The Regressor Can Make Them All - Chapter 551

Chapter 551

Thanks to the help and advice of Eun-Ha, Terra willingly returned to the Netherworld with more confidence than ever. After all, she had gained the enlightenment she needed for ascension at long last.

Now I can complete the Planetary Reinforcement Project and wake up the Administrator!

The timid, childish version of herself from just an hour ago was no more, gone without a trace. She was now perfect Terra: the one who had taken the best of both the Seeker and Se-Hoon—the peerless mage and blacksmith—by blending their synesthetic mindscapes into her own.

Having finally defined who she was through countless hardships, Terra strode forward with newfound energy.

“You accepted Se-Hoon and the Seeker’s synesthetic mindscapes?”

“Yes!”

“I see. Restrain her immediately.”

“Huh?!”

But instead of receiving praise, she was dragged into the workshop.

“I worked so hard… for this…”

Surrounded by a mountain of diagnostic equipment, Terra sniffled pitifully.

“…I get how you feel, but considering the method you used, we can’t exactly skip out on the inspections, can we?” Merin remarked calmly.

To accept another’s synesthetic mindscape without advanced planning—and two of them at that—was completely unheard of. In Meirin’s opinion, Terra not dying on the spot was already a miracle. As for her still being alive? That was an inexplicable phenomenon beyond even miracles.

“You’re basically a live bomb right now. You may look fine on the surface, but no one can say when or how you might explode.”

“But…”

“What if that explosion happens right next to Se-Hoon, right when you’re trying to complete the Planetary Reinforcement Project?”

“…” Imagining that scenario, Terra flinched before relenting with a sigh. “…It would ruin everything, with all my efforts going to waste.”

Irrespective of how much trust she had in herself, the potential fallout if something went wrong due to her method was just too dangerous. Awakened to reality, Terra looked down at the inspection device attached to her body with her composure returned; the high of her breakthrough had finally settled.

“Can these devices even give accurate results though? There are so many unknowns when it comes to a case like this.”

“We’ll make it work somehow.”

Sucking on her lollipop, Meirin flicked her eyes over the various monitors displaying Terra’s vitals.

“Whether you can wake him up will determine the entire course of this battle.”

If Se-Hoon awakened, they could use the barrier to bind Puppeteer’s hands and gain the upper hand. However, if the Demon Force figured out a way to break the barrier first, the nightmare from three days ago would repeat—turning the tide of war dramatically against humanity.

“So hang in there a little longer. Once this is all over, the entire world will sing your praises.”

“The entire world…?”

Imagining everyone applauding and praising her, Terra felt her heart pounding so hard that it might burst.

Calm… calm downnnn.

It hadn’t happened yet. She couldn’t afford to get carried away. There was also the precedent during the early days of the emergence of the Towers of Heroes where some saviors were told things like, “Get out of our village, monster!”

I do look abnormal, so I’d probably get it worse.

The greater the expectations, the sharper the betrayal. Collecting her thoughts, Terra pushed aside the grand image of universal praise and thought of something more personal, more realistic.

“Um…”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Do you think… the Administrator will praise me too?”

Not expecting that one, Meirin’s face briefly blanked out before she chuckled softly.

“Of course. That guy’ll probably shower you with rewards.”

“Then I’ll do my best!”

“Good. Let’s start with sensory diagnostics then, shall we?”

“Wait, that one’s really—GAAAH!”

Just like that, Terra’s stability tests began under Meirin’s lead. And also, contrary to early concerns, results began coming in quickly.

“…This is unexpected.”

When she first heard Terra’s story, Meirin thought the key had been the Seeker’s ego embedded within the power of Omniscience. If that were true and the Seeker had kept trying to dominate Terra, then stabilization was definitely impossible even with the backup system of the Warhound.

I guess the Seeker didn’t plant something inside her while only pretending to accept her.

The test results over the past few days had revealed that the Seeker had indeed contributed substantially to Terra’s stabilization. But contrary to what Meirin expected, the key wasn’t the ego in the power of Omniscience but the physical body sealed within the Warhound.

Like I thought, Terra’s body couldn’t handle it when the three synesthetic mindscapes first merged and effectively collapsed.

When trying to pour the contents of three cups into a single one simultaneously, it was a given that most would spill—or cause the single one to burst, which should be Terra’s case. The Warhound though, or more accurately, the Seeker’s sealed body, had acted as a massive sponge that absorbed all the excess.

Her physical collapse was temporarily halted to stabilize her mind, and then she was reconstructed to match it…?

Fascinated that the Warhound had essentially served as a mold that reforged Terra, Meirin zoomed in on Terra’s body scans and discovered something even more surprising.

“So it really wasn’t just the Seeker’s body that influenced her!”

Considering that the Warhound was created originally to store a duplicate of Se-Hoon’s body, when it served as a mold for Terra’s new body, Se-Hoon’s traces were naturally absorbed as well.

A synesthetic mindscape created from a perfect blend of the Seeker and Se-Hoon. A physical body molded from the combined structure of their two vessels. Did these two elements somehow synergize to create the current Terra?

The result was something so miraculous it defied explanation. Could all of it have been part of Se-Hoon’s plan all along?

He did order her to complete the Planetary Reinforcement Project…

As if he knew she would succeed with full confidence in the outcome… but did he foresee the miracle using the power of Perception? Or… was it some other unknown power?

I need to tread extra carefully now.

In the end, it turned out that waking Se-Hoon was potentially far more dangerous and difficult than she had assumed. With that conclusion in mind, Meirin prepared to examine Se-Hoon’s condition alongside Terra—only to unfortunately no longer have the luxury.

After remaining still for a week, Puppeteer had made a move.

“Thousands of people transformed into puppets all at once?”

“…Yes.”

Looking at Lea’s exhausted face, Meirin furrowed her brow.

“You’re sure it happened inside the barrier? There’s no chance they snuck in from outside?”

“No. The squad leaders logged it, and the CCTV footage confirmed they were active and healthy until just days ago.”

People who had been living normally inside the barrier just collapsed out of the blue, transformed into puppets with their strings cut. Naturally, the Association had been turned upside down.

And having been the one inspecting the bodies with Erika, Lea also had a splitting headache.

“If this is due to Puppeteer’s enchantment, there should’ve been some trace…”

Initially, Lea assumed the transformations were due to Biological Enchantments. There were no signs of organ transplants in the victims’ hearts, and though their body types varied, their mutated organs were all identical. It was a systematic transformation, the hallmark of Biological Enchantments.

That was her specialty, so I thought I was right…. Where did I go wrong?

Yet, contrary to her expectations, there were no traces of enchantment at all. Everything was as if they had all been born with those mutated bodies.

Setting aside the method, how did they even change so drastically overnight?! They weren’t just ordinary people. Ugh-

All victims were heroes, with half being high B-rank or above. One of them had also been a veteran set to be promoted to S-rank soon.

“Could they all have been traitors?”

“That’s still under investigation, but I doubt it. Some of the victims were investigators from the Special Operations Division.”

In that division, everyone underwent daily physical scans. Hiding any mutations would have been impossible.

“Then they really did transform overnight…”

But how? How had Puppeteer breached the barrier’s protection to turn all these high-ranking heroes into puppets?

Falling deep into thought beside Lea, Meirin suddenly bit into her lollipop.

“No choice. We’re going to wake up Se-Hoon. Go get ready.”

“Huh? But you said we should monitor Terra a little longer…”

“Given the situation, we can’t afford to wait. If someone like Ryu Eun-Ha or Aria Myers were to get turned into a puppet, it’d be catastrophic.”

Lea’s expression instantly hardened. Although unlikely, “what ifs” weren’t something they could ignore anymore. In other words, the showdown with Puppeteer could no longer be postponed.

“I’ll go get ready.”

She returned to the Netherworld ahead of them, and as Meirin watched her go, she turned back to look at Terra. “It’s all happening rather suddenly, but… do you think you’re ready for it all?”

At those words, Terra sat up from the examination table and looked at the equipment on her body.

Thwack!

With a snap of her fingers, the diagnostic devices popped off and returned to their original spots. Something that would’ve taken several minutes by hand was resolved instantly with chant-less magic.

“I’m always ready.”

Hearing Terra’s bold reply full of conviction, Meirin smiled faintly. That and her footsteps full of purpose made it clear her synesthetic mindscape had become firmer in just a few days.

Woong-

The Memorial Tower they returned to after several days looked unchanged, and Se-Hoon hadn’t moved either. Floating with his Thorn Halo within the violet mist, eyes closed, Se-Hoon exuded an otherworldly stillness.

Terra felt her heart pound looking at him.

Steady now… or no, maybe I don’t need to be anymore.

She realized it wasn’t fear nor anxiety—it was expectation and belief in success. There was no need to suppress that.

Thump!

A powerful heartbeat reverberated from within Terra’s chest before the Warhound enveloping her shimmered and soaked back into her body.

Woong!

Her shadowy form shifted into seven colors, which blended into countless hues that soon settled into a stable state. And when the light faded, a new figure—one seemingly human—stood before Lea and Meirin.

With long hair that flowed down to the waist and multicolored irises giving it a slightly strange look, the figure’s overall appearance resembled the Seeker. However, the gaze and demeanor perfectly mirrored Se-Hoon’s.

At the sight of the creature that was a hybrid of both the Seeker and Se-Hoon in both mind and body, Lea stared blankly.

“Please initiate the link.”

Meeting Terra’s gaze, Lea snapped out of it and activated the Sphere. A second later, a golden shimmer flickered above Terra’s head before forming a new halo. Lea had transferred partial control over the barrier, which Se-Hoon had maintained alone until now.

RUMBLE-

Of course, even the act of transferring control—not the power—of the barrier that protected all of humanity and held power equal to that of the Perfect Ones was enough to shake the world.

Also, that naturally meant it came with accompanying pressure too.

Crack!

Upon feeling the weight of the power on their shoulders, any other high-ranking heroes would’ve disintegrated in a second from the sheer torrent of information. Terra, though, welcomed it and began refining it, shaping her body to house the new power using the remnants of powers stored in the Warhound.

“State your wish.”

The tremendous voice echoed in her mind, stronger and more aggressive than ever, trying to overwhelm her. However, Terra just stared straight at the unconscious Se-Hoon and held firm.

Woong!

The Memorial Tower and other anchors began pulling at the pressure and dispersing it. Finally kicking in, the anchors Se-Hoon had placed in advance to prevent a runaway during the Planetary Reinforcement Project were performing flawlessly.

“Phew…”

Thanks to them, Terra’s thoughts grew clearer, allowing her to remember the wish she needed to make.

My wish… is to awaken the Administrator and protect humanity’s home.

The moment she stated it, the golden halo above her head flared orange. Then, the barrier’s formula began rewriting itself.

CRACK!

Hearing thunder crack across the sky, everyone instinctively looked up—

“Don’t look up!”

“?!”

Startled by the sudden shout, they froze. The man before them had finally opened his eyes and was glaring skyward.

“So that’s where you’ve been yapping from…”

Due to the completed project, the Netherworld’s sky had connected briefly to reality—allowing Se-Hoon to see the unchanged moon. Or so it seemed.

Crack-

Rather than the moon they knew, it was actually an enormous, moon-like machine masquerading in its place, whispering cursed knowledge from orbit to those below.

“Oopsie. You caught me~!”

Puppeteer’s mobile theater—Lunatic—revealed itself at last.