Chapter 042: Speedrunning the Human God (Patreon)

Time slipped by slowly...

More than a year had passed since Rudy captured Armored Dragon King Perugius.

During that time, everyone had been through a great deal together, and everyone had learned a great deal as well. Their own strength had grown by leaps and bounds.

Only Rudy was different. After reinforcing his light-ray weapon a bit at the very start, he never developed that path any further. Instead, he poured himself wholly into researching regression-based summoning magic.

By day, he studied under Armored Dragon King Perugius almost without pause. By night, he searched on his own for a way to achieve regression magic.

Over the course of that year, he had essentially mastered Armored Dragon King Perugius's summoning magic. As for the regression magic — through his own countless deaths, he had finally gathered the truest data of all.

Today, looking at the smiling faces before him — Sylphiette, Eris, Armored Dragon King Perugius, and Ruijerd — Rudy felt joy well up inside him. And yet, quietly, in his heart, he said his farewells to them all: goodbye.

At noon, while everyone else was eating, Rudy stepped onto the regression teleportation magic circle. He already had a rough grasp of Hitogami's situation, but just to be safe, he needed to go back once more to make sure.

Whoosh! Light flared, and Rudy's soul, empowered by the regression circle, pierced through the seven-colored haze of the past. He successfully descended into his own body from a year ago.

By the nature of his unique trait, he forcibly overwrote his former self's soul.

At that moment, the Fittoa Territory Teleport Incident had only just begun.

Looking at the panicked Armored Dragon King Perugius before him — freshly captured and demanding an explanation — Rudy raised a hand and pointed toward the expanding pillar of teleportation light.

"That's our target."

"You—?!"

Before Perugius could finish, the pillar of light swallowed everyone present.

Unlike the first time, when he'd been completely clueless, Rudy — having now finished studying under Perugius — could sense something familiar the moment he entered the pillar of light. But he still fell a little short of fully understanding it.

...

Some unknown span of time later, Rudy's consciousness slowly stirred awake. Looking at the white spiritual world before him, he knew he'd succeeded.

Compared to last time, he had now fully layered a magic circle of defense around his own mind. This time, Rudy wasn't relying purely on willpower to resist Hitogami.

Just then, a white figure slowly walked over from the side.

"First time meeting you. Hello there, Rudeus."

"Hello. And you are...?"

"I'm Hitogami — the genuine article, a true god."

Looking at the white figure standing before him, hands on hips and thoroughly pleased with himself, Rudy smiled. "I never imagined I'd get to meet a true god. May I ask why the god called me here?"

Hitogami nodded, smiling. "I've been watching you. Honestly, your life is quite fascinating — especially how you used magic to glimpse the future Teleport Incident. What a remarkable person."

Rudy nodded and smiled. "Thank you for the praise. So, is there something you need me to do?"

"Hmm..." Hitogami stroked his chin, looking at the obedient, agreeable Rudy before him. He nodded and smiled. "The wicked Dragon God has recently been revived. Would you help me kill him?"

Rudy nodded and smiled. "To be an enemy of a god must mean this wicked Dragon God is an extraordinarily powerful being. So — as a mage with a rather frail body — could the god help me find some useful equipment?"

Hitogami laughed. "Now that's a tricky one. Actually, I've already arranged someone incredibly powerful for you. Once you wake up, you'll meet him. He wields a legendary-grade weapon, and beyond that, martial arts nearly at a God's level! Truly an exceptional person."

Rudy nodded and went on pressing his requests, and Hitogami, naturally, offered reasonable-sounding solutions in turn.

In the end, when Rudy parted ways with Hitogami, the outcome he obtained wasn't much different from last time. But this time, he understood Hitogami's information in far greater detail.

First: everything he'd concluded last time still held up.

Second: the newly arranged magic circle offered some protection against Hitogami's mind-reading.

Third: Hitogami had not obtained any information about his regressions from the future. He didn't know the exact reason, but this was undoubtedly a very good thing for him. Still, he'd need to figure out the reason eventually — knowing it would be a huge advantage in dealing with Hitogami.

As sensation returned to his body, Rudy — under Ruijerd's wide-eyed stare — immediately activated the regression teleportation circle once more.

The next instant, he found himself back before the pillar of teleportation light at the Fittoa Territory Teleport Incident, and once again came face to face with Hitogami.

Once. Twice. Three times, four times! Through every method and means he could think of, he kept going — until, after the eleventh time, unable to glean any further useful information, Rudy finally stopped the cycle of regression.