The Regressor Deceives (5)
The Regressor Deceives (5)
"Boongboong-yi...?"
"..."
Boongboong-yi. Choi Ji-won's sword. The chief culprit behind my countless regressions during the Tutorial.
I'd been aware of its existence for a while. After all, Boongboong-yi was Choi Ji-won's companion, and she'd mentioned more than once that Boongboong-yi would grumble while looking at me.
"Why are you coming out...?"
But the timing of Boongboong-yi's appearance is undeniably suspicious. Ever since Choi Ji-won regained her memories and we started dating, Boongboong-yi hasn't shown herself even once.
After staying silent all this time, why now? At such a suspiciously convenient moment?
"No way, no way..."
My imagination spiraling in a negative direction was, in a way, inevitable.
Could it be that Choi Ji-won's consciousness has been caught by some kind of restriction? And because of that, Boongboong-yi's consciousness, which had been lurking beneath the surface, is coming forward...?
In fiction, you often see the protagonist lose consciousness and then some ominous entity sealed within their body reveals itself. Boongboong-yi isn't an ominous entity, but is it just my imagination that the situation fits perfectly?
"...I know what you're thinking, but that's not it."
But Boongboong-yi directly denies my speculation.
"Look at Ji-won's body."
He... no, she. Let's just go with she. Anyway, she tapped her shoulder and emphasized that I should look closely at her body.
"Look at... my body?"
I looked because she told me to, but I didn't notice anything unusual. It was just the usual Choi Ji-won, with her slender and attractive figure. Moderately sized chest. Long, straight legs. Slim waist. Flowing ponytail. And the small teardrop mole under her eye, the perfect finishing touch...
"...You pervert."
Perhaps sensing my gaze freely roaming over her figure, Boongboong-yi's face flushed red. She fidgeted with her fingers as if annoyed, but seemed to barely restrain herself, knowing that hitting me would trigger a regression.
"The lightning! Look at the lightning. Not just my body!"
"Hmm..."
Only then did my gaze shift to the blue electrical current surrounding Choi Ji-won's body.
"...I don't really see anything? What am I supposed to look at?"
"Idiot! Can't you see how stable the current is?"
"...Oh, you're right?"
As Boongboong-yi said, for something that had just activated the Heart of Lightning for the first time, the lightning crackling from her body was remarkably stable. Some traits can be freely controlled the moment you get them, while others require a period of familiarization...
"You wouldn't know, but the moment this trait activates, the lightning mana starts rampaging. On top of that, the current flows over your skin, making your muscles twitch and your whole body tremble."
"...Now that you mention it, that is a bit strange."
Choi Ji-won knows how to handle mana. I taught her, and she practiced it repeatedly on her own. It's true that her skill improved at an incredible rate because she has as much talent for handling mana as she does for the sword, but... that doesn't mean she should be this fine at controlling mana.
Realizing that fact, I finally started to see something.
"No way..."
"Hmph. To think I had to spoon-feed it to you."
Boongboong-yi pulled up the corner of her mouth, flashing a slightly irritating smile. It had a different flavor from Choi Ji-won's warm smile.
"Right now, Ji-won is focusing everything on controlling the mana. I'm not really good with mana."
"...Then what do you do?"
"Me? I control the lightning body's muscles and endure the pain. I'm used to that sort of thing since I'm a sword."
I see. Choi Ji-won's personality is currently absorbed in calming the rampaging mana, while Boongboong-yi's personality is handling the physical body. That's why Boongboong-yi's personality surfaced.
One personality for mana. One personality for the body. A role distribution perfectly optimized for using a high-risk technique like the Heart of Lightning.
"...Isn't that cheating?"
I've seen archmages in web novels split their consciousness to cast dozens or hundreds of spells, but a swordswoman doing this felt like a violation. No, this really is cheating.
I guess there's a reason why Choi Ji-won's Sword-Body Unity trait is SSS-rank. I thought it was a bit dull for an SSS-rank because it only sharpens your senses, improves physical abilities, and raises your body's durability... but I never imagined it could be used like this.
"Ji-won and I are geniuses. Something like this is easy for us. Right?"
"..."
Seeing my impressed expression, Boongboong-yi snorted. Her arrogant attitude was strangely infuriating.
Let it go. She's just a young sword barely three months old. Children naturally enjoy teasing adults, so I, having completed a mature personality, should be the one to understand.
"Look at this. It seems like Ji-won is gradually getting the hang of it."
Crackle! Crackle-crackle!
But whether I swallowed my irritation or not, Boongboong-yi was playing around with the lightning in the air. She couldn't control it with extreme precision, but it seemed she could manipulate it to some degree at will.
"..."
Seeing that, a possibility surfaced in my mind.
"Boongboong-yi."
"Hm?"
"That lightning. Can you deliberately miss with it? And what do you think the maximum power output could be?"
According to the original plan... I was just going to burn down a large part of the forest and then show the players the aftermath of the battle.
"Hey. Let's work on something together."
But if Choi Ji-won and Boongboong-yi can put on this level of performance.
For Choi Ji-won's reputation... putting on a flashy finale seems like a good idea.
**
"..."
"..."
Near the fortress entrance, numerous dwarves and players were pacing around restlessly.
"How long has it been since the first lightning strike?"
"About ten minutes..."
"Hmm..."
The duel between Choi Ji-won and the Skeleton Murderer. Honestly, they wanted to watch it with their own eyes. But knowing that spectators would prevent Choi Ji-won from fighting comfortably, they were circling here like a dog needing to shit.
Kwarreung! Kwareureureung!!!
The sound of thunder and lightning echoed from far away. Thunder in a clear sky had long since scared off the animals, and even the people flinched every time they heard the thunder.
So that's the effect of the Heart of Lightning Choi Ji-won acquired. The flashing light in the distance and the rumbling thunder were overwhelming in and of themselves.
"They're still fighting, huh."
"Can you see anything?"
"No. It's too far."
"Hmm. Who do you think will win?"
"You bastard, are you trying to jinx it?"
The players chatted about this and that while waiting for Choi Ji-won's fight to end.
"...?"
"What?"
"Doesn't the sound seem louder?"
Since they were players with sharp senses, a few began to prick up their ears.
The thunder was slowly getting louder. Was the fight intensifying?
"H-Here they come."
No. They were coming this way. The players who realized this fact instantly tensed their bodies, and the dwarves hid behind a pre-built wooden barricade.
"..."
"..."
A brief moment of silence followed. Tense glances were exchanged, and at that very moment when even the sound of someone swallowing nervously was clearly audible.
"Uh, uwaaah!!!"
"What, what is it?"
What emerged from the distance was the Skeleton Murderer.
He walked leisurely through the forest with a light step. In stark contrast to the roaring sounds that shook the area, his body was completely unscathed and his breathing was steady.
Almost simultaneously, Choi Ji-won could be seen running from the opposite side. Her whole body was wreathed in blue lightning, and streams of blue light radiated from her eyes.
"Hup!"
Choi Ji-won swung her sword, heavily cloaked in lightning, through the air. A blue slash flew along its trajectory with ferocious momentum.
"...?!"
"It didn't even touch him?"
But aside from its deadly force, the slash struck a point absurdly far from the Skeleton Murderer. As if there was no intention of hitting him in the first place.
"Kihihihi..."
As if mocking that sight, the Skeleton Murderer stood still and provoked Choi Ji-won. Several more slashes followed from her, but not a single one touched him.
"...What, can she not control it?"
"If it hit, it looks like a fatal wound... but it's ineffective."
"No... in my view, she *can't* land her attacks."
A large Russian player dismissed the doubts of a few others.
"There's no way that Choi Ji-won would fail so many attacks in a row. If she couldn't control it, she would have chosen to fight with us from the start. She must have had some confidence in her ability to step forward alone."
"Then why is that happening now..."
"I think... the Skeleton Murderer's ability is definitely specialized in evasion."
He had previously suffered a crushing defeat against the Skeleton Murderer. That experience of being miserably toyed with, unable to land a single successful attack.
"Look at those attacks continuously missing. The murderer probably has an ability to twist space... or to intervene in attacks."
Isn't it more plausible that he has a special ability, rather than his skills being completely read and toyed with? This argument, with a dash of self-justification and a dash of logic, sounded quite convincing even to himself.
"Oooh..."
"Definitely..."
It sounded plausible to the other players as well, so everyone nodded in agreement. It was around then, with everyone nodding along, that Choi Ji-won made her move.
"Hoo..."
Emitting lightning from her entire body, Choi Ji-won raised her sword above her head with both hands. The lightning energy concentrated at the sword's tip climbed the blade and reached the sky.
Lightning is always most threatening when it strikes down from the sky. The moment the lightning energy from Choi Ji-won's sword tip connected with the heavens.
Kwareureureureung!!!
A speed too fast to even register the 'flash'. An incomparably massive roar echoed, and the world was dyed blue.
Ears were filled with ringing. Eyes were engulfed by blue light and could see nothing. Noses could smell nothing but the scent of burning.
No being could dare to keep their eyes open. Nor was there any being who wasn't terrified. Divine punishment. The expression 'divine punishment' was fitting.
"...Crazy."
"...Fuck."
The sight and hearing of the onlookers gradually returned, but no one moved. They were overwhelmed by the spectacle they had just witnessed.
Players were superhuman, but this went far beyond being good at running and fighting. Rather than a supernatural power... wasn't this more like a natural disaster?
"O-over there."
A dwarf pointed toward the forest with a trembling hand.
Stagger. Stagger.
Choi Ji-won stumbled out, her body riddled with wounds.
"...Are you of the Hero's bloodline?"
"You've worked hard."
A few dwarves rushed over to Choi Ji-won carrying water and towels, but the players were still frozen in place.
Before the fight began, several questions had been raised.
Just how strong is Choi Ji-won?
Can Choi Ji-won win against the Skeleton Murderer?
How powerful is the Heart of Lightning, that people were told to stay away?
No one was asking anymore.
The result was clear.