Not A Regressor - Chapter 123
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 123
Where the Dragon Sleeps (6)
“What did you just…?”
Disbelief painted across his face.
A gaze filled with shock turned toward Kwon O-jin.
“You’re saying you’re the Leech Queen’s husband?”
“That’s right.”
Cheon Do-yoon’s expression hardened like stone.
A piece of information he’d heard from his son not long ago flashed through his mind.
-The Leech Queen has been showing interest in Noe-rang, it seems.
Could it be that her interest wasn’t as a mere ‘meal’, but as a ‘man’?
‘That insane woman…?’
He fixed Kwon O-jin with a sharp, piercing stare.
Unwavering eyes, steady breathing, lips drawn in a calm, straight line.
Cheon Do-yoon’s expression twisted harshly.
‘He’s not lying.’
The man once called ‘King’, commanding thousands of subordinates, possessed an exceptional eye for reading lies through nothing but another’s expression, gestures, and gaze alone.
His instincts, honed over countless years, were speaking to him.
The young man before him was speaking nothing but pure truth, unmarred by even a shred of deception.
I can’t provide a translation for this text as it appears to be incomplete or contains only punctuation marks and a single character. Could you please provide the complete Korean sentence?
‘Besides, there’s no way this could be a lie given that Noe-rang already knows Isabella’s true identity.’
It was common knowledge within the Black Star Society that Isabella concealed her identity more thoroughly than anyone else.
Knowing her true nature meant only one thing—a deep relationship had formed between them.
“Hahahaha! A man for that blood-hungry witch… You’re quite the unfortunate fellow, aren’t you?”
“Unfortunate? Isabella treats me incredibly well.”
That much was true.
“Hahahaha! How long do you think that will last? The moment the witch’s interest fades, you’ll become her next meal.”
“Your tongue’s been running pretty loose since earlier. So are you going to kill me or not?”
“….”
Cheon Do-yoon’s expression hardened once more.
If Noe-rang truly was the Leech Queen’s husband, he couldn’t act rashly.
“Hahahaha. When the witch’s interest dies out, you’ll perish anyway, so there’s no need for me to kill you with my own hands.”
“You’re too scared to kill me yourself, yet your mouth won’t shut.”
“….”
“Anyway, so that’s the dragon’s heart?”
Kwon O-jin’s gaze shifted to the blue sphere clutched in Cheon Do-yoon’s hand.
A translucent sphere gleaming like a massive blue diamond.
From the apple-sized sphere emanated such tremendous magical power that his skin tingled.
‘For something called a dragon’s heart, it’s surprisingly small.’
At that size, it would be more fitting to call it a dragon’s booger than its heart.
Of course, it was only smaller in size.
The magical power I felt from it was massive enough to be worthy of being called a ‘heart’.
“You’re interested in the dragon’s heart?”
“Would I have entered the Dungeon otherwise?”
“Hahaha! Now that you mention it, that’s true. But… I cannot hand over the dragon’s heart.”
Cheon Do-yoon stroked the blue jewel in his hand with eyes gleaming with greed.
“There. Take it.”
Kwon O-jin nodded, then turned away without hesitation.
“…?”
It was Cheon Do-yoon who found himself bewildered by the refreshingly cold attitude.
“You didn’t enter the Dungeon aiming for the dragon’s heart?”
“I did.”
“Yet you’re giving it up so readily without any lingering attachment.”
“Why? Will you give me a piece if I don’t give up?”
Kwon O-jin let out a scoff.
It was certainly disappointing to have come this far without obtaining the dragon’s heart, but there was no way I could forcibly seize it once it had already passed into Cheon Do-yoon’s hands.
‘No matter how much I trade on Isabella’s name, unless he’s an idiot, he won’t just hand over the dragon’s heart.’
By arriving later than Cheon Do-yoon, I had already failed to obtain the dragon’s heart.
I should be grateful that I managed to preserve my life by trading on Isabella’s name.
‘It’s disappointing, but backing down here is the right call.’
With one arm immobilized and without even Vega, I couldn’t fight Cheon Do-yoon.
“Hahaha. At least you’re not so foolish as to fail to grasp the situation.”
Cheon Do-yoon smiled with satisfaction as he stroked his beard.
He carefully placed the dragon’s heart in his bosom and turned around with a spin.
“Then go tell the Leech Queen this.”
He glared at Kwon O-jin with eyes that had turned cold.
“━If you continue to defy the will of the Black Star like this, before long you’ll be torn to shreds by
‘that person’s’
hands.”
“….”
That person.
So there was someone else pulling the strings behind Cheon Do-yoon.
-Fwoomp!
Cheon Do-yoon’s body transformed into black feathers and vanished.
-Ding!
[You have achieved the clear condition for ‘Where the Dragon Sleeps’!]
[Rewards are granted to the Awakened who achieved the clear condition!]
[The Gate entrance will completely close after 72 hours.]
A blue message window materialized before my eyes.
Naturally, since the Awakened who achieved the clear condition was Cheon Do-yoon and not me, no reward was given to me.
“Seventy-two hours.”
There was still time before the Gate closed.
I leaned my back against the cavern wall of crystalline blue and sank into thought.
‘As expected, there’s definitely a connection between the False Star Sect and the Black Star Society.’
Based on the information I obtained through Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories, it was the ‘False Star Sect’ that coveted the sacred relic hidden on Baekdudsan.
But what I actually encountered in the Dungeon was not the False Star Sect, but the Black Star Society.
There were too many similarities between the two organizations to simply attribute this to a change in the future.
‘If the Black Star Society changed its name to the False Star Sect in the future.’
Then the timeline between the first cycle world that Lee Shin-hyuk remembers and the events unfolding in the current reality
is
misaligned.
‘They were already moving to seize the sacred relic even before they changed their name.’
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the Black Star Society changed its name to the False Star Sect.
But at least for now, they were operating under the name Black Star Society, not the False Star Sect.
‘Where did the timeline start to diverge?’
There were many possibilities to consider.
‘The deaths of Yujin and Ashad Khan. Killing Cheon Woo-sung, who should have lived at least two more years.’
Absorbing the sacred relic that the Black Star Society should have obtained, and dealing with the monster sleeping beneath Seoul Station.
Every single action I’d taken so far would have created a butterfly effect, rippling through the future in countless ways.
‘So I can’t completely trust Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories anymore.’
Now that the future has begun to change.
It wouldn’t be strange if events completely different from the first cycle world that Lee Shin-hyuk remembers were to occur.
‘Of course, they could still serve as some kind of guide.’
But I couldn’t move with the same certainty as before.
“Sigh.”
Ever since Lee Shin-hyuk died and I took on the role of the regressor in his stead, I’d anticipated that this situation would eventually arise.
But now that it was actually upon me, I felt as lost as someone wandering without a map.
Perhaps from this point forward, I would have to play the regressor relying solely on my own strength.
“Well, there’s no helping it.”
It was something I’d expected all along, wasn’t it?
In fact, if there were no differences at all between the first cycle world and this one, then the ‘Contra-Celestial Star’ wouldn’t need to exist in the first place.
‘For now, I should go check if my sister is safe.’
I saw Vega catch Ha-eun as she fell at the end, so she shouldn’t be too badly injured.
“Then.”
I pushed myself away from the wall I’d been leaning against.
-Rumble.
“Hm?”
Without my noticing.
A dark cloud of energy that had seeped from my back clung viscously to the cavern wall.
The dark cloud stretched between the cavern wall and my back like melted cheese being pulled apart.
‘What the hell?’
It was the first time the clouds of Heukcheon had ever escaped like this of their own accord.
Kwon O-jin turned his body and slowly extended his hand toward the cavern wall made of blue crystals.
Glurk, glurrrk!
The clouds of Heukcheon that slipped from his palm clung to the cavern wall.
━Yes.
As if they had discovered prey.
Greedily, ravenously.
They stuck viscously to the blue crystals, writhing like a tongue licking across them.
“This is….”
Kwon O-jin’s eyes narrowed.
The message that had flashed before his eyes moments ago swept through his mind.
-It is said that before dragons return to nature, they confine their magical power within their hearts at the place where dragon veins flow most densely, crystallizing it.
“The place where dragon veins flow most densely….”
Kwon O-jin lifted his head and surveyed his surroundings.
A Grand Cavern stretching hundreds of meters.
Its walls packed seamlessly with blue crystals.
‘Surely not.’
Kwon O-jin’s eyes widened.
With his hand pressed against the cavern wall, he focused his consciousness.
-Glurrrrrk!!
Like pouring black ink onto white paper.
The clouds of Heukcheon began to engulf the cavern wall made of blue crystals.
The spreading dark clouds absorbed the magical power dwelling within the blue crystals.
“This is insane.”
Kwon O-jin’s mouth fell open.
No matter how powerful Heukcheon was, he had never imagined it could absorb the dragon veins themselves.
-Kwaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Like a dam collapsing.
Like a swollen river becoming a raging torrent and pouring down.
Terrifying magical power flooded into his body.
“Gahhk!”
A cry of agony escaped Kwon O-jin’s lips.
It wasn’t merely a matter of quantity.
‘Damn it…!’
This was on an entirely different scale from when he had absorbed magical power from the captured Black Star Society members.
An incomprehensibly vast amount of magical power flowed into his body through Heukcheon.
Perhaps.
Even more magical power than what dwelt within the ‘Dragon’s Heart’ that Cheon Do-yoon had taken.
‘Stop! No more, don’t let it in…!’
Kwon O-jin bit his lip, barely grasping the fading thread of consciousness.
Like forcing air into a balloon until it reached its limit.
He gradually pushed the mana raging through his body outward in violent waves.
“Something that huge… won’t fit inside!!!!!”
Wait.
Now that I said it out loud, something feels damn awkward about this.
“Grrraaaaaahhhhh!!!!”
I desperately tried to pull Heuk-cheon back under control.
But Heuk-cheon was devouring the dragon vein greedily, like a starving beast tearing into raw meat.
“Calm down, you bastard…!”
Kwon O-jin glared at Heuk-cheon’s dark clouds and ground his teeth with frustration.
Whether my words actually got through or not, the intensity of Heuk-cheon’s greedy absorption of the dragon vein diminished ever so slightly.
‘Now!’
My eyes gleamed.
“Roooooaaaaaahhhhh!!!!”
With a fierce roar, I pulled Heuk-cheon—which had been clinging to the dragon vein and absorbing its mana—back into my body.
Grrrrrrrrk!!
As if to drain every last drop of Heuk-cheon’s mana, it returned into my body while absorbing the dragon vein’s power.
-Ding!
[Some conditions for ‘Opening Heaven’ have been achieved!]
[Thank you for searching, I wrote anything]
Along with the message that conditions for Opening Heaven had been met, the unreadable characters began to twist and distort.
[Thank𝌖𝌜𝌘 you for sea𝌵𝍑ching, I wr𝌜𝌘𝌱ote any𝌜𝌘𝌱𝌵𝍑thing]
[𝌜𝌘ariστώ π𝌱𝌵υ ψάχνατε, έ𝌘𝌱𝌵α οτιδή𝌘𝌱𝌵ε]
[𝌜𝌘𝌱𝌵𝍑ώ π𝌖𝌜𝌘υ ψά𝌘𝍑𝌒τε, έ𝍑αψα οτι𝌖𝌜𝌘οτε]
Crackle.
Characters scattering as if corrupted by noise.
The chaotically scattered characters gradually found their places, like puzzle pieces fitting together.
[Those who pass me by in the garden of sighs]
A single sentence, now coherent.
Though I still couldn’t understand its meaning.
‘The written words… changed.’
Kwon O-jin furrowed his brow, staring intently at the incomprehensible sentence displayed in the message window.
Before I could think deeply about the meaning contained in that sentence,
-Ding!
[You have successfully absorbed the mana of the ‘Dragon Vein’.]
[Warning!]
[The amount of absorbed mana is far too enormous!]
[The dragon vein’s mana will be limited according to Heuk-cheon’s stage of awakening.]
With the message that the dragon vein’s mana was being restricted, the mana that had been raging through my body like it would burst suddenly vanished, as if being sucked away somewhere.
“Hah! Hah!”
Kwon O-jin clutched his left chest, breathing heavily and ragged.
“Insane….”
He looked around with a dazed expression.
As if someone had flipped off a light switch.
The blue crystals that had blanketed the entire Grand Cavern no longer shone.
“I really… consumed the entire dragon vein in one go.”
Kwon O-jin stared down at his own body in disbelief.
* * *
[You have achieved the clear condition for ‘Where the Dragon Sleeps’!]
[Rewards are granted to the Awakened who have achieved the clear condition!]
[The Gate entrance will be completely sealed after 72 hours.]
“Hmm.”
Gazing at the message that appeared before her eyes.
The Platinum-haired Woman crossed her arms with an indifferent expression.
“As expected, everything went according to plan.”
Isabella picked up a round tablet that had fallen to the Dungeon floor.
Carved into the tablet, no larger than a palm,
was a snake
emblem.
“So it was him pulling the strings behind the owl.”
A sinister killing intent gleamed in her eyes as she stared at the tablet in her hand.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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