Perverted Desires and the Reversed Nerve Formation
Thinking back on my perverted desires, there were quite a few odd points.
Houses scattered here and there in the North Sea were using rare heating systems, and the inns served up all sorts of foods that were supposedly hard to get around here.
"The North Sea has advanced formations?"
"Yeah. Especially our family's formations—they're considered the best in the North Sea."
If all those inexplicable things were due to formations, it made perfect sense.
I was no expert, but formations were a power with an incredibly wide range of applications.
Not just in combat, but in all sorts of convenient ways too.
"What can formations even do?"
"Hmm... they're used in tons of places, but in battle, they're mainly for illusions that deceive the enemy."
"Hahaha... who knew."
Formations were like magic, in a manner of speaking.
Once I had a clue about my death, the solution to this crisis clicked into place.
"Yu-jin. I'm gonna go prep for the exam."
"Sure. If you flunk, come work as my personal maid."
"That won't happen."
I stepped out of the room, formulating my plan.
For starters, I'd die about ten more times.
"In the previous trials, we evaluated your talent as martial artists and your knowledge as scholars."
"However! The Palace Lord is the head and representative of the North Sea Ice Palace. What matters most is possessing the power to represent us."
"The final trial is a pure clash of martial might! The three candidates will now prove their worth!!"
The speech I'd heard in the previous loop played out again.
"Wish we could skip boring game-like parts like this."
The first time, it felt grand and stirring, but hearing it again, it was just like the principal's morning assembly pep talk.
One of the woes of being a regressor, I guess.
"The fight continues until a victor emerges! Any actions are permitted otherwise!"
After the declaration signaling the start of the final trial echoed out, the three Palace Lord candidates—including me—faced off on the platform.
In the previous loop, I'd taken the initiative with the first strike to seize control.
But this time, I planned to try a different approach.
"Han Yu-wol! I yield the first move to you. Come at me!!"
"...I won't hold back."
Among the candidates, I had the highest chance of becoming Palace Lord right now.
Which made me the biggest threat, so I used that to bait the other candidates into striking first.
Her martial arts had been tipped off to me by my seniors in advance, so hearing the technique names made it easy to counter.
"Take this!"
"Wait, why use a technique without shouting the name?!"
"Who yells out their moves like an idiot?!"
But contrary to my expectations, the fight dragged on fiercely.
Because Han Yu-wol pulled off high-IQ play by not calling out her technique names.
"You martial artist fuck, not even telling me the move names! Cut your dick off!!"
"What nonsense to a lady!"
True to her peak master level, her sword wreathed in sword qi targeted me relentlessly, pushing me back without mercy.
Lately, everyone around me had been hyping me up as the next Palace Lord, making me forget—but in martial terms, I was only around first-rate realm.
I had cold qi from the Eternal Ice Crystal, so my total energy output was superior, but I hadn't reached the peak realm, so my power was lacking.
If she was a waterfall, I was more like a stream trickling from a valley.
I-hwa-sensei had made a huge fuss about me reaching first-rate in just a month of training, calling me a genius, but that wasn't much help here.
I was getting my ass beat like a dog by a peak expert.
"Aaaack! Hold up, we had tea earlier and it was nice!!"
"Shut your mouth!"
Excited by my nonstop bullshit, Han Yu-wol growled and swung at me.
She was probably aiming to end it with this technique.
Just from the internal energy in her sword, it was several times more than before.
"It's over!"
"Fuck my... "
A diagonal slash came down.
I tried to dodge somehow, but couldn't find the angle, and her blinding white sword sliced into my shoulder.
"Gah!"
I'd endured plenty of pain as a hunter, so I could tough it out, but it still hurt like a bitch.
Fuck, it really hurts!
"Admit your defeat."
"Yeah, that's gonna be tough."
"Truly..."
She sighed with apparent regret and poured energy into her sword.
She'd decided that if I wouldn't yield, she'd kill me.
We'd gotten pretty friendly for rivals, but in the end, someone had to surrender or it was to the death.
"We could've gotten along better."
"We've only known each other a week."
Her face darkened as she swung the sword qi-wreathed blade at me.
Honestly, my shoulder hurt, but it wasn't impossible to dodge—though I had no intention of doing so.
"Gurk...? W-what, when did..."
Her sword wasn't aimed at me—it was at herself.
She plunged it into her own abdomen, collapsing with a bewildered expression.
"Well, looks like my hypothesis was right."
It wasn't some touching story of her sacrificing herself for me.
We just clicked personality-wise; it'd only been a little over a week since we met.
She'd stabbed herself without realizing it.
"Just lie there. It'll be over soon."
"Ughhh..."
I tore my clothes to staunch the sword wound on her abdomen that she'd inflicted on herself.
I planned to regress anyway, but I didn't want to see her die.
"You just gonna watch?"
"...There's no reason for this lady to help her."
Baek Ye-hwa's excuse in response to my question was pretty funny.
Because what I was really asking wasn't "Aren't you gonna help?"
"I'm asking if you're not gonna kill me."
"..."
"Dunno how you did it, but did you poison me or something? She ended up self-harming without knowing."
"Sharp eyes."
The reason I'd died in the previous loop was probably the same as Han Yu-wol's.
Attacking herself unknowingly and dying without understanding why.
In this barren North Sea, there was only one way to produce such results.
"A formation."
"...Indeed."
"You probably didn't design it yourself; you're exploiting one someone set up long ago."
"Playing detective?"
A formation.
A very advanced one.
Baek Ye-hwa was using an ancient formation someone had left behind.
"How did you know?"
"Yu-jin warned me, and I guessed some on instinct."
"That woman after all."
Like a magician's trick exposed, her secret was out, but Baek Ye-hwa approached me leisurely, maintaining her composure.
"But what can you do now?"
"..."
"Your shoulder's badly injured, Han Yu-wol's barely clinging to life. It's decided—this lady becomes Palace Lord."
"Plenty of eyes watching."
"Can the dead complain about formations?"
The outcome was set, so she acted boldly.
She figured we had no way to turn the tables.
"Well, this lady considers it luck. Without that man who tipped me off, I wouldn't have even known the formation existed."
"Hey."
"Any last words?"
"Why do fucks like you always yap so much at the end?"
"What?"
In movies or webtoons, villains who crave recognition for their grand plans are a dime a dozen.
And I love that type.
"Look forward to it. Next loop, when I become Palace Lord, I'll make you my maid for 50 years."
"What bullshit..."
No need to hear more; I violently burst my mana through my meridians and ended my own life.
"You're fucked."
As my consciousness faded, I flipped her off and embraced death.
You have looped!
Since I'd saved at the start of the final trial in the previous loop, regressing dropped me right back onto the platform as the exam began.
Han Yu-wol drawing her sword warily, Baek Ye-hwa preparing to signal the formation's activation.
Poses I'd seen too many times—I was sick of them.
"Baek Ye-hwa."
"Why call me?"
"Activate the formation."
"...What?"
"I know all about it, so go ahead and use it."
Her eyes widened in shock at my words.
"How do you know that?!"
"No pretending. Hurry up and do it."
"...In the end, nothing changes."
She clasped her hands and raised them overhead; my senses twisted subtly.
A faint feeling I hadn't noticed at first, but now it was familiar.
"The formation now active is the Nerve Reversal Array. Your body will no longer obey you."
"Nerve Reversal Array...! The lost secret art of the Dream Illusion Sect!!"
Baek Ye-rin bluffed with a name she barely understood, while Han Yu-wol startled at it.
How many times had I repeated this? It was starting to piss me off.
"Regrettably, this lady has her reasons—don't hold it against me."
Baek Ye-hwa drew a dagger from her robes and strode forward.
Han Yu-wol tried to block her but collapsed after two steps.
"My body won't listen...!"
The formation's power stripped control of the body.
Try to move your hand, your foot moves instead; aim for your left ankle, your shoulder jerks.
It flipped the entire body's senses upside down.
"Farewell."
The small hand gripped the dagger, swinging it at my eyes.
Too slow for a hunter's eyes, but an un-dodgeable strike.
"Bullshit."
I casually caught the dagger with my right hand.
"What?! H-how are you moving?!"
"What's hard about it? Just brute-force it."
The first time I uncovered the formation and regressed, I scoured for ways to break it.
But Yu-jin, with her deep knowledge, said it was made by an ancient absolute expert—no way for me to dispel or destroy it.
Couldn't abandon the raid, didn't want to kill the other candidates, so what choice did I have?
"I memorized it all."
"What did you...!"
"Every sense the formation reversed."
Hand intent moves foot, left ankle intent moves shoulder.
So I memorized all the changed sensations in my body.
Head, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, back, abdomen, hips, legs, toes.
What moved when I intended what—112 loops to commit it all to memory.
Honestly, it was a waste.
Regressing to when I first started the dungeon and supporting Baek Ye-hwa as Palace Lord, or killing her at our first meeting, would've been easier.
But I didn't.
"D-don't come closer!"
Just using another strat would've been simple.
But rewards might drop.
Harder to uncover the mystery man's identity who tipped her off about the formation.
Plus, other strats meant convincing Cheonam Guild and the Association.
No. Truth be told, above all else,
"I just fucking hated you."
"What does that—gurk?!"
I just wanted to.
Seeing Han Yu-wol's aggrieved eyes as she died unjustly ignited rage.
Channeling that, I swung my right arm with left-leg intent, slamming my fist into her gut.
"Guess dying a bunch messed up my brain a bit."
"Kyaaack!! Please stop...!!"
Memorizing sensations through repeated deaths wasn't that hard.
Lately, looping so much made this shit routine.
But my mind warping didn't even register as an issue anymore—I craved it too badly.
Seeing her face crumble, the one who believed her plan was perfect.
"Baek Ye-hwa."
"Hiiik!!"
"That's it? Nothing else?"
She might call me a pervert for this...
Due to skill effect, cognition of death is blurring.
Due to skill effect, cognition of death is blurring.
Due to skill effect, cognition of death is blurring.
"If that's all, it's a bit disappointing."
Hey, doesn't everyone have some dark, twisted desire or another?