Not A Regressor - Chapter 169

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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 169
Interlude – The Goddess’s Atonement (1)
“Next, you say?”
Deneb’s voice trembled as he spoke.
Despite his condition being so devastated that even “rags” seemed insufficient to describe it.
Only his eyes, gleaming with an eerie blue radiance, burned with an unsettling light.
“What on earth… have you made him into, Vega?”
A horrifying sensation as if insects crawled across his skin.
I could no longer think of bets or anything else.
It wasn’t just Deneb.
Even the constellations filling the Spectator Stands were overwhelmed by the aura Kwon O-jin emanated, unable to speak properly.
“What… are you… doing?”
Kwon O-jin walked toward Deneb with a twisted grin, staggering unsteadily.
Deneb instinctively stumbled backward without thinking.
“Ugh…”
Deneb’s shoulders trembled as he realized what he had done.
The constellation of Polaris.
One of the top three transcendent beings born from the stars.
He had retreated, overwhelmed by the aura of a mere human.
Under normal circumstances, he would have deserved ridicule from the other constellations.
[….]
“….”
Even playful Spica, and none of the constellations sitting in the Spectator Stands watching this unfold, cast mocking glances at Deneb.
They all stared, as if entranced, at Kwon O-jin’s staggering form.
“Hurry… finish…”
Thud.
Kwon O-jin, who had been walking forward, collapsed entirely.
Just as his face was about to strike the ground cleanly.
[My child.]
Vega appeared in an instant and caught the falling Kwon O-jin.
She bit her lip as if pained to watch, gently caressing his blood-soaked cheek.
[Is Albaile present?]
Vega looked around the Spectator Stands and asked.
Albaile, the constellation of Aquarius.
If it were him, no matter how grievous the wounds, as long as life remained, he could heal them without difficulty.
“Ah, yes. I am here.”
A dignified young man rose from the Spectator Stands.
Wearing a monocle on a chain, he descended to the Colosseum Arena and examined Kwon O-jin’s body.
“…These are severe wounds indeed.”
No matter that death was impossible within the Sacred Domain.
It was hard to believe that he had continued fighting after sustaining such grievous wounds.
[Can you treat him?]
“Of course.”
Though the injuries were so severe that it pained me to witness them, he was the Aquarius Constellation.
As long as breath remained in his body, healing him was no difficult task.
-Whoooooosh!
Albaile squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating his power.
Water droplets materialized around his body and seeped into Kwon O-jin’s form.
Kwon O-jin’s body began to heal in an instant.
His ravaged form mended as if a video were being played in reverse.
“Gasp! Cough! Cough!”
Kwon O-jin, who had been unconscious, stirred awake with ragged breathing.
As he gasped for air, he clutched his chest in pain and coughed violently.
“Internal injuries remain incompletely healed, so you must rest for some time.”
[Understood.]
Albaile adjusted his monocle and turned away after completing the treatment.
“Vega…?”
Kwon O-jin blinked as he regained consciousness, looking around frantically.
[You… fool!!]
Thwack!
Vega struck Kwon O-jin’s head in fury.
A cry of pain burst from his lips.
[Why… why must you always cause me such worry!!]
She scolded him with glistening eyes.
“…Vega.”
[Wasn’t it already a won battle! There was no reason to fight while sustaining such injuries!!]
Vega pulled his head into her embrace, her voice trembling with sorrow.
Kwon O-jin barely managed to escape the soft pressure of her embrace and offered an awkward smile.
‘Well, there were more than a few reasons.’
First, I had gotten far too heated.
As if I had taken some drug, I had entered an awakened state, instinctively craving combat with a powerful opponent.
Of course, that didn’t mean I simply surrendered to the impulse and continued the match.
‘I was on the verge of a breakthrough.’
My Cerebral Lightning, stuck at level 9 for so long.
I had a premonition that I could grasp the thread leading to level 10, which was why I didn’t stop.
Had I actually halted during the fight with Xiaolin, I likely would never have reached level 10.
“Hmm.”
I surveyed the Constellations filling the Spectator Stands.
They stared at me as if they had seen a ghost, whispering amongst themselves.
There was yet another reason I had continued fighting against Deneb’s apostle.
‘I’ve certainly made my existence known to the Constellations.’
Though in my fervor, I probably came across as a reckless lunatic rather than someone with a good image.
Still, I believe I demonstrated more than enough skill to live up to the name “Apostle of Lyra Constellation.”
And finally.
“There’s something I need besides the divine essence.”
[Something you need?]
“Just a moment.”
Kwon O-jin staggered to his feet.
He approached Deneb, who was staring blankly in his direction.
“Well, you should give me the divine essence as promised, right?”
“Ah, I know.”
Deneb held out something that gleamed with a white crystalline light.
While I couldn’t sense any aura that could be called a “divine essence,” with so many Constellations watching, he wouldn’t dare hand me a fake.
“Thank you.”
I wanted nothing more than to use Heukcheon right then to devour Deneb’s divine essence.
But now that I knew Vega’s rank could drop to the level of the Zodiac Twelve Palaces, I couldn’t do that.
“And one more thing.”
“One more thing?”
“I didn’t win against three people—I won against four. Surely there should be compensation accordingly, yes?”
“What?”
Deneb’s eyes narrowed.
“There was no such agreement!”
“Isn’t that just common sense? In a match where you win by winning ‘three times,’ I won four times, so I deserve fair compensation.”
“Hmph! Why didn’t you say so from the beginning?”
“Hmm. So you’re saying there’s no additional compensation?”
“That’s right! I won’t give you even a scrap!”
“Well, I don’t need scraps anyway.”
Kwon O-jin smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
“Are you sure that’s acceptable?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“There are many reasons.”
Kwon O-jin swept his gaze across the Constellations filling the Spectator Stands before continuing.
“First of all, the ranks of the apostles you sent out in this proxy war don’t match what we discussed, do they?”
“That, well…”
“You sent out higher-ranked apostles because you thought you’d lose, and when you lost anyway, you sent out even higher-ranked awakeners thinking ‘let this bastard taste defeat.’ That’s what happened, isn’t it?”
“That was something you suggested first…”
“So. You sent out apostles ranked 5th and 4th, lost anyway, and now you’re going to clam up?”
“…”
Deneb’s expression twisted harshly.
Kwon O-jin smiled with ease and shrugged his shoulders.
“I wonder what the other Constellations will think about this.”
“…Are you threatening me right now?”
“Threatening? You’re the one who summoned every Constellation under the sun to humiliate me in front of all these witnesses, aren’t you?”
“Tch.”
Deneb let out a sound of resignation.
As Kwon O-jin had pointed out, there were far too many eyes watching for him to simply wash his hands of this and pretend ignorance.
‘Damn it!’
He’d fallen into the very trap he’d dug himself.
Deneb stamped his feet in frustration.
“Argh! This is infuriating! I’m absolutely furious with that bastard!!”
Deneb screamed while tearing at his hair like a petulant child.
Allen, who had descended from the Spectator Stands, managed to calm the convulsing Deneb.
After throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child, Deneb let out a deep sigh and glared at Kwon O-jin.
“…So what do you want?”
As befitted someone who possessed three of the Seven Stars, the treasures Deneb held were innumerable beyond measure.
Among his countless treasures, there was one thing Kwon O-jin desired.
“An Elixir.”
“…An Elixir?”
“Yes. I would appreciate it if you would give me an Elixir.”
Kwon O-jin nodded with a composed expression.
“Why specifically an Elixir? There are plenty of other things.”
Deneb tilted his head in confusion.
The Elixir possessed such powerful healing properties that legends spoke of it reviving the dead.
It was indeed a precious item capable of regenerating even “body parts severed long ago” that even high-ranking awakeners of Aquarius found difficult to heal.
‘But I don’t see any such wounds on him.’
Though he had witnessed that insane performance where Kwon O-jin tore off his own left arm, those wounds had already been completely healed by Albaile’s power.
He couldn’t fathom why Kwon O-jin would need an Elixir.
“Fine, I got it. You want an Elixir, right?”
For Deneb, who had been worried about an absurd demand, this was welcome news.
Of course, an Elixir was also a treasure whose value couldn’t be measured in money, but among his possessions, it was slightly lower in rank than his most precious items.
-Whoooooom!
The ring on Deneb’s finger radiated light, and ripples spread through the empty air as if a stone had been cast into a still pond.
Deneb thrust his hand into the ripples and withdrew a glass vial that shimmered with a clear blue light.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
Kwon O-jin accepted the Elixir with a faint smile.
‘I had originally planned to make one myself.’
To create an Elixir in the first place, one needed to become at least a high-ranking awakener of Aquarius.
And that was just the beginning.
Creating a single Elixir required years of preparation and material gathering, or so it was said.
‘There’s no reason to wait that long.’
Kwon O-jin carefully tucked the vial he held into his pocket.
[Are you planning to give it to Ha-eun?]
“Yeah.”
Kwon O-jin nodded without hesitation.
[….]
Vega’s eyes wavered as she watched him.
[Truly… pathetic beyond measure.]
“Huh? Me?”
[No. I wasn’t speaking of you.]
She shook her head with a self-deprecating smile.
[Those words were directed at myself.]
“Why suddenly?”
[….]
Vega gazed at Kwon O-jin with trembling eyes.
The image of him, his body ravaged and torn to shreds, staggering to his feet flashed through her mind.
The reason he had fought so desperately was.
‘Everything… he fought not for ‘others’ but for them.’
First, to restore my divine status.
Then, to give Ha-eun the elixir as a gift—he fought for these.
No matter how agonizing, no matter how unbearably painful and exhausting.
He rose without yielding.
‘And here I was, harboring doubt toward such a person.’
The presence of Heukcheon that I sensed on the day Kwon O-jin freed me from the shackles of Divine Law.
Even as I told myself it was impossible, I couldn’t erase the seed of suspicion that had taken root in my heart.
[I am ashamed.]
I felt utterly foolish for not trusting him.
“What are you ashamed of?”
[It is my role to trust and care for you more than anyone else… yet foolishly, I forgot my duty.]
“That’s not….”
Kwon O-jin’s expression stiffened as he was about to ask what she meant.
Vega’s suspicious behavior from recent days suddenly surfaced in his mind.
‘Damn, did I make some mistake?’
He hurriedly retraced his memories, but he couldn’t recall doing anything that would arouse her suspicion.
‘What’s going on here?’
As he racked his brain trying to figure out why she had suddenly begun to doubt him.
[This requires atonement.]
“Atonement?”
Vega’s lips trembled hesitantly before her eyes hardened with resolve and she nodded.
[Inflict stern punishment upon this wretched Constellation!]
Huh?

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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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