A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 160 : Valencia (3)

Plan A was, of course, persuasion.

After all, the most ideal way to resolve conflict was through dialogue.

However, I didn't think the probability of success was high.

As she herself said, it had been nearly 100 years since she had postponed inheriting the succession, and her will was so firm that she had even rebuffed the request of Tom Hardist, who could be called the closest person to her among the living.

The thought that I, an outsider, could persuade her was far too optimistic.

Therefore, I had prepared the next plan.

Plan B, set up in case Plan A failed.

It was to directly annihilate the Thought Form.

Kwadeudeudeuk-!

“…This is too much. Trying to have someone who wants to talk bitten to death.”

“……”

I bound the maw of the Thought Form that appeared by tearing through the air with Mana Chains.

Normally, this would have been impossible.

Even though it was a Thought Form that could be called a fragment of the main body, the essence of that Thought Form was ‘Allen Tigris III’, the king of the Beastkin Nation, which was once the leading nation of the neutral zone.

Among those who accompanied me, there was no one who could stand against him except for maybe ‘Tom Hardist’.

It would have been impossible for me to restrain him at my level, both in terms of physical strength and the amount of mana.

However, the reason this was possible was that this place was not the real, physical world, but a ‘mental world’ made of lingering thoughts.

The reason I could confidently tell that guy Tom, ‘I’m not asking you to catch it yourself,’ despite him being the only one who could face the Thought Form, stemmed from this very fact.

It was impossible in the physical world where an overwhelming power difference existed, but since I was quite successful in my prime, I was confident I could overwhelm him in the mental world.

Of course, this too was not something I could be 100% certain about.

I had never tried to summon a Thought Form into the mental world before.

However.

I saw a possibility based on the fact that a Thought Form, while being a tangible entity with a form, is an ambiguous existence that straddles both the visible and invisible realms.

Here, it seemed possible to fight against the Thought Form, and annihilating it didn't seem impossible either.

‘…It should be possible.’

Of course, death in the mental world did not mean death in the physical world.

A prime example was that it was common on the battlefield for Succubi to kill their targets repeatedly dozens of times in the dream world.

No matter how many times you cut down a Succubus in a dream, the Succubus could restore its body at will.

Death in a dream was literally death in a dream.

It could cause pain by inflicting fear, anxiety, and mental damage, but that was the extent of it.

It couldn't cause the annihilation of an actual existence.

However.

I thought it might apply a little differently to a Thought Form, even if not to other beings.

For a human, a lingering thought might be just a single thread of thought, a mere part of what constitutes them.

But as the name suggested, for a Thought Form, that lingering thought was everything.

Kwaaaaak-!

“…How!”

The Man-eating Beast was bound and restrained by hundreds of chains.

Valencia's eyes widened as she saw it.

It seemed the development was very different from what she had expected.

Given the Beastkin's exceptional senses, she must have made a meaningful estimation of my combat level, even if there was some margin of error.

And she probably thought that at my level, the Man-eating Beast would have no trouble defeating me.

“…Well, this place is my home ground, after all.”

“…Kuhk……”

She tried to get up from her spot and go to the bound Man-eating Beast, but.

I formed another chain and bound her as well.

‘…….’

A slight sense of complexity swirled within me.

After all, the plan to go straight from persuasion to annihilation felt a bit radical.

Even if it was a Thought Form, it was the lingering thought of her father, who had protected her for the past 100 years, even picking off villains around her.

For her, who had always been alone, that Thought Form must have been her only pillar of support.

Whatever the reason, the act of cutting it down was something that could not receive a positive feedback from her.

But it couldn't be helped.

There was no other way.

Even if I incurred her wrath, I had to annihilate that Thought Form.

Even if it was a little harsh, if I could just annihilate it, the 'Succession' that had been abnormally postponed until now would likely proceed properly.

If that happened, she wouldn't be able to ignore the throne any longer.

Even if it meant postponing the emotional fallout.

Sreung-

Thus, I created a common sword in the empty air, grasped it, and approached the Thought Form.

Teobeok teobeok-

Tak-

“No!!!!”

With Valencia's sharp scream, I plunged the sword into the heart of the giant tiger, and with that.

Kkureureuk-

“…Huh.”

I witnessed a bundle of numerous unpleasant-looking tentacles extending from its body.

The bundle of tentacles immediately expanded, inflating itself.

The protruding tentacles instantly outgrew the size of the wound and took on a volume almost equal to Allen's main body.

Things.

“…This wasn't in the plan.”

Had gone a little sideways.

* * *

With the situation becoming unexpectedly serious, U-jin immediately terminated the skill ‘Nightmare’.

Saaat-!

The purple curtain lifted in an instant, and his consciousness, which had been submerged as if fallen into an abyss, rose to the surface.

He had returned to the physical world.

But nothing had changed.

The Thought Form was still expanding into a bundle of tentacles.

Reminiscent of a cordyceps fungus, the bundle of tentacles that sprouted from its waist formed a grotesque shape, creating a horrific scene.

“…Hero!!! What in the world is this.”

“…That thing is.”

“……”

At the sudden development, U-jin's companions were horrified in their own ways.

U-jin, too, was watching the scene with a grave expression.

And Valencia.

“……”

She had a somewhat dazed expression.

The reason was simple.

In fact.

She had known.

The throbbing headaches that came from time to time, and the bizarre shadow of Allen Tigris III that appeared with them.

The image she had unknowingly imagined while looking at that shadow and the grotesque scene now appearing before her eyes were strikingly similar.

‘…….’

So, she knew that what the man who came to persuade her had said was not wrong.

That this wasn't its true nature.

She was well aware that something was wrong, and how nonsensical it was for a lingering thought to exist for over a hundred years without a medium.

But he was still her father, and she didn't dwell on it, thinking that if he too left, she would be truly alone.

Whether it was good or bad, right or wrong.

The option of eliminating her only pillar of support in this land with her own hands did not exist for her.

Taktaktaktak-!

Clutching her head with her hands due to the nauseating headache that was rising again, she tried to slip away from her spot while everyone's attention was diverted.

It was the first time the bundle of tentacles had appeared so directly, but when the shadow had tilted bizarrely, it had always returned to normal after enough time had passed and the headache subsided.

She was a little concerned about U-jin trying to kill her father, given his track record, and the situation was slightly different since it had manifested directly, but she thought it would be similar this time.

…Well, there was also the fact that she wanted to get away from the spot because of her complicated mind and headache.

Chwareureuk-

…However.

Dalgeurak-

Perhaps one person had kept their eyes on her.

A Mana Chain, looking exactly like the one she had seen in the mental world, shot out and wrapped around her ankle.

Paeng-!

As the chain pulled taut, she felt the Mana Circuit flowing through her body being tightly blocked.

‘…It’s weaker than I thought.’

It was the same situation she had experienced in the mental world, but this was the physical world.

Unlike in the mental world where she couldn't move an inch, Valencia had a gut feeling that she could escape even while bound by the Mana Chain.

And.

Paaat-

Her intuition became reality.

It was impossible to use mana due to the strange effect that sealed the operation of her Mana Circuit, but she was able to overcome the restraint of the Mana Chain with pure physical strength alone.

In the distance, she saw U-jin's body teeter and then hurriedly extend the length of the Mana Chain.

Thus, with the chain of mana attached to her ankle, she left the spot and crouched behind a nearby wall, scratching at the chain with her fingernails.

Sageok sageok sageok-

It was partly to escape the throbbing headache that felt stronger when she stayed still.

And it was also for the literal purpose of trying to undo the bound chain.

Sageok sageok-

As she scratched at it a few times, suddenly.

“……”

『And for that, I want the Beastkin faction to join in. For that to happen, you must inevitably take the throne.』

The words U-jin had said in the mental world came to Valencia's mind.

In the end, what Tom Hardist and he had said was the same.

To sum it up in one phrase: ‘Become the King’.

She didn't know why they would seek out someone who was living well in a corner and say such things, but from her perspective, she couldn't understand U-jin, who came at her like this even after she had refused.

No, she didn't want to understand.

King?

She had never even thought of such a thing.

A position that bears all responsibility.

She didn't want to do it, nor could she.

In her distant memories, her father reigning as king was certainly cool, but.

‘…….’

What had become of him now?

He was only remembered as the last king of a fallen kingdom.

She didn't even know what exactly a king was, but Valencia just liked the way things were now.

Living alone without any worries in a quiet, secluded country village.

A leisurely life where she ate when hungry and slept when sleepy.

Strictly speaking, it couldn't be called her father, but it was his Thought Form, where the nostalgia of her father remained.

…That was enough.

“…Why won't this thing break.”

Sageok sageok-

Just as she had cut through about half of the chain.

Kwaaang-!

Suddenly, the wall in front of her collapsed with a deafening roar.

Fragments of the broken wall scattered in all directions, as if they had flown from afar.

When she, who had instinctively dodged and covered her face with her right arm, moved her arm away.

In that spot.

“…You didn't go far. Valencia.”

“……!!”

U-jin, who was slammed into the wall while coughing up a lot of blood, was waving his hand.

His miserable state was quite a difficult sight to behold, but.

Strangely, U-jin's face wore a smile.

It wasn't a forced smile put on while greeting her.

It was a smile like that of someone who has found a breakthrough.

A smile that felt hopeful.

“…Good timing, I just found something I wanted to show you.”

…In his right hand was half of a broken sword.