Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1411. Aina Peneloti (2)

— What the hell are you doing right now, you lunatic?!

‘Seriously, does he not get it when I say it plainly?’

Anyone could feel a sinister and ominous energy flowing out of that place, and it felt as if time had stopped only in that place. In the center, the forces of the Republic and the forces of the Union of Kingdoms had run into each other, yet instead of casting wary gazes at each other, they were all staring at the entrance of that place, speechless.

Something was there.

A monster that the common sense of any mortal couldn’t understand was present in that place.

Dark, damp, and disgusting... it was the kind of place even the undead would hesitate to enter. It felt like a scene straight out of a horror movie. One had to never enter that place, but that bizarre space was luring mortals in.

The creature within that shadowy abyss seemed to be beckoning to the humans standing right at the entrance. The sound of someone swallowing their own saliva echoed loudly amidst the silence.

No dungeon or rift had ever felt as ominous as this.

‘Don’t open it.’

The door before us had to stay closed.

However, curiosity and the primal desire to explore had been the downfall of many people.

Someone gathered their courage and opened it. What came into view was an ordinary office. The only difference was that beyond the bookshelf stretched an endless corridor. Hidden piece, Easter Egg, call it whatever.

The officials of the Union of Kingdoms also seemed unaware that this place even existed in the first place.

"Is this some kind of... secret passage leading outside?" someone mumbled.

No one answered.

They voiced a hope they knew would remain a hope.

There was no way they had failed to notice the hostility and malice flowing from the end of that hallway.

It was so intense that it would be no exaggeration to call it hatred toward all living things. Even those with dull senses found themselves tingling. If they had been alone, taking even a single step would have been difficult.

The corridor descended endlessly, and every time we took a step, another torch went out, as if reflecting the growing anxiety of the expedition party.

“I-is it really alright for us to keep... going down like this?”

“...”

“This isn’t some ordinary black mage. This is... strange. Something's wrong. I’m telling you something's wrong. Someone... someone has definitely awakened something strange there."

‘Whoever this guy is, he’s the classic extra with the classic lines. You're definitely going to be the first one to die.’

“Commander! We have to turn back now. This is dangerous. This is a trap. You did it, right? You’re the ones who woke that thing up, aren’t you? Right?! Right?! You dogs of the Republic. They’re the ones who lured us there, Commander! Please! We have to get out of here right now. We have to run... We have to run away!”

“We didn’t do this.”

“Don’t spew nonsense, you bastards. It was you!”

“Sir... do we really need to keep going down? Either way, we...”

‘There was nothing dumber than going back down to the first floor. The only reason you made it this far was that we carved a path together. Besides...’

It wasn’t that First Life Commander Jin wanted to savor the situation and enjoy the game for much longer.

If the one at the end of that hallway was the culprit who had raised the undead, then desperately trying to flee the castle was meaningless to begin with.

I felt like First Life Commander believed the castle was already within the creature’s grasp. Whatever the case, the most rational course of action was to deal with the culprit that had drawn them all here.

Whether First Life Commander Jin felt no need to explain all this was unclear, but he kept his mouth shut. At least someone on the Republic’s side understood the situation and was calming down those trembling in fear.

Just then, he turned and looked at me.

“Lady Peneloti,” First Life Commander Jin called out.

“...”

“Lady Peneloti, wouldn’t it be better for you to remain here with some of the troops?” he asked.

‘He’s trying to sneak in a conversation.’

“Do not speak to me, Jin Cheong of the Republic. I have no interest in unnecessary conversation,” I told him.

“...”

“...”

“But Lady Peneloti—”

“Whatever is beneath us, once this is over, you’ll be our enemy,” I interrupted him.

“...”

“Don’t forget that this is only a temporary alliance,” I reminded him.

‘His expression is getting worse.’

'That was a dignified response, Peneloti. It hurt my chest a little, but there was no other choice. He's an enemy, Peneloti.'

‘I really did not expect this bastard to start talking to me here.’

That alone showed that he also sensed how abnormal things had become. He had always been arrogant and composed, yet now, his face looked distorted. It wasn’t something that applied to most adventurers, but intuition tended to be gentle to those of high skill, and he definitely felt it was dangerous down there.

When he saw Belial for the first time in the second life, he managed to remain calm, but now, he looked really uneasy.

The more steps we took, the more anxious he became. Our march slowed down even more, and those trembling in fear hesitated to move their feet.

This expedition was moving forward because we were all in this together. In a place like this, being left alone felt far more dangerous than staying with the group.

When the expedition reached the end of the corridor, what came into view was something that couldn’t be called human.

“What... is that...”

“...”

“What is... that, Commander? What in the world... is that...”

“...”

“What is that...”

A puppet covered entirely in ominous purple and black. To my eyes, it was only something shrouded with dense mana, but to them, it definitely didn’t look that way.

‘I knew I could trust you, damn it. I knew you’d go all out!’

His ability to manifest mana in such a vivid way and shroud it around a puppet without losing any of the details was something that couldn't be understood with the common sense of this world.

There was no way these people here could understand what they were looking at. The eyes of the mortals who had merely fallen onto this continent could only see it as something unknown.

Perhaps this was what a mortal would feel like upon witnessing a planet up close.

The puppet before us clearly had the shape of a human. It didn't look particularly large, but it made us feel like we were staring at something boundless and infinitely large. I felt infinitely small, as if I were nothing more than dust before it.

The mana it radiated was boundless and overwhelming—no, it didn't even feel like mana. In fact, analyzing or attempting to gauge its limits was simply impossible.

I was overwhelmed and helplessly captivated. Humans lacked the vocabulary to describe an unknown existence beyond their comprehension. However, if one were to draw a conclusion, one could say that the being harbored malice toward them, toward humanity, and toward the world itself."

“D-demon...”

Yes, a demon. Literally, it perfectly looked like a demon in the flesh.

‘It looked like it transformed just moments ago.’

“A demon... Is that... a demon...”

“No way...”

“Wh-who... in the world brought... something like that here?”

“Commander... is that... thing alive?”

“How long... has that been down here?”

Most froze in place, including First Hyun-Sung and First Life Commander Jin. The creature stood silently, unleashing waves of hatred close to raw, violent rage as it quietly looked up.

When its gaze landed on the expedition members...

“RUN!!! RUN!!!”

“I said run! DAMN IT!!!”

“Aaaahhhh! Help me!”

Screams erupted from everywhere at once.

‘Damn it, everyone is getting inflicted with a debuff.’

Even the ladies stood frozen. The veteran palace guards and the Republic troops panicked. First Hyun-Sung and First Life Commander Jin bit their lips hard as they desperately resisted the fear.

‘Some of them are definitely going to end up with trauma after this.’

“Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!”

“Preparing for battle!”

‘Heroes truly are built different. Kim Hyun-Sung is still the same.’

He raised his sword even higher.

‘Calling it impressive can't even begin to describe it.’

At a glance, the creature that looked like the Doom Commander Jin was obviously far beyond anything we could imagine. It was openly casting hostility and killing intent toward us, but the fact that he stood there with a sword raised against such a being... he could definitely be called a hero.

Second Life Commander Jin had long transcended human limits, and his combat prowess could not be ignored. Of course, he wasn’t as specialized in combat as Kim Hyun-Sung, Jung Ha-Yan, or Cha Hee-Ra, but based on what I knew, his power was only a tier below them in normal situations and sometimes, just half a tier below them.

The power inflation of the second life had reached absurd levels, but even then, he remained a monster among monsters.

A Saintess-level figure like Sun Hee-Young as an enemy on the first life was catastrophic enough to be called a disaster, so someone like Jin Cheong being summoned here would be a world-ending calamity.

To give an example, First Hyun-Sung standing here with his sword drawn wasn’t much different from someone drawing a blade in front of an erupting volcano or a massive incoming tsunami.

‘This is what it means to be a true hero. He’s not going to retreat.’

First Life Commander Jin immediately channeled a spell.

“Preparing for battle.”

His calm voice snapped a few of the shaken soldiers back to their senses, and they followed his orders.

Aina Peneloti exclaimed, “Everyone, get ahold of yourselves! The demon hasn’t fully awakened yet.”

It was a realistic reassurance.

“The summoning ritual isn't finished yet,” I added.

“How do you—”

“I can’t explain it in words, but I can feel it. No... I can see it. The summoning circle beneath that demon’s feet is still being drawn. You don’t... you don’t see it?” I asked.

“I don’t see anything...” Commander Jin answered.

“We have to stop the summoning! This isn’t just the Union of Kingdoms’ problem. If a monster like that breaks free, the world will be destroyed. The undead are only the beginning. Th-there’s no time!” I exclaimed.

“Where is it, Lady Peneloti? Where does the summoning circle begin?” he asked.

Naturally, I pointed at the air.

First Life Commander Jin immediately hurled himself forward.

SWOOSH!

A massive jet of black flame erupted, transforming into something.

My eyes widened, as this was the first time I saw Second Life Commander Jin use a spell like this. I couldn’t tell whether it was a spell cast for dramatic impact or one of his original spells. Regardless, it definitely looked cool.

‘You can use lightning magic too? Since when was that your specialty?’

The lightning that erupted from him billowed out, whipping up a violent storm.

The creature twitched, and part of the castle was blown away.

BOOM!

Those standing close clung to whatever they could grab, but most collapsed to the ground, unable to even think of resisting the creature.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Black bolts of lightning erupted one after another, pervading the space.

It looked cool in its own dramatic way, but...

“...”

“...”

‘I think he used that spell with the intent to actually kill.’

I could swear he intended to kill First Life Commander Jin just now.

"Commander?"

Crackle, crackle.

"Commander?"

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackle!