Growls spread as the snake monster continued screaming, but it was useless. Trapped under the weight of the stones and the net of the steel spider, the snake that was still trying its best to chow down on the wizard was now unable to move in the slightest.
Slowly, the regressor peeked out from the top of the mountains and looked down at me. It seemed I had started bleeding slightly after being caught in the falling rocks, but it wasn't a big problem. I had gotten lucky.
With the regressor were the last few items that I had used my fortune to purchase. I was now a leader of a criminal organization with only 200 bucks in my name.
After both of us descended the crashing mountain ranges, we stood in front of the snake.
The regressor with the bag of items in his hands trembled.
My eyes fell on the bones and the smacks of blood that the dead hunters had left on the ground.
"What?" I scoffed at the regressor. His entire body shook and his eyes were slowly dampening up with tears. "Then, did you want to die instead?"
The regressor shook his head.
"What… are you saving me from?"
My eyes widened at his words.
It seemed I was being trusted more than I had thought.
I slowly turned my gaze toward the regressor, and he flinched.
"There's someone who can steal our abilities,"
Some truth, wasn't a problem.
"That person wants to eat you alive."
The way the Tower's SSS-Class Hunter sucked up one ability of an enemy, was by eating. The man gluttonous for power will be surviving in the ditch in the dungeon right now, and as it stood, I had no way to defeat him.
Having gotten accustomed to consuming things and gaining their powers, Lutein, who was already facing extreme hatred for people as a whole bit into the first person he ever saw.
And that was none other than the lonesome regressor who had attained a great post in the months of his absence and was also in the top ten rankers of the tower, despite his cowardice.
He was an easy target.
And the first ability that Lutein sucked in from him, was his regression.
[Ha! This fucker… in the top ten, he was hiding such a cheat? Just what else does he have?]
Lutein had gained two things from regression.
The ability to change his fate without repercussions… and the ability to eat people over and over until he had taken everything he wanted from them.
And so, the regressor was eaten.
Dozens and dozens of times, most of them not letting Lutein earn any ability at all. But the man was persistent.
"He would eat you once, and then he would eat you over and over."
He held people inside and then ate them just to test more of his powers.
All with the excuse of bringing freedom to everyone.
I wanted to sigh again. This crazy protagonist was fun to read about, but even summarizing his actions make me want to puke.
"Is that… so?"
The Regressor asked.
I snatched the bag from his hand and pulled out the last of our magic scrolls. The most expensive item I had brought.
A reusable scroll enchanted with a spell that could be used over and over. The items available on the fourth floor might have been a notch better, but magic scrolls like these were best found in the territory of the tower's greatest mage.
"You get it, right? You could have either died yourself or let this happen."
I slowly looked back at the regressor. "Except, you would have never died."
Dragging myself over the side of the snake, I placed the scroll on the nets and started activating it. It would have to be charged every three hours and then activated the next minute before needing to charge it again.
The snake screamed in pain as the scroll activated.
And then fell when it died.
Without sharing any words, the regressor and I continued charging the scroll and activating it over and over. The day passed, and so did the night, the second day came by too and the second night left as well.
Taking turns, we switched and switched again.
And finally.
On the third day.
—Ding!
[Congratulations. The fifth floor of the tower has been cleared]
[The first stage of the Tower has concluded. Ah… in your words…]
[The tutorial, is now over]