Translator: HunterW

Editor: RED

What the hell just happened? Navana quietly asked, but no one replied to him. The other Crootian deities also couldnt believe what had just transpired before them.

Victory was right at their fingertips. But some woman had suddenly intervened and after that woman died, Lee Jiwon slowly and weakly attacked Adora. That same weak attack killed Adora, who was perfectly fine just a moment ago. It probably would have made more sense if Adora was killed in the middle of a fierce duel, but Adora was able to withstand all of Lee Jiwons previous attacks, meaning Adoras One Kill One Shot ability was still working. In other words, Adora was still at full HP, which made it that much harder to understand and accept that Lee Jiwons weak attack had actually killed him.

But they didnt have time to keep trying to understand the impossible. Lee Jiwon, the monster that killed Adora the Monster, was now charging at them at a breakneck pace. Behind him was also the entirety of the Terran army.

All eyes were now on Navana, who was now in charge of the Crootian army, expecting him to do something. But Navana let them down.

Fuck. Were screwed. It was completely irresponsible, but no one said otherwise. He was right; they were screwed.

And so began the Crootians great escape. Even though they all knew that they were still going to die if they lost the war, they all wanted to live at least a day longer. No one wanted to die here. The deities were the first to run, and they did so without even looking back, leaving just ten of their comrades behind. It didnt take long for the Crootian devas to follow suit.

Fuck. Adoras dead and now the deities are all running away!

Its over! Its all over!

II dont want to die

Please, take us with you! You dragged us all here in the first place!

Hey! Get it together!

It was absolute chaos, but there was no one who could control the pandemonium. The only one who could was Navana, but he just stood there, dumbly watching Lee Jiwon as he drew closer.

Gah!

No!

Each attack flashed yellow again and again, almost as if all of the critical hits I was supposed to unleash all day were all coming out at once. But I was far from satisfied and charged in deeper to where the deities were all clumped together. Only ten of them had stayed behind.

Scorching Earth! Titan Stomp! Fissure! I fired all of my AoE Skills at them in quick succession. A huge crater was formed in the earth around me as the Skills unleashed their tremendous power.

==[You have obtained 611,000,000 golden rings for defeating a powerful opponent.]==

==[You have obtained 154,000,000 golden rings for defeating a powerful opponent.]==

:

==[You have obtained 243,000,000 golden rings for defeating a powerful opponent.]==

==[You have obtained 270,000 golden rings.]==

==[You have obtained 130,000 golden rings.]==

:

==[You have obtained 190,000 golden rings.]==

==[You have obtained 310,000 golden rings.]==

==[You have gained a level.]==

==[You have gained a level.]==

:

==[You have gained a level.]==

Countless messages came up one after the other and just as the messages said, there was not a single person remaining where the three AoE Skills went off. It was a complete massacre, but I didnt stop. There were still more enemy soldiers around and I was still enraged.

Three weeks later

Stop, Commander Lee!

Theyre all gone, sir!

Theyre right, Jiwon. Its time to stop.

I had chased after the enemy soldiers nonstop, Blinking after them whenever I could and killing anyone in my sight. Three weeks had already passed, but I still didnt want to stop because I still didnt know what to say. I didnt know how to face Song Daechul, Song Myungsoo, and Song Haechang. But when Song Daechul himself grabbed me by the arm, I stopped running.

Thank you, Jiwon. You did everything you could as our commander. Earth has survived, thanks to you. Song Daechul didnt mention Haein.

Im sorry.

No, you have nothing to apologize for. Its probably not what happened, but if Haein helped in some way to allow you to kill Adora, then thats good enough for me.

My fathers right, Jiwon, Song Myungsoo said as he came up next to me.

I couldnt bring myself to say anything. Haein was the ONLY reason I was able to kill Adora.

And so, I finally stopped chasing the Crootians, since there werent any more of them in sight. We decided to take that moment to rest for a bit while we waited for reinforcements to arrive.

The next day

An unexpected person paid us a visit. Hell, we never even saw him in person, so I and the Empires officers were all on guard when he suddenly revealed himself as none other than the Judge.

Theres no need to be so nervous, he said with a chuckle. He was two meters tall and dressed all in black. He was smiling, but that put us even more on edge. Why was he here?

Im not supposed to reveal myself until the contest is completely over, but this was really the best one so far, especially because of a certain someone, the Judge said, looking straight at me.

Im going to postpone the end of the contest. Do you all know what that means? Once this contest is over, its over. You wont be able to destroy any more Sections or kill any more enemies. But, since youve all made this contest so much more interesting, Ill postpone the end to three months later. So use that time wisely, because you wont get another chance.

The Crootians still possessed over fifty Sections and there were still more than two billion of them left. Most of them were rookies but there were still a lot of them to kill.

Now then, Ill see you all again in three months. That was all he said before he vanished right before our eyes.

If he decided to end the contest now, itd be really unfair, wouldnt it?

You got that right. Now, we just need to collect our spoils of war.

It was quite figuratively a gift from the gods. As several officers finally breathed a sigh of relief now that we had a chance, I turned to address them.

Let everyone know that we will be moving deeper into the enemys territory.

Yes sir.

There was no time to show mercy to the enemy. I was planning on tearing every single Crootian on this damn rock to pieces. They were all going to die anyway, and I was still furious that Adora and the Crootians had forced Haein to make that decision. I was also just as disappointed in myself for letting it come to that. I was going to kill them all, and become stronger so that I would never make the same mistake ever again.

And so, I led the army and began the true and final invasion of Croot. The remaining sixty deities and two billion devas were unable to stop us at all. In this war, this contest was already decided, and they knew that. It actually took us fewer than three months to destroy all of Croots Sections and kill hundreds of millions of Crootians. The rest fled into dungeons or killed themselves. When the last visible Crootian fell, every single person still on the Continent received the same message.

==[The victor of the contest between Earth and Croot will now be decided.]==

The leaderboard that was always high up in the sky suddenly shined brightly.

==[World 1455

Devas/Deities: 953,300,875

Controlled Sections: 51]==

==[World 1512

Devas/Deities: 557,206,308

Controlled Sections: 0]==

==[Earth has won the contest.]==

The message was way too simple for such a fierce war that had lasted years.

==[You will now be granted a reward based on your accomplishments.]==

A bright, white light enveloped me. I wasnt the only one, either. Song Haechang, Aman Lagus, Madun Yateking, and many others of our greatest warriors were enveloped in the same light. Soon, I felt myself getting taken somewhere.

I found myself back in front of the same giant Don Gate I was taken to when we were first taken to the Judges Continent. This was my third time receiving rewards from it, so I was pretty excited, to say the least. But this time, someone was standing beneath the Don Gate. It was the Judge I had met three months ago. He greeted me like we were long lost brothers.

WhewIve been a Judge of the Judges Continent for several thousand years, but I have never seen this many points. Theyre incomparable. I bet the next time we meet, youll be at a higher position than me, the Judge said with a chuckle. I look forward to working with you in the future, since I did give you three extra months. Now then, lets start, shall we?

Not waiting for my reply, the Judge turned around and placed a hand on the Don Gate. The moment he did, the Don Gate began to glow red.

Whoa! It already turned red! Ill always like that color, no matter how many times I see it. Soon, the Don Gate had completely changed into a deeper hue of red.

Wow. Something like this also existed? I think this is my first time seeing it in all my years as Judge. Soon, the Judge stepped away from the Don Gate and walked towards me. Well, its yours now, Lee Jiwon. I never saw it myself, so I cant tell you much about it. The choice is yours, though, the Judge said as he nonchalantly tossed something my way. It wasnt an item, but a message.

==[You have accomplished phenomenal achievements on the Judges Continent.

You will be granted a hidden reward.]==

==[This hidden reward will grant the ability to return Earth to its state before the Otadolon stage.

Once Earth returns to its previous state, it will never enter the Otadolon stage again.

Everything pertaining to the Otadolon stage will be removed. (Devas, Deities, abilities, items, etc.)

Yes/No]==

As I said, the choice is yours. I really didnt know that a reward like that existed.

Theres something I want to ask.

Sure, go ahead. I can answer whatever questions you have.

II came back in time. It was the one secret I could never reveal to anyone else, but I was always curious as to why I was the one sent back in time, without any explanation or warning. Afraid of what might happen, I never told or asked anyone about it, but the man before me was the Judge. He had to know something.

I know.

Eh? It was a huge decision for me to ask him that question, but he just replied so simply. It was almost as if he didnt get why I was asking a really simple question.

Wait; do you still not know?

Of course I didnt know.

I see youve got a slow side to you. That regression in time; well, its

I pricked my ears, waiting for his answer.

Its a Random Skill.

What?

Its a Random Skill.

II never learned a Skill like that! I existed on the lowest class during my past life. I never had the chance to learn a Random Skill.

Of course you didnt. The Random Skill known as Regression; its just how it works. If you were given a second chance at life, would you keep living your current life?

No, I definitely wouldnt. If I could live two lives, I would definitely make my second one my best life ever. I would use my first life to learn and gain as many experiences as I could, just so I could live my perfect life during the second one.

Thats exactly why once you learn the Regression Random Skill, you forget you ever learned it.

But I lived as a bottom feeder. I didnt possess any special trait, so how did I even?

Well, youre the first person I met who got to learn it. As for as I know, there was only one other person who learned it, so I guess out of everyone in the entire universe, only two people ever obtained that Skill.

What happened to him?

Hmmshould I tell you? The Judge waited a moment for suspense before replying. That guy committed suicide the moment he realized what happened. He was a hero of his world, strong enough to destroy everything with just his pinky finger. But, like you, he was sent back in time when he died, which was why the first thing he did was commit suicide, the Judge said, ending with that chuckle of his.

Hmm you probably didnt kill yourself because you already tasted rock bottom. Anyway, hurry up and make your decision. You need to choose first before you can get your other rewards. And trust me, theyre pretty amazing.

I turned back to the message that was still up in front of me.

==[This hidden reward will grant the ability to return Earth to its state before the Otadolon stage.

Once Earth returns to its previous state, it will never enter the Otadolon stage again.

Everything pertaining to the Otadolon stage will be removed. (Devas, Deities, abilities, items, etc.)

Yes/No]==

I hesitated as thousands of thoughts raced through my mind. Noticing that I was still hesitating, the Judge spoke up again.

Come to Mamon, the next stage. If its you, Lee Jiwon, you can do it. You can become an even greater hero than me, or the other guy who learned Regression.

I still couldnt bring myself to say anything.

Well, I guess youre still pretty traumatized by Adoras crazy abilities. But I can promise you that you can gain even stronger abilities. After all, you were one of the best to come out of the Continent alive.

I choose I made my decision.

Kekeke. Good. I knew you would.