Chapter 282: How to Use a Regressor (3)

Elvis’s eyes trembled violently, as if an earthquake were shaking them, as he stared at Louis.

A fallen hero who had defied time to correct his failures—a secret he had guarded jealously, intending to carry it to his grave or reveal it only to his closest comrades.

Yet here was this stranger, uttering his deepest secret as if it were common knowledge. Elvis was utterly bewildered and disoriented.

Then Louis’s crimson lips parted.

“Who am I…? Well, who do you think I am?”

Elvis’s expression hardened at the playful counter-question.

Louis smiled faintly. “There’s no need to be so tense. I have no intention of harming you.”

”…”

“I’m simply offering you an opportunity.”

After silently observing Louis, Elvis finally reacted.

”…An opportunity?”

“Ah, before we go any further, let me ask you something. Did you happen to see it?”

“See what?”

“The Mad Dragon, the Black Dragon.”

”…?!”

“So you did see it?”

Elvis remained silent.

But Louis understood that his silence meant affirmation.

Elvis’s last known location had been the Spring Continent, Kendrick’s hometown. After that, all traces of him had vanished.

That bastard… he was definitely on that passenger ship.

Louis pieced together the timeline: the Mad Dragon sank the ship, rumors of a dragon began circulating among the survivors, and Elvis resurfaced on the Islet shortly after. The circumstances pointed to one conclusion: Elvis had been aboard the ill-fated vessel.

Certain of his deduction, Louis continued, “If you saw it, this will be much easier to explain. I’m offering you an opportunity.”

“What opportunity have you been talking about all this time?”

“You saw it, didn’t you? The Mad Dragon.”

”…So?”

“Don’t you want revenge on that bastard?”

”…?!”

“A world destroyed, a nation shattered, a family murdered… even your comrades sacrificed.”

”…”

“You came back because you never wanted to experience that again, didn’t you?”

As Louis spoke, Elvis’s expression grew increasingly rigid. His confusion about Louis deepened.

This man… he knows everything.

Everything Elvis had done before his regression. The purpose behind his return. The white-haired man knew it all.

“Well? Does the idea of a conversation sound a little more appealing now?”

“Hoo…” Elvis took a deep breath. With each slow inhale and exhale, his racing heart gradually returned to normal. After a moment to clear his head, he asked, “Before we talk, answer just one thing.”

“What?”

“Who are you… really?”

“Still wondering about that? I told you, I’m the one giving you this chance.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. How… how do you know all of this?”

“Hmm…”

“Tell me. Just who the hell are you?”

Elvis’s eyes burned with intense fury. Louis could sense his determination to remain silent unless he received an answer, so he scratched his cheek.

I only intended to use him sparingly…

He wasn’t as easily manipulated as Louis had thought.

Well, maybe I should offer a little information as a courtesy.

Besides, gaining his trust would require some measure of disclosure. With that in mind, Louis smiled and said,

“My true identity? Nothing special. Just someone who shares a similar goal with you.”

“Is that really all there is to it?”

“Other than that… it’s someone like you.”

“Like me?”

“Someone who knows the future.”

Elvis’s eyes flashed at Louis’s words.

“No way…?”

This was the question that had haunted Elvis ever since his regression:

What exactly happened?

How could the world have changed so drastically?

What transpired while I was unaware?

It was an unsolved mystery, an enigma that had plagued him for years.

But now, at last, he had found a clue to unravel it.

No way… no way?!

Someone else who knew the future.

What if such a being had existed for decades, even centuries?

What if they had been interfering in the course of history, guided by their knowledge?

As Elvis entertained this possibility, the disjointed pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.

At the same time, he felt a surge of conviction.

“You…”

His own plan.

The one who had squandered the opportunity they had barely secured through everyone’s sacrifice…

“You… you bastard! It was you all along!”

Certainty struck him like a physical blow. His heart, which he had finally managed to calm, began to pound violently, and his head burned with rage.

Elvis leaped to his feet, roaring, “You son of a bitch!”

His eyes blazing with murderous intent, he charged at Louis.

Thwack!

“Gack!”

Before he could reach him, an invisible force struck Elvis squarely in the face, sending him sprawling.

He thrashed wildly for a moment before going limp.

”…”

Louis, blood streaming from both nostrils, stared at the unconscious Elvis with a bewildered frown.

“What the hell is wrong with this guy…?”

The moment Louis heard about Elvis, he had thought to himself:

Isn’t that what they always say?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Therefore, instead of needlessly antagonizing Elvis, who shared a common enemy in the Mad Dragon, Louis thought it best to exploit him.

Elvis is the one who knows the most about the Holy Mother in this situation.

By using him, Louis could find the Holy Mother, seize the Sea God’s Bow, and take care of his own business—all while letting Elvis do the work.

A sort of automated hunting, perhaps?

What a flawless and elegant plan.

Louis had intended to capture Elvis and roughly use him as he saw fit, but…

“Why did his eyes suddenly glaze over and he charge at me?”

Even though Louis’s actions had altered the future and drastically changed Elvis’s life, he felt no guilt about it. Everything he had done was for his own survival.

Thus, he found Elvis’s crazed charge utterly absurd.

Staring blankly at the unconscious Elvis, Louis mused, I suppose I’ll have to straighten him out a bit.

Before proceeding with his grand scheme, some re-education seemed necessary.

The outskirts of the Maha, shrouded in a thick fog.

As always, Chulsoo88 wandered aimlessly through the fog—or rather, the Mad Dragon whose consciousness he shared did.

“Shit!” Chulsoo88 spat out, his voice lost in the milky white mist.

He had no idea how long he’d been wandering through the fog. Since he had created this setting himself, he had expected to quickly find the hidden piece. But reality had far exceeded his expectations—in the worst possible way.

“Where the hell is it? According to the lore, it should be somewhere around here…”

The discrepancy between the settings he had casually scribbled on paper and their manifestation in the real world was giving Chulsoo88 a hard time.

“Ah, this is so infuriating.”

He wasn’t a particularly patient person to begin with.

Chulsoo88’s patience was rapidly wearing thin.

Should I just give up?

But the lure of Lotberia’s heart was too strong to resist.

If I could just get my hands on that, I’d finally get back at that bastard.

Just as he was about to abandon his quest, Louis’s pale face flashed through his mind.

The one who had ruined his masterpiece.

A cancerous presence that needed to be eradicated.

Remembering him, Chulsoo88 rallied his wavering resolve.

I will definitely eliminate that son of a bitch.

Gritting his teeth, Chulsoo88 sighed and scanned his surroundings.

“Where is it?”

All he could see was the endless sea.

“There should definitely be a whirlpool here…”

The entrance to the secret location of Lotberia’s heart was supposed to be a whirlpool in the Maha Sea.

Yet, no matter how hard Chulsoo88 searched, not even a trace of the whirlpool’s shadow could be found.

Then, a thought struck Chulsoo88 like lightning.

Wait a minute… a shadow?

Chulsoo88, who had been standing there dumbfounded, blinking, suddenly shouted,

“Damn it, that’s it!”

It was an exclamation of triumph, but also a self-reproach.

Damn it, damn it!

When he had created the setting for the secret location of Lotberia’s heart, he had described it like this:

His own meticulously crafted, overly dramatic lore.

Ah, damn it all!

If there were an ordinary whirlpool right in the middle of the Maha Sea, a place where dragons constantly come and go, would they really miss it?

That’s why I’d set it up as a hidden entrance…

”…I’d completely forgotten.”

Since I hadn’t used it in a while, it had naturally slipped my mind.

Come to think of it, this setting was originally for Genelocer too.

Only dragons with the Dark Attribute could discover the entrance.

It was a contrived plot point I’d created later to empower Genelocer, but I’d never actually used it because it felt unbalanced.

Fortunately, the Fake Mad Dragon, with whom he shared consciousness, was a Dark Attribute dragon based on Genelocer.

“Heh heh heh.”

Chulsoo88 chuckled softly.

“Everything is proceeding exactly as I planned.”

If Louis had seen this, he would have cursed, “You damn chuunibyo brat! Where did you sell your conscience? You were just whining about forgetting it!”

It was fortunate that Louis wasn’t around.

Let’s see… it reacts to the Dark Attribute.

To be precise, the whirlpool was designed to manifest only within darkness imbued with the Dark Attribute.

Chulsoo88 immediately began spreading darkness around him.

Ugh, I have to do this again.

Grumbling inwardly, Chulsoo88 flew around, scattering darkness.

How long had he been circling like this?

“Huh?”

Chulsoo88’s eyes widened.

The darkness he had spread across the water surface was reacting strangely at one point.

It rippled like the sea itself, the darkness undulating.

Then…

Whoosh!

The darkness began to spin, forming a whirlpool.

Seeing this, Chulsoo88 let out a triumphant shout.

“Found it!”

This was no ordinary vortex.

Chulsoo88’s eyes gleamed as he fearlessly plunged into the swirling darkness.

Rumble!

“Uwaaaah!”

Chulsoo88 screamed into the abyss, his body spinning wildly as if trapped inside a washing machine.

“Agh!”

Surrendering to the relentless currents of the rapidly rotating vortex, Chulsoo88 let himself be swept away.

A moment later…

“Gack!”

The spinning stopped. After a few dry heaves, he regained his bearings and surveyed his surroundings.

The eerie landscape that filled his vision made his shoulders tense.

This place gives off a seriously creepy vibe.

He had emerged from the dark vortex into a vast, cavernous chamber devoid of water. Grotesque statues of monstrous creatures dotted the space, lending it the feel of a dungeon.

Did I even set up this kind of setting?

Whatever.

The important thing was that he had finally arrived.

Chulsoo88 heaved his colossal body to its feet and crawled through the passage.

The passage was so vast that even a dragon’s massive frame could move through it with ease.

After pressing onward, Chulsoo88 came face-to-face with a colossal stone gate.

Its height stretched hundreds of meters into the air, an awe-inspiring sight.

Etched into the stone gate was a gruesome mural:

A red-eyed Black Dragon perched atop a mountain, gazing down upon the world.

Beneath the dragon’s throne, the corpses of humans and countless other races lay scattered at the foot of the mountain.

Examining the scene more closely, Chulsoo88 finally realized the mountain itself was constructed entirely of corpses.

“Whoa…”

A river of blood flowed from the mountain of corpses, spreading like a crimson flood across the world—a truly macabre image.

Sea of Corpses, Ocean of Blood…

The painting’s vividness sent a chill down Chulsoo88’s spine.

Gulp.

He swallowed hard and pushed the door open.

Shhh.

The massive stone door slid back with surprising ease.

As it opened, the interior of the chamber came into Chulsoo88’s view.

A vast, unremarkable space with nothing of note except for a prominent platform standing squarely in the center.

Chulsoo88’s eyes were riveted to the platform—more specifically, to the dark crimson heart resting upon it.

”…I’ve found it.”

He had wandered through the Maha for months, enduring countless trials, all in pursuit of this very thing.

And now, he had finally arrived.

As if hypnotized, Chulsoo88 stepped forward.

His gaze burned with morbid fascination as he studied the heart.

Thump-thump.

The dark crimson heart pulsed with an ominous aura.

Though its owner was long dead, the heart continued to beat.

Thump-thump.

The heart’s rhythm echoed directly into Chulsoo88’s mind, sounding like a seductive melody beckoning him closer.

Slowly, Chulsoo88 reached out toward the heart.

Thump-thump-thump-thump.

As his hand drew nearer, the heart’s pulse grew louder and faster, its rhythm accelerating.

Thump-thump-thump-thump.

Finally, the moment Mad Dragon Chulsoo88’s hand touched the heart…

Thud!

A violent tremor surged through Mad Dragon’s entire body.

Poof!

The heart vanished, absorbed into Mad Dragon’s form, and a dark crimson energy erupted from his body.