Adeline
The place Kim Jun was in now was the 25th floor, Artemis.
And the most important thing to him right now was this:
“I have to go back to Hell.”
Diablo
Rank: EX
Effect: When you reduce a demon-type monster’s HP to 10% or lower, you can place it under a Contract state. Contracted demons become your servants forever and obey you absolutely. Damage dealt to demon-type monsters increases by 100%.
Restriction: Up to 3 demons can be contracted at once.
Diablo—the power to subdue demons and bind them as eternal servants.
At the moment, there was only one contracted demon: Andras.
There were still two empty slots left.
Those need to be filled.
They were meant for the powerful beings sleeping in Hell.
And there were still plenty of rewards waiting in Hell, too.
“Can’t you just go?” Andras whispered with a sly grin.
“It won’t be easy.” Kim Jun shook his head.
“Ah, right. The very next floor is the seventh, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
The 7th floor of Hell.
The domain of succubi.
There was no battle there.
Instead, an endless feast of temptation awaited.
The succubi transformed into whatever form a hunter desired most.
Perhaps an old lover.
Or an ideal they could never reach.
Sometimes they took the shape of desires that had been hidden away for years.
Secret whispers seeped into the eyes, the ears, and then the whole body.
People became drunk on their fragrance, enchanted by their illusions, and broken by their voices.
Most who stepped foot there never came back.
And the degree of the thing was so absurdly intense that it wasn’t even the kind of place that merited a 19+ rating—it needed something like 29+.
Even a priest or a monk would probably have a hard time resisting it...
“Ohoho! Then I’ll be seeing the matriarch of Hell herself, Lilith!!”
Andras laughed with a filthy little gleam in his eyes.
“Shut up.”
Kim Jun’s voice was cold.
But deep in those eyes, a faint, wavering light flickered.
In truth, once he got past the 7th floor, the rest was simple.
With his current power, he could probably smash his way through to the 50th floor in one go.
The problem was only one thing.
The 7th floor needs preparation.
“What do you need, Master?”
“A few things.”
Kim Jun rested his chin on his hand and sank into thought.
Fortunately, Artemis’s alchemy shops sold a special potion.
Status Ailment Immunity Potion.
An item that nullified even the seduction effects imposed by the Tower’s own laws.
The only thing that could block a debuff even Dragon Blood Awakening couldn’t dispel.
“Let’s go.”
Kim Jun stood up.
“Let’s go without that kind of thing, Master!” Andras babbled like an animal, practically drooling with excitement.
“Please just shut up.” Kim Jun cut him off shortly.
A potion alone wouldn’t be enough.
It might block system-based seduction.
But the white skin flashing at the edge of his vision, the voice tickling his ear, the breath seeming to slide over his skin—those weren’t things an item could ever stop.
He would have to endure that with nothing but his own will.
I need to prepare properly before I go.
His fingertips trembled faintly.
Suddenly, memories from before the regression brushed past him.
A brief but searing moment.
He had held on with reason alone, but his body still remembered.
The tips of Kim Jun’s ears slowly turned red.
“Ahem!”
He cleared his throat for no reason and started walking.
Ding-a-ling!
“Welcome.”
Artemis’s central district.
Right in the middle of the square stood a shop whose lights never went out.
Adeline’s Alchemy Shop
As soon as he opened the door, a voice that was impossible to tell whether it was welcoming him or just annoyed to be interrupted drifted out.
“…”
Kim Jun lifted his head and saw a woman with red hair reading a book behind the counter.
Adeline.
The Tower management’s administrator, and the owner of this shop.
Without even taking her eyes off the page, she lifted one hand in a lazy little wave.
Still the same.
A faint smile tugged at Kim Jun’s lips.
She had always been like this, even before his regression. Always this way.
But her skill was the best in the entire Tower.
Even after climbing all the way to the upper floors before his regression, he had often come back to Artemis.
This was why.
The special potions here were on a completely different level from the ordinary drops you got from monsters.
Even back when his body had been twisted into a half-human, half-dragon state, the potions from this shop had still worked at one hundred percent.
Alchemy that studied the Tower’s system itself.
That was the value of Adeline’s shop.
“I’m here to buy a Status Ailment Immunity Potion.”
Kim Jun approached the counter and asked.
“Don’t have any.”
“…Huh?”
“I said I don’t have any.”
Adeline answered indifferently as she turned a page.
No way.
He clearly remembered that potion being sold here before his regression.
“Seriously, none?”
“And you.”
Adeline finally tore her eyes away from the book and looked straight at him.
“How do you come here so certain?”
Her gaze was sharp.
It was a look mixed with curiosity and suspicion.
“Olivia told me. She said you act like you know everything.”
Adeline said, glancing sideways at him.
“The Tower’s structure, the skill fusion prices, even our names. You know things that a hunter visiting for the first time couldn’t possibly know.”
“…”
“So I came up with a few hypotheses.”
Adeline held up one finger after another.
“First: a special skill or item that lets you see the future. Second: help from an Observer or an administrator. Third...”
She looked deep into Kim Jun’s eyes.
“A regressor.”
“!”
Kim Jun’s eyes wavered for an instant.
Just a fraction. Barely anything.
But it was enough.
“Hmm.”
Adeline nodded in satisfaction.
“I knew it. Just as I thought.”
“I didn’t say anything—”
“You don’t have to.”
Adeline snapped her book shut and stood up.
She came closer until there was only a short distance between them.
“Your face said everything. If it had been the first or second hypothesis, you wouldn’t have been that flustered. You’d have denied it calmly.”
“…”
“But if you’re a regressor, that’s different. You’d be obsessive about not getting caught.”
Adeline tapped Kim Jun’s shoulder twice.
“Relax. It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?”
Kim Jun frowned.
She’d just found out he was a regressor, and she was saying it wasn’t a big deal?
“Yeah. Not to me.”
Adeline shrugged.
“Aside from having a new research subject, I’m not really interested.”
“Research subject?”
“The principle of regression. Time rewinding doesn’t make sense, so it’s probably something like parallel-world transfer or dimensional jumping. Interesting.”
Adeline muttered to herself as if talking through a problem.
Kim Jun just stared at her, dumbfounded.
This woman...
She was completely lost in her own world.
“So.”
Adeline turned her eyes back to him.
“How many rounds is this?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about...”
“First run, then.”
Before Kim Jun could even finish, Adeline cut in.
“How was it then? Did you make it all the way to the top of the Tower?”
“I don’t know.”
“So you failed. Then it must have been destroyed. We all died, too.”
“No...”
“I’m not interested.”
Adeline waved a hand.
“That wasn’t me anyway. You’re talking about another world’s version of me.”
“…”
Kim Jun closed his mouth.
She had completely boxed him in.
Before he could answer anything, Adeline had already drawn her own conclusion.
What is she, a detective in a mystery novel?
“Anyway.”
Adeline returned to the counter and sat back down.
“You want a Status Ailment Immunity Potion?”
“Yeah.”
Kim Jun nodded.
“You’re going to Hell’s 7th floor?”
“How did you...”
“That’s the only place you’d need that potion. You’re trying to block the succubi’s charm debuff, right? Ah, or was there one floor after that?”
Adeline said with a mischievous blush rising in her cheeks.
“But you know...”
“?”
“The potion alone won’t be enough. It can block forced system effects, but it won’t stop natural temptation.”
“I know.”
Kim Jun answered briefly.
That was already part of the plan.
“Still better than having nothing.”
“True.”
Adeline nodded, then suddenly looked troubled.
“But I don’t have any right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because the ingredients expire fast, and making it requires special materials.”
“Hmm...”
“Besides, hardly anyone asks for it. There’s no reason to make it in advance.”
Adeline tapped the desk with a finger.
“Where do you get them?” Kim Jun asked.
He searched his regression memories, but he didn’t know the ingredients themselves.
He had only ever bought the finished potion.
“First...”
Adeline started counting off on her fingers.
“Witch’s Finger growing on the 6th floor.”
“The 6th floor.”
Kim Jun murmured.
He’d already cleared that floor. Going back there wouldn’t be difficult.
And from the name alone, it seemed like it was probably connected to the 6th floor’s hidden boss, the Goblin Shaman.
“Volume 6 of Chronicles of the Mage on the 9th floor.”
“You use a book as a potion ingredient?”
“Yep. It isn’t physical; the mana is extracted from it, so don’t worry.”
Adeline gave a small laugh.
“And the 27th floor’s Zombie Brain. Ah, preferably from a particularly unusual specimen. You know which one I mean, right?”
“Yeah. Anything else?”
“Ever-Blooming Flower on the 30th floor. It grows in the Garden of Eternity. You probably know roughly where that is, too.”
Adeline finished counting on her fingers, then looked at Kim Jun one last time.
“And finally.”
“Finally?”
“Demon blood.”
Kim Jun’s eyes widened.
“I need high-purity demon blood.”
Adeline smiled.
“But that should be easy to get. It’s right next to you.”
Her gaze slid to Kim Jun’s shadow.
The place where Andras was hiding.
She even knows that?
“Ah, of course, your blood would work, too.”
Adeline added, adjusting her glasses.
“You’ve got high-purity demon blood yourself. It’s a little muddy because of the dragon blood mixed in, but still.”
“You really...”
“Astounded?”
“Yeah.”
“I get that a lot.”
Kim Jun nodded.
Honestly, it was chilling.
Not only had she seen through Andras’s existence, which wasn’t even visible on the surface, she had also dissected the composition of the blood flowing through his body.
“And yet that’s all you’ve got?”
Adeline looked at him with amusement.
“You’ve already gotten used to a me like this, haven’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t lie. It’s all over your face.”
Right.
Kim Jun knew Adeline well.
Before his regression, at the very end of the Tower.
At the Great Battlefield on the 100th floor, where the fate of humanity hung in the balance.
One of the last members of the final strike force who fought there was Adeline.
Despite being a resident of the Tower, she had fought alongside the hunters until the very end.
And besides.
Kim Jun’s gaze wavered for a moment.
It had also been Adeline who awakened Ryu Jia into the hidden class Sorceress before his regression.
Back then, Ryu Jia had been much stronger than she was now.
That had only been possible because of Adeline’s teaching.
“Whatever.”
Adeline waved a hand.
“I’ll keep your secret anyway. Having one new research topic is enough.”
“Thanks.”
“In return,”
Adeline grinned.
“help me with an experiment now and then. Regressor body data is pretty interesting.”
“No. I refuse, you witch with the mole in the middle of your back.”
“Wha—what!?”
It was the first time he’d heard her sound truly flustered.
“H-how did you know?! Nobody knows that!”
“You don’t need to know.”
Kim Jun replied curtly and opened the door.
“Hey! Kim Jun! Answer me before you go!”
“I’ll come back once I get the ingredients.”
Ding-a-ling.
The door shut behind him.
Got her good.
The corners of Kim Jun’s mouth lifted.
Adeline always acted like she knew everything.
So tossing back a secret she had never told anyone and watching her scramble had been strangely satisfying.
Actually, it wasn’t the middle of her back, but rather more like... well, anyway.
“A-answer me before you go!! Hey!!”
Adeline’s voice burst out as the shop door flew open behind him, echoing all the way into the street.
But instead of answering, Kim Jun simply raised his middle finger.
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