Not A Regressor - Chapter 15

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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 15
Holy Relic of the Black Star (2)
Shwoosh!
A black-tinged object shot forward at tremendous speed, accompanied by the wet, slimy sound of mucus.
“Ugh!”
I drew a sharp breath and slid backward in one fluid motion.
Thrusting the spear forward in my grip, I tracked the object that had been fired at high speed between the stalactites.
‘A tentacle?’
A black tentacle dripping with viscous slime.
Following the tentacle with my gaze, I spotted a slime-like creature lurking between the crevices of the stalactites.
A gelatinous mass resembling tar, with an amorphous body oozing sticky secretions, was sluggishly extending its tentacles.
“…What in the world is that?”
It was a creature unlike anything I’d ever heard of or seen before.
[A truly repugnant organism.]
“It doesn’t look particularly strong, though.”
Grotesque as it appeared, its movements seemed sluggish and posed no immediate threat.
-Crackle, crackle-crackle!
The stigma on my left chest blazed with light as azure lightning ignited.
Evading the surging tentacles with ease, I thrust my spear toward the black slime.
-Boom!
“Damn!”
The black slime’s body exploded, spraying viscous fluid in all directions.
I jerked my body back urgently, but some of the slime clung to my collar.
Sizzzzzzz!!
Acrid smoke rose as if hydrochloric acid had been poured, and the slime on my collar began to burn away.
‘This creature is more troublesome dead than alive.’
Still, with a bit of caution, dealing with it wouldn’t be difficult.
-Glurgle, glurgle!
“There wasn’t just one.”
Whether drawn by the sound or already present, black slimes approached sluggishly from all directions.
I spun my spear in a flourish and lowered my stance.
‘If they explode when they die.’
The basic strategy was to maintain maximum distance while fighting.
Rather than thrusting the spear directly, I dispatched the black slimes one by one by firing lightning bolts at close range.
‘Should I try using that now?’
As I evaded the tentacle attacks with a Z-pattern step, my eyes gleamed with interest.
An attack that could be used from range and possessed considerable area of effect.
‘Spear Lightning.’
I felt the desire to unfold that skill—one I could only use when blessed by Vega—through my own power alone.
“Inhale. Exhale.”
My breathing deep and measured.
I bent at the waist, drawing the spear in my right hand back as far as possible.
Uuuuuoooong!!!
The stigma lines blazing with azure light.
I poured every ounce of mana surging through my body into the stigma lines.
[…What.]
Vega, who had been watching the battle, widened her eyes.
-Crack, crackle!!
Azure lightning wrapping around my body like roaring flames.
The mana of the stigma lines burned away at a rapid pace, as if ignited by oil.
I paid it no mind.
‘After all.’
My mana was overflowing in abundance.
‘Efficiency is unnecessary.’
Proficiency held no meaning either.
I could compensate for my lacking skill with a brute force of mana.
-Kuuuong!!!
I stomped roughly backward, thrusting my right arm forward with all my might.
[《Azure Thunder (蒼雷) Lv1》 is activated.]
Like releasing the leash of a restrained beast, I unleashed all the lightning gathered at the spear’s tip in one burst!
-Kwazazazazazazazack!!!!!
Azure lightning swept across the front in a fan-shaped arc.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Slime fragments exploded in all directions.
“Haa, haa!”
I drove the spear into the ground like a staff, steadying my trembling legs.
‘Done.’
Clumsy and half-forced though the method was.
I had succeeded in using a skill that could only be wielded while under a ‘Blessing’.
[Huh… Even seeing it with my own eyes, it’s hard to believe.]
Vega, who had been watching me fight, let out an exclamation.
[I knew you would learn quickly, but I never imagined it would be to this extent.]
She knew better than anyone how difficult the Lyra Constellation’s stigma lines were to control.
The reason she had never created an Apostle until now was precisely because no human could handle the Lyra Constellation’s stigma lines.
‘Yet in mere days.’
He had directly manifested a technique that she could only use by accepting constraints and bestowing a Blessing.
A speed that was hard to believe, even for something she had experienced once before.
“It was half-forced, after all.”
[Hmm. True. There are still many aspects that need refinement.]
I had succeeded in manifesting 《Azure Thunder》, but in terms of completeness, it was frankly pathetic.
I forced success through sheer effort—spending a hundred units of power to accomplish what should have required merely ten.
The method was inefficient, needless to say, and the resulting power fell far short of its true potential.
[But for now, the mere fact that you wielded Spear Lightning is sufficient.]
Spear Lightning was a mid-tier technique among the skills I could use through the stigma marks of the Lyra Constellation.
Even for a regressor, it was a difficult technique for someone who had only just awakened.
“Haha. I’m relieved to hear you say so.”
[I shall teach you other techniques later. Ah, but come to think of it, you should already know them all.]
“No, that’s not the case.”
Oh Jin shook his head and continued.
“There are some memories that have become hazy since my regression. The techniques of the Lyra Constellation’s stigma marks are among them.”
[Hazy, you say?]
“I’m not sure. It’s as if the film has been cut—I simply cannot recall that portion clearly.”
I didn’t want to make such a flimsy excuse.
‘She might suddenly ask me to use a skill I know nothing about.’
That wasn’t something I could simply brush past with words.
[Hmm. If this regression was caused by the Oath of Stars, there should be no loss of memory. This is truly strange.]
Vega regarded Oh Jin with a questioning gaze.
Despite receiving that suspicious look, Oh Jin continued speaking naturally, without the slightest hint of panic.
“I suspect it might be some form of restriction.”
[What sort of restriction?]
“Don’t Constellations themselves face restrictions imposed by divine law? By similar logic, some transcendent force may have partially interfered with my memories.”
Had anyone else heard this, they would have furrowed their brows at such nonsensical words.
But for her—one who actually suffered under the constraints of transcendent power—the situation was different.
[Certainly… it is not an impossibility.]
Vega touched her lips thoughtfully and nodded.
“Well, the important thing is that I haven’t forgotten what matters. So please don’t worry.”
[And what would that be…?]
“For instance, my memories of you, Vega.”
I smiled gently as I looked at her.
[Oh!]
She trembled slightly, her body shaking.
[You, you really do say such embarrassing things!]
The goddess’s flushed face was adorable.
[C-clear your throat. Anyway….]
Vega turned her body and flew toward where the black slime’s corpse lay.
She narrowed her eyes, gazing at the stalactites covered in viscous mucus.
[Hmm… I sense something unsettling about this.]
“Something unsettling?”
[Even I find it difficult to express precisely. It is merely a feeling.]
Oh Jin narrowed his eyes and cautiously approached the fragmented remains of the black slime.
If even Vega sensed something unsettling, there might be more to this than meets the eye.
‘Hmm? What’s that…?’
My brow furrowed as I rummaged through the corpse of the fragmented black slime.
Black gems the size of fingernails, visible between the remains.
‘A mutant’s… Stigma Stone?’
It was definitely a mutant Stigma Stone I’d discovered not long ago.
And not just one, but several.
‘What’s going on?’
Another mutant appearing?
‘These shouldn’t be found so easily, should they?’
There was a reason mutant Stigma Stones commanded such high prices.
Because their numbers were significantly fewer compared to ordinary specimens, they held anywhere from several times to dozens of times the value.
“Vega. Do you know anything about these black Stigma Stones?”
[I know not either.]
Vega shook her head and continued.
[Have your memories of these black Stigma Stones also vanished?]
“Yes. I have no idea…”
Wait.
“…Though I do have some suspicions, I’m not certain yet.”
It seemed better to leave room for doubt rather than flatly deny knowing anything at all.
‘A regressor who doesn’t know this and doesn’t know that wouldn’t make sense.’
In any case, even Vega didn’t know why so many mutant monsters were suddenly appearing.
‘Let me venture deeper inside.’
I brushed the black mucus splattered on my blade and pressed forward into the depths of the Cave.
Yet the deeper I ventured, the more it felt as though I were simply circling the same area endlessly.
‘There’s no helping it.’
I’d preferred not to use it in front of Vega, but there was no other way.
I activated the Canis Major Stigma.
Through my heightened sense of smell, a flood of countless scents rushed in.
“Ugh!”
[What troubles you?]
“It’s… nothing.”
I shook my head and focused my mind.
‘The scent of those black slimes from before.’
I followed the trail of that foul, viscous stench.
After passing through the labyrinthine twists of the Cave, a vast open Cavern Chamber appeared before me.
“Phew.”
It seemed I’d found the right place.
As I deactivated the Canis Major Stigma, the acrid stench vanished from my nostrils.
[This place is…]
Vega narrowed her eyes as she surveyed the expansive cavern chamber.
[That ominous aura I felt earlier has grown even more palpable.]
“There should be a sacred relic somewhere in this vicinity.”
Oh Jin walked deeper into the chamber, his head swiveling as he scanned the surroundings.
‘Now, where could it be?’
My heart raced like a child who had finally arrived at the destination marked on a treasure map.
And then.
‘There it is.’
A colossal stone statue looming at the far end of the chamber.
Something glimmered at the very center of the statue’s forehead—its hands clasped together in reverent prayer as if offering devotion to a deity.
━A black chalice wreathed in an ominous dark aura.
The black chalice, slightly larger than a fist, was embedded between the statue’s brows.
‘Found it!!!’
It differed somewhat from the sacred relics I’d heard about, but regardless, anyone could see it was unmistakably a sacred relic brimming with mysterious power.
‘Damn! This is insane, absolutely insane!! How much is that thing worth?!’
Seeing a sacred relic I’d only heard about in person made my entire body tremble as if struck by lightning.
‘A sacred relic!’
An actual sacred relic!
━A delicious chill.
A thrill that spread all the way down to my very core.
My heart pounded so violently it felt like it might burst from my chest.
‘If the ability is useful, I’ll use it myself; if it’s mediocre, I’ll just sell it.’
Either way, it’s a win.
“Hehehehe!!!”
Damn.
I can’t stop laughing.
[Is that the sacred relic you mentioned?]
“Yes, it is.”
Oh Jin walked toward the statue with a radiant smile.
-Squelch. Squelch.
Then, a viscous, sickening sound echoed through the chamber.
[Those repugnant creatures have arrived again.]
Vega frowned and fluttered gracefully through the air, landing on Oh Jin’s shoulder.
“Hehe. I already
anticipated
this. Do not worry.”
Gripping the spear, I advanced toward the mass of black slimes.
I’d suspected there would be a slime colony here ever since I tracked the scent to this location.
‘Are they some kind of guardian protecting the sacred relic?’
To think they’d station such worthless creatures as guardians.
A hollow laugh escaped me unbidden.
‘I should just sweep these aside and grab the sacred relic.’
I smirked and walked toward the black slimes pouring down from all directions.
-Squelch. Glug. Glugglug.
Roughly fifty black slimes converged toward the center of the Cavern Chamber.
The number was terrifying, but I didn’t think I couldn’t handle them.
Honestly, each individual slime was weaker than an Anthorn.
‘I just need to be careful about explosions.’
That much wasn’t difficult.
-Glug, glugglug, glugglugglug!!
“Huh?”
But why aren’t these bastards charging at me?
“…What?”
My footsteps halted as I walked toward the black slimes.
Fifty or so black slimes gathered in the center of the Cavern Chamber.
The slimes extended their tentacles, rubbing against each other’s bodies and tangling together.
-Squelch!
With a sickening sound, one slime’s body burst and merged into one with the slime attached to it.
“Wait.”
My expression hardened rigidly.
An ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
And then.
-Glugglugglugglug!! Glug!! Squelch! Glug, glugglugglugglugglug!!!
Dozens of black slimes.
Merged into one.
“No, no, no. Hold on.”
The slimes had merged into the form of a giant standing five meters tall.
The monstrosity of black mucus pounded its chest. Boom! Boom!
“GRAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”
A terrifying roar echoed throughout the entire Cavern Chamber.
‘What the hell?’
What is that thing?
It looks damn strong.
[Hehehehe. Indeed, you knew this would happen, did you not?]
No.
I had no idea.
[As you said, I shall watch without worry!]
What do I do now?
“Haha!! Just trust me, Vega!!!”
I think I’m screwed.

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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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