The Heroine Stole My Regression

57 – Preparation (4)

Haein grasped at the window, then his eyes closed, and his body crumbled, slipping away.

-Thud.

Zion swiftly reached out and caught him.

The warmth of the man who had collapsed into her arms, now leaning fully against her, transmitted through her arm.

“…”

Zion quietly inhaled.

Completely drained, Jung Hae-in lay defenseless, leaving behind the warmth of his body heat.

Slowly rising and falling chest, quiet breaths.

She carefully laid him on the coat she’d taken off.

Brushing aside the hair that had fallen onto his forehead, she gently stroked his cheek.

“…Cute.”

To trust and surrender himself so completely. Sion quietly, very slowly, inhaled.

A feeling of lightness, as if her heart were floating.

With a fluttering heart, she quietly rose from her spot.

Like the feeling just before tearing open a Christmas present.

She approached the training facility door.

Looking at the device attached to the wall, she slowly raised her hand.

Focusing strength in her fingertip, she pressed the button.

-Thump! Thump!

With a heavy vibration, the entrance to the training facility slammed shut.

Following that, a steel shutter slowly descended.

The glass window connecting to the control room was completely blocked, cutting off all visibility to the outside.

A device her grandfather, and the other team members, used during secluded training.

Now, this place was completely isolated from the outside.

Whatever happened inside, no one outside would know.

Sion, with light steps, hurried back to Jung Hae-in.

He was still sound asleep on the coat she had spread out.

One month since entering Gaon.

During that time, the dissatisfaction within Sion’s heart had steadily grown.

Because some madwoman had messed up the class assignments, she had to live in a separate class from Jung Hae-in.

If things were normal.

She could have spent almost every moment with Hae-in, like when they lived here.

She felt herself withering more and more with each passing day.

“…Heehee.”

It was time to replenish her energy.

She slowly inhaled, and then laid her body down beside Jung Hae-in.

His side, Sion’s place, was always here.

She leaned into him, soft.

The moment skin met skin, a warmth seeped into her.

Sion reached out, gently caressing his cheek.

Warm.

A defenseless moment offered only to her, forbidden to all others.

Slowly, she drew closer. Sion’s gaze grew languid.

She brushed the tip of her nose against his nape.

His scent, so uniquely his, calming her mind. A hazy feeling settled in her head.

Not enough.

The thirst wasn’t quenched by scent alone.

Without hesitation, she pressed herself against him.

Every point where their skin touched, a subtle heat bloomed.

Sion felt a dizzying wave wash over her.

Her leg moved silently, naturally wrapping around his.

One hand drifted to rest on his chest.

The other slowly, traced her belly, followed the smooth curve down past her hip, drifting lower.

Just before touching, her heartbeat subtly quickened.

But.

Her fingertips hesitated, ever so slightly. Finally, she changed course, gliding away.

As if drawing back from the tempting heat, she followed the warmth of his skin, softly tracing his cheek.

In that instant, a black flame bloomed from her fingertips.

The subtly rising flames flowed gently over Haein’s body, enveloping his weapon.

A warmth both familiar and foreign, but never harmful.

With this, his trial would be easier.

“…Ugh.”

A quiet sigh escaped his slightly parted lips.

Sharing his warmth alone was enough to bring an overflowing sense of fulfillment.

For now, this was enough.

The withering senses she had endured for a month slowly began to replenish.

She closed her eyes.

For this moment, at least.

No one could intrude.

*

She opened them.

A vast cavern, thick with dampness.

A place she’d been before.

Carefully, she pushed herself upright.

Then, something stirred slowly in the gloom.

-Thrum….

A deep resonance echoed from somewhere.

As her vision adjusted to the dark, she faced the massive shape seated before her.

The air itself seemed crushed beneath its weight.

Slowly, she raised her gaze.

It was regarding her with a keen, piercing stare.

“I’ve come,”

She straightened her posture, and spoke.

A sensation of being pressed down, merely by its presence.

In that instant.

-Clang!

A spear slammed into the ground.

Tilting her head slightly, she avoided the incoming Catastrophe.

“So, have you perhaps… reconsidered?”

Smiling, she addressed the colossal dragon before her.

A trial to draw forth the power of Catastrophe.

She had passed the first trial of spirit before.

But the second… had ended in failure.

“You wouldn’t just consider lending it to me?”

-Unthinkable.

She knew it would be so. The nature of the trial…

To Aldebaran, it was inflicting a direct wound.

The hide that encased its body was not merely a shield, but something closer to a bulwark.

Countless heroes of ages past had unleashed their power upon it, yet not even a single crack had appeared.

Then, and now.

There was no one who could truly slay this being.

Last time, I had swung my spear against it countless times.

Of course, it was weaker than it had been during the era of the Civilization Ender, but all my attacks were deflected.

Thus, I was mercilessly expelled from the inner world it dominated.

The reason for my banishment, I pondered endlessly.

How could I pierce its hide?

–

[Authority: Fragment of Harmony (片鱗)]

①Destroy Evil, Reveal Righteousness (破邪顯正)

ㅡ Shatter what is corrupt.

② ???

③ ???

–

Destroy Evil, Reveal Righteousness (破邪顯正).

The essence of this ability is to tear down what is corrupt, that is, what is evil.

If that is so, then Aldebaran before me, though a Great Dragon, is ultimately, at its core, a fiend (魔物).

Thus. Is it not, in the end, a corrupt being?

I gripped the spear lodged before me tightly.

The weighty sensation of the cold metal flowed through my fingertips.

Slowly applying force, I powerfully pulled the spear free from where it was embedded.

I raised my hand.

I closed my eyes. I drew forth the power that lay dormant, deep within my core.

The aura of fiend-banishment.

A frigid, yet alien jade-green mana surged forth.

That aura enveloped the spear, and a sharp, roiling wave of energy churned around it.

“Here I go.”

I lunged, with every ounce of strength I possessed, towards Aldebaran.

-BANG!

A monumental crash.

My vision warped.

*

“Ah, goddamn it.”

I gasped, struggling for breath.

My back pressed against the frigid floor, I gazed up at the cavern ceiling, aglow with cerulean light.

I had failed.

But I’d grasped a thread.

The direction itself wasn’t wrong, either.

This was unlike before.

This time, it hadn’t felt like a complete and utter rejection.

And yet, in the end, I couldn’t pierce it.

Aldebaran’s shell remained steadfast.

Though my spear’s tip had grazed it, it hadn’t even left a single scratch.

‘Why?’

The moment of impact, and now I think I understood the reason.

An utter, crippling lack of output.

A hair’s breadth difference. It felt two percent short.

It worked, in a way.

But just a little, only a tiny bit short.

What could I do? Lack of training, that’s all.

I rose from the ground with a bitter smile, clutching my spear firmly.

“Haa…”

The moment I began drawing up Pasa Hyeonjeong once more.

That’s when.

Another energy coursed through my body, from some unknown source.

Black flames.

These flames, alive as they seemed, bloomed forth, surged like a raging tide, and slowly permeated my jade-green mana.

Emerald mana and black flame twist together, becoming one.

The black flame approached with submission. The emerald mana willingly embraced it.

And then, the two forces merged completely.

The spear began to tremble.

A weighty pressure pulsed through my fingertips.

-Wooong….

In perfect harmony, the two powers finally birthed a new wave.

Black flame and emerald mana enveloped each other, forming a colossal vortex.

I gripped the spear.

The heavy pressure spreading from my fingertips was intense, beyond anything I had felt before.

-Hoh….

Aldebaran narrowed his eyes, as if intrigued.

His deep gaze seemed to sink even further within.

Slowly, I drew a breath.

And.

“Here I go, for real.”

I planted my feet and sprang into the air.

The most potent technique I possessed.

‘Catenaccio.’

However.

Catenaccio was a technique where the created phantoms each attacked a vulnerable point.

With this method, I wouldn’t pierce Aldebaran’s hide. The moment the attack fragmented, it would become meaningless.

What I needed was.

‘Focus Fire.’

A single, powerful strike that would bore through one spot.

In mid-air, I wove several phantoms.

The phantoms materialized, each wielding a spear.

Black flame and emerald mana swirled around their bodies.

All of the phantoms raised their spears, aiming at Aldebaran.

But, even this was not enough.

A single point.

One point must be pierced.

I gathered all my avatars in the air, merging them into one.

The avatars lined up behind me, arranged in perfect formation.

That instant.

The power of all avatars compressed into a single force.

Multiple spears, fused into one colossal spear.

‘Phalanx.’

A gigantic spear rose into the air.

Jade green mana swirled, and black flames created tumultuous waves.

This spear exists to shatter a single target.

I.

Thrust down with all my might.

-KWA-AA-ANG!!!

The spearhead collided with the outer shell.

A tremendous metallic clang shook the cavern at that moment.

The recoil of the attack traveled from my fingertips, up my arm, and through my entire body.

Immense pressure crushed me from all sides.

-Crack….

“!”

Cracks began to appear.

I gritted my teeth. There was no stopping now.

I raised the spear high.

The halberd sharpened its edge, black flames and jade green mana blazing even more intensely.

I continued to thrust down again and again.

-Kwang!

-Kwang!

-Kwang!

The reverberation of the impact traveled up my arm, causing the bones in my joints to throb numbly.

But I did not stop.

“Please…! “

-KWA-BOOM!

The final strike landed, and in that instant,

an overwhelming roar ripped through the entire cavern.

Cracks bloomed.

No.

It was breached.

Fissures spiderwebbed across the core of the outer shell, and finally…

-CRUNCH.

A colossal breach widened.

The impenetrable barrier shattered, etching a vivid wound upon Aldebaran’s flesh.

The second trial.

To leave a mark upon its hide.

I gaped at the pulverized shell, gasping for air.

“Success…”

Having wrung every last ounce of strength into that single attack, my power deserted me in that very moment, and…

Straight down.

I plummeted from the air.