die.
- Rewards granted equal to the number of Twelve Elites made to die.
Seosin was the one who’d planted the Bell of Betrayal on Kisua.
Everyone thought his demonic authority emerged after floor 40, but he’d long been isolating and exploiting the Hound Clan, stacking demonic achievements.
Separate from the Four Heavenly Kings battle, the demon-side quests for betraying and killing kin remained active.
Babel’s ultimate goal wasn’t strengthening the beastkin—it was eliminating them.
“This can’t be…”
Seosin flicked his crooked mustache.
He’d seen the Bell of Betrayal ring with his own eyes.
Right in the heart of enemy territory.
‘Getting caught in the middle of enemy ground—massacred wouldn’t be surprising.’
This time, he’d put in extra effort.
To topple the Hound Clan undetected.
To smash the generator and escape unscathed while they drew attention.
‘The Bell rang, letting me smash the generator easily and claim rewards, but…’
The big payout he’d expected from dead Hound Clan elites never arrived.
‘No way no one actually died.’
Impossible.
If they’d all escaped, tens of thousands of human pursuers would blanket the area.
Yet, even scouring with clear eyes, not a single pursuer was in sight.
‘Even if they fought, five could only hold out so long.’
The pieces didn’t fit.
Seosin’s instincts screamed something was wrong.
“Elder, is something troubling you?”
“Jangga. Fetch the communication mirror.”
He barked a sharp order at the nearby elite.
“Using the treasure will draw machine god tribe pursuers…”
“I said fetch it!”
At Seosin’s roar, the elite hurriedly pulled out the treasure communication mirror (A-).
The communication mirror—a mirror-based tool for clan coordination—was rarely used due to eavesdropping risks.
[Lord Seosin, what is it?]
Contacting the Hound Clan main force brought up elite Gien in the mirror.
Seosin’s eyebrow twitched.
“Where’s the shrine maiden wench? Why’re you answering?”
[Lady Kisua is away momentarily.]
“Then the proxy chieftain should answer!”
[The proxy chieftain…]
Seosin raised a brow.
“Blocked that whole army alone? All yesterday?”
[Yes, his whereabouts are now unknown.]
“Unknown? Facing tens of thousands, he can’t have survived!”
[That’s…]
Gien frowned at Seosin’s outburst.
Whatever, Seosin deflated.
‘To think the brat was such a prize.’
The little whitebeard pulled a gourd from his belt after closing the mirror.
Hot liquor scent filled his parched mouth, thick with sand and dust.
‘A real gem. A gem.’
From first sight, the kid stood out.
The guts to demand blood price on the spot for the shrine maiden’s insult.
The bold audacity to make him an enemy and not give a damn.
Backed by exceptional skill.
Pride to throw his life away like grass to save comrades and protect kin.
Even as a foe, nothing to begrudge admiration for.
‘A shame. What a shame. Should’ve pulled him over by any means.’
A cut above the rest.
He’d known he was a standout youth, but couldn’t forgive the elites’ killer.
Dismissed him as some cocky punk soaring too high.
Seosin sighed deeply.
“I took a phoenix chick for a pheasant and ate it—makes this old whitebeard no better than a blind phoenix.”
In the end, it was as good as his own doing.