Three Seconds to Save the World
While Demian, completely speechless at the sight, let out a hollow laugh—
Click.
Yunjae twisted the hilt of Gae Bolg twice.
Snap!
"It extended!" Akemi squealed.
The hilt of the longsword elongated, transforming the weapon into a spear.
"Yes! It was originally a spear!" Yunjae explained.
"Cool! But why do you carry it around as a sword?"
"Ah! I was worried carrying a spear would make me look short!"
A sudden silence fell over the boat. Yunjae stood at 174 centimeters. Carrying a spear that extended to nearly two meters would indeed make him look rather short by comparison.
"And there isn't much difference in performance anyway! My basic attack damage increases slightly, but the holy power is the same, so the sword form is just easier to use!"
"Just go defeat Kadmus first!" Mari laughed, breaking the tension. They had come to fight the Demon King destined to destroy humanity, yet there was absolutely zero gravity to the situation. Yunjae offered a sheepish smile at her outburst.
"Yes, Mari."
Click.
With another twist of the hilt, Gae Bolg reverted to its sword form.
"Anyway, I'll be back! Make sure to watch your spacing!"
"Stop talking nonsense, you dummy!" Mari yelled.
"But I think the spear looks better!" Akemi chimed in.
"You too!"
"Eee~?"
Yunjae chuckled softly at Mari's fierce command, which had successfully silenced even the eccentric Akemi.
"Gyarados."
In that instant—
KWOOOOOOO!
"W-what is that?!"
"Gyarados? That's a Pokémon!"
An overwhelming, majestic roar echoed across the water. Mari, Akemi, and even Demian froze, paralyzed by an instinctual terror.
"Ah! That's just the only dragon name I know!" Yunjae apologized quickly.
"Eee?! But Gyarados isn't even a Dragon-type! It's the Atrocious Pokémon!"
"Ah! No way! Gyarados isn't a dragon?!" Shock washed over Yunjae's face as his fifty-seven years of belief were shattered in an instant.
"...That's not the important part right now, you dummy!" Mari screamed.
"Ah, but my fifty-seven years of belief have been shattered! I always thought it was a dragon!"
Clearly, Kadmus was still the least of his concerns.
"B-by the way, I can't move my body! Yunjae, what is this...!" Demian, the only one still focused on the threat, managed to squeeze out.
"Oh, that's the effect of Dragon Fear! It'll wear off soon, so don't worry!" Yunjae offered a bright smile and leaped off the deck into the sea.
KWOOOO!
A colossal water dragon emerged from beneath the waves, offering its head as a platform to catch Yunjae.
"My god!"
The water dragon, Gyarados, partially revealing its head and wings, was far larger than their boat—practically the size of a warship.
Grrr!
Its freezing blue eyes were enough to paralyze anyone with a single glance.
"Ah..."
Even Demian, who had fought Kadmus before, swallowed hard at this overwhelming presence that completely eclipsed any monster he had ever seen.
"Let's go, Gyarados!"
KWOONG!
Gyarados spread its massive wings and took to the sky.
"Whoa!"
The resulting waves pushed the boat back, leaving the three on board scrambling to keep their balance.
"...Now my body is finally moving properly," Demian muttered hollowly, watching them recede at an incredible speed.
"But it looks more like Lugia!" Akemi's voice piped up, making him feel even more deflated.
"Hey! Is that really what's important right now?!" Mari yelled.
"But Gyarados doesn't have arms or legs! I should ask him to rename it Lugia!" Akemi said, her face flushed with excitement. She was completely smitten. She loved unique things, and Yunjae was the epitome of unique.
"He uses Gae Bolg as a sword even though it's a spear, and he named a Western-style dragon after an Eastern-style dragon from a game... That's so punk rock!"
"You really are something else..." Mari sighed. But since Akemi had fallen for his slender, pale forearms at first sight, this behavior wasn't surprising.
"Anyway, Demian, are you alright?" Mari checked on the still-dazed regressor.
"Ah, yes... I suppose."
If Mari and Akemi, who didn't know the true terror of Kadmus, were this stunned, it must have been infinitely more jarring and shocking for Demian, who had fought a desperate battle to the death against him in the future.
"But... it makes my entire future feel so insignificant."
Seeing him look so dejected, Akemi patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Eee~, but you still saved humanity from destruction."
Demian nodded blankly. "I suppose... I did."
Right at that moment—
RUUUUUUUUMBLE!
A brilliant flash of light erupted in the middle of the ocean. Whatever Yunjae did, the sheer force of it sent massive waves crashing against their boat.
"Whoa!"
From the massive portal beneath the sea, the Demon King Kadmus finally revealed himself.
"Kadmus!" Demian clenched his fists instinctively at the sight of his sworn enemy. "Finally!"
"It's really him!" Mari and Akemi gasped.
They hadn't fully believed Demian's words, but seeing the actual Demon King Kadmus appear made it real. They wondered if they should jump in to help Yunjae.
"Tsk..."
But Mari, unlike Akemi, could do nothing. How could she, who couldn't even handle a single Exotic Bird, help him?
"Shouldn't we back him up?!" Akemi shouted, looking at Demian, overwhelmed by Kadmus's intense aura.
In that exact instant—
Flash!
Leaping from the gliding Gyarados, Yunjae raised the glowing holy sword Gae Bolg.
Shining Strike
With a single downward slash from Kadmus's brow to his torso, he cleaved the Demon King in two.
With a brilliant burst of light, Kadmus vanished, completely vaporized by the single strike.
"What..." Demian stared, utterly shattered by the sight.
"Is that really the Demon King who destroyed humanity?" Mari asked blankly.
"The special effects were simpler than when he was hunting Exotic Birds!" Akemi remarked.
Despite his massive size and terrifying aura, Kadmus had vanished the moment he appeared. Everyone stood dazed, having witnessed the enemy of humanity defeated so effortlessly.
"Since it was just an avatar of Kadmus and not his true body, he went down quickly!" Yunjae called out cheerfully, riding Gyarados back to the boat.
"Pardon?"
"Ah, it looked like he was drawing a summoning circle to bring his true body through the portal. Right now, Kadmus is basically just a regular field boss."
Everyone stared blankly at Yunjae's casual explanation.
"Then...?"
"He might try to open the portal and summon his true body again, but the shock of this defeat will keep him quiet for a while!"
He had saved the future of humanity. In three seconds!
"Ha... haha..." Demian staggered, overwhelmed by a profound sense of emptiness despite the monumental success.
"Ah! Are you alright?" Yunjae asked, concerned.
"I-I'm fine. It's just... so..."
Humanity had gone extinct because they couldn't overcome something that could be solved this easily!
"But didn't you say he was immune to physical attacks? How did you slash him?" Mari asked.
"Ah, the holy sword Gae Bolg multiplies holy damage. It's the ultimate counter to anything demonic. Shining Strike is a skill that converts physical damage into 120% holy damage, so it took him out in one hit."
To Yunjae, a walking walkthrough guide who had defeated the Demon God Mamon over a thousand times, an avatar of Kadmus was child's play.
"Hahahahahahahahaha..."
From Demian's perspective, all he could do was laugh hollowly.
Mari and Akemi shrugged, looking at the broken regressor.
"It's only possible because it's Yunjae. If it were us, we would've been wiped out by the Exotic Birds."
"Exactly. And since we're on the ocean, the mermen attacking the bottom of the boat would have been fatal."
That was indeed the reality. The Exotic Birds were incredibly powerful monsters, and their ability to fly made them extremely difficult to deal with. With thousands of them alongside the mermen, even an army wouldn't have been able to get close in the future timeline. Yunjae was just absurdly strong, wiping them all out with a single Nova Field.
"...You're right. It's a blessing." Demian sighed. Even if it was just an avatar, Kadmus would have required immense sacrifices to defeat under normal circumstances.
"But why do I feel so empty?"
When he first regressed, his plan had been to persuade the Blast Guild—whom he had clashed with for ten years—form the Nemesis Guild, secure every hidden piece in the world, and defeat Kadmus as quickly as possible. All to save humanity.
And yet, Kadmus was finished. Less than a month after his regression!
"Ah! I know exactly how you feel! It's that feeling of 'What do I do now?' right? Because you've already cleared all the quests!"
Having reached max level and completed every quest, Yunjae had nearly lost his mind from the sheer lack of things to do. He sympathized deeply, but Demian shook his head blankly.
"I don't think it's quite the same..."
While that might be a small part of it, the feeling was fundamentally different.
"Ah, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have pretended to understand when I don't!"
Seeing Yunjae immediately apologize, Demian smiled and shook his head.
"No. In any case, thank you so much."
With this, the destruction of humanity ten years from now had been averted. It felt empty, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a wonderful outcome.
"So, are we heading straight back now?" Mari asked. It had taken them eleven hours to get here for a task that took less than an hour.
"Eee~? Since we're already here, let's play a bit before we go!" Akemi whined, not wanting to leave Southeast Asia immediately.
Mari nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't mind resting for a day. Once we go back, it's straight to office assistant work."
Even though they had slept during the sudden flight to Sumatra, they were still exhausted.
"I suppose so. It's been a long time since I've seen the ocean, too," Yunjae said, looking at the sea, which was glowing with a faint blue light from the residual effects of Nova Field.
"And they must sell bedding here, right?"
"Are you still on about that?!" Mari groaned. He had been obsessing over bedding since before they left, and it seemed he wouldn't stop until he actually bought some.
"Ah! I was thinking about it the entire time I was fighting Kadmus!"
Everyone laughed at the fact that even after effortlessly saving humanity, his mind was still entirely occupied by home decor.
"Oh, right!" Yunjae raised his hand as if remembering something.
"What's that...?"
"This dropped when I defeated Kadmus. They're medium-grade magic stones, but the confusion attribute is quite good. Keep them as souvenirs."
Because of his 300% reward passive, there were exactly three!
◈ Attribute: Confusion
◈ Effect: Multiplies rewards by 300% (Mamon's Grace applied)
"This is an Unknown Power Stone! These go for astronomical prices!" Akemi shrieks the moment she sees the mysteriously glowing stones Yunjae holds out.
They looked almost identical to the Unknown Power Stone the Blast Guild had recently acquired. Even with slight color variations, it was unmistakably an Unknown Power Stone.
"But I already have so many of these. I don't really need medium-grade ones."
"Huh?"
"My inventory is full..."
"My god!" Akemi was struck speechless.
"Y-you have a lot of these?"
"Ah, yes! Since I'm max level."
It made sense. After all, he had defeated the Demon God Mamon over a thousand times.
"If you sell these, you don't need to work at all! You'd be filthy rich!" Mari exclaimed.
"Ah, but I already have over ten billion gold. I haven't really counted since then, so I don't know the exact amount, but it's at least ten billion gold."
His financial status was just as absurd.
"Wait! Then you don't need to work at all!" Mari yelled, flabbergasted. Gold coins would surely be accepted here—gold was gold, after all. If one gold coin was worth roughly one don, ten billion gold coins was an astronomical fortune. Even just selling these magic stones would make him instantly wealthy.
"Ah, but I just want to live like a normal person..." Yunjae scratched his head. He was completely unmotivated by greed. Since he didn't even need to sleep or eat, working was purely something he did because he genuinely wanted to.
"So they really are just souvenirs to you," Demian said, carefully accepting a magic stone, having already accepted Yunjae's absurdity. As a regressor, he knew the value of magic stones. "I will treasure this."
These stones could maximize an ability user's powers or enhance weapons. While research on them was still in its infancy in this era, it was best to secure them whenever possible.
"...Me too?" Mari hesitated, looking at the magic stone Yunjae was holding out to her.
"Yes!"
She didn't know much about them, but seeing Akemi's reaction, they must be incredibly valuable. Is it really okay for her to take one when she did absolutely nothing?
"Just hold it against your gun, Mari."
"My gun...?"
Mari hesitated, then took the magic stone and pressed it against her worn automatic pistol, Cindy.
Wroooong!
"W-what?!"