The Legendary Regressor Devours the Tower - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

‘What kind of fucked-up situation is this?’

Dante disguising himself under the wrapper of being an elder of the Rafne clan was strictly due to orders from above.

After poisoning the elder here, Arut handed the vacant position over to Dante.

That was how Dante succeeded him as the elder and was currently carrying out his role as a watcher.

‘…….’

‘…….’

The Rafne, who had to obey Arut, did not even dare to think of resisting.

So he was settled on the 2nd floor, but to think an insane human would actually approach him.

‘What on earth is he? I’ve never seen a guy like that before.’

Unlike inferior races, Arut possessed far superior memory capabilities.

In particular, Dante’s memory capability was so outstanding that calling it absolute photographic memory was no exaggeration, completely incomparable to any other Arut.

Because of that, he remembered the countless faces that had passed through here, yet he had no memory of a face like that.

In other words, it meant this was his first time entering the 2nd floor.

If so, what made even less sense was how the bastard could still be standing completely fine.

Right now, colorless poison was spread like a mist around the human.

Although it wasn’t lethal enough to kill those of inferior races who had built up their strength while climbing the tower, the story was completely different for a human who had just begun the climb.

He shouldn’t be able to resist the poison since he wasn’t trained.

Even if he possessed an ability to resist poison, it was a level of potency far too overwhelming for a beginner!

“Shall we start?”

The human drew his sword.

“Ha, are you confident you won’t regret this?”

“Your tongue is long. Are you scared or something?”

“What?!”

Perhaps because it struck a nerve in his pride, Dante flared up and trembled with rage.

‘As a valiant Arut, there’s no way in hell I’d be scared of a trashy inferior race like that!’

I’ll bestow upon you enough pain to make you beg to be killed.

Dante kicked off the ground, springing forward as he swung his sword toward Sungwoon’s neck.

Boowoong-

The human bent his knees and ducked down, dodging the attack.

‘Unbelievable!’

As expected, that guy isn’t a beginner.

Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly react to this attack.

Fuck, when did I miss a guy like this?

Inferior in everything except his memory capability, he had been despised by everyone and banished to the 2nd floor.

He had to faithfully carry out his given role no matter what to prove he wasn’t a useless half-breed, but if word got out that even his memory capability was lacking……

‘That can absolutely never happen!’

Dante turned pale as he brought his sword down from above.

He was definitely going to kill this human.

Kkaang-

However, the human raised his sword at an angle, parrying and deflecting it seamlessly.

Kkigigik-

Along with the screeching sound of grinding metal, he closed in and shoved Dante’s chest hard with his shoulder.

Dante, whose upper body had been leaning forward, tumbled backward onto his rear.

‘Holy fuck!’

Flustered, Dante hurriedly tried to pick himself up.

Pook!

A beat faster, the human’s sword plunged straight down into his abdomen.

“Keoheok!”

From excruciating pain so intense he couldn’t speak, his eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out.

At this rate, he was in danger.

Dante tried to quickly regenerate his body, but strangely, his body wouldn’t obey.

The pain gradually worsened, and blood gushed from his nose and mouth.

Sensing something amiss, Dante slightly raised his head and looked down at his abdomen, his pupils trembling violently.

The bleeding was severe, and the skin around the wound had turned purplish.

“Could it be poison……?”

Only then did Dante realize that he had been hit with poison.

“You’re slower to notice than I thought.”

The human smirked as he pulled out the plunged sword.

Chwaaaak!

As he yanked out the sword, blood squirted out briefly like a fountain before flowing down to the side.

“Keuheok! H-How……?”

An Arut’s body is so tough that ordinary poisons wouldn’t even budge it.

Even if he hadn’t fully inherited Arut’s blessing, Dante still carried Arut’s blood, giving him immunity to poison.

Yet he couldn’t resist whatever poison he had been struck with.

“Farewell.”

“W-Wait a minute……!”

Pook!

Dante’s words couldn’t continue.

Because the sword had pierced precisely through the center of his neck.

[You have slain the minion of the Iron Man Arut. Bonus points will be added.]

[The Iron Man Arut begins to recognize your existence.]

Although he received bonus points by killing the minion Dante, the Iron Man Arut had begun to recognize Sungwoon’s existence.

Dante was an incomplete existence who inherited only half of the Iron Man Arut’s blood.

Furthermore, born frail, except for his memory capability, he fell far behind in terms of martial power, making him completely inferior compared even to boss monsters lurking on the 2nd floor.

He wasn’t banished to the 2nd floor for no reason.

If he could have exerted even 30 percent, no, 20 percent of Arut’s true capabilities, he would have been quite a troublesome opponent.

‘He must have realized my existence through Dante.’

In fact, it was welcome news.

By killing Dante on the 2nd floor, Arut would try to interfere with Sungwoon, and all those interferences would be converted into bonus points, providing immense help in reaching EX-Rank.

“Human!”

Just then, a Rafne flew over and landed in front of Sungwoon in an instant.

[NPC Information]

-Nickname : Birner

-2nd Floor Fairy Race Rafne

‘Yeah. That’s a real Rafne.’

A fairy who could comfortably travel between trees using invisible wings.

Dante was wrapped in the wrapper of being a Rafne elder, but his true essence was Arut.

Arut, possessing monstrous jumping power, could leap up to this height in a single bound, though Dante—except for his memory capability—was hardly any different from a human.

“Do you have business with me?”

Sungwoon tilted his head.

“……Reckless. What on earth were you thinking, killing the elder?”

Birner glanced at Dante’s corpse as he asked Sungwoon.

“Because it was a necessary process.”

“How are you going to deal with the aftermath?”

A glint of fear lurked in his eyes.

To them, the Iron Man Arut must be more terrifying than anyone else.

“Are you scared?”

At Sungwoon’s words, the corner of Birner’s mouth twitched.

“Human, I don’t know how far up you’ve climbed or what you’ve seen, but you need to know your place.”

“In short, you’re saying you’re scared.”

“I thought you were a guy with some brains, but you’re just someone who’s completely lost his mind to fearlessness.”

“Then tell me. What on earth is making you so afraid?”

“…….”

Birner’s face stiffened.

He was an NPC assigned to the 2nd floor.

While staying in the tower, he could never divulge information beyond the 2nd floor.

“If you don’t want to talk, could you do me one favor?”

“……Help you?”

“I want to go up above here, could you give me a ride?”

Sungwoon pointed his finger above the tree.

Above, the elder who was unconscious from poisoning would be lying down.

“Absolutely not!”

Birner gasped in terror and reached both hands toward Sungwoon.

He was trying to cast binding magic to prevent him from going up.

“I think I might be able to help with detoxification, though.”

“What……?”

At the word detoxification, the mana gathered in Birner’s hands instantly scattered.

“Of course, it’s not 100%. Still, it won’t be completely unhelpful.”

“Is that true?”

“Yeah.”

At Sungwoon’s answer, Birner stared intently at him, accelerating his brain’s thought process.

‘He realized Dante’s true identity and killed him. He also has resistance to poison.’

Birner noticed that poison was spread around Sungwoon.

It was a considerably powerful poison, so even Birner standing here had a limit of 3 minutes.

On the other hand, the human was fine even though far more time must have passed.

That would mean that human’s level was quite formidable.

Until now, because Dante was holding out, they had been anxious with no way to treat the elder.

Since a lot of time had passed, he might have already passed away.

‘If I go to see the elder alone, it’ll be the end of me.’

The one who made the elder like that was Arut.

If he attempted to treat such an elder, there was a high possibility of incurring Arut’s wrath.

On the other hand, what if it was an inevitable situation because a human intervened?

Since Dante, the watcher, was killed, Arut would definitely focus his eyes on the human.

“Very well.”

“Deal made, then.”

Sungwoon sprang up from the ground and placed his feet on Birner’s shoulders.

“Ugh! Get on properly.”

“Sure.”

Birner leaned his upper body forward, and Sungwoon slid his feet down, turned his body, and piggybacked on him.

As his transparent wings fluttered, his body floated up gently.

Then, gaining momentum, he quickly ascended upward, reaching the summit at a speed incomparable to climbing the tree.

At the summit, a small house had been built.

The elder was probably inside there.

Sungwoon strode forward and threw the door of the house wide open.

Since the house was small, as soon as he opened the door, he could spot the elder lying on a stone bed.

The Rafne elder took on the appearance of an old man in his 70s.

Perhaps because he had endured being poisoned for a long time, there was not a trace of vitality to be found on his face.

It wouldn’t be strange if he breathed his last right this second.

[NPC Information]

-Nickname : Brahman

-2nd Floor Fairy Race Rafne Elder

‘Just a moment is enough.’

In order to wrap things up with an EX-Rank, Brahman had to regain consciousness even if only for a brief moment.

Sungwoon took out Tears of Belos, which he had drunk before entering.

An elixir that could be consumed up to 5 times.

“Is that the antidote?”

Birner, who had followed him inside, asked as he tried hard to suppress his devastated feelings.

“No, it’s a medicine that helps resist poison.”

“Fine. Then could you put some of that medicine into this bottle?”

Birner held out a clean glass bottle.

“Are you planning to use an injection?”

“Yeah. It would be best if he could take it orally, but seeing the elder’s condition, that’s impossible.”

“Can you do it?”

“Of course. Despite how I look, I’m a doctor.”

“I see.”

As requested, Sungwoon poured 1 serving of Tears of Belos into the glass bottle and handed it over.

Befitting a doctor, Birner scanned Brahman’s condition and began administering medicines one by one.

He started administering the medicine via IV drip, and when nearly three hours had passed…

“Kkeueeeng…….”

A faint groan leaked from the mouth of Brahman, who hadn’t moved an inch.

“Elder-nim, are you regaining consciousness a bit?”

Birner asked in a calm tone, and Brahman slowly nodded his head.

“Ah, thank goodness…….”

Only after confirming that communication was possible did Birner sigh in relief and pat his chest.

Since his condition was so grave, he had been preparing for the worst-case scenario, but perhaps because the medicine handed over by the human was effective, Brahman’s recovery speed was noticeably fast.

“Where is…… this……?”

As a little more time passed, Brahman opened his closed eyes and recovered enough to roll his eyes around and examine his surroundings.

“Elder-nim, can you see me?”

“Yes…… Birner, was it you who treated me?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you do such a thing……?”

Brahman’s complexion darkened.

When he was poisoned, he knew that all of this was the doing of Arut, who reigned on the upper floors.

That was why he couldn’t offer any real resistance and lost consciousness, collapsing according to their desires.

“It’s alright. Getting all the way here was entirely because of that human over there.”

“A human?”

Brahman turned his head with difficulty and looked at Sungwoon.

“I killed the bastard claiming to be your successor.”

“I see…….”

By successor, he must mean the minion Arut sent down.

If he killed such a successor, interference from Arut would surely begin.

Brahman tried with effort to pick his body up.

“Elder-nim, you shouldn’t get up yet!”

Birner hastily stopped him, but Brahman shook his head.

“It’s alright, so would you help me sit up?”

“……Understood.”

At his request, Birner had no choice but to support Brahman’s back to help him sit up.

Having barely brought up his upper body, Brahman coughed, yet expressed his gratitude by bowing his head toward Sungwoon.

[You have been acknowledged by ‘Elder Brahman’. Bonus points will be added.]

That’s it.

By being acknowledged by him, he had fulfilled the condition.