Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Part 13. What Changed in the 7th Round
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The regressor's senses sharpened acutely. The stench of blood and rot assaulted his nostrils.
Wei Lian headed into an alley. Yoo Ji-tae followed behind him.
He walked along a dirt-caked path, but no footprints were left in his wake.
His heartbeat gradually slowed. The creaks of his joints were muffled by mana. The wind parted around him on its own.
This was his first time entering the "Closed District" of the Lair, across all his regressions.
Countless gazes prickled at him from all directions.
Yoo Ji-tae turned his eyes toward a half-collapsed building. Between the gaps in the curtains covering the broken window, red eyes gleamed.
Wei Lian descended the underground stairs of a certain building.
This was the source of the stench that had been growing stronger.
"How's it going."
Standing at the top of the stairs leading underground, Wei Lian asked in a sharp voice.
A heavy sigh echoed from within.
"He's completely lost it. We all piled on, but he won't calm down."
"How many sacrifices."
"Two. One male. One female. One's a cadet."
Wei Lian let out a sigh at those words.
"......That one's done for as a human."
Sacrifice.
Demonkin slang for the victims they used to sate their urges.
"Go. I'll handle the rest."
"......"
There was no reply from inside.
"What are you doing. I said go."
"You plan to keep it in the Lair forever?"
"Why do you care?"
"The Sovereign is uncomfortable."
Sovereign.
The leader of the demonkin organization, Invisibility.
"I'll handle it."
"Orders have come down. Eliminate all不安 factors as much as possible."
"Hey."
Wei Lian's voice flipped.
"What do you want me to do."
His usual soft tone was gone.
"...Pardon?"
"What do you want me to do, you insolent bastard. You think you're my Sovereign or something?"
"That's not it."
"But."
"Still, since the Sovereign is uncomfortable, I was just trying to warn you..."
As the words continued, Wei Lian's body began to tremble violently, like he was having a seizure.
"No, but... this guy, pushing..."
Wei Lian's gaze, fixed on the basement ceiling, shook unsteadily.
"Who the hell do you think you're eyeing like that..."
Soon, it dropped down to the demonkin.
"You wanna keep staring? Should I rip you apart and string your guts up on the clock tower? Huh──!?"
A bellow shook the entire basement. The nearby mana churned wildly.
Chwaaak-!
A whip-like crack followed. Chwaruk-! Blood sprayed across the floor from somewhere.
Only then did Wei Lian's trembling body stop abruptly.
"Sorry... Still, we gotta know our places, right?"
"......Yes."
"Go on. I'll handle the rest."
As two demonkin approached, Yoo Ji-tae melted into the shadows.
The female one's cheek was torn open, exposing flesh, but tentacles were wriggling out to mend it.
He committed their faces to memory.
Yoo Ji-tae descended the stairs further.
Clearer sounds reached him now. Growls like a beast. Muffled screams. Shallow breaths. Twitching flesh.
"Min-seong hyung."
A mass of fur, claws, tentacles. Academy staff Oh Min-seong, transformed into something beastly.
He was slamming his head into the floor, engrossed in something.
"Min-seong hyung. Let's talk."
Wei Lian nudged Oh Min-seong's head with his foot.
Oh Min-seong didn't move. Behind him lay a male corpse.
The ragged breaths were coming from beneath Oh Min-seong.
Looking closely, blood-soaked bare skin was visible.
"Look at me, hyung. Let's talk. Come on? Talk to me. No... stop eating that and look at me."
Thwack!
Wei Lian kicked Oh Min-seong's head.
Only then did Oh Min-seong flop over.
From the shadows, Yoo Ji-tae saw what was pinned beneath the demonkin.
Like a chick.
Bright blonde hair,
...a little girl.
Now covered in blood, dying. Her body torn apart and devoured by the demonkin in places.
"Aigoo. My hyung's that pissed?"
"......"
The beast snarled at Wei Lian.
"That's Ha Jun-su. This one's Yoo Gaeul? You're really going all out, hyung. But I told you, don't touch cadets. It gets annoying."
Wei Lian prodded the blonde girl with his foot.
She was wearing a cadet uniform.
Not Yoo Gaeul. Just someone who looked similar.
Probably kidnapped from wandering nearby.
"......"
"Whatever. Anyway, hyung, what now. Can't have no patience like this... Our Sovereign's gonna kick you out."
"......"
"I'm trying to look out for you because of our human days connection. But it's not easy. You flip out over one little screening judge request?"
"......"
"Just three months. In three months, I'll ascend to a Seat... Sigh, hyung, really."
Ascend to a Seat?
Yoo Ji-tae's brow furrowed.
The "Seats" of the demonkin organization Invisibility referred to four chosen elite demonkin.
Unlike regular demonkin operating like a pyramid scheme, those who claimed a Seat commanded their own legions.
And gained the highest demonkin power rank: Disaster-class.
Just like the demonkin that drove Yoo Ji-tae to ruin in the 2nd round.
Yet in all his repeated regressions, Wei Lian had never ascended to a Seat. Not once.
As he puzzled over it,
The message floated up in the Apocalyptic Clock's status window.
Yoo Ji-tae's jaw clenched.
Somewhere far beyond Providence's horizon.
That "existence" dissatisfied with his regressions.
Its interference had clearly manifested through the evidence named Wei Lian.
Irritation surged within him.
What the hell is this bastard.
What kind of bastard tries to screw him over.
What's it so pissed about.
The best things Wei Lian had gained across all past rounds. Yoo Ji-tae recalled them one by one.
Indeed. Combined all at once, it made sense for Wei Lian to ascend to a Seat.
"Anyway, hyung, you can't stay in the Lair anymore. I'll move you out once things settle. Just hole up here till then. Two days tops."
"......"
"Hyung."
"......"
"You know I care about you, right?"
The demonkin didn't answer.
Wei Lian chuckled and turned to leave.
Until the year-end event where Wei Lian mobilized his full forces, Yoo Ji-tae had planned to let him live.
But the situation had changed. If he grew into a Seat, killing him would become a hassle.
Among the Seats, some scattered their lives across ten demonkin. Kill nine, and if the last survived, it lived on.
Seats were that much of a pain.
So.
From now on, he had to sever Wei Lian's limbs.
Before the year-end event. All of them.
The moment Wei Lian vanished, he emerged from the shadows.
This place seemed to be where demonkin unleashed their desires. Further in, iron cages held multiple corpses.
Humans used for stress relief and killed.
Krrrng.
Spotting Yoo Ji-tae, Oh Min-seong issued a low threat.
It instinctively recognized him as an enemy.
So its attack held no hesitation.
Like a beast. It charged on all fours.
But the lunge was halted in one blow. Yoo Ji-tae had grabbed the beastly Oh Min-seong's jaw and lifted.
He squeezed.
Krunch.
The lower jaw began to crumble.
Oh Min-seong tried to scream. But his throat was crushed too tight. In the eerily quiet basement, only the beast's struggles in midair continued.
He severed the beast's legs and arms.
The thrashing Oh Min-seong dropped to the floor.
He approached, grabbed the beast's hair, and slammed its head into the ground. Thud, thud. With each impact, Oh Min-seong's face caved in, skull fracturing.
This was a habit of sorts.
A habit to ensure demonkin didn't pass easily on their way.
Thus, Oh Min-seong died slowly.
Yoo Ji-tae closed his eyes briefly.
Killing a demonkin always made his heart pound fiercely. As if affirming the meaning of his life. It thumped against his ribs, asserting its beat.
At the same time, his dulled senses sharpened razor-edge. From his toes, acute awareness surged up his spine, flooding his body. Endless pleasure.
The regressor endured, endured, then grinned sharply.
But he didn't forget vigilance. He expelled the rush with deep breaths.
He looked at Oh Min-seong's mangled face. Time to send him off. He slowly thrust the Formless Sword into the beast's skull.
Tearing skin. Shattering forehead. Incoming death.
The beast writhed, pissing itself. He watched impassively.
He'd planned to kill this one anyway.
Low-rank demonkin. Killing it wouldn't alert the others to hide like cockroaches.
But now his thinking had shifted.
After this, he'd have to hunt high-rank demonkin too.
Even if some got wary. Before Wei Lian grew further and claimed a Seat. He needed to smash everything that could bolster Wei Lian's power. To make killing him at the year-end Melishia ballroom easier.
"...Go on ahead. I'll send the rest after you, one by one."
No sooner had he spoken than the beast's corpse went limp.
Oh Min-seong died like that.
With the stimulus gone, his heightened senses dulled swiftly. Vision blurred, hearing deadened, touch numbed. The senses he always knew.
For once, the regressor found them stifling.
But he had to endure.
He snapped his thumb and index finger.
Tak.
Black flames ignited on the corpse. It would vanish without a trace.
"......"
Then a faint voice.
Turning, the dying blonde girl stared at the ceiling. Her small body struggled to cling to life.
He ignored her and ascended the stairs.
Business here was done.
...But he came back down.
He couldn't quite explain why. Why had he returned. Maybe pity for some unknown child.
But he couldn't help here. He only knew how to kill. Not save.
Yoo Ji-tae crouched before the dying girl.
Her eyes had already lost focus.
A cadet ID hung around the girl's neck.
He carefully removed and pocketed it.
On the way back to the audition hall, leaving the Closed District, he dropped the ID into a lost-and-found box.
After that, he forgot about the girl.
Death was too commonplace to remember.