Everyone Else is a Regressor - Chapter 36

◈ Everyone Else is a Regressor (36)

Chapter 8. Overflow (3)

◈ Everyone Else is a Returnee (36)

Chapter 8. Overflow – 3

Light, embracing all and promoting growth, dispelling darkness and conveying warmth.

A symbol of salvation, sometimes even a god.

And the symbol of all beginnings.

Just as the concept of light holds so many meanings, fire too is imbued with boundless significance.

Fire, the origin of human civilization, sparking the first civilization, and indispensable in all human productive activities, symbolizing creation.

“Ur.”

―Kiiiiiit!

But the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of fire is, of course.

Destruction and annihilation.

―Hwarururuk!

―Kwaang!

The fireball that landed right in the center of the human group caused a fierce explosion, immediately incinerating the archer who had shot an arrow at KiJun’s head.

―You have gained 512 points.

―Updating civilization information.

The bright red flames, shining like the sun, scattered in all directions, inflicting severe injuries on several nearby.

KiJun, with his right hand stretched out, shot consecutive fire bullets, combining Ur’s spirit power and his own light mana, piercing the legs of the humans trying to flee the flames.

“Aaargh!”

“Pl-please forgive us, have mercy like you’re saving worthless human insects――Gwaaack!”

“Run――!”

Was there no one who tried to resist?

Whether they shot arrows, threw daggers, swung magically-enhanced weapons, defended with shields, or tried to dodge attacks with speed-enhancing skills.

All were slower and weaker than the fire bullets KiJun fired.

―Kiiiii!

Ur, having feasted on ample spirit power, emitted a cry audible only to KiJun, while proudly displaying its spirit power.

KiJun’s fire was excessively strong and fast for a rare-grade spirit spell, thanks to the ten years he spent synchronizing with Lucy, the light spirit, learning to harness her spirit power, and the continuous circulation of mana and spirit power through his Salutaris technique.

The strength was due to his legendary-grade spirit power, his equally legendary-grade light mana, and the excellent compatibility between the light mana and Ur’s spirit power.

Not to mention, the half-mask he wore increased his flame attack power by 20%.

―Whiik, Hwaruruk!

“Too, too late…”

“You made a mistake.”

KiJun, sparing the archer’s life, did not directly take any others’ lives.

But this wasn’t out of mercy, he focused on rapidly eliminating the mobility of all the bandits.

Naturally, many died, and those who survived had injuries too severe for a normal life ahead.

“You.”

Having shot every unable-to-flee bandit in the legs with fire bullets, KiJun quickly identified the leader among the humans sprawled on the ground and asked.

“Why did you attack?”

“Just kill me!”

“Alright.”

KiJun shot a fire bullet through his head.

―You have gained 1,875 points.

The remaining humans, who were desperately trying to gauge KiJun’s strength, stopped all thoughts when their rare-grade durable leader was effortlessly pierced and instantly killed by KiJun’s casual fire shot.

Realizing they were up against an insurmountable opponent, they gave up.

“Next. Why did you attack?”

“Th-that…”

With KiJun’s finger, emitting a heatwave, pointing at him, the man stammered and squirmed.

The humans around him turned to look, pressuring him silently, but when another’s forehead got pierced, they looked away.

The man spoke.

“If I tell you, will you spare me?”

It seemed it wasn’t a simple robbery.

KiJun’s eyes gleamed, but then someone shouted in a sharp voice, trying to stop him.

“Paul!”

“Be quiet.”

Another head burst open.

With no one left to speak up, the man trembled and said.

“We found a way to conquer an unexplored dungeon. That’s why.”

“Suddenly?”

It sounded too abrupt to be true, but seeing the remaining humans biting their lips or showing harsh expressions, it seemed likely to be true.

And if it was about conquering a dungeon… could it be the unique-grade dungeon Charbanbesh mentioned, unexplored for three years?

“A unique dungeon? I heard the exploration team died.”

“There was a survivor, in our clan.”

In Reta, guilds and clans held different meanings.

Guilds were large mutual associations formed by people with common goals. While not highly restrictive, members must strictly adhere to rules while operating under the guild’s name, making them a legal and public entity.

Clans, however, were small to medium-sized groups tightly bonded under a strong individual, treating each member like family, with significant influence from the master, making it a highly personal group.

Put bluntly, they were no different from gangsters.

“A lot of sacrifices are needed. So our leader, our sister, said we could conquer the dungeon using orc hearts, so…”

“Ah…”

“Tha-that bastard…!”

Predictably, it was a disgusting tale.

Even those sighing in relief, thinking it was over after hearing this, were laughable.

What did they expect KiJun to do upon hearing this? Kill the orcs for their hearts on behalf of these gangsters?

Or replace the sacrifices with the hearts of the humans here to conquer the dungeon?

Don’t be ridiculous.

KiJun hadn’t trained for ten years to engage in such acts.

“Why orcs? You’re weaker than them.”

“So, when a few travel, attacking in a group…”

“Our leader hates orcs.”

Another voice interjected.

KiJun’s gaze shifted from his words to the familiar-shaped object in his hand.

A grenade?

At that moment, the safety pin clicked off.

“Because of cursed beings like you, we get violated by other races, losing everything, you piece of trash! Let’s die together!”

“That madman!”

“Stop!”

―Kwaang!

The grenade exploded, unleashing the sealed fire explosion magic within.

Unlike Earth’s grenades, this magical device, made of special metal, shattered into thousands of pieces in the explosion, sweeping everything around.

―Kwaang…

The deafening explosion, the sound of shrapnel, hurt KiJun’s ears.

The man, who had been talking to KiJun, and all humans in the vicinity, were cleanly obliterated by the formidable blast.

He must have waited to ensure KiJun’s certain death.

But, of course, KiJun was unharmed.

—Alright, Contractor?

―Kihiit!

“Fine. Not even a scratch.”

KiJun didn’t need to summon Lucy’s light shield.

Thanks to his contract with Ur, he gained resistance to all types of flames, and his “Unbreakable Internal Clock” skill also provided significant resistance to all attributes, so the final impact was just the physical shock and shrapnel from the explosion.

He managed to block everything with the shield he quickly drew.

Blocking all shrapnel attacking his entire body with just a shield, KiJun shook off the embedded pieces and sighed.

“Still, I never imagined such a magical device existed. Can’t let my guard down, no matter how weak they seem.”

―Blocking everything with a shield and then talking about letting your guard down…

“Jun! Are you okay?”

As Lucy incredulously muttered, the orcs who had been watching KiJun’s performance ran up to him, shocked to see him unharmed after the massive explosion.

“Thank goodness, Jun is truly an incredible warrior.”

“Do you know what exploded just now?”

“I do. It’s developed by a renowned magic engineer who betrayed the Sacred Tower and turned to black magic. It’s called a magic bomb. Very expensive. Very, very expensive.”

Saying so, Charbanbesh kept nodding, assuming if he had captured it, he could have gotten hundreds of gold coins.

Judging from the quiet surroundings, it seemed there was only one person with a magic bomb.

An orc found a money pouch that had luckily flown out of the blast radius and brought it to KiJun.

“It seems to have flown away due to the shock and remained intact.”

“Thanks.”

“Thanks to you for showing such a splendid battle! Well, calling it a battle might be too generous.”

“Wish there was something to prove their identity. Seems like there’s a dirty group roaming around…”

KiJun opened the pouch he received from the orc and clicked his tongue.

He didn’t expect much since everything important would be in their inventories, but the pouch surprisingly contained a lot of gold coins.

“Why would they carry so much money?”

Seeing KiJun’s puzzled expression, the orc looked moved.

It soon became clear why.

“Jun has lived in this world for over a year and never forcibly taken anything from others. Truly a noble warrior.”

“Explain.”

“In Reta, anything taken from other summoners can’t be put in the inventory for a week. Only what’s genuinely obtained by one’s strength… and the results of self-defense.”

This rule didn’t exist in the tutorial.

KiJun recalled putting the fairy’s belongings in his inventory and understood.

Thinking back, that was also self-defense.

Trying the pouch in his inventory, it naturally got absorbed, meaning that although the time limit hadn’t expired for the money the bandits stole from their previous owners, since KiJun disposed of the bandits in self-defense, it was considered his acquisition.

This rule seemed exploitable, leaving him uneasy.

“We better spend this money quickly. I’ll buy drinks when we reach the city.”

“Oh, Jun is not only honorable but also generous!”

“Drinks await! Let’s hurry!”

Orcs were simple creatures.

Their pace to the city doubled compared to before.

KiJun chuckled and followed.

Who would have thought that upon arriving in the continent of Reta, KiJun would end up killing humans who resembled himself and making a drinking pact with orcs, whom he had only considered as prey during the tutorial?

KiJun bitterly smiled at the irony but then his expression hardened as he recalled the words of the man who committed the grenade suicide attack earlier.

“You’re just like those despicable other-species who violated and took everything from me! Die with me, you bastard!”

Of course, it wasn’t likely that Charbanbesh and his orcs had directly harmed the clan master mentioned earlier.

It could have been other orcs, but regardless, targeting innocent orcs for her own agenda was clearly wrong.

“I have to stop this,” KiJun muttered under his breath, unheard by the orcs, who understood the gravity of the situation.

And that very night, an opportunity to stop the clan master came much sooner than KiJun expected.

―Swoosh

After a simple dinner, while lying in his tent ready to sleep, Lucy, deeply connected to KiJun, suddenly shouted.

—Contractor! That bomb from earlier―!

“Ah!”

KiJun understood the situation and sprang out of the tent, shouting.

“Ur―!”

―Kiieeeee!

In that moment, KiJun’s massive spirit power, fully restored after a period of rest, surged entirely towards Ur.

Although Ur had lost almost all of its power due to a long slumber and deep wounds, reducing it to a mere rare-grade spirit, KiJun’s vast spirit power successfully summoned back the peak prowess from Ur’s heyday.

It was the dominion over all flames.

―Kwaaaaaaah!

As the magic bomb dropped onto the campfire began to explode with a terrifying boom, Ur controlled all the flames generated by the explosion, forcefully swirling them in place―containing and melting all the bomb shards trying to burst out.

The intense whirl of flames around the campfire.

While an orc standing guard by the fire got his head completely burned, and others collapsed in shock, that was the extent of the damage.

“Lucy!”

—Already on it! Fire cat, synchronize!

―Kiieee!

Overwhelmed by the massive amount of spirit power he had absorbed, Ur, dazed as if hugging a persimmon tree, quickly linked his consciousness with Lucy’s at her loud call.

This allowed them to precisely locate the target who had thrown the magic bomb at KiJun’s group from nearly 3 kilometers away. Ur’s eyes gleamed sharply.

―Kii…!

The fire whirlwind, now containing an absurd amount of firepower due to the magic bomb, condensed into a single point in the sky and then…

―Boom!

Shot out in a straight line towards the target like a laser.

Lucy calmly reported afterward.

“We hit the target, Contractor. But it looks like they’re surrounded by protective artifacts, they didn’t die.”

“I invested all my spirit power and they survived…”

―Kiieeee.

Having completed its mission, Ur now indulged in the spirit power, rubbing its head affectionately against KiJun’s cheek.

Smiling faintly at Ur’s affectionate gesture, KiJun patted its head and immediately began casting Salutaris to replenish his depleted spirit power.

“Ju-Jun.”

“Good to see you’re alive. I’ll go catch the culprit.”

“Thank you so much!”

The orc, who had barely noticed the magic bomb flying towards the campfire, was relieved to see KiJun unharmed and gratefully bowed to him.

KiJun waved his hand lightly and then stomped the ground.

His eyes, masked and glowing with Flame Eyes, blazed fiercely.