The Regressor Can Make Them All - Chapter 524
Chapter 524
“Haaaaaah. I’m tired.”
Returning to the dormitory late into the night, Se-Hoon immediately slumped down onto the living room sofa in exhaustion.
The original plan had been to part ways with Erika after lunch, but somehow, he ended up bumping into Luize, Eun-Ha, and Aria one after another. Like that, the rest of his day was a parade of chaos where he had to endure Luize’s nagging, Eun-Ha’s silence, and Aria’s smiling eyes simultaneously for nearly ten hours.
It had wrung him so dry that Se-Hoon reflected deeply on what mistake had led him there.
Getting her to let go of my arm didn’t solve anything in the end.
Right after encountering Luize, who seemed to have come running from somewhere, Se-Hoon asked Erika to let go of him since he was unable to withstand the sharp gaze piercing at him from the side. And since they had already agreed beforehand, Erika complied without resistance.
But the real problem started after that.
“Ah~ say ahh.”
“…What?”
“I’ve always wanted to try this once.”
With a resolve to pursue a new goal—a fulfilled life—Erika defied social norms and stares, exploring everything she desired without hesitation.
And the result of that? She was now feeding Se-Hoon, being fed by him, holding hands while walking, and taking close-up pictures together. Everything was something the old Erika wouldn’t have even imagined doing—and it was all happening boldly in front of the other three.
I couldn’t exactly tell her to stop either…
When he had felt the emotional temperature of the other three steadily drop, Se-Hoon had tried once to refuse.
“Ah… okay…”
[The subject’s happiness has been disrupted. Fatestone maturation speed has decreased.]
“I-I’ll do it!”
Seeing Erika’s disappointment literally reflected in the status message, Se-Hoon couldn’t bring himself to reject her again.
…Maybe she’ll get used to it over time.
Right now, she was like a child who had tasted sweets for the first time. For her, who had no measure of happiness, both joy and disappointment were amplified. Once she built that up over time, though, things would stabilize. Until then, no matter how hostile the stares became, it was better to accept it for the sake of Erika’s emotional stability and their growing bond.
I just hope she adapts quickly…
Recalling the reactions of Luize, Eun-Ha, and Aria—ones he hadn’t seen from them even before his regression—Se-Hoon shook his head with a faint chill creeping up his spine.
Anyway, let’s deal with this first.
Already exhausted from overthinking, Se-Hoon retrieved the newly extracted Fatestone from Erika.
Swish!
Hundreds and thousands of silver threads fanned out from his left palm in all directions, filling the living room in an instant, then seamlessly rewound back into Se-Hoon’s hand into a neat stack up from the base of his palm.
Gazing at the mysterious and intricate sight of what seemed to be metallic threads woven into fabric, Se-Hoon made a curious expression.
This one’s… pretty unique.
Even among all the level four Fatestones he’d seen so far, the phenomenon before him stood out. Thinking it could be dangerous to touch it carelessly, Se-Hoon simply watched.
Then, a moment later, the stack of thread compressed into a small silver cube engraved with a patterned surface.
“…Oh.”
Despite its grand entrance, the Fatestone didn’t emit any perceptible power. Se-Hoon, though, could clearly sense the immense force compacted within through the hand holding it.
It’s compressed so perfectly that I can’t even feel it from the outside with my senses…
Now understanding just how unusual the Fatestone was, Se-Hoon checked its information.
[Fatestone – Silken Compression Stone]
[Tier: Hero] [Quality: Perfect]
[A synthetic mineral created by compressing harmonized mana to the limit.
By reconfiguring the mana of objects, it can form a pathway between them to create a link.
*Reconfigures the mana of linked objects
*Permanently connects to the reconfigured object, enabling the exchange of mana and properties
*Using the stone without infusing mana will result in permanent durability loss]
“This is…”
Se-Hoon’s eyes slanted in thought. From the information, the stone effectively refined any object to its most efficient form. Additionally, it had the capability to bind and interlink items permanently.
It was also something Se-Hoon was intimately familiar with.
The Open Gate ritual… no, this is closer to the Seeker’s Omniform Sacred Armament.
Clearly, its usage was a reflection of Erika’s talent, which was now in full bloom after the recent event.
It’s versatile and applicable anywhere… and it’s perfect for the Planetary Reinforcement Project.
Because the Ascension Project shared a conceptual overlap, it was no wonder that Erika’s Fatestone—which was specialized perfectly for it—matched so well. Recalling the revised draft he’d developed when he was in the Inoue family, Se-Hoon stared thoughtfully at the Silken Compression Stone.
If I use this for that, the planetary synchronization rate should be… no, this isn’t enough on its own.
He could use it to synchronize the Golden Ring with the planet like he did with the Inoue’s grand barrier and the planet, but the challenge came after that. Ultimately, Se-Hoon wanted to shape planetary environments into ones suited for humanity permanently; he wanted to make them resilient even against the devastation caused by the battles between Perfect Ones.
If he blindly did the synchronization, he might just turn the planet into another corrupted swamp like the Abyss of Demons.
I’ll definitely need some sort of stabilizer before I even attempt anything…
But what could stabilize the synchronization between the Golden Ring and the planet aside from Terra? Se-Hoon toyed with the Silken Compression Stone, thinking of other options.
“Sir. Do you have a moment?”
While he had been lost in thought, an Eye of the Nether had drawn itself in midair, and through it, Benjamin’s voice had echoed out.
“Ah, sure. What’s the matter?”
“Well…”
It seemed Benjamin was struggling quite significantly with how to phrase it from how his words had trailed off. In the end, he let out a sigh of resignation.
“Ryu Meirin is trying to destroy the pillars here. Could you ask her why?”
***
At the edge of what was once called the continent of Antarctica, a vast, pitch-black sky loomed over a swamp that seemed to stretch endlessly all the way to the horizon.
Bubble-
This was the first of the Six Great Demonic Realms—capable of devouring light, air, and all existence within this world. Standing some distance away, Apostate—Max Sinclair—covered his mouth with his sleeve, grimacing at the sight.
“…Tsk.”
He hadn’t even entered the swamp, yet just standing nearby was enough to drain all the strength from his body. He felt unspeakable helplessness weighing him down, the pressure from which was incomparable to when he used to be a demon.
Realizing he couldn’t casually fly any further, Max channeled his mana into the pure white cloak he wore.
Woong-
Golden embroidery shimmered faintly across the once-blank cloak, instantly nullifying the surrounding miasma. Given to him when he was once appointed Archbishop, the Stigmata—the Pilgrim’s Cloak—was now shielding him from corruption.
The relic, which he couldn’t even touch after transforming into a demon, provided him with protection once more.
“…”
Holding complicated emotions, Max turned his gaze and walked forward.
Woong!
The closer he got to the Swamp of Ten Thousand Demons, the brighter the cloak glowed and the more the miasma receded. He was advancing toward the source of corruption, and yet, paradoxically, the corruption faded the closer he got.
Eventually, he crossed the boundary and stepped fully inside the swamp…
“Huh? What the—why are you here?”
He was greeted by a startled voice from a black, gelatinous blob that was fishing at the edge of the swamp: Tuner.
“Careful or you’ll get corrupted and need another surgery… oh, you’re wearing the cloak? Then you’ll last a bit longer.”
“Why weren’t you picking up your comms?”
Ignoring Max’s irritation, Tuner smugly waved his fishing rod.
“Isn’t it obvious? I was focused for a while, waiting for a bite. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to fish here?”
“Tsk, you’re the only lunatic who would think about fishing in this hellhole.”
“Exactly. That’s what makes it more exciting—the unknown.”
Unfazed by the sarcasm, Tuner beamed… to which Max sighed heavily.
“Inoue Ryuuma… and Balthasar are dead.”
“Yeah, I know. The item I lent him sent me a ping.”
Gazing down at the silver thread dangling from his rod, Tuner smacked his lips thoughtfully.
“That leaves only one left in the Magis from Succession now… but Melchior’s too uptight to be of much use.”
Max narrowed his eyes. Despite Tuner’s regretful tone, his composure was unsettlingly calm.
“You were anticipating this from the beginning, weren’t you?”
“More or less.” Jiggling his body to move the rod, the Tuner blandly answered, “The Ascension Project wasn’t too lackluster, but it only tried to imitate the power of the Perfect Ones. Lee Se-Hoon has taken down two Perfect Ones and two Harbingers of Destruction so far. How could they possibly win?”
“Yet you still sent the Seeker’s eye?”
If he really knew Balthasar and Ryuuma would lose, why send the Seeker’s right eye with no safeguards?
“You think I lent it out without any thought?” Tuner sighed at Max’s rebuke. “Come on. Use your brain for once. No wonder Lee Se-Hoon wrecked you before—”
“Shut it and start explaining.”
“…”
Scowling due to the repeated jabs, Tuner glared back… only to end up sighing deeply.
Whatever, I’ll let this slide for now.
He couldn’t afford to rough up one of the key elements of the Pilgrim raid just for that. As the elder, he was to be gracious.
“This time, I aimed for two things: observation and gambling.”
“…”
“Observation is using the Ascension Project to analyze Lee Se-Hoon’s core. The gambling part is about either killing him or retrieving something useful.”
“Did you succeed on either of them?”
“Hard to say…” Tuner muttered, turning back to the swamp. “From observation, I managed to get half the results. The Sevenfold Cursed Eye had its limits after all. To understand more deeply, I’d have to… huh?!”
Flinching, Tuner suddenly splayed his body across the ground, anchoring himself as the silver thread tautened violently.
“What the—”
Max’s eyes widened. There was something alive inside the swamp, something other than the Elder Lord?! What he thought was insane fishing suddenly proved real???
Max stared at the shaking rod in disbelief.
Whoosh!
Thunk!
A black egg about a meter tall was pulled out of the swamp, landing between the two with a deep thud.
“What the…”
The object was strangely familiar yet foreign. His eyes narrowing in observation, Max silently questioned it until Tuner approached.
“That’s the Heaven’s Well.”
“The Heaven’s Well… wait, don’t tell me…”
“Yup. The Seeker’s Mythical-tier artifact. It has changed a bit after being corrupted by the swamp.”
After saying that, Tuner opened his entire body like a gaping maw and devoured the egg whole.
Crunch- Crack!
A sickening crunch of metal echoed, causing Tuner’s black body to writhe wildly before freezing solid, as if time had ceased. But soon enough, a faint orange glow flickered within—
Crackle!
The black mass condensed to a single point in the blink of an eye, then expanded into a new body. Unlike Tuner’s previous towering frame, he had shrunk to around 180cm. His muscle mass had also vanished, along with his limbs becoming more slender—more human than ever.
He reshaped his body by consuming a Mythical-tier artifact containing a piece of a Perfect One’s power…
Though he’d made use of the Seeker’s body parts before, what had just happened felt different. Tensing, Max braced for what might come, but Tuner just casually pulled out a beaked mask and fitted it over his face.
“Ahh. Been a while since I had a body. Damn that Lee Se-Hoon, seriously…”
Murmuring to himself while admiring his new physique, Tuner belatedly remembered Max and turned around again.
“Oh, sorry. I got a bit emotional…. Anyway, what did you come here for again?”
Clearly dodging the topic, Tuner played dumb. It annoyed Max greatly, yet he didn’t press further. If it wasn’t about the plan, poking too much at Tuner could fracture their alliance.
There’s no reason to stir trouble on the eve of the operation.
As loath as he was to admit it, Max needed Tuner’s—no, the Demon Force’s—power. Drawing strength from the Pilgrim’s Cloak, which he needed just to remain standing, Max spoke in a low voice. “It’s all ready.”
Tuner paused at those words, then chuckled.
“Good. I’ve been itching for some rehab.”
His gaze turned past Max to a pure white wall stretching across the ocean: the unbreachable barrier that had held back the Abyss of Demons for decades. Taking in the sight of it, Tuner cracked his joints and flexed his new body.
“Well then, let’s go kill the god of those fanatics.”
Flap-
Thus, the butterfly’s wings flapped again, stirring fate once more.
