Chapter 393: The Power of Friendship, Love, and Faith (4)

Regressor Instruction Manual

‘What the hell is going on?’’

Obviously, I[1] was surprised because I had no idea why a priest of the Republic was charging at me while foaming at the mouth. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything else because of the thick fog. I focused my mana on my eyes, but it didn’t change anything. There was confusion everywhere.

“A trap! It’s a trap! Stay close!”

“Aaaahhh!”

“Stay close so that we can defend ourselves! Don’t fall out!”

‘Where?’

I heard a loud voice, but I wasn’t sure where we should group up because the entire place was filled with fog. The only thing I was certain of was that the enemy and the allies were mixed together, and that was when I realized that the fog that surrounded our troops was kind of different. The fog seemed like it was suppressing our bodies, and the bad feeling I was getting from it had become completely different from before.

‘There’s a high concentration of mana here.’

Up until now, I couldn’t feel any traces that the concentrated mana here was artificial. However, it became clear that the fog surrounding us had been created by someone, and it made us feel like we were inside a dungeon.

I thought of one person who could do something like this on the enemy camp, but he shouldn’t be here. It wouldn’t make sense for that Mist Summoner to be here because he should be defending Castle Rock. There was no way the enemy would be able to casually pull a named member out of Castle Rock while it was being surrounded. In all honesty, I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how he could escape Castle Rock. Castle Rock was currently being surrounded by our allied forces to the point that not even an ant would be able to come out of that place. In addition, there was no way we wouldn’t notice if some of the stronger people in Castle Rock managed to escape.

I was out of breath, and I started to feel dizzy. My mind was telling me to judge the situation objectively, but it was getting difficult for me to make a reasonable decision. I honestly didn’t need to think hard about it because the most important thing right now was overcoming this situation. Unfortunately, my mind was filled with complicated thoughts, so I couldn’t think about anything else.

“You dirty demon! Hehehe! Dirty demooooooon!!!”

I saw how they were swinging their swords randomly, and I couldn’t help but think that they weren’t in their right minds. I swung my sword in response to an attack, and my face was instantly splattered with blood. The intestines of my opponent started spilling out of his gut, but he still kept on screaming.

“Ahhhhh!”

Someone else was charging at me again, and I was reminded of a zombie when I saw them foaming at the mouth. I bit my lips and cut their head off, making them fall to the ground. The person charging from my flank met the same fate. I swung my sword once again, and they fell to the ground after releasing a short scream.

I could feel someone else emerging from the fog behind me. I abruptly turned around and was about to attack them with my sword, but I stopped upon hearing their voice.

“It’s me! It’s me, Miss Katia!”

“M-Mishika!” I called out.

“There you are,” he said.

“The others—no, were you able to figure out the current situation?” I asked.

“I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t able to find out what is going on right now. I somehow ended up in this place as well. B-By the way, I think it’s best if you cover your nose and mouth. I’m not sure if you’ve caught on, but…” he paused.

“Are you talking about the mist?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m sure Cheon Kwan-Wi is behind this since he’s the only one who can cover an entire forest with fog. I’m not sure how he was able to escape from Castle Rock, but I’m sure this is his doing. He probably used a catalyst on top of the natural fog here and used his magic to cover it up, but strangely enough, the mana concentration is very high. Moreover…” he explained.

“Have you found out anything else?” I asked.

“I’m not certain of this, but…” Mishika trailed off.

“Please don’t worry about it and tell me,” I told him.

“I-It’s just an assumption, but I think there’s a special type of potion included in this mist magic, or it could be a curse. I’m not sure, but… a priest’s purification spell isn’t working, so it’s highly likely that another method was used,” he answered.

“Go to hell!! Hehehe!”

“Careful!” I screamed.

“T-Thank you, Miss Katia,” he said.

“Please continue. I’ll clear the path,” I told him.

“Okay.”

“What did you mean by another method?” I asked.

“You can think of it as a type of potion created through alchemy. I haven’t figured out the exact effects, but it’s a potion that makes people experience some kind of hallucination as well as making them easily stimulated and worked up. One thing I’m sure of is that the more a person gets exposed to this fog, the more they would get affected by it, and the monster the unit had encountered earlier was likely affected by this fog. As I mentioned before, all of this is my personal assumption. A priest’s purification spell isn’t working, so that’s the only possibility I can think of… I’m sorry I can’t be of much help,” he answered.

“No, that was very helpful. I’m sure it’s very close to your assumption. It isn’t that effective to me, but even my body has been sending me signals, and this is different from mind magic. If magic like that exists, I’m sure the effect won’t last that long. The lower your resistance, the quicker it will affect you, and I’m sure the same applies to the duration,” I explained.

“You’re right. The lower your mana or stamina, the more fatal it will be for you. It’s highly likely that Cheon Kwan-Wi used a potion Lee Ki-Young had created to materialize this fog…” Mishika continued.

“It’s a possibility,” I commented.

“That’s all I came up with so far, M-Miss Katia. What do you plan on doing now?” she asked.

“We’ll need to reorganize the troops. I want the mages to do whatever they can to get rid of this fog. That’s the first step. There aren’t any other solutions,” I answered.

“Got it.”

“Let’s move a bit faster. Mishika, stay right behind me,” I ordered him.

“Okay!”

It wasn’t a great achievement, but I finally knew how this happened and what was going on. The problem was what I should do afterward. The biggest issue was figuring out how to overcome this absurd situation.

“Die! Die! Die! I won’t forgive the followers of Varian!”

“L-Let go of me!”

“Bastards! Bastards! Die! You crazy bastards!”

“You guys are the ones who are going to die. You cursed demon followers!”

The sight I saw the more we broke through the fog was absurd. There were people wielding weapons surrounding one soldier and continuously stabbing them. Meanwhile, there were other people crushing the soldiers’ faces with their hands.

Of course, I wanted to save them, but the problem was that I couldn’t differentiate allies from foes. The enemies weren’t just wearing Varian’s priest uniform. In fact, some of them were even wearing the Republic’s military uniform, complete with badges and all.

Moreover, there were civilians among the group, so differentiating the allies from the enemies was meaningless. Unfortunately, the situation got increasingly worse as time went on.

“Dieeeeeeeee!”

“I’m an ally! An ally! Don’t attack me!”

“Die! Go away! Don’t come near me! No one. No one will come near me! You bastards!”

“You crazy bitch!”

“Don’t come near meeeeee!”

“Group up! Group up!”

“Close formation! Maintain close formation! Close formation!”

“Don’t come near me! You crazy bastards! Ahhhhh!”

“God will punish all of you!”

“You dirty demon bastards! Disappear! Die!! The Goddess of Benigoa and Varian will be with us. You’ll receive divine punishment!”

“Die! Kill them all!”

“I’m an ally! Don’t attack me. Ahhhhh!”

“I’m an ally! An ally! Gabe! It’s me!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

‘Shit…’

“Shit…”

‘Shit!’

“Miss Katia.”

“Hold on tight. I’m sure the rearguard is maintaining their formation around the mage,” I told him.

“O-Okay.”

Hell was the best word to describe this situation. There was blood everywhere, and the sticky ground gave off a disgusting smell. My body and hair were getting wet from the sweat. The incessant screams assaulting my ears, and the cries of people screaming for help were getting carved in my mind.

The more I breathed, the dizzier I became. I was sure my eyes had already turned bloodshot. I finally realized that the drug was affecting me, and I obviously wasn’t the only one being affected.

The deranged allied soldiers couldn’t tell which people were their allies, and I was sure that the people a bit far from them looked like enemies in their eyes. There were allied soldiers inadvertently hitting their allies while haphazardly swinging their swords out of fear. A few soldiers suffered brutal deaths due to their crazed swinging.

Time went on, and the forest became filled with nothing but madness. This place could no longer be considered a battlefield as nothing else could be heard from here aside from the screams and the maniacal laughter of the crazed soldiers.

‘What are we even fighting against? What in the world…’

“Die!”

“Save… Save me… Save!! Not me, it’s not me! Gaaaaaah!”

“How dare you look down on the Republic…”

“Don’t do this. Don’t come near me! It’s my fault. This is all my fault, so don’t come close to me. Please don’t do this. I—”

“Please save me. Please. Mom—”

“Die! Die… Heuuuuk!”

“Dieeeeeeeeeeee!!!”

‘Save me.’

“...”

‘Save me. Katia… save me. Rescue… me.’

“Sis…”

Setting the fog aside, I felt like my vision was getting worse, and I started hallucinating. I continued swinging my sword and saw that the faces of the deceased soldiers on the ground had turned demonic.

‘I’m hallucinating.’

I was aware of it, but my mind was getting tired of fighting. It felt like someone had cast a spell—no, a curse on me.

“Mishika… are you following me?” I asked.

I looked back, but the man with glasses had unknowingly vanished behind me. I bit my lips, but it wasn’t going to change anything. In addition, it was practically impossible to find him.

“Miss Katia!”

I turned in the direction where the voice had come from and saw a large monster.

“N-Now…”

“Die…”

“What?”

“Die… Die! You monster!”

“What do you—Cough.”

The monster’s head fell to the ground in the blink of an eye, but when I opened my eyes, the head of a soldier whose name was unknown to me was rolling on the ground.

It was getting harder to breathe, and the fear of the unknown started to fill me up as I frowned while walking. Everything around me had turned red, and it felt like everything around me was spinning. Tears started to fill my eyes. I just couldn’t quite grasp what was going on.

I bit my lips, but I had never been in a situation like this before, and I had never felt these emotions before as well.

Unfortunately, the unfamiliar situation kept on pushing me into a corner.

‘Save me… Katia.’

“You must be purified! Purification is the only way!”

‘Katia.’

“You’ll receive salvation. The salvation of light! The army of light will chase you out!”

‘Save me, Katia!’

“The salvation of light!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut uuuuuuuuuuup!!!”

1. Katia’s POV ☜