CH 4

Chapter 4: Regressor is too weak (4)

"...F*ck."

I thought I might survive for a while this time, but just as I was about to obtain some important information about the ponytail girl, I regressed.

I was too hasty… 

She was a woman who looked sensitive from the start; I should have taken it slow and gotten closer to her first.

"Hello! Greetings to all you inferior humans who are wasting your lives! Nice to meet you!"

But it's okay. There are plenty of opportunities.

All I had to do was just escape from this place before I went crazy.

In the last regression, I didn't do anything except swing my sword.

If I can endure hunger and keep my resolve, reproducing the same situation shouldn't be difficult.

"System will give you a detailed explanation... Tutorial start!"

The fairy disappeared with a pop sound after dropping the weapons.

I picked up a sword. It felt much more comfortable to grip than earlier.

My body posture also felt moderately balanced.

As expected, I just need to keep learning to improve.

Swish!

As a test, I swung the sword, and although it wasn't clean, the path of the sword wasn't sloppy either.

Satisfied, I realized my efforts were not in vain.

"Excuse me...?"

A man carefully tapped me on the shoulder.

“You seem to have handled a sword, can you tell us a little bit about it?”

It seemed that my posture looked stable even to others. Satisfaction welled up in the depths of my heart.

However, contrary to my inner feelings, I shook my head slowly with a firm expression.

"Sorry, I’m not good enough to teach anyone.”

Strictly speaking, I was telling the truth. 

I have been swinging a sword only for about 10 hours at best.

But to those people, my words might have appeared unwilling.

"Son, don't do that. We all fell into the tower together; we should help each other and survive."

Perhaps it’s because the rules of the tutorial had not been announced yet, but the man seemed to be looking for humanity.

"Hmm..."

I pretended to be hesitant, then nodded slightly.

"All right. If it's really just the basics, I can help."

"Ah..."

"But, there's a condition."

"... A condition?"

With the tip of my finger, I pointed to the thin jacket the man was wearing.

"Your jacket. Please give it to me."

"... My jacket? It's quite warm here, so I was thinking of taking it off anyway..."

The man, still puzzled, took off his jacket and handed it to me.

"Please ask others to give their extra clothes as well."

I received clothes from a total of 5 people.

This should be enough.

"Now, this is the basic posture. As for the hand holding the sword, the comfortable hand should be in front..."

As promised, I taught them wholeheartedly, but the men tilted their heads as if they didn't understand.

In a way, it was natural.

Because I was in a position where I didn't know anything about swords either.

The first man approached, scratching his head.

"Hmm... Can you explain more in detail-"

"-Status chaaaaange!!!!!!"

"Uh?"

Just then, the 'status window man' shouted loudly, drawing attention to himself, and I took the opportunity to wrap extra clothes around my legs, arms, and neck.

It was fortunate that I hadn't changed clothes before going to bed and was still wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants that covered a significant amount of skin.

“…Uh.”

After wrapping the clothes around my limbs and neck, I looked somewhat idiotic. 

I could see Park Cheol-jin, the firefighter, clicking his tongue as he looked at me. He was probably thinking that there were so many weirdos around these days. I ignored him.

Of course, in this state, I couldn't even hold a weapon, let alone run; as the jacket was tucked inside my shoes, my feet were a little uncomfortable, restricting my movements.

But it's okay, as I'm a regressor.

Carefully, I made my way through the grass and walked toward the edge of the field.

"Oh..."

Perhaps the clothes really helped, as there was no sign of regression by grass blades surrounding me.

However, there was a problem; It was really hot.

The resistance from the grass was no joke, so even walking took a lot of effort, and since my limbs were wrapped tightly, there was no way for my body temperature to escape.

Furthermore, the temperature here was naturally high.

In short, this was the perfect environment for my body temperature to rise.

I could feel sweat dripping down my forehead, but I couldn't stop.

Like that, I walked for about 30 minutes.

“Cruekreuk… Kieek... ”

Suddenly, a faint sound of crying was heard from somewhere in the tall bushes surrounding me.

It sounded like a strange noise that an underage kid who smokes about three packs of cigarettes a day would make.

"It must be a goblin."

As I was thinking about how to handle this situation, suddenly, a message window appeared in front of my eyes.

Tutorial Stage

-Clear condition 1: Swallow the 'Golden Bead' hidden somewhere in the forest to proceed to the next stage. However, there are only 50 Golden Beads in existence.

-Clear condition 2: Defeat the boss, Goblin Shaman, to create a portal to the next stage.

As one could see from condition 2, the boss was the Goblin Shaman.

And if there's a Goblin Shaman, there must be ordinary goblins too.

That's how I concluded the sound was of a goblin without ever seeing one.

Anticipating the appearance of my opponent - a goblin - I readied myself for my first real battle.

It was time to prove that all the sweat I'd shed so far wasn’t in vain.

Instinctively, my hands moved to draw my sword...

Cough!

My hands moved again to draw my sword...

"Ah."

I didn't bring a sword.

More precisely, I left it behind when I put on these extra clothes.

All I had now was a Doraemon fist wrapped in clothes.

"..."

It seemed unwise to fight now.

I tried to carefully move forward, avoiding the crying sound, but...

"Kiyaaaak!"

"Wowwww!"

Something suddenly jumped out of the tall grass! 

Shit!

It had sharp teeth.

"Get lost! F**k!"

Instinctively, I swung my fist at the thing that had jumped out.

The blow softened, and I didn’t feel the impact due to the clothes wrapped around my fist, but I was successful in pushing it away.

“Kieek! Queueek!”

Because the grass was green, and its body was also green, I was too late to notice, but it was indeed a goblin.

Seeing goblins for the first time in real life was much more disgusting and creepy than I’d thought.

Its skin was all wrinkled, its teeth were covered with blood and unknown flesh, and its eyes were full of malice...

"Die!"

With a rapidly beating heart, I kicked the fallen goblin's chest with all the strength I could muster.

Crack!

"Kieeeek!"

With a ‘crack’ sound, the goblin's ribcage shattered, as if it were a dried twig. 

The goblin wriggled in pain once or twice before it stopped moving altogether.

"...Is it dead?"

Even when I carefully poked it with my toe, there was no sign of movement.

But-

Zoof…

-suddenly, light rays appeared from all directions and converged at a point just above the goblin's head. 

“…”

Soon, the light rays twisted and turned, forming a small regular hexagon-

Flash!

-Then, both the light hexagon and the goblin’s body disappeared with a flash.

In the place where they had been, only a small wooden box was left.

I successfully picked up the wooden box after a few tries, as it was hard to pick it up with both hands wrapped in clothes.

Ugh!! This is really inconvenient.

"Bweh, bwehehe."

When I awkwardly opened the box with my mouth, what appeared was...

"...Lip balm?"

It was a cheap lip balm.

Was it because the goblin was too weak?

I glared at the lip balm with a cold look, but then...

"Kieeeek!"

Another goblin jumped out of the bushes. 

Did it follow after hearing the sound of the goblin I had killed earlier?

"Slow!"

This time, instead of panicking, I dodged its teeth rather skillfully, but...

"Kieeek!"

"Keeheeheeheheh!"

Surprisingly, there was another goblin behind me. These guys had surrounded me.

I tried to twist my body as much as possible to avoid the second attack, but...

Slash!

I couldn't prevent his nails from slicing into my side.

"Ah."

Status: Injured

Regressing back to the time when you first entered the 0th floor.

***

I challenged them again with my sword.

Actually, I should have just fought with my fists.

It was too difficult to wield the sword with Doraemon fists.

Status: Injured

Regressing back to the time when you first entered the 0th floor.

***

This time, I decided to gather some colleagues and cross the field with them.

I explained that I had wrapped my clothes tightly around me because I was allergic to grass, but I think they barely believed me.

Unfortunately… the result was the same.

It was impossible to fend off six goblins at the same time without getting injured.

Status: Injured

Regressing back to the time when you first entered the 0th floor.

***

“F*ck! Son of a bi*ch!”

Goblins are weak.

Weaker than a five-year-old child.

Their bones are fragile, they have no weapons, and all they possess are their teeth and claws. But even those are not extremely sharp.

Literally, goblins were the perfect monster for a tutorial. 

If you have the will to fight, anyone can crush them like an adult stepping on an insect.

But to me, they felt like a mountain-sized wall.

Goblins are tenacious.

They make plans and raid humans crossing the field. And even when on the brink of death, they struggle with all their might. 

Goblins are numerous.

They swarm from all sides. In such a situation, winning without taking even a single hit is almost impossible.

Goblins are small.

Due to the high bushes, it's difficult to detect their presence until right before the attack.

But those are all just excuses.

The decisive reason is one thing.

I am not strong enough to win unscathed.

To be honest, if I didn’t have regression skill and if it weren’t triggered by the slightest injury, this field could have been easily crossed.

For me, it would even have been something to laugh off, saying ‘These wounds are not a big deal.’ But…

All the problems are caused by regression.

Because of the regression, I can’t even escape this vacant lot, which is just a tutorial of the tutorial.

“Phew…”

Here, I have two choices.

First, constantly fight against the goblins while trying to cross the field.

If I challenge once, challenge again, and keep challenging, I will eventually succeed someday.

However, there is a crucial problem here; It's difficult to use a sword.

The need to wrap the clothes around me is one reason, but the tall bushes also obstruct my movement. 

It's the worst environment to become accustomed to using a sword.

If so, the second option-

Swish! Swish!

My gaze turned to the ponytail girl who was swinging her sword consistently.

-Somehow, I needed to become friends with her.