Chapter 281: How to Use a Regressor (2)

Elvis trudged into the assigned room, his steps heavy with exhaustion.

Creak…

The wooden floorboards groaned underfoot, and the rusted hinges emitted a spine-chilling squeal.

Thud.

The sparsely furnished room contained only an old bed. Elvis collapsed onto it.

A musty, moldy odor, the scent of neglect, assaulted his nostrils.

This lodging was far from restful.

Yet for Elvis, who had spent over half a year sleeping rough and currently had no money, it offered comfort rivaling the finest beds in the Imperial Palace.

“Haa…”

His body yearned for sleep, exhaustion tugging at his limbs. But his mind remained unusually sharp.

Elvis stared at the cobweb-draped ceiling, his mind replaying his encounter with Kendrick and his party just hours earlier.

Where did they go?

He had diligently scoured the vast islet in search of them, but they had vanished without a trace.

“Kendrick… Lavina…”

Memories of his former comrades and friends from before his regression flooded his mind.

Lavina, with her cynical taunts.

Kendrick, silently enduring her provocations.

Jerome, staring blankly at the pair, and Abel, always smiling.

Their faces were vividly etched in his memory.

Then, the images of Kendrick and Lavina as he had seen them today resurfaced.

Kendrick, in particular, lingered in his thoughts.

Is that really the Kendrick I know?

Kendrick had changed so much, it was hard to believe he was the same person.

What on earth is going on?

Everything Elvis thought he knew had been turned upside down—his environment, his circumstances, and now even his longtime comrade.

Is this even the place I remember?

Perhaps the ancient artifact that sent him back in time hadn’t functioned properly. Could this be a side effect of using the power to defy fate?

Elvis’s worries lingered.

But he soon shook them off.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. If that’s truly the Kendrick I know… I have to find him.

His talent, his tenacity.

Only Kendrick, the man hailed as the greatest swordsman, could possibly face the Mad Dragon.

”…I need to rest for now.”

After half a year of travel and a series of unexpected events, Elvis was physically and mentally exhausted. He decided to rest and look for Kendrick again tomorrow, then closed his eyes.

A wave of drowsiness washed over him. His vision blurred as he teetered on the edge of sleep, but he couldn’t allow himself to drift off.

Creak… creak…

The floorboards outside groaned.

Thud… thud…

Footsteps approached simultaneously.

Elvis jolted upright. As if his drowsiness had vanished, his eyes burned with alertness.

Thud… thud…

The footsteps grew closer until a knock echoed.

Knock… knock…

“Are you there?”

”…Come in.”

With Elvis’s permission, the door opened, and a kind-looking employee entered. He stood holding a small tray with a piece of hard bread and a bowl of soup.

“What’s this? I didn’t order anything.”

“It’s nothing special, but the manager asked me to bring it to you…”

”…Thank you. Please tell the manager I appreciate it.”

“Certainly.”

Elvis took the tray, and the employee bowed politely, turning to leave. He would have succeeded if Elvis hadn’t spoken again.

“Excuse me, employee.”

The employee froze at Elvis’s words.

Elvis continued speaking to the back of the employee’s head.

“When are you going to introduce the people you came with?”

“Huh?” The employee turned around, a puzzled expression on his face. “What exactly do you mean?”

In response to the employee’s question, the smile that had been playing on Elvis’s lips vanished, replaced by an icy glare. “No matter how closely you synchronize your steps, the sound of one person walking is fundamentally different from the sound of a group.”

“I… I really don’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

Seeing the employee’s obvious confusion, Elvis’s icy demeanor deepened. “I’d bet every penny I own that there are two more of your ‘friends’ standing guard on either side of the door right now.”

”…”

“What are you betting?” Elvis asked, his voice brimming with confidence.

The waiter remained silent for a moment.

Then, his friendly expression slowly hardened into an emotionless mask, finally revealing his true colors.

He scanned Elvis from head to toe before speaking. “Elvis Estephan.”

Even hearing his name from a stranger, Elvis appeared remarkably calm.

Yet beneath his composed exterior, his body tensed.

Elvis channeled his attribute power through his fingertips.

“You’ll have to come with us.”

“Where?”

The waiter’s cold command answered his question: “Bring him in.”

Before the words had even finished, two thugs burst into the cramped room.

The murderous aura emanating from them made it clear they hadn’t approached with good intentions.

The situation was explosive, a hair-trigger away from chaos.

Elvis, who had been cautiously gathering his attribute power, instantly cast a Sacred Scripture.

Snap!

In his previous life, Elvis had been known as the Sage of Light. True to his title, his attribute was Faster-than-Light. Though currently only at Tier 3, his mastery far surpassed that of typical Tier 3 mages.

“Ugh!”

“Grk!”

A blinding flash of light erupted, detonating forward. Elvis’s Lightning Spell precisely obscured the thugs’ vision.

He hurled the tray he was holding and sprinted toward the window.

Crack!

The old wooden window, barely capable of keeping out a light drizzle, shattered as Elvis slammed into it, sending splinters flying.

Crack!

Elvis’s room was on the third floor. With agile movements, he vaulted over several railings and landed lightly on the ground.

“Get him!”

“He’s on the first floor!”

The thugs, their vision finally recovered, shouted out the window.

Their comrades, who had been waiting outside the inn, immediately charged toward Elvis.

Elvis’s expression hardened.

These bastards… they’re trained.

And not just with a day or two of practice—they were clearly formally trained warriors.

Their sudden appearance was like a bolt from the blue, an unexpected disaster for Elvis.

He had only arrived on the Islet that very day.

But who were these intruders who had suddenly descended upon him?

I don’t recall incurring any grudges since my regression.

He was already preoccupied with surviving each day, barely finding time for anything else. How could he possibly have made enemies?

But there would be time for reflection later. Elvis moved swiftly.

Tada-dak.

As darkness enveloped the city, Elvis sprinted away.

“Chase him!”

“He’s this way!”

Thugs materialized from every direction, pursuing Elvis relentlessly. As their numbers swelled, his expression hardened.

Something’s wrong.

He couldn’t make sense of it at all. Elvis unleashed a bolt of lightning at the relentless warriors chasing him.

Elvis’s Lightning Spell illuminated the pitch-black islet.

Flash!

Elvis employed the Lightning Spell in a variety of ways, detonating it directly in front of his pursuers to blind them, or creating flashes elsewhere to lure them away from his true location.

As the saying goes, after the light comes an even deeper darkness. Elvis skillfully manipulated light and shadow, navigating the unfamiliar islet as if it were his own backyard.

Perhaps it was thanks to his efforts, but as time passed, the number of pursuers chasing him gradually dwindled.

But after casting the Lightning Spell over twenty times, Elvis’s brow furrowed.

“Ugh! My attribute power is running low.”

The humiliating reality of his dwindling attribute power, after only casting the Lightning Spell a few times, left Elvis utterly dismayed. The thought of facing the Mad Dragon was laughable.

To make matters worse, Faster-than-Light was notorious for being the least useful attribute at lower Tiers. At his current level, it could barely blind an opponent or emit a faint heat. The true potential of Faster-than-Light only began to manifest from Tier 2 onward.

In other words, his current skill level was so lacking that he couldn’t even protect himself, let alone face the Mad Dragon.

He had been vaguely aware of this limitation before, but experiencing his powerlessness firsthand in this dire situation forced Elvis to confront the harsh truth once more.

Tap-tap.

“Damn it!”

Elvis gritted his teeth and kicked off the ground with renewed force.

A moment later, he found himself in a deserted alleyway.

“Huff, huff…”

Elvis glanced around, then leaned against the alley wall to catch his breath. He felt a wave of relief when he sensed no further signs of pursuit.

“Phew… I finally shook them off.”

His remaining attribute power was dangerously low. If he had taken even a moment longer to evade those mysterious warriors, his power would have been completely depleted.

But his relief was quickly replaced by bewilderment.

“What the hell was that all about?”

A group of suspicious warriors, and they were after him. He had no idea what was going on.

I need to get out of the Islet first.

Though he had lost his pursuers for now, he couldn’t be sure when they might find him again. That meant the Islet was no longer safe.

He regretted not being able to reunite with Kendrick, but now was the time to lie low and figure out what was happening.

Just as Elvis pushed himself up from the wall, promising himself he’d come back later, a voice drifted through the air:

“Not bad.”

And then—

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

A sharp pain exploded in Elvis’s head, and darkness swallowed his vision.

Louis shoved his hands into his pockets and gazed down at the unconscious brown-haired man lying before him.

”…”

He remembered Pablo’s story about the Estephan Family.

The Estephan Family had appeared in the Frenche Kingdom one day. They might have become one of the Republic’s Twelve Executive Council Families. However, frequent interference from the Frenche Kingdom had undermined their influence, and now they were merely nobles in name only, living lives indistinguishable from commoners.

The Estephan Family had two sons, and the eldest had mysteriously disappeared without a trace.

“So this is him… Elvis Estephan.”

Despite having lower stats than the other supporting characters, he was the proud leader of the Dragon Slayer Party.

And the true protagonist of the original webtoon.

There he lay, unconscious right before Louis.

No, to be precise, Louis was the one who had knocked Elvis unconscious.

The midnight chase through the Islet’s capital had been orchestrated by Louis.

It was a test of sorts, designed to scatter the Imperial Palace warriors, apply pressure, and observe Elvis’s reactions.

Having completed his assessment, Louis casually concluded, “Pathetically weak.”

Elvis’s current abilities fell far short of even his original webtoon counterpart.

Louis knew the reason why.

It’s all my fault…

In the original work, Elvis had grown far stronger in his second life, leveraging his noble lineage, abundant resources, and the foresight gained from his regression to seize every advantage.

But in this second iteration, corresponding to Elvis’s current reality, everything had changed because of Louis’s interference. This outcome was the result.

“Well, he may be a weakling, but still…”

Louis’s eyes gleamed as he looked down at Elvis.

Elvis’s performance during the chase on the Islet fell far short of Louis’s standards in terms of overall cultivation level.

However, his speed in controlling attribute power, his mastery of Sacred Scripture, and his physical prowess were all vastly superior to ordinary levels.

Furthermore, his situational awareness and ability to perceive and manipulate space and objects were exceptional.

Though unconfirmed, Louis suspected Elvis also possessed remarkable leadership qualities.

No wonder he’s the main character, Louis thought.

Despite Elvis’s low cultivation level, these other qualities thoroughly pleased Louis.

A smirk twisted the corner of Louis’s mouth as he stared at Elvis.

“This… might be useful,” he murmured.

With that, Louis grabbed Elvis by the scruff of his neck, and their figures vanished.

Exactly two hours passed.

“Umm…”

Elvis’s eyelids fluttered open.

As his consciousness slowly returned, the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.

Then, a young man’s voice drifted into his ears.

“Awake?”

Elvis recognized the voice as the last thing he’d heard before losing consciousness.

“Ugh.”

Groaning, Elvis pushed himself into a sitting position and immediately assessed his condition.

I’m not tied up…

He was lying on a bed. Though his body felt weak, he realized he wasn’t restrained. Elvis focused his gaze ahead.

The owner of the voice came into view: a white-haired young man with androgynous features. Elvis’s expression hardened as the young man flashed him an unsettling smile.

”…What do you want?”

In response to Elvis’s calm question, Louis opened his mouth.

“Your name is Elvis Estephan. Eldest son of a noble family in name only. Just an utterly ordinary guy.”

”…Then why would you drag someone so ordinary here?”

Elvis’s face, previously filled with displeasure, gradually transformed into astonishment as Louis continued his story.

“But once, he was known as the Sage of Light, a hero to the entire world.”

”…?!”

“Moreover, he’s a fallen hero, a rebellious existence who defied time itself to correct his failures.”

Elvis couldn’t even blink as Louis spoke each word.

A strangled whisper escaped his lips, as if his lungs were being crushed.

“Who… who are you?”