[Intermission] The Regressor

"Are you sure this is the forest where the Crimson Ether resides?"

"I'm sure this is the one. In my first life, the forest turned into a dead zone a year after the summoning incident. I realized what caused it but if that was going to happen in this life in a year, there should be something we have to resolve here to avoid that outcome."

Crimson Ether was a black sword with numerous blood red diamonds chained together at the blade. A red jewel adorned the guard, and the pommel itself had a function to stun unassuming runts with a high voltage electric shock.

Most important was its ability to separate itself into multiple copies.

This was one of the main weapons Park Jiwon had used during his first life.

"Wait, this aura.."

"Demons are ahead. We should be reaching the altar soon, be careful," Jiwon tossed a dozen daggers into the air, they swirled around him-- and he prepared a Tuna Blade.

The tuna blade was a weapon drop obtained from killing the mutated tuna in the ocean. It was just a little shorter than a normal long sword but it's serrated edge and ability to reduce enemies movement was one of its distinctive traits.

It was a good enough starter equipment that served by his side till he obtained the Blood Ether.

Since he had exceeded level 100 through power leveling, he thought this would be the right time to challenge this forest.

There was a collapsed monument deep inside which most people never discovered.

During Jiwon's first life, he stumbled upon the Crimson Ether beneath the rubbles of the monument during an emergency raid request sent out by the guild. If he left the forest alone, it would once again become infected with those demonic parasites.

"Jiwon-san."

"Moirae-sama, ready your weapon."

The smell of demons, the festering flesh be it animals or plants-- it was a smell Jiwon would NEVER forget.

Moirae, the god that had descended manifested a crystal sword from thin air, lowering her stance, she proceeded with caution.

Then it came into sight.

The rock formation which looked like a dead cemetery. A lone cathedral in the center beaten down by centuries of weather.

"We're entering,"The aura of death permeated their skin as they proceeded down the moldy cobblestone path.

Stepping past the half broken gravestones, past the arch that once held the mammoth sized door. It was the lone chest hidden under the altar where the sword laid.

They proceeded down the aisle. Wooden seats that looked as if they had been melted into the ground, they light ray leaking in, particles of dust dancing in the air, the stench of mold permeated their nostrils.

A broken statue of the mutilated goddess stood above, staring down at the two as if to detest their arrival.

"They're getting closer."

"Got it."

Stepping onto the pedestal, Park Jiwon knocked open a part of the altar that had a slightly different shade from the rest. It cracked open, revealing a deep dark chasm.

The chest was below here, but he did not expect that it would be so far down. During the first run, the area had turned into a crater after a large-scale bombardment. Jiwon never got to see the origin location of this weapon before then. Looks like he would have to dig his way through.

"Jiwon!!"

Like drones, the 12 daggers that surrounded Jiwon moved at once. The shrills, sounding like some pig-chicken scream, echoed in the air.

Guardian Trents.. no. Guardian Trents infected by demonic parasites.

"So that's why.."

"Can you be quicker?!"

12 daggers clad in light magic power to reinforce it's durability pierced itself into one of the wriggling trees, digging a hole into the trunk of the bark, chlorine colour goo mixed in red blood dipped to the ground.

The Infested Trent shrilled. Worms fell out from within, the daggers made a turn, some fanning out towards the other Trents, others returning to kill off the demonic worms that fell off.

Moirea stood guard close to ParkJiwon, with her crystal sword, fending off against the tree's pseudopodia-like projections and worms that tried to get near them.

"Looks like I have no choice.."

With a swipe of the Tuna blade, Jiwon sliced the altar in half, creating a large opening on the top, he pulled the large chest out with telekinesis.

"UWA?!"

A tree tentacle wrapped around Moirae's slender legs.

A dagger flew over and severed it at the roots.

"ABOVE YOU!!"

"Your side!!"

Another dagger intercepted the pseudopodia projectile.

Sweat ran across Jiwon's head as he tried to process all the information entering his mind. He was just about to lift the lid open, something wrapped around his arm..

Silk.

He didn't need to look up for he already knew. Moirae had warned him.

A spider.

One that exceeded his size by over 20 times.

"You want to play?"

Two dozen blood red eyes stared back at him, swimming demon worms reflected inside the cornea of its eyes.

"You just ruined my enjoyment of opening a loot box."

With a shrewd smile, the chest blew open and out came a jet black sword clad in red light.

It shot upwards, it melted right through the spider's hard exoskeleton, innards and then out the back of its body.

Rolling away from the altar before the corpse fell onto him, 10 daggers converged back where he was and shot towards the closest Trent, the one Moirae was fighting. Two of them broke.

Crimson Ether, covered in spider guts, raised it's blade behind Jiwon.

"It's been a while," he said as if reminiscing.

Analyzing the situation, there were at least 5 Festering Trents, the highest one being level 78. Demonic worms would spill out from within as if to act as wiggly foot soldiers while the Trent stood a distance away and kept attacking using it's whip-like branches and vines.

This was the worst combination for close quarter fighters.

Fortunately, Jiwon was different.

"Limiter break."

Gold light ripple from underneath his feet. Crimson Ether started to vibrate violently. Clad in a red sheen, a second balde was formed. One turned to two, two turned to four, four turned to eight, eight turned to sixteen, sixteen turned to thirty two.

The original Crimson Ether floated in front of him, grasping the handle he said.

"Go."

With an explosion, thirty one balde shot out at once, ending the lives of the hundreds of demonic worms. Blood splattered everywhere, accompanied by the sounds of flesh being torn.

The worms flailing about on the ground had been exterminated. He placed himself between his enemy, crimson ether blade projection attacked the target, tracing precalculated motions of own sword art in simultaneous action. The life of the first Trent, then the second, then the third... their numbers dwindled.

More infested Trents started appearing as the battle progressed.

Red danced in the sky, pools of acid showered up like fireworks. A swing, a feint.

Moirae who continued to swing her crystal sword could only lament how weak she was.

To her, Jiwon's strength was a monster.

Yet..

As much of a monster as he was, even he, together with the other 19 heroes were unable to beat the demon monarch.

No, they weren't even close.

Just how strong was the demon monarch they would have to face in the future?

Park Jiwon was nothing but an Irregular with no Unique Skill nor cheat ability in his first life. All of his current progress was from his efforts… until his first death-- that is.

"Don't let them escape!!" his yell brought her back to reality. A dozen ether sword projections flew out through the window to assist in the extermination of the escapists.

"Roger!"

Channeling mana into her blade, it broke past the first threshold. Her rapier-like crystal sword into a light whip.

In a single slash, she bisected two Trents into halves.

--focus.

Breaking out of the encirclement she dashed out the cathedral.

"I'll leave those here to you!" She yelled.

It wasn't just one or two. Dozens of Infested Trents were escaping for their lives. If left alone, they could propagate.. and another outbreak could happen. If that happened, as Jiwon had said, this forest would become a dead zone in the future.

With her heightened ability to sense demons, she slashed her way through the forest, destroying those escapees.

'Shit.'

The Trents were all headed to one place. They were headed straight for the stray adventurers.

Channeling more mana into her balde, she broke the second threshold and turned the whip into a gun.

Fire.

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A barrier created by the velvet hair girl protected the young black haired boy by intercepting the Festering Trent from moving further using some barrier.

'Gravity magic? Who was this girl? No.. more importantly..'

Returning her gun to its first form, the crystal blade, she executed a pengram strike. Injecting a large quantity of light magic into the balde destroyed the demonic worms in tandem.

"Are you alright?" Moirae asked, confirming that all the demons had died.

The boy, together with the one silver haired wolfkin and the black haired child stared at her dumbfounded. It was the velvet-haired girl that replied.

"Yes, thank you for your assistance."

"Fortunately nothing happened. You must be an excellent mage to be able to defend against it's battering ram," Moirae said out of suspicion. Why would the Infested Trents gather around them?

"I am honored?" sounding a little confused, she said.

"Y-yeah.. same here.."

It was at this time that Park Jiwon appeared from the thickets.

"What happened here?" he asked, looking at the now dead, lifeless worms.

"You let the Demon escape and almost killed these adventurers," Moirae said in a joking manner.

Park Jiwon looked at the four.. was about to apologize when..

Liliath. That name popped up in his appraisal.

It was the same name. Her hair colour was the same as before. The difference between then and now was in her complexion, a healthy rosy tint to her face.

But why did her house name change?

Liliath Bougainvillea? Wasn't it Liliath Toren? Moreover, her race specified human.

"Have we met before?" she asked.

Jiwon remained silent.. memories flashed past his mind.

'Why.. she did nothing wrong.. why..'

Sasaki Ishida's words echoed in his mind.

"Jiwon-san, watch where you're looking at," Moirae said.

"Sorry," turning towards the corpse, he dug up the magic core and walked away.

Appraising the other three, there wasn't anything out of place, they were but normal adventurers, rather, you could even say that Liliath was the one guiding these pack of newbies. Her stats triumphed over the rest by a wide margin.

Though, he thought-- she was concealing her real status wasn't she?