The Regressor Is Tired (1) (Start of Part 2)
The Regressor Is Tired (1) (Start of Part 2)
Have you ever heard of a creature called the Yeti?
Most people who know of it probably picture a giant ape over two meters tall, wrapped in white fur from head to toe. I knew about it because it showed up in a card game I used to play often.
Anyway, Yeti live on icy mountain ranges, stir up blizzards, and try to stop climbers from ascending. If you really think about it, they're just fairly large, white-furred gorillas.
"Grrrk, grrrrk..."
That's why I used to consider the Yeti a joke. I had the tremendous physical abilities from my trait levels and the keen swordsmanship I'd honed thanks to my clones. Humankind, the lords of creation, had acquired mysterious superpowers—there was no way a mere pale gorilla could frighten me.
"Just... die already..."
"Grrrk..."
But the Yeti I actually encountered was far more threatening than I'd anticipated. It was one of the most terrifying enemies I've ever faced, ranking among the worst.
<Floor 10>
-Clear Condition: Defeat the Yeti, master of Mount Lucht.
On the slope of a steep mountain where jagged conifers pierced the sky and heavy clumps of snow poured down from above.
"Grrrrrk..."
A pale, emaciated thing crawled along the floor, dragging its withered arms through the fallen snow. This something, which resembled a white fur worm, was the aforementioned Yeti. Why is it in such bad shape?
"It's already... been two weeks..."
Because I've been locked in a standoff with this Yeti for a full two weeks.
But before that, let me explain what's happened so far.
After clearing Floor 5 with great difficulty, I rested with Ji-won for about two weeks and then regressed. Afterward, I quickly cleared Floor 5 again and immediately entered Floor 6.
<Floor 6>
-Clear Condition: Defeat the cursed woman, Medusa.
-Making eye contact with Medusa will cause gradual petrification starting from the body's extremities.
"Oh...?"
The concept for Floors 6 through 9 was simpler than I expected. A mythical monster would appear, and the player had to defeat it alone. Looking at just that, it would seem terribly difficult, but...
<If you confront it head-on, you will naturally be defeated. But the most precious resource you possess is not that fragile body of yours, but your brilliant mind. If you use what is given to you well, anyone can survive.>
Whoever designed Floors 6 through 10 had set up various devices allowing even the weakest player to survive.
The Medusa that appeared on Floor 6 was nothing more than a woman with snakes on her head if you approached it wearing glasses sold in a nearby village.
The Banshee that appeared on Floor 7 burned away in an instant if you sprinkled holy water obtained from an old church on it.
The Vampire that appeared on Floor 8 simply melted away if you waited from the starting cabin until sunrise.
The large boar that appeared on Floor 9 collapsed after wolfing down poisoned bait.
Assuming you properly used the information obtained after entering the Tower, the difficulty up to Floor 9 was quite easy. It felt more like solving some kind of puzzle rather than fighting for your life against monsters.
The problem was Floor 10. I'd long ago figured out the Yeti's weakness. The creature is active for exactly six hours a day, and sleeps in a cave for the remaining eighteen. If you slip a blade into its neck, avoiding its thick fur, you can kill it easily.
Then why am I doing this? The problem is the magical cold aura the Yeti wears like a shroud.
Perhaps because these Yeti stir up blizzards, the temperature around its body was exceptionally low. When a person approaches it, their movements slow involuntarily, and their skin turns bluish-purple in an instant.
Yes, the skin necrotizes. Which means I regress.
"Fuck, fuck..."
If I throw a weapon from far away, the fur covering its whole body renders it completely useless. But if I get close, the cold aura makes me regress in no time.
Truly the worst kind of natural enemy. A monstrous beast on par with the Golem from Floor 3, a direct counter to a regressor.
I even thought I might end up trapped on Floor 10. And since it happened to be a cold mountain range, the nightmare of Floor 4 resurfaced.
But after observing the Yeti closely, I was able to figure out its weakness.
It couldn't leave a certain area. Seeing how it only went to the same places, its movement radius was clearly fixed.
"...So you do eat, huh?"
Besides, the creature eats food despite being a mythical beast. It would usually slow down creatures like birds and antelopes using its unique aura and then devour them. The key point was that it did eat something.
"..."
If I can't kill the beast directly, I'll starve it to death.
I'd kill every living thing it could eat in advance, and sweep them all away. Then it would die.
From that point on, I started killing every animal in sight and throwing them over the cliff edge, and I roasted and ate some of them myself.
"Kwooooooo!!!"
"I'm faster than you, dumbass!"
At first, the Yeti tilted its head, wondering where the animals had gone, then soon noticed my presence and started chasing me, but I clearly had the advantage in agility. I kept a distance where it seemed like it could catch me but couldn't, and exterminated every life form the Yeti could eat.
"Grrrrrrrk..."
And the result after two weeks is that emaciated fur worm you see over there.
"...Just die already..."
I've also reached my limit. The only thing I ate that could be called a meal was poorly roasted wild animals that reeked of gamey stench, and sometimes I even had to eat the meat raw without grilling it.
And since I threw every living thing I didn't eat over the cliff, at least up here on this mountainside, no life remained. Which means all the meat for me to eat has run out too.
"..."
"..."
The Yeti struggled to lift its head and glared at me. I held my ground and glared right back.
Just die already. Please, please, die...!
Was it because my desperate wish reached it?
"...Grk."
The Yeti's head dropped with a thud.
<You have cleared Floor 10.>
-Wooong.
The blue portal I had waited and waited for finally revealed itself before my eyes.
"Huff, huff..."
I hurried through the portal and returned to my rented room without even checking the reward.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
The moment I returned, Choi Ji-won approached me with worried eyes. Since I hadn't come out of Floor 10 for two weeks, a floor she had likely cleared in no time, her concern was only natural.
"Did you... not manage to get near the Yeti?"
"...Yeah. I'd regress the instant I got close. So I waited until it starved to death."
"...Oh my god."
Having grasped the situation, Choi Ji-won shook her head, then immediately buried herself in my arms.
"...I was worried. I wondered if something had happened to you."
"Honestly, I also worried I might not be able to come out."
"Hey!"
"Okay. I'm sorry."
"...As long as you know."
"...Yeah."
The conversation checking on each other's well-being came to an awkward halt, and our eyes met. We were already pressed closely together, so a pleasant fragrance wafted gently and tickled my nose.
"..."
"..."
No further conversation was necessary. Choi Ji-won softly closed her eyes, and our lips slowly drew closer...
"Sniff."
"...?"
I reflexively sniffled. A runny nose? That hadn't happened since I got the Status Window.
Now that I thought about it, my throat felt slightly scratchy, and a faint trickle of mucus teased the membranes, threatening to emerge.
It had been a really long time, but... these were symptoms I remembered.
"Ji-won..."
"Yeah?"
"I think I'm coming down with a cold..."
"A cold? You?"
I wasn't coughing. I didn't have a fever either.
But I felt that unpleasant sensation unique to a cold, a faint heat hinting that my body was slightly flushed. The virus was lurking deep inside my throat.
Was it because I hadn't eaten properly and had rolled around the snowy mountain for two weeks? Or was it because, unlike on Floor 4, the Hero trait hadn't activated?
It confirmed the fact that even a superhuman body can fall ill if exposed to an extreme environment for a long time. Information I definitely never wanted to know.
"..."
The fact that it stopped at merely a cold also proves that my body has far surpassed that of an ordinary person. It's an environment where an average person would have died long ago.
And these days, colds are barely worth calling an illness. Taking medicine doesn't necessarily make you recover faster, but catching one doesn't cause major problems either. You just cough a bit, run a slight fever, feel a little under the weather for a day or two, and then return to daily life.
"What if I regress because of a cold?"
But what about a regressor who regresses upon taking damage? What if the cold virus itself is considered damage? What if, the moment the cold symptoms blooming inside my body fully manifest, regression begins?
And what if the timing of the illness blooming happens to be right after entering the Tower, so from that point on, I'm trapped forever in the shackles of time?
"..."
"..."
Choi Ji-won's expression also hardened, as if she realized the gravity of the situation. She'd caught on that although it was just a weak cold right now, it could evolve into a fatal dagger at any moment.
"Jun-ho."
"Yeah?"
"First, let's drink a potion."
Choi Ji-won casually handed over a Mid-grade Potion, the kind that traded for its weight in gold in the real world. I took the potion, immediately entered Floor 1, and gulped down the potion duplicated by Floor 1's effect.
"...Why isn't it working?"
This potion could heal wounds where limbs had been severed, but for some reason, the ticklish sensation remained. Was it because I'd been exposed to the Yeti's magical cold for too long? A cold that even a Mid-grade Potion couldn't cure.
"Sniff..."
I did have the Lowest-grade Elixir from Floor 5, but... I felt it was too wasteful to use here. After checking my condition, I took the portal and returned to my rented room.
"How is it?"
"It didn't work."
"..."
Choi Ji-won lightly bit her lip. The situation was worse than expected.
"Do you want to regress? If you regress, we might find a way to clear it without you catching a cold. It's not like I've done anything—my memories disappearing doesn't matter."
As expected of a top-tier woman, Choi Ji-won suggested regression first.
"...I've already tried all sorts of things, and there's no answer besides starving it out."
Sadly, at the moment, I had no mysterious method to kill the Yeti. The Yeti was fairly smart, so it didn't fall for traps, and it wouldn't eat prey unless it had caught it itself.
"..."
"..."
In the end, the best I could do was try to keep this cold from getting any worse.
"For now... lie down. I'll make you some abalone porridge. It might be hot, but just bear with it and keep the blanket on."
"...Y, yeah..."
"Don't even think about moving until you're all better. Got it?"
"Okay..."
And so I was trapped motionless under the blanket for two weeks, forced to eat nutritious food.
『 U.S. Government officially recommends climbing Floor 2... 'Internal investigation of survival rate shows it is not dangerous.' 』
『 Tower-derived items, the future food source of mankind... Major global corporations launch investigations. 』
『 Player Association inaugurated... First Association Chairman is 'Mighty Michael' Michael Jeter.』
『 South Korean government awards President's Commendation to player Choi Ji-won... Becomes the first in the country to successfully climb Floor 10. 』
Time flowed relentlessly, and we reached a point three months after the first Tutorial began.
In real time, that meant two months since I entered the Tutorial, and one month since I cleared Floor 5.
In other words.
[Mighty Coin]
[+19832.41%]
"Wow."
I had become rich.