DAMNED 13TH REGRESSION
Chapter 0: We’ll Start after Killing the Boss (1)
The tower splits in two and collapses.
From the 88th floor down to the 1st.
From the top of the tower, two shadows plummet to the ground.
The impact causes tens of thousands of flagstones to float up as if struck by a meteorite, forming a huge crater.
Babel, the Final Dungeon.
Where all demons and hunters fought to the death, leaving only two beings alive.
The world-consuming Babel and its final resident, the dimensional invader.
The Demon King of Creation and Destruction, Bel-Marduk.
Despite one of his horns being broken, he chuckled with triumph.
“Kukuku, the last hunter. It's my victory. This Avatar power unique to humans is quite impressive, but once we conquer this world, it will become our strength.”
On the opposite side of the sneering Demon King stood Joo Gong-hyeok, humanity's last hunter.
Michael, Odin, Azure Dragon, Zeus, Maitreya Tathagata…
In a world where every Awakened hunter has their own incarnation, an Avatar.
Joo Gong-hyeok, the strongest hunter who commands 12 god-class Avatars.
Both demons and hunters revered him as the 'Tyrant of the 12 Divine Thrones'.
But standing before the Demon King, he looked pitiful.
The brilliant sword Durendal was broken, and one arm was charred black.
He spit out blood violently, his body drenched in it.
“Ha, damn... So I’m stuck here.”
“Yes, human. You came to me. You fought. And you kneeled. This is the ultimate defeat of humanity…”
“I crushed your head alone on my 10th regression. This time, I killed all the hunters beforehand, but I underestimated you. How ridiculous.”
“...What?”
“The failure was losing the Holy Spear of Longinus at the Rock Cathedral on the 65th floor. I didn’t have enough damage at that time. Even having devoured the Avatar 'King Asura' on the 39th floor or 'Uranus' on the 14th floor could have covered for that.”
Joo Gong-hyeok threw away Durendal and took out a cigarette from his inventory, placing it in his mouth.
He touched his still-smoldering right arm to the cigarette, lighting it.
“I used Messiah Avatars like Maitreya Tathagata and Michael due to solo play, but it ultimately led to insufficient damage. Even the dungeon-type Avatar ‘Uno’ I trusted was erased by your power.”
“How do you know of Longinus and those others? You certainly passed no related places, nor received any missions or quests."
"How do I know? Well, they are items I picked up about 6 times before, Avatars I’ve used 3 or 4 times.”
“Before? What nonsense are you spouting?”
At the Demon King’s question, Joo Gong-hyeok savored the cigarette to its end and flicked it with his finger.
The cigarette butt drew a parabola toward the forehead of Demon King Bel-Marduk, and as Marduk grimaced and swatted it away, a huge magic circle hidden beneath the ground emitted a blue light.
As Marduk was aghast, dozens of black chains burst from the ground, binding him, and the sky opened, raining down white lightning.
Lightning incessantly struck amidst the ruins of the dungeon.
After several strikes, even a seasoned hunter would lose sight in the dazzling thunder.
When the ruins turned to ashes,
The Demon King emerged from the center of the ashes, his remaining horn crumbling.
“So, the cigarette was a sacrifice to complete the magic circle.”
“Zeus' lightning and the chains of Gleipnir. Well, that cigarette was like an altar's incense stick. All this preparation, yet ending up lacking the final damage to kill you. It was all pointless. I just wanted to screw you over since it's a waste of preparation.”
For the first time, Demon King Bel-Marduk felt an unknown fear towards a hunter.
His power had diminished by more than 80% due to the previous battle and the recent magic circle.
If Joo Gong-hyeok had a few more effective means of attack, he might have died.
“Who are you?”
He took out another cigarette from the inventory and lit it.
Slowly inhaling deeply into his lungs, the smoke seeped from his lungs into his body, then he slowly exhaled. Smoke burdened with weariness flowed out from his esophagus and lungs.
“A guy who's cut your throat about 6 times.”
As he smoked the second cigarette, Gong-hyeok felt his limbs go numb and his consciousness fading.
It was natural, smoking a cigarette made from poison with all resistances disabled.
Suicide cigarettes, made to 'reset' comfortably, just in case.
As his vision darkened from the poison, Gong-hyeok muttered.
“The 12th was a failure. Tiresome. In the 13th, I'll crush your skull without mistakes.”
Farewell, Demon King.
Storing the Demon King's bewildered face in his mind, Joo Gong-hyeok, a hunter who had regressed 12 times, took his own life before the Demon King.
With his consciousness fading into the darkness, somewhere in the flying consciousness, a familiar echo resounded.
Regress.
Regress.
Regress.
‘Shut up.’
The world falls into annihilation again. Humanity meets its doom again.
Bring a solution to prevent annihilation.
‘Fond of a solution to prevent annihilation, aren’t they.’
During 13 lifetimes, Joo Gong-hyeok defeated the Demon King 6 times.
The world was definitely saved 6 times.
But...
War broke out between the ‘new humans’, the hunters, and the ‘old humans’, the humans.
Because of this, humanity was annihilated.
There was a hunter who tried to merge all human minds to create heaven.
Because of this, humanity was annihilated.
Suffering from terrible traumas of slaughter and survival, a hunter was confined to a psychiatric hospital.
Because of her, humanity was annihilated.
A hunter exploded their Avatar's power to escape assassins.
Because of this, humanity was annihilated.
A boy who fell into Babel at the age of 8 was abandoned by everyone when he returned to the world.
Because of this, humanity was annihilated.
An old hunter who tried to protect her newborn grandchild.
Because of her, humanity was annihilated.
Hunters who cleared Babel and returned to the original world.
They caused the world's annihilation 6 times.
‘You want me to kill again?’
All demons and Demon Kings that cause the world’s annihilation.
All hunters and comrades that cause the world’s annihilation.
‘I’m tired. So tired.’
Yes. This is the last one.
Demon Kings, hunters, I'll kill them all.
Still, if this damn regression doesn't end.
Let's see about that.
"Tremble in fear. You lowly beings of the lesser dimension!"
Earth.
The dawn of the New Year, 2018.
Ahead of the global festival, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the Korean festival, the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Giant images appeared in cities all over the world.
In the images, devilish beings with horns, straight out of a comic book, proclaimed themselves Demon Kings and demons, declaring the annihilation of humanity.
Then, thousands of dungeons emerged worldwide.
Endless monsters poured out of the dungeons. Kobolds, Gnolls, Goblins, Orcs. Primitive monsters wielding pitchforks, stone axes, crossbows.
Despite their primitive appearance, people were terrified of them.
It’s very cliché, but guns, missiles, tanks, fighter jets, and conventional physical forces were utterly ineffective.
But amazingly!
Awakeners who could fight the monsters appeared,
Hunters who absorbed ‘coins’ dropped by the slain monsters and wielded their own ‘Avatars’.
Avatars.
This term, meaning a physical incarnation of a god, was attributed to the beings manifested by the hunters.
Avatars appeared in various forms, from gods to heroes, and were diversely manifested depending on the hunter's personality, ability, or hidden talent.
These Avatars, ghost-like and translucent, appeared behind the hunters, amplifying their abilities or moving on their own to annihilate the monsters.
Hunters who pushed the monsters back to their original lairs, the dungeons, grimaced in front of them.
Tutorial Dungeon.
These words were written on the 2,888 dungeon pillars around the world.
Despite 1.1 billion sacrifices to drive the monsters from the Earth, people realized that the tutorial hadn’t even started.
Two years later, in 2020, an angel's image appeared before despair-ridden humanity.
“I, the Archangel Metatron, appeal to humanity. We’ve restrained the Demon Kings and dimensional invaders with our power as much as possible, but now we’re at our limit. We could only set some laws and restrictions…”
Biting her lips in frustration and shaking her luxurious blond hair, the angel continued.
“The mass summoning will soon begin. Hunters will sequentially go to ‘Babel, the Final Dungeon’. You must climb to the top of the Tower of Babel, defeat the Demon King, and clear the dungeon.”
“If Babel is not cleared within 20 years... the stronger monsters of Babel will be unleashed, exterminate you all, and take over this dimension.”
“There’s not only despair there. We angels will assist humanity as much as we can. Hunters, you can become infinitely stronger in Babel. The blessings of higher-dimensional gods be with you.”
GOD BLESS YOU.
May God's blessing be with you.
Hello everyone, I've started translating another novel, hope everyone will find it as entertaining as I am. I've released this Chapter 0 for now but I won't start releasing chapters on a schedule until I have a backlog of chapters ready. Hope to see you all soon!