Not A Regressor - Chapter 43

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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 43
Closed-Door Training (4)
Whoooosh!
A wire shot at near-sonic velocity coiled around Riak’s arm.
“Hmph!”
Riak made no effort to evade.
Instead, he seized the wire wrapped around his arm and yanked it with brutal force.
The overwhelming difference in strength sent Kwon O-jin’s body hurtling forward like a fish caught on a line.
“I’ll grant you that much courage!”
To launch a preemptive strike through the killing intent I unleashed at full power—
Even Riak hadn’t anticipated such a move.
“But!”
Courage without strength was nothing but recklessness.
“That’s all you have!”
Rather than a fist, he extended his razor-sharp claws toward the helplessly pulled-in Kwon O-jin.
A strike saturated with thick, viscous killing intent.
Should his claws catch the fragile human flesh, it would tear like paper.
━Then.
“Hngh!”
Click!
Kwon O-jin released the wire shooter strapped to his left arm.
Using the momentum of being pulled, he slid forward in one fluid motion.
He swung the spear low, aiming for Riak’s ankles.
“Not so fast!”
Riak, unflustered, released the wire and jumped.
Whoosh!
The silver spear cut through empty air in vain.
“Ah.”
A short gasp escaped Kwon O-jin’s lips.
It was a decisive strike unleashed after discarding even the wire shooter—yet it had been read through so easily.
And in a battle against a powerhouse like Riak, a failed decisive strike meant only one thing.
“Let’s see if that courage persists even after you experience death!”
━Death itself.
Crunch!!
“Gack?!”
A kick devoid of all mercy.
Kwon O-jin’s body folded like the letter L and was sent flying backward.
The agony of crushed organs.
The sensation of splintered vertebrae piercing through flesh spread vividly across his entire body.
[My child!]
“Ozina!”
Two women’s voices filled with urgency pierced the air.
“Cough!”
Dark crimson blood spilled down my throat.
“…Ah.”
My consciousness flickered in and out like a failing light.
A helplessness as though my very soul was being torn away consumed my body.
And then.
-Whoooooosh!
With a silvery luminescence, my consciousness—which had been fading to white—snapped back into sharp focus.
As if time itself had reversed, the wounds knitted themselves closed.
“Hah! Hah!”
I gasped for breath in ragged bursts.
The excruciating pain of crushed organs and shattered bones lingered in my body like an echo.
“Ah, ugh.”
Trembling.
My legs quivered as I clutched at my chest.
I wanted to reach down and grasp the spear that had fallen to the floor, but my body refused to obey.
Yet.
“….”
Gritting.
I gritted my teeth and forced strength into my trembling legs.
“So, now that you’ve experienced it firsthand, you understand?”
Riak laughed bitterly, crossing his arms.
“Your nonsense about wanting to experience real combat━”
Before his words could finish.
-Boom!
“Raaaaaaahhhhh!!”
I roared and charged toward Riak.
As I reached my hand toward the ground, blue sparks wove around the silver spear in a luminous thread.
The silver spear rose into the air as if possessed by living breath.
Snap!
I seized the spear.
“Ho?”
A glimmer of interest crossed Riak’s eyes.
-Clang! Clang! Clang!
“So you’re not just all talk after all.”
He smirked and casually deflected the spear strikes.
“But.”
Riak bared his teeth savagely.
Azure lightning crackled across fingernails aimed at Kwon O-jin’s throat.
Crack!
Charred flesh crumbled like ash from the gaping wound.
“━How much longer can he endure?”
Second, third, fourth, fifth.
Death chained itself in succession.
Vega’s power restored my body to the instant before death, but not my mind.
It shattered and twisted.
Crumbling like a sandcastle swept away by the tide.
“Cough! Hack!”
I collapsed, spitting blood that had risen to my jaw.
An unbearable torrent of agony flooded through my entire being.
‘Focus.’
I grasped at the fading thread of consciousness.
‘This is what you wanted.’
A sensation impossible to feel in ordinary sparring.
Terror at the threshold of death gripped my mind.
‘Don’t think.’
My body moved by instinct, not reason.
‘Don’t judge.’
As I always had.
I surrendered my body to intuition and gut feeling.
-Clang! Clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang!!
“Hmm?”
Riak’s eyes narrowed.
He deflected the rapidly thrusting spear as if struggling to comprehend something.
‘What is this?’
Something.
Was wrong.
‘Why has he become so━ difficult to face?’
Nothing had fundamentally changed.
He hadn’t grown faster or stronger.
And yet.
-Crackle!
“Ugh!”
Lightning surging upward forced Riak to instinctively retreat.
“What…?”
Riak’s eyes widened.
There was no time to resolve the mystery.
The battle continued.
“Haah, haah, haah!”
Breath surging all the way to my throat.
I wrung out my mana relentlessly, unleashing spear lightning and explosive lightning without pause.
‘It’s not enough.’
Spear lightning and explosive lightning were powerful, but their attack patterns were far too monotonous.
Against Riak, they weren’t even landing effectively—just simple attacks he could easily block or evade.
‘I need a different technique.’
Something more versatile, something that could pressure him with greater efficiency.
‘What do I have?’
I thrust my spear ceaselessly, lost in thought.
But all that surfaced in my mind were abstract images.
I couldn’t grasp exactly how to manifest that technique.
‘What on earth could I━’
Crack!
“Ugh! Argh!”
Another death added to the tally.
Within a consciousness flickering like flames.
-Why are you overcomplicating this?
A single question surfaced.
-You already have all the materials you need.
“Ah.”
A short gasp escaped my lips.
That’s right.
Why had I been agonizing over this so much?
Why had I been thinking about it so complicatedly?
‘It’s simple.’
I let out a hollow laugh, my shoulders trembling.
Releasing my grip on the spear, I slowly raised my left arm.
‘If one Lyra Constellation isn’t enough.’
Whooooom!
The stigma carved into my left chest blazed with light.
The Lyra Constellation stigma burned with crystalline clarity.
‘Then I just add another one.’
━The Owl Constellation stigma overlaps.
[The Lyra Constellation stigma and the Owl Constellation stigma are linked!]
[You have acquired the composite skill, 《Thunder Wing Lv MAX》!]
[A portion of the fourth awakening condition for Black Heaven has been satisfied!]
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!
Dozens of feathers formed from blue lightning shot toward Riak.
“Kuh?!”
Riak’s expression twisted in shock as he swung his claws at the sudden assault.
The feathers of the Thunder Sparrow that pierced through his claws tore through his body.
Silver fur was shredded away, and crimson blood sprayed across the air.
“This is….”
He gaped in disbelief.
Among the techniques that utilized the stigma of Lyra Constellation, there was no technique capable of creating Thunder Sparrow feathers.
━Which meant.
‘He created a technique on the spot?’
Riak’s pupils trembled.
Creating new techniques by utilizing stigmas wasn’t impossible.
The Thunder Sparrow claws he frequently used were also techniques he had personally created.
But.
‘How could a mere fledgling who just awakened do this?’
A fact he had forgotten—or rather, deliberately ignored—surfaced in his mind.
“This is… the Star of Defying Heaven.”
A dizzying chill spread down his spine.
“Haa, haa!”
O-jin’s body swayed unsteadily after firing the Thunder Sparrow feathers.
As if it wasn’t over yet, the clear chiming sound continued without pause.
[‘Lyra Constellation Stigma’ has been promoted to 4-Star!]
[‘Thunder Sparrow (Lv4)’ has risen to ‘Thunder Sparrow (Lv5)’!]
4-Star.
An awakened one who hadn’t even been awakened for half a year had reached 4-Star.
Growth speed so unprecedented it was unheard of.
But without even a moment to savor the exhilaration of promotion.
“Grrrr! Insolent!”
Riak’s savage assault continued relentlessly.
—Craaash!
“Kugh!”
Even after mastering a new technique.
Even after reaching the 4-Star realm.
The gap between us remained unchanged.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!”
Sharp claws tore through my entire body.
Excruciating pain wracked my frame.
Six times, seven times, eight times.
Death accumulates.
“Do you think talent alone can change destiny!”
Riak pressed forward with even greater ferocity.
A one-sided battle that rendered the explosive growth achieved in such a brief combat utterly meaningless.
By the time Kwon O-jin had experienced death well over a hundred times.
[━Enough!]
Boom!!
Vega stepped between Riak and his target.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
Riak, who had been pouring out relentless attacks, came to an abrupt halt.
Vega looked down coldly at Riak, whose breathing was ragged and uneven.
[You have gone too far.]
“….”
Only then did Riak, his excitement finally subsiding, check on my condition.
I lay unconscious on the ground, overwhelmed by the sudden shock of death.
“O-jin!! Hey!! Kwon O-jin!! Wake up, you bastard!!”
Ha-eun wept openly as she cradled my fallen form in her arms.
“…I am deeply sorry!”
Riak dropped to his knees before Vega and bowed his head in contrition.
‘A grave mistake.’
Riak squeezed his eyes shut.
The moment he recognized Kwon O-jin’s talent.
The moment he witnessed that distant possibility, shimmering like a star in the night sky.
Without realizing it, he had let go of reason’s reins.
‘What a fool I am!’
He bit his lip, condemning himself.
Blinded by jealousy, he had committed such a blunder.
[Riak. I understand your feelings.]
Vega continued in a voice that had grown grave and measured.
[For one trapped behind the ‘Wall’ and stagnant for so long, this child must have been an overwhelming shock.]
It was accurate.
[However.]
Flinch.
Riak’s shoulders trembled.
[I cannot hide my profound disappointment at seeing you abandon your duty and rampage so recklessly.]
“….”
Riak kept his mouth firmly shut, his head bowed low.
Even with ten mouths, he would have nothing to say.
“If that man—no, if the Star of Defiance regains consciousness, I will offer a formal apology. If you will not accept it, I will take my own life to beg for your forgiveness.”
He meant every word.
[Sigh… Let us wait first until my child regains consciousness.]
Vega exhaled a short breath and turned away.
There, in that place.
[Hm?]
━Before long, Kwon O-jin had risen to his feet.
[My child. Have you regained your senses….]
“Not yet.”
Sway, sway.
Kwon O-jin shifted his weight forward.
Looking down at Riak, who bowed his head,
“We can… go on, can’t we?”
He smiled brightly.
“…What?”
Riak’s pupils trembled.
“We can go on, can’t we? Right?”
“What are you saying right now….”
He lifted his head, his expression filled with shock.
Blue eyes gazed down at him.
Like a moonless night.
Eyes that were unsettling.
“You….”
Tremble.
Riak’s shoulders quivered faintly.
“What exactly are you.”
His voice emerged low and rigid.

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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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