Not A Regressor - Chapter 16

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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 16
Sacred Relic of the Black Star (3)
Boom! Boom!
With each thunderous step the gelatinous giant took, a heavy reverberation echoed throughout the entire Cavern Chamber.
Dozens of tentacles sprouted from the giant’s back, writhing menacingly.
‘No.’
I stared at the gelatinous giant with trembling eyes.
‘What the hell is this all of a sudden.’
Of all the moments to get cocky after catching sight of a sacred relic, why did this insane situation have to happen now?
‘I can’t even escape like this…!’
I turned my head slightly to glance back at Vega.
The goddess floated effortlessly through the air with her arms crossed, completely at ease.
Her golden eyes sparkled with anticipation, as if she were curious to see how I would handle this monster.
‘What am I supposed to do about that.’
Biting my lip, I turned my gaze back toward the gelatinous giant.
It was roughly five meters tall.
Its gelatinous body was swollen like some steroid-addicted bodybuilder who’d overdosed on lethal amounts of performance enhancers.
It resembled the monster from that Venom movie poster I’d seen once.
‘It looks ridiculously strong just by looking at it.’
Without exaggeration, a single punch from that fist would send me flying like a projectile straight through the Cave entrance.
“Huff.”
I forced down the fear creeping through my body and gripped my spear tightly.
Since I’d already made my boast, I couldn’t just turn around and run away now.
‘If I can’t escape.’
Then I fight and kill it.
‘It’s not hopeless.’
Despite its appearance—like some creature straight out of Norse mythology—it shouldn’t be as strong as it looks.
‘Besides, the black slimes themselves were all pushovers to begin with.’
Just because you stick limbs and a torso together doesn’t mean you’ve created an invincible monster.
‘Let’s try.’
If it really seems impossible, I can always escape then.
“Grrrrrrgh.”
The gelatinous giant lowered its body with a sound like phlegm rattling in its throat.
Crack!
The giant’s back split open as dozens of black tentacles shot upward.
The black tentacles were about to launch simultaneously at me when—
“Eat this, you bastard!!”
I pulled a small pistol from my pocket and squeezed the trigger.
Of course, what was loaded inside the pistol wasn’t bullets.
-Flash!
“Grrrraaagh?!”
A brilliant flare burst through the darkness of the Cavern Chamber, flooding it with intense light.
A storm of radiance as if the sun itself had risen within these stone walls.
The giant, accustomed to darkness, flinched and staggered backward.
‘Now!’
Boom!
In the brief moment the giant faltered.
Kwon O-jin kicked off the ground and sprinted through the Cavern Chamber at full speed.
“Huff, huff!”
One chance. That was all I had.
There was no way such a crude trick as a flash grenade would work more than once—I had to stake everything on this single moment.
The distance closed steadily.
The giant regained its footing and took a step forward.
‘Five meters.’
I gripped the spear tightly.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!!
Azure lightning blazed to life.
The stigma burned with radiant power.
‘Three meters.’
My target: the giant’s waist.
Its head was too high—even with the spear, a decisive strike would be impossible.
I would deliver the widest, most devastating blow I could muster.
‘One meter.’
Tap!
I pushed off and wrung every ounce of power from the stigma.
Azure Thunder.
The same devastating technique that had drawn an exclamation from Vega—I prepared it now.
And—
“Grrgh?”
“Hyaaaaaaaa!!!”
I unleashed the full force of my strike!
-Crackle-crackle-crackle!!!!
“Grraaaaaaa!!!”
The blow struck true, embedding itself in the giant’s spine.
The gelatinous creature convulsed, thrashing its arms wildly.
The movements were crude, born of desperation, yet they carried enough force to sever bone and sinew with ease.
A single graze would mean death.
“Grrrraaagh!!”
Boom!!
Lightning coursing through its entire body, the giant dropped to one knee.
Both arms slashed through empty air in vain.
But.
—Whoooosh!!
Dozens of tentacles erupting from its back were still targeting Kwon O-jin with perfect precision even in this chaos.
“Ugh!”
Drawing a sharp breath, I released my grip on the spear I’d driven into the giant’s waist.
‘As I thought, one strike isn’t enough.’
Well.
This monstrosity was the size of a tactical armored vehicle.
No matter how far beyond human limits an Awakened might transcend, bringing down a creature of that magnitude in a single blow was nearly impossible.
And.
‘—Then!’
That was something I already knew well.
—Tap!!
Using the spear embedded in the giant’s waist as a foothold, I launched myself into the air.
Whoosh!!
The tentacles twisted their trajectory in an instant, surging upward toward me as I jumped.
“Kuh!!”
From here on, it was a gamble.
I hurled the rope I’d prepared toward the cave ceiling.
The hook tied to the rope’s end caught on a stalactite jutting from the ceiling.
‘Please!’
If the stalactite couldn’t bear my weight and shattered, I was finished.
I’d be sent flying by the tentacles’ lash and have no choice but to beg Vega for my life.
“Ugh!”
I pulled the rope with all my strength.
—Screeeech!!
The hook scraped across the stalactite, metal shrieking through the cavern.
As my body lifted, I watched dozens of tentacles streak past beneath my feet.
“Yes!”
Fortunately, the stalactite didn’t break.
When the tentacles that had carved through empty air twisted their direction once more to surge toward me,
—Snap!
I released the rope I was gripping.
My body plummeted at accelerating speed, pulled by gravity.
I spread both arms wide like unfurling wings and dropped directly onto the giant’s head.
“Die, you bastard!!!”
“Grrrrrgh!!”
Crunch!
I drove both hands into the giant’s eyes—each the size of a soccer ball.
Crunch. Black ichor gushed forth as my hands crushed through the creature’s eye sockets.
Viscous slime clung and tangled around my fingers.
“Krhehehe!”
My lips twisted upward in a savage grin.
Crack, crackle!!
The stigma blazed with brilliant light as azure lightning surged violently through my body.
“One million volts, you bastard!!!!”
I concentrated the electricity engulfing my entire frame into both hands, which had already pierced through the creature’s eyes, and released it all at once!
“Pikaaaaaa━chuuuuuuuuu!!!!!”
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!!!
“Craaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!”
The giant’s head exploded, and its massive body staggered.
I leaped away from the collapsing corpse and landed safely.
“Huff, huff!”
Perhaps from using Spear Lightning twice in succession, my breath came in ragged gasps.
It felt like I’d run a hundred-meter sprint twenty times back-to-back.
My vision swam, and my stomach churned.
I wanted nothing more than to collapse right here and sleep, relic or no relic.
‘Still.’
I’d succeeded in defeating a monster that seemed utterly impossible to overcome—
[Danger, I say!!!]
“What?”
Whoooosh!
At the same moment Vega cried out, something massive tore through the air with a violent swing.
“Ugh!”
I spun toward the sound and crossed my arms defensively.
-Crash!!
“Gaaahhhhh!!!”
A heavy impact like being struck by a siege hammer shook my entire body.
I flew nearly ten meters into the air and was hurled backward.
-Boom-crash!!
“Hack! Cough! Cough! Cough!”
[Oh, Kwon O-jin! Are you alright?!]
Vega rushed over, her face drained of color.
I crawled across the ground, clutching both arms that throbbed with searing pain.
“What… the hell?”
I barely lifted my head to identify what had struck me.
━A headless monster.
The gelatinous giant with only its neck remaining was still very much alive and moving.
‘This is insane.’
That thing didn’t die?
‘Damn it.’
A complete miscalculation.
‘My arm… thankfully it didn’t break.’
I suppose this is the power of the Lyra Constellation stigma at work.
Despite receiving an impact that would have killed an ordinary two-star awakener instantly, not even a bone had fractured.
‘But.’
I examined my body with cold eyes.
Legs trembling uncontrollably.
An arm still wracked with terrible pain and bare hands without a weapon.
‘…This is the worst.’
There was no other way now.
“Vega.”
I called out to her, having forgotten even the thought of using formal speech.
“Grant me your blessing.”
[Very well.]
Vega raised her hand as if she had been waiting for this moment.
Brilliant silver light poured forth.
-Crackle!
[Ugh…!]
Whether it was the constraint of law taking hold, Vega’s expression twisted in pain.
The silver radiance pouring from her seeped into my body—
[Vega bestows upon you the blessing of the stars.]
[The proficiency of ‘Lyra Constellation Stigma’ temporarily increases!]
Tremendous power began to surge through my entire being.
-Crackle, crackle, crackle!!!!
Brilliant blue lightning blazed forth.
Perhaps it was because I had grown since receiving the blessing for the first time.
The blessing’s effect felt incomparably stronger than before.
‘Though the burden on Vega must be that much greater.’
There was no choice.
Without the blessing, there was no way to defeat that viscous monstrosity.
“Haah.”
I steadied my ragged breathing.
I lowered my body, braced myself on both arms against the ground, and extended my legs straight back.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!
Blue lightning gathered in both legs.
I concentrated the power surging through my entire body into my legs,
-Boom!!
and drove my feet forward with savage force!
“Guh… guh-ugh…. Krrgh.”
I shot forward like an arrow toward the headless giant, unable to even produce a proper scream.
Whoooosh!
Bundles of black tentacles rained down from all directions.
‘This much.’
For one blessed as I was, it posed no threat whatsoever.
“Hnngh!”
Crack-crack-crack!!!
A casual swing of my fist sent azure lightning spreading in a fan formation, sweeping across the front.
One punch, one spear of lightning.
I advanced toward the gelatinous giant, wielding my clenched fist with savage intensity.
“Haa, haa!”
My breathing grew ragged.
Each time I swung my fist, I unleashed a spear of lightning, and I could feel the stigma’s mana burning away at an accelerating rate.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
I had more than enough mana anyway.
‘No.’
Simply saying “I have plenty of mana” didn’t quite fit.
‘What is this━?’
For reasons I couldn’t explain.
For reasons I couldn’t even begin to fathom.
The more I used the stigma’s mana, the more
my mana reserves actually
increased.
“Krrgh!!”
Like rain pouring from a sky thick with storm clouds.
A torrent of mana surged upward faster than it depleted, shaking my entire body.
My body felt like a balloon inflated to its limit, ready to burst from the swelling mana.
“Hraaaaaaaaa!!!”
-Crack!! Crack!! Crack-crack-crack!!!
I roared like a beast, swinging my fists without pause.
Dozens, hundreds of lightning spears swept across the gelatinous giant’s body.
The giant’s corpse, already reduced to ash with no trace remaining.
I unleashed torrents of azure lightning with the momentum to obliterate even that ash.
‘Just a bit more.’
My head burned as if it were on fire.
Slightly.
My vision darkened as if shrouded in black storm clouds.
‘Just a little longer.’
A burning exhilaration.
A tingling sensation spread through my body.
Just a little more.
I felt like I could grasp something━
[━Stop.]
With the goddess’s clear voice ringing out, my vision, which had grown slightly dim, sharpened once more.
[You are already dead.]
“Haa, haa!”
I collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily and ragged.
‘What was that just now…?’
A euphoria that burned through my body.
An inexplicable sensation accompanied the explosive surge of mana.
When I focused my mind to recapture that sensation, which had now vanished without a trace,
-Uuuuuuung!!
“Ugh!!”
The constellation mark etched on my left chest blazed with brilliant light.
[This is… surely, no way!]
Vega’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Ah, uh. Aaaahhh!!”
Crackle! Crackle crackle!!
Azure lightning flickered as another stroke was added to the constellation mark etched on my left chest.
Now the mark on my chest bore a total of three strokes.
-Ding!
[The ‘Lyra Constellation Mark’ has been elevated to 3-star!]
[《Lightning Lv2》 skill has risen to 《Lightning Lv3》!]
[《Azure Lightning Lv1》 skill has risen to 《Azure Lightning Lv2》!]
A faint chiming sound echoed softly in my ears.
[It took less than a month to reach 3-stars.]
Vega too couldn’t hide her shock, her words faltering.
This was no ordinary Constellation mark—it was the Polaris mark.
Even for a star of defiance, this growth rate was unreasonable.
It was like riding a motorcycle while everyone else was running a marathon.
[Just who are you….]
She gazed down at Kwon O-jin lying motionless on the ground, her expression bewildered.
[Hmm?]
He didn’t stir at all.
[My child?]
She reached out and poked his cheek repeatedly.
But his eyes, firmly shut, would not open.
[Hey, come to your senses!]
The vast cavern chamber.
The goddess’s forlorn voice echoed through the emptiness, tinged with profound loneliness.

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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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