Not A Regressor - Chapter 221

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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 221
Interlude – Reunion (3)
“What… what the hell is this?!”
Ha-eun cursed harshly as she watched the demonic beasts surge forward so densely that the pristine snowy field disappeared from view.
The number of demonic beasts she had faced when trapped in the Demon Realm before was nothing to scoff at.
But this was incomparably greater than that.
“Could it be that all the demonic beasts around the First Rift have gathered here?”
Even if their attempt to enter the Demon Realm had been detected, did that even make sense?
It was like four hundred thousand soldiers rushing to a single collapsed section of fortification just because one guard post had fallen.
“I… I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Xiaolin spoke in a bewildered tone as she cleanly severed the neck of a charging demonic beast with a sweep of her blade.
Even though traveling through the First Rift to enter and exit the Demon Realm was dangerous, it was never supposed to be this extreme.
There were even a handful of awakeners like Cheon Gwon-seong who made their homes in the Demon Realm itself—how could anyone survive if they faced such massive hordes of demonic beasts every time they crossed?
“Even if our attempt to enter was detected, only the demonic beasts within a radius of one to two hundred meters were supposed to gather.”
“But this is clearly more than just one or two hundred meters?”
The wave of demonic beasts surging like a black tide filled not just one or two hundred meters, but several kilometers of the surrounding area.
“And something else…”
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes as she gazed at the demonic beasts filling the snowy field.
“They don’t seem to be coming at us?”
The demonic beasts nearby were shrieking and charging forward.
But those far closer to the Rift seemed to pay no attention to them, instead beginning to line up in formation before the Rift.
The demonic beasts stretched out in long columns on both sides.
Like subjects awaiting their king’s procession, the beasts prostrated themselves on the ground with lowered heads.
“…What are they doing?”
Ha-eun stared at the lined-up demonic beasts with a dumbfounded expression.
“Could it be… The Snake is crossing over to this side?”
At that moment, she heard Allen murmuring beside her.
“The Snake crossing over? What do you mean by that?”
Ha-eun hurled a fireball at the surging demonic beasts and turned her head toward Allen.
“I once heard from Elder Cheon Gwon-seong that the demonic beasts near the First Rift gather in one place like this only when ‘The Snake’ directly exits the Demon Realm.”
“Are you saying the Snake Zodiac Queen is there?”
“No, that’s…”
Allen squinted as if unable to comprehend.
“I received a report this morning that the Snake Zodiac Queen is currently in South America.”
“…South America?”
“Yes. A region firmly controlled by the Fly Constellation Faction.”
“Then what in the world is this?”
If the Snake Zodiac Queen was currently in South America…
Then who were these demonic beasts waiting for?
“I’m not sure. We have almost no information about the Snake Constellation Faction.”
The Black Star Society had only recently been recognized as a global threat, so detailed information about them remained undisclosed.
“In any case, breaking through like this is dangerous. We should try again later….”
“That won’t work.”
Isabella shook her head with a resolute expression.
“Time is of the essence. We can’t afford to waste another moment.”
Even now, the wounded Kwon O-jin might be drawing his last breath, slipping away from this world.
“But—”
“If you won’t go, I’ll go alone.”
….
Allen watched Isabella’s retreating figure as she walked forward, her scythe gripped firmly in both hands.
There would be no compromise.
Her stride toward the horde of demonic beasts was unwavering.
“Sigh.”
Allen exhaled a short breath and followed after her.
“You don’t have to follow me.”
“I’ve received Deneb’s request, so I cannot simply abandon you both. And….”
His voice dropped low.
“I understand all too well how agonizing it is to watch someone precious slip away.”
Allen gripped his sword with a bitter expression.
His eyes, wandering through empty space as if recalling the past, held an unmistakable glimmer of regret.
“…Thank you.”
Isabella answered in a quiet voice.
Allen sliced through two demonic beasts that came diving down with massive wings fluttering, then continued speaking.
“Regardless of how many demonic beasts there are, actually penetrating into the Dimensional Rift itself shouldn’t be that difficult.”
The Snowy Field was packed with an astronomical number of demonic beasts.
But the party assembled to rescue Kwon O-jin consisted of superhuman beings who could effortlessly erase a nation or two if they set their minds to it.
After all, no matter how full a vessel of water is, a needle can still pierce through it.
As long as they weren’t trying to defend, breaking through was hardly difficult.
“The problem is we need to break through quickly before the encirclement tightens.”
“Leave that to me.”
Ha-eun pulled a cigarette from her pack.
“So you’re saying we need to drive a spear through those bastards first, right?”
“…The meaning is similar, I suppose.”
“Then buy me some time. I need it for preparation.”
Crackle.
The tip of the cigarette glowed red as it ignited.
Ha-eun removed the eye patch from her left eye and tucked it into her pocket.
“Breathe.”
She inhaled slowly, her gaze fixed on the cigarette held between her fingers.
What surfaced in her mind was the image of fire.
A fierce, scorching dragon’s breath that consumed everything around it.
“Ugh…!”
A dizzying pain shot through my left eye as if pierced by a needle.
The grotesque tendons covering the area around my left eye spread down to the nape of my neck.
‘I can do this.’
Thump, thump.
Within my left heart, pulsing violently.
I awakened the dragon’s heart sleeping within it.
The dragon’s heart, which had been curled up tight like an adolescent boy and severing all connection with its surroundings, began to thrash wildly.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Massive flames erupted around Ha-eun’s body, only to be sucked back into her form repeatedly.
“Constellation of the Dragon, Eltanin.”
As I spoke the Constellation’s name, the stigma carved into my left chest blazed brilliantly in response.
“Though you probably can’t hear me anyway since you’re asleep.”
Whoooosh!
Nine fire dragons burst from the stigma, their bodies intertwining before converging at the cigarette’s tip.
“Grant me flames that are absurdly powerful and strong.”
Snap!
I flicked the cigarette butt away with my fingertip.
Like tossing a lit cigarette onto gasoline-soaked ground, the entire surroundings were instantly engulfed in a fiery inferno.
“Die, you bastards.”
Kaboom!!!
The nine tangled fire dragons opened their maws.
Dragon’s breath shot forth in a straight line, sweeping through the demonic beasts.
“…Is it okay for stigma incantations to be like that?”
Xiaoran stared blankly at the perfectly straight gap torn through the encirclement of demonic beasts.
While it was common for Awakeners to use a Constellation’s name like an incantation to push a stigma’s power to its limits, this was the first time she’d heard an incantation with such absurd content.
“I’ll break through!”
Allen kicked off the ground and rushed forward like a projectile.
“Ah, ugh.”
Ha-eun, who had unleashed such a powerful breath, clutched her dragon face and groaned.
The sudden expenditure of so much mana made it feel as though consciousness would slip away.
“Get on my back, Elder Sister.”
Isabella crouched in front of Ha-eun and offered her back.
“I’m… I’m fine, I can still move….”
“If you fall behind, the demonic beasts will surround us. Hurry!”
“Ugh, okay.”
Ha-eun, still clutching her dragon face, climbed onto Isabella’s back despite her unsteady footing.
Isabella rushed forward, chasing after Allen while carrying Ha-eun on her back.
‘Kwon O-jin, please wait just a little longer.’
Isabella bit her lip and stamped her foot.
Ever since the fierce battle in the Demon Realm, the terrible bloodlust had plagued her once more.
But more than the bloodlust that gnawed at her sanity.
More than the thirst that burned her throat.
Right now, I yearned for his warm presence so desperately it ached.
‘I must… I absolutely must.’
Whoosh!
A crimson streak of blood tore through the bodies of the charging demonic beasts.
“This way!”
Allen swung his sword with precise direction even amid the swarm of demonic beasts closing in from all sides.
Crack-crack-crack!
Every time the frost-covered blade swept through the air, the demonic beasts charging forward shattered into ice fragments.
“A large one is coming from the left!”
Allen turned his head at Xiaolin’s cry.
“Kuoooooo!”
A demonic beast radiating tremendous power slid forward rapidly, releasing a ferocious roar.
“I’ll handle that one.”
The aura it emitted was far too ominous to ignore.
Allen blocked the path of the charging demonic beast, sword in hand.
Its size was roughly fifty meters.
A demonic beast with a serpentine elongated body covered in green scales and four pairs of crimson eyes burning with sinister light.
“…A basilisk.”
A single one of these creatures was powerful enough to topple an entire city.
“Hah!”
Allen, gripping the frost-covered sword, charged toward the basilisk.
“Ugh! There are too many of these demonic beasts here!”
Xiaoran, holding back the demonic beasts pressing in from the right, cried out with furrowed brows.
Though not quite at the basilisk’s level, these creatures were all notoriously powerful, surging forward like a tidal wave.
“Put me down.”
Ha-eun, who had been clinging to Isabella’s back, tapped her shoulder.
“…But.”
“If I’m being carried, you can’t fight properly, can you?”
“…”
Isabella nodded and set Ha-eun down on the ground.
“I’ll block the ones coming from the right. Elder Sister, please break through the front.”
“Got it.”
Allen and Xiaolin held the left.
Isabella and Xiaoran held the right.
Since the swarm of demonic beasts was divided into two flanks, the front where the Dimensional Rift lay had relatively fewer numbers.
“Kerrrgh!”
“Kieeeeeek!”
Demonic beasts rushed forward, shrieking like madness incarnate.
“Get out of the way, you bastards!”
Ha-eun burned the head of an oncoming demonic beast and charged forward.
‘O-jin.’
Watching the Dimensional Rift draw ever closer.
She bit her lip firmly.
‘Your sister will come rescue you now.’
Please, please, please.
“Stay alive… O-jin.”
After leaving Kwon O-jin in the Demon Realm and returning.
Tears that I had been holding back streamed down my cheeks.
To others, I spoke with confidence that O-jin would be fine.
Yet in the depths of my heart, a fear that I might never see him again remained, unshakeable.
What if I never see him again?
What if I can never be held in his arms again?
Each time such thoughts arose, I was consumed by an anxiety that threatened to drive me mad.
“O-jin, O-jin, O-jiiiiin!”
Ha-eun cried out his name desperately as she sprinted toward the black Dimensional Rift.
Twenty meters remained until the Rift.
Just a few more steps and I could enter the Demon Realm where he was trapped.
“Your sister will definitely rescue you!”
The emotions I had been suppressing erupted, and tears streamed down my face.
“Please… please, just stay alive, O-jin…”
Did my anguished voice reach him somehow?
Just before I could leap into the black Rift.
The Rift rippled, and a colossal demonic beast emerged from within.
A grotesque creature with an eagle’s head, a lion’s body, and a serpent’s tail.
And.
“O, O-jin! O-ji… huh?”
Ha-eun’s expression twisted violently as she spotted Kwon O-jin sprawled across the beast’s back, leisurely munching potato chips like an unemployed middle-aged man without a care in the world.
“What the hell.”
Why was that bastard like that?

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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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