Not A Regressor - Chapter 337

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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 337
Black Heaven (1)
“Sigh.”
After escaping Cassia’s sudden assault(?),
I exhaled deeply and sat atop the treasures—now hollow shells drained of their inner magic—that lay scattered before me.
“So, what exactly happened here?”
I looked at Cassia, who was twirling a strand of her hair with her index finger, seemingly apologetic for tackling me so abruptly.
“As I mentioned, I sensed the Heavenly Demon’s presence here and mistook it for something else.”
The Heavenly Demon and I both possessed the same Heukcheon.
Yet the way she distinctly identified it as the “Heavenly Demon’s presence” suggested it wasn’t a reaction to the Heukcheon I carried.
In other words,
it was reasonable to assume the Heavenly Demon had deliberately leaked her presence to lure Cassia here.
“You’ve been pursuing the Heavenly Demon all this time?”
I knew she was in the Demon Realm,
but I had no idea what she was doing or wandering around for there.
“…To be precise, it’s the Heavenly Demon’s vessel.”
“A vessel?”
“Yes. The Heavenly Demon’s true self is currently sealed in Niflheim due to Divine Law’s restrictions.”
“Sealed away?”
So that’s why she didn’t come to meet me directly and instead approached by interfering with my unconscious mind.
“Yes. Well, I only recently learned this fact myself.”
Cassia sighed softly and shook her head.
It seemed many things had happened to her while I was traveling between kingdoms.
“So why are you trying to hunt down that vessel and kill it?”
“Because it’s the only way to delay the unsealing of the Heavenly Demon’s seal, even if only slightly.”
Delaying the unsealing, she said.
The Heavenly Demon’s words—”we’ll meet again soon”—flashed through my mind.
“I’ve already found and killed it about three times… but this time I completely missed the mark.”
Cassia sighed and shook her head.
‘So that’s why she said this time it would hide even more carefully.’
Instead of hiding from Cassia, the Heavenly Demon had lured her toward me.
To break free from the seal that confined her.
“How much time is left before the seal breaks?”
“I don’t know exactly. But based on the recent movements of the Demon Race in Niflheim…”
“Not much time is left, then.”
She had said it directly—that we’d meet again soon.
The day the Heavenly Demon’s seal would break was drawing near.
“…Yes.”
Cassia nodded with a bitter expression on her face.
I gazed at her, who was smiling bitterly with her head bowed, and asked quietly.
“Why… were you preventing the Heavenly Demon’s seal from breaking?”
In the pristine expanse of the Snowy Field.
The one who saved her from death was the Heavenly Demon.
Of course, the reason for saving her was likely that he needed a puppet to eliminate obstacles in his stead, since the constraints of Divine Law prevented him from moving freely.
Regardless, from her perspective, the Heavenly Demon was a benefactor who had saved her life.
“My, is Kwon O-jin really saying such things?”
Cassia approached Kwon O-jin with a mischievous smile.
“You promised me, after all. That you would become my new Heavenly Demon.”
“….”
I had certainly said such things.
But I couldn’t know how much Cassia truly believed those words.
Cassia covered her mouth lightly with her hand, her laughter spilling out in soft chuckles.
“Of course, that’s not the only reason. This is more like my own form of… atonement.”
Atonement.
I had heard well enough what she had done while her mind was enslaved by the Heavenly Demon.
“I’ve killed far too many things.”
She had lived with countless bloodstains upon her hands.
Even if it hadn’t been entirely of her own will, one couldn’t claim innocence.
“…Cassia.”
“Heh. I know it myself. That what I’m doing is abhorrent.”
Even if she atoned, the fact that she had taken countless lives would not change.
It was merely self-consolation.
With the Heavenly Demon’s control lifted, she was simply filling the hollow void with the convenient method of atonement.
I spoke softly to Cassia, whose smile seemed so fragile it might shatter at the slightest touch.
“You don’t need to think about it so complicatedly.”
I hadn’t stained my hands with blood.
But I had lived by deceiving others and draining them of their lifeblood all the same.
I didn’t think my actions were honorable.
I had no intention of making excuses by saying it was unavoidable.
But.
“Living only through atonement is far too painful, isn’t it?”
So what if it’s abhorrent?
Too many people live selfishly to be punished merely for being selfish.
“It’s fine to live a bit more shamelessly. Well, if we end up digging ourselves into hell later, we can worry about it then.”
“….”
Cassia’s eyes widened as if she hadn’t expected such an answer.
She bit her lip gently and placed her hand over her trembling heart.
It was the first time.
Someone had told her it was okay to live a bit more shamelessly.
“You really are… quite the troublesome person, Kwon O-jin.”
“What in the world is this?”
“I’m so frustrated with you that I want to bind you up somewhere no one knows and punish you.”
“I’ll take back what I said about living shamelessly.”
If a person commits a sin, they must live bearing the consequences.
“Hehe. I was joking.”
Cassia laughed mischievously and stepped back.
‘So she really is Isabella’s elder sister.’
Her smile and teasing tone were identical to Isabella’s.
“So, what now? Are you going to keep hunting down the Heavenly Demon’s vessels?”
“No matter how many vessels we kill, the Heavenly Demon’s seal will eventually be broken anyway.”
Then what was supposed to be done?
“I heard a major ceremony will be held in Niflheim in a month.”
“A ceremony?”
“Yes. It’s likely related to breaking the Heavenly Demon’s seal.”
One month.
Kwon O-jin bit his lip with an anxious expression.
‘Time is too tight.’
I had thought I would need several more months to fully gather my strength.
Yet only one month remained.
“I plan to go to Niflheim and stop that ceremony.”
“Alone?”
“Oh my, are you going to come with me, Kwon O-jin?”
Kwon O-jin nodded to Cassia, who asked playfully.
“Of course I’m going with you.”
“…Pardon?”
It was Cassia who was taken aback by his unhesitating answer.
“Do you know what kind of place Niflheim is?”
“Well, I’ve never been there directly, but I’ve heard roughly what it’s like.”
The Demon Kingdom.
A place where followers of the Heavenly Demon gather—several times more dangerous than the combined total of the three forbidden zones of the Demon Realm.
“No, you don’t understand how dangerous that place is.”
“So, because it’s dangerous, I should just sit back and watch the Heavenly Demon’s seal break?”
“….”
Cassia bit her lip with an anxious expression.
“Of course I don’t plan to go recklessly alone.”
Isn’t that what I’ve been preparing for all this time?
Of course, I hadn’t yet gathered all my full strength.
But I had acquired the Beast-human Tribe and the Dragon-race, along with the formidable power that is Baek Moo-gang.
While I couldn’t call it sufficient, it wasn’t something to give up on without even fighting.
“Sigh, you’re really stubborn. The new Heavenly Demon.”
Cassia let out a short sigh and shook her head slowly.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think it will be possible for me to go with you.”
“Why?”
“Well, you might be fine with it, but the others will be reluctant to travel alongside The Snake.”
Cassia spoke in a bitter tone.
“….”
I couldn’t muster any counterargument and pressed my lips firmly shut.
Just as she said, there would be many who would show their discomfort if I were to accompany Cassia to Niflheim.
‘Starting with Elder Sister, for that matter.’
Though Cassia had been under the Heavenly Demon’s control at the time, she had directly killed Tamrang Star with her own hands.
From Ha-eun’s perspective—she who had learned from Tamrang Star and lived with her for a time—it would be difficult to regard Cassia without emotion.
“I’ll do my best to prevent my consciousness from being dominated.”
Cassia continued with a faint smile.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I’d like to ask—would you consider it?”
“Tell me.”
“Could you leave Bella behind this time?”
Leave Isabella behind?
“That seems difficult.”
Isabella was the strongest in our group aside from myself, who had used the Gaecheon.
Without her, the plan to raid the Niflheim Kingdom and stop the sealing ceremony wouldn’t be feasible in the first place.
“But why do you want to leave her behind?”
“….”
Cassia twirled her hair between her fingers and subtly avoided my gaze.
“If we fail to stop the ceremony and the seal is broken, the entire surrounding area will be filled with Heukcheon’s aura.”
“What’s the problem with that… oh.”
A short exclamation escaped my lips.
Isabella was an awakened being who drew power from Gomorrhah, one of the constellations of the Black Star.
‘And it was the Heavenly Demon who transformed the constellation originally called a satellite into the Black Star.’
If I were to use family lineage as an analogy, Heukcheon would be the grandparent, and the Black Star would be the parent.
In other words.
Like heredity between child and parent, the Heavenly Demon’s power already dwelled within her to some degree.
‘If the Heavenly Demon were to break free from the seal in that state…’
I recalled one of Heukcheon’s characteristics: ‘domination’.
In the worst case, Isabella could become the Heavenly Demon’s puppet, just as Cassia had been.
“Then you too….”
Of course, Cassia, being an awakened one of the Black Star, faced the same risk of becoming a puppet.
“Hehe. I’m quite accustomed to living as someone’s puppet.”
“….”
So she was willing to risk being dominated by the Heavenly Demon’s consciousness again just to stop the ceremony.
“Sigh.”
I wanted to block the ceremony without borrowing Isabella’s strength or Cassia’s power, if I could.
‘But it’s impossible.’
Giving up either of them would mean sacrificing far too much firepower.
It would be better to abandon the plan to block the ceremony altogether than to lose both of them.
“Let’s try to block the ceremony however we can for now.”
If we fail and the Heavenly Demon’s seal breaks…
“Then Cassia, you take Isabella and run far away from here.”
“…Understood.”
Cassia nodded with a heavy expression.
“Then I’ll be going now. If we’re seen together, it will put you in a difficult position too, Kwon O-jin.”
Cassia turned gracefully, lifting the hem of her black dress as she did.
I watched her turn and let out a soft chuckle.
“That’s surprising, though.”
“Surprising?”
“I thought you two weren’t getting along, but I never expected you to worry about her like this.”
“Ugh…!”
Cassia flinched, her shoulders trembling with embarrassment.
“I-I only told her to leave because I was worried she’d ruin the plan. She’s stubborn and greedy, so she’ll refuse when she should step back.”
Cassia snorted and spun around sharply.
Despite her words, the tips of her ears peeking through her platinum blonde hair had flushed a deep red.
I watched Cassia’s retreating figure with a faint smile.
‘I hope the day comes when they can be on good terms again.’
Imagining Cassia and Isabella laughing together, I turned toward the exit.

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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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