Not A Regressor - Chapter 340

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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 340
Black Heaven (4)
A city blanketed by dense black clouds like fog.
The Kingdom of Niflheim, realm of the Demon Race, possessed neither towering Sacred Walls nor firmly sealed gates.
‘So this is their invitation—come if you dare.’
Kwon O-jin let out a hollow laugh as he gazed at the ash-gray buildings faintly visible through the black clouds.
Well.
What Demon Race member would ever imagine Niflheim being assaulted?
‘Unfortunately for them.’
Such arrogant assumptions would end today.
“Let’s go.”
Kwon O-jin stepped toward the city shrouded in black clouds.
Using Heukcheon to mask his presence, he slipped into Niflheim with unhurried grace.
‘So this is Niflheim.’
A city saturated in dreary ash-gray tones.
Enveloped by black clouds, it evoked the streets of industrial-era Europe.
Holding his breath, he wandered slowly through the streets.
He intended to capture any Demon Race members he encountered and extract information about where the ceremony was being held, but.
‘There’s no one here.’
The empty streets revealed neither a single Demon Race member nor any of the demonic beasts they commanded.
“Tsk.”
With no other choice, I would have to search directly.
Kwon O-jin leaped lightly onto a building and activated the stigma of Canis Major Constellation.
My sensory perception expanded dramatically.
Along with a putrid stench, the city’s panorama—previously hidden by the black clouds—came into focus.
“…What is that?”
At the center of Niflheim.
The black clouds had coalesced into a massive dome-like formation.
Or rather, not quite a dome.
‘A heart.’
The gurgling black clouds pulsed rhythmically, as if a giant’s heart had been extracted and placed here—thump, thump, thump.
‘Are the clouds blanketing the city flowing from there?’
From the colossal mass of black clouds—spanning several kilometers by rough estimate—dark clouds branched outward like blood flowing through veins from a beating heart, spreading across the entire city.
“…There it is.”
This conclusion wasn’t reached through instinctive intuition or sharp insight.
Even if you stopped a random three-year-old child and asked, they would answer that this was the ceremony site.
‘They never intended to hide it in the first place.’
I supposed I should be grateful for the saved effort in searching.
Regardless, this was a ceremony to unseal the Heavenly Demon—yet they conducted it so brazenly. The thought nagged at me as I approached the pulsating black clouds resembling a heart.
And.
“…So you weren’t trying to hide it after all.”
As I approached the dark storm clouds, I felt a tremendous force of energy crashing down, stealing my breath away.
This wasn’t the kind of power that could be hidden or concealed.
Even if I erected barriers around the area, they would be swept away by the violent torrent of magical energy.
I moved slowly toward the dark storm clouds.
Throb, throb!
I placed my hand on the pulsating dark clouds.
The magical energy that had been raging savagely, as if it would tear apart everything in its path, became docile as a lamb the moment I touched it.
The dark clouds wrapped gently around my hand, emanating a familiarity like that of an old friend.
‘Of course it would be.’
The energy wrapping around my hand was none other than Heukcheon itself.
‘Similar, yet different.’
The Heukcheon I possessed and the Heukcheon the Heavenly Demon possessed.
While the energy felt similar on the surface, when I closed my eyes and focused my mind intently, I could clearly discern the difference between the two Heukcheons.
“Something…”
Precarious—was that the right word to use?
The energy felt fragile, like touching a castle made of sand.
‘Cassia said the Heavenly Demon’s Heukcheon was incomplete.’
When I first heard that from Cassia, I didn’t understand what she meant by incomplete.
But now, having directly touched the Heavenly Demon’s Heukcheon, I could perceive the difference.
‘How could they even endure in such a precarious state?’
Wielding Heukcheon in such an unstable condition was no different from sprinting across ground made of sponge.
Ground where one misstep would send you tumbling down an endless cliff.
“…What exactly are you trying to accomplish by going this far?”
I gazed at the dark storm clouds with wavering eyes, bit my lip firmly, and stepped into the darkness.
I had no time to ponder the Heavenly Demon’s intentions.
“This place…”
The interior of the dark storm clouds, which I had expected to be pitch black, was far brighter than I anticipated.
I lifted my gaze upward and saw countless stars twinkling beyond measure.
‘Are these all the stigmas that Heukcheon has absorbed so far?’
An astronomical quantity of starlight that couldn’t even be compared to what I possessed.
Why was it?
The stars densely arranged and shining between the dark clouds stirred not beauty but an eerie, unsettling dread.
“Remember the day we made our oath.”
“Remember the day we made our oath.”
As I ventured deeper, I saw hundreds, thousands of Demon Race gathered in a circle, muttering some incomprehensible incantation.
Was this what a gathering of Satan worshippers looked like?
The sight of thousands of Demon Race prostrate on the ground, murmuring their chants, was grotesque beyond measure.
‘Is this that ritual?’
I narrowed my eyes and examined the Demon Race sprawled on the ground.
Complex magical circles were etched into the ground where the Demon Race members lay prostrate, and as incomprehensible incantations continued, they shimmered with a blood-red glow.
‘If I destroy that magical circle, it should stop the ritual.’
A short breath of relief escaped my lips as I observed the ceremony unfolding.
Fortunately, the method to halt the ritual appeared remarkably straightforward.
In that case.
‘I should start preparing on my end.’
As I reached into my garments to retrieve something, a voice cut through the air.
“…A human?”
One of the Demon Race members stared at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.
“Tsk.”
Not all of the Demon Race were participating in the ceremony, then.
I had been so focused on the magical circle that I failed to notice the sentinel approaching.
“How, how is a human here?!”
The Demon Race member’s expression twisted in confusion as they reached for the sword at their waist.
Before the blade could fully leave its sheath, I pushed off the ground and charged toward them.
Crack!
Using the Capricorn stigma to muffle my footsteps, I brought my palm down hard against the sword’s hilt as it tried to escape its scabbard.
‘Fast and silent.’
I couldn’t afford to use flashy techniques like Thunderbolt or Spear Lightning.
I seized their throat to prevent any cry, then channeled Brain Lightning directly into their skull.
“Gack, hack! Krrgh!”
The Demon Race member’s eyes rolled back as they lost consciousness.
I was relieved that I’d subdued them before the commotion could spread.
Rumble, rumble! Crack!
The black horns protruding from the Demon Race member’s forehead trembled violently as black clouds began to seep out.
The black clouds that drifted through the air were sucked into the magical circle where the Demon Race members lay.
“Intruder, an intruder!”
“How, how did a human penetrate the Heukcheon clouds?!”
“Daring to disrupt the ceremony!”
Several Demon Race members who witnessed the black clouds seeping into the magical circle turned their heads toward my location.
The Black Veil was ultimately an ability that concealed one’s presence.
Once they saw me with their own eyes, concealment meant nothing—my cover was blown.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue and drew Dantalian from my waist.
The palm-sized folding knife instantly transformed into the shape of a spear.
‘I wanted to observe the ceremony a bit longer.’
I had planned to study how and where to strike, but now that I was exposed, I no longer had the luxury of leisurely examining the magical circle.
“Why don’t you ignore me and finish what you were doing? It’s an important ceremony, after all?”
“How does a human know about the ceremony…?”
The Demon Race members squinted their eyes in incomprehension.
Unease rippled through the gathered Demon Race members at the sudden appearance of a human who seemed to know about their meticulously prepared ceremony.
“How did you even get in here in the first place?”
One of the Demon Race approached Kwon O-jin, his eyes narrowing.
The area surrounding the ceremony was completely shrouded in clouds of Heukcheon.
Even a Demon Race bearing the title of “Grand Duke” would find it impossible to pierce through the Heukcheon clouds and enter.
Yet here was a human—and alone at that—who had somehow penetrated the Heukcheon clouds and made his way inside.
It was a situation that defied all logic.
“You were hiding around here before the ceremony started, weren’t you? I don’t know where you heard about it, but you clearly knew about the ceremony.”
“Ah, so that’s how it was.”
The Demon Race members couldn’t even fathom that Kwon O-jin had directly manipulated the Heukcheon clouds blanketing the area to carve his way through. Instead, they began constructing plausible theories among themselves.
“So, what were you doing hiding like a rat, human?”
The Demon Race who had drawn near asked in a menacing voice.
Kwon O-jin shrugged with a leisurely expression.
“Obviously, I came to disrupt the ceremony.”
“…What?”
At his casual response, hollow laughter echoed among the Demon Race.
“Has this bastard lost his mind…!”
One of the Demon Race, his face contorting savagely, lunged toward Kwon O-jin.
Whoosh!
Black light poured from the horns sprouting from the Demon Race’s forehead, and black flames erupted into being.
The fierce black flames shot toward Kwon O-jin with savage intent.
“These bastards really can’t help themselves, can they?”
Kwon O-jin let out a light chuckle and swung his spear, cleaving the incoming black flames in two.
Boom!
As the bisected black flames struck the ground, a heavy explosion thundered across the space.
“You bastard!”
“Kill that arrogant human!”
Perhaps sensing from the casual manner in which he’d split the black flames that Kwon O-jin’s power was far from ordinary.
The Demon Race surrounding the area exchanged glances before simultaneously rushing toward him.
Crackle, crack!
Azure lightning erupted into being.
With each swing of his spear, torrents of lightning burst forth explosively, scorching the bodies of the charging Demon Race.
“Yeah, this suits my hand better than quiet disposal.”
The magical power of the stigma, deepened through the tenth blooming of Heukcheon.
The powerful lightning surging from the highly condensed magical force sent the Demon Race reeling helplessly backward.
“Ugh… where did such a monster come from!”
The Demon Race stared at Kwon O-jin’s overwhelming combat prowess with expressions of shock.
“Indeed, you certainly have the strength to back up such an arrogant claim about disrupting the ceremony.”
One of the Demon Race who had been knocked back by Kwon O-jin’s vicious assault approached, wiping the blood trickling from his lips.
“Though for all your strength, you seem rather lacking in the brains department.”
The human’s sudden interference with my consciousness was astonishing, but that was all it amounted to.
The Demon Race surrounded me, their lips curling into twisted smiles.
“No matter how strong you are, what do you think you can accomplish alone?”
Thousands of Demon Race eyes converged upon me.
“Alone.”
I let out a soft chuckle and nodded.
They were right—no matter how superhuman my strength, I couldn’t face thousands of Demons by myself.
“Then, if I’m not alone, that changes things, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
The Demons frantically looked around, searching for reinforcements.
But no matter where they looked, no other humans were visible besides me.
“What nonsense….”
“I had a little scuffle with a guy named Deimos before coming here.”
I grinned wickedly and reached into my pocket.
A tactic so simple it required no special training, yet effective enough to penetrate deep into Niflheim Kingdom with minimal casualties.
It was an absurd demand—like creating hot ice.
But the answer turned out to be surprisingly straightforward.
“If it’s Deimos… surely not?”
“He was carrying something quite useful.”
With a sardonic smile, I drew out a golden badge engraved with demonic markings.
Uuuuuuung!
As I poured light into the golden badge, brilliant golden radiance spread wide in all directions.
From within the golden light, fully armored Beast-human Tribe and Dragon-race emerged.
“Thank you for your hard work, Kwon O-jin.”
“Why’d you take so long to show up?”
Isabella and Ha-eun, who had been standing before the army of armored Beast-humans and Dragon-race, approached me.
“Oh, right. I forgot to say this.”
Ha-eun hooked her arm around my shoulder, thrust her thumb upward, and winked.
“On Your Left.”
What was that supposed to mean?

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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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