Chapter 291
Chapter 291
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 291
Chapter Title: ACT.58 Regressor (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A ferocious demonic energy washed over us.
A pressure incomparable to Ibaraki-doji's.
It was a power that could truly be called a ‘Disaster’.
“We must be careful. Shuten-doji's power is stronger than any I've ever faced.”
“Seems that way.”
With the forces gathered here, even if we couldn't win without all the necessary items, we at least shouldn't have lost.
But that wasn't the case.
Among those who fought to stop Shuten-doji while I held back the corrupted Regressor, everyone except the Swordsaint had suffered injuries, major or minor.
*Kwoooaaar!*
As Shuten-doji stomped his foot, another shockwave swept through the area.
I managed to block it by taking two steps back, but the way he wielded his power was enough to make me scoff.
‘To think he can maximize the impact of a stomp and turn it into a wide-area attack.’
Shuten-doji's 'ability to control size' wasn't limited to mere matter.
It was literally the size of everything.
The reason nothing but the legendary items could harm Shuten-doji was that he could drastically reduce the 'size of the damage' he took.
Maximize the damage dealt, minimize the damage received.
That's why Shuten-doji was so simply, overwhelmingly strong.
“Lord Kibou… are you conscious?”
“…Yes. I apologize for showing such a disgraceful side of myself.”
“No. I'm just glad you've come to your senses now.”
The Swordsaint gave a dry laugh, using his sword as a cane to push himself up.
Those who had fallen once rose again, their hostility blazing.
The forces that had been scattered to stop the monstrous spirits gradually converged here, dividing Shuten-doji's attention.
As if their earlier struggle was a lie, the side fighting the oni was now gaining the upper hand.
‘…What is this?’
Something felt a little unnatural.
The number of players was subtly larger than it should be.
And the proportion of people using fire-based powers seemed unusually high.
[What a bunch of incorrigible fools.]
Shuten-doji, who had noticed the same thing I did, clicked his tongue.
[To think you would resort to forbidden arts, just to face me.]
“Don't you dare speak so carelessly.”
Yaogami immediately shot down Shuten-doji's words.
But his reaction only confirmed it.
“…”
Han Hyeok-jun's face was terrifyingly stiff.
He had realized it too.
The sudden increase in forces was due to none other than artificial players.
[Your advances are a bit much. I suppose I should weed some of you out.]
Shuten-doji placed a hand on the ground.
*Rumble-!*
And then, the ground collapsed everywhere except for where Shuten-doji himself stood.
A sinkhole had suddenly formed in the middle of the residential area.
‘The size of the groundwater…!’
He infuses mana into the groundwater, expands its size, and then shrinks it.
This creates a massive empty space underground.
Eventually, it can no longer support the surface, and it collapses.
Shuten-doji had used the actual principle of a sinkhole to do this.
[Mmm. It feels like a lot of the chaff has been sifted out. I like it.]
Shuten-doji smiled in satisfaction.
As if in response, a small sun plummeted toward his head.
It was a concentration of heavenly fire, wielded by Yaogami.
[Haven't I taught you countless times that such things are useless against me?]
Shuten-doji laughed lightly and snuffed out Yaogami's attack with a single finger.
To be precise, he had shrunk it until it was nearly invisible.
Seizing the moment, Yaogami shouted to the Swordsaint.
“Yuki, bring out the Dojigiri! If this continues, the damage will only mount! You should be able to use it now!”
“…Understood!”
The Swordsaint drew the sword he had kept sheathed on his back until now.
The Dojigiri (童子切) was not an item that could be used at will.
The sword that cut down (切) the doji (童子) known as Shuten-doji (酒呑童子).
Befitting its name, it couldn't even be drawn from its scabbard unless the situation was sufficiently dangerous.
That was one reason he couldn't use it even if he wanted to, but there was another.
The Dojigiri carried a fatal penalty.
[The Dojigiri…! You dare to point that damned thing at me again!]
Shuten-doji roared in anger, his face twisting for the first time.
The sword said to have severed Shuten-doji's head.
For that reason, the sword was cursed by Shuten-doji.
[Go on, try and use it! That sword will take your life as well!]
A sword that guarantees death upon use.
Despite being an essential weapon for fighting a Disaster of Legend, its vicious penalty made it practically unusable by the player themselves.
Someone else had to be made to wield it in their stead.
Usually, that role fell to either the Swordsaint or the Regressor.
“It's what I've been waiting for!”
The Swordsaint charged forward spiritedly.
For the first time, Shuten-doji moved his body to evade.
Even with Shuten-doji's 'power to control size,' he could not alter the size of the Dojigiri.
Nor could he reduce the damage he took from it.
Therefore, even Shuten-doji couldn't just casually withstand an attack from the Dojigiri.
“Kugh…!”
However, the Swordsaint couldn't swing the Dojigiri more than a few times before he lost his grip.
When he tried to grasp the sword again, it seemed to reject him, knocking his hand away as if it had a will of its own.
“Why…!”
[How amusing, you! Did you not know that sword requires a certain qualification to be wielded? It cannot be held by one who lacks the resolve to truly lay down their life for others!]
At those words, someone moved.
And as if to stop him, Kaede wrapped her arms around him.
“You've done enough. This is enough. Please, don't push yourself any further. It doesn't have to be you.”
“Kaede. I…”
“Why does it always have to be you who suffers?”
Tears welled up and fell from Kaede's eyes.
Kibou's eyes widened as if he'd realized something.
“Don't tell me…”
“It's exactly what you're thinking. Kaede-ssi remembers most of your regressions.”
As Hwang Yu-jin murmured this, Kibou's jaw locked shut.
The Reversing Hourglass.
A trait that Kaede, the Regressor's lover, had obtained one day.
When Kibou, the Regressor, returned to the past, Kaede would also start over with her memories intact.
However, Kibou gently pushed Kaede away with a smile that looked like it would shatter at any moment.
“…I have to atone.”
“But!”
“I'm sorry. And thank you.”
Picking up the Dojigiri the Swordsaint had dropped, the true hero began to move.
*Kiiiing!*
The sword sang.
Joyfully, as if meeting its master after a long time.
[Do you really think you can face me after expending so much of your strength!]
Shuten-doji didn't stand idly by.
A weakness is meaningless if you can't hit it.
Kibou, having used up so much power from the aftereffects of his corruption, was now so slow that even a B-rank player could dodge his movements.
But there was something Shuten-doji had overlooked.
“We'll bind him! Go!”
Seimei and Geongonilcheok, Mayuri and Shiranui.
All the onmyoji gathered there united to bind Shuten-doji's body.
[You insects…!]
Just because they couldn't inflict damage didn't mean they couldn't interfere.
The others also unleashed a barrage of attacks to prevent Shuten-doji from taking any other action.
The ability to control size also required concentration and awareness.
As long as attacks were coming from all directions, Shuten-doji couldn't spare the focus to break the onmyoji's barrier.
And in that opening.
The hero's strike pierced the center of Shuten-doji's chest.
[You think… you think this is enough to take me down!]
Veins bulged all over Shuten-doji's body, and the sword could not penetrate any further.
No matter how much force Kibou applied, it wouldn't budge.
At this rate, Kibou was at a disadvantage.
“Krrruuugh…!”
The curse of the Dojigiri seeped into him.
Once Kibou's life force was completely drained, Shuten-doji would be victorious.
If I was going to move, it had to be now.
The moment I thought that, someone else's hand was placed over Kibou's.
“Hold on.”
[Bouichi!? Do you have any idea what you're doing!]
“Of course I do. I'm going to offer up my own life to get revenge on that fox-like bastard myself!”
The Dojigiri began to move, little by little.
But even in this situation, Shuten-doji was confident of his victory.
[The Dojigiri alone cannot kill me! I am a Disaster of Legend. Unless all conditions are met, I will never fall!]
“I know.”
Even if the two of them managed to run Shuten-doji through completely, there was no follow-up.
According to the legend, two items were needed to completely neutralize Shuten-doji.
Even if the Dojigiri's attack succeeded, without the other item, Shuten-doji would just recover, and with no one left who could wield the sword, the raid would fail.
So I had prepared it in advance.
Ever since the incident in America, before I came to Japan.
“I was just waiting for the perfect moment. It's not that I didn't have it.”
Shuten-doji's gaze followed my fingertip and landed on Zeta, who had used the chaos to approach him.
*Splash!*
A slightly cloudy liquid was splashed onto Shuten-doji.
Shinbenkidokushu (神便鬼毒酒).
The god-gifted sake that, according to legend, was given to Shuten-doji before he was cut down by the Dojigiri, rendering him unable to move.
When the Dojigiri met its true master.
That was the moment the Shinbenkidokushu could finally be used.
[Th-This can't be…!]
[The 'Shinbenkidokushu' is suppressing Shuten-doji's power!]
[The 'Wall of Legend' has been destroyed.]
[No. This cannot be. For all the necessary items to be gathered like this is absolutely impossible…]
In an instant, the Dojigiri plunged through Shuten-doji's body.
[Aaaaaaaah!!!]
A scream echoed out.
Having exhausted all their strength, Bouichi and Kibou lost their grip on the Dojigiri from that alone and were sent flying backward.
With this, the Disaster of Legend could no longer ignore the damage he received.
Because the ability to control size itself had been sealed.
[I… I am a Disaster. I am not a being that can be defeated so easily…!]
“Right. You're a Disaster of Legend.”
Not only were all his abilities sealed, but he'd been pierced through the heart, leaving him unable to even stand properly. A pathetic sight.
I instantly appeared before him and delivered the final blow to the now-defenseless Shuten-doji.
“So, just like in the legend, end this with your defeat.”
I swung the Black Moon Divine Sword with all my might.
Shuten-doji, as if refusing to go down like this, countered with an arm clad in demonic energy.
Even though he was neutralized, his basic stats were still outstanding.
So, I didn't hold back either.
[Activating 'Declaration of the End'.]
[The power of the End imbues you, greatly increasing your mana.]
The sword cut into his arm, splitting it in two all the way through.
It continued on to its original target.
*Swish!*
Shuten-doji's head flew into the air.
As far as I knew, this should have been the end.
If things had gone according to the original strategy, that is.
[Kh, khkhkh. Too bad for you! After sacrificing so much to get this far, I too am different from before!]
But this time, it was different.
[Activating 'Grudge Revival (S+)'.]
Shuten-doji's body began to restore itself.
His fallen body turned to dust and vanished, then moved beneath his head and gradually began to regain its form.
A type of death-evasion skill that restores the body to its state before receiving a fatal blow.
But something was different.
It wasn't just restoring; a strange feeling clung to me, as if some kind of ritual was proceeding simultaneously with the restoration.
Seimei cried out in horror.
“Th-That's…!? We have to stop it! That's a descent ritual! He's trying to summon a powerful being into his own body!”
“A descent? Of what!”
“I don't know! But it's definitely a being even more powerful than Shuten-doji himself!”
[Yamata no Orochi. My father. The strongest oni, said to have fought against the gods.]
Shuten-doji let out a low laugh.
[Thanks to Ibaraki-doji buying time, I was able to make all the preparations. There is no way for you to stop this.]
Damn it. So this is what Ibaraki-doji was talking about.
If Yamata no Orochi appeared, it would definitely be a Transcendent-rank.
I couldn't let that happen.
I had to stop it, no matter what.
“Catch, Kim Se-hyeon!”
Himura threw something at me.
The moment I caught it, I immediately understood why Himura had given it to me.
*Fwoosh!*
I moved before I had time to think.
What I had to do with this.
No further thought was necessary.
“No, you don't get a second chance.”
*Stab!*
A dagger cloaked in black flames plunged into Shuten-doji's chest, which had just regenerated below his neck.
Izanagi's Stratagem.
A Divine Treasure belonging to Himura, with the effect of attacking the target's past self from three seconds ago.
By attacking the past, just before Shuten-doji activated Grudge Revival, it changes the present.
The black flames that entered through the wound began to burn Shuten-doji from the inside out.
[It's useless. No matter how much your black flames prevent recovery, this isn't simple regeneration. It is regression. Returning the body itself to a past point in time. As long as Grudge Revival has been activated, my body will be restored to a perfect state…]
Shuten-doji's triumphant laughter, as if to say it was impossible, did not last to the end.