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Chapter 27: Dungeon - I Am a Regressor, an Extra in a Novel | NovelDex

Ch. 27 / 401: Dungeon

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Dungeon

A figure with its mouth wide open stood before me.

My body felt utterly lifeless.

Was coming here alone sheer arrogance after all?

If only I had told Yuna and come together... The thought was meaningless.

Now that it was too late to turn back, I had to kill the monster—even if only for the sake of the loved ones waiting at home.

Move...

The word “move”...

I forced my limbs to obey with sheer willpower.

But they refused.

Again and again I begged my body to move.

Yet it stayed utterly still.

Move...

“Move... that is... the word!!!”

-Qua-duk!

My left arm—already blessed—surged forward and pierced straight through the Doppelganger’s mouth.

“Kwaaaaaargh!”

I saw the monster visibly panic at my sudden motion.

“Kweeeeeeeeek!”

-U-duk, u-dduduk

Whether trying to render my arm useless or just desperate, it squeezed hard, clamping down on my arm.

No sensation, no blood flow—yet I refused to pull away.

I had only grazed the core moments ago.

I poured every last drop of dark mana and mental strength into my left arm and focused it on the core.

Once all the mana gathered there, the monster’s grip eased just a fraction.

“Just... die already!!”

-Chwa-ruk!

I yanked my arm free and simultaneously seized the core I had grazed, ripping it out.

“Kurueeeeeek!!”

-Tuok!

But it was not over.

I still held what I thought was the core in my hand, yet the monster did not collapse.

-Kurururuk

From the pierced body rose another glowing core.

The monster had more than one core.

-Chwa-ruruk!

The monster stretched its body like tentacles toward my left arm.

-Thwang!!

Now that I could move at least a little, I dodged the tentacles.

Whoosh

The monster’s White Night swept over me.

I dodged again.

The White Night shook the entire dungeon.

“Kiiiieeeeeeeek!!!!”

With every dodge, I sensed the monster growing even more furious.

“Hey, tentacle brat. Want this?”

“Kuuueeeeeek!!!”

I held up the core and the tentacles struck.

Thud!!

The monster’s tentacles cracked the floor and gouged deep holes. Even calling itself a boss, its own physical ability looked formidable.

-Tadak

I kicked off the ground and raised the core high as if challenging it.

“Hey, tentacle. This will taste good?”

-Glurk

The monster’s crimson core slid down my throat.

I had swallowed the core.

“Kueeeeeek!!!!”

Once the core was in my stomach, the monster’s rage-filled scream echoed through the dungeon, sending dozens of blind, furious tentacles flying.

-Whoosh!

White light—White Night—erased every single one of those tentacles.

The White Night split the floor and shook the dungeon.

-Thang!!!

The White Night surged over the monster like a massive wave.

The force hurled it into the air and slammed it violently into the dungeon wall.

-Duduk, duduk, duduk

“It’s gross because of the slime, but the mana is usable. Swallowing it was the worst, but thanks to that, my mana recovered quite a bit.”

Having swallowed the monster’s core and restored my mana, I limped toward the Doppelganger that had pinned me against the wall.

-Chwa-ruruk!

Tentacles shot at me to stop me, but I flicked them away with my powerless, rage-blind appendages.

-Chwa-ruruk! Thud!

I grabbed one of the tentacles and spoke calmly.

“Even as a monster, you feel fear, huh?”

The idea of having my heart ripped out and eaten had terrified the monster enough for it to feel fear at all.

-Quak!

I thrust my mana-reinforced left arm deep into the monster’s body pinned against the wall and seized its core.

“I wonder if it has another one. Mind if I check?”

“Kwa... kwaaaaaaah!!”

“Actually, your permission doesn’t matter.”

It struggled one last time, but it was useless.

I yanked my arm free and pulled out its final remaining core.

The monster’s body lost the strength to hold its shape and collapsed, spreading across the floor.

“Even a boss can’t have three lives, huh.”

“Haaak, haaak! I finally found it!!”

-Chwa-ruruk-!

Behind me, a familiar voice rang out as a fiery chain bound me.

“Haa... it’s you again?”

The red-haired beauty who looked like living fire came running, panting.

“Yeah, it’s me! Where the hell have you been hiding?! How hard did I look for you?!”

“Why do you care? And what were you looking for me for?”

“Obviously! ...Wait... why was I looking for you?”

Why was this idiot asking me that?

“Last time you didn’t hit my head, right? Did you get a headache?”

“Why do you have to ask me?!”

-Thud!

“Huh! Hey! Your words changed!?”

Even I didn’t realize my thoughts had shifted until then.

It didn’t matter, but watching the lively Yua-young advance toward me, I realized she was not the monster.

-Clang!

“So why did you bind me? If your taste is like that, it’s ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kind of gross.”

“I don’t have that kind of taste either!! And what do you mean? First let me see your face and talk. I tied you up so you couldn’t run.”

“You want to talk but you want to see my face?”

“Th-that’s... that’s... I don’t know!! Anyway, stop talking nonsense and get out of the way!”

I saw her reach out for the mask and flicked my fingers once. -Tick!

-Cluck!

The fiery chain lost its target and fell to the floor.

“I have no reason to show you my face.”

“What? How did you get that out?”

I had probably said that line to the monster too many times.

“I have no reason to tell you, and I don’t have time to deal with you.”

“Hey! Wait—!”

I used every last drop of mana left in me and activated Teleport.

Taunting Yua-young would have been fun, but I had no time to spare. I had to rush back to the loved ones waiting for me so I could ease their worry even a little.

The instant Teleport took hold, my vision flashed.

The ceiling of the room I had marked before entering the familiar dungeon appeared.

Cheon-seong sat right there, catching his breath. Now I’ve come back. His body was exhausted, yet the sense of safety in this familiar place brought him a moment of peace.

I had worried mana might be insufficient and I would fail, but I had barely succeeded.

“Haa... haa...”

Using the mana I had barely restored with the boss’s core left me unable to move.

“...I need to heal soon...”

My entire body was covered in wounds. I had to treat them before Hana and Yuna saw them, but my limbs refused to obey.

[Fortunately you have returned, my dear one.]

A voice of salvation reached me.

“Bea... trice.”

The beloved mentor I revered above all, the only one I loved—Beatrice.

[Your body is covered in wounds...]

Beatrice knelt beside me and began healing me with a sorrowful face.

“...The boss was stronger than I thought.”

In truth, even defeating the last boss had been close to a miracle.

Using the monster’s final desperate act, I had accidentally taken one of its two cores, restored mana, and—somehow—the monster had felt fear and attacked in a simple pattern, allowing me to finish it.

Had its actions been even slightly different, I would have lost. Truly a miraculous victory.

Of course I would not mention it. I did not want to worry Beatrice.

“Now it’s all right, Beatrice. Thank you for healing me.”

[Rest a little longer. Your fatigue is severe.]

“I know, but I still need to meet Yuna and Hana and rest—!”

-Wobble

As I tried to stand, my body swayed and collapsed.

-Thud!

[I did not say to rest? Your fatigue is severe.]

“...Yeah, I know.”

My body had no strength.

Precisely, it had strength, but it was so faint I could not even lift my arm, walk, or stand.

“Sorry, can you carry me back to my room?”

[There is no need to apologize. I will call Hana and Yuna too. Rest on the bed.]

With Beatrice’s perfect Teleport, my body was moved onto my bed.

It was a flawless Teleport compared to my own clumsy one, which left almost no mana trace.

“As expected, Beatrice, you are truly amazing.”

[Of course. As your master, it is only natural.]

A natural smile spread across my face at Beatrice’s words.

The only person who could defeat me and the only one I respected. The only one who truly understood me—Beatrice—I still loved.

“I love you, Beatrice.”

[....What are you suddenly saying?]

Beatrice’s blushing cheeks were adorable.

[....I love you too.]

Beatrice, who blushed while telling me she loved me, was so lovely.

Cheon-seong gazed at her affectionately as she stood, looking at herself in the mirror, then left the room to call Yuna and Hana.

Cheon-seong continued to watch the back of Beatrice lovingly even after she left, and Beatrice felt that gaze as she walked, her once-pure white face slowly flushing red.

Two presences rushing toward him with increasing speed outside the door made Cheon-seong smile and turn to the door.

The door opened and his beloved family flew into his arms.

“Cheon-seong!!”

“Daddy!!”

-Warak!

Though my body had no strength to move, it caught the two running toward me and I hugged them tight.

“I’m back. Yuna, Hana.”

The time away had not been long... yet for me it felt longer than any day. It must have been the same for them.

Truly... my dirty heart felt purified by the love of these three.

***

“Cheon-seong seems very tired, sister.”

At Yuna’s question, Beatrice stroked Cheon-seong’s hair as he slept soundly beside her and answered.

[Even so, I will not tell you where Cheon-seong went.]-twitch

“N-not that! I was really just worried!”

Yuna, who had hoped Beatrice would accidentally mention where he had gone, twitched and fell silent.

Yes.

Cheon-seong was now sleeping from accumulated fatigue due to the endless battles and the backlash of the Black Moon.

“Heehee, Daddy~”

“Hana. Daddy is sleeping, so move a little farther.”

“I don’t wanna~”

Looking at such a Cheon-seong, Hana clung to him and rubbed her cheek against his, and at Yuna’s words, Hana refused and pressed even closer.

[It’s all right. Since Cheon-seong allowed it.]

“It is, but... Hana, be careful so Daddy doesn’t wake up?”

“Yes!”

Yuna smiled with half her mouth upturned at Hana’s energetic reply.

......

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......

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......

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