Chapter 217
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Even the 13th Regression is Bullshit
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“Damn, this isn’t what I expected.”
Gonghyeok muttered bitterly.
Even though he was objectively stronger, Remiel showed no signs of letting her guard down.
The Remiel that Ju Gonghyeok had encountered was usually full of openings.
But capturing Cluesti on the 40th floor seemed to have changed her mindset a bit.
‘The standard play is to take out Remiel before Cluesti.’
The Seven Archangels and the Four Heavenly Kings.
Among Babel’s top existences, Ju Gonghyeok usually hunted Remiel first.
Snagging Cluesti on the 40th floor was just a stroke of luck in this regression.
‘There are a few standard routes, though….’
Standard route one.
Tell Cluesti that Heinrich betrayed them.
The loyal Cluesti then teams up with Bindcliff to blow off Heinrich’s head.
Sneak in there, snag some rewards, butter up Cluesti, then take out Remiel, who used to dismiss you as a bat bastard.
Once Remiel’s down, Bindcliff falls automatically.
Finally, sweet-talk the pissed-off Azazel into trapping Cluesti so she can’t escape, then gang up and beat her ass.
Easily bag three Heavenly Kings and one Archangel. Hell yeah!
Standard route two.
Take out the overconfident Remiel with Heinrich’s help.
Use the loot to smash Bindcliff.
Lure the suspicious Cluesti into a trap, team up with Heinrich to thrash her.
Then backstab Heinrich too.
Whoa! Now just the Demon King left!
For those reasons…
‘The bitch who was always careless is coming at me like an iron wall. Feels off.’
Remiel spoke calmly, regardless.
“I won’t get careless like Cluesti. And I won’t get ambushed.”
She raised her sword into a guard stance, even though he was out of range.
It was a mindset ready to counter any attack.
“Come on, hunter who exploits weaknesses. What will you do?”
Remiel’s gaze pierced right through Ju Gonghyeok.
She was different from Heavenly King Cluesti or Azazel at 60%.
A full-powered Archangel giving it her all.
No doubt, she was far stronger than Cluesti, who’d fought shackled by the system on the 40th floor.
‘Feels tricky in a whole different way from Cluesti.’
Cluesti had fought in a place of her choosing.
But this was Remiel’s domain.
‘A perfect spot for Remiel to fight.’
Traces of Selective Judgment’s authority were etched everywhere in advance.
On the 60th floor, stats would be suppressed, but this was Remiel’s personal space. No such luck.
Traps, exploiting weaknesses.
All of Ju Gonghyeok’s advantages for turning the tables were sealed off.
No—Ju Gonghyeok had walked right into her trap.
“Tricky.”
Ju Gonghyeok pulled up the quest window.
“I took a quest in advance, so it’d suck if I didn’t kill you.”
[Top-Tier Quest for Devil Contractors: “Assassinate Archangel Remiel”]
[Reward - Grant of Grand Duke Devil Authority. Upon Devil Transformation, “Severing Grand Duke” title granted, SSS-grade magic tool “Staff of the Commandment Star”…]
Remiel’s lips twisted as she saw the quest window listing her own bounty.
“Crazy human. Got some trick up your sleeve?”
“Trick? Nope.”
Darkness flooded around Ju Gonghyeok.
“I’ll just crush you with raw power.”
[Progenitor C (SS----) Third Ability “Drakenstein’s Night” activated!]
The darkness seeped through the gaps in Selective Judgment, flowing straight to Remiel.
She felt her vision vanish.
“Sealing my senses? You think this lowly power will work!?”
As she shouted, the darkness receded, shattering the veil over her sight.
She’d bitten back the darkness, but Remiel still had no clue what Ju Gonghyeok was doing.
She peered through the gloom, trying to pinpoint his position.
‘Attacking? Or defending?’
She hadn’t landed a single hit on him since earlier.
Selective Judgment’s activation was tied to distance.
‘At range, it’s too slow, so I need to close in for melee. Chain activations of Selective Judgment at the same time….’
She had her strategy, but now wasn’t the time.
Charging into close quarters without knowing what he was up to was too risky.
Judging defense the safer play, Remiel laid Selective Judgment’s authority all around her.
= Angel, angel, angel, Archangel Remiel….
Drool poured from Progenitor C’s mouth.
When it came to Remiel, the thing wasn’t its usual spaced-out self—it turned violent and hot-blooded.
“Grrr! Get that filthy bitch outta here and help, damn it!”
Guardsand writhed in agony beside Progenitor C.
“It hurts! It fucking hurts! Goddamn it, the severed part won’t regrow!”
“Stuff hit by Selective Judgment doesn’t regenerate.”
Ju Gonghyeok answered dryly.
“Wh-what do we do, Master!”
Guardsand clutched at Ju Gonghyeok’s clothes.
“Didn’t you say you’d crush her with power earlier? Got some kind of plan?”
“Yeah. I’ve got you.”
“Huh?”
Ju Gonghyeok stared straight into Guardsand’s eyes with a serious gaze.
The weird vibe made Guardsand avert his eyes and sweat bullets.
“Y-you’re not about to confess some shy feelings you hid until death, right?”
“Nah.”
“If not that, even if you powered me up to SS-rank, I can’t take an Archangel. I can barely save my own skin.”
= Grrr….
“Stop drooling already!”
Guardsand kicked Progenitor C.
Ju Gonghyeok had spent a long time powering up Guardsand.
All stats SS-rank.
The result of investing 16 crimson coins—he was now strong enough to rival any dimension’s main god.
Ju Gonghyeok said calmly.
“No, you can do it.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been raising you all this time for this exact moment.”
“What’re you talking ab—.”
Guardsand suddenly noticed Progenitor C staring at him.
The drool kept flowing, soaking Guardsand’s leg.
“You’re my hidden card.”
Ju Gonghyeok grinned wide and plunged his hand into Progenitor C’s body.
“Forced Awakening.”
[Skill “Forced Awakening (Unique SSS)” activated!]
[SS---- Rank Avatar 『Progenitor C』 ability awakened!]
[Final Ability “Identity Unknown Super Hidden Card” unlocked!]
Beeeep—!
The message turned red.
[Unlock impossible!]
[Must fulfill unlock condition: ‘Sacrifice (0/1)’.]
Progenitor C’s eye split wide open.
Jet-black blood gushed onto the floor.
“Uwaaaak! What the hell! That thing!”
Guardsand freaked out and staggered back.
Inside the split sphere lurked a mud doll figure made of pitch-black blood.
A creature like a melting mud puppet with dripping face and skin slogged out with wet slops.
The black monster’s mouth-area wriggled.
= Sacri… fice…
“That’s him.”
Ju Gonghyeok pointed at Guardsand.
“The main god-class vampire subordinate to me, Guardsand, as the sacrifice.”
“What!?”
Guardsand’s eyes bugged out.
The pitch-black doll oozed sticky blood clots as it approached Guardsand.
= Sacri… fice…
“U, uwaaaah! Stay back!”
Guardsand wanted to bolt, but he couldn’t budge.
Crunch, cruuunch.
Blood streamed from his eyes, veins bursting all over as his body’s blood got sucked into the mud doll.
The doll absorbed the incoming blood and enveloped Guardsand’s body.
= Sacri… fice…
“Uwaaaaaah! Ju Gonghyeok, you son of a bitch! You tricked m—.”
Cruuunch—
The mud doll swallowed Guardsand whole.
= Ac… cepted….
Rumble!
The black sphere wrapped around the doll again.
Like a kid playing with clay, the sphere grotesquely kneaded and twisted.
[Unlock condition fulfilled!]
[Final Ability “Progenitor Aindorf Summon” unlocked!]
[『Progenitor C ( )』’s….]
[Hiss—]
Noise glitched Progenitor C’s rank.
[Final □bility unlock causes rank change]
[Hiss—]
Progenitor C (SS----).
Cliick— cliick— cliick—
Something whirring sound.
‘S+++’ appeared on Progenitor C’s rank.
Hiss—
S+++
↓↓↓↓
SS----
Hiss—
++
+↓↓
SSS↓--
Hiss—
+
SSS++↓
Clank!
[『Progenitor C (SS----)』 rank changed!]
[『Progenitor Aindorf (SSS+++)』 summon complete!]
The black sphere stopped churning.
What had been a smoky lump took on a clear living form.
Gigantic bat wings slowly unfurled.
A blond man in medieval garb, with sculpture-like features, sat within the wings.
The somewhat aloof man opened his mouth.
“You summoned me.”
Craaaack!
The space around him crumpled mercilessly.
“How….”
Remiel, pale as a ghost, cried out.
“How did you call that thing!?”
Ju Gonghyeok lightly held up a finger.
“This guy’s final ability wouldn’t unlock no matter what, so I tried all kinds of shit to see who’d win, and it worked.”
“Liar! I didn’t even know it could take that form!”
Blood leaked from the crumpled space.
The man rose from the pooling blood on the floor.
“So this is Babel.”
He said, looking around.
Progenitor Aindorf.
Before him, no vampires existed.
An experimental subject of ancient devils, he’d swept them aside and wielded power vast enough to interfere across dimensions and seed a new race.
Though he’d lost his original might in the process, offer a sacrifice fitting his stature, and he could be called forth like this.
Having reconstituted a new self based on the vampire Guardsand, Aindorf gazed at Ju Gonghyeok.
“You called me. What do you want? I can’t stay long, but I can’t shirk a contract either.”
Ju Gonghyeok silently pointed at Remiel.
She flinched.
“Oh. Remiel.”
Spotting her, Aindorf clapped.
“I remember perfectly when you abandoned my world.”
“Eek!”
Aindorf took a step forward.
Remiel recoiled in terror.
She’d completely lost the will to fight.
But.
“Stay back!”
As he approached, she reflexively unleashed her authority.
Craaack—!
Shatter—!
The space ahead of Aindorf cracked like broken glass.
Then it healed as if nothing happened.
“Remiel, your laws don’t apply in my world.”
The true Drakenstein’s Night.
As its creator, his authority could forge an independent world within Babel.
His avatar rank was one-of-a-kind, SSS+++—unmatched by any god in Babel.
He was a man close to a higher-dimensional god.
‘He’d toy with a Heavenly King or two, and go toe-to-toe with the Demon King.’
His matchup sucked against the Demon King’s “Law Annihilation” authority, but in pure stature, he outranked even the Demon King.
“Aaah, aaaaaaah!”
Remiel desperately sliced the darkness with Selective Judgment, but it was futile.
Crunch.
Her divine miraculous tray shattered, devoured by the dark.
Her entire body was consumed by the dark world.
In utter despair, Remiel jerked her head up.
Something had clicked.
Who she truly was.
“I remember now.”
She recalled driving in the milestone, her self before becoming an angel.
With her still-intact hand, she pulled out a weathered scale.
“My original name, my authority.”
She raised the scale and shouted.
“Bala—”
“Sleep.”
The scale vanished into the darkness.
Aindorf, finishing her off, turned with a warm smile.
“That do it?”
“Perfect.”
Clap— clap— clap—
Ju Gonghyeok applauded.