Not A Regressor - Chapter 44

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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 44
Closed-Door Training (5)
A chill.
Silver fur bristled as an eerie sensation crawled down my spine.
‘What is this.’
It made no sense.
No matter how much I thought about it, no matter how many times I retraced my steps.
None of it added up.
‘How━ am I even moving?’
Riak knew better than anyone how devastating the impact of death truly was.
During my most intense training sessions.
I had once asked Vega to unfold her Sacred Domain.
It was Vega who had sparred with me back then.
‘Even I… reached my limit at twenty times.’
Even Riak, who prided himself on mental fortitude that never yielded to others, had frozen in terror after experiencing twenty consecutive deaths.
Death brought suffering beyond imagination.
No.
When your organs are crushed and shattered bone fragments tear through flesh, there’s no way your mind remains intact.
‘And yet.’
Why.
After experiencing more than twenty deaths.
How could she smile so brightly.
“What’s wrong? Why are you spacing out?”
Scrape.
She dragged her spear across the ground, approaching step by step.
My mind burned with searing heat.
My legs trembled as though I might collapse at any moment.
“━We’re not done yet, are we?”
I move.
Grasping at the fraying threads of my consciousness.
Forcing strength into my quivering legs.
One step.
Forward once more.
“…!”
I hesitate.
Riak stumbled backward, eyes wide open.
In this moment.
I was completely overwhelmed by a fragile human I could have defeated with a single finger.
‘This is.’
My ashen face twisted as I bit down on my lip.
My clenched fist trembled faintly.
A simple phrase like “strong willpower” could not begin to explain this.
This was.
‘Insanity.’
Madness.
Madness that transcended will itself, surpassing even conviction.
A madness so pure it was almost beautiful.
“Tch!”
My instincts screamed a warning.
Flee this place immediately, do not engage this human.
Every sense within me wailed in protest.
“Nonsense!”
Ignoring the warning of my instincts, Riak raised his fist.
Just as he lunged toward the staggering figure.
—Uuuuuuung!!
The silver light enveloping the Divine Temple vanished.
“”Ah.””
Kwon O-jin and Riak’s voices overlapped.
Both their gazes naturally turned toward the goddess glaring at them with an angry expression.
[Did you not hear me tell you to stop?]
“I-I apologize.”
Riak bowed his head deeply.
“….”
Kwon O-jin touched the spear in his hand with a regretful expression, then nodded.
“Sorry. I got a bit carried away.”
He apologized cleanly.
[Sigh. Truly… you are just as reckless as Riak.]
Vega approached with a sigh.
She gently pinched Kwon O-jin’s cheek as she continued.
[What a troublesome child you are. How far do you intend to push your mother to worry?]
Though she asked playfully, her voice trembled faintly.
She was genuinely concerned for him.
Kwon O-jin smiled bitterly and lowered his head.
“I’ll really be careful from now on.”
[Must you make a promise?]
Vega carefully extended her pinky finger.
Where did our goddess learn such things?
“Yeah. I promise.”
Though how long a liar’s promise would last was anyone’s guess.
[Hehe. I shall trust you.]
Seeing the goddess smile so brightly, any thought of lying vanished instantly.
‘I may have gotten a bit too heated this time.’
Halfway through, I’d lost my grip on consciousness and fought desperately.
So brutally that even Riak had stumbled backward in shock.
‘But is it really something to be that surprised about?’
Certainly, the fear of death and the pain were formidable.
Enough to make me worry my mind might burn away completely.
But.
‘Still, I think I could have endured it.’
It was certainly painful and agonizing.
But wasn’t it just a matter of ‘enduring’ through it?
‘Why make such a fuss about it?’
If I could just bear it and persevere until the end, I could smile through any amount of suffering.
After all, I’d faced far more things in my life where endurance alone didn’t bring an end.
“A promise? Nonsense!”
Song Ha-eun approached with an angry expression.
She glanced down at where Vega and I had our pinky fingers linked, then grabbed my ear and pulled hard.
“Ow, ow, ow.”
“Honestly, you’re always—!”
She was clearly furious.
“I said I’m sorry.”
“…Sigh.”
She let out a deep sigh, as if she didn’t even want to speak to me.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
The image of Kwon O-jin’s body torn to shreds by Riak’s claws flashed through my mind, and my chest tightened.
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
Kwon O-jin shrugged and answered playfully.
Song Ha-eun’s expression softened slightly.
“But I’m pretty exhausted.”
Perhaps because the tension had suddenly released all at once.
A sudden wave of fatigue crashed over me.
“Sister, sit here for a moment.”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”
“Come on.”
Song Ha-eun tilted her head in confusion before sitting down.
I collapsed onto her lap.
My head rested against her thighs.
“What—what are you doing!”
Song Ha-eun’s face flushed red as she cried out indignantly.
“Hehehehe.”
That’s what makes our older sister so charming—she even arranges things to make it comfortable for him to lie down.
“I’m just going to sleep for ten minutes.”
“Tch, you bastard…!”
Song Ha-eun’s body trembled as she raised her fist.
But only for a moment.
“…Hmph.”
The moment she closed her eyes, she looked down at the peacefully sleeping Kwon O-jin and gently lowered her raised fist.
“Seriously, he’s impossible.”
With a soft smile, she lightly tapped his forehead.
[Hmm.]
Vega watched the two of them with a complex expression.
After a moment of contemplation, she sighed and turned away.
[Riak.]
“Yes, Vega.”
[Now that you’ve experienced actual combat, do you understand my words?]
“….”
Riak nodded firmly with his lips sealed shut.
“…I understand now. Painfully so.”
The explosive growth he displayed in that brief battle.
Even for a regressor, the miraculous talent to create skills on the spot during combat and the exceptional sense to wield stigma’s mana freely were extraordinary.
Though I had observed many Awakened Users on behalf of Vega until now, none possessed such overwhelming talent as Kwon O-jin.
[Hehe. Indeed. Your acknowledgment speaks to how exceptional his talent truly is.]
“….”
Riak bit his lips firmly.
‘No.’
He forcibly swallowed the words rising to his throat.
‘That’s not what matters.’
Exceptional talent and all that.
It crumbles pathetically whenever one hits a ‘wall’.
Just as I did.
But.
‘What’s truly terrifying about that man is…’
Twist, twist.
The image of Kwon O-jin rising to his feet despite experiencing dozens of deaths came to mind.
‘That man is insane.’
For example.
Imagine someone plunging their hand into boiling oil and laughing cheerfully as if nothing were wrong.
Could you describe such a person as merely ‘patient’ or ‘strong-willed’?
‘A will bordering on madness.’
That is.
That was the true terror that the man named Kwon O-jin possessed.
“Why…?”
Riak clenched his fists roughly.
“Why couldn’t I have gone mad like that?”
A distant past.
After receiving a fragment of Vega’s soul and being resurrected as a transcendent being.
I had thrown myself into desperate training for the one who saved me.
To protect her from the darkness of the ‘Black Heaven’ that would come according to the prophecy of the stars.
I had struggled through hundreds, thousands of sleepless nights.
But.
‘In the end, I never broke through that wall.’
For over centuries, I remained stagnant without ever achieving enlightenment.
Consumed by such profound despair, I no longer even devoted myself to training.
‘My will was insufficient.’
That obsessive, nearly maddened will that Kwon O-jin possessed.
Had I possessed that, I would never have stopped here so pathetically.
[Riak?]
“No. It’s nothing.”
I shook my head with a bitter smile.
“…”
I turned to look at Kwon O-jin, who lay sprawled across Song Ha-eun’s thighs, fast asleep.
‘This is my defeat.’
Neither talent nor will could surpass him.
I had even lost my reason to petty jealousy and thrashed about like a fool.
A complete rout.
There was no longer any excuse left to deny his superiority.
-Thud.
I knelt on one knee before the sleeping Kwon O-jin.
“Star of Defiance.”
Bowing my head respectfully.
“I beseech you—protect the light of the Weaver Star from the darkness of Black Heaven.”
I pleaded with an earnest voice.
* * *
Another month passed, and three months had elapsed since arriving at the Star Palace.
“I suppose it’s time to head back.”
After finishing our sparring match, Kwon O-jin spoke with reluctance.
Riak’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.”
“Tch! Now that you’ve barely managed to last over five minutes, you’re going to neglect your training?!”
Riak spoke curtly, yet his voice carried a palpable undercurrent of reluctance.
After all, over these past three months, he and Kwon O-jin had grown quite close.
“You went from a three-second knockout to lasting five minutes—honestly, that’s considerable progress.”
“That’s just barely longer than it takes to cook instant noodles!”
“Huh? You know about instant noodles?”
“I watched you eat them once and tried some myself.”
“Ah, so that’s why several packs went missing.”
“Quite the delicacy, I must say.”
“This bastard…”
Somewhere along the way, the two had grown comfortable enough to trade playful jabs with each other.
Kwon O-jin smiled wryly and shrugged his shoulders.
“But I can’t stay here forever, you know.”
I needed to turn my attention back to the Association soon.
‘And my training efficiency has been declining too.’
No matter how clever my methods, there were limits to how much I could grow by sparring endlessly with Riak alone.
I needed real combat experience.
True combat without even the safety net of ‘resurrection’.
“Grrrgh.”
Riak crossed his arms with a sullen expression.
“Heh heh. What’s wrong? Sad that I’m leaving?”
“W-what are you—!”
Riak burst out indignantly.
“Don’t spout nonsense, human! A true warrior knows no loneliness!”
“Ah, yes… yes.”
“Grrrgh!”
Kwon O-jin chuckled as he gathered the various belongings that had accumulated over the past three months.
A sleeping bag, a pillow, instant foods of all kinds, and cooking utensils.
“Here. I’ll leave you some instant noodles—eat them when you’re bored.”
“….”
Riak accepted the instant noodles and clamped his mouth shut firmly.
“…Human.”
“Hmm?”
“….”
Riak struggled for words, his lips trembling, before he abruptly turned his head away and muttered in a small voice.
“…Th-thank you.”
Through sparring with Kwon O-jin, he had regained the will to challenge the ‘wall’ once more.
Courage had been kindled within him.
How could he not express his gratitude?
“Huh? What was that~? I can’t quite hear you~?”
“Gr-grrrgh!! You bastard!”
Riak’s silver fur bristled sharply as he bared his fangs with a menacing snarl.
Kwon O-jin clutched his abdomen and burst into laughter.
‘Well then, shall we head back?’
I had reached a level where I could at least protect my own body.
Now.
“It’s time to reveal who the Apostle of Weaver Star truly is.”
Time to stand boldly before the world.

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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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