A Regressor's Bucket List

Van Pierre.

France's 33rd ranked Hunter, an advisor in the melee combat division of the World Hunter Association, and now in his 15th year as a hunter, he was one of the strongest first-generation hunters, acknowledged by himself and others.

However, upon reaching the end of the Gate, he was covered from head to toe in blood, the reason for which was, of course, having hunted an orc.

His condition was far too severe to be described as simply ‘injured.’

His right arm was deeply gouged where an axe had grazed it.

The bone in his right shin was broken, piercing through the skin.

Beyond that, there were countless other cuts and scratches, too many to count.

It wouldn't have been strange to find him lying in an intensive care unit.

Trudge, trudge—

Flump—

“Dammit… What rotten luck.”

He muttered, slumping against a massive stone gate marked with a cross symbol, which clearly signified the end of the Gate.

Given that he didn't even know the cause of the recent 'High-Rank Hunter Serial Disappearance Case', gauging the timing of the Stairway Transcendence had been literally impossible.

Nevertheless, the thought, ‘Of all days…,’ wouldn't leave his mind.

Throb—

“Keuk—.”

The thought occurred to him that if it hadn't been a day he'd been drinking heavily since morning, he might have been able to save at least one of the other French hunters who had ascended with him.

He himself had managed to survive, albeit battered and bruised, and take the orc's head.

But the price for that was three of his fellow hunters being sliced to pieces by the monster called an orc's giant axe.

Evan Camille, Lou Vivienne, Bunoit Martin.

They were all men he had fought back-to-back with in monster fields at least once, people who were no different from friends.

Each one of them was a top-tier hunter in France, renowned in their own right.

Honestly, Pierre still couldn't believe it.

The fact that they, all high-A-rank hunters, had been sacrificed while taking down a single monster.

“……”

The shock of their deaths.

The relief of having survived.

The unknown fear that came from this being just the beginning.

These various thoughts and emotions swirled chaotically in Van Pierre's head.

It was then.

“…Well, look who it is. Why are you such a wreck? Has the great Van Pierre finally gotten old?”

“……?”

Someone came and sat down next to Van Pierre, striking up a conversation.

“…You don't look much different yourself, Alexei.”

“Hey, at least both my legs are still in one piece.”

Alexei. Russia's 26th ranked Hunter.

He, like Pierre, was one of the first-generation hunters.

They weren't close enough to be called friends, but they had become acquainted through a few events organized by the World Hunter Association.

“…I heard about it beforehand from that Acolyte Priest person, but this is still strange. To be able to understand French without any translation.”

“Are you the only one left from your side too?”

“Two are dead. One… I don't know. Dead or alive. He was gone when the battle was over.”

As Alexei answered with a shrug, Pierre gave a bitter smile.

“Well, you're still better off than us. We were wiped out.”

A silence fell after Pierre's last words.

“……”

“……”

A heavy silence, whether it was for a brief rest before the next stage, or to mourn those who had gone ahead, was impossible to tell.

It was Alexei who broke the silence.

“Did you happen to see it too? That monster.”

“Monster?”

Pierre tilted his head at Alexei's question.

Of course, the orc was a savage monster befitting the title, but he had a feeling that wasn't what Alexei was talking about.

Pierre was already holding the token in his right hand, which meant not only had he seen an orc, but he had been victorious in battle.

There was no reason for Alexei to ask about that again at this timing.

‘…Was there a special variant? A stronger one.’

In other words, the monster Alexei was talking about now meant something a little different.

Alexei nodded as if he understood Pierre's unspoken question.

“Judging by your reaction, you must not have seen it. There was a monster.”

“You don't seem to be talking about an orc… There was a monster even worse than that?”

Heh heh—

Alexei let out a low laugh at Pierre's reaction.

“Of course. It was an unbelievable monster. One that dodged all attacks and resistance with minimal movement and struck the vitals in a single blow.”

“…There was a monster like that?”

Pierre asked, his brow furrowing even deeper.

“What did it look like? Similar to an orc?”

“Its skin was yellowish but on the paler side, and its hair was dark black.”

“……”

“And it used a dagger and was incredibly fast. Its ability to strike weak points with precise timing was outstanding. Ah, it seemed to be good at climbing trees, too.”

Pierre tried to imagine the monster from Alexei's description.

“So, to summarize… you're talking about an albino orc that uses a dagger and climbs trees at an incredible speed?”

And he gave a name to the rough image he had inferred.

Rapid Albino Orc.

The aura emanating from the name alone was savage.

To be so strong as to be incomparable to a normal orc—it was enough to make his knees tremble already.

But at Alexei's next words, Pierre couldn't help but express his doubt once more.

“Haha. When did I say the monster was an orc? This fellow really jumped to conclusions.”

“Hmm…?”

“The orcs were, in fact, that monster's prey.”

The orcs were its prey?

Mulling over Alexei's words, Pierre briefly replayed their conversation in his head.

Soon, his face was colored with astonishment.

He was beginning to vaguely understand what Alexei was trying to say.

And Alexei's next words, which were like a confirmation—

“A monster, it was a monster. It was definitely a ferocious monster trying to wipe out every last orc.”

“……”

“But now…”

—brought another silence between the two.

“It wore the guise of a human.”

* * *

Puk-!

“…This guy is really stingy. I feel like I've passed the target number a long time ago.”

As I plunged my dagger into the glabella of yet another orc, my body screamed as if it had truly surpassed its limits.

The only strength I could feel in my body was just enough to hold the dagger, and my hands and feet were trembling like a leaf in the wind.

It was to be expected.

While my mental aspects, like technique and experience, were incomparably superior to my past self at this point, my physical body wasn't much different from the perpetual B-rank Seo U-jin of that time.

If I hadn't become accustomed to 'limits' through the War against Demons, my body was in a state where I would have passed out four or five times over by now.

“…Did that Bamboo Hat Mister lie to me? It feels like it's been ages since I passed one hundred.”

It had been a long time since I had killed the 100 orcs written on my bucket list.

I hadn't bothered to count after passing 100, so I didn't know the exact number, but it felt like I had killed at least twice that many.

I knew all too well that things wouldn't go exactly as planned, but facing the situation in reality, a rather helpless feeling welled up inside me.

‘What if I can't get it and have to move on to the Second Gate like this…’

Just as I was muttering to myself with that sliver of doubt.

Tiring-!

[10 minutes remaining until the time limit.]

A notification from the system window popped up, mockingly displaying the exact time limit.

“…Look at that timing. A work of art, simply a work of art…”

Ten minutes remaining.

Now there was truly no time to spare.

It was so little time that at my current pace, I wondered if I could even hunt five more.

In reality, hoping for a miracle within that time was just being greedy.

But—

‘I absolutely have to get it before I go…’

I couldn't just give up like this.

The existence of a Trait was especially more important in the early stages.

In the Gateway Zone, where Lower-Dimensional Plane runts were just bickering amongst themselves, were so rare they were practically non-existent.

It wasn't something I could just dismiss as 'a shame.'

…And even if it wasn't for that.

‘I can't give up on just the second item on my list.’

I didn't want to handle things that way right from the start.

Shing—

‘…It might be a bit overkill for the First Gate, though.’

Having finally decided to open the pouch I had been saving, I sheathed the dagger, caked with orc blood, at my waist.

Then I closed my eyes for a moment and activated the Mana Circuit in my body, which was still at a meager level.

Gush—

The still-immature Mana Circuit pulsed, pushing out mana and washing away the sticky impurities caked throughout the circuit.

And then.

Tiring-!

[ is activated.]

Absolute Realization.

My Innate Ability that corrects the mana-flowing Mana Circuit in my body to forcibly implement skills.

On the surface, it was a very good Innate Ability.

It was an ability that allowed me to use skills without limit, as long as I learned them, while others considered using just three in a lifetime to be a lot.

…But, considering the difficulty of using it, it was an ability that was hard to call just 'good'.

To use this properly, one needed a level of skill comprehension that far surpassed the normal level.

‘…Before my Regression, I probably couldn't even use this Innate Ability properly until I shed the Hero candidate tag and received the official Hero insignia…’

Comprehension of the Mana Circuit and its systems.

Comprehension of the implemented skill and its properties.

On top of that, comprehension of mana itself.

This ‘Absolute Realization’ was an Innate Ability that could only be used properly when supported by an understanding of all those things.

Even with that much understanding, it was difficult to produce the same efficiency as the original.

Vwoom—

[Mana Circuit activation detected.]

[Analyzing Mana Circuit pattern….]

As I traced the mana pattern of a certain skill, one buried deep in my memory, my Mana Circuit swelled as if it would burst.

The tension involuntarily tensed my whole body, but I paid it no mind and continued to trace the pattern.

One by one.

Giving concrete form to the image rising in my mind.

「Now, watch closely. A Skill is ultimately a technique that uses the body's Mana Circuit as a power source to force a specific 'mana phenomenon'.」

「…The principle is simple. The core of skill usage is to draw a mana pattern suitable for the phenomenon you wish to implement onto the circuit.」

「Although it's called an 'Innate Ability', it is also a type of skill. It's just called that because the pattern is optimized for the Mana Circuit one is born with, allowing it to be used just by flowing mana without learning or training.」

「Therefore, theoretically speaking, if you have an understanding of another's Innate Ability, you can imitate the mana pattern and implement that ability at any time…….」

「For crying out loud. Does a Mana Circuit with no system boundaries even make sense…? Is this what you called a 'luck-based trash game'? You strange thing.」

‘…Done.’

As I placed the final dot, completing the mana pattern, a sentence from the system window popped up, announcing the success of the skill implementation.

[Based on the synchronization rate, is forcibly implemented.]

[Warning! This skill is not suitable for the caster's level. Maximum cast time is limited to 3 minutes.]

“…Three minutes seems a bit tight.”

Despite there being no errors in the mana pattern I executed, the casting time was drastically reduced.

There was no way I had a problem with understanding a 1-star difficulty skill, so it seemed my lack of Mana and Physical Force was more severe than I thought.

‘But even so, with this level of completion…’

+

■Name: [Muscle Up (★☆☆)]

■System: [Body-Enhancement]

■Description: [Temporarily improves overall physical strength, including muscular strength, endurance, reflexes, and agility.]

■Special Note: [This is a forcibly implemented skill. Maximum cast time is greatly reduced. (3 minutes)]

+

[Physical abilities are greatly enhanced.]

“It'll be much better than my original state, though.”

Along with the notification window announcing the success of the skill implementation, the muscles all over my body tensed up.

With the wind brushing past the tips of my hair, my body felt decidedly lighter.

I immediately opened my eyes and moved my body.

Paaat-!

A speed incomparable to before.

In terms of a simple 100-meter dash, it felt at least twice as fast, and the rate of acceleration was beyond comparison.

It felt like I was crushing the bothersome resistance with pure force.

It was a pleasant experience that made me feel exhilarated just by running, but I had no time to savor such things as I sharpened my senses.

- Kirrak!

“…That's one.”

The time it took to detect the first orc's location and plunge my dagger into its glabella was roughly 20 seconds.

- Kurk!

“Two.”

The next one took 15 seconds.

“…Three.”

The next was even shorter.

I no longer bothered to collect the tokens.

They would be helpful, but I didn't have the luxury for that right now.

I just repeated the process of finding an orc and stabbing my dagger into either its glabella or the medulla at the back of its neck, whichever was closer.

“……”

And so, after that repetition, no different from simply counting numbers, had passed about a dozen times.

Tiring-!

Along with the pleasant notification sound of the system window—

[A Constellation has expressed interest in your extraordinary actions.]

Grin—

I got a bite.