How To Raise Your Regressor

"Let's go," Samur said and started walking towards the door of the warehouse.

?Okay,? Neia took another deep breath to calm herself down.

Killing people wasn't easy, after all. Especially when all your life, you've been taught that as someone with zero attack power, you cannot do anything.

Neia put her finger on the trigger and looked through the scope.

She wasn't using the normal scope, obviously; it would be difficult to see anything in the dark of this evening. Even if she could hypothetically see something, the scope won't let her see inside the warehouse because, you know, it was normal.

But that's where her targets were.

Thankfully, Samur had predicted such a situation and fitted the scope with several sensors.

She couldn't use the Infrared sensor as it wouldn't let her see through walls, while the X-Ray sensor was useless right now because its accompanying drone had not been deployed.

That's where the Mana sensor came in.

Not only did it allow her to see mana, it also gave it different colours based on what type of mana it was; red for living mana and blue for non-living mana.

The most it could let her see was vague shapes, however. She had to rely on her own intuition to fire.

Thankfully, she was an expert on judging things through intuition.

Just like right now.

?There are several people behind that door.?

There seemed to be a large lump of living mana behind that door Samur was heading towards. When observed closesly, she could see that it was a congregation of several human like lumps of mana. She couldn't count the exact number, however.

"How many?" Samur asked.

?10, at the very least.?

Of course, that was a calculation made using the average amount of mana the two guard had. It was entirely possible that all this mana belonged to a single person.

And if that was the case, Samur was in danger.

"By the way, how many people are on the top floor?" 𝗳𝐫𝘦e𝘸𝗲𝚋𝓃𝚘v𝘦𝘭.𝑐𝒐m

?Uh, around 70, I'd say.?

"What the fuck?"

Wow.

It would seem Mr. Kidnapper summoned an entire fucking army. Did Samur's stunt scare him that much?

?The number might vary.?

"I know, I know. And how many people are on each floor?"

?Around 50, I'd say.?

"And how many floors are there?"

?5.?

"Wow," he sighed. "You know what? Fuck it."

?What??

"I was thinking of resolving this matter peacefully, but that no longer seems possible."

?What… does that mean?? Neia asked a bit fearfully.

"From now on, you have free reign. We are going to kill everyone."

?…?

It was just as she had feared. Samur was planning to mercilessly kill them all.

?Is there no other way??

"If you want to endanger my and Lecia's life, then yes, there are."

?…? Neia bit her lips.

She was afraid of killing others, to the point that those two guards were the first the first people she had killed (kinda obvious given that she had zero attack power before this).

In fact, something inside her gripped her heart each time she pulled the trigger and ended the guards' lives.

But if she had to choose between killing people she didn't know and putting her comrades' lives on risk, she would always choose the former.

Always.

?Understood,? she took out all the magazines Samur had given her. ?We shall kill them all.?

"Now that's my Dragon," Samur chuckled. "Start with the ones behind the door."

?Okay.?

"In fact, let's have a competition."

?…What??

'Did I hear that right?' She wondered.

"The competition is simple. The one who kills more people wins."

?Wait, what??

"The winner gets to order the loser to do one thing."

?No, wait,? Neia was flustered.

Killing people because it was a necessity was a different thing, but to bet on who killed more?

This was unacceptable. She felt that if they participated in this bet… they'll be too far gone.

"By the way, if I win, you'll be my personal chef."

?…? Neia was stumped.

Several questions arose in her mind; just what did Samur think life was? Was life so lowly that he could just bet on it?

And just how could he like her food, especially to the point that he'd want her as his personal chef. Wasn't her food supposed to be so bad that the tongue of anyone who ate it went numb?

What a weird thing to think about in this situation.

?Just… just what is a life to you??

"Ah, yes, the age old philosophical question," Samur sighed. "Look, the people inside are going to die. There's no going around that."

?There should be other ways!? Neia found herself exclaiming even though she didn't want to.

"Perhaps there are, but they have their own drawbacks. For starters, if we let these people live, they'll come back for revenge."

?I'm sure you have some way around it.?

"Oh, of course I do. But believe me when I say this, Neia, you'd rather want them dead than go through what I will make them go through to ensure they don't come looking for vengeance."

?…? Neia gulped.

For some reason, a chill went down her spine when Samur mentioned giving them a fate worse than death.

She wasn't sure how, but she 'felt' in her very bones that Samur WILL see through what he just promised, and he will stop at nothing to achieve that.

"So let's kill them and finish this once and for all. And remember, the winner gets to order the looser."

?…? Neia calmed her trembling heart. ?Alright. If I win, you are going to answer every single question that I ask. Truthfully.?

"Hehehe, ask and ye shall receive," Samur snapped his fingers. Several large ice spears appeared in the air behind him (it seemed to be his favourite spell). "That is, if you win."

The next moment, the fired the nearly 50 ice spears at the door and the wall.

"Aaaaah! What the- ugh!" What followed were the cries of anguish of the people impaled by them.

As Neia looked through the scope, she noticed the lump of mana that was behind the door started thinning out. Those impaled by the ice spears were dying.

Within moments, all but one of the guys behind the door breathed their last breath. The ice spears melted down, leaving behind bodies full of large holes.

"It seems I'm winning," Samur chuckled as he summoned one more spear and killed the last remaining guy.

'This is so unfair…' Neia bit her lips.

"I'm going in," Samur said as he opened the door (or what remained of it) and stepped inside. "The game is on."

?People's lives are not a game,? Neia sighed.

"Whatever you say, Ms.. Philanthropist," Samur rolled his eyes.