Not A Regressor - Chapter 264

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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 264
Snowy Field (4)
“Why are you…?”
Cassia stared at Kwon O-jin, who had transformed into roiling dark clouds, her expression utterly bewildered.
“No, wait… that can’t be. That’s fake… Yes. There’s no way that’s the real Heavenly Demon.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Cassia stumbled backward, her hands clutching at her head.
The light emanating from the black jewel embedded in her forehead wavered with anxiety.
“…I must kill you.”
Crack.
She bared her teeth savagely and raised her staff.
Shadows spread wide across the ground where she brought the staff down with brutal force.
Shadows that sprawled like a vast black lake.
From within them, serpents of even greater size slithered forth.
If the snakes that had erupted from the shadows before were the size of rattlesnakes, these were now anacondas.
Serpents large enough to swallow a person whole without hesitation encircled Kwon O-jin, their long forked tongues extended.
“Shadows’ serpents.”
Jingle.
A clear, crystalline rattle echoed out.
Cassia pointed her staff toward Kwon O-jin.
“Devour this liar.”
Ssshhhhk, ssshhhhk!
With an eerie sound, the shadow serpents shot forward like bullets.
Kwon O-jin crouched low and extended his right arm—now transformed into dark clouds (regenerated after using Gaecheon)—to meet them.
The serpent’s jaws opened viciously,
And sharp fangs dug deep into his forearm.
“Ugh?!”
Since neither physical attacks nor attacks imbued with stigma mana could penetrate Heukcheon’s clouds, he had naturally expected the serpent’s fangs to pass straight through. But—
‘The attack is getting through?’
Even though the fangs had sunk into the cloud-transformed portion of his arm, a dizzying pain spread through his forearm.
Turning his head to look at the forearm where the fangs were embedded, he saw Heukcheon’s clouds dispersing into the air like ink dissolving in water.
“As I thought, you are a fake.”
Cassia smiled brightly.
Confirming that her attacks were effective, she waved her staff with newfound certainty.
Jingle, jingle.
In rhythm with the clear rattle, the shadow serpents descended upon Kwon O-jin.
“Kwon O-jin!”
“I’m fine.”
Kwon O-jin waved his hand lightly toward Isabella, who was moving to approach, and calmly observed the movements of the encroaching serpents.
‘Gaecheon’s effect isn’t working.’
When Kwon O-jin activated Heukcheon, any opponent he recognized as an ‘enemy’ would lose their senses one by one.
However, perhaps because The Snake itself wasn’t a living creature but a summoned beast created from Cassia’s mana, the absolute advantage Heukcheon granted in combat proved ineffective against them.
‘Then.’
Kwon O-jin’s gaze shifted toward Cassia.
The dark clouds flowing from his body surged toward her.
“My, are you targeting me?”
Cassia smiled knowingly as she widened the distance between them.
Crunch!
In that moment, one of the shadow snakes bit into Kwon O-jin’s forearm again.
Fangs piercing through a section that hadn’t been transformed into dark clouds.
A dizzying pain shot through his arm, but he had no leisure to cry out in agony.
-Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Black lightning ignited the body of the snake gnawing at his forearm.
Kwon O-jin moved lightly, evading the snakes rushing at him from all directions.
Another function of Heukcheon.
His body scattered like mist into the air before materializing instantly before Cassia.
“Ugh!”
Was it the influence of Heukcheon that caused her bodily sensations to fade?
Cassia furrowed her brow and stumbled backward.
Kwon O-jin extended his hand, seizing her throat.
Gurgle, gurgle!
Dark clouds emanating from his palm began ravenously devouring her mana.
The vast mana absorbed through Heukcheon spread throughout Kwon O-jin’s entire body.
No, to be precise, it wasn’t just mana that was absorbed.
-Ding!
[A portion of ‘Cassia Colgrande’s’ memories is being transmitted.]
Memories sweeping through his mind like a panorama.
‘What is this…?’
It had been a long time since memories flowed in from anyone other than Lee Shin-hyuk.
Kwon O-jin paused momentarily, focusing on Cassia’s memories flooding into his mind.
What unfolded before his eyes was a pristine snowy field.
A frail girl trembling pitifully, huddled within a raging blizzard.
And appearing before her.
‘That one… the Heavenly Demon.’
A figure surrounded by dark clouds.
Kwon O-jin narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the silhouette faintly visible within the dark clouds.
But all he could confirm was that the silhouette belonged to a person.
The Heavenly Demon’s form, obscured by the dark clouds, remained indistinct.
[What a pitiful child.]
“What a pitiful child.”
The Heavenly Demon continued speaking as he stroked the fallen Cassia’s head.
[To your fate, abandoned by family, by the world, and even by yourself.]
A star glimmered between the dark clouds.
[I gift you the star of Serpens.]
As starlight breaking through the clouds flowed into Cassia’s body, everything seemed to shift.
“Let… go…!”
Cassia’s eyes snapped open fiercely, her throat still gripped.
She brought the staff in her hand down upon Kwon O-jin’s body, and shadow serpents erupted from the point of impact, coiling around him in an instant.
A crushing pressure enveloped his entire form, threatening to compress him.
“Ugh! Cough!”
He desperately transformed his body into dark clouds to escape the serpent’s binding.
Shhhhh!
A massive serpent’s tail whipped like a lash, striking Kwon O-jin.
His body flew backward like a shell, crashing against the rails of Atlantis.
“Ugh!”
Screeeech!
The rails crumpled like paper.
Scattered rebar cascaded down upon him.
Kwon O-jin pushed through the falling debris and emerged outside.
“Haa, haa!”
His breath came in ragged gasps.
More than the physical pain, his consciousness—growing hazy since he activated Heukcheon—tormented him far worse.
‘How much longer can I endure this?’
He couldn’t say for certain.
But one thing was clear: he couldn’t maintain Heukcheon indefinitely.
An instinctive warning screamed in his mind—if he continued like this, he would cross into a ‘point of no return.’
Kwon O-jin watched Cassia slowly rising to her feet, anxiety etched across his face.
He’d absorbed considerable magical power, yet the aura flowing from her remained suffocatingly dense.
‘Even with Heukcheon, I’m at this disadvantage.’
He’d never believed Heukcheon was a cheat code that could fell any enemy with ease.
But having never fought so evenly while using it before, he’d grown overconfident, believing victory would come easily.
‘…Winning through combat will be difficult.’
Even being generous, his odds were fifty-fifty.
And that was only if he could maintain Heukcheon continuously.
Grrrrrgh.
Even now, with his consciousness teetering on the edge of being devoured by Heukcheon, he couldn’t sustain a prolonged close-quarters battle with Cassia.
“Cassia.”
If there was no way to win through fighting.
He would have to use another method.
The method he wielded best.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Black clouds of shadow flowed from Kwon O-jin’s body, enveloping the surroundings like the Shadow Dome that Cassia had created.
The range wasn’t wide, but it was enough that Isabella wouldn’t be able to tell what was happening inside from where she stood.
“Hah, hah. What is this?”
Cassia also glared at him, her expression showing considerable exhaustion.
Kwon O-jin opened his mouth with a calm, measured voice.
“You must have suffered terribly all this time, alone.”
I recalled the memories of Cassia that had flowed into my mind.
The memories of a girl afflicted with an incurable disease.
Abandoned by family, forsaken by the world.
The memories of being left alone in the cold Snowy Field.
“What are you saying now….”
“I’m sorry. For not knowing sooner.”
….
Cassia’s body trembled slightly.
She glared at Kwon O-jin with fierce eyes.
“…H-how would you know anything!”
“I do know.”
Kwon O-jin continued with a faint smile.
“Because it was I who gave you the stars that day.”
In that instant.
Light flickered in Cassia’s eyes.
“Ah, uh.”
But it was only brief.
As the black jewel embedded in her forehead emitted light, the glow in Cassia’s eyes vanished.
“That’s a lie!”
“You’re free to think that. No, right now you have no choice but to think that way.”
Slowly.
I walked toward her.
“Because you’re being deceived by him right now.”
“…Being deceived, you say?”
“Yes.”
Cassia’s eyes trembled.
“You’re the one deceiving me. You’re not… the Heavenly Demon.”
“Then who is the Heavenly Demon?”
“The Heavenly Demon is….”
Cassia trailed off and took a step backward.
She grasped her head, her body shaking violently.
“The Heavenly Demon is… the Heavenly Demon is….”
I grasped her trembling shoulders.
Right now, her consciousness was dominated by the Heavenly Demon’s power.
Yet even under that domination, her consciousness hadn’t completely vanished.
‘When she stopped attacking Isabella.’
She had instinctively shown signs of resisting the Heavenly Demon’s control.
‘It hasn’t disappeared.’
Cassia’s consciousness was merely submerged in the depths.
What I needed to do was drag her consciousness back to the surface from those depths.
To accomplish that, I needed to exist as the ‘Heavenly Demon’ in her eyes.
‘The possibility is more than sufficient.’
Right now, her consciousness was being dominated by the jewel embedded in her forehead.
Conversely, this meant the Heavenly Demon could only be acknowledged as the ‘Heavenly Demon’ to her by forcibly using a jewel that dominated her consciousness.
In other words.
‘She trusts me more.’
If she didn’t trust me more,
there would have been no need for the Heavenly Demon to embed a consciousness-dominating jewel in her forehead in the first place.
“No, that’s not it.”
Cassia shook her head, her face drained of all color.
“I have to follow his words… if I don’t…”
Cassia hugged herself, her body curling inward.
“I’ll be abandoned?”
….
Kwon O-jin looked down at Cassia, trembling with terror.
A frame so fragile one might mistake her for a girl.
A delicate woman who seemed as though she would shatter like glass if touched carelessly.
That was surely the true form of Cassia Colgrande hidden beneath the terrifying epithet of ‘Snake Zodiac Queen’.
‘Trauma inherited from the past.’
Extreme self-loathing accumulated since the incurable illness emerged.
The vast despair felt by a girl who could only wait helplessly for approaching death while confined to a wheelchair.
The Heavenly Demon had exploited that trauma to turn her into a puppet.
For her, being ‘abandoned’ was a terror that made even death seem trivial.
Then there was only one thing I needed to do.
“I won’t abandon you.”
“…What?”
“I said I won’t abandon you.”
Slowly, tenderly—as though caressing a precious treasure—I stroked her cheek.
“You are more precious than anyone else.”
“Me… precious?”
“Yes.”
Cassia’s eyes wavered.
For someone who had been treated as ‘abandoned goods’ since a distant past she couldn’t even remember, the word ‘precious’ felt unbearably unfamiliar.
“No… I’m not.”
I couldn’t possibly be someone precious to anyone.
If I were,
I wouldn’t have been abandoned alone in that snow-covered Snowy Field.
“I… I don’t deserve to be called precious.”
“That’s not for you to decide.”
“But… I….”
Memories surfaced.
Nightmares rose to the surface.
-Still, I’m grateful.
Late at night.
My mother’s voice seeping through the barely opened door.
That single phrase laced with relief—the words that had bound my entire life—pierced my mind like a blade.
“No one… no one ever needed me.”
“I need you.”
“Everyone left me alone and abandoned me!”
“I will not leave.”
“I have… nothing.”
“I am here.”
Kwon O-jin gazed at her with unwavering eyes.
In that instant.
Crack!
The black jewel embedded in her forehead fractured.
The hollow eyes that had lost their light began to shimmer once more with a beautiful emerald brilliance.
“…Ah.”
Cassia exhaled a soft gasp, then gazed at Kwon O-jin with a faint smile.
“You’re… not the Heavenly Demon, are you?”
Cassia shook her head, her eyes sorrowful.
“The Heavenly Demon was never this kind.”
“….”
Perhaps excessive kindness had become a poison instead.
It was something Kwon O-jin couldn’t help.
He was no Heavenly Demon—merely a fraud playing the part.
He could never become truly identical to the Heavenly Demon.
But.
‘If I’m a true con artist,’
it’s not about deceiving others.
It’s about making them believe.
That was what a con artist should do.
“You’re right—I am not the Heavenly Demon.”
Kwon O-jin nodded at last.
A murmur of “as expected” escaped Cassia’s lips.
Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes as she offered a sorrowful smile.
“Not yet, you see.”
“What… do you mean by that?”
“What does the Heavenly Demon mean to you?”
Across the endless expanse of the Snowy Field.
The only being who had ever approached her.
The being who plucked stars from the Night Sky and gifted them to her.
“He is… everything to me.”
“A man who tries to control you with trinkets like this?”
Kwon O-jin pointed to the cracked jewel embedded in her forehead.
“A man who threatens to abandon you if you don’t obey his commands?”
“….”
The Heavenly Demon had made one fatal mistake.
What she truly needed was not stars plucked from the Night Sky.
What the girl abandoned in the pristine Snowy Field had yearned for was not the stars glimmering in the Night Sky, but the warmth of a human touch—warmth capable of melting the cold snowflakes that surrounded her.
“Cassia.”
I gently brush away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.
“I swear to you here and now. No matter what happens, I will never abandon you.”
I whisper with infinite tenderness.
“I will never let you experience that cold, agonizing, lonely suffering again.”
I whisper with infinite sweetness.
“You are more precious to me than anything else in this world.”
The words that girl abandoned in the pristine Snowy Field had most longed to hear.
The words she had desperately wished for her entire life, and I whisper them to her.
Even if those whispered words are nothing but the sweet lies of a con artist.
“I will become your Heavenly Demon.”
She cannot help but believe.

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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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