Genius Regressor Makes Mythic Items

There was no sunlight, moonlight, or starlight. Clearly, this was an enclosed building or perhaps underground.

Sssss.

A cool breeze swept over the neutral-colored sand desert. The sand, reminiscent of burnt ashes, brushed against them.

“Hmmm…”

A low rumble came from a 3-meter-tall figure.

Next to him, “Why are you sighing so annoyingly?”

A sharp voice rang out. Though not as massive as the one who sighed, a 2-meter tall, slim woman cocked her head with overly large eyes.

“Is it because this is Duat?”

Duat, a gloomy dimension. The woman turned her overly large eyes and asked, “Though Duat is an irritating dimension, that should only apply to me. It doesn’t matter to you, does it, Drak?”

The massive figure shook his head slightly.

“That’s not the reason.”

“Then what is it? Oh, is it because this is the Desert on the Scale? This place is indeed the worst in Duat.”

She nodded understandingly. But once again, the figure shook his head.

“The karma debuff here doesn’t mean much to me. It shouldn’t to you either.”

The woman furrowed her overly large eyes.

“Then what’s the problem? We’re teamed up, thanks to the cooperation condition.”

“That’s precisely the problem, Kruna.”

“What… Oh! The cooperation condition!”

As if she finally grasped the situation, the woman called Kruna nodded.

“Berunkel. You’re worried about the rule intervention?”

“Yes.”

The massive man known as Berunkel also nodded his large head.

“This is merely a Platinum rank arena. Yet, even in Diamond ranks, rule interventions are rare.”

“So, someone here must be heavily favored by a Constellation?”

“Correct.”

“You seem to have an idea of who it could be?”

“That human your matriarch warned all dragonkind about.”

“Ah! Kim Shimun, right? He was over there earlier…”

As Kruna nodded.

Swish!

A blade, with a sharp sound cutting through the air, suddenly cleaved towards them. Without even looking, Berunkel thrust his well-muscled left arm outwards.

“Ugh!”

A groan erupted from the end of his muscular arm.

“To attack without assessing your opponent’s level.”

Berunkel raised his stone-like eyebrows slightly as he identified the source of the groan.

“A murine beastman… Interesting. I didn’t think their race was this foolish?”

The murine beastman with a mouse’s head, red from being strangled, was from the Eastern Tribes.

Finding it amusing, “Hehe! It’s typical for lesser races to have only a few smart individuals.”

Kruna, chuckling, raised her excessively long arms.

Flap.

From her long arms up to her sides, wide membranes, like curtains, spread open.

Then,

Crash.

The membranes blocked ice spikes aimed at Berunkel’s left arm.

Surprisingly,

“Hmm~ Added ice attributes to the 5-star spell? The power is nearly 6th-circle?”

Despite the 6th-circle ice spikes, her membrane didn’t have a single scratch.

“Well, if you’re ambushing, there’s no time for casting. You used your head, at least.”

Kruna, with a sneer, turned to look at the spell caster. A massive crayfish, standing almost 2 meters tall.

“Crabster? A fitting partner for a rat.”

“Damn!”

As soon as the Crabster made eye contact with Kruna, it turned quickly, uttering a short curse. Thanks to its eight legs, the four pairs of legs moved efficiently, sprinting across the soft, sinking sand.

Scurrying.

And between its erect upper body and two massive claws,

“Cone of Ice! Frost Nova!”

Blue ice spells, cast in a double sequence, shot forth. Both spells seemed to be of 5-star level and above.

Crackle.

Though a flurry of white frost followed the two spells, that was all it did.

“Hmph. How desperate.”

Kruna scoffed lightly, the sandy environment hardly a hindrance to her.

Bang.

She leaped into the air,

Boom!

And slammed the fleeing Crabster’s head into the sandy ground.

Despite her hands being so slender and frail-looking,

“Gah!”

The crabster, unable to move as though pinned by a heavy boulder, wriggled its eight legs helplessly.

Realizing he was outmatched,

“P-please spare me!”

the crabster quickly begged for his life.

“Spare you? If you start a fight, you must take responsibility.”

Kruna tightened her grip on his head.

“This is why lowly creatures are hopeless. They attack as they please and then beg for mercy. Ha!”

“Ugh, Aaah!”

Subduing the 2-meter-tall Crabster with a single hand revealed that crushing its hard-shelled head wasn’t difficult.

Then, “Kruna, hold on a moment.”

A voice of salvation reached Crabster’s ear.

Annoyed by the interruption?

“What!”

Kruna looked at Berunkel with irritation in her large eyes.

Approaching her, Berunkel said, “The arena just started. It’s not worth getting a karma debuff over these things, is it?”

He shook the captured murine beastman, from the Eastern Tribes, in his left hand.

“That’s true…”

Kruna also looked down at the Crabster wriggling on the ground.

Then, “Yes, that’s right!”

The murine beastman in Berunkel’s hand hastily spoke up.

“It would be a loss if great superior dragonkin like yourselves got a karma debuff for killing insignificant creatures like us!”

It seemed effective.

“Indeed, while kills matter, dealing with high-level ones gives better points.”

Kruna lifted the Crabster from the ground. Ash-like sand fell from its body.

“But, you know.”

Grasping the Crabster tightly.

“Just because I don’t want a debuff doesn’t mean I have to let you live.”

She sneered at the trembling Crabster, too scared to even resist.

“Besides, a single stack of the debuff is nothing to me.”

Hearing that, “I-I will do anything you say! I can be a meat shield, just please spare me!”

Crabster, clutched in her grip, shouted hastily.

“Damn it!”

But Kruna’s large eyes only filled with more irritation.

“If you team up with us, even as a meat shield, you’ll likely place high. Where do these things get off thinking they can bargain?”

“Kruna.”

However, even Berunkel’s low voice added to the plea.

“Tsk.”

Kruna released the trembling Crabster from her grip.

Though freed from her grasp, he wouldn’t dare run away.

“Th-thank you! Whether it’s as a meat shield or anything else, I’ll work hard!”

Crabster quickly bowed his head. And the murine beastman, now out of Berunkel’s grasp as well, “I feel the same! It’s a great honor to serve two superior dragonkin! Hehe!”

He quickly moved next to Crabster and bowed his head.

Kruna, looking down at the two beastmen, asked, “Berunkel, what are you thinking?”

She pouted her lips and looked at Berunkel.

“Why team up with these vermin when we’re already a team?”

Instead of answering, Berunkel gave a peculiar smile and approached the bowing beastmen.

“You said you’d do anything?”

“Of course!”

“We’ll do anything!”

“Good.”

Berunkel crossed his arms.

“I’ll give you a target. If you handle them neatly…”

Even in this survival mode.

He scanned the eerily quiet, monochrome desert area.

“I’ll make sure you both get into the top 10.”

Hearing that, the trembling eyes of the two beastmen filled with greed.

“Re-really?”

“Of course. I stake the honor of Drak, a superior dragonkin.”

Berunkel then turned to Kruna. Kruna, who had been observing, nodded in agreement at Berunkel’s glance.

“Alright. I also stake the honor of Wyvern, a superior dragonkin.”

“Th-thank you!”

“We’ll definitely succeed!”

The murine beastman and Crabster immediately brightened.

“Your targets are these two.”

Two small holograms of humans appeared above Berunkel’s stone-like hand.

“They are in the opposite direction. Go.”

“Understood!”

Nodding, the murine beastman and Crabster quickly scurried away.

“Now answer me, Berunkel.”

Kruna asked, watching their backs.

“Kim Shimun killed even Sargas. Do you really think those things can handle him?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

At Kruna’s question, Berunkel sighed softly.

“Kruna, even if you’re a Wyvern, you should try using your head.”

“You bastard! You’re a Drak! Who are you to say that to me!”

Her voice rose, and murderous intent radiated from Kruna.

Sssss.

The surrounding sand trembled from the intensity of her bloodlust.

“Didn’t you mention earlier how annoying this map’s characteristics are?”

Berunkel replied without batting an eye.

“I did! But what does that… Ah~”

Kruna’s large eyes immediately filled with glee.

“You mean to use those weaklings to increase Kim Shimun’s karma stacks?”

“Exactly. No matter how strong he is, having killed Sargas, he won’t be able to avoid the karma debuff here.”

“So, we’ll keep making him stack karma and strike when he’s weakened as much as possible?”

“Yes.”

Berunkel nodded.

Kruna smirked wickedly.

“Heh! Then we should keep sending lowly creatures his way?”

She grinned at another approaching victim in the distance.

*

-What the heck? Cooperation in survival mode?

-IDK. This is my first time seeing it, lol.

-This guy was begging for his life earlier.

-Did he plead for his life to his Constellation?

-Are you crazy? Who begs for mercy after entering the arena themselves?

-Seeing he’s teamed with Leoni, it’s probably because of her.

-Yeah, that’s what I think too. Of all people, he got paired with Leoni.

-But is it really possible to request such a thing from a Constellation?

The chat window exploded with debate over the sudden addition of the cooperation condition. From how it was possible, to whether Shimun’s intervention caused it, the chat was filled with wild speculations and theories, leaving it in utter chaos.

‘What on earth…’

Leoni, teamed up with Shimun, was no different.

‘Did he really ask the Constellation for a cooperation condition? But why mention my Constellation?’

Shimun had clearly mentioned Brynhild, her sponsoring Constellation.

‘And he definitely pleaded for survival.’

Considering Shimun’s previous actions and personality, that plea was unlikely to be about himself.

Thus, ‘Could it be… he asked for my survival?’

Leoni’s mind was stuck on this almost unbelievable conclusion. At that moment,

Swish!

A sharp slicing sound echoed. Leoni entrusted her left side to the warning ringing through her senses.

Shuaaak.

A dagger slashed through the spot she had just vacated.

Without pausing to identify the assailant, “Where do you think you’re going!”

She immediately swung her greatsword behind her.

However,

Whoosh.

Only the heavy sound of slicing air was heard.

The assailant had jumped into the air.

“You think you can escape!”

Seeing this, Leoni kicked off the ground without hesitation.

“Leoni, stop!”

Shimun’s voice came from behind her. But that was all.

‘Stop? No way!’

She couldn’t miss this chance when the assassin was at their weakest. Leoni charged towards the airborne assailant with all her might.

At that instant,

“Click.”

The murine beastman’s mouth curled into a grin.

Fwhip.

The rodent twisted his body into an unusual shape.

From his sleeve,

Swiish!

Numerous throwing knives were launched.

Each weapon seemed coated with high-level aura, burning with an intense shimmer. Leoni’s eyes reflected immediate despair.

‘To throw knives in midair!’

Who would have thought he’d twist his body and counterattack like this from the air?

‘It’s too late to dodge.’

Having already committed to her full charge, evading was out of the question.

‘I hate to use it already, but I have no choice.’

This arena placed her life at stake, unlike any before it. Biting her lip hard, Leoni shouted,

“Brynhild!”

Vwooong.

A set of radiant armor formed around her entire body. Clad in the Valkyrie Suit, Leoni took the incoming knives head-on.

Clack!

Only small sparks flew. The aura-infused weapons bounced off harmlessly.

“T-this is… a Constellation’s!”

Before the murine beastman could fully comprehend his fate,

Slash.

He was cut cleanly in two.

Thud.

His severed halves fell to the ground.

With that,

“Damn it! They never said she was backed by a Constellation!”

Crabster, a mix of crab and crayfish, exclaimed in shock. Spotting him, Leoni launched herself towards him even before landing.

Bang!

She kicked off the ground and sprinted towards Crabster.

“C-Cone of Ice! Frost Cloud! Slow! Frozen…”

Various spells erupted from Crabster’s two claws.

However,

Crash!

Like an icebreaker, Leoni, in her white armor, plowed through the barrage of spells.

“Die!”

She brought her greatsword down towards Crabster’s head.

Or rather, “Stop, I said.”

She intended to strike until, in dragon form, shimon caught her wrist.

“Ugh!”

Leoni gritted her teeth, trying to shake off Shimun’s grip, but to no avail.

‘I’m wearing the Valkyrie Suit, yet such strength!?’

Her eyes widened as she felt like she was stuck between rocks, unable to move her arm. Leoni glared at Shimun.

“Kim Shimun! What are you doing…”

But she couldn’t finish her sentence. The reason was simple.

In front of her eyes,

『You have committed murder.』

『The weight of sin adds to your heart.』

『All stats decrease by 10%.』

Messages she had never seen before appeared. Perhaps because the Valkyrie Suit had greatly enhanced her abilities?

“My strength!”

Leoni keenly felt the 10% decrease in all her stats. Seeing her flustered, shimon sighed calmly.

‘I knew this would happen.’

Then,

“How… why…”

Leoni tried to continue, but she was interrupted.

“Die! Damn you all!”

Crackle.

A blast of white frost engulfed her from the side.

Crabster had cast a spell from a distance.

“Tsk.”

Shimun clicked his tongue shortly.

‘Because of the karma debuff, it’s better to kill the stronger ones.’

With a regretful expression, shimon swung his fist at the frost.

Crack.

The ice shattered like a pile of snow hit by a mighty punch.

“What… how is a human immune to magic?”

Crabster was shocked by the unbelievable sight. From his mouth, he spat a spell, heavenly Demonic Art.

Strike, overlord’s Shatter Fist.

This time, his fist, wrapped in dark aura, smashed into Crabster’s head.

Crunch!

Crabster’s head exploded, spraying bodily fluids, presumably blood, in all directions. Shimun wiped off the fluid from his cheek and sighed regretfully.

‘It can’t be helped. I guess I’ll have to endure a single stack of karma.’

Just as he made up his mind,

『You have committed murder.』

『The weight of sin adds to your heart.』

The same messages appeared as Leoni’s.

However,

『You are receiving maximum favor of Death.』

『The weight of sin on your heart reduces drastically.』

『All stats decrease by 1%.』

The subsequent messages made him blink in surprise.

“Huh?”

TL’s Corner:
Everybody loves Shimun.