Not A Regressor - Chapter 64
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 64
Heavy Rain (6)
“Hah.”
I drew in a deep breath.
-Boom!
I drove the spear downward with brutal force and launched myself into the air.
Simultaneously, I raised my right arm and fired the wire shooter.
My target wasn’t Ashad Khan himself, but his subordinates standing beside him.
“Wh-what?!”
Whoosh!
The wire, fired at supersonic speed, wrapped around the bodies of his men.
With a light flick of my right arm, their bound bodies shot toward Ashad Khan like projectiles.
“Ho.”
Ashad Khan’s eyes gleamed with interest.
Only for a moment.
-Slash!
“Aaaahhhhh!!”
Without the slightest hesitation, he bisected his subordinates with the curved blade in his grip.
Entrails and blood gushed from the severed bodies.
A curtain of blood unfurled along the curved blade’s edge.
‘Now!’
I had never expected Ashad Khan to hesitate.
What I’d aimed for was the crimson veil created as the blood sprayed upward.
I extended my left arm, seizing the brief moment his vision was obscured.
-Clang!
The wire shot from the shooter clung to a nearby steel reinforcement bar.
As I concentrated the stigma’s mana into the shooter, my airborne body descended with explosive velocity, accompanied by a sharp mechanical whine.
‘Lightning strike.’
Gripping the spear with both arms, I aimed for Ashad Khan’s head.
Blue lightning erupted from the spear’s tip, engulfing the silver shaft in wild, crackling energy.
‘Insufficient.’
The gap between myself and Ashad Khan, whom I’d identified as a Canis Major-rank awakener, was beyond imagination.
There was no way an attack of this magnitude could wound him.
‘Five-strike thunderburst.’
The raging lightning concentrated at the spear’s tip.
My mana circuits screamed as I unleashed far too much stigma mana in a single instant.
Sharp needles seemed to pierce my veins, and searing pain ravaged my entire body.
‘No choice.’
I bit down on my lip, enduring the agony.
My circuits were absurdly narrow compared to the volume of mana I possessed.
It was like trying to drain a massive bucket of water through a tiny straw.
Without squeezing every last ounce from my circuits—even if it meant destroying my body—I couldn’t deliver a proper blow.
-CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!!!
The concentrated blue lightning at the spear’s tip unleashed all at once.
The torrent of lightning burned through the crimson veil and engulfed Ashad Khan.
-WHOOOOSH!
Black feathers wrapped around Ashad Khan’s body.
He looked as though he’d donned a suit of armor woven entirely from feathers.
“Hah.”
I exhaled sharply and tilted the curved blade diagonally upward.
The spear’s tip that struck the blade slid smoothly along the sword and plunged into the earth.
BOOM!!
A massive explosion erupted, and lightning scattered in all directions, but it couldn’t reach Ashad Khan, who was clad in the armor of Black Wings.
‘Damn it!’
The moment I sensed the attack had failed, I didn’t hesitate for even a second—I concentrated all my lightning into my legs.
‘Explosive Thunder!’
Using the lightning detonated from my soles as propulsion, I desperately widened the distance between myself and Ashad Khan.
“…Impressive.”
Watching the lightning burn fiercely.
Ashad Khan opened his eyes wide with an expression of feigned surprise.
“Hard to believe you’re only a 4-Star.”
When I heard the report that the plan to awaken the ‘Fragment of the Black Star’ sleeping beneath Sokcho had failed because of a single awakener, I’d suspected as much.
But the Apostle of Weaving Star was emanating a destructive force that far exceeded my expectations.
“━However.”
Ashad Khan’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Black mana rippled across the curved blade in his grip.
It was undeniable that this awakener had grown at an unprecedented rate.
“That is all.”
A resolute declaration, as sharp as a falling blade.
He slowly swung the curved blade horizontally.
-Swish.
Slow.
Leisurely enough that even a ten-year-old child could see it coming and dodge.
A languid sword strike, as if indulging in a sweet afternoon nap.
‘…What?’
I narrowed my eyes and gripped the spear.
The distance between Ashad Khan and me was roughly fifty meters.
There’s no way a sword swing from that distance could reach me.
No, with a slash that sluggish, I could dodge it even if he swung it right in front of my face.
Surely.
That’s what I thought.
-KWAAAABOOOM!!!
“…!!!”
A deafening roar that assaulted my eardrums.
Following the slow sword arc that Ashad Khan wielded, a chain of explosions erupted and swept across the surroundings.
Dodging was impossible.
I reflexively thrust a spear toward the approaching explosion.
An action closer to instinct than reason.
-FWOOOOSH!!
“Grraaahhh!!”
Azure lightning and the explosion collided.
The intense impact tore open the palm of my hand gripping the spear shaft.
An overwhelming gap in power.
“Your reflexes aren’t bad. Or is it simply that your instincts are sharp?”
Ashad Khan smiled leisurely and slowly raised his curved blade once more.
From above to below.
The curved blade swung slowly, like dewdrops falling from a leaf.
“Tch.”
I tightened my grip on the spear and drew a deep breath.
I had no room to indulge in clumsy provocations.
‘Stay calm.’
I needed to discern the true nature of Ashad Khan’s ability.
When I concentrated the stigma’s mana in my eyes, I saw tiny black feathers, smaller than fingernails, scattering from the blade of the slowly swinging curved sword.
‘Those feathers are what cause the explosions.’
I spun the spear and unleashed Spear Thunder.
The fan-shaped branches of lightning touched the black feathers.
-KWAAAABOOOM!!!!
An explosion so brilliant it blinded the eyes.
Even though I detonated them from a considerable distance, the shockwave still sent my body flying backward.
‘So these feathers were what destroyed the Factory.’
I clicked my tongue at the absurd power.
“Do you think it’s over?”
Smirk.
Ashad Khan’s lips curved coldly upward.
“…What.”
I furrowed my brow.
KWAAAABOOOM!!!
The black feathers I thought had already exploded triggered a secondary detonation.
I hastily erected a wall of lightning, but—
“Cough!!”
The explosion tore through Ashad Khan’s wall of lightning with ease, slamming into my body.
—Boom! Crash! Kaboom!
Like a stone skipping across water, my body bounced off the ground and flew backward.
After tumbling through the air, my body finally came to a halt as it collided with debris—a twisted mass of rebar and concrete.
Ash-gray smoke curled upward.
“Cough!”
Blood spilled from my throat in a crimson stream.
“Your body is absurdly durable, I must admit.”
His voice echoed from mere inches away.
“Ugh!”
I gripped my spear urgently and pushed myself upright.
A curved blade whistled toward my throat.
—Clang!
My spear met his curved blade in a violent collision.
—Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!!
Sparks erupted with each metallic shriek.
Through more than ten seconds of relentless exchange, our weapons remained locked in perfect equilibrium.
“Heh.”
Ashad Khan let out an incredulous laugh.
“If you had another year—no, even just six months—you would become an uncontrollable monster.”
Was this truly the power a four-star awakener could display?
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
“But.”
That will never happen.
Kwon O-jin dies here today.
—Clang!!
His curved blade flashed upward like lightning, striking the shaft of my spear.
My silver spear spun wildly and was knocked away.
“Damn!”
I rolled backward desperately, barely managing to catch my spinning silver spear.
“Huff, huff!”
I was not inferior in weapon technique.
But.
“Ugh….”
My palms were completely flayed raw.
My hands—now showing only exposed flesh—trembled violently.
‘I lack the strength.’
Not a deficiency in mana, that is.
Thanks to the stigmas I had absorbed through the Black Heaven, my mana reserves remained abundant.
In fact, my pure mana quantity likely exceeded even Ashad Khan’s.
But.
‘The amount of mana I can release at once… the difference is too great.’
My mana circuits were cramped and narrow compared to the sheer volume of mana I possessed.
My body, still only at the 4-star level, had become my bottleneck.
“….”
A grinding sound escaped my teeth.
Kwon O-jin bit his lip and gripped the window frame with blood-soaked hands.
At this point.
There was only one method left.
‘I didn’t want to use it under normal circumstances.’
But there was no other way.
“Have you only now realized the difference in our power?”
Yes.
You bastard, you’re finally understanding the gap between us.
“━Exceed.”
Crackle! Crackle, crackle, crackle!!!!
Red warning windows erupted before my eyes.
I ignored them.
“No matter what you do….”
Boom!!!
I charged forward.
Footprints of azure lightning blazed like torches in my wake.
“━What?!”
Ashad Khan’s eyes widened as he swung the Curved Blade.
Destructive explosions erupted in succession along the blade’s path.
“Damn it all.”
I concentrated my mana.
Crushing it like the entrance to a hose.
Mana shot through my warped circuits like a bullet, gathering at the spear’s tip.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!!
The lightning at the spear’s tip coalesced, forming a blue flame.
-Ding!
[《Lightning Lv6》 skill has advanced to 《Lightning Lv7》.]
[You have acquired the 《Lightning Flame Lv1》 skill!]
-《Lightning Flame》 is a powerful skill equivalent to 《Blade Energy》. Its destructive power exceeds 《Blade Energy》, but it consumes proportionally more mana.
[《Lightning Lv7》 influences the proficiency of 《Lightning Flame Lv1》 skill.]
[《Lightning Flame Lv1》 has advanced to 《Lightning Flame Lv2》!]
[Warning! Your current body’s level is not suitable for using 《Lightning Flame Lv2》!]
[Mana consumption increases drastically!]
Messages cascaded down in an endless stream.
These bastards are all the same.
“Damn, you talk too much.”
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
The raging lightning collided with the curved blade.
“Cough! Hack!!”
Ashad Khan’s body was sent flying violently backward.
Bouncing off the ground just as I had, he crashed down in a pathetic heap.
“What… is this.”
Ashad Khan wiped the blood flowing from his lips, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at Kwon O-jin.
From him, now enveloped in azure lightning, I felt an intensity of magical power I had never sensed before.
….
Ashad Khan’s eyes sank deeply.
“Thinking he’d be a threat in half a year… was naive of me.”
He was already a sufficiently dangerous existence to the Black Star Society.
“I cannot leave alive someone who interferes with the plan.”
Twist, twist.
Ashad Khan rose to his feet.
Though the situation had reversed as he unveiled the hidden card Raolang had concealed.
“Great Owl’s Star.
That didn’t mean he had no hidden cards of his own.
Grant your blessing of the Black Star to this humble servant of yours.”
Uuuuuuung!!!
Black mana surged violently.
From the stigma carved into his left chest, black light erupted in a violent burst.
“Revere, praise, exalt.
Fwooooosh!
Countless black feathers whirled in a devastating torrent.
“━The Owl’s hour has come.”
Within the storm of black wings.
Ashad Khan walked forward slowly.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————