The Powerless Hero's 101st Regression Diary

Chapter 4. Winds of Fate (2)

A thick scent of blood rose from Adol’s grave, where I’d hastily buried him.

And the smell of blood always drew monsters.

Sniff sniff.

A dire wolf, drawn by the scent, wagged its tail as it approached the grave.

A massive wolf, easily over two meters from nose to tail.

It began digging into Adol’s grave.

Pop.

Just then, a blackened hand burst out of the ground and grabbed the dire wolf’s head. Startled, the dire wolf whimpered like a puppy and recoiled. But the hand held firm, dragging its owner from the earth.

No, it was no longer Adol.

A ghoul.

A corpse that feasted on corpses.

Adol’s body, now transformed into a monster, looked nothing like his human form.

His flesh had been reconstructed by pure resentment, hatred, and greed.

His skin had shriveled hideously, and his entire body had grown larger.

Most notably, his right arm had blackened and swelled to the point it dragged along the ground.

“Sey... vi... or…”

The ghoul slowly whispered the cursed name of the one who killed him.

The dire wolf, its head still in the ghoul’s massive right hand, whined in agony.

“Need… a… mount…”

Crack.

With those words, the dire wolf’s head was crushed. Incredibly, the creature rose again—this time as a zombie, a subordinate of the ghoul. Adol climbed onto the back of the dire wolf zombie, whose head had been smashed in.

“Kill…”

A voice like something seeping from hell.

The zombie dire wolf bolted forward.

Its destination, of course, was where Savior was.

Adol instinctively knew where Savior was.

He had to go and kill him.

There was no room in his mind for anything else.

***

During our march toward the city, a sudden blue screen flashed before my eyes.

I stared seriously at the letters floating in front of me.

What the hell? All of a sudden?

I was surprised at first, but then accepted it.

Not believing the words appearing here would be no different from denying the growth I had only just begun.

Now that I’d finally gotten a Trait and was ready to make something of it, the so-called [Winds of Fate] had started to blow.

‘A ghoul?’

The kind I knew? Ghouls were undead monsters said to require upper-tier E-rank mercenaries to take down. And annoyingly, anything they killed would rise again as the lowest-tier undead—zombies.

If just one ghoul came, Kevin, our E-rank mercenary, could probably handle it. He was among the most skilled of his rank. But the real problem lay in how many zombies the ghoul would bring along.

‘Ghouls can create zombies.’

There’s no winning against a mob.

If we got swarmed by a horde of zombies, we’d be done for.

Would Kevin be able to protect Dorn while also finding a way out?

I highly doubted it.

Even though I’d learned swordsmanship, I hadn’t properly trained yet.

The Trait might be broken in potential, but that doesn’t mean it made me strong on its own. It needed time to be developed through training.

How strong were we right now?

Kevin, of course, was excellent. But Bob, the F-rank mercenary, would be able to handle maybe a few zombies at most. And Dorn… might be more useful just cheering us on from the side.

‘I thought things would go smoothly for a while. What an unexpected variable.’

Clearly, this so-called Winds of Fate would keep blocking my path in the future too.

I thought the hardships were over, but this damn life just never stops throwing trials my way.

Smack!

I slapped both cheeks with my hands.

Alright! Enough whining. Let’s find a solution.

‘First: pick up the pace and rush to the city.’

Let’s see what those bastards can do if we just outrun them.

[Time remaining: 69:43:29]

…

Nope. No matter how fast we move, we won’t make it to the city in three days. Rejected.

‘Second: make camp here, train, and prepare for the ambush.’

Yeah, that’s the only real option.

Ghouls and zombies have trash-tier intelligence, so I can use that to our advantage somehow.

‘Though it won’t be easy.’

If I’d learned anything in my hundred lives, it’s that there’s no such thing as a free benefit.

Good things always come with bad things, and then another good thing follows.

The [Winds of Fate] that came with my powerful Trait might be more brutal than any life I’ve lived so far.

‘All I can do is everything I can.’

It’s not like I ever did this because it was easy.

I did it because I had to.

‘And to do that, I first need to stop the march…’

That’s when I spotted a mugwort-colored dandelion.

Pretending to tie my shoe, I quickly plucked a few and shoved them into my pocket.

That evening, I slipped a bit of dandelion juice into Bob’s food.

“Urgh… My stomach…”

Bob clutched his belly and disappeared into the woods.

To Bob, who had just begun his war with the devil in his gut, I offered my quiet apology…

‘Sorry, Bob. I couldn’t think of any other way.’

Gurgle, gurgle.

All through the night, Bob’s stomach roared like a ship’s foghorn. Each time, he dashed into the forest. By dawn, I almost wondered if he’d already died and risen as a zombie under Adol.

The mugwort-colored dandelion is a famous herbal medicine used for constipation.

Renowned for both its effectiveness and cost-efficiency.

It grows everywhere, and just one flower is enough to make a month’s worth of medicine.

I juiced it and mixed it into Bob’s meal, so right now he must be feeling something like a “floodgate release!”

‘Really sorry. I won’t forget your sacrifice, Bob.’

As I ate breakfast, silently praying for Bob’s soul, Kevin spoke up.

“Seeing Bob like that… shall we stay here until he’s better? Luckily, I don’t see any monster tracks nearby.”

“Yes! I like that! It feels like a real camping trip! Shouldn’t we barbecue in times like these? Do we have any meat left?”

Dorn answered brightly, and I laughed as I responded.

“Nope, the meat we brought ran out on the first day out of the city.”

Dorn, who wiped out five kilos of pork in one go.

The memory was so vivid I remembered it even after a hundred regressions.

“Hehe, too bad.”

“Aaaaargh!”

Dorn’s cheerful giggle and Bob’s anguished scream lined up perfectly.

In any case, we ate, and then I immediately grabbed a shovel.

‘I need traps.’

A deep trap the mindless, weak-bodied zombies wouldn’t be able to escape from.

Which direction would they come from?

I put my trap-making knowledge—passed down from the northern barbarians—to good use.

Considering the camp’s layout and surrounding terrain, I narrowed down the likely path Adol would take. And once again, I realized just how capable Kevin was.

‘He picked the perfect camp location, practically as well as I would have.’

A strategically flawless location. The camp backed against a low cliff, and the only approach was a path covered by trees, narrowing to a single entry point.

‘Then I just need one big trap right here.’

“A masterful trap.”

As I was digging, Kevin appeared and offered praise.

“We’ll likely be here for a few days, so better to be safe. I’ll help too.”

“Wow! This is my first time digging a trap!”

Kevin and Dorn joined in, and within half a day, we finished a deep pit.

I, as a Mana Beginner, did a fair bit of digging, but it was mostly Kevin—the Mana User—who carried the team. Dorn, well… let’s say he played in the dirt.

‘Still, thanks to this, my Strength and Stamina went up a lot.’

[Body Rank (F)]

Stamina (F): Proficiency 32.14

Strength (F): Proficiency 22.10

Agility (F): Proficiency 8.13

Between the last three days of marching and today’s digging, my body proficiency had risen considerably.

The improvement was noticeable—I felt less tired, and my strength had definitely increased.

Thanks to squeezing in mana cultivation, my mana pool had also increased to 15.

I also crafted a few items to prepare for the ghoul and zombie assault.

“Why are you suddenly making those?” Kevin asked.

“Just in case.”

I brushed it off vaguely.

While Kevin tilted his head in curiosity, I finished making sound bombs and ignition powder.

‘Now, what I need next is to train the basic sword forms.’

[Time remaining: 32:18:44]

A little less than a day and a half left.

To maximize my combat power in that short time, sword form training was the best answer.

If I was going to survive what was coming, becoming stronger was key.

[Combat Technique]

Clossi-style Sword Technique (F): Proficiency 0.00

I still hadn’t practiced Clossi-style Sword Technique even once.

There was a reason for that.

‘How am I supposed to train sword technique without a sword and buckler?’

Sword technique, as the name implied, required a sword and shield.

All I had was a 30cm dagger.

“Hey, Bob. Sorry to ask while you’re suffering, but could I borrow your Sword Stopper and Short Sword?”

“……”

Looking like a dried-up squid, Bob weakly nodded. Maybe this was fate—or a well-timed coincidence. After all, Bob’s gear included both sword and shield.

Of course, the manuals in my head recommended a slightly larger buckler than Bob’s head-sized Sword Stopper, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.

Finally, I attempted the basic five forms of Clossi-style Sword Technique.

Form 1: Block and thrust.

Form 2: Slash and cleave.

Form 3: Dodge and swing.

Form 4: Cut and block.

Form 5: Block and charge.

These were the core motions of sword-and-shield combat. But they weren’t just basic movements—what made Clossi-style Sword Technique powerful was the way these five forms connected.

I remembered the awe I felt watching Count Clossi annihilate monsters with just these five forms. His unending flurry of strikes and blocks left enemies shredded before they could even react.

I tried the five forms for the first time in my life.

The sword and shield were heavier and more awkward than I’d imagined.

Clossi-style Sword Technique (F): Proficiency 0.05

One full run of the five forms increased my proficiency by 0.05.

Simple math: do it a hundred times, and I’d reach 5.00.

‘How many times can I repeat this before time runs out?’

I’d push myself as far as I could.

With that resolve, I reset my stance—when suddenly.

“All weapon techniques rely on footwork. Focus on lower body movement while swinging your sword and shield.”

A blunt voice came from behind me.

Kevin.

[Special Event – Kevin’s Teaching is activated.]

[While the event is active, Clossi-style Sword Technique proficiency increases twice as fast.]

Holy hell.

A single offhand comment from Kevin came with a bonus effect like this.

My eyes lit up.

I dropped to my knees immediately.

“Disciple greets his master!”

Kevin probably just said something because it was painful to watch from the side…But who cares. Double proficiency gain, man.