The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

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Chapter 242: The Experimenter I

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“I don’t want to! I don’t want to fight a alien god in this weak body! At least let me take control of the dream demons and fight them! Otherwise, I won’t cooperate—no way!”

“To calmly inform you of the facts, no matter how much you throw a tantrum, nothing will change.”

“You bastard! Regressor! Devil!”

“My ears aren’t even itchy.”

687th regression.

The world had already begun to collapse at full speed. In this chaos, instead of opting for an early exit, I chose to team up with Endless Hell and take him along.

This seems like a good time to introduce the strategy I, Doctor Jang, employ when the world is on the brink of destruction.

“Aryeon, stop the saintess business and retreat.”

“W-what? Um, if that’s what the Guild Leader thinks, I don’t mind, but the Manchurian defense line is collapsing, New New York has fallen, and the Eastern Holy Kingdom is on the verge of destruction...?”

“Right. That’s precisely why I’m telling you to do it. Soon, the ‘Monster Wave’ will explode uncontrollably. Even if it costs you your life, just lead your fanatics and retreat to Busan.”

“Aha! Got it!”

The Eastern Holy Kingdom was done for.

With the true saintess of Seoul already dead, not the fake saintess like Sim Aryeon, it was no longer possible to brainwash fanatics by sending them messages under the nickname [Morning Star of the Resurrection].

- Oh, oh, oh! Our Lord, Mo Gwangseo Christ!

- Are you truly abandoning us?

- The end is near!

Mo Gwangseo was still alive.

But even with the messages from the Constellation being cut off, countless fanatics believed their connection with ‘God’ had been severed, leading them to hysteria.

I couldn’t blame them.

For those who had lost their families, hometowns, friends, countries, and entire nations, the ‘heavenly voice that always answered their prayers’ was their only support.

Collapse was inevitable.

Until just a short while ago, the Crusaders of the Eastern Holy Kingdom had been operating in perfect unison, driving back the monsters, but they fell apart in an instant.

“How many are following you?”

“Eh, heh. I gathered as many high-combat awakened individuals as I could. Bringing too many would make it hard for Grandpa the Sword Maiden to feed them... about 600 people...!”

But not all the fanatics worshipped Mo Gwangseo.

Aryeon, the saintess of the North. The living embodiment of healing.

On the battlefield, as long as Sim Aryeon wasn’t fatally wounded, she managed to save most of the injured.

Naturally, the more a unit fought monsters, the stronger their faith in the Northern Saintess. They owed their lives to her many times over.

They called themselves the ‘Saintess’s Guard.’

The name might sound ridiculous, but they were the top elite force in northern Korea.

If their master ordered them to die, they would die, and if she asked them to survive, they would crawl back from hell.

Northern front retreat. Next up.

“Yohwa, Baekhwa Girls’ High School is now a branch in Sejong. The main campus is in Busan.”

“Oh, well. It’s kind of sad since we buried a lot of students here in the schoolyard, but it can’t be helped!”

I gave instructions not just to Endless Hell, but also to Cheon Yohwa.

With New New York and Pyongyang on the verge of collapse, there was no reason to hold onto Sejong any longer.

Northern Seoul? As I mentioned in a previous episode, it was destroyed by a massive earthquake. Incheon also suffered devastating damage.

Central front retreat.

Retreat, retreat. Endless retreat.

Until the final defense line at the Nakdong River was established.

- Librarian of the Grand Library: This is an announcement from SGNet.

- Due to the appearance of a alien god-class anomaly, the voices of the Constellations have been entirely cut off. Until this anomaly is eliminated, the Constellations will not be able to assist you.

- Awakened beings residing on the Korean Peninsula, please retreat south to form the final defense line.

- The current status of the refugee camps around Busan is as follows...

Even retreating was no easy task.

As you already know, no matter how often the National Highway Administration sent caravans to clear the roads, the world had fundamentally been contaminated by the void.

In broad daylight, even a slight misstep while walking could get you trapped in a ‘strange place.’

Answering a voice you shouldn’t, or seeing something you weren’t supposed to, led to the same result.

- Lee Hyunsoo: I’m stuck between Iksan and Jeonju. 16 of us are stranded. If you save us, we’ll give you 50% of the supplies we’ve gathered. Please, save us.

- Park Habyul: We were moving along the coastline from Gangneung, but now we’re stranded on top of a snow-covered mountain. Location unknown. I’m periodically firing off aura signals. If you help us, we will repay you. Here’s our list of supplies...

- Anonymous: I think everyone but me is dead.

Casualties were piling up everywhere.

The National Highway Administration deployed all available resources to send out rescue teams in every direction. The Three Thousand Worlds and Baekhwa Girls’ High School also cooperated, and I did my best, but there were still countless stragglers.

It was inevitable.

“The saintess’s death was too great a loss.”

If Yoo Jiwon were still here, she could have used her [Mini-map] to pinpoint the locations of the lost.

But in this turn, Yoo Jiwon had also died in the Inunaki Tunnel.

It was as if my right and left eyes, which had been observing the Korean Peninsula in my stead, were now blind.

But would I give up?

“Chief Noh Doha of the Highway Patrol. How’s the refugee intake going?”

“It’s coming along. Well, if they made it here without dying, they’re already in the top 1% of humanity...”

Busan had always been prepared for this kind of ‘final situation.’

Shantytowns rapidly expanded, but each village was divided by strict planning and zoning.

The witches of the Three Thousand Worlds, who could fly, patrolled the skies and maintained order. The authority to judge and enforce the law was monopolized by the Three Thousand Worlds.

Naturally, conflicts arose between the existing residents and the refugees in such a situation――.

“Yohwa, please handle it.”

“Yes.”

I may not mention it often, so you might have forgotten, but Cheon Yohwa’s original profession was a necromancer.

She possessed the brainwashing technique called [NPC Creation].

A forbidden art that forced a person to think and act in a predetermined way, like a zombie, turning them into an ‘NPC.’

“W-what? What are you doing to me――?”

“Ei.”

“We must unite for the survival of humanity! Of course! That’s only natural!”

The small troublemakers were all ‘purified’ by Cheon Yohwa, becoming obedient.

If you didn’t want to be rebuilt as an NPC, you had to learn to cause trouble discreetly. Fortunately, most of the survivors in this apocalypse had already acquired that trait.

Enforcement through blood and iron.

Around Busan, fortifications were swiftly built up.

“Refugees from Pyongyang have all been taken in.”

“Those from Nampo, Sariwon, Kaesong, and Wonsan have also arrived.”

“No more are coming from Sejong.”

“From Iksan, Jeonju, Gwangju, Mokpo, Haenam, and Suncheon, everyone who was supposed to cross over has made it.”

“Two guilds from Gangneung still haven’t sent word.”

“The first phase of the Nakdong River defense line is expected to be completed within a week!”

The National Highway Administration worked tirelessly, leading all operations from the front.

“Hmmm...”

At headquarters, Noh Doha was always in position, to the point where it was doubtful whether he ever slept.

Same expression as usual, same tired look in his eyes and voice, as he sipped his coffee.

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“At this point, I think it’s safe to say we’ve saved everyone we could. It’s fortunate that the Sword Maiden rejuvenated himself. Otherwise, he would’ve dropped dead while walking through the fields…”

“The magical girls have also agreed to send reinforcements if needed.”

“Hmph. I always wondered why you kept getting so cozy with them, but it turns out they’re useful in their own way after all…”

I nodded.

Then, I looked at one of the National Road Management Corps members and asked,

“Still no word from Daejeon?”

“Ah, no, sir. The only reply we’ve gotten is that they’ll handle the refugee situation on their own and that we shouldn’t worry about it.”

Koyori.

Once again, this turn, Daejeon was spared from the wave of refugees. The monsters probably wouldn’t touch Daejeon either.

I slowly nodded again.

“Good. Let’s move on to the next phase of the operation.”

That day, SGNet was hacked.

――――――――――

Author: ‘The Collector of All Anomalies’

Greetings, awakened humans operating in the Korean Peninsula. (laughs)

――――――――――

The website turned crimson, cracks spreading across it like broken glass.

A phenomenon that had never happened before.

The awakened were taken aback.

――――――――――

Author: ‘The Collector of All Anomalies’

Watching you all struggle to survive warms a part of my desolate heart.

How does it feel to be suddenly cut off from the benevolence and goodwill of the Constellations, which you’ve parasitically relied on like worms?

All the Constellations you’ve revered are now under my control. There are still a few left that I haven’t captured, but either way, they can no longer interfere with you.

Now, will you be able to survive through this hardship?

――――――――――

Posts like this flooded everywhere. Regular awakened users couldn’t write posts or leave comments.

Of course, it was all our own doing.

The person who wrote the announcement under the alias ‘The Collector of All Anomalies’ was Sim Aryeon. Naturally, tons of attention got drawn to her.

“…I’m sorry, Aryeon. I’m always forcing you to play the villain.”

“Huh? Hehe. No, it’s okay! I-I’m totally fine. Honestly, all this attention is making me feel great!”

The problem was it was too much attention.

If left like this for too long, Sim Aryeon would inevitably become a fallen one.

That’s why the strategy of blaming ‘all the evils of the world’ on her was reserved for when humanity was truly on the brink of destruction.

Like now.

“Ah, mister!”

Bang.

Oh Dokseo burst through my door. She was the youngest member of our guild, along with Lee Hayul, and clearly had forgotten any manners like knocking.

Since I had just come out of the shower, Oh Dokseo got a full view of my bare upper body. She froze for a second.

“Oh. Wow. Those abs are sick…”

“Is this harassment?”

“Mister, you should walk around shirtless more often. I normally hate musclehead characters, but for you, I’ll make an exception and allow tank tops. But only occasionally, since it doesn’t fit your image to wear them too often.”

“This is harassment.”

“Who cares about that in a world this messed up… Oh, right! Mister! Come out to the terrace!”

I sighed.

‘Normally, the Saintess would send a telepathic message like [Oh Dokseo, Doctor Jang just finished showering, so wait a bit before barging in], but now...’

Even in such small moments, her absence was keenly felt.

I threw on my barista outfit and stepped outside. It wasn’t like I had just come out of the Inunaki Tunnel or anything. My current lodging was inside the National Road Management Corps headquarters.

When I stepped out onto the communal terrace, the view beyond Busan spread out before me.

Oh Dokseo, Lee Hayul, Cheon Yohwa, Sim Aryeon, Dang Seorin, and Noh Doha were already waiting.

“You’ve arrived…”

Noh Doha sipped his coffee, barely glancing at me.

Following his gaze, I looked up at the sky.

“……”

A signal fire.

A dark plume of smoke was rising in the distance. That vertical column of smoke was what triggered the ‘Unknown Alien God’ into a frenzy.

The smoke stretched endlessly upward, reaching for the sky. It wasn’t ordinary smoke. It was a signal fire, designed to be visible to the naked eye from up to 1,000 kilometers away.

That fire was rising.

From the horizon――.

One, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven, eight.

Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.

Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen.

From the horizon――.

Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four.

Even the witches keeping watch from the skies, the refugees busy building villages on the ground, and the citizens dutifully carrying out their tasks.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed blankly at the sky.

Soundlessly. Continuously.

Pillars of smoke kept rising one after another, from every direction.

“……”

“……”

Everyone gathered on the terrace fell silent.

The only sounds were Noh Doha sipping his coffee and Lee Hayul clutching at my sleeve.

This was the scene that heralded the end of our era.

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