The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 192

Chapter 192

Crushed in Se-Hoon’s hand, the left index finger bone of Wurgen Kruger—the mightiest necromancer who transcended death—vanished without a trace.

Preparing himself for the imminent absurd event about to occur, Se-Hoon felt a massive pulse from his right hand.

Thump-

The vibration traveled up his arm to his heart and then was spread throughout his body by his bloodstream. Resonating with it, everything that made up his body—blood, organs, bones, muscles, and anything else—started moving in unison.

Thump, thump, thump-

Ugh...

Feeling the pulse frequency quicken and the resonance with his body growing stronger, Se-Hoon felt a fierce pain surge through him; it felt like someone was trying to pull apart his body.

Barely able to endure the pain, it felt like his surroundings had completely frozen, as if time had stopped.

Boom!

Se-Hoon's right arm exploded. Unable to endure, his tough skin, sturdy bones, and muscles, which he had relentlessly trained for the past half year, were all torn apart.

And it didn’t end there. The explosion consumed the rest of his body leaving not a single trace. Then, where he once stood, a black circle appeared.

Woong-

Appearing like something was casting a shadow in midair, a tiny slit appeared across the black circle’s center before slowly opening to reveal an eye. From it, black tears, as viscous as ink, trickled down to create the shell of a body.

It was identical to Se-Hoon’s, which had just exploded and disappeared moments ago. Forming next, its skeleton quickly came together, looking like it was made from black wires. It was only when it was completed that the eyeball, embedded in the back of the right hand, stopped shedding tears.

The eyeball then slowly rolled around, scanning the surroundings. When it stopped, a gloomy voice could be heard, “What a mess...”

Though his consciousness had escaped from the Eternal Nocturne’s Phalanx just seconds ago, Wurgen easily grasped the situation. A brat had consumed his power, hoping to deal with the Dream Demon who was radiating a deadly intent, yet ended up dying in the process.

Annoyed, Wurgen glared at the motionless Dream Demon before frowning.

“What? It’s a fake.”

With just a glance, he figured out that the figure in front of him was merely an avatar inflated with dream mana to make it seem like the actual body. Calmly examining the hall of the Dream Castle next, he also saw through its nature after only an instant.

“Now that I’m taking a closer look at it, this entire palace seems fake too. It’s not even half decent.... Was this brat taken down by something like this? Tsk, tsk.”

Thinking about how pathetically weak the brat must have been, Wurgen looked at the body he was now occupying.

“Not only did this brat break my finger, but he also tried to use me for cleanup. Tsk, what an arrogant fool.”

If Se-Hoon were alive, Wurgen would have dealt with him himself, but both the body and mind had long disintegrated into dust, unable to withstand his power and ego.

“I guess there’s no reason to play along with this brat's schemes,” Wurgen muttered, his eye losing interest as he looked up at his half-formed body.

If the finger bone had remained, he might have tried to retrieve it, but it had vanished as he awakened, leaving him no reason to bother. With nothing else to do, he began to close his eye to go back to rest when the jaw of his black skeletal frame slowly moved on its own.

“That... would... be... troublesome...”

Surprised, Wurgen's eye shot open, and he scrutinized the body he inhabited. Then, upon finding no presence other than his own, his eye narrowed.

Thump-

Hearing a faint heartbeat from the empty air, his eye focused immediately on the void, and he soon began to see beyond the boundary.

Thump, thump, thump-

There, a heart tinged with violet was endlessly circulating blood, which formed the network of veins in the body.

Astonished by the creepy scene, Wurgen uttered, “In that brief moment, you hid your heart beyond the boundary using my power and connected it with dream mana?”

“That’s... right...”

The power of Boundaries, held within the necromancer's bone, allowed one to see through the boundaries of life and death and traverse them freely, but such a skill was almost impossible to master. So, Se-Hoon employed a simple trick: dream mana.

If I substitute my heart with a dream heart, I can avoid death even if I can't fully control the power of Boundaries.

To evade the repercussions of absorbing the power from the phalanx, he placed his heart beyond the boundary, leaving his body in a state of ambiguity between life and death. However, if he released the boundary in this state, his heart wouldn't be able to return to reality, which is why he used dream mana as a dual safety return mechanism.

It worked exactly as planned, but it sure was risky.

Not only had he never learned dream mana from anyone, but he also only had surface knowledge of the power of Boundaries that was gleamed through using and researching the Eternal Nocturne’s Phalanx. With high chances for mistakes on both sides, he could have instantly died.

“I thought you were just a little brat, but it seems like you’re more of a madman,” Wurgen acknowledged. He was well aware that Se-Hoon’s confidence despite risking his own life wasn’t something easy to come by.

Updating his impression of Se-Hoon to reckless, Wurgen nonchalantly said, “Well, all the better if you’re still alive. Now I can have you pay for your arrogance.”

Woong-

Black waves spread from the eye on the right hand, applying pressure to Se-Hoon’s heart beyond the boundary.

Yet, despite the intense pain, Se-Hoon didn’t flinch.

“I will... make it for you.”

“...Hm?”

“A new phalanx... I mean.”

Wurgen looked at Se-Hoon’s heart in disbelief. Instead of begging for his life, he was making an offer? Yet, he had to admit that he had now become curious about the identity of the reckless brat who could talk so boldly to a Perfect One like him.

“You, who couldn't even handle that fake avatar, claim to be able to craft a finger bone for me?”

“What does... being good at combat... have to do with blacksmithing? As long as I can... forge equipment well.”

“Hmm...”

Normally, Wurgen wouldn't have bothered listening and would have just killed him, but the situation was different this time. Se-Hoon, who he thought was dead, had devised a clever yet reckless plan that allowed him to survive.

Interested, he looked up at Se-Hoon’s heart.

“Show me proof that you can make it. A man can't make a trade without seeing the goods first.”

Though demanding proof from someone who was only a heart seemed unreasonable, that was a problem for them. Yet, undeterred by Wurgen's ruthless demand, Se-Hoon moved Wurgen’s jaw to form a crude smile.

“Very... well...”

Thump!

Crossing the boundary, Se-Hoon's heart beat strongly once it returned to its place in Wurgen's skeletal body. The blood that followed then filled the inside of the skeleton intricately and delicately as if the blood vessels had never been extracted.

His interest growing, Wurgen watched on.

Crack-!

The revitalization started from the heart. The blood it created provided the necessary energy to regenerate and restore Se-Hoon’s organs, bones, muscles, and skin.

Watching everything appear one by one, like time was rewinding to before his body had exploded, Wurgen blinked in surprise.

Is this... resurrection...?

The current body in which the two coexisted was right at the boundary between life and death. Here, one could experience time slowing to a crawl and their fleeting lives flashing by. One could even resurrect by crossing the line back to life. However, there was a catch: they had to understand how their body would work in real-time.

Crack-crack!

At first thought, one would likely think that merely memorizing the entire structure of their body would suffice, but that wasn’t the case. On top of their body, one had to perfectly understand the inexplicable flow of their consciousness through it, which was more commonly referred to as the “soul.”

Who exactly is this brat...?

Falling into thought, Wurgen silently observed Se-Hoon, who had already solved the inevitable conundrum every necromancer would face.

Swish!

Not long later, the right hand where his eyeball was had perfectly regenerated. Now, the body Wurgen was inhabiting was a perfect recreation of Se-Hoon’s body in the exact posture that it had been just before the explosion. A part of it was integrated with Wurgen’s black skeleton, but otherwise, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Is this enough?”

Completely calm, Se-Hoon looked down at the eye on the back of his hand.

Staring back at him, the eye soon narrowed into a crescent shape.

“This is going to be interesting.”

***

Back when Se-Hoon just grabbed the Eternal Nocturne’s Phalanx, the Dream Demon felt a chill go down her spine. In that split second, she had recognized the owner of the finger bone upon seeing its densely inscribed characters on each joint.

The Eternal Nocturne...!

Thirteen years ago, Wurgen was ambushed while teleporting, resulting in his body parts scattering worldwide. It was unclear how one had ended up with Se-Hoon, but there was no time to ask such trivial questions.

In my current state, even that single phalanx is dangerous!

If her true body were here, she could have managed a single phalanx. However, she was an avatar created by her eye. Moreover, if Se-Hoon knew how to properly use the power of Boundaries, just that alone would be a significant threat.

Feeling the danger, she swung her hand toward the butterflies that filled the hall.

Swish-

Gathering together, the purple butterflies formed a hole that began endlessly pouring out bright yellow lightning bolts around Se-Hoon.

Rumble!!

Though the lightning strikes, derived from nightmares, were merely illusions in dreams, they became reality here. Raging furiously, the number of lightning bolts increased and shook the entire hall without respite.

Their power and roars could turn even an S-rank hero into charcoal, so when it came to Se-Hoon, his body disintegrated without leaving even a speck of dust.

“So noisy.”

Yet, despite having been disintegrated, Se-Hoon’s voice could still be heard softly echoing.

A second later, a dark shadow shot into the purple hole that had been spewing lightning, and the hole shut and vanished. The resulting silence was just as deafening.

Then, from the center of the lightning, Se-Hoon’s body emerged from a shadow that had risen.

Woong-

A subtle black pulse was emanating from his toes. Black letters were densely inscribed on his left index finger. And his eyes were darker and deeper than before, consuming light like an abyss.

Despite not changing much, Se-Hoon’s new appearance which seemed like a completely different person caused the Dream Demon to gasp in astonishment.

“That can’t be... you are—”

“Silence.”

Her words were cut off by Se-Hoon, who was looking at her utterly indifferent.

Then, Wurgen, who was momentarily borrowing Se-Hoon's body, emotionlessly said, “I don't want to waste my time conversing with a half-assed piece of trash. Let's end this quickly.”

Hearing his dismissive tone, which made it clear that he didn't care a single bit about her presence, the Dream Demon twisted her eyes in humiliation. However, she had no time to express her emotions; the black wave emanating from Se-Hoon’s feet was spreading deeper and deeper, causing the hastily created hall of the Dream Castle to blur.

A boundary was being drawn across the dream mana, which was mixing the dream world and reality.

Before that happens...!

If the hall collapsed, the Dream Demon's plans would also come to an end. With her hand forced, she focused all of her power into her right eye.

Bzzt!

Her entire body became hazy and wavered like mist, but her right eye shone an even brighter yellow, defining the hall with more detail. Various door shapes began to form on the ceiling, walls, and floor, each slowly opening to reveal the scenery beyond.

Swirl-

Polluted spirits, dyed a dark, purplish-black, rippled beyond them. Suppressed by human subconsciousness until now, the Dream Demon summoned them all at once to unleash her skill.

Dream Magic: Tainted Deluge

The Dream Demon’s eye shone even more intensely, collapsing the boundary Wurgen had set up. Like a tidal wave, the polluted spirits promptly poured out and quickly dyed the hall and consumed the surroundings.

Believing that even the Eternal Nocturne couldn’t overlook the flood of nightmares that could destroy human reason, drive them mad, and collapse their egos, the Dream Demon’s right eye gleamed sharply.

Swish-

However, Wurgen just swept his left index finger, inscribed with black letters, lightly through the air. Without using any discernible mana, the casual swipe drew a line that halted everything around it. The line then slowly widened, revealing a giant eye that took in everything around it.

“Seal.”

Slowly closing, the eye engulfed everything the Dream Demon created—from the once-elegant hall of the Dream Castle to the torrent of nightmares—and it all vanished without a trace.

All that remained was a sliver of indistinguishable pitch-black darkness, where the Dream Demon stood dazedly in the midst.

“...What a pity.”

With a bitter smile on her face, she dissolved it into the darkness the moment Wurgen ordered the eye to finally shut.