Not A Regressor - Chapter 258

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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 258
Interlude – The Heavenly Demon
A sharp hiss pierced the air!
The Snake surged forward with a piercing cry that split the atmosphere.
Its gaping maw, stretched wide, tore through the black storm clouds.
The dark clouds churned violently.
“Why have so many imposters claiming to be the Heavenly Demon appeared lately?”
Cassia’s eyes narrowed with undisguised displeasure.
Now that I thought about it, the Toad King, Huan Sukothai, had done the same.
He had called himself the Heavenly Demon and demanded her submission.
“I won’t be deceived anymore.”
Because I’ve found the true Heavenly Demon.
Cassia recalled a certain man, a faint smile playing at her lips.
A man with lustrous black hair and eyes that carried an air of decadent allure.
Seeing Kwon O-jin, she had become certain.
The Heavenly Demon I had been searching for was none other than Kwon O-jin.
“Those sacrilegious fools who dare impersonate Kwon O-jin…”
I would kill them all with my own hands.
“Hah.”
I exhaled slowly and raised my arm in deliberate motion.
From the deep shadows, serpents crawled forth.
Though called snakes, they were not living creatures in any conventional sense.
Serpents woven from shadow itself.
Cloaked in darkness and devouring light, the shadow snakes surged toward the black clouds like a tidal wave.
[Hmm.]
A low hum emanated from the black clouds.
[So that’s how it is, then.]
As if comprehending the entire situation, the black clouds released a quiet laugh.
A sharp hiss erupted!
The shadow snakes converged in an instant, encircling the clouds.
Though the clouds drifted in gaseous form without solid substance, this posed no obstacle.
The shadow snakes could strike directly at the soul itself, bypassing the physical body entirely.
But then.
[Vanish.]
A single, terse command.
At those words, the snakes surrounding the clouds melted away like snow.
“What…?”
Cassia’s eyes widened in disbelief.
[As expected, I suppose.]
A low chuckle drifted from the black clouds.
[I’m glad I took out insurance.]
Insurance?
Cassia retreated step by step, an ominous premonition crawling down her spine.
[Come here, Cassia.]
The black mass of clouds called to her.
Why was this happening?
Regardless of Cassia’s will, her legs moved of their own accord.
“Ah, uh.”
The black mass of clouds extended a hand toward Cassia, who trembled violently.
Though formless, the clouds didn’t truly possess a hand’s shape, yet it reached out nonetheless.
Cassia unmistakably perceived the approaching clouds as a ‘hand’.
[Night has fallen.]
Click.
As if flipping a power switch.
Cassia’s body froze rigid.
Her pupils, devoid of light, stared into the void.
The sky that had been clear mere moments before was now shrouded in deep darkness.
[Night makes one remember many things.]
The voice of the black mass of clouds—no, the Heavenly Demon—echoed softly through the pitch-black darkness.
[The rage you’ve suppressed, the sorrow you’ve buried, the desires you’ve trampled… and the memories you wished to forget.]
The Heavenly Demon’s hand gently caressed her cheek.
[Do you remember? What happened that day in the Snowy Field?]
“….”
Despite being deep within the dense Tropical Rainforest, she felt a cold that bit into her flesh.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
Her teeth chattered with a pallid, sickly expression.
Curled into herself, she recalled that day.
A pristine Snowy Field.
The memory of lying collapsed upon an endless expanse of snow.
No.
The memory of being abandoned there.
[That day, I plucked stars from the Night Sky and gave them to you as a gift.]
Ah, yes.
How could I ever forget?
The stars inscribed upon her left breast were all gifts from him.
[What can you give to me?]
The black mass of clouds gently enveloped her body.
Within her fading consciousness.
Cassia found the darkness embracing her infinitely comforting.
“Everything…”
Within her consciousness that flickered in and out of darkness, she fumbled through her words.
“I… will give you… everything, Heavenly Demon….”
[You need not give everything.]
Like flowers that bloom and wither.
Black storm clouds undulated.
[Just one thing—if you would grant me this single request.]
The demon of the sky whispered in an impossibly sweet voice.
And with that.
“…Yes, Heavenly Demon.”
Cassia’s consciousness sank beneath the black storm clouds, drifting away.
* * *
“I’m hoooome!”
Ha-eun kicked off her shoes and bolted into the living room, launching herself onto the sofa with a bound.
She threw herself onto the premium sofa worth tens of millions of won—a gift from Isabella—and writhed like an inchworm while clutching the cushions.
“Anyone seeing this would think I’d gotten military leave.”
Kwon O-jin let out a hollow laugh and approached Ha-eun, who lay sprawled across the sofa.
It had taken merely three days to subjugate Cheon Joo-ryong.
The three days spent in Pyongyang weren’t because they’d failed to capture Cheon Joo-ryong, but rather to investigate whether Barbatos had accumulated any monsters or sacred relics during that time.
‘Though we didn’t find anything separate.’
Despite all the effort required to investigate the lair covered in filth, there was little of value to show for it.
Well, regardless.
With Cheon Joo-ryong’s corpse alone, they’d extracted everything worth taking.
“How are your eyes feeling, Elder Sister?”
Kwon O-jin approached Ha-eun and gazed at the left side of her face, hidden beneath the eye patch.
“Hmm… it doesn’t hurt or anything in particular.”
Ha-eun reached up and removed the eye patch.
From her left eye, which had been concealed by the black patch, a soft amber light emanated.
The change in her eye had occurred after she killed Cheon Joo-ryong, who had been desperately pleading for his life.
Something pale and whitish flowed from Cheon Joo-ryong’s body and began to be absorbed into her eye.
According to Vega, it was the “dragon’s soul” that had been absorbed into her dragon eye.
“Are you really sure you’re okay?”
“Yep. Really okay.”
Since she’d absorbed the soul of none other than Cheon Joo-ryong, I’d been worried about potential side effects, but fortunately, none seemed to have manifested.
“If anything, the performance has improved?”
Ha-eun touched the area around her left eye and opened her dragon eye wide.
“Whether it’s because I reached 10-Star or because I absorbed that guy’s soul, I’m not sure, but I can now handle much more of the magical power contained within that… dragon’s heart, was it? And my vision has become incredibly sharp.”
“Your vision improved?”
“Yeah. I can see right inside your nostrils in detail, O-jin.”
“….”
Kwon O-jin reflexively covered his nose with his hand.
Ha-eun burst into giggles as she pushed herself upright.
“Anyway! I’m absolutely thrilled!”
I’ve overcome my trauma, reached the 10th Star, and even strengthened my dragon eyes.
This subjugation was nothing short of a Christmas gift for her.
“That’s a relief.”
Seeing Ha-eun so delighted, Kwon O-jin found a smile naturally spreading across his face.
“Yes, truly a relief, Elder Sister.”
Isabella, who had entered the house moments later, nodded with a gentle smile.
“Oh, that’s right, Elder Sister. Speaking of which, take a look at this.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“It’s Cheon Joo-ryong Barbatos’s heart. Well, when I say heart, I mean not an actual heart but a sacred stone.”
Isabella withdrew a sacred stone the size of an ostrich egg from her bag.
As promised before, they had entrusted the disposal of Cheon Joo-ryong’s corpse to the Colgrand Family, and this was something they had found within it.
“You mentioned that your eyes possess the power to manipulate dragon mana, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yes. Vega said something like that.”
“Then wouldn’t you be able to absorb the mana contained within this as well?”
“Oh.”
It was certainly a plausible possibility.
“B-but….”
Ha-eun swallowed hard, her gaze fixed on the sacred stone in Isabella’s hands.
When she had received equipment support this time, she had transferred all rights to Cheon Joo-ryong’s corpse to Isabella.
Already burdened with thirty billion won in debt, she couldn’t simply accept the sacred stone for herself.
“My, why are you being so reserved now, Elder Sister?”
Isabella settled beside her with a deep smile.
She gently embraced Ha-eun’s shoulders, which remained transfixed on Cheon Joo-ryong’s sacred stone, and whispered near her ear.
“We’re family now, aren’t we?”
“Huh?”
Ha-eun’s expression turned bewildered as she suddenly found herself with family she hadn’t heard from in a lifetime.
“Elder Sister, how do you say it in Korean… ah, sister-in-law! You’re my sister-in-law, aren’t you?”
“N-not a sister-in-law, though.”
Ha-eun’s timid objection did nothing to tear her gaze from the enormous sacred stone.
Isabella gazed at Ha-eun, whose eyes remained fixed on the sacred stone, with a deep smile.
“It’s true that you’ve reached the 10th Star, but… you still have a long way to go, don’t you?”
Her words rang true.
Ha-eun had indeed reached the 10th Star like Isabella.
Yet despite being at the same 10th Star, the gap between Ha-eun and Isabella was as vast as heaven and earth.
For Awakeners, a ‘Star’ was akin to a weight class.
Even if two people possessed the same heavyweight physique, the difference between a complete novice just beginning to train and a professional champion was astronomical.
Moreover, this gap only widened the higher one’s Star rank climbed.
“With just this sacred stone… it would still provide considerable aid to your growth, wouldn’t it?”
“Y-yes, of course…”
Isabella smiled brightly as she watched Ha-eun trail off and shrink back into herself.
“Elder Sister, I’ve never been to an amusement park in my entire life.”
She traced her smiling lips with her fingers, then turned her gaze toward Kwon O-jin.
“So tomorrow, I’d really like to go to the amusement park with Kwon O-jin… would that be alright?”
“Ugh.”
The implication that it would be just the two of them hardly needed to be stated.
“You haven’t forgotten the promise you made before, have you?”
“….”
Ha-eun kept her lips firmly sealed and avoided Isabella’s gaze.
Ha-eun, who had been watching Kwon O-jin with desperate eyes, soon released a deep sigh.
“…Fine. Go together, just the two of you.”
“Yes!”
Isabella sprang to her feet and clenched her fists triumphantly.
“…Oh.”
In the sudden silence that fell, Isabella let out a small cough.
“S-sorry. I got a bit excited.”
Her face flushed pink as she sat back down.
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes and glared at Isabella.
“Don’t forget. Kwon O-jin is my boyfriend.”
“O-of course I know that!”
Isabella desperately suppressed the smile threatening to spread across her face and nodded.
“Ugh. This is my loss.”
Ha-eun sighed deeply and shot a pointed look at Kwon O-jin.
She couldn’t very well scold Isabella—she’d already received far too much from her—so she redirected her frustration toward Kwon O-jin instead.
“You’re the real problem here.”
“….”
Though Kwon O-jin had suddenly become the target, he had no counterargument.
After all, there was some fault on his part for not maintaining distance from Isabella.
“It’s fine that you two go out together.”
Ha-eun continued, glancing at Isabella’s innocent pale pink lips.
“…But you can’t do things like kiss, understand?”
“Of course not, Elder Sister!”
Isabella nodded vigorously and sprang to her feet.
She linked her arm through Kwon O-jin’s and beamed at him.
“Did you hear that, Kwon O-jin? Let’s go to the amusement park together tomorrow!”
“…Yeah.”
How could I refuse in this situation?
Kwon O-jin sighed softly as he watched Isabella, who was practically vibrating with excitement like a child the night before a field trip.
Isabella clung to Kwon O-jin’s arm, her eyes gleaming quietly with joy.
‘If a kiss won’t work….’
Then other things should be possible, right?

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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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