Chapter 19

# 19

User Manual for the Regressor 019

When five people gather, there's bound to be one who's a waste (4)

“AAAAAHHH!!”

It was only natural for her to be startled. The monster was approaching with its mouth wide open, ready to devour.

If she hadn't thrown the spear first, there wouldn't have been any reason to draw attention.

The monsters' intelligence is not high, and if they had observed the situation calmly, they would have seen that Park Deok-gu could have stopped the approaching monster.

However, Park Hye-young, that damn woman, chose to release her fear instead of observing the situation calmly.

“Damn it!”

Park Hye-young had twisted the situation just like in the picture.

The monsters are sensitive to sound.

Normal conversation might not carry far, but a scream this loud would naturally alert the monsters to their presence.

All the surrounding monsters might come running.

Kim Hyun-sung, who seemed to be thinking the same thing, stabbed the monster he was fighting and then plunged a knife into the chest of the one Park Deok-gu had grabbed.

Although it seemed a bit faster than a human could move, Kim Hyun-sung must have felt the situation was turning bad, so he didn't have the luxury to care.

The trembling monster was visible, but that wasn't the problem now.

“We need to get out of here immediately.”

“Damn it….”

“I'm, I'm sorry….”

“Ki-yeong, you take Hye-young and Hyeon with you… If anything happens, Deok-gu will clear the way.”

“What about you, bro?”

“I'll draw the monsters' attention. Leave a mark, and I'll find you. It might be better to take a detour rather than go straight to the shelter, Ki-yeong.”

He nodded roughly.

If he led all the monsters attracted to this area straight to the shelter, it would be like offering them a buffet.

Kim Hyun-sung seemed to be trying to resolve the situation, but his expression wasn't good.

Even as a regressor, Kim Hyun-sung was still a rookie in the process of growing.

He could handle a certain number, but if the monsters gathered in large numbers, it would be difficult to deal with them in such a confined space.

“Which way, bro?”

“I'll take a detour.”

“Got it.”

Park Hye-young, who finally realized her mistake, started to look at him with a pale face.

She realized that a genuine opportunity to scream might come if she made another mistake.

“Get up.”

“Yes, yes….”

“Stay close and run with me.”

“Got it.”

Jeong Hyeon was silent.

She looked like she was deeply thinking about something, staring blankly at her surroundings.

“Hyeon.”

“A… Yes! Oppa.”

She didn't seem particularly scared.

Thinking about it, the future Great Mage Jeong Hyeon came to mind.

As a mage, if an overwhelming situation arose, she could potentially help.

‘The chances of survival are high.’

They could make it out alive.

“Good luck.”

“Be careful, bro.”

“I'll be fine.”

Park Deok-gu immediately started running with his shield.

Park Hye-young, with a frightened look, began to follow us.

I felt a surge of irritation, but there was no time for an argument.

Instead, I started to recite a spell.

I built a tower of mana. It was a small amount, but it could save me in a crisis.

“Can you recite it while running, bro?”

“Don't talk. It's giving me a headache.”

It was difficult to concentrate on the spell.

Moving your limbs while thinking about something completely different is inherently challenging.

‘It’s tough…’

“I, I pray….”

The tower of mana I was trying to build kept collapsing due to lack of concentration. My head felt like it was going to explode. My brain seemed to be overloading.

‘Slowly, one step at a time.’

If I pretend there's nothing around and recite the spell, it should be possible.

I slowly built the tower again.

We hadn't encountered any monsters yet, so I had plenty of time to recite the spell.

“Lord, I pray, answer my voice, grant me the power to burn my enemies.”

The incantation had to be long. It was a frustrating spell, but the one I had memorized in my mind manifested in my hands.

A fireball, the size of a human head, appeared in my hand.

“Damn, you can kill! When did you learn that?”

“Don't talk, Deok-gu. It's hard to concentrate.”

Reciting the spell was one thing, but maintaining it was another.

I had to continuously repair and balance the shaking tower of mana.

‘It’s incredibly complex.’

In manga, anime, and novels, magic seems to be something that can be easily cast.

But in reality, it was mind-numbing.

I even wondered if intelligence was more important than mana in becoming a mage.

“Where next?”

“Left.”

I felt irritated that I had to give directions to Park Deok-gu in this situation.

“GEEEEEEK!”

The voices of the monsters could be heard from a distance. Since they were far away, I couldn't tell how many there were.

“How many?”

“About two.”

“Alone.”

“I'll try, bro.”

“It's okay if you can't kill them, just clear the way.”

“Leave it to me.”

The sounds of “Crack!” and “Thud!” could be heard.

Watching Park Deok-gu run ahead, I felt he was quite reliable, almost like a tank.

“Next!”

“Right.”

“GEEEEEEEEEEK!”

“How many?”

“So many I can't count….”

I immediately extended my arm.

“Fireball.”

The fireball, which I had been maintaining, hesitated for a moment before flying in a straight line.

I hadn't expected any recoil.

The wind pressure made my hand point upwards for a moment. I continued the spell incantation in my mind even as the magic flew.

I didn't want the spell to go awry after all the effort I put into reciting it.

BOOM!

The fireball hit one of the monsters, making a loud noise and scattering in all directions.

CRACK!

The monsters hit by the fireball were thrown back, engulfed in flames.

The wind from the explosion blew towards us.

Park Deok-gu instinctively used his shield to protect us from the front.

Seeing the monsters hit the wall and fall, screaming, he looked at me in surprise.

The space was narrow, and the monsters were densely packed, so it was lucky that the fireball hit. He was probably surprised by the aftermath of the magic.

“Wow… Bro.”

“Huff… Huff….”

My legs started to wobble from the sudden drain of mana.

But I had managed to clear the way.

“Again.”

Something felt off at that moment.

“Ah!”

Park Deok-gu, who had absentmindedly turned back, looked at me in surprise.

‘Jeong Hyeon, Park Hye-young.’

They had separated from the group.

“Since when…? I haven't seen them for a while.”

“A, a moment ago, they were definitely following….”

“You.”

I swallowed the curse that was about to come out of my throat.

This was my fault.

I had been so focused on reciting the spell that I hadn't noticed when they had separated.

It was unexpected that Park Deok-gu hadn't noticed either, but they must have been following us from a short distance.

The important thing was whether they knew the way.

Jeong Hyeon might remember, but I doubted Park Hye-young, the troll, had memorized the route.

Following us was probably all she could manage.

“What, how… I, I'm sorry….”

“It's not your fault, Deok-gu. I should have paid more attention. Damn it.”

“What do we do now?”

A question I wanted to ask myself.

If it was just Park Hye-young who had separated, I would have left her behind.

But Jeong Hyeon, who was with her, was the problem.

She was a guaranteed lottery ticket for the future. Losing her in such a ridiculous place would be a waste.

I don't like gambling.

But sometimes you have to move.

“They must be alive.”

“Then, what do we do?”

“If they had a plan, they would have left a mark for us to find. Let's go back.”

“Good thinking, bro.”

The monsters following us from behind were likely being dealt with by Kim Hyun-sung.

The real problem was the horde coming from all directions.

It was difficult to recite the spell again.

My mana was almost depleted, but I thought I could manage one more time if I squeezed it out.

“Do you remember when they separated?”

“A, a moment ago, when we met the two monsters, they were still running with us. I, I saw them with my own eyes… I didn't hear any screams….”

I couldn't remember clearly either.

I remembered them following me while I was reciting the spell.

It was likely that they had disappeared while I was maintaining the magic.

“Let's go.”

“Got it.”

At first, I was a bit surprised, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt off.

Park Deok-gu might be slow, but he wasn't so stupid that he wouldn't notice two people suddenly disappearing.

I was the same.

Park Deok-gu's agility wasn't high. Jeong Hyeon might be able to keep up, but Park Hye-young wouldn't have fallen behind.

They hadn't been caught by a monster.

Perhaps they had fallen into a trap in the dungeon, but the probability was low.

We had already passed that way once.

If there had been a trap, Kim Hyun-sung would have warned us.

Suddenly, I remembered Jeong Hyeon looking at Park Hye-young.

‘It can't be…’

It was premature to make a judgment, but I could understand if Jeong Hyeon had wanted to separate from us.

I didn't know what spell she had recited, but there was a chance she had recited a different spell while I was focused on mine.

I didn't have the time to notice while maintaining the spell and observing the situation.

Park Deok-gu, who had no mana, wouldn't have noticed what Jeong Hyeon was doing.

Kim Hyun-sung was too far away to notice.

Although I didn't want to think this way, I had to consider the possibility that Jeong Hyeon wanted to be alone with Park Hye-young.

‘The question is why.’

I didn't want to think negatively, but I couldn't shake the feeling of unease.

While running with Park Deok-gu, I started to feel a faint mana presence, just like when we first entered the dungeon.

‘Damn…’

“Deok-gu, faster.”

“Is something wrong?”

It was just a hypothesis.

But the faint mana presence was giving weight to my theory.