Everyone Else is a Regressor

Chapter 44

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Ryuu

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◈ Everyone Else is a Regressor (44)

"Coward, come down. Knight Tolchi will take your head."

After KiJun and the Banshee fell beyond the wall, Tolchi remained calm despite being left alone with the gentleman. Clutching his greatsword, he growled at the gentleman who had landed lightly on the ground.

"Ha!"

The gentleman, pointing his Estocs at Tolchi, twisted his lips into a smirk. His fangs gleamed palely in the moonlight.

"Don't you worry about your companion? Quite a stoic knight."

"If he's weak, he'll die. If he's strong, he'll live. That's all there is to it."

Tolchi firmly replied, readying his greatsword and preparing to leap into action.

"Besides, you've lost a companion too."

"That wasn't a companion, just a chess piece to be used and discarded!"

The gentleman laughed mockingly, launching an attack. His Estocs, aimed at breaking through Tolchi's armor, clashed directly with Tolchi's greatsword but didn't give in, instead overpowering it.

"You'd do well not to clash directly with my thorns."

The Estocs' point, successfully blocked by Tolchi's greatsword, made a cracking, ominous noise.

Tolchi realized the gentleman was a vampire, but this power...

"A Thorn... Are you from the Thorn Clan?!"

"It's too late to surrender. Once I've struck, you won't escape, there's no way out!"

As Tolchi stepped back, reinforcing his greatsword's magic, the gentleman pursued.

"Looks like I was mistaken. Should I have taken on that one?"

"Underestimating me?"

Losing his greatsword and being pierced in the shoulder, Tolchi faced the gentleman's mockery. His teeth grinding, he reached out and grabbed the Estoc piercing his shoulder.

"Foolish."

The gentleman, reacting as if he'd been waiting, sprouted blood-red thorns from the Estoc. Actually, he transformed Tolchi's blood on the Estoc into thorns to stab him. However, Tolchi, bloodied but determined, managed to break the Estoc.

"Crunch."

"Don't underestimate me!"

Discarding the broken Estoc, Tolchi growled and kicked off the ground, rushing towards the gentleman.

Picking up his fallen greatsword, he accelerated, his upward slash aimed at bisecting the vampire!

The vampire stepped back, countering with his Estoc, but this time the Estoc was repelled.

"Blood makes you stronger? Barbaric, but not bad!"

"Your opinion doesn't matter to me!"

"Bang! Ka-boom!"

Tolchi, much faster than before, cornered the one-handed vampire.

His greatsword, now quicker and bathed in ominous red, made the vampire chuckle.

"Special weapon, huh."

"Yes, become rust on my sword!"

Tolchi's eyes, visible through his helmet, blazed with wildness.

His greatsword, enveloped in a red aura, sped through the air, targeting the vampire's neck!

"Die!"

"Kuk...!"

The vampire tried to escape by transforming into a swarm of bats, but the greatsword's gathered energy exploded, devouring more than half of them.

Assured of his hit, Tolchi smirked.

"Now's the time to weaken a vampire. I know it."

"Indeed... too strong for such a small city."

The scattered bats reconvened, forming the vampire's body again.

"No, is that why you're here? To stand out among the weaker ones?"

Unscathed but noticeably paler, the vampire dusted off his dusty suit.

'Nobility of the night, what a shame. If the Thorn Clan knows about this...'

The Shadow Wraith unit's annihilation made the city's overthrow a failure.

'This humiliation is unacceptable. I must end him quickly and elegantly.'

Despite the failure, the vampire engaged directly to eliminate the biggest threats and make an escape.

The Banshee? She might return for her own purposes, given her pretty face.

"Die, vampire!"

"Tch!"

The vampire's thoughts were cut short by Tolchi's relentless greatsword.

Instead of a direct confrontation, the vampire turned to mist, retreating and shooting spikes at Tolchi.

Tolchi, like KiJun earlier, repelled the spikes, charging across the wall.

He was heavier and slower than KiJun, and the spikes were more menacing than the Banshee's magic.

Pierced by several spikes, Tolchi was mocked by the vampire.

"Ha-ha-ha, like a wild boar in the woods! Skewered and ready to roast!"

Then Tolchi silently pulled out a hand axe from his bosom.

Its blade was silver-plated and blessed by a high priest, prepared knowing undead would appear.

The axe's broad side was even engraved with a cross.

"Oh no."

Feigning a reckless charge, Tolchi infused mana into the hand axe and hurled it at the misty vampire.

Proving his unique-grade throwing skill, the axe pierced the dissipating mist with a loud crash.

The axe, embedded in the vampire, caused him to reform from the mist, his precious lifeblood dripping down.

"Khat..."

"Die, vampire!"

As the vampire fell powerlessly atop the wall, Tolchi leaped and slammed his greatsword towards him!

"Thunk"

The vampire's blood, crucial to his life, sprouted large blood-red thorns, narrowly missing piercing his own chest.

"Kuhuk!"

Pierced through his armor, Tolchi spat out blood in disbelief at the vampire.

Having eliminated half the bats with his greatsword and used a once-effective blessed weapon, how could it be?

"My blood is my life. Its value is heavy, its stature noble, and its blossoming lethal beauty. Not elegant, but fierce. Not to my liking, but..."

Disgusted by the silver-coated axe, the vampire used dark magic to pull it out and threw it to the ground, then slowly stood up.

The blood from the vampire's wounds, composed of his life force, coated the Estoc he held, akin to humans silver-plating and blessing weapons against undead.

The vampire, seemingly displeased, glared at Tolchi, pinned by his own blood, and aimed his blood-coated Estoc.

"The most luxurious death awaits you, pathetic monster. Embrace my blood and rest."

"Ur, Lucy—"

Suddenly, a sacred flame-imbued fang penetrated him, pinning him to the ground.

A perfect ambush at an impeccable moment.

"Kehex!"

Even with fatal wounds, the vampire attempted to shoot more thorns but was unfortunately at a severe disadvantage against his opponent.

His blood, about to transform into thorns, evaporated upon touching the holy fire, depriving him of his strongest weapon.

The vampire extended his Estoc in a final attempt...

"Clang!"

Blocked by a shield radiating a menacing, blood-like light, even this effort was repelled.

"Ah, indeed."

The vampire, halting his final strike and still unfazed, looked at the shield and its wielder.

"I should have dealt with him first."

"Kaboom!"

In the Gracia Kingdom's small eastern town of Ars, inside the first floor of the official Mercenary Guild.

Having just returned, YeMin's party was at the report desk, receiving official recognition as mercenaries.

"A system preventing last-hit stealing, quite impressive."

YeMin smiled contentedly while holding her new bronze mercenary badge.

Despite the distracting effect her smile had on nearby mercenaries, no one dared approach, given how quickly her party had become official mercenaries.

EunShin prepared to protect YeMin at any moment, echoing her sentiments.

"It's fair since it recognizes contribution. A thorough game system is beneficial in such cases."

"No idea who designed such a complex system," Uncle Soo remarked, ever-vigilant.

Usually, KiJun handled the dirty work, including fending off unwelcome advances towards the female members. Realizing how taxing his role was only in the second iteration, they were now more protective.

"This way of meddling was unexpected."

"The newcomers in Reta probably tried to claim the monster's loot just by landing the last hit," JiHye added, sharing the same disgust.

Their official mercenary mission was interrupted by a trio of men attempting to steal a monster they were hunting, claiming it as their own.

Realizing the men couldn't store the loot due to insufficient contribution, YeMin dragged them to the guild for fraud and extortion, banning them from the guild.

"Such disputes over loot must be common, so a system to decide ownership is simplest and cleanest."

"Yeah, KiJun had trouble during the tutorial because of that. People fought over the last hits even though he just ambushed the monster."

"Euaa, noona..."

Amused by EunShin's reaction, JiHye playfully pinched his cheek.

Considering their accumulated age across iterations, their playful demeanor seemed out of place.

"But then."

YeMin suddenly mused.

"Why wasn't there such a system in the tutorial?"

"The tutorial had the same XP distribution rule. There were so many monsters compared to people, and with trivial loot, there was little dispute."

"It's a much smaller world compared to Reta... Plus, you can't bring much loot to Reta, so it was meant to be quick."

Uncle Soo casually stated the unpleasant truth.

YeMin's smile faltered.

"We failed to break through even the basic stage..."

"YeMin?"

"Two rounds and it took ten years..."

"Ahem, MinAh."

"Are we even worth being called regressors?"

"YeMin, stop! No more!"

Despite the uncomfortable truth that their 'regression' was more of a 'last place bonus', they grappled with fundamental and philosophical doubts about their worth as regressors.

Nevertheless, they were now official mercenaries, leading among Earth's inhabitants, and decided to celebrate that night with a party.

They learned about the events on the other side of the kingdom the next day.

Translator’s Message:

Hello everyone, unfortunately I’ve decided to put translations for this novel ‘on hold’. With the recent events happening, I genuinely find it hard to get motivated to continue translating this particular novel. Hence, I’ve decided to take an indefinitely long break from it. I’ll still be continuing my other projects as usual, so you guys can take this chance to check those out. I’m sorry about this but it’s for my own betterment. Thank you all for your continued support!

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