Chapter 67
**CHAPTER_TITLE: Growth (5)**
The pattern repeated once again. I drained life force from Elena to defeat Horin and used it for her. Unfortunately, my black magic level didn't rise, but I could still pick up three levels of agility.
“...Why didn't I do this sooner?”
“It's because of you. You put on that mask... ah, ugh.”
In a short time, I had devoured six levels of stats. It was ridiculously sweet. Of course, it only worked because we had a balanced opponent right from the start—Horin, who wouldn't give me a tough fight that would cut the rewards. But still.
Yoo Dahui raised one finger. That perfectly straight finger caught my eye.
“One more time?”
“You? You don't have to, right?”
“I have to. If I regress ten times, it'll be over.”
Horin was our perfect stat source. She charged us without any reason, and her level was just right so the rewards wouldn't get slashed. “Ten times...” It wasn't actually ten times. I just had to move from the entrance of the Academy to First City ten times. The distance wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. Maybe this was enough. The thought made my body go lazy.
“Why?”
“No, well... sigh, that's not it.”
“What is it? Are you too lazy to regress ten times right now?”
“That's not it at all.”
“How can that not be? Your face is screaming it.”
I knew that the quickest path was just the duel after regression, but repeating the same time period over and over was no small amount of stress. Levels one or two while hunting—sure, that might be possible. If it were just my one life, I would have obsessed over the numbers one and two, but since I could die and still regress, I never got that desperate.
“You're so full. You're so full.”
Yoo Dahui clicked her tongue while looking at me. Yet there was no hint of disagreement in her voice. “Alright, then let's drain one more time, regress, and move on. That should be fine, right?”
“Sure.”
[Death Return activated]
That familiar starting point. Starting the 19th loop.
We headed straight back to First City.
“Flow... hiack...!”
“Shiiit... If you don't stay quiet, I'll turn on the vibrator?”
The vibrator? What kind of threat was that for an 8-star player to even drop? Well, it was just the command beneath the surface. Turning on the vibrator meant issuing the real command, nothing more. I properly drained Elena's life force, and we started the duel with Horin. Yoo Dahui didn't participate. She was spending time to help me grow.
├─ Tier 1: Basic speed boost ✓
├─ Tier 2: Enhanced agility ✓
└─ Tier 3: New ability — UNLOCKED
[Victory reward acquired: Horin's Agility Lv.2]
The victory reward had been adjusted. Horin was clearly demanding absurd slave-level rewards, but we had modified the stat requirements. That meant Horin could no longer hit me even a little.
“Hyaaaaoook!”
The duel ended in a flash. Horin declared surrender in a pitiful voice. Because I had seen this a hundred times, it felt strangely flat.
“That's the end. Now you've put strength, agility—everything at level ten, right?”
“Yeah.”
“From now on, let's rush toward the second floor.”
Yoo Dahui smiled brightly and activated Blessing of Suicide.
[Death Return activated]
Starting point again. 20th loop started.
We naturally headed back to First City. Since I had decided to progress through this loop, I didn't absorb life force. Permanent loss was bound to have a bad effect, no matter how strong I was.
We toured the hut and declared a day of rest for today. The elves scattered on their own. Yoo Dahui and I waited for Horin to come to us.
“We need to make her a slave. She turned out to be a useful friend.”
“It's a little sad. I'm glad she can regress. I have to thank her forever.”
After waiting a bit, Horin found us. The goal was, of course, me.
“Human male!”
Horin was after information about the ancient elf.
“Human female, you don't need anything, so get lost already.”
“I don't feel like getting angry anymore. No more long speeches. Let's decide with raw power, shall we?”
This time Yoo Dahui took the stage. She had the commanding right of the beastman party.
“Even as a human, you're arrogant? Fine. If I win, you two become my slaves. The male has to tell me about the ancient elf, and the female is going to be my breeding sow to produce your kids.”
“If I win, you'll all become my slaves too. Okay?”
Yoo Dahui handed over every coin I had. Adding what I already held, it came to about 130,000 coins. It was a rigged bet, but the coin inflation was insane.
“Do you think a human would lose?”
Horin was confident. Among humans, some were strong and some were weak. Strong humans could beat weak beastmen. She seemed to have never met a real strong human yet.
A transparent veil unfolded, and players flooded in around us.
“What? Beastman versus human? Bet 50,000 coins on the beastmen!”
“Oh, they're both hot if one loses and becomes a slave?”
“Is this the first time you've seen a human female's face? Just entered First City, right?”
It was a coin gamble board. Beastman versus human, and the beastmen's win rate would be much higher. So more coins were riding on Horin.
The players wanted safety. Since you couldn't just earn coins whenever you wanted, this kind of bet gave a few players a ray of hope.
All of us don't want to die.
Monster drops had set zones. Normal drops, farmer drops, mercenary drops, knight drops... various monsters appeared, but only in front of parties around the same level. If I or Yoo Dahui went out, normal drops wouldn't appear at all. We had grown beyond being able to handle even them.
Then why was it summoned when Elena was here? It's super simple. Players who cleared the first floor and stepped on the second floor couldn't get coins from the first floor. That's why first-floor players had an easy time getting coins. Always taking risks was a burden no matter how strong you became. In that sense, I naturally went all-in with the 130,000 coins on Yoo Dahui. The payout was 12x! The moment Yoo Dahui won, 1,560,000 coins dropped into my hand.
The result...
It was decided. Regressors only got to watch the same ending again.
The fight wasn't long at all.
“Hyaaaaoooook!”
The tiger beastman got knocked out by Yoo Dahui and fell. Even though surrendering would make her a slave, Horin raised her hand without hesitation. Dying was worse. The saying that even rolling in cow dung is better than winning wasn't wrong.
“What?! Horin lost?!”
“I thought she was pretty strong, but that girl's even weaker than I thought!”
“Cshissit, if I had known she was this weak, I would have eaten her already!”
Many players mocked and harassed Horin after she surrendered. The weak lost everything. That was the Tower of Struggle, the ecosystem.
Yoo Dahui put her sword and shield back into her inventory and reached out to Horin. Horin ignored the hand and stood up, brushing off the dust.
Yoo Dahui frowned and said, “Even though you're a slave, I come from a pretty peaceful world. As long as you do your job properly, I won't touch you much. Got it?”
“...”
Horin nodded weakly, drooping. The pig, rabbit, and cat beastman males who looked wronged. I didn't know their names, but I'd wish them good luck.
We took the beastmen and left First City. Monster drops were almost nonexistent near First City. I felt a real sense of growth. But the farther we went from First City, the more monster drops appeared.
🏛 Type: Exploration Zone
⚔ Difficulty: Low
📍 Floor: 1st / 1st
💀 Boss: None
It wasn't easy. The stronger I got, the stronger the monsters became. The numbers increased, and their intelligence started showing a little. It wasn't dangerous. It was actually fun. Much better than just repeating duels with Horin.
“Ah! Damn it...!” Every time I got stabbed by a monster, it hurt like crazy, but even that felt like a fun game.
“Hey. What are you doing here?”
We reached a familiar lake. Yoo Dahui called the boy in a fake voice. I already knew the quest, but it was important to stamp my mark on the boy. After all, the boy was going to cross the lake.
“I'll help you cross it. Just find the blue pillar, right?”
“Yes.”
The boy seemed unexpectedly cold. Countless players had come and gone here. The disappointment grew as much as expected.
“Kkuek! Blue pillar! I know that place!”
“Not needed.”
The pig beastman proudly raised his hand. He had tried to use this information to gain freedom. But the place he knew was already known to us, so it was completely worthless.
“You're a regressor, but you look like a real scumbag.”
Yoo Dahui whispered. Her face was full of laughter. When she got close enough for her scent to reach me, my body tingled uncontrollably. Especially down below. ...This feeling isn't bad either...
We kept hunting. I had to earn coins when I could. I already had 1,560,000, but my stomach was still growling. The sun hanging in the sky slowly tilted, and the time of dusk approached. We returned to First City.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Kkuek! Kkuek!”
“I'm so hungryooong!”
“Carrot, today I'm drinking carrot juice. It's a day I can drink.”
The male beastmen fled in a panic. No one wanted their rest time invaded. Yoo Dahui guaranteed the rest conditions for her slaves. She didn't seem to feel any need to tie them up.
“Aren't you going?”
“I'm not going.”
Yoo Dahui looked at Horin. Her eyes were doing a kind of threat. Horin started trembling. A slave couldn't disobey the master's orders, so Horin had to obey Yoo Dahui.
“I-I have something I want to know! Human male! That scent! The scent of Hugo! Tell me about the ancient elf!”
“The answer about the ancient elf, tomorrow. We have something to do.”
“Ah! Just a little bit!”
Horin screamed in a high voice and ran off somewhere. Her body moved on its own because of Yoo Dahui's command.
“Just the two of us left?”
“Yeah.”
We chased away the noisy beastmen, and only the two of us remained. It felt quite old, but not even a day had passed since the public sex at the brothel. That was the problem with regression. The body was healthy again, but the mind felt extremely old.
“First, let's rent the hut. How much do you have?”
“...Are you really going to live with just the two of us?”
“Then?”
I had only shown a hint of my true personality for a moment, but Yoo Dahui opened her eyes sharply and glared at me. If I didn't give an answer outside of cohabitation, it looked like her tongue might get cut off.
“You hate me?”
“Why would I hate you? I was just asking. We haven't lived together even once, so it's only natural to be scared, right?”
“That's right. There's no way you'd hate me. You like me so much that you put on a mask and rape me. If I said I could live with you, you'd get hard right away. Right?”
The words piled up to the tip of my chin. You raped me too...! I still vividly remembered how she sat on top of me and happily squeezed my balls.
Do you think I wouldn't notice?
Was Yoo Dahui looking at me like she was tired of me, or seeing through me? Either way, it made me feel sad.
“You said you had 1,650,000 coins, right? Let's take the most expensive one for ten days. 900,000 coins, so 750,000.”
We rented the most expensive hut. After using it once, our bodies became unsatisfied with anything else. After paying, Yoo Dahui reached out her hand to me. What was she asking for? I naturally raised my hand. She held my soft hand.
Yoo Dahui smirked and said, “Coins. Give me all 750,000. I'll manage it.”
“Huh? All of them?”
“Yeah. All of them.”
“Not half?”
Yoo Dahui spoke as if it was obvious. When I was surprised, she pushed me even harder with an incredulous look. “Why? You don't trust me?”
“No... It's not that I don't trust you...”
“Then?”
My breath caught. Of course, I knew she wasn't wasteful or stingy. But the confidence that came from me holding 300,000 or zero coins was real.
“You're not going to give them to me?”
Her shoulders drooped, her eyes, her gestures all said no. My inventory was now zero. Yoo Dahui had recovered her bright smile.