Not A Regressor - Chapter 213

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 213
The Head of the Snake (6)
‘No, this Elder Sister is really something.’
She couldn’t let me suffer alone, could she?
Kwon O-jin cast a look of resentment toward Ha-eun, who continued to brief him in meticulous detail about the mating of the two demonic beasts, her face pale.
[M-my child.]
Vega, too, seemed profoundly shaken by this unbelievable spectacle, swaying as she settled atop Kwon O-jin’s head.
[M-my stomach is churning.]
“Mine too.”
A scene drenched in blood would have been preferable.
I never imagined they would humiliate us in such an unexpected manner.
“Sigh.”
Still, I needed to understand what those two beasts—who appeared to be the leaders—were plotting.
Taking a deep breath to steel myself, I shifted my gaze toward the two demonic beasts intertwined with each other.
“Ugh.”
Just as Ha-eun had explained, a basketball-sized egg rolled away from the rear of the demonic beast pinned beneath.
The egg tumbled downward, rolling away.
As if one wasn’t enough, a second egg was already emerging from beneath the beast’s hindquarters.
“O-jin! Can we roast these bastards?!”
“Kill them in one strike before they can do anything else.”
I had to act before they could attempt whatever they were planning.
Ha-eun nodded and traced her left eye with her hand, removing the blindfold.
Fierce light blazed from her dragon’s gaze as sinews, grotesquely prominent like tree roots, descended to her neck.
“Hisssss.”
Ha-eun extended her hand forward and opened her palm.
Tremendous flames compressed, forming a crimson orb the size of a fist.
A Dragon Pearl.
The sphere of annihilation that obliterated everything it touched aimed at the demonic beasts grotesquely writhing together.
“Perish, you wretches!”
There was no sound.
The moment the Dragon Pearl pierced through the bodies of the two demonic beasts, their forms—bearing yellow eyes that evoked the gaze of “The Snake”—crumbled into black ash and vanished.
The end of these beasts, who had gazed down upon us arrogantly from the start of combat like bosses of some evil organization, felt far too anticlimactic.
“Huh…? Did they really die just like that?”
Ha-eun’s eyes widened as she stared at the remains of the demonic beast turned to ash.
Of course, the Dragon Pearl was difficult to land, but if it connected, it was indeed a technique of tremendous power.
“…Something feels off though?”
I never expected they could be killed so easily.
“Wait, Elder Sister. There’s still one left.”
“Huh? What’s left?”
“That egg.”
I lifted the spear and drew my arm back in a wide arc.
My target was the basketball-sized egg born from the union of two demonic beasts.
The egg that had rolled across the ground and fallen lay wedged between rocks, still intact.
One might dismiss a freshly-laid egg as insignificant, but.
‘I need to eliminate potential threats before they become problems.’
The two demonic beasts had suddenly merged their bodies to create this egg—an action that defied all logic and reason.
That grotesque behavior, so utterly illogical, seeped into my consciousness like a slimy premonition of danger.
Just as I was about to snuff out this unborn life.
Crack.
The egg’s surface began to split.
‘What the hell? A zergling?’
It was hatching less than thirty seconds after being laid.
I didn’t hesitate. I swung my drawn arm forward with all my strength.
Kwaaarrgh!
With a thunderous boom, the spear shot forward at devastating speed.
The spear, crackling with azure lightning, pierced straight through the egg.
And then.
“Shrieeeeeeeeeeek!”
A death cry echoed from between the fractured shell pieces.
With that agonized scream as its final sound, the creature born from the egg never saw the light of day—charred to ash by the lightning.
[Hmm….]
Vega swallowed hard, her expression conflicted.
[I understand it was necessary, but my heart feels heavy.]
Though it was to eliminate a threat, there was an instinctive revulsion to incinerating a creature that had never even seen daylight.
“I’m sorry. There was no other choice.”
[No, you have nothing to apologize for. I would have made the same decision in your position.]
Vega fluttered over and perched atop my head.
[I’m growing somewhat weary.]
“Did you burn through a lot of power?”
[Still, I should be able to maintain my manifestation for another thirty minutes or so.]
“Then we need to find an exit quickly.”
With Vega’s keen sensitivity to Dimensional Rifts, finding an escape route would be far easier.
“Damn. Those things were truly horrific.”
After cleanly disposing of the remaining demonic beasts.
Ha-eun brushed back her sweat-dampened hair, her eyes bitter as she gazed at the narrow crevice between rocks.
Cheon Sang-gil lay dead, his left chest cavity hollowed out, abandoned in the darkness.
For a giant who had been called Tamrang Star and achieved countless heroic feats, his death was far too hollow, far too trivial.
“…Grandfather.”
Ha-eun clenched her fists, biting her lip firmly.
There had been no time for sorrow during the frantic battle, but now, standing before his corpse in this stillness, a sharp pain cut through the depths of her chest.
“Let’s go, Elder Sister.”
Rather than comfort Ha-eun, I grasped her arm and pulled her forward.
I wanted nothing more than to recover Cheon Sang-gil’s body, but we simply didn’t have the luxury.
“How are you holding up, Isabella?”
I approached Isabella, who had been blocking the main passage.
Around her, the corpses of demonic beasts—nearly twice as many as those Vega, Ha-eun, and I had dispatched together—lay piled like a mountain.
It wasn’t an exaggeration; the heap was genuinely tall enough to warrant mountaineering.
‘She defeated all of those alone?’
A chill ran down my spine as I approached Isabella.
“Ah, Kwon O-jin? Have you finished your side?”
Even for Isabella, handling such a staggering number of demonic beasts single-handedly had clearly taken its toll—her face was noticeably gaunt.
“Yeah. We’re done over there.”
“I just finished up here as well.”
“By the way, did those things show up here too?”
“Those things?”
“You know, the ones with those ‘eyes.'”
“Hmm?”
Isabella tilted her head, clearly not understanding what I meant.
“No, they didn’t appear. Did something happen?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
There was no need to describe that horrific scene.
“Let’s find a way out of here quickly.”
I headed toward the location the Doppelgänger had mentioned.
Behind the towering rock formations, several narrow passages—each about five meters wide—branched off in different directions.
“What do you sense, Vega? Anything?”
[Hmm. Give me a moment.]
Vega pressed her temples with both hands, her eyes shut tight.
[Ah.]
A brief exclamation escaped her lips.
[There is! There’s a Dimensional Rift leading to Earth nearby!]
Her excited voice drew a relieved breath from me.
[However… the aura is extremely faint.]
“Faint?”
[Like a candle flame in the wind—it’s in a precarious state, flickering as if it might extinguish at any moment.]
“We need to hurry. Where is it?”
[Wait. The aura is so weak that it’s difficult to pinpoint the direction.]
Vega pressed her temples again, concentrating intently.
[Hmm?]
“Did you find it?”
[No… it’s not that I found it…]
Vega furrowed her brow and turned her head.
Not toward the multiple branching paths, but back the way Kwon O-jin’s group had come.
It was the location where they had fought a massive battle against the horde of demonic beasts just moments ago.
[A holy spirit…?]
“What?”
[How is there a holy spirit’s aura over there?]
Vega herself seemed confused as she gazed back down the path they had traveled, her eyes troubled.
[It’s not just any holy spirit. It’s very dark… and ominous.]
As if.
A holy spirit emanating the same aura as the Black Star Constellation.
That aura was felt from beyond the path Kwon O-jin’s group had traversed.
[Hup!]
Vega, who had been concentrating with her eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open and cried out.
[W-we must flee!]
“What?”
[Right now!]
As her urgent cry echoed through the air.
Kwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!
The earth convulsed.
As if a giant had seized a vast canvas and torn it asunder, the ground split open, and towering rock formations began to crumble and collapse.
“Kwon O-jin!”
“Ugh!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Kwon O-jin swiftly pulled Isabella and Ha-eun into his embrace and kicked off the ground.
The earth where they had been standing moments before collapsed hundreds of meters below.
Crack!
Using the Neuron Step to propel himself through the air, Kwon O-jin turned his head toward the source of the sound.
What stood there was.
“What the hell is that…”
Absurdly colossal.
Indescribably grotesque.
A monster.
If the hideous demonic beast Kwon O-jin had faced earlier were magnified hundreds or thousands of times over, it would feel exactly like this.
“O-jin, could that possibly be…?”
“….”
Yes.
If there existed a ‘mother’ among all the demonic beasts Kwon O-jin had faced thus far━
Could it not be this very creature?
Grrrrrowl! Kwwwwboom!
The hundreds-of-meters-tall demonic beast that had burst through the ground swiveled its massive head, searching for something.
Unlike the peculiar individual Kwon O-jin had witnessed earlier, the mother beast possessed no yellow “eyes” reminiscent of The Snake.
Yet in place of eyes, other sensory organs had evolved instead—its flared nostrils twitched as it searched for something.
A single tentacle sprouting from its back dragged something up from the collapsed ground.
An eggshell, charred and blackened by brain lightning, crumbled and tumbled into the endless chasm below.
“Kek, kek, kek.”
The mother beast heaved its colossal body and released a grotesque cry, then flared its nostrils once more.
The beast’s wandering head came to a halt.
Where Kwon O-jin stood.
━━━━━━━━!
A shriek beyond human perception shook the surrounding earth.
Rumble! Crash!
The mother beast tore through the ground, charging straight toward Kwon O-jin in a direct line.
Thousands upon thousands of tentacles sprouting from its back were unleashed toward him.
“Oh, O-jin!”
“Damn it!”
Kwon O-jin spun urgently and stepped through empty air.
But holding both Ha-eun and Isabella simultaneously while using Brain Lightning’s brilliance proved too taxing—his speed faltered.
“Please put me down, O-jin!”
“Oh, O-jin, over there! There’s still ground left over there!”
Kwon O-jin nodded and landed on earth that hadn’t yet collapsed.
Whoosh!
Dozens of tentacles that arrived first targeted Kwon O-jin.
“Not a chance!”
“Get out of here, you things!”
Ha-eun and Isabella incinerated and tore apart the incoming tentacles.
“Vega! Which way is that exit you mentioned?”
[Th-that way, I say!]
Vega extended her small hand, pointing in one direction.
As the rock face crumbled away, a black Dimensional Rift roughly one meter in size became visible in the exposed space.
“Ugh!”
“Elder Sister!”
Then.
Ha-eun, struck by a tentacle, was sent flying backward and rolled across the ground.
“Ow…!”
She clutched her side, gasping in pain as if her ribs had fractured.
“Sister!”
Kwon O-jin embraced Ha-eun and rushed toward the Dimensional Rift.
The pursuing tentacles chased him relentlessly.
‘Damn it!’
With them targeting him, proper evasion was nearly impossible.
“Vega! Take Ha-eun and go first!”
[Understood!]
Vega wrapped Ha-eun in azure lightning and soared toward the dimensional rift.
“Over here, you bastards!”
In the meantime, Kwon O-jin volunteered as bait, drawing the tentacles’ attention.
[Follow right after!]
“Got it!”
Upon reaching the rift, Vega crossed the dimensional rift with Ha-eun.
‘Good, once I send Isabella through and enter myself.’
It would be over, or so I thought.
“Huh?”
The moment Ha-eun passed through, the dimensional rift’s size abruptly shrank to roughly fifty centimeters.
Kwon O-jin stared at the visibly diminished rift, his lips trembling.
If Vega was negligible due to her small size, then a single person’s passage had halved the rift’s width.
In other words.
“…Damn it.”
Himself and Isabella.
Only one of them could escape this place.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————