Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 181

Yan gathered his dazed thoughts and strolled into the village, surveying its interior slowly. It was as if nothing had happened, an aura of peace prevailing.

Then, it happened.

Thud.

Thump, thump.

Something touched Yan’s knee. It was a small ball. Noticing it, Yan looked ahead. A younger version of himself was running towards him. He chuckled at the déjà vu, the scene unfolding just as it had before.

“It’s real.”

He had truly returned, back to the very moment he first entered this predicament.

Yan steadied his gaze as he watched his younger self approach, hesitantly.

The reason for his regression was unclear, but it boiled down to two possibilities.

It was either because of him or due to his father’s lingering attachment.

And the most likely was his father’s attachment.

‘I, my father, and my younger self weren’t killed by the revolutionaries. I regressed at the moment I was about to dispose of Craig.’

That meant…

Yan bit his lip.

“Could there be a time limit?”

Having regressed once, it was possible to do so again.

So, this time.

Yan’s eyes sparkled with determination.

“This time, I’ll use all my might to take them down.”

But even then.

Yan couldn’t deal with them within the time limit.

* * *

At the Village Entrance

Yan and Argon gasped for breath, their bodies a mess as if there wasn’t a single spot left unscathed.

“…This was the best we could do.”

Before Yan lay the bodies of four of the Revolutionary Army’s commanders, lined up in death: Vulcan, Gilliam, Craig, and the Chief.

The unknown traitor, seeing the tide of battle turn, fled without a backward glance.

One escaped, but Yan was certain.

This truly was the best outcome.

It took no exaggeration, over a hundred regressions to reach this crossroads.

Initially, he tried to defeat his enemies head-on, but time constraints led to about twenty failures.

Realizing this, he attempted to flee far away with his younger self and father.

But the Chief doggedly pursued them wherever they went.

And upon encountering him, time would freeze, and Yan would return to the beginning.

Nearly forty regressions later, he learned a bitter truth.

This tiresome cycle of regression would repeat until his father’s lingering attachment was resolved.

So, he shifted his strategy to eliminating his foes.

Upon awakening, he immediately set traps where the Chief and his commanders would pass and exhausted all his artificial elixirs to create scrolls.

He tried luring them one by one, even resorting to ambushes.

He employed every method possible during a hundred regressions.

And so, he reached this moment.

Though one escaped, he had managed to defeat the Chief and his minions, protecting his younger self and father.

It wasn’t resignation speaking.

This really was the best he could do.

Hearing Yan’s muttering,

Argon, beside him, gasping for breath, asked with a grin,

“What are you mumbling about?”

Yan, thinking everything was over, lifted the corners of his mouth.

“It’s nothing. We’ll be seeing you soon……”

Tick.

Yan abruptly stopped speaking.

A faint sound had just echoed through the air.

A sound he had heard countless times during his regressions.

Once, he had regressed while looking at the sky, and he heard the same sound then.

And like a shattered window, the world crumbled, and his vision darkened as he regressed.

‘That sound was definitely a precursor.’

From what he knew, about ten seconds after hearing that sound, the vision would stop.

And he would return to the beginning.

‘Am I missing something?’

Yan shook off his father’s hand, which was trying to grab him, and ran with all his might towards the highest hill nearby.

His mana was nearly depleted from the fierce battle with the commanders.

But Yan scraped together what was left of his mana heart, even at the risk of mana deficiency.

Reaching the top of the hill, Yan gritted his teeth at the sight before him.

“…Was this the reason the regression didn’t end, even after killing the Chief and all his commanders?”

From afar, a massive army clad in dark attire was converging on this place.

Easily ten thousand in number.

Surrounding this small domain would be no trouble at all.

Now, having faced the Chief and his commanders, escaping from here through them was nearly impossible.

In other words.

The hundred regressions he had endured, pouring all his mental strength into overcoming the situation, had become futile.

Crackle.

Crunch.

And so, as the vision halted, the tiresome darkness covered his sight, and time began to rewind once more.

* * *

Yan’s Awakening

As soon as Yan opened his eyes, he immediately began to assess the situation.

‘I always thought the goal of regression was to annihilate the enemies and save my father and my younger self.’

So he had been preoccupied with destroying the enemies before him.

But now he understood.

Even if he managed to defeat the Chief and his commanders within the time limit, the real problem was the massive army that followed.

It was impossible to break through an army of ten thousand with a weary Argon and Yan.

‘Come to think of it, if we hadn’t regressed and time had just passed, we would have surely been captured by the revolutionaries.’

Only now was he beginning to grasp what these numerous regressions and his father’s lingering attachment meant.

To survive through all these adversities, and…

“…Would you please take Yan and escape from here?”

The fact that his father had pleaded so much clearly meant that young Yan couldn’t survive on his own.

In other words, it was enough to let his younger self escape from this situation.

After all, no matter what method he used, it was impossible to flee with both his father and his younger self.

But…

‘It’s possible if it’s just my younger self.’

The enemies’ target was solely his father.

There was a good chance of escaping through a secret passage when the Chief and his commanders were focused on his father.

His father must have known this, offering himself as bait.

As Yan continued his train of thought, he suddenly furrowed his brows.

“…Then how did I survive in the past?”

The content of this deep vision, minus his own existence, was no different from the past that had actually occurred.

Then naturally, there must have been someone who helped his younger self escape, but during a hundred regressions, there was no such person.

Nor was there any information about this in his past life.

“No. Now is not the time to worry about such things.”

It wasn’t the time to waste on such meaningless concerns.

Yan headed straight for the village.

* * *

“Run away, quickly!”

Argon stood before the Chief and his commanders, shouting out loud.

He had always assisted in battle by his father’s side, but this time was different.

Yan clenched his eyes shut.

He had known his father for barely a month, even if all the regressions were combined.

Yet, the thought of abandoning his father stirred a violent turmoil within him.

It was an unprecedented feeling.

That’s when it happened.

“No!!”

The scene Yan had witnessed several times during his regressions replayed before his eyes.

Young Yan struggled and screamed.

“Daddy! Daddyyy!!”

Even as Yan gritted his teeth, trying to turn away, his younger self desperately resisted.

“No, no, no! Don’t go, Daddy!!”

Young Yan, tears and snot streaming down his face, reached out towards his father.

Seeing this, Yan squeezed his eyes shut even tighter.

His chest felt unbearably tight.

It felt as though he would stop breathing at any moment.

Yan struck the neck of the thrashing young Yan in his arms with a water jug.

Finally, there was silence. His chest was soaked from the crying.

Yan tried to force his feet to move, but they wouldn’t budge.

That’s when it happened.

“Wait.”

Argon stopped Yan and grabbed his hand.

Yan’s eyes widened at this unexpected behavior.

He couldn’t understand why his father was acting this way.

But that confusion was short-lived.

Whoosh.

Something from his father’s hand flowed into his own and headed towards his chest.

Blaze!

It was something incredibly hot.

It felt as if flames were swirling inside his body.

The fiery blaze that flowed nobly through the mana road halted near his heart. Then, it began to coalesce into a round shape, forming a sphere similar to other planets.

This sphere immediately synchronized with Yan’s mana heart, drawing mana to itself and beginning to rotate.

It was a planet.

To think he could create a planet, which one could only make with enlightenment, involuntarily.

Yan looked at Argon with eyes wide in astonishment.

“This is…!”

Argon seemed too preoccupied to answer.

A resolute light swirled in his face.

“Go quickly. We’re out of time.”

Yan knew it was time to leave.

But his feet refused to move. The brief time he had spent in his father’s vision was the sweetest and most comfortable of his entire life.

All thanks to his father being by his side.

Yan lost his usual composure and was unable to do anything.

At that moment.

“Yan! Escape from here, now!”

Argon looked straight at Yan and commanded.

“…Yes?”

Yan’s face went blank.

He doubted his ears. His father, who should not know his identity, had called him Yan.

‘He called me Yan.’

That meant…

His father had known his identity all along.

Argon’s hand slipped from Yan’s.

Yan hurried to ask something, but…

Thud!

His figure was already shooting forward at an incredible speed.

Yan watched his father’s retreating back, clenched his fist, and turned around.

If his father had been in his right mind throughout all the regressions.

‘It means the situation is too urgent to acknowledge me.’

If he could just resolve this lingering attachment, they could meet again in the real world.

With that thought, Yan dashed forward.

A single tear rolled down Argon’s cheek.

“Fortunately, you’ve grown up well.”

He shook his head. It was not the time to be sentimental.

Standing before the Chief and his commanders, Argon drew a long line in the ground with his sword and spoke.

“From this moment on…”

Thump!

Argon drove his sword into the ground and looked at the enemies with a serene gaze.

“No one shall cross this line.”

And with that, the enemies charged.

Argon’s fight to protect began.

* * *

Yan stood before the house, its walls whispering of the secret passage his father had once spoken of. With a steady hand, he pushed open the door.

Behind him, a fabricated heat and a force so mighty it made the air itself resonate, washed over him.

Boom! Crash!

The roar of flames!

His father’s determination to buy as much time as possible was palpable, a silent plea that echoed in the charged atmosphere.

Yan’s heart swelled with pride once more for his father, who was so desperately fulfilling his role.

Curiosity abounded, yet…

“I shall seek answers outside, Father.”

Postponing their reunion, Yan shattered the door and stepped inside.

Crack!

He then turned to the fireplace that adorned the living room and wrenched it free.

Behind it lay a passage just wide enough for a grown man to pass through, a hidden path laid by secrets and silent promises.

* * *

Emerging from the secret passage, Yan found himself not alone. There awaited a figure, shrouded in a mask.

“Leave the child and go,” the masked man commanded, his voice distorted, betraying a high likelihood of treachery against Yan’s father.

Yan, suppressing a surge of emotion, inquired with feigned calm, “Why bother with a child who knows nothing?”

“It’s none of your concern, outsider. Hand over the child and be gone,” the masked man insisted, his resolve unmistakable.

Could this be the person who reassigned me to the special task force? Yan pondered, shaking his head. No contact had been made in this lifetime, and it was absurd to think that the traitor would simply dispatch him to the task force without further ado.

Decision made, Yan prepared to eliminate the threat swiftly.

The masked man tilted his head in confusion at Yan’s silence. That’s when Yan’s sword, Ascalon, flashed through the air like lightning.

Crescent waves of energy furiously hurtled towards the masked man.

“Do you insist on tasting punishment?” the masked man growled, swiping his hand to summon countless spikes from the ground, hurtling towards the incoming energy.

Boom! Crash!

The collision unleashed a thunderous explosion, whipping up a fierce storm.

In that moment, Yan, who had been observing quietly, lunged towards the masked man.

“Ha!”

Caught off guard by the sudden charge, the masked man could barely conceal his dismay. He waved his hand again, summoning a thicket of spikes, but it was no match for Yan, who had analyzed and countered his techniques countless times through many regressions.

Swish! Slash!

Yan spun Ascalon, deflecting the incoming spikes, then surged forward with increased mana.

‘It’s over,’ Yan thought, as he faced the defenseless masked man.

Crunch.

Gripping Ascalon with both hands, Yan channeled a full burst of mana into the blade, transforming it into a sword energy that elongated the weapon.

The masked man, finally reacting, attempted to block Yan with spikes, but it was too late.

Swoosh!

With a swing of Ascalon, now sheathed in sword energy, Yan severed the masked man’s neck along with the spikes.

The head flew far from the body.

“…”

Yan wished to unveil the face behind the mask, but time was of the essence.

He quickly helped his younger self to his feet and was about to leave when…

Gurgle, gurgle.

A strange sound and energy began to emanate from behind.

Yan, who was about to flee with his younger self, halted and turned around.

“…Magic?”

From the decapitated body of the masked man, a vile magic began to seep out.

The purple magic drew the body and head together as if magnetized.

Yan let out a low hum.

“…Could it be that the revolutionaries have one of the Seven Sins among them?”

Only the Seven Sins wield such magic.

Yan set his younger self down and drew a dagger, throwing it with all his might.

Whoosh! Ping!

The dagger, flying fiercely, was repelled before it could even touch the masked man’s body, as if by a shield.

Yan’s eyes narrowed.

“I must ascertain your true identity.”