Chapter 497: It’s Darkening! (3)

Regressor Instruction Manual

‘I’m glad because the fight is going to get easier.’

I was honestly afraid that there would be another variable because I still hadn’t really figured out the ins and outs of my new job. It was a special job that the Semi-Mythic demon Belial had bestowed upon me, I was convinced that it was more powerful than the Alchemist of Light.

However, my proficiency was low, so it was difficult for me to do anything. To be honest, I didn’t even know what type of spells I could cast. Therefore, it would be really risky for me to fight the expedition team of the Sacred Sacred Democratic Country right now.

I was kind of worried about many things, but the audience reacted better than I expected, so I was convinced that the situation would work out a bit better than expected.

Jung Ha-Yan had exhausted herself when she cast that teleportation magic earlier, and Kim Hyun-Sung had lost the will to fight, so he was being dragged away by Jo Hye-Jin.

‘He’ll faint at this rate…’

If this were real rather than fabricated, then the entire expedition team would have long been annihilated.

‘However, it’ll be a huge problem if Cha Hee-Ra loses it.’

Of course, they had to go through a fierce battle while retreating so the scene would look more realistic. After all, just letting them go without doing anything wouldn’t create any tension.

‘Just like the manual…’

It was written in the manual that the priests, mages, and basically all the members of the rearguard had to escape first. However, it meant that the rearguard wouldn’t be able to maintain their buffs on the vanguard, and it was indeed happening right now.

The vanguard was slowly losing their buffs, but they were still doing their best to hold out amidst the bombardment of the entire legion.

Park Deok-Gu bit his lips and maintained the line so that the others could escape. He had to be really nervous because his lips and legs were trembling. He hit the demons that were charging toward him and tried to get the melee damage dealers back into the formation, but it wasn’t working out.

“H-Hold on! Go in… go inside. We’ll follow the manual! Follow the manual!” Park Deok-Gu yelled.

- Krrrrrrgh!

“Holy power! Holy power!” he shouted.

- Rooooooooooar!!

“Make sure that the troops won’t get buried and that they won’t get swept away! Follow the rangers of the Black Swan! Be extra careful of the named monsters, keep your guard up, and the rearguards will retreat first! Protect the priests before anyone else!” he ordered.

Unfortunately, not everyone could retreat. Some melee damage dealers lost their chance to retreat, while some members of the vanguard and the rearguard got captured by the demons.

The demons would have smashed their heads apart if they were a part of the Federation, but these people were from the Sacred Democratic Country, so they couldn’t just outright kill them.

Those captured here would most likely be kept to provide mana to this place, but it was better than dying. In addition, they would be able to go home safely once all this was over.

The soldiers were scared when their comrades were dragged away by the strange monsters, and they were so desperate to escape that they decided to abandon their comrades and friends.

‘I can hear their performance[1] rising...’

“Ye-Jin! Ye-Jin!!!”

“Save me! Save me! Save me! Ahhhh! Oppa! Save me! Kyaaaah!”

‘I told you that you guys aren’t going to die. I’m just going to take your mana. I’ll hurt you a bit unintentionally, but you guys won’t die.’

“Guild Master… thank you… for everything. Please tell my wife and kids about what happened here.”

“Shit! Hyun-Woo… Hyun-Woo!”

‘I said that you guys aren’t going to die.’

“You bastards! You demon scums! Heuk!”

“I don’t want to die like this. Jason… like this…”

“Katrina…!”

There were people who had to leave, while there were people who had no choice but to stay. The situation reminded me of families being separated, but I didn’t need that kind of soap opera right now.

Of course, I should be dancing around because I had definitely earned a lot of merit this time because of my performance, but I couldn’t let things end here. I had to make sure that they would come back after retreating, and most importantly…

‘I can’t let them misunderstand…’

It would be a huge issue if they started seeing me as an enemy because I had gotten completely corrupted.

On the outside, I definitely looked like the demons had completely tainted me, so I had to come up with an idea to show them that Light Ki-Young’s soul was still sleeping deep in my consciousness.

I had to do that so that my allies wouldn’t outright destroy me.

I nodded and immediately carried out the plan. The mana I managed to gather wasn’t much, but I eventually gathered a decent amount of mana tinged with light.

‘It’s still not enough.’

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to attract their attention, and it was also not enough for me to ensure that they wouldn’t misunderstand me. However, I started nodding unknowingly after hearing a voice behind me.

[I’ll help you with this.]

‘Oh my, thank you, Belial…!’

[No need to act so humble. The benefits include this kind of assistance.]

‘It’s still a great honor. I’m very grateful.’

[Haha. Like I always tell you, there is no need for you to thank me. I should be the one thanking you. Can you believe it? Some of the commanders that are watching all this unfold from hell are applauding. They’re the commanders who have been saying that the 72 Legions only know how to act high and mighty. Even Satan shook his head and clicked his tongue. Do you not have a conscience? You really are a disgusting human.]

‘...’

[It’s a compliment, not an insult. I’ve seen a lot of disgusting humans, but I’ve never seen anyone as disgusting as you. As expected from my contractor. I’d expect nothing less.]

‘He seems a little too excited…’

His voice sounded higher than normal. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my performance or simply because he was enjoying the current situation, but I believed that it was the latter. He was definitely acting like one of the top demons.

I felt kind of bad seeing the party members’ shocked faces, but Belial seemed to be really enjoying all this.

I couldn’t help but examine myself and see if I had really gotten corrupted, but it was clear that I wasn’t that corrupted.

Anyway, a disgusting mana started forming over my palm, and it was more repulsive than I had expected. I presumed it was because Belial was simply too excited.

The expedition team’s attention landed on me once more. It wasn’t really strange because I was mustering an amount of mana that was similar to the amount of mana that Jung Ha-Yan had to muster to cast an extremely powerful offensive spell.

Of course, it was all for the show, and I wasn’t really going to cast the spell.

I simply wanted to scare them.

“Shield magic. Shield magic!”

“Activate all the artifacts! Make up for the insufficient mana!”

“W-We have no idea what kind of spell that is… We’ve never seen that kind of black magic before, and… F-Father Lee Ki-Young is the one channeling the spell.”

“Counterattack with a spell! Counterattack…!”

As expected, chaos immediately descended.

They desperately looked for a way out, but they couldn’t see any way out of this.

“Oh god…!”

“No way…”

“Oh god… please…!”

A few people fell into despair once more as the clump of mana got bigger and bigger. There were some who thought that they could take the brunt of my spell, but they quickly gave up and could only watch me gather more mana.

Basically, I had gathered a tremendous amount of mana. Aside from a few members of the expedition party, I was sure that all of them had the same thought. In addition, they had no idea what kind of spell I was about to cast.

‘They’re going to die once this spell hits them.’

I was sure that they were thinking that way, and I even saw a few people casting spells to attack me. Jung Ha-Yan saw that, and she started swinging her dagger at the people who were channeling their spells against me.

‘Wow, this is a mess. Ha-Yan. What’s going on, Ha-Yan… Hey! Don’t haphazardly swing your dagger like that! Geez… you’ll end up stabbing someone!’

Of course, there was no way that their spell would reach me.

“You pesky humans...” I said coldly and extended my hand.

“It’s over… It’s all over…!”

“Damn it.”

“Oh, Benigoa! Benigoa! A miracle, a miracle…!”

Everyone’s faces were finally painted with despair.

I was about to lower my hand to deepen their despair, but I grabbed my head instead.

“Die, you insects—Kgh…!” I groaned in pain.

“Huh?”

“W-What the? How…”

The members of the expedition team were confused.

Naturally, I had to look like I was being tormented.

“Kgh… Argh! Ah!”

I had to give it my all. I had to act like my soul was actually rejecting my corrupted fleshly body because this scene was the most important scene.

“Run… now…! Cough! Hurry…”

“...”

“H-Hurry… There’s no time…!”

With tears in my eyes, I looked at them and told them to run.

The tremendous clump of mana that looked as if it was going to explode at any moment abruptly vanished.

Everyone in the Nest fell into confusion.

However, hope quickly filled their eyes after realizing that Light Ki-Young and Doom Ki-Young were currently in a gruesome battle for supremacy inside Lee Ki-Young.

“Shit… Shiiit! Aaaahhh!”

Rimoura had to abandon her task of attacking the humans and kidnapping those who looked tasty. She ran toward me and checked my condition. I was sure that the humans thought that this was their chance because the fighting went into a lull once again.

The demon executives had arrived to check what was going on, so there was no way the humans could still launch another assault.

- It’s Rimoura. Please come to your senses.

“In… front of me… stay away… I…”

- Husband, it’s Rimoura. Do you not remember me?

“Kgh…!”

- You seem a bit tired. How about you rest?

“...”

- If you stay still, the pain will go away. Just accept it. It won’t hurt you any longer. You won’t be in pain anymore. Get rid of all the complicated thoughts in your head. Slowly… slowly… you won’t be in pain. Yes, just stay in my arms.

‘Wow, I really want to recruit her.’

I hadn’t said anything to her, but she came up with her own ad-libs on the spot. In addition, she was also assisting me by explaining the story to me.

I wanted to applaud her, but her tentacles slowly wrapped around me, which made me feel a shiver down my spine because I was sure that the expedition team was looking at me.

Light Ki-Young briefly regained his consciousness, but the grotesque tentacles were slowly wrapping around him, and the faint light coming from him got fainter and fainter as the tentacles enveloped Light Ki-Young.

‘As expected from Belial’s number one pick…!’

Directors would surely love Rimoura if she were an actress. I also liked the fact that her tentacles were grotesque-looking. I nodded slightly in satisfaction and glanced at the expedition team.

I saw them moving in a hurry, as if this was their golden opportunity to escape. Of course, I also saw some people like Park Deok-Gu, who seemed reluctant to escape after seeing me regain my consciousness, albeit briefly.

“I’m coming back to save you no matter what,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“...”

“Look straight into my eyes, hyung-nim. I’ll come back no matter what, so just hold out until then. I’m going to save you no matter what. I’ll make sure that… I’ll make sure that you’ll come back to your senses. Kgh…” he groaned.

The expedition team quickly dragged him out.

“I’m going to save you! Hold out a bit longer. Please, just hold out… Wait for me!” he screamed once more.

He was still screaming, but his desperate voice grew farther and farther away until it disappeared when the door to Rimoura’s nest was finally closed.

Boom!

In the end, it felt as if everyone had managed to escape.

The demons gave me a round of applause, and I clenched my fists tightly.

‘10 million dollars at the box office is secured, hot damn!’

1. the better performance, the more demon merit ☜