I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

Discord: https://dsc.gg/reapercomics

◈ I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell

──────

The Merger IV

Alexander the Great.

After appearing in a spin-off novel of a game with a famous IP, he rose to fame as a quintessential "macho man" in subcultures. But truthfully, even as an adult, he never outgrew his chuunibyou tendencies.

"I want to erect a stela at the easternmost edge of the world."

"Why, Your Majesty?"

"To engrave my name on it. Doesn't that sound so badass? Isn't it cool?"

In modern terms, this was akin to a mindless tourist leaving graffiti on ancient ruins. An upgraded version of ignorance, if you will.

Hercules had done something similar, and did it first. For those who don't know, he planted stone pillars at the westernmost edge of the world, the Strait of Gibraltar.

Given the starting points of these two, it's clear that reaching the east was a far tougher quest than the west.

Alexander embarked on this new challenge solely to declare, "Hercules? That guy's nothing but a paper rocket."

The problem with that?

"No, I don't want to."

"What?"

The soldiers accompanying Alexander had been "cured" of their chuunibyou during their ten years of military service.

They were exhausted. It was hard enough keeping up with their king's "son of a god" act, let alone doing the work to indulge his fantasies. Greek culture at the time already harbored a certain disillusionment with gods—capricious beings who behaved on whims and occasionally hurled lightning bolts when irritated.

If actual gods were a nuisance, then why tolerate someone claiming to be their son?

Thus, Alexander's ambitious eastward expedition to traverse the world from end to end met its untimely demise.

"But we can do it."

Back in the operations room of Ark City BusaN, I slammed my hand on the world map and made my declaration.

"Alexander's expedition failed only because he relied on the fragile muscles and flesh of mere mortals. But we're different. With steel and concrete, cutting-edge city management AIs, and the very embodiment of modern civilization in the form of BusaN, we can and will traverse the Eurasian continent!"

"Oooooh!"

"We shall name this the 'Alexander Project' and declare our intent to advance from Busan, the eastern edge, to Gibraltar, the western edge!"

Ji-won, Dok-seo, Ah-ryeon, and Ha-yul—the pro-Undertaker faction—cheered enthusiastically. However, as I had already described this scene once before, I'll skip the redundant details.

Do-hwa, a notable member of the anti-Undertaker faction, raised her hand. For this story, she bore the title of City Management Corps Leader rather than National Road Management Corps Leader.

"Speak, Leader Noh Do-hwa."

"I realize it's a bit late to ask, but why exactly do we need to cross the continent...?"

"Because it's cool?"

"......"

"Go with full speed ahead."

Do-hwa's responding expression resembled that of a Greek soldier conspiring against their king.

However, in this iteration, my death was not scheduled at Do-hwa's hands. If she intended to stab my back with a black dagger, she'd have to wait for the right historical moment. After all, the most famous rebellion in history didn't occur in Greece but in its successor, the Roman Empire.

BusaN advanced.

Limp, limp.

The colossal structure pushed forward despite its occasional wobbling, like a person hobbling on sore feet.

Once beyond the borders of the Korean Peninsula, Ark City first visited Mount Hua in China.

The hike up was easy. Mount Hua might have been infamous for its cliffs and treacherous terrain, but BusaN's height was nothing to scoff at.

"Oh, my goodness!"

One figure practically bounced with joy upon our arrival.

"To think I'd live to reclaim Mount Hua's roots! Not even in my wildest dreams!"

Sword Marquess, bursting with energy, danced a lively jig.

The old man had been forcibly dragged from Ulleungdo and sulked the entire way with a perpetually gloomy look on his face. Yet the moment we reached Mount Hua, he radiated the vigor that only came with 500 cups of caffeine.

"As the 261st Sect Leader, I welcome your visit! Come in, come in, make yourselves at home!"

"Welcoming us? Aren't we all technically riding the same ark?"

"H-H-Ha-yul, hush. Don't ruin the old man's fantasy."

"Okay, but where're the plum blossoms?"

"Hiiiik! H-H-Ha-yul!"

With the Sword Marquess as our guide, we took a leisurely tour of Mount Hua with packed lunches and picnic mats in tow for maximum enjoyment.

Compared to the 108th run, when only the Sword Marquess and I wandered the mountain by ourselves, this was far livelier.

The Sword Marquess would frantically try to plant plum blossoms, and Ha-yul in turn would quietly tease him with her stoic remarks, amusing the rest of the group.

"Disciples, listen well!"

A year later, after finally blanketing Mount Hua in plum blossoms, the Sword Marquess loudly declared thus:

"What is Mount Hua? Not a mere dot on the Earth, no. It is a single flower blooming in our hearts!"

"Whoooa!"

"Well said, Sect Leader!"

The ones cheering him on were our most recent additions to the ark's population and newest Mount Hua Sect disciples, the villagers from the Forsaken Villages surrounding Mount Hua.

The Sword Marquess, now encircled by his disciples, shouted his proclamation.

"Mount Hua is not merely a point on the map but a place that blooms within us! As of today, I declare that the seat of Mount Hua will move to the ark!"

"Mount Hua! Plum blossoms! The True Path! The Martial Gate!"

The Sword Marquess and his reborn disciples transplanted twenty-four plum blossoms, the first to bloom on Mount Hua, into the ark. They did this not with tools or metal, but with their bare hands, carefully preserving every root and stem.

And so it was that the spirit of Mount Hua was transplanted into the ark. A single, Eastern-style temple was erected to be the new headquarters of the Mount Hua Sect.

"It is done! Now I shall dedicate myself to ensuring the people of the ark are fed and cared for!"

The Sword Marquess, once riddled with melancholy, threw himself into farming with renewed vitality.

Yes, cultivating crops on Ark City was not only possible but necessary, and farmland was in abundance.

The ark embraced everyone.

https://dsc.gg/reapercomics

Limp, limp.

The next destination was New Delhi.

"Ah... What is this?"

The mayor of New Delhi, Manav, stood in awe when the colossal Ark City came looming over the horizon, his expression wavering as the city shook the earth itself in its grandeur.

"Who... Who are you? Are you messengers of God? Or beings of calamity? How could you possibly ride atop such a wonder...?"

"Indians have always been renowned as exceptional talent. Ha-yul, take care of it."

"Roger that. Target secured."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Huh?"

Manav and the remaining residents of New Delhi were promptly absorbed into the ark.

In fact, Ark City was gathering residents from every Forsaken Village it passed. By this point, BusaN was transforming into a bustling international city, floating somewhere between steampunk and cyberpunk aesthetics.

As the population grew and became more diverse, the administrative burden on Do-hwa's shoulders increased exponentially.

That was why we brought Manav aboard.

After all, in the midst of an apocalypse, this man had managed to feed and lead hundreds of thousands of citizens. Talent like his was rare, even in the best of times.

"Good heavens."

Manav, now an administrator under Do-hwa, flipped through the mountain of documents related to city management and shook his head in disbelief.

"You mean... all this work was done by a single person? Seriously? This much?"

"Noh Do-hwa is a god, and regressors are invincible."

"Oh, dear god..." Manav's hands trembled as he looked over the administrative files. "It looked impressive from the outside, but it turns out this city is nothing more than a skeleton held together by scraps of flesh. Still... this place is clearly destined to become humanity's final stronghold. I will help."

Even in a new environment, Manav's administrative skills shone. If anything, they improved.

In New Delhi, he had been forced to sacrifice more than 100 lives daily, playing trolley dilemmas to keep the majority alive. His unshakable faith in "utilitarian justice" had undoubtedly taken its toll on him.

Here, though the workload was heavy, his dark circles gradually faded.

Incidentally, we learned he was a fitness enthusiast. He joined the ark's gym club alongside me, Seo Gyu, and Ah-ryeon (who was dragged along unwillingly).

"This city is good."

One day, Manav stood atop the ark and murmured this:

"So long as one has a clear direction, life can be bearable. I've only just come to realize that."

The mayor of the city, who had been deferring death day by day, looked indifferent.

I asked, "Resources within the city have been running low lately. Will it be okay?"

"No." Mayor Manav smiled. "We’ll have to make it okay. At least until we see the sea."

The ark accepts everyone.

Limp, limp.

The next stop was Naryan-Mar, where the last of the Nenets struggled to survive in the Arctic wilderness.

"Wow... Is this for real?"

Nenet stared slack-jawed at Ark City as it approached. His astonishment only deepened when he saw Julius, my and Ha-yul’s dual-pilot ace mech.

"In the middle of an apocalypse, they still have giant robots? Are we living in an anime? What even is this world?"

Initially, Nenet had no intention of joining Ark City. However, after I gave him a crash course in Aura techniques, enabling him to take revenge on the reindeer that had killed his uncle, his attitude shifted.

Or perhaps it was the moment when he was nearly gored to death by a reindeer, only to be saved by Ha-yul's puppet strings, that ultimately changed his mind.

Life is better than death, even in an apocalypse. Accomplishing one's goals can make life even sweeter. As Manav had put it, if a task that must be done is transformed into one that can be done, the outcome becomes much more bearable.

I made him a proposal.

"We'll set up a signal fire at the top of the ark. Nenet, you can tend to it. It will be your job to keep the flames burning."

"..."

"This way, as we traverse the continent, any survivors in the vicinity will see our beacon."

Nenet asked for a day to consider.

The next day, carrying all his worldly possessions in a single backpack, the last scion of his people climbed aboard the ark.

"Well... If it's just tending a fire..."

From that day onward, Ark City gained a lighthouse keeper—a solitary figure who maintained the signal fire atop its highest point. Though he kept his distance from others, his beacon was a constant, visible to anyone in the city.

The ark embraced everyone.

Limp, limp.

Years passed.

BusaN journeyed across countless Forsaken Villages and dozens of cities.

Even with the former Outer God, Admin of the Infinite Metagame, serving as the city's AI administrator, incidents occurred almost daily. It took the combined efforts of Ha-yul, Do-hwa, and the rest of the crew to keep things running smoothly. The haunting songs recorded by Seo-rin played on loop to assist their efforts.

"Undertaker."

"Hmm?"

"We're almost out of supplies. If we don't restock somewhere, we won't survive the winter."

"Got it. If we find a city predator, we'll take it down and salvage the remains."

"Understood."

Avoiding the path of monster waves wasn't easy, but it was something we had to attempt.

From Korea, we traversed China and Siberia, scaled the Himalayas and the Urals, crossed the Bosphorus, and finally ascended the Pyrenees.

In city after city, our mechs battled colossal Anomalies. Our land-based aircraft carrier fortress conquered every foe and from the ruins of abandoned settlements, scoured clean by monsters, we scavenged scrap metal to repair our ark, over and over again.

The ark's original exterior plating, emblazoned with the words Mobile Land-Based Aircraft Carrier Fortress: Humanity's Final Defense Ark City, was worn and battered.

By the time it reached its destination, the lettering was so faded it could hardly be read. One last plate fell off, hitting the ground with a resounding clang.

"Ah."

At 4:56 a.m., when the stars still kissed the night, the ark finally came to a halt. Its massive frame trembled as its titanic feet ceased their relentless march.

Standing at the helm of the control room, Ha-yul, who had stayed awake all night, whispered two words:

"The sea."

We had arrived at the world's western edge—Gibraltar.

Footnotes: