The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 67: May The Grind Continue

In all honesty, Ignotus calling himself a genius a bit ago was far from him being egotistic; the plan he concocted, though simple, was pretty... out there.

Back then, before meeting the wolves, he and Eris thought themselves before a land war, one over a Fallen Rune, only to meet bandits who came to assassinate some dumb kid.

This time, though, he’d go and search for one, a real one. Once he found one, he planned to push both sides into killing and tearing into each other. And while they bled each other dry, he’d go to grind out monsters and increase his Ordination.

That would be his waiting period, to pass the time until eventually...

His dish would be ready, and Calamity would trigger, killing two birds with one stone, or maybe a hundred if he wanted to be realistic.

At the end, or near it, when both sides finally wanted out, he’d swoop in and do his magic...

’Talking~.’

Ignotus would snatch the prize, leaving them with nothing but blood and death. A plan that was gloriously fun, cruel, and precisely the kind of thing he loved.

His personality was G-ranked for a reason!

...

Ignotus spent the next few hours and then the next day doing exactly what he said he would:

Searching the unclaimed lands.

He didn’t stop much. Sleep was for people who trusted the world to wait.

Ignotus trusted nothing but his own instincts and the fact that he had no time to waste... perhaps he’d trusted Eris as well.

Nearly all of his time was spent walking, scanning plain fields, half-hidden valleys, dusty streams, and forests with many a familiar monster.

Ignotus ate monkey and crab meat between paces, sometimes chewing while sprinting, simply devouring his reserves.

He fought the occasional monster that popped up. Small things that liked the taste of flesh and bigger things that barely gave more Soul Fragments but easily doubled the effort.

Each fight acted much like a small rehearsal for the real one.

Ignotus, being the clean freak that he was, wanted to shower by the second day’s evening, itching to take out what stood for soap in this realm and scrub away, but again...

He stopped himself.

Besides his issues with time, inventory water was finite. If he used it on a proper bath, he’d stare at a puddle in regret later while fighting monsters that came to check his naked self out, finding his meat tantalizing.

The same would be said for those he knew were chasing after him.

He was sure that they weren’t following him by that point, but a delay might change that.

Oh, and the reason for them losing him was simple.

Though hidden, they had limits they couldn’t cross.

Those were the areas Ignotus casually walked through, but still, he wanted to be safe.

Ignotus wasn’t sure how seriously Genus was taking this... he was sure that doing a few illegal things wasn’t at all unusual for his father.

So yes... priorities. Though, despite all of that, he managed to keep himself decently tidy by current-outlaw standards, constantly scrubbing mud and the like off his person.

By the time he stopped thinking about being clean, evening had bled further into the night, and before he realized it, night had bled into day, returning the sun’s light.

Ignotus barely rested, napping in ditches and leaning against trees. One hand was always in position, ready to summon his sword, while his heart remained ready for the next noise.

Ignotus tracked tracks, counted footprints, and learned paths people seemed to prefer avoiding, slowly getting closer to finding a land war.

On the third night, when the moon hung bright, his efforts bore fruit.

Finally, he found what he’d been hunting!

Hidden high up on a hill, behind a few trees, his breath slow and careful, Ignotus peered out across a clearing and saw two banners.

They stood opposite each other on a grass plain, while between them, a Rune floated, glowing faintly in the dark.

One banner read: House Gift.

Their sigil was a hand holding a lantern....

A House that Ignotus certainly didn’t expect to see.

’So Theodore’s playing a little~.’

Perhaps seeing one of theirs, namely, Gaia, becoming a Primary Element, made him and his people more confident and daring.

Or perhaps they simply decided to go all out and bet on their Primary Element, wanting to find her as many Runes as possible so that they could hug her thigh and climb up their noble hierarchy.

Opposite them was another Lower House, one that Ignotus didn’t recognize, probably a scrappy, regional family:

House Twilight.

The banner bore a silver moth over deep blue, wings stained with battle—

’Quite suitable...’

Ignotus’s thought came while he scanned them.

Both sides were far from healthy; many of their injured propped against trees.

Their bannermen were limp, their blood staining the grass.

It was an unfortunate sight.

There were more of them dead than alive, and many of the dead lay scattered across the plain... an ugly harvest.

Reinforcements hadn’t come; that was obvious enough from the ragged edges of their lines and the thinness of their numbers.

Ignotus counted quietly in his head and found fewer than a hundred men between them, if that.

Maybe fifty on one side, thirty on the other.

Both exhausted, wounded, and hungry.

"Good."

Enjoying seeing his plan take shape even before his influence’s involvement, he slunk deeper into the trees, blending into bark and leaf.

While the Houses continued to kill each other, he’d go do something actually useful and maybe gain an Ordination or two.

Only after a few steps, before and around him, the forest began to reek of blood...

’That’s a good sign.’

Which was exactly how Ignotus liked it.

He casually walked past Mischievous Monkeys and other such monsters, waiting for something that wasn’t just another weak pest.

When it finally came a minute later, it didn’t disappoint.

’...that’s new.’

Down the slope, a Chimera lumbered out, a grotesque mix-and-match of creatures that definitely should’ve stayed in their respective families.

It had a dog-wolf body, a stag’s legs, a lion’s neck and tail, and a badger’s head full of teeth.

If this wasn’t evidence of the Demons’ love for gene-splicing, he didn’t know what was.

The thing was truly ugly, but...

’Perfect.’

Ignotus really wanted to fight it.

’May the grind continue~.’