The Regressed NoBody

But upon closer inspection, I saw among those littered corpses of monsters, some consisted of human corpses. A wave of nausea almost caused my inside to seethe as the millipede devoured an entire human corpse in a single serving.

Bones rattled around the beast, as it devoured the corpse.

I pushed a step closer to the crater, carefully, to not let the millipede know of my presence, but to my crappy luck, my foot kicked a pebble close to the edge of the crater, as it rolled down into the millipede’s den.

The millipede stopped between its meal, and turned its body in my direction. The monster looked nothing but horrendous. Sending a shiver to crawl down my spine.

I ducked down, behind a small gap in the wall on the side, which was barricaded from the giant millipede. The corpses were pulled to the side, as the millipede beast crawled toward me, slowly.

I held my breath as I lifted my head and peered down into the den. The millipede was still moving in my direction. I suppressed all the mana inside my body, as I didn’t even dared to breath.

But the millipede stopped near the edge of the crater, and dragged a half eaten corpse down into its den.

I breathed in relief, as I slowly stepped backwards, not making a single sound, to alert the millipede of my existence.

***

“What should we do now?” Neil asked, arms crossed as his eyes drifted in the direction where the millipede’s den was.

I deeply inhaled, then replied. “What is there to think about? We go in there, fight the beast and kill it. Its not rocket science, Neil!”

“Rocket... what?” Neil asked, confused. Perfectly not understanding the idiom.

“No, its nothing,” I replied with a shake of my head.

Well, I was already running out of time, and I think I had at most three hours left until I needed to return. And in that time I needed to find the cure as well. And only god knows how deep in the earth we were right now.

I sighed, pitying my poor self. Seriously, what shit luck I had. Like I was cursed with extremely bad luck.

I withdrew Bleak Star from the inventory and hanged it above my hip.

Neil also withdrew his bow from inside of his dimensional ring, and held it firmly in his dominant—left—hand. He gave me a knowing look, following a nod, and then we made our way to the millipede’s den.

***

The millipede was still eating away at the corpses which were littered around its den, by the time we arrived, unknowing that we were moving closer to the edges of the crater.

With my sword tightly held in my hand, I slowly crossed to the western side of the cavern, and Neil to the eastern side.

I will be the one to fight the giant millipede, while Neil supports me with his long range attacks from his arrows. He could also use his wind-attribute spell, which I was quite amazed and curious about.

But Neil’s mastery over the bow was good, almost too good, to make me not entirely believe he was actually a mage. His wind-attribute spell was something which only a mage could have be able use, unless he was a higher ranked individual, whom even I couldn’t gauge perfectly, and as well as hiding his proficiency over mana. But that vacuum like spell to allow all the water around my arm to be pulled outward.

I just couldn’t put a finger over who he actually was, or what he actually was capable of. But one thing was clear, he was experienced and strong.

But, I had been able to perfectly gauge Park Yujin’s rank and strength, as well as when he was about to break through to the next rank, but I couldn’t tell in Neil’s case. I was definitely sure that he was on the rank, and a few steps away from reaching the borderline. His strength was similar to mine.

But I pushed these thoughts to the back of my head for now, and focused on what we had came here to do.

I held up an arm and signalled to Neil. He nodded his head, as he pulled the string of his bow and a translucent green arrow formed in his fingers.

Just as my hand landed, I dived into the crater and lunged at the beast, who was busy eating its meal.

I coated my sword with mana, as its body erupted with a brilliant glow.

My body tense and alert for any sudden movements from the millipede just a few more meters away from me.

Just as my heel pressed against the ground, the millipede whirled, forcing me to jolt to my right, dodging its attack. The millipede’s movements were fast, for something having such a big circumference for a body.

With a twirl, I hacked at its legs with mana reinforcing my sword. The sharp blade connected, but a single leg was slashed off the millipede’s body. I didn’t have time to rejoice, as it slammed into me, causing me to go crashing into the crater.

The millipede screeched as it held its body upright.

A stinging sensation grew near my left side, as a few of my ribs were broken. The millipede’s exoskeleton was hard enough to break my ribs just upon impact.

But my body had already began to regenerate.

But from above Neil had released several arrows from his bow, which made mark into the millipede’s body. It convulsed violently, as it turned in Neil’s direction. But that only seemed to have angered the beast even more than I already had.

I shot to my feet, my vision a blur as I was again over the millipede in a second. But this time, I attacked near its flank, I lunged forward, slashing through the beast’s hard skin. I almost lost my footing, as I landed on to my feet with the speed I had moved with.

“Over here, you fuck face,” I shouted at the millipede as it turned its focus back at me.

The monster completely ignored Neil and made its way toward me. The ground around me shook as the giant millipede moved in my direction.

It was sound sensitive.

I took a palm sized rock resting beside me, and threw it just near the millipede’s left.

It was distracted by the sound of the rock impacting into the ground.

Neil took this chance and released arrow after arrow at the giant beast, as I firmed my hand over the hilt, and slashed my sword near its right side.

A big chunk of the millipede’s body tore off cleanly as my sword connected. It fell to the ground as some gel-like liquid dripped from its body. The millipede convulsed in pain, as it screeched again, causing my ears to hurt. The entire cavern shook as the beast randomly threw its giant body around like a drunked.

Then again, I pushed forward trying to give as much damage to the beast as I could. Neil shot a rich mana filled arrow at it which dug into its hard exoskeleton. The beast began to whirl in pain.

But what happened next was something which I could have never expected. Its body turned toward Neil, ignoring me entirely, as it opened its sharp teeth filled mouth and began to release some greenish odourless liquid. I kept on attacking, as my sword ripped through its skin, but the millipede didn’t give me any mind.

The acid was released in a stream, directed entirely at Neil.

Neil was caught of guard, but the acid moved in the air faster than my companion could react to dodge it. He almost stumbled a step, just as the acid was only a few feet away from him.

My mind raced, I tried to think of anything, on how to save him. I searched for my skills, all of them. But my mind calmed as I sensed that Leap was ready to be used.

It hadn’t been three hours yet, for the cool down to end, but the skill was there, to be influenced, to be used, to be empowered.

Without wasting another second, I reached for it, and my perspective shifted, as the wormholes appeared bare to my eyes, overlaying the entire structure of the cavern. But they looked different this time for some subtle reason. No, it was not the pathways which looked different, but the insight which I had now gained had allowed my awareness about the pathways to be increased, I felt the pathways more deeply, their flow, their power, their influence, their existence, the subtle change which had accord in my mind, had unlocked the potential which I had lacked previously to utilise and sense the pathways in such a way.

Just as before, extreme amounts of information was being fed to my mind as a sharp headache enveloped my head. I grounded my teeth as I looked through that information, but an idea struck me in that moment.

I told the pathways, rather commanded them like I had done when falling in that pit. I told them to filter the information which was being fed to me, I influenced them to share the information which I only required of them right now, in this moment.

I knew perfectly well, my understanding and idea was vague, it was rudimentary, blunt. But as if the pathways had heard my call, understood what I was trying to preach, the information fed to me lessened, and only a specific part of the information now began to transmit into my mind, which I wanted from the pathways. The headache lessened, as a mote sparked with a blinding sheen.

Tendrils of black lightning sparked all around me, as my clothes fluttered and my hair lifted. Just like before, I entrusted all the work to the pathways, and readied myself for the jump.

All of this transpired in a fraction of a second. The wormhole pulled me toward it. My perspective shifted, as I found myself leaving the crater and appearing right in between Neil and the acid.

By now I had gotten perfectly used to the vertigo of shifting my location when using Leap. I hurriedly took action and took Neil’s body in my embrace, as I rolled on the ground to my left.

We rolled over the unsteady ground of the cavern, as I protected my companion from the acid. We barely dodged as we stopped and laid on the ground.

I steadied my breathing as I released Neil and stepped forward pulling my body into a stance, ready to intercept any attack from the millipede.

But the millipede looked to be in pain, which had stopped any action it might have taken.

But my left leg gave out as my back was enveloped by a deep stinging and burning sensation. I fell on to the ground, as my body cried in absolute agony.

“S-Shun...,” Neil's horrified voice choked a breath in my throat, as my body was enveloped in agonising pain. I looked above my shoulder and back at him. His face displaying a horrified expression, as Neil’s eyes went wide.

Neil inched closer to me, and weakly held onto my melted shirt. The skin on my back had melted with my bones and muscles perfectly visible to the naked eyes. It must have been a horrifying thing to see, for Neil, no, for anyone.

But with my passive skill in effect, my body was steadily regenerating. Slowly my muscles regenerated as they filled the open spaces in my body. My warm blood dripped on the ground as Neil spoke with a weak voice, almost on the verge of tears.

“Why did you do that, you idiot?” He lowered his head, as his grip increased on my tattered shirt.

“Are you out of your damn mind?”

His voice boomed in the cavern as his lips lightly quivered, he saw my back regenerate, all the muscles and skin regenerating and filling the lacking spaces in my back.

“My body can regenerate t-this...kind of damage in a few—...s-so,” a wave of pain hit me as I groaned painfully. “So its better for...only one of us to get hurt like this.”

Neil’s face twisted into an even deeper frown as he heard me. He clenched my shirt tightly, as he looked straight into my eyes. My companion’s eyes looked anguished as his eyes drifted to look at my back which was steadily regenerating, first the bones, then muscles, following the skin.

The millipede was now inching closer, but its movements had become rusty, a far cry to its speed from before.

【Congratulations】

Suddenly a window popped open in front of me, as I weakly turned my head to look at it.

__________________________________________________

【Regeneration Levelled Up】

【Regeneration】[LV: 1] ---> 【Regeneration】[LV: 2]

__________________________________________________

Just as the window appeared in front of me, I felt a sudden warmth envelop my back, and my wounds began to heal faster than before. And the pain began to lessen with each passing second.

__________________________________________________

【New Passive Skill Acquired: Pain Resistance】

【Pain Resistance】[LV: 1]

【Pain Resistance Levelled Up】

【Pain Resistance】[LV: 1] ---> 【Pain Resistance】[LV: 2]

__________________________________________________

My wounds were now healed more than enough to allow me to fight again. I almost stumbled again, as the microfibers around my left foot were still regenerating, but soon enough the only area left to be regenerated was my left flank.

But Neil pushed me back, as he stepped into the crater himself this time.

“Oy wait, what are you thinking of doing?” I tried stopping him, but he gave me a solemn look in reply.

“Just stay back,” Neil grumbled with fury in his voice, as his demeanour looked unshakable. “This time I will be the one to protect and help you! Take your time and allow your body to completely heal!"

But who was I to stop him. He had already told me before that he wanted to fight the boss monster. And I knew I needed more time until my body could fully recover from the damage I had accumulated, before I was back in the shape to fight.

But I stood behind Neil ready to go to his support at a moments time. “Alright!”

I gave my companion a quick nod in affirmation, as he solemnly made his way towards the millipede.

But his body erupted with a brilliant bright glow, as the air around him shook with a quick pulsation. Neil's pale green hair fluttered as he released some kind of wind-attribute spell which had formed inside his palm. He shot his hand forward and a fierce gale of wind slammed into the millipede, causing the beast to crash deeper into the crater.

But Neil didn’t stop there, he held up his left arm and the ground around him began to quake. And soon from the ground, big green roots emerged, which shot at the millipede. Neil swiftly moved his hand in a downwards motion and the several roots zigzagged and one slammed into the millipede, making it writhe in pain.

As another one of those roots impaled the beast in its body.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Whatever spell Neil was using it was beyond my realm of comprehension. Already having activated Mind’s Eye, I observed his flow of mana and his ability to conjure these vines.

It were definitely some deviant form of magic, but one which I was completely unfamiliar with. It was an element which I had never seen anyone use or either heard of.

The element to influence nature. I thought as I observed Neil whip the millipede with a giant vine almost the size of the beast itself, which caused the giant millipede to crash into the wall of the cavern behind it. But I could tell, his mana reserves were being depleted, fast.

Neil’s right hand erupted with a deep green glow, as the particles of wind rushed to his palm, as he released another wind-attribute spell at the millipede.

Like a typhoon, the spell connected and cut the rare end of the millipede off. It writhed in pain, as it screeched making the cavern to lightly quake.

But the millipede shot in Neil’s direction with tremendous speed, unlike before.

But Neil’s mana was almost completely depleted. I took my sword laying on the ground a few feet away and dived into the carter. I hacked at its exoskeleton, and my sword barely thrust into the beast's hard translucent exoskeleton.

I jumped on top of its head, as the millipede zigzagged, trying to shaking me off. But I grabbed one of the antennas which grew close to its head, and reinforced my arm with all the mana I could muster.

On the left side of the beast’s head, the deep wound which Neil’s arrow had left, came into my vision.

I buckled my fist, and slammed it into the millipede’s hard exoskeleton. The beast screeched, as my entire arm numbed momentarily.

But a smile crept up my face, as its exoskeleton cracked, revealing the deep wound from before even more.

The green vines which Neil was controlling, restrained the millipede’s movements, as I thrust my left hand into its deep wound. I felt the skin around my fingers burn as I thrust my hand deeper into the beast’s head.

Then I channelled all of my mana, into the glove I was wearing. The glove burst with a brilliant shine, as I focused all the mana into a single strong arrow.

I didn’t release the arrow, rather made it collapse and implode. My arm whipped outward under the fierce combustion of mana, and my body pushed back as I plummeted into the crater.

With a final screech the beast’s body laid on the ground, as smoke escaped through the gapping hole which had now appeared into its head.

But the millipede’s body wiggled, as it moved again.

I shot to my feet, and lunged at the millipede, as my left hand bled, and my legs almost buckled. The glove over my left hand looked a little tattered, but still usable.

The ground quaked terribly, as the millipede’s body plummeted inside the crater.

I stopped moving as I saw the beast laying dead in front of me.

I sat down on the ground of the carter and looked at Neil who was moving closer to me.

“Now stay down!” I grumbled looking at the massive body of the millipede.