The Regressor is too Powerful in Martial Arts – Chapter 45

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

In the first place, all of the Iron Blood guild’s executives were people who owed me a debt of gratitude.

So it was natural that there were no spies among them.

I had thought that there might be someone who had been tempted by the money offered by other factions and had betrayed them, but since they were all veteran Awakeners, it seemed like they weren’t greatly swayed by money.

All that was left was to check the regular guild members.

“Then I’ll go with the kids to where the other guild members are.”

Yeon Mi-rae, who had received my signal, said that to the executives who were there, including Ji Hyeong-man.

Since the Iron Blood guild’s executives had gathered under the pretext of a meeting, they had to have one, and although Yeon Mi-rae was slated to join the Iron Blood guild, she was still an outsider, so it wasn’t a good look for her to participate in the meeting.

At Yeon Mi-rae’s words, the Iron Blood guild’s executives lightly nodded their heads and saw us off.

‘Now then….’

Yeon Mi-rae and Lee Ha-eun, who had left the conference room with me, then looked at me.

They were asking where I intended to go next.

“Noona, let’s go to that lounge from before.”

Since there were still people walking around us, I said that to Yeon Mi-rae, and she nodded her head as if she understood and headed in the direction of the lounge.

In the lounge where the Mutant Team had been resting just a while ago, different people had come and were resting there.

‘There are also non-Awakeners.’

Well, for a guild to operate, there had to be office workers.

However….

The ratio of spies among those presumed to be office workers was higher than I thought.

‘The White Wolf guild, if I’m not mistaken….’

I knew it as a guild that was slightly higher in rank than the Iron Blood guild.

This one was also one of Korea’s top 10 guilds like the Iron Blood guild, so not only was its influence far-reaching, but it was a guild that had existed for quite a long time.

Though it was only about 10 years old, compared to the Iron Blood guild, which had just passed 3 years since its establishment, it was an old guild.

No, in this case, should I say that the Iron Blood guild, which had entered Korea’s top 10 guilds in just 3 years, was the abnormal one?

‘If the Iron Blood guild and the White Wolf guild were to clash head-on now, the Iron Blood guild would lose.’

Although the Iron Blood guild was composed of strong people like veteran Awakeners and the Mutant Team, there was no absolute strong person among them, and the number of guild members was small for its size….

I didn’t know about later when Yeon Mi-rae joined the Iron Blood guild, but at least for now, it was impossible for them to match the White Wolf guild.

‘Anyway, I’ll keep an eye on the two I just saw….’

After that, I, along with Yeon Mi-rae and Lee Ha-eun, continued to walk around the guild headquarters under the pretext of a tour and identified the spies and traitors.

What was interesting was that nearly 50% of those spies and traitors were dispatched by the White Wolf guild.

‘White Wolf… They must be scared since Yeon Mi-rae is scheduled to join the Iron Blood guild, right?’

It seemed like they sent spies since they were wary of a guild of a higher level than them emerging, not because they were trying to find out the Artist’s identity.

Though it seemed that the spies sent by other organizations were indeed trying to find out the Artist’s identity.

There were also quite a few spies who had infiltrated from foreign countries.

‘…There are quite a few….’

Even though they were spies, if I fired all of these people, the Iron Blood guild’s operations might be paralyzed for a while.

There were so many of them that I had that thought.

Well, since the Iron Blood guild had few people, they probably would have passed everyone as long as there were no problems with their documents and their abilities were sufficient.

If one was determined to dispatch a spy, there was no way to stop it.

“Noona, let’s go home.”

Having finished my check after a full tour of the headquarters, I said that to Yeon Mi-rae, and at my words, she nodded her head and picked up Lee Ha-eun, who was tired from walking around the headquarters for a long time.

Now that I knew who the spies were and who had sent the spies, there was only one thing left to do.

As I was thinking that, Yeon Mi-rae asked me.

“Are you planning on gathering evidence now before handing it over to Guild Master Ji Hyeong-man?”

“Hm? Ah, I did say that, didn’t I.”

It seemed like she remembered that I had decided to create a list for Ji Hyeong-man and hand it over along with the evidence.

“I was thinking of doing that at first, but looking at the situation, it seems that things will get a bit complicated if I do that.”

The other people were one thing, but if I were to get rid of all the spies from the White Wolf guild, it was hard to predict how it would try to retaliate against the Iron Blood Guild.

No, not just White Wolf.

Most of the organizations that had sent spies to the Iron Blood Guild were of a higher level than the Iron Blood Guild, so they had to be wary of all of them.

It would be impossible to resolve this with just Ji Hyeong-man’s strength.

So….

I planned to get rid of them all before handing over the spy list.

“Is Ha-eun asleep?”

“Yes. She must have been tired from walking around continuously, so she’s asleep.”

“Then send her home first and then come to the usual meeting place.”

Because it seemed like we had some cleaning up to do.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The guild master of the White Wolf Guild, Kim Baek-rang.

He was an Awakener who, as his guild’s name suggested, transformed into a white wolf and fought.

According to the system, he was a spiritmancer-type ability user, and among them, he was an ability user who went beyond just borrowing the power of animal spirits to transform into the form of the animal itself.

Seeing his ability, people called him…

‘Druid.’

Druid was a word corresponding to a priest in Celtic mythology, but due to the influence of subculture, it was known as a being who borrowed the power of animals or nature.

In Kim Baek-rang’s case, besides just transforming into a white wolf, he had few similarities with the commonly known characteristics of the druid, but he was still called ‘Druid’.

‘Honestly, it’s not a title that I like, but….’

If possible, he had wanted to get a title related to his wolf form, but since a title that had already been imprinted in people’s minds couldn’t be easily changed, he had just accepted it.

And he, who was called a Druid by the people of the world, was now….

“Kyiing….”

…cowering in his transformed state as a white wolf.

“Grrrrrrr….”

A wolf far larger than his transformed self was growling at him, and he had submitted upon seeing that wolf.

‘I can’t… win against that….’

No, it wasn’t a matter of not being able to win.

In front of that thing, he shouldn’t even raise his head.

The wild instinct he felt when he transformed into a white wolf told him so.

‘Me, who is on par with an Aura Master or an Archmage…!’

It was when he was having that thought…

“Now, is there anything you want to say to me?”

“……”

The man who appeared to be the master of the giant wolf said that.

It was hard to properly recognize his face and voice.

The fact that Kim Baek-rang had even realized that was because his senses were outstanding. An ordinary Awakener wouldn’t be able to easily notice it, no matter how powerful of an Aura Master or Archmage they were.

‘It must be an artifact….’

And Kim Baek-rang knew the identity of this man.

“For carelessly… messing with the Iron Blood guild… I’m sorry… Mr. Artist….”

It was the first time he had seen this man in person.

But how many people in the world were there who could raise a familiar that could invade another’s guild, make most of the guild members inside faint, and make the guild master, himself, submit in an instant?

And besides….

“Uuuh….”

“Guild Master… please….”

“Sob….”

“……”

There were the guild’s executives he had deliberately brought here.

They were the ones who had recently disliked the Iron Blood Guild and had been plotting behind the scenes.

In Kim Baek-rang’s head, no one other than the Artist came to mind as a strong person related to the Iron Blood Guild.

“You don’t need to apologize that much. It doesn’t seem like you were the one who directly ordered them to plant spies in the Iron Blood Guild.”

“…Yes. The executives acted on their own….”

“But it seems like you knew about it, so… I can’t say you’re without sin.”

‘What do you want me to do?’

Kim Baek-rang thought that and lowered his head.

He lowered his head as much as possible to avoid making eye contact with the Artist.

“So, this is a warning.”

The Artist said that and pointed at the crying executives.

They had an expression of horror, as if they had seen something terrifying.

“You guys. The system message displayed in front of you… read it without missing a single word.”

“Th-that….”

“What… is this….?”

They read the system message with despairing eyes.

“What are you doing? Not reading. Or….”

As the Artist glared at them and spoke, the four executives haltingly read the system message displayed before their eyes.

“…Your… user qualification… has been revoked… from now on, mana….”

“Aura….”

“You will not be able to use psychic power….”

“…anymore.”

“!”

Kim Baek-rang, who had heard that, couldn’t help but be surprised.

Didn’t this sound as if… the Artist could turn an Awakener into a non-Awakener?

“Kim Baek-rang.”

“Y-yes… yes….”

“If you don’t want to lose the power you have….”

The Artist had only said that much, but Kim Baek-rang just nodded his head.

“Then, start by cleaning up the inside of your guild. Honestly, you’re not a completely clean person either, but…. I’ll let it slide this time.”

“…Yes.”

“It would be good to cut ties with the smuggling business before this month is over.”

“…Yes.”

The Artist, who saw Kim Baek-rang’s state with satisfaction, said to the giant wolf next to him.

“Let’s go back.”

Fenrir.

“……”

And so, the Artist and the wolf called Fenrir disappeared.

And a short while later… Kim Baek-rang, who had returned to his human form, slowly moved his hand and began to make a call somewhere.

“…Uh… It’s me… I’m sorry, but… the deal we talked about last time, let’s just pretend it never happened….”

Then, the other party spat out a curse and got angry, but Kim Baek-rang said calmly.

“I… want to live…. So hang up.”

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

For the various criminal organizations that had sent spies to the Iron Blood Guild, just smashing them was enough.

Because they were clearly criminals.

But the White Wolf Guild was different.

Although they were a guild that committed crimes like smuggling behind the scenes, officially, they were a proper guild, so it was difficult to attack them openly.

Under normal circumstances, that is.

‘The Artist is a criminal for now.’

Although few people actually thought so, I was a criminal with a bounty on my head.

A criminal who had committed the crime of private justice.

I decided to use that point.

I had shown Kim Baek-rang, the guild master of the White Wolf guild, that I could cross the line if necessary, and I had also shown him that I could take away the power they had.

‘…Of course, taking away their power was thanks to a deal with the system.’

It required an amount of points that I would have to save up for a week to turn one Awakener into a non-Awakener.

It might sound trivial to say it’s an amount I have to save up for a week, but this was an amount of points that an ordinary Awakener would have to invest at least a few years to collect.

And that was a low estimate. The stronger the Awakener one wanted to turn into a non-Awakener, the more points the system required.

And since they were strong Awakeners, being executives of a top 10 guild, the amount of points the system required was also large.

‘Kim Baek-rang, that man, will probably want to keep what happened today a secret if possible, but….’

Kim Baek-rang wasn’t the only one who had been there.

Most of the White Wolf guild’s members had been watching everything in a subdued state.

In one way or another, what had happened today would be quietly made known.

And they would learn…

That being hostile to the Artist was a foolish act.

“Is it over?”

As I came out of the White Wolf guild’s building, Yeon Mi-rae, who had been waiting nearby, asked that.

Of course, since she was also using an artifact similar to the one I was using, other people wouldn’t be able to recognize her.

“Yes. This place is finished.”

Kim Baek-rang was a competent Awakener who had run the White Wolf Guild for a long time.

Although he was a case of having become a guild master because of his individual martial power being outstanding rather than due to his political acumen, still, with his long experience, it would be possible for him to normalize his guild.

In that process, they might be pushed out of the top 10 guilds, but since a strong person of Kim Baek-rang’s level wasn’t common, they would recover quickly.

However….

“There are quite a few other places left.”

Fortunately, among the proper guilds, the only one that had dispatched spies to the Iron Blood guild was the White Wolf guild, but there were still various criminal organizations and spies from foreign countries left.

Yeon Mi-rae and I planned to go around tonight and smash all of their hideouts.

“…It’s going to be a long night.”

At my words, Yeon Mi-rae said that.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

T/N – Oh, damn, the MC really can take away someone’s power, but it costs him a lot of points. The system is really going all in to support the MC, huh?

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.