The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player

[The duel has been accepted.]

[The duel will begin in 10 seconds.]

Ryu Min’s lips curled into a smirk as he read the message.

‘I knew he’d accept.’

After all, John had no other choice.

He wasn’t in a position to consider various options.

‘It must have been a tempting offer. The thought of making me his slave.’

Moreover, by imposing penalties, he had made the balance seem fair.

It was all just a ploy to make it look like there was a chance of winning.

‘Even though I can’t use skills, can’t move, and have to give up the first strike…’

Ryu Min wasn’t worried.

With the Rune of Insight and the Rune of Future Sight, he was confident he could see through any move.

“I’ll let you take the first strike. Come at me.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice…”

Crackle-

“You damn bastard!”

At the tip of John Delgado’s staff, a ghostly figure began to take shape.

An ethereal undead, Sariel, which could only be harmed by magical damage, appeared in its skeletal form.

“Kill that bastard!”

At its master’s command, Sariel charged forward silently, reaching Ryu Min in the blink of an eye.

So fast, it seemed to have teleported.

Sariel’s weapon flashed, drawing a line through the air.

As promised, Ryu Min let the first strike happen, dodging easily by moving only his upper body, and uttered a single word.

“Discharge.”

Crackle-!

The lightning bolt not only pierced Sariel’s body but also tore through the ceiling of the house.

“W-what?!”

Sariel, the high-ranking angel summons, met a surprisingly quick end, but John Delgado was shocked for a different reason.

“You said skills were prohibited!”

“This isn’t a skill; it’s a rune effect.”

“You damn cheating bastard!”

Realizing he had been tricked, John Delgado calmly prepared his next move.

Uooooooh-

Five more ethereal undead materialized from the tip of his staff, scattering in all directions as they attacked Ryu Min simultaneously.

But there was no surprise in the outcome.

“AoE Discharge.”

With a single ability, everything in the area was cleared.

But as expected, John promptly summoned five more.

‘No need to go all out at once. They’ll just get wiped out in one shot anyway.’

John’s strategy was simple.

Disperse his forces and attack.

‘There’s got to be a cooldown on that damn ability.’

A smile crept onto John’s lips.

This was a strategy he had prepared for just such a situation, and it was one that gave him a real chance at winning.

That is if Ryu Min didn’t have the Rune of Darkness.

“Scatter.”

The floating dark orbs transformed into dozens of blades, spreading out in all directions.

Shing-shing-shing-shing-!

The ethereal undead were obliterated by the blades, as the damage was a mix of magic.

Not a single one remained.

And among them was John Delgado.

“Urgh…”

With a dark blade embedded in his forehead, John collapsed to his knees.

[The duel is over. ‘Black Scythe’ is victorious.]

[The opponent has lost and is now your slave, serving you as their master for life and obeying your commands.]

The duel was over.

A smile played on Ryu Min’s lips.

‘Everything went according to plan.’

Just like with Ju Seong-tak, he had made John his slave through a duel request.

John, his forehead wound now healed, looked up from his kneeling position.

“I greet my master.”

“Good. John, I have something to test with you.”

“Just give the order.”

Even though Sariel was just killed, this was a duel request, so there was no telling what might happen.

“Summon the angel.”

“The cooldown is five minutes. Please wait a little longer.”

“Fine.”

Five minutes later, John summoned the ethereal undead once more.

Without a will of its own, Sariel didn’t recognize Ryu Min.

‘Let’s see if killing a summon counts toward the stack. Discharge.’

Crackle!

He immediately blasted Sariel with lightning, disintegrating it.

However, no message appeared, and there was no change in the number of the Demon Rune stacks.

[Angels defeated: 1/100]

‘So it doesn’t count unless it’s the first time Sariel was killed.’

In other words, killing a summoned angel didn’t contribute to the Demon Rune stack.

‘If killing a summon could yield benefits, there wouldn’t be any need for all this effort.’

It was the same with other summons: killing them didn’t yield experience or gold.

If it did, no player in the world would stay idle.

‘Summoners everywhere would have been teaming up to level up in reality too.’

Ryu Min had tested it despite knowing there was no gain, just in case.

‘It shows just how desperate I am.’

To deal with the next archangel, he needed to be able to activate the Demon’s Blessing at any time by accumulating stacks.

‘I need to kill 99 more angels to activate the blessing, but how?’

Without a way to hunt angels, accumulating stacks seemed impossible.

‘I should have forced him to summon more angels like with Remiel and then killed him.’

It felt like a waste to have just killed Sariel, but he shook his head.

‘That one resisted until the end. It wouldn’t have cooperated.’

Sariel wasn’t the type to give in to threats.

‘No choice then. I’ll have to test it next time. Maybe the stack doesn’t increase because it’s an ethereal undead.’

If the corpse is intact, it could be turned into a corporeal undead.

Unlike ethereal undead, corporeal undead couldn’t be summoned again once destroyed, so there might be a difference.

‘I’ll have to test it next time. To see if the count increases when I kill a corporeal undead angel.’

If that worked, John Delgado’s value would skyrocket.

It would mean he could accumulate stacks more easily.

‘If that happens, I’ll keep him around for life.’

Regardless of the outcome, Ryu Min already planned to use John for as long as possible.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!