The Regressor Gets in Trouble (1)
The Regressor Gets in Trouble (1)
"Hey."
I take back what I said about being used to losing my mind and pulling myself back together.
When I unexpectedly blacked out, I froze as if I'd forgotten all my past experience. What was that doll just now?
"Hey. Get up."
From the faint sensations I could make out, I was sprawled face down on a rough floor somewhere. I could hear running water.
My body was heavy. My head ached. It felt like being buried in thick sand, or like I had dumbbells hanging all over me. That stagger you get when you stand up after an all-nighter—a combination of sensations I honestly hadn't felt in a long time.
"Ngh..."
More than anything, the sense of wrongness throughout my body was extreme. As if this body wasn't mine...
"Ah, you little shit, seriously. Get the hell up, huh?"
Whack!
"Gak!"
A dull pain struck the back of my head. I saw a flash from the impact, and as my body rolled a couple times across the gravel—
[You have taken damage.]
I regressed.
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 18-2.]
***
"Hey."
This time, as soon as I heard the voice, I shot up from where I was lying. My body was still in terrible shape—I staggered—but at least I managed to pull myself out of that helpless sprawl. My head was foggy and dizzy, but I tried my best to focus.
"Whoa, you startled me."
The first thing I saw was a flowing stream. I'd apparently been lying on the gravel beside it. Beyond the stream, a green mountain was visible, and a clear blue sky.
"Where do you think you're looking?"
I also saw a hairy bandit shoving his face right into mine. I figured he was a bandit because he had a large sword strapped to his back, and his hygiene was a literal disaster. He was furry all over, too.
"...Where is this?"
"Here? Hwangbing Mountain, where else? This bastard seems a bit off. You don't even know where you are?"
I held my throbbing head and sorted my thoughts. The regression had definitely brought me to Floor 18-2. So it was like Floor 3, then—a floor hidden inside another floor that blocked regression. That much was easy to understand.
Next, Hwangbing Mountain. A place name I'd never heard before. It definitely wasn't in Korea, and it wasn't a famous mountain from martial arts novels like Mount Tai, Huashan, or the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
"The doll..."
The scene of Angel attaching a talisman to the doll flashed through my mind. Right after that, I lost my mind. From that sequence of events, this floor is probably...
"Ah, you fuckin' bastard, seriously."
My thoughts were cut short. The hairy one in front of me had suddenly brandished his sword.
"Are you ignoring me? Huh? Ignoring me? You think I'm a joke? That it?"
The hairy one threatened me, holding his sword in one hand. It was a menacing sight that might make a normal person tremble in fear or piss themselves, but...
"...Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped me. His stance was just so...
"What are you laughing at?"
...terrible.
I didn't even know how to compare it. The losers I met on Floor 12? It would be an insult to them. Floor 3... no, Floor 2. The basic skills of the punk players I met on Floor 2 were about that level.
In other words, it was close to someone who'd just picked up a weapon. For starters, holding a big sword with one hand is a mistake—look, his arm was trembling slightly from the weight.
"What are you laughing at? Ha, you've lost it."
The bandit noticed I was staring at his arm and quickly grabbed the sword with both hands. But his true colors had been exposed long ago.
"Come on."
Normally, I would have just subdued him quickly and moved on. Dealing with small fry like him would be a waste of time.
But I remembered the dull pain I'd felt on the back of my head earlier. That son of a bitch must have kicked me for not answering. My head is still spinning and my body is heavy, but I'm not about to lose to a bastard like him. At least I should give him a taste of bitterness.
"Die!!!"
The hairy one swung his sword, not deviating an inch from my expectations. Not only was there no real power behind it, but the trajectory was far too straightforward. This was no different from when I was swinging a sword in the grass of the Tutorial.
I had no weapon in hand, but having reached the realm of a superhuman, my body itself was a weapon.
"Hey. You're no good."
I extended my left hand to grab his sword. At the same time, with my right hand...
Cr-crack!!!
"Huh?"
My flesh split. Bones broke. A deep pain so severe it was beyond stinging, bringing on spasms. Blood sprayed in all directions like a firecracker going off.
"Uh, uhh..."
The flustered hairy one fell backward onto his rear. The sword he had been holding was now lodged about halfway into my left hand, dangling there. To be precise, it had cut from my palm where I tried to catch the blade, all the way down to near my wrist.
"...?"
Without even time to scream in pain—
[You have taken damage.]
I regressed.
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 18-2.]
***
"Hey."
Now I finally understood the source of the dissonance I'd been feeling.
It wasn't that my body was heavy. It wasn't that my mana wasn't moving as I wanted. It was simply... that my body had become so terribly weak.
<Floor 18>
- On Floor 18, all climbers' physical abilities are fixed equally.
- Submit a reward that exceeds the Overseer's standard.
Floor 18 mission message flashed through my mind.
Yeah, physical abilities are fixed. That was the negative part. No wonder I thought the enemy was so weak.
If someone asked, 'You're not even sick, so why'd it take you so long to notice?' — it's because my head was too dizzy for me to realize. Besides, my height and appearance were exactly the same, so I didn't think my physical specs had changed. When I went to the stream and looked at my reflection, my face was the same, too.
Thinking about that talisman being attached to the doll... it wasn't reincarnation or possession. I guess I was inserted into a clone body that was identical to mine but weakened.
"Tsk..."
Wait, it wasn't just that. My Dwarf-forged Armor was gone. The Transparent Gloves I'd been wearing were gone. And the Scabbard that had faithfully guarded my waist was gone. In other words, I was completely barehanded. Aside from the single oriental-style cloth robe I was wearing, I had nothing.
"Hey. Don't ign—"
"Shut up."
Of course, I'll say again, that doesn't mean I'd lose to an idiot like this.
As I stepped forward, I threw a punch aimed at the hairy one's solar plexus. Even a normal person would instinctively twist their body or put up a hand to block, but the hairy one had his face thrust toward me, trying to act tough. From that posture, there was no way he could see my fist.
Thwack!
"Gak!"
When you take a hard hit to the solar plexus, the muscles seize up and you can't breathe properly. While the hairy one doubled over, choking, I pulled the sword from his back and threw it far away. Now this guy was mine.
"Hey."
"Ghrgk..."
"Hey. You not gonna answer?"
Given that before I regressed, he'd smacked the back of my head just for not answering, it was clear this guy was a degenerate. Probably a punk who lived by relying on his scary face. The sword I'd just thrown away was in pretty bad shape, too. He wasn't someone who'd properly learned martial arts.
But the hairy one was the only source of information I had right now. To understand what kind of world this was, and where the "Overseer" mentioned in the message was, I needed his cooperation.
Then why did I regress? Because I tried to catch a falling blade with my hand. Turns out there's a reason people tell you not to do certain things.
"Hey. I'm going to ask some questions now..."
"You fucking... bastard..."
But the hairy one, still not in his right mind, tried to grab my ankle. I sighed and quickly pulled my foot away, but—
Shrrrp.
His long, unkempt, filthy fingernails raked across the tender skin of my ankle.
And soon, tiny droplets of blood began to bead up.
"...Ah."
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 18-2.]
***
I understood clearly. This world was incredibly disadvantageous for me.
I couldn't just overpower with stats. My total mana was far too low compared to my real body. I couldn't activate "Cold Energy," and not even "Flash Step," which I'd never used since I first got it, would activate. Maybe because I lacked something overwhelming, the Awe trait wouldn't activate either.
Above all, in a fight at the level of ordinary people, it's too difficult to subdue an opponent in one clean blow. I hadn't learned martial arts professionally, so I couldn't send someone's jaw flying with a single punch. If I messed up a punch or kick and injured my own bones, I might regress instead.
"Are you sorry?"
"I'm sorry!"
Still, that didn't mean I would lose to this hairy guy. I was someone who had been through countless real fights, and he was a rookie who didn't even know how to properly hold a weapon. If I fought carefully, I could subdue him without a scratch. The question was whether I could do that if the number of enemies increased. Even professional boxers are said to run when they're surrounded in a street fight.
But that wasn't the important part. The result of the time I spent interrogating the hairy one was shocking enough to make me forget my disadvantage.
"You have internal energy and martial artists... but no martial sects? No Mount Hua Sect, Wudang, Shaolin Temple, Heavenly Demon Cult—none of those?"
"...Yes."
"And these so-called martial artists can't do things like walking on air? They're just a bit healthier and sturdier than ordinary people?"
"...Yes."
So, to express this world in modern terms...
"Low-power martial arts" was the most fitting description.