Not A Regressor - Chapter 168

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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 168
The Next (6)
Booooooo!
The moment Xiaoran stepped into the Colosseum Arena, jeers erupted from the crowd.
Murmurs of discontent rippled through the Constellations.
Even granting Xiaolin a pass, having a high-tier awakener like her take the stage was a blatant crossing of the line.
“I’ll accept the match. But on one condition.”
Xiaoran unsheathed the sword at her waist and hurled it far away.
“I won’t use weapons or stigmata.”
Instead of gripping a blade, she clenched her fists.
Xiaoran’s gaze fixed on Kwon O-jin’s abdomen.
The tissue surrounding the knife wound had necrosed—a grievous injury.
“And.”
As Xiaoran gently clenched her hand, a sharp icicle materialized in her palm.
Squelch!
Xiaoran’s face twisted in agony.
Blood cascaded from her abdomen where the icicle pierced through.
She exhaled a bitter cold that caused the tissue around the icicle wound to necrotize, then flicked the icicle aside.
“Now the conditions are at least somewhat equal, aren’t they?”
Xiaoran glared at Kwon O-jin while cradling the wound that had pierced her abdomen.
Forgoing weapons was one thing, but refusing to use stigmata was quite a dramatic handicap.
“There’s really no need for that.”
Kwon O-jin shrugged and shook his head.
Xiaoran’s eyes narrowed.
“Whether there’s a need or not—”
Boom!
She scraped her foot lightly against the ground, clenching her fists.
Like a predator stalking prey, she lowered her body, then launched forward with a powerful push of her legs.
“You’ll find out firsthand!”
Crack!
“Gack!!”
There was no time to even register the movement.
In an instant, Xiaoran closed the dozens of meters between them and drove her tightly clenched fist into Kwon O-jin’s solar plexus.
His body arched like a drawn bow.
Before the pain could even fade, a right hook followed, slamming into his face.
-Boom!
The dizzying impact—impossible to tell if it came from a human fist or a battering ram.
Kwon O-jin’s body spun like a shell-struck target before crashing into the ground.
“Cough!”
Blood poured from his throat.
Kwon O-jin staggered to his feet, letting out a hollow laugh.
‘And this is without using a stigma?’
Indeed.
The body of a high-tier awakener was far too alien to be confined within the category of ‘human’.
“Why are you grinning like an idiot?”
Xiaoran’s eyes blazed with ferocity as she lunged toward the fallen Kwon O-jin.
Thud! Crack! Bang!
Fists whirled at a terrifying velocity.
Kwon O-jin could barely muster a defense, curling into himself like a beetle beneath the relentless barrage.
[Awakener Kwon O-jin is taking a one-sided beating! Even without stigmas and weapons, it seems high-tier awakeners are simply insurmountable!]
Spica’s breathless voice reached my ears.
She was right.
I could barely block the onslaught, let alone counterattack.
“Hah… hah!”
My breath came in ragged gasps, rising to my throat.
Through my spinning vision, Xiaoran’s fist streaked toward me like a blade of light.
‘The Hourglass stigma.’
The world suddenly slowed as if in slow motion.
I read the trajectory of her incoming fist and twisted my body to evade.
But—
—Whoosh!
“…!”
Her fist curved mid-strike, changing direction.
Without even activating the Hourglass stigma, she had tracked my movement in that infinitesimal moment and adjusted her punch accordingly.
—Boom!!
“Ugh!”
I was sent flying backward from the impact.
“…What was that just now?”
Xiaoran frowned, staring down at my crumpled form.
It had lasted less than a second.
Yet I had clearly reacted to her fist and twisted away.
‘He shouldn’t be able to react at all.’
Even without using stigmas, she possessed the superhuman physique that came with ascending to high-tier awakener status.
The gap between us was like comparing an adult man to an eight-year-old child—yet he had actually tried to dodge?
“I don’t know what trick you used.”
Xiaoran bared her teeth savagely and rushed toward my fallen body.
“But if you can’t actually evade, it doesn’t matter!”
Thwack!
She kicked my body like a ball.
My form soared through the air, blood trailing behind me.
Xiaoran grabbed Kwon O-jin by the ankle and hurled him with brutal force.
Boom! Crash! Bang!
Kwon O-jin bounced across the arena floor like a skipping stone.
Drenched in blood from head to toe, I collapsed onto the Colosseum Arena floor with a heavy thud.
“Hmph.”
Xiaoran crossed her arms and let out a scoff.
Though I had secured victory with ease, no cheers echoed from the surrounding crowd.
Instead, gazes tinged with contempt were directed at her.
‘Damn it.’
Even knowing this would happen, a bitter taste filled my mouth.
‘Still, it felt satisfying to pummel him like that.’
Recalling the agonized screams that had burst from my sister’s lips, I thought this much retaliation was only fair.
[Yes! As expected, there was no twist! The winner is Xiaoran, the awakener….]
Just as Spica was about to raise her arm toward Xiaoran.
“Who… said it’s over.”
Kwon O-jin, who had been lying on the ground, slowly pushed himself up.
Swaying, staggering.
But not falling.
“You… think… you can end this?”
“You….”
Xiaoran stared at me with an expression of utter disgust.
She clenched her fists and strode toward me with heavy steps.
“Stop this, you bastard.”
This had already gone beyond the second round—it was bordering on brain damage.
Xiaoran glared at me with exasperated eyes and threw a light punch.
Whoosh!
“Hm?”
Kwon O-jin, who moments before seemed ready to collapse, dodged her fist.
Xiaoran narrowed her eyes and threw another punch.
Whoosh.
But this time as well.
Kwon O-jin twisted his head and evaded her strike.
“What?”
Even if it was a light punch.
It should have been impossible for someone in such a tattered state to dodge.
“So… now I can finally
see it.
”
I chuckled softly, my eyes—swollen like I’d been stung by wasps—opening slightly.
Even after using the Hourglass stigma, I had been unable to evade Xiaoran’s strikes. Now, bit by bit, her movements were becoming visible to me.
I could do what I couldn’t do before.
I could see what I couldn’t see before.
Even now, tattered and torn like rags, I continued to grow without end.
He was advancing endlessly.
“This…!”
Xiaoran’s eyes widened.
She bit her lip and pressed forward with even greater speed.
“I thought I’d just beat this bastard senseless and be done with it!”
Xiaoran closed in and wrapped around Kwon O-jin’s left arm.
She seized his elbow and twisted it as if wringing out a rag.
—Crack!
“Aaahhhhh!!”
With a sickening crunch of bone, his left arm bent at a grotesque angle.
Shards of white bone pierced through his elbow and scattered outward.
[Stop! Stop this at once!!!]
Vega rushed onto the arena floor, her voice urgent and desperate.
“Oh.”
Only then did Xiaoran realize how carried away she’d become, and she flinched, her shoulders trembling as she stepped back.
“…Sorry. I didn’t mean to go that far.”
Xiaoran turned her head away, avoiding Kwon O-jin’s gaze.
She bit her lip anxiously, her expression tense.
“I’ll get a potion from Deneb.”
As Xiaoran turned away from Kwon O-jin.
—Bang!
A wire shot forth with the gunshot, coiling around her body.
Crackle!
Blue lightning surged through the wire, striking her body with brutal force.
“Kyaaah!”
A scream identical to Xiaolin’s tore from her lips.
“You crazy bastard!!”
Xiaoran desperately grabbed the wire binding her body with both hands.
The wire constricting her form tore apart easily, falling to the ground.
“Huff, huff!”
When she turned her head, she saw Kwon O-jin rising to his feet, breathing heavily and ragged.
His left arm, twisted until bone showed through, dangled limply as he advanced toward her.
“…What.”
Xiaoran’s voice trembled as she spoke.
“What the hell are you?!”
She swung her arm roughly, as if brushing away an insect clinging to her skin.
Thud!
Struck across the back of my hand, I tumbled across the floor before crashing to a halt.
“Haa, haa! Damn it, what the—”
As Xiaoran wiped the cold sweat trickling down her forehead and turned her body back around.
“Where… are you… going.”
A voice so faint it seemed ready to break at any moment.
A voice grotesque and repugnant, like the utterance of a nightmare.
Reached her ears.
“We… still… can do… more, right?”
Crack!
As though it were merely an inconvenience.
I seized my dangling left arm and tore it off.
“Hey… you, your arm…”
Hesitant steps.
Xiaoran retreated with a face drained of all color.
I lurched toward her, my teeth bared and dripping with blood.
[Wh… Kwon O-jin, the awakener…?]
Spica’s expression, which had been radiant with a cheerful smile like a blooming flower, hardened into rigidity.
It was not only her.
“Did you just… tear off your own arm?”
“What in the world is this…?”
The Constellations watching the match from the Spectator Stands also stood frozen, their mouths agape at the unbelievable sight.
“…Stop.”
Xiaoran spoke, her eyes hollow and pallid as she stared at me.
Wounds severe enough to fell her instantly.
My entire body drenched in blood, my face mangled beyond recognition.
Yet I did not stop.
“Stop it now!!”
Xiaoran shrieked, raising her fists.
“…Charge.”
Crackle!
Azure lightning condensed within my clenched fist.
Once, twice, three times, four times.
And.
Five times.
‘No.’
Six times, seven times, eight times, nine times.
I continued charging without pause.
Crackle! Crackle!!
My clenched right fist blazed with brilliant, searing light.
My right arm swelled grotesquely, as though it might rupture at any moment, from the excessive concentration of lightning.
But.
‘Charging.’
I don’t stop.
There’s no reason to stop.
Even as terrible pain coursed through my right arm, I lifted the corners of my mouth in a bright smile.
‘Just a little more.’
The exhilaration that had been heating my mind.
With each throb of my pulsing heartbeat, the surging euphoria made me instinctively realize that the moment was near.
“This… this crazy bastard really!!”
Xiaoran rushed forward desperately, witnessing the tremendous mana gathering in my fist.
I bent my body low, evading her wildly swinging fist as it crashed toward the ground.
“Done.”
Crackle-crack-crack-crack!!
My right arm, which had been repeatedly charging, burst open.
Or rather, to be precise.
Another arm emerged from within my right arm.
Formed of brilliant blue lightning burning vividly.
The arm of the Thunder God.
-Ding!
[《Lightning Lv9》 skill has advanced to 《Lightning Lv10》!]
[You have acquired 《Thunder God’s Body Lv1》!]
[You have achieved an accomplishment impossible for your current Star!]
[All skills affected by 《Lightning》 skill have their levels increased by 2!]
Blue message windows appeared with a thunderous sound.
I swung my fist, now transformed into blue lightning, toward Xiaoran.
From the body of the Thunder God, which transcended even the laws of physics, a tidal wave of lightning poured forth and engulfed Xiaoran.
“Kyaaaaaah!!”
Crackle-crack-crack!
Xiaoran was sent flying backward like a shell exploding.
After soaring dozens of meters, she crashed violently into the arena wall.
“….”
Xiaoran lost consciousness and collapsed.
[….]
“….”
“….”
A silence as profound as death descended upon the arena.
Not only the Constellations watching the match, but even Spica, who was serving as the commentator, stared blankly at me without uttering a single word.
In a silence where even breathing could not be heard.
Drenched in blood, I slowly turned my head toward Deneb.
“Next.”

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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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