My Infinitely Long End-Of-The-World Regression Journal

I sat around in the city after that interaction with Liliana. Everything around me was deathly silent.

The hellish screams and sounds from the Tutorial were finished. Already, it was the first night.

To be more specific, I was inside of the first office we had hid in together.

'...now that I think about it, I wonder what Liliana's first day is like without...without me?'

I felt a little selfish for thinking like that. I don't think I could be blamed, though. I was just too used to being around her by now.

Just as I got lost in my thoughts, there was a familiar knock at the door of the office room that I was hiding in. Insistent, strong enough to rattle the door on its' hinges.

My reaction was automatic As the knob turned, I reached into the nearby desk, pulling out a piece of paper and writing on it.

Company ID

Al

I then paused, staring blankly at the paper.

'...you know, why am I even doing this?'

I turned my gaze to the doorknob, which had already jingled and began to turn.

'Why bother taking the peaceful way out with these things? Worst case scenario, I die. So…'

I held tightly onto the wooden broom handle. I had brought it along again, just out of instinct. Maybe even hoping that it'd help Liliana to recognize me better…

The door opened, and the shadowy security guard walked in. 

By that time, I was already out of sight. I was sure it was looking around for me.

I tightened my grip. Hiding…right behind the door. 

"--!"

The only noise that escaped me was an almost silent breath, as I swung the jagged pole full-force for the back of the guard's head.

Still, that monetary noise was enough. Maybe because it was an amalgamation of 'security guard' concepts, but the thing spun around like it had been expecting me. It tried aiming that damn dark-light at me but I slammed the handle up into its wrist, full force.

The 'flashlight' flew out of the security guard-shadow's hand, skittering across the floor.

I pulled back…and stared at the apparition. 

This was the way to deal with it using brute force. Last time, it had the chance to adapt to my swings, and absorb the broom into the void of its body.

Now, it had been ambushed, momentarily caught off guard by a version of me who was much faster and stronger than last time.

It also fit with the concept. After all, a security guard wasn't much without some kind of equipment.

However, I had forgotten something. 

Abnormalities shouldn't be dealt with using conventions.

A glint of something shimmered in the air, and I immediately ducked and ran out of the office thanks to pure instinct, slamming the door behind me.

An ear-ringing sound roared through the building, multiple times. I heard the sound of something splintering through the fragile office door.

My split second decision barely saved me. But I didn't escape unscathed. I risked a look back at the now closed door, which had multiple perfectly circular holes going through it.

I had similar wounds in my sides...luckily, it hadn't gone straight through my body, but a small chunk of my right side had been...erased, for lack of a better word.

The security guard had pulled a 'gun' seemingly out of nowhere. Unlike the flashlight, which I could react to, I would not be dodging bullets anytime soon. The only things that saved me from being turned into swiss cheese were the door and my instinctive feeling to run away before the gun came out.

I didn't know if it was following me, but I didn't turn around to find out. I ran away at top speed, hands covering the wound. I ignored the searing pain that tore at my nerves, and focused on survival.

Why? If I knew I would regress, why didn't I just let myself die and try over?

No, that wasn't it. I didn't want to start thinking like that. Liliana...I imagined that, if she knew, she wouldn't want me to think that way. That thought supported me as I struggled on.

I kicked my way out of the back door, stumbling through alleyway after alleyway. Blood was dripping on the ground now, seeping through my fingers and staining the ground.

I finally couldn't move anymore. I forced myself to sit down, panting and heaving as I leaned against the back wall of some random building. I forced myself to curl up, making myself as small as possible.

I was outside, cold, in unearthly pain, and completely vulnerable...I could hear unearthly wails and screams all around me.

My head was spinning. My vision was turning.

And nobody was going to help me.

Just as I was finding a way to manage, naïve enough to try and pass out - those same sounds echoed through the alleyway. Gunshots.

I didn't have to look down to tell that I was shot. I saw the specter of the security guard, standing over me with it's 'gun' drawn. Otherworldly wisps of void-smoke gently pooled around the gun's barrel.

More than anything, I could feel it now - even more holes in my stomach than before.

I couldnt even scream. I was too weak.

'This isn't natural...I shouldn't have bled out and collapsed so quickly...'

As if trying to distract myself from my impending death, I thought of useless things.

The Security Guard, seemingly satisfied with dealing with the 'threat', turned and walked away, leaving me to die with a slowly failing body and mind.

That voice entered my head.

Imminent death of skill holder detected.

Conditions met.

Activating unique skill: Regression.

My third life ended without me even making it past the first day.

...

I woke up inside of the convenience store again. I was silent, but inside me, mentally, I was an absolute mess.

The first bit of knowledge I discovered was that my Regression ability didn't just keep my body's state. It also kept my mind incredibly sharp. It wouldn't be wrong to say that I had a perfect memory now.

Because I could remember every detail of my past three lives. Down to the detail. Even the excruciating pain that I had just experienced...

I sat down behind the counter. In another 30 minutes, the Pixie would appear again and force me through the tutorial.

But there was no goal that came to mind this time.

I was weak enough to die to the Abnormality that seemingly always attacked me on the first night.

The Flood Dragon was seemingly invincible to every sort of attack.

'What is this...?'

I was lost.

So I did what I always did when I felt lost in my first life.

I kept moving.

The Pixie appeared again, and I easily cleared the Tutorial again.

I grabbed my supplies. Then I grabbed my makeshift weapon. But instead of heading towards the city, I stopped in my tracks.

'The city isn't really that useful to me anymore.'

That thought was like a stake driving itself into my heart. I didnt really want to believe that, but it was the truth.

Even if I met Liliana again, and got the alliance together one more time, the only thing waiting for us was death.

If I wanted to defeat the Flood Dragon, I needed more. More information, more possible allies, more experience...and especially, more power.

So I headed in the opposite direction of the city, leaving Liliana, the Alliance, and everything I had known over the past three lives.

I didn't turn around.

I kept my mind focused.

I just needed to keep moving forward.

...

I don't know how long I travelled. But it was hard to say that it was more than a single day or two, at most.

Walking, keeping my mind quiet, and hiding at night especially from any Abnormalities.

Soon enough, I was out of the city's limits completely. I found myself walking less among buildings and paved roads, and more among trees, lush grasses, and plentiful wildlife.

...

'Wait, what?'

I only really noticed how odd it was a few hours in. At most, I'd been out of the city limits for maybe half a day, and I was already in an area so rural, that there was nothing but forests and wildlife around? I didn't even remember entering a rural town or anything first...

Noticing that, a single thought came to mind.

'Don't tell me...the entire area around me is an Abnormality?'

I couldn't help but simultaneously curse myself, and express silent outrage towards the prospect.

Sure, I knew that buildings could be an Abnormality. But...an Abnormality that just produced an entire forest all on its' own? What even was that???

As these thoughts were cycling in my mind. I heard a small, shy voice.

"Haha! I guess you're lost too, huh?"

I turned around, only to face...a girl with the most ridiculous outfit I'd seen.

She had deep purple hair, short, but long enough to go to her neck. Her bangs covered her entire face, and her body, which was...a little too voluptuous for me to comfortably stare, was barely covered up by...something which looked like clothing straight out of a cultivation story. They were tight enough to show the shape of her body, still.

"Excuse me?"

I replied, lost both figuratively and, apparently, literally.

"Lost! You're lost, like me! We're in the Lost Forest, after all!"

The girl grinned widely at me, and promptly laughed at our shared misfortune. Her chest bounced with each movement.

Honestly...

Her appearance was not befitting the way she spoke or acted at all.

"HEY, YOU BASTARD! COME BACK HERE!!!"

"Oh!" The girl jumped alongside me, chuckling mischievously. "Looks like the Pixies are coming! Come on, let's dash!"

She jumped onto a nearby tree branch with freakish ease. And then, she began to run, literally jumping from branch to branch without missing a single step. I stared at her, bewildered, unable to process much of anything...then I began running behind her at full speed, barely keeping up.

I really didn't understand anything at all...but for some reason, I just instinctually wanted to follow her.

I also wasn't looking forward to being horrifically eviscerated by Pixies as collateral damage. Haha.