The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player Novel - Chapter 325
Chapter 325 – Crucible of Confusion
“Heo…”
“W-what is that?”
People gaped at the gigantic eye that appeared, tearing through space.
Some turned away, afraid to face what they were seeing.
Others covered their mouths, holding their breath.
Amid all this, Ryu Min showed no reaction, although his expression was stiff.
‘The feeling of oppression is incredible.’
Ryu Min, who had even defeated the God of Battle, Artaros, felt like a mouse before a cat in front of Chaos.
He felt insignificant, as if standing before the vast immensity of the universe.
[Gr-greetings to the God of the Beginning!]
Artaros immediately bowed before Chaos.
At that moment, Ryu Min noticed the expression on his face.
‘Artaros is scared?’
Seeing his shoulders tremble sporadically, it was clear.
The oppression that made even an immortal being tremble was overwhelming.
It was definitely worthy of being called the God of the Beginning.
[Pathetic. Since you returned defeated by a mere human, I knew this would happen.]
[…]
[You dared to betray me and ally with humans?]
Artaros’ shoulders shook.
He feared his conversation with Black Scythe had been discovered.
[…I have no excuses.]
Artaros couldn’t even lift his head.
However, he opened his mouth as if feeling the need to explain.
[To achieve my desire, I had no other choice. Please understand…]
[You mean breaking the curse of immortality?]
Artaros raised his head, surprised.
[You knew that?]
[Of course. Didn’t we make a promise? If you fulfilled what I ordered, I would break the curse of immortality.]
[Huh?]
Seeing his eyes wide open as if hearing this for the first time, Chaos clicked his tongue.
[Stupid. You even forgot the promise you made with me. Or were you made to forget?]
[Forget? What…?]
[Don’t you understand yet? That human played you. He deliberately erased your memories of me.]
With wide eyes, Artaros turned his gaze to Ryu Min.
He looked at Ryu Min as if expecting confirmation of what he had just heard, but received no response.
[Pathetic. If you had eliminated the humans present, you could have broken the curse. But you were deceived by a human and tried to betray me.]
[I-I’m sorry, Lord Chaos. It was not my intention…]
Artaros tried to explain desperately, but Chaos opened his eyes with an expression of disappointment.
[If you still remember anything about me, you should know. Why I am called the God of Destruction.]
[Y-yes, I know.]
[Countless deities have died for challenging me. Some were condemned to suffer eternally in the dungeons of Tartarus.]
[…]
[Having attempted to betray me, you deserve to be imprisoned. But even suffering in that prison would be a light punishment for you. So.]
Chaos paused before continuing.
[I won’t kill you.]
[Huh?]
[I won’t do anything. I won’t imprison you or break your curse. Living will be your punishment.]
Artaros’ body trembled.
Although some of his memories were erased, he clearly remembered how terrible an immortal life was.
[P-please, kill me. I prefer you break the curse and kill me…]
[No. That would be a reward for you, don’t you think? You must be punished. A punishment of living eternally.]
Artaros was left open-mouthed, stunned. His expression was desolate, but only for a moment. He looked at Chaos with a determination to do anything to fulfill his desire.
[It wasn’t my will that my memories with you were erased, Lord Chaos. Please, give me another chance.]
[Chance?]
Artaros’ murderous gaze turned towards Black Scythe.
[I will follow your orders and kill that damn human and all the insects here present. So, please…]
[How do you plan to kill them if you don’t even remember your combat skills from when you were alive?]
[…]
[Just stay still. I have no intention of entrusting another task to a useless loser who can’t even fulfill what he’s ordered.]
Saying this, Chaos looked at the people with chilling eyes.
[Leave these humans to me. Since I’m here, I’ll kill them personally.]
No one needed an explanation for Chaos’ words. Just by looking at him, the intent was clear and terrifying.
-D-did he just say he’ll kill us personally?
-So we’ll die here?
-W-we can’t beat that.
Although the thought of despair was evident on people’s faces, Ryu Min did not give up.
After all he had gone through in the 20 rounds, he couldn’t fail at the end.
‘I can’t convince Artaros. Chaos has already seen through the entire plan.’
Being so, there was only one option.
Convince Chaos or fight and win.
‘Before fighting, I must try something.’
Ryu Min decided to start a conversation.
“Are you Chaos? I read in Artaros’ memories. You are the one who ordered my death.”
[I have no interest in talking to an insignificant human.]
“Don’t say that, tell me, why do you want to kill us?”
Ryu Min stared into Chaos’ eyes, but couldn’t read his thoughts.
Although his penetrating vision skill activated, most of the information was hidden.
[Chaos]
Race: Gods
Tendency: Evil (惡)
Rank: God of the Beginning
Particularities: …….
Weaknesses: …….
‘If I can’t read his thoughts, he’s an incredibly powerful entity.’
Although he couldn’t read his thoughts, he could feel it.
Just by looking at his chilling eyes, he felt a shiver throughout his body.
Therefore, he had to avoid fighting and seek a peaceful solution.
“Hmm? Answer me. Killing an insignificant human like me brings you no benefit.”
[You have a long tongue, human.]
Just by looking into Chaos’ eyes, Ryu Min could tell. He looked at him with disdain, not deigning to respond.
‘It’s not worth continuing to talk.’
Although he tried to humble himself to find a solution, he failed.
There was no way to communicate.
‘In the end, is there no other option but to fight?’
Although he wanted to avoid it, there was no other option.
He would have to show that even a worm writhes if you step on it.
At that moment, Ryu Min saw a demon retreating in his field of vision.
It was Sitri, the number one demon in the underworld, whom he had brought with him.
“Sitri.”
[U-uhhh…]
“Pull yourself together.”
Sitri finally looked away from Chaos and gazed at Ryu Min, speaking in a pleading tone.
[S-supreme, I think it would be better if we retreat right now. Please, I beg you, let’s get out of here…]
“There’s nowhere to run. We’re trapped here.”
[We won’t know that without trying!]
Even without trying, Ryu Min knew the truth. The players were set up to not be able to leave the boss room.
“Alright. Let’s try.”
Just in case, he used a skill to try to teleport to the Underworld.
As expected, it didn’t work.
“It’s no use. Until we defeat the boss, we’re trapped here.”
[Ahhh…]
“But, if you’re not a player, you could return to the Underworld.”
Hearing this, Sitri saw a light of hope in his eyes.
He looked at Ryu Min pleading to let him go.
‘Should I let him go? After all, there’s no use in keeping him here.’
Ryu Min smiled.
“Alright. You can go.”
[R-really?]
“Yes, I’ll let you go. Go.”
[Thank you… No, sorry for leaving you alone…]
“Go quickly, before I change my mind.”
Sitri, babbling, quickly used the teleportation skill and left.
[A rat escaped, but it doesn’t matter.]
Chaos, with a terrifying look, focused on the humans.
[Then, let’s begin. I’ll enjoy watching you fall into chaos.]
At that moment, Chaos’ eyes glowed.
The players, meeting the purple glow of his eyes, raised their weapons as if hypnotized.
“What… what are you doing? Snap out of it! Aaaah!”
A sword pierced through a comrade’s heart.
Other players joined in, turning the corpse into a pincushion.
Splat! Splat!
In the blink of an eye, one of the allies died.
“Aaaah! What are you doing?”
“Don’t attack me!”
“Did you go crazy? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
Fights erupted everywhere, plunging the place into absolute chaos.
‘When they made eye contact with Chaos, they were instantly hypnotized.’
Of course, Ryu Min had also looked at Chaos at that moment.
However,
[The powerful mental barrier has blocked the psychic attack.]
Thanks to the Rune of Mental Shield, he could resist the purple glow of Chaos’ eyes.
“Aaaah! Don’t stab me! I said don’t stab me!”
“Don’t come any closer! Do you want to die?”
“Damn it! Aren’t we in the same group? How come we’re getting hurt?”
“I don’t know! The group must have disbanded!”
“Did everyone go crazy?”
“They’re not crazy! It seems like they’re hypnotized by that guy!”
Ryu Min quickly counted and saw that thirty-five players were attacking their comrades.
Almost half of the group had been hypnotized.
Among them were familiar members.
“Russell! Stop!”
Ryu Min grabbed Russell’s arm, which was wielding a hammer against his comrades.
“Grrrr…”
Although he couldn’t move, Russell struggled with all his might to break free. Ryu Min realized something.
‘His eyes aren’t those of a conscious being. I won’t be able to break the hypnosis with words.’
With that conclusion, Ryu Min raised his fist.
“I’m sorry.”
Bam!
With a broken nose, Russell fell unconscious.
He hit hard enough not to kill him.
‘The only way is to knock them out.’
He didn’t know if they would attack again when they woke up, but there was no other option.
Ryu Min continued to knock out the crazed players.
Bam! Bam!
The hypnotized players fell one after another.
Although they were out of action, at least they wouldn’t attack their comrades, which was enough.
When Ryu Min raised his fist again, he suddenly stopped.
In front of him was Christine.
‘Christine is a vital force in this situation. I can’t knock her out.’
They might need her resurrection skills, so he couldn’t afford to knock her out.
‘I have no other choice.’
Ryu Min grabbed Christine’s shoulders.
“Christine! Look at me!”
“Eeeh!”
She wriggled, trying to break free, but Ryu Min stared at her with his purple eyes.
“It’s an order. Regain your composure and help the others.”
[You have used Dominion.]
[Temporary Skill – Dominion]
Remaining attempts: 7
Possible targets: Black Scythe, Yamti, Christine
Upon receiving the order through Dominion, Christine’s movements calmed.
Her eyes, which had lost their sanity, returned to normal.
“Huh? What am I…?”
“Are you conscious?”
“Black Scythe?”
“Until a moment ago, you were hypnotized by Chaos. Just like those others.”
Following Ryu Min’s gaze, Christine saw the people frantically attacking their comrades.
“W-was I like that?”
“Yes. I used Dominion to bring you back to consciousness.”
“Thank you, I…”
“No need to thank me. Help the injured.”
“What about the dead? Should I revive them?”
“Use the life potion to revive them, but don’t waste your resurrection skill.”
Ryu Min couldn’t afford to use the only resurrection card on just anyone, so he decided to save it.
“Understood.”
After hearing her response, Ryu Min plunged back into the battle.
Bam!
He continued to knock out those who didn’t regain consciousness, and for those who were worth it, he brought them back to sanity using Dominion.
“Are you conscious, Alex?”
“Yes, thank you, Black Scythe.”
While rescuing people, Ryu Min realized he only had one chance left to use Dominion.