Five Time Regressor Walks the King’s Path - Chapter 36
Chapter 36
My sword wouldn’t work on a Degenerate God.
Knowing that, I prepared to swing my Phantomized fist, but the body of the Degenerate God, Preeminent Fury, swelled up in that same moment.
It instantly swelled to the size of a mountain. Her body covered not only me, but also Apsara, who chased after me, as well as all the Phantoms that lived in the sanctuary.
‘What the…’
Gurgle.
It felt like I’d fallen into water and I couldn’t even properly breathe, so I immediately wrapped myself in aura.
Then I tried to strike with my Phantom arm, but it felt like I was swinging through water and couldn’t do any damage to Preeminent Fury.
Boom!
At that moment, there was an explosion.
Preeminent Fury, having turned into a Degenerate God, soared into the sky. Their body stretched out to cover all directions, and I was finally free to slump down to the ground.
“…It’s over.”
As I looked up into the sky, failing to understand the current situation, I heard Apsara’s voice.
She stumbled up to me and let out a long sigh.
“Apsara.”
“Tsk, I barely followed you to find Preeminent Fury but I didn’t expect them to become a Degenerate God straight away. I need to get ready to leave.”
“Why don’t you explain it to me? Since you came all the way here thanks to me, you could at least share intel with me.”
When I approached her with a tone that implied she shouldn’t keep everything to herself, she sighed and looked up to the sky.
“Preeminent Fury just turned into a Degenerate God.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve already experienced this once before during a previous challenge. We know the world is destroyed once they become a Degenerate God.”
“Destroyed?”
“She’s the strongest Phantom in the world. You saw it earlier, there’s no stopping her, no matter what you do. And she, having lost her reluctance, causes an unprecedented epidemic. It affects all things living in this world, even the Phantoms. That’s how it was in the previous attempt. While we were collecting information, she turned into a Degenerate God and the world collapsed. We had to give up then, but this time, I knew the location of Preeminent Fury, so there must be a solution before she falls.”
Having said so, she seemed to be about to give up.
Before then, I grabbed her scrawny arm. She looked back at me with a frown.
“What now?”
“Apsara, using your Clairvoyance skill, you can see the past of someone you’ve seen with your eyes, right?
I knew because we had been on the frontlines together.
Apsara obtained that skill to challenge the Floors faster.
It was a skill where you could look at another’s past, and it was always helpful in clearing Floors.
That’s also why she was one of Emperor’s bodyguards.
Her having such a skill was a famous story for those on the frontlines. Her assistance always played a large role when attempting a Floor.
When she heard my question, she glared at me before pulling her arm free.
“I can. It’s the first skill I obtained after starting this regression. Since I saw Preeminent Fury with my eyes, her past should be recorded, but what of it?”
“Tell me.”
After hearing my words, Apsara burst into dumbfounded laughter.
“Do I have a reason to do that for you?”
“Because I’ve figured out a way to clear this Floor.”
Her shoulders flinched, and then, with her widened eyes, she stared straight at me.
“You figured out how to clear it?”
“As you said, this challenge has failed. But on the next attempt, I have a way to clear it for sure.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I won’t tell you to believe me. But if you let me know, I won’t have to spend any more time on this Floor. I won’t say much, even if you guys come together on the next attempt.”
“…If you’re going to ask for so much, wouldn’t it be better to just work with us to clear Crown Road?”
I snorted after seeing Apsara’s expression which said she didn’t understand.
“If I go with you guys, I’ll be late in clearing Floors.”
Seeing my attitude, she looked as if I was being absurd.
“In a way, I admire you. Someone who stays so prideful even while asking for help.”
Sighing, she took a book from thin air. It seemed to contain a thousand pages, and she glared at me as she spoke.
“Well, all right. I don’t like you very much, but I’d like it if the Floor was somehow cleared.”
She opened the book as if she knew each page, stopped on one page, and began to tell the story of Preeminent Fury.
* * *
War, hunger, and Degenerate Gods… The world faced various disasters, but the ones who always suffered first were the children.
They always brought a new future, but they were always sacrificed by the present.
The children shed tears.
They couldn’t live without their parents, and couldn’t move on.
It was the same whether it was a human or a Phantom.
A child was just a child.
The reason why Preeminent Fury had such an idea was simple.
She once held a child in her stomach.
But due to a certain reason, the child was lost.
In the wake of that event, the child’s father became a Degenerate God and Preeminent Fury was forced to end her husband’s life with her own hands.
Preeminent Fury, having lost her child and killed her own husband, vanished. Without ever being called a mother, she disappeared for roughly a century.
She lived alone in a deep cave, shedding tears for the child and husband she could not protect.
A hundred years later, when she finally came out, there was a knot in her heart for that child.
She was worn out.
Only a few days later, after walking in the wilderness, a village came into sight.
The village was in a mess and no people were around.
As Preeminent Fury began to walk by that village, the surviving children heard her footsteps and came out to see her.
The children observed her, their eyes a mix of fear and curiosity. Preeminent Fury, upon seeing such figures, was strangely unable to leave.
All of the children were surviving on their own, without their parents.
She had lost the child in her belly, but the children had lost their parents who had been breathing the same air.
She had given up on everything, but she couldn’t leave the children who had lost their parents and were facing starvation.
She couldn’t bear the sacrifice of the children who came into the world with difficulty and earnestness from their mothers’ wombs.
As if atoning for the child she could not birth, Preeminent Fury began to care for the children.
Thus, she built a house for the children who had nowhere to go.
It was an old house, but it was big enough to raise the children.
Before she knew it, everyone began to live together in that house. Regardless of whether they were a human or Phantom.
“Mom! I caught a frog!”
There was a naughty child.
“Mom, Garu keeps bothering me.”
There was also a child who was often bullied by his friends.
“Mom, this is a present.”
There was also a child who gave her a crown woven with flowers.
“Mom, can you buy this for me?”
There was a child who sometimes whined.
Each one was different, but the children had something in common.
All the children began to call Preeminent Fury ‘mom’.
To the children who lost their parents, Preeminent Fury was their mother and parent.
For her, the term was awkward at first since she wasn’t able to have children of her own, but she grew used to it little by little.
No, now the word ‘mom’ from those children was becoming everything to her.
Something that she couldn’t hear from her own child.
But now, the children who called her that had become her children.
A Phantom child, a human child.
Preeminent Fury raised them both without discrimination.
When these children grew up and one day went out into the world, it seemed like they’d definitely make it better than now.
Like that, she thought she could bring about a different future.
A world in which a Phantom doesn’t have to be angry at the world.
A world where children don’t have to lose their parents.
Preeminent Fury thought that such a world might be possible.
Sometimes, humans would pass by the house. They were shocked, and hated to see that Phantom and human children were together, but the children didn’t care.
For the children, whether one was a Phantom or a human being, everyone was family and friends.
As time went on, a human visitor arrived.
Dressed up, shaved hair, and the stench of battle.
As soon as Preeminent Fury saw him, she knew he was a Phantom Hunter.
The organization called the Phantom Hunters was created just a few years ago. It was a group specialized in killing Degenerate Gods. Recently, though, there had been news of them even hunting Phantoms.
Preeminent Fury was wary.
He was coldly kicked out. Surprisingly, the Phantom Hunter left without much of a response.
But after that, he began to behave strangely.
He left food in front of her house whenever he could spare time.
At first, Preeminent Fury was wary and threw away all the food. But she soon saw that he had done nothing to the food.
It was because she saw the children one day bring the food to eat in front of her.
The children had no problems, and were happy. They said it was delicious.
Witnessing that, Preeminent Fury began to slowly lower her guard.
“Mom, when is Santa coming?”
“Santa? Why is he Santa?”
“Because he leaves presents every day.”
Preeminent Fury thought she had fed the children in her own way.
However, for children in their prime, they seemed to be waiting for the food he brought, as if the rice they got wasn’t enough.
So, for five years, she let him have his way.
She figured he’d quit after he got sick and tired of it, but he continued. Eventually, she appeared before him in the fifth year.
Having spoken to him firsthand, he was a man who lacked social skills.
However, from his eyes, she could sense the same feeling of a child who lost their parents.
She noticed that he was an unsaved man, just like the children.
His name was Ho Baek-San. He seemed a little stupid, but when she saw the smile he showed the children, Preeminent Fury slightly changed her thoughts.
She watched Ho Baek-san’s back as he left, and the children were sad to see him go.
She was sure he would come again next time.
At that time, she entered the house thinking she should make him a meal since they’d received quite a lot of food from him.
Then, one day…
In a nearby village, a Degenerate God appeared. As a result, an epidemic began to spread.
During that time, a human child had gone out to play in the village and gotten infected. Preeminent Fury hurriedly separated the child from the other human children.
The child’s symptoms got worse with each passing day, leaving Preeminent Fury with no choice but to take the child outside.
“For now, don’t go outside. I’ve already made food, so stay with each other for a week, okay? Ye-Chan, you have to protect the other kids.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Preeminent Fury patted the head of Ye-Chan, the oldest of the children. She then left the house carrying Ji-An, the child suffering from the epidemic.
