Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: The All Master Who Regressed to Bronze
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Baek Hyo-rin.
He had secured Korea's—no, the world's—foremost alchemist, a title she more than deserved. Yet Choi Shin-hyeok didn't stop there.
"Mr. Baek Seong-hun. How about we play a little game?"
"A g-game, you say?"
Seong-hun responded in a tone that had grown markedly more deferential.
It was the perfect situation for that old saying: people skip the pleasantries when they don't have to worry about an axe embedding in their own skull.
Anyway, he'd thought everything was finally over, so this sudden talk of a game left Seong-hun visibly flustered.
Shin-hyeok gave him a gentle smile and explained kindly.
"We'll ask Ms. Baek Hyo-rin's opinion. Whoever she chooses, that's who goes with her. Simple game, right?"
"......Is that for real?"
"Yes. And if she picks you, I won't stop you from leaving with her. Whether it's off to the Villain Union or exile in another country."
"......!"
For Seong-hun, who had lost everything and teetered on the brink of death, this was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Of course, he wasn't an idiot.
"What do you want from me?"
"What do I want...? Everything except you."
"Pardon?"
"The Alchemist Korean Branch. Isn't that all you have left? Hand it over to me."
"......Hmm."
"Hey, if you want pocket money for the afterlife, be my guest. But you know Villains and their collaborators get summary execution, right? I'm doing this for one reason only: if I go that route, all their assets revert to the state."
"......Swear it. Swear under the jurisdiction of the Dimension Arena system. Then I'll do it."
After hearing Shin-hyeok's full explanation,
Seong-hun nodded, saying he'd accept if Shin-hyeok swore to it.
"Fine. I swear. Will you swear too?"
"......I'll swear as well."
Chingrrrrrr!
No sooner had the oaths concluded than invisible, transparent chains wrapped around the two men.
This was the oath overseen by the Dimension Arena system.
Invisible now, but if either broke their word, the chains would instantly materialize and bind them tight.
'Well, there are ways to loophole or skirt around even these oaths, but that's not important right now.'
Not even such oaths were foolproof, but Seong-hun breathed a sigh of relief anyway.
"Alright, then. Lead me to Ms. Baek Hyo-rin."
"Y-yes, sir."
"Oh, right. Almost forgot."
"Pardon?"
"Gotta clean up the trash first."
"......?"
Whiiiiiish!
Before his words even finished, Shin-hyeok halted Seong-hun and hurled his Spear of Mortal Strike.
Sudden as the javelin throw was, its form was perfection incarnate. Leaving Shin-hyeok's hand, the spear pierced clean through two Villains.
"Gahk!"
"F-fuck... No way......"
Donuts carved in their guts, the two Villains alternated disbelieving stares between their gaping bellies and the maker thereof, life fading from their eyes soon after.
Shin-hyeok gazed at the Villains who'd met their end looking ready to breathe fire from their fists or wreathe their swords in flames.
He approached Su-ah, whose face had gone deathly pale.
"Su-ah, you okay?"
"Uh, huh? Oh! Shin-hyeok. Yeah...... I'm fine."
"No obvious wounds, but... you sure you're really okay?"
"......No, honestly, I'm not."
Su-ah wore gear crafted by Se-jin himself, bolstered by Man-seok's buffs, so she'd taken no real damage.
Yet the reason she wasn't okay was simple.
"People just died...... And you killed them, Shin-hyeok. Let me ask you. Are you okay?"
"......"
Murder.
He hadn't done it himself, but he'd watched people die right in front of him—killed by his friend Shin-hyeok.
Warm concern.
As Su-ah gripped his hand with worried eyes, Shin-hyeok flashed a soft smile and tousled her sweat-matted bob.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"Thanks. You're worried about me."
"Of course! You're my friend! You wouldn't worry if I looked headed down a bad path?"
"Nah, I wouldn't."
"What?"
"I'd just smash the bad path you're on to bits."
"......Joking around at a time like this?"
"It's fun. Better to laugh and live."
Shin-hyeok grinned at the pouting Su-ah, then turned stone-faced toward Man-seok as if his smile had been a lie.
"Director Hong. You know who these guys are, right?"
"Familiar faces, all of them."
"Their crimes?"
"This one's special rape, that side serial killings. The ones you handled: aggravated assault and murder instigation, extortion, looting, and countless more. Worse, their known crimes are the tip of the iceberg."
"I see."
Man-seok rattled off answers like an AI.
As Su-ah's face hardened hearing the litany of Villain sins,
Shin-hyeok turned back to her.
She flinched at the emptiness in his smiling eyes.
"Su-ah. Murder's bad, but not always. Keep that in mind. The world's full of trash like this."
"......"
Shin-hyeok recited his thoughts wistfully.
It wasn't just because of the Villains before them.
'Even before regression, the world's crawling with irredeemable scum. Shadows go without saying, but even the light's no better. Tragically, some in the light are worse than those in the shadows. To reach the New Humanity Empire, they need to vanish—or at least lose their power. Can't leave them be.'
Pre-regression, Earth dimension's tier was Bronze.
Too weak for upper or even lower leagues.
Many reasons, but the trash in shadows and light played a big part.
For his revenge.
For Earth.
He resolved to clean them out, extending a hand toward the Villain corpses.
"Predation."
Krunchgrrrrrr!
The Villain bodies vanished into Predation's maw.
Among them, naturally, was the Dullahan revived via Necromancy [A], transcended through the Plus Ultra Ring.
A fine undead summon, but without transcendence's power, it dropped to B-rank Necromancy—hardly ideal.
Better to devour the power in these Villain corpses than wrangle one Dullahan.
The messages proved it.
"Hm, no elixirs, huh. Well, most elixirs wouldn't grant skills anyway—this is better."
Devouring five Diamond-tier Villains yielded solid gains.
Tier limits capped stat growth, but wholly consuming their lifetime-honed skills was profit enough.
And it didn't end there.
"Long time no see."
"Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you."
The trait Predation's original owner, 'Apex of All Evil,' had shown itself after so long.
Shin-hyeok dipped his head in silent gratitude, and in return, Apex of All Evil offered a gift.
Fwoooooosh!
"......What's this?"
Vast magic poured from the message, engulfing Shin-hyeok.
More precisely, seeping into his equipped Armor of Absorption.
Pure, dense magic from Apex of All Evil—the armor greedily absorbed it, exhaling black light.
As the dark glow faded,
Shin-hyeok beheld his armor, utterly transformed from moments before.
The chestplate now fully encased him like proper plate armor.
All onlookers let out brief gasps at the ornate yet weighty design. Shin-hyeok quickly inspected it.
"Whoa......"
The Armor of Absorption, which he'd wondered might finally grow, leaped from Unique straight to Unique+ in one go.
The buffs were mouthwatering: +51 to all stats, defense skyrocketing beyond compare.
Especially now full-body plate, its value more than doubled with total coverage.
Apex of All Evil sent no more messages after this massive gift.
A tacit "that's all."
Shin-hyeok expressed ample thanks regardless, bowing 45 degrees to the message's spot.
"Haha, as if I'd forget. No worries there."
Not bad being squished with jealousy between two constellations, he thought, then heartily patted the frozen Seong-hun's back.
"Alright, let's go play that game."
"Y-yes......"
Feeling inexplicably like he'd stepped into quicksand—yet unable to flee—Seong-hun sighed and shuffled forward.