A dark, murky vision.
My ears felt clogged, as if submerged in water.
A lethargy that prevented me from moving even a single hair.
And in the midst of that utter daze, I heard several familiar voices.
「Be careful… on your way. Hero-nim.」
「…See you on the other side. Partner.」
「Heheh… What are you dawdling for, you punk. Hurry up and go.」
「…Thank you. Orabeoni.」
「Hurry up and go, nya.」
Heh-
A smile automatically formed on my lips.
They were all individuals with such distinct characters that I could recognize them by voice alone.
Precious friends.
Comrades I could rely on.
And…
「…….」
「…….」
The welcome voices that had been ringing in my ears soon began to fade.
‘…….’
The voices grew more distant, like the outro music of a movie transitioning to the ending credits.
「You must…….」
The ever-fainting voices eventually stopped altogether.
Once the sound ceased, a pure emptiness descended.
A pure void with no sound, no smell, no sight, no feeling.
In its midst.
I continued to fall.
Down, down.
Endlessly, endlessly.
Into a bottomless abyss of nothingness.
How much time had passed like that?
A sound came from somewhere.
「…-ssi!」
‘Huh?’
The voice that suddenly reached me was too faint and distant to properly make out.
「…get a gr…….」
The voice came again.
‘What on earth are they saying?’
This time, too, it was faint and distant.
It was hard to understand, but it seemed a little closer than the first time.
「Do you… want to die… now?」
The third voice was somewhat intelligible.
‘Want to die?’
“I told you to dodge!!!”
Along with that last, clear voice, my sealed five senses awakened.
Fwoosh-
“……!”
Quickly snapping to my senses, I used every available faculty to absorb information from my surroundings.
The metallic scent of blood mixed with the sticky smell of mud.
An unusually strong wind brushing past my body.
Grains of sand crunching between my molars.
A shadow falling around my feet.
And crucially.
Swoosh-
A blunt club swinging right for my head.
“Seo U-jin-ssi!!! What have you been doing! Do you really want to die…….”
The flood of the five senses was quite overwhelming, but.
Slice-
As I simultaneously slashed through the club aiming for me and the neck of the Goblin Chieftain, I came to a single, certain realization.
That is to say—
‘I succeeded.’
…That I had succeeded in my Regression.