Not A Regressor - Chapter 290

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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 290
Dog and Wolf (15)
“When did I ever mention the enemy…!”
Riak’s foot lashed out, striking Horus’s abdomen as he charged forward.
Horus’s body slid backward in a grinding motion.
Without missing the opening, I tried to press my advantage further, but—
“Ugh!”
My clenched fist trembled violently.
A dizzying, searing pain raced through my entire body, as if sharp needles were shredding the flesh from my bones.
‘Is this the constraint of the Divine Law?’
I hadn’t yet drawn upon the power of the stigma to the degree that would invoke the Divine Law’s restrictions.
Then that meant—
[Haa… haa…]
In the distance, I could see Vega collapsed in Kwon O-jin’s palm, breathing in ragged gasps.
When Riak took a concerned step toward Vega—
“Where are your eyes?!”
Horus came charging like lightning, striking Riak’s jaw from over his shoulder.
Riak’s body, launched nearly five meters into the air, crashed into the remnants of the shattered Fountain.
“Did you not see how Kalike died?”
Horus glared at Riak with blazing eyes.
Losing focus during combat was no different than offering your neck to the executioner.
Riak, embedded in the Fountain’s wreckage, slowly pushed himself upright.
He wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and gave a quiet nod.
“I apologize.”
Now was not the time to worry about Vega’s condition.
What demanded my focus was the enemy before me.
A comrade-in-arms and dearest friend since childhood.
“Let’s go.”
Crackle!
Blue lightning blazed between the silver mane.
After Horus and Riak’s gazes crossed through the air—
Boom!
Both wolves drove their feet into the ground without hesitation.
Two wolves charging toward each other.
Horus was the first to draw his blade.
“Hng!”
Claws grown long as sword blades slashed diagonally downward.
Black aura engulfed the claws, burning like flame.
Riak rolled forward, maintaining the momentum of his charge.
The ground beneath caved inward as my body soared high into the air.
“Where are you going!”
Horus lifted his head, tracking Riak’s position as he dug his claws into the earth.
He thrust his claws forward like a spear toward the airborne Riak.
Crack!
Riak twisted his body mid-air using lightning as a foothold, dodging Horus’s claws as he clenched his fist.
A fist ablaze with lightning lashed out at Horus’s solar plexus.
“Gack!”
Boom!
Horus plummeted like a meteor.
He gazed up at Riak, who freely changed direction by creating lightning platforms in mid-air, and let out a hollow laugh.
“When did you learn such a technique?”
“A hundred years is a long time.”
It was true that I confined myself behind walls.
But that didn’t mean I spent all that time idle and doing nothing.
“Indeed.”
Horus nodded and chuckled softly.
“As you say, a hundred years is quite a long time.”
His black mane bristled upright as he lowered his body into a crouch.
A stance balanced on all four legs.
In the darkness of night, a crimson light kindled in Horus’s eyes like ghostfire.
“Grrrrrrr!”
Horus turned his crimson gaze toward Riak and released a low growl.
Is this what it feels like to step into a den of starving wolves?
The killing intent that radiated from him was so thick and suffocating it swallowed the surroundings like a swamp.
“…That is…”
Riak’s expression hardened rigidly.
Berserk transformation.
The primal beast power inherent within the Beast-human Tribe pushed to its absolute limit.
Several conditions were necessary to enter a berserk state.
First was possessing beast blood thick enough to use berserk transformation.
Only purebloods among the Beast-human Tribe with the densest beast blood could use it.
Second was the physical endurance to withstand the berserk state.
Most Beast-humans would have their blood boil the moment they entered berserk form, dying instantly.
The third and final condition was a full moon in the Night Sky.
Berserk transformation could only be used beneath a full moon, when beast blood reached its peak strength.
But.
“How in the world did you use berserk transformation in broad daylight?”
Right now, there was no full moon—not even dusk had fallen yet. It was still bright daylight.
Even if the first and second conditions were met, berserk transformation should have been impossible.
Yet somehow, Horus had used berserk transformation under the blazing sun.
“Didn’t you say it yourself? That a hundred years is an extraordinarily long time.”
He maintained enough rationality to converse normally even while in a berserk state.
“Hehehehe. I see.”
Riak swallowed hard, his fists clenching tight.
His tense eyes tracked Horus’s every movement.
Those eerie crimson eyes, burning like ghostly flames, wavered back and forth.
Boom!
A sudden, violent impact tore through my body.
In an instant so brief it barely deserved the name.
Horus, who had vanished like a phantom, materialized before Riak.
“Ugh!”
Riak, caught off guard, hastily raised his arms to shield his face.
A defense born of instinct rather than conscious reaction.
Horus’s fist crashed down across his forearm.
Crack!
The ground beneath Riak’s feet gouged out as if carved by heavy machinery, and he was driven backward.
“Grrrrr!”
The assault didn’t end with a single blow.
Horus moved at a speed beyond the eye’s ability to follow, unleashing a relentless barrage of punches toward Riak.
Power and velocity incomparable to before he’d entered his berserk state.
Riak’s entire body became tattered rags as he was sent flying backward, unable to catch even a moment’s respite.
“Cough!”
A handful of dark crimson blood spilled from his lips—whether his organs had been pulped, he couldn’t tell.
“For all your big talk, you’re not much, Riak.”
Horus’s crimson eyes looked down upon him.
“….”
Riak wiped the blood away and pushed himself upright.
He clenched his fists and tried to assume a fighting stance in silence, but—
“Ugh!”
Crack, crackle!
Blue sparks erupted as Riak’s body convulsed.
The constraints of the Divine Law binding the Constellation were beginning to exert their full effect.
“…What’s wrong?”
Horus, sensing that something was amiss with Riak’s condition, narrowed his eyes and stared at him.
“Nothing… Ugh! Aaaahhhhh!”
Riak dropped to one knee, his body curling inward.
An incomprehensibly vast agony tore through every fiber of my being.
As if threatening that even the slightest movement would not be forgiven.
“That’s enough, Riak.”
Kwon O-jin approached the curled-up Riak.
I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back slightly.
Riak shrugged off my hand and glared at Kwon O-jin sharply.
“What are you doing, kid?”
“The Divine Law’s restrictions are starting, aren’t they?”
“That’s….”
“I’ll finish this.”
Kwon O-jin gripped his spear while staring at Horus.
Now that the blessing’s duration had ended, fighting Horus head-on would be difficult.
“Kwon O-jin!”
“We’ve cleaned up all the creatures that were in the village!”
Isabella and Ha-eun arrived just in time, having finished dealing with the situation in the village.
If the three of us combined our strength, even a berserk Horus wouldn’t be difficult to handle.
“You’ve endured enough.”
While it’s said that Holy Spirits suffer less from the Divine Law’s restrictions compared to Constellations.
That was only “less”—not exempt entirely.
If Riak used any more power, the Divine Law’s restrictions would tear him to shreds.
“…Endured enough?”
But.
Riak let out a hollow laugh and pushed himself up.
“Don’t spout nonsense, kid.”
He ground his teeth and took a step toward Horus.
With just that single step, a searing pain shot through his entire body as if he were being carved by blades.
“This is a wolf’s fight.”
No one else could be allowed to interfere.
Not even if that interference came from the rules of a world created by a Transcendent.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
The azure lightning that had lost its radiance ignited once more, burning fiercely like oil had been poured upon it.
Cracks began spreading across Riak’s body like shattered glass.
Blood gushed from the fissures in his torn flesh.
“Hey, hey! What’s wrong with your body?”
Ha-eun cried out in shock.
It looked as though his body had been struck by a hammer against glass.
The spider-web of cracks covering him seemed ready to shatter into pieces at the slightest touch.
“Ugh… Ahhh!”
The more he drew upon the power of the Holy Mark, the more the agony multiplied.
Riak bit his lip and took another step forward.
Kwon O-jin watched Riak’s receding figure with a rigid expression.
“Riak….”
“You said it yourself, kid.”
Riak turned his head and smiled wickedly.
“Nothing is ever resolved by endurance alone.”
If suffering is the price,
I will bear it willingly.
Just as you did.
“Haaaaaah.”
Riak drew a deep breath and lifted his head.
The phantom of the ‘Wall’ materialized before his eyes.
The barrier he had not crossed for a hundred years—or rather, had chosen not to cross.
The shackles of fear that had bound him.
“Kehehehe!”
Laughter erupted unbidden from his throat.
The wall that had loomed so impossibly high,
Now appeared so fragile it could crumble at a touch.
“Was it only this much?”
I clenched my fist.
Blazing azure lightning crackled.
The Constellation Mark etched upon my left chest blazed like a star.
Excruciating agony pursued me like a threat.
As if demanding—how dare you think of crossing the ‘Wall’?
“I am not crossing it.”
The Divine Law’s constraints intensified, and flesh shattered like cubic fragments, scattering downward.
White-hot agony threatened to incinerate my mind,
“With merely this much?!”
Boom!
I stomped the ground fiercely and roared.
Let me shatter.
Let me crumble.
“Do you think you can bind Riak Khan?!!!”
I swung my fist toward the wall before me.
Crack!
The wall that had imprisoned me for a hundred years fractured, then collapsed in a thunderous cascade.
And beyond that wall,
“Kehehehe! Still as brutish as ever, I see!”
Horus stood laughing brilliantly at me.
“Horusssss!!”
“Riakkkk!”
The two wolves charged forward.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!!
The earth trembled as the Royal Palace, towering tens of meters high, began to collapse.
The bodies of the two wolves racing straight toward each other crossed paths.
And then.
“Cough, hack!”
Horus’s chest bore a hole the size of a basketball.
Riak’s fist protruded through his back.
“Khhh-hehehehe!”
With his chest pierced by the fist, Horus burst into wheezing laughter.
“A magnificent… blow, Riak.”
“No need for theatrics.”
Cough.
Blood spilled from Riak’s lips.
Horus smiled faintly, placing his hand upon the arm that had pierced his chest.
“Born a wolf… I lived like a dog.”
His voice brimmed with regret and remorse.
“But thanks to you.”
A radiant smile blossomed across Horus’s lips.
“At least in the end… I could die as a wolf.”
Thank you, Riak.
With those final whispered words.
The crimson light that had burned in Horus’s eyes faded into darkness.
Thump.
Horus’s body collapsed.
“…Rest now.”
Riak gently closed the eyes of his long-time companion, now devoid of light.
Straightening his spine, he clenched his fist and struck his left chest three times.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.

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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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