Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 182

As the masked man’s body and head attempted to reattach themselves with magic as glue, Yan dashed forward. He couldn’t tell what was about to unfold, but one thing was clear: ‘If left alone, something ominous will happen.’ Unveiling the identity of the masked man was imperative.

The man was likely still conspiring within the revolutionary forces. This meant a high probability that the Seven Sins were lurking behind the revolutionaries. For Yan, who had to strategize against the leader even outside, unpredictability was unacceptable.

So, he decided, ‘I’ll start by confirming his face.’

Standing before the corpse oozing magic, Yan wrapped his sword Ascalon in a blade aura and swung it. But…

Crash!

“…!” Yan’s expression hardened. His blade aura shattered, blocked by a magical barrier, and disintegrated into pieces. At that moment, a voice emanated from the corpse, “That was close. You could have died.”

Yan’s eyes widened in shock, his gaze fixed on the corpse. Moments ago, it had been decapitated, but now it was rising, cracking its neck side to side.

Yan’s wariness intensified at the sight of the masked man. ‘I was sure he had stopped breathing. No… It’s strange that he survived a beheading.’

Yet, somehow, the masked man was leisurely stretching as if the fact that he had been killed was a mere lie.

Yan glanced at his younger self, shivering with fear, huddled in a corner. Fortunately, the child seemed unharmed by the skirmish.

The masked man declared, “Now that you’ve seen the magic, I must take your life.”

Yan’s gaze returned to the masked man. “So the Seven Sins… they don’t die, huh?”

“Ho, you recognized me as one of the Seven Sins? Now I’m even more curious about your identity,” the masked man chuckled, spreading his hands. “Let me reintroduce myself. I am the Sin of Envy, one of the Seven Sins’ apostles.”

Yan’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t fathom why the man was so freely divulging his information. ‘But if he’s blabbering like this, maybe he’ll answer another question?’

“Do you not have a name?”

“A true name is of no consequence to me. So there’s no need to tell you.”

Yan considered provoking him to extract more useful information but then shook his head. A man of his caliber wouldn’t be foolishly swayed by taunts, and it would only heighten his guard.

The masked man, having finished stretching, said with a smirk, “I never expected to find another strong warrior in such a backwater place, besides Argon. Impressive…”

He abruptly cut himself off and waved his hand.

Ting!

A thrown dagger, secretly flying through the air, fell powerlessly to the ground, blocked by the masked man’s magical barrier.

But that wasn’t the end.

Yan, having diverted attention with the dagger, lunged forward. “Such petty tricks.”

The masked man scoffed at Yan. “You should know that your blade aura won’t work on me. Are you continuing to fight because you’re too foolish to run?”

With a sweep of his hand, the ground split open, and countless tendrils surged upward. Normally, blade aura would have shattered against these tendrils.

Whoosh!

But just before the collision, Ascalon suddenly emitted flames that effortlessly sliced through the tendrils.

“…What is that?”

The masked man’s voice turned rigid. It was impossible to destroy tendrils made of magic with ordinary fire-attribute blade aura.

How could this be?

As the masked man frantically tried to identify the flames, he hesitated. ‘Could it be!’

But he had no time to ponder further, as Yan was already upon him.

“Tch!”

The masked man clicked his tongue and extended his magic-wrapped hand to block the incoming Ascalon.

Boom!

The mysterious flames carried by Ascalon collided with the magic.

Despite the magic’s greater density and strength, it was the magic that faded away.

Fwoosh!

He hastily withdrew his hand. The tips of the masked man’s fingers were charred. The flames from Ascalon had pierced through the magic and reached his hand.

Had he been any slower, his entire hand would have burned.

With a look of disbelief, the masked man alternated his gaze between his fingertips and Yan.

“What in the world is this…”

The masked man couldn’t believe the events unfolding before his eyes.

* * *

Yan was astounded by the power his father had bestowed upon him. Forged from the essence of fire, it was aptly named Mars. The mana emanating from Mars naturally carried the essence of flames, displaying a might beyond Yan’s expectations, surpassing even the holy power he wielded against Eamon in the Eastern lands.

Though it drained his stamina and mana more than any other celestial force, its sheer output was unparalleled. At this critical juncture, facing the apostles of the Seven Sins, his father’s gift was nothing short of a legendary blade.

Clash! Clash! Clash!

A fierce exchange ensued between Yan and the masked man. As time progressed, the flames tracing Ascalon’s path grew larger, while the masked man’s magic weakened. Such was the antithesis between the power of Mars and magic.

Had the masked man not possessed an overwhelming amount of magic, he would have been reduced to ashes. Yan’s eyes sparkled as he incinerated a mass of tendrils, seizing an opening.

“Haah!”

With a mighty cry, Yan unleashed a strike unlike any before.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A torrent of flames, fueled by immense mana, engulfed the masked man. Should he permit it, both magic and flesh would turn to cinders. With no chance of revival, the masked man was forced to reveal his full strength, grinding his teeth as he summoned his magic.

Zzt! Zzt! Zzt!

Once again, tendrils burst forth from the ground, their surfaces beginning to bulge ominously.

“…Flowers?”

Yan’s eyes gleamed. Among the tendrils bloomed pitch-black roses.

Rustle… Rustle…

The roses unfurled, their petals dancing in the wind, each imbued with tremendous magic.

“Damn it.”

Cursing, Yan retracted Ascalon. He could exploit this moment to slay the masked man, but…

‘I’d be engulfed by those magic petals afterward.’

It was a dire situation. Killing the man here would be meaningless.

Yan refocused, observing the masked man intently crafting flowers laden with magic.

An idea flickered through Yan’s mind, a slight grin forming on his lips.

Swoosh.

From his cloak, Yan drew a dagger and hurled it at the masked man.

Sssshhh!

The dagger streaked like a ray of light. The masked man flinched, turning his head aside.

Slash!

But he couldn’t evade the blade grazing his cheek. Blood spurted, and the mask he had worn flew off into the distance.

Caught off guard, the man glared at Yan, unleashing his counterattack.

Thousands of petals cascaded toward where Yan stood.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground erupted with each petal’s explosion, their power akin to densely packed explosives.

Through the thick cloud of dust, the petals detonated.

“Is it over?”

The man peered fiercely at Yan’s last known location. As the dust settled…

“…What?!”

He exclaimed in shock. Yan was nowhere to be seen, nor was the commander’s son.

The man quickly realized what had transpired. The brief moment when Yan threw the dagger, the opportunity to evade.

And the flames Yan had shown—if his eyes were not deceived…

‘In that fleeting instant, Argon transferred his power to an outsider.’

It was the White Flame Jade, the seal of the fearsome Fire Dragon that once terrorized the continent.

The revolutionaries, especially himself and Aquinas, had exerted every effort to obtain it. Noble houses couldn’t even fathom the wealth poured into this quest, a decade-long endeavor.

Such was the treasure they unearthed.

No, it was theirs.

“I did everything to prevent this mess…!”

To keep this news from reaching Argon, the commander, hundreds of workers were buried. Dozens of subordinates who knew too much were silenced.

All these painstaking efforts, and yet, Argon stumbled upon the existence of the White Flame Jade by chance.

The treasure, sought with a decade’s time and vast wealth, fell into his hands.

If only Argon had put it to good use.

But even after absorbing the White Flame Jade, he never wielded its power for the revolution.

Despite Aquinas’s countless pleas…

“This is a cursed item. It should not come into this world. I’m sorry, but I cannot return it.”

He blatantly refused with such nonsense.

Risking exposure, he had even led a coup to aid Aquinas.

And now, to lose it before his very eyes!

“Moreover, that man was a stranger, unknown to the world.”

Not only must he identify this unknown man, but the search would consume an immense amount of time.

The coup, into which everything was poured, was only a partial success.

No.

Without reclaiming the White Flame Jade, it was merely an empty victory.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The man clenched his fist, grinding his teeth as if to shatter them, his body trembling with rage until he finally erupted.

“I’ll kill you, Argon!”

* * *

At that Moment

Yan, cradling his younger self, was moving swiftly, a look of surprise etched in his eyes. The last technique he had deployed was something beyond his wildest imagination.

‘…If my memory serves right, that was the Duke of the East’s technique.’

The magic flowers that the masked man had desperately conjured in his final moments bore a striking resemblance to the Duke’s technique, minus the magic aspect, as recorded by the special task force.

The Duke, rumored to be in seclusion at his estate, was actually a Sin of the Seven Sins, operating within the revolutionary army. And his identity…

Yan’s thoughts spiraled.

‘Why did he come to me instead of my father?’

It seemed he had business with his father…

Yan’s expression hardened.

‘That item,’ always mentioned in the conversations between the commander and his father.

Yan touched his chest, a look of realization dawning on him.

‘Is the energy my father passed on related to that item?’

But now was not the time for such thoughts.

First and foremost, he needed to get his younger self to safety.

As they moved forward, something disturbed Yan’s keen senses.

Snap!

“Ah!”

Yan pushed his younger self away and quickly dropped to the ground.

Boom!

A couple of trees behind them snapped, and dark smoke billowed up.

The familiar, acrid scent of gunpowder filled Yan’s nostrils.

“Stay down, no matter what happens. Don’t get up.”

“Yes, yes.”

Young Yan, eyes wide with fear, buried his head in the ground.

Yan rose slightly, his gaze heavy as he surveyed the broken trees.

‘Cannonball?’

Amidst the rising black smoke, a dark cannonball was embedded in one of the trees.

Owen’s hand cannon flashed through his mind.

The size of the cannonball suggested that a large cannon was needed to fire such a shot.

But as far as Yan knew, humanity still lacked the technology to wield hand cannons, especially in this recreated memory of his youth.

Then it must be…

‘Another dwarf?’

As he pondered the enemy’s identity…

Thud, crack.

Something fell at Yan’s feet.

A round object, about the size of an adult’s fist.

‘A bomb?’

Yan kicked off the ground, leaping back. But it wasn’t a bomb.

Pop! Hiss!

A shallow explosion followed by a cloud of gray smoke rapidly spread out.

The amount was staggering, covering hundreds of meters in an instant.

Yan furrowed his brow.

For some reason, his sharp senses began to blur.

His head spun, and it became difficult to maintain balance.

Yan immediately recognized the object’s true nature.

‘A smoke bomb laced with drugs!’

To use such a thing here meant…

“Damn it all!”

The enemy’s target wasn’t him.

Yan shouted with all his might.

“Yan, get up and run!”

It was his younger self.

Patter, patter, patter!

The sound of a child’s footsteps reached Yan’s ears.

Despite the blurred senses and vision, basic hearing remained unaffected.

And then…

Whoosh.

A burning sensation arose within, and a wave of intense heat enveloped him.

Yan touched his chest in astonishment.

‘This is… the energy my father gave me.’

The power from Mars had devoured the drug-induced disorientation.

With that, Yan twisted his lips into a grimace and began to chase after the sound.

* * *

The figure who had unleashed the smoke bomb was now sprinting towards the young Yan, who was running ahead. Unlike Yan, he had taken an antidote to the drug, and he wielded a technique that allowed him to see through the smoke.

How long had he been running?

Before long, he spotted young Yan, panting as he dashed forward.

‘The kid must be feeling the effects of the drugged smoke by now.’

The figure watched young Yan and bit his lip, drawing his sword with a murmur.

“…I’ll grant you a painless end.”

His face showed a reluctance, a distaste for the task at hand.

Thud! Thud!

With a powerful leap, he closed the distance to young Yan in incredible speed.

Sensing the presence behind him, young Yan screamed.

“Aaaah!”

The figure gripped his sword tightly and swung it towards young Yan’s neck.

At that very moment.

Clang!

Something struck his sword away.

The figure’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“How, how so soon!”

He had spared no expense with the smokescreen and the disorienting drug, designed to affect even the superhuman.

Yet, had someone already overcome all of it and reached this place?

* * *

Yan brushed his chest, scrutinizing the enemy through the mingling smokescreen that obscured any clear view of the face.

With a steely voice, Yan demanded, “Who are you?”

But.

Thud!

The adversary, ignoring Yan’s question, lunged towards the younger Yan with a determined leap.

“Not so fast!”

Yan’s eyes flashed as he unleashed a second sword strike, aiming for the assailant’s throat.

Simultaneously.

Crunch!

The sound of grinding teeth echoed.

Slash!

An arm was sliced open, and a spray of red blood arced through the air.

Yan frowned at the sight.

‘He could have dodged that. Why didn’t he?’

In that moment.

The enemy raised his unscathed arm, pointing at the young Yan.

Click!

The sound of a trigger being pulled.

Yan’s eyes widened, and he hurled Ascalon towards the young Yan.

Slash!

Ascalon pierced through the young Yan’s clothes like a skewer and flew off into the distance.

And in the next instant.

Boom!

A massive explosion tore open the ground where the young Yan had stood.

“Damn it!”

Realizing that killing the young Yan was now impossible, the figure vanished from the spot, teeth clenched in frustration.

In that brief moment.

Yan caught a fleeting glimpse of the enemy’s face and was enveloped in shock.

“…Why are you…”

The one who had attempted to kill the young Yan.

It was none other than Owen.