Not A Regressor - Chapter 7

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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 7
Hyenas (1)
“Roooaaaargh!!”
Six Anthons burst simultaneously from the undergrowth.
Two of them were noticeably larger—Elders, it seemed.
“Hm.”
I exhaled sharply and tightened my grip on the spear.
I focused my consciousness toward my left chest.
-Whooooom!
The stigma blazed with azure light.
Overwhelming power surged through my entire body.
“Snarl!”
An Elder Anthon lunged sharply from the left.
My body moved naturally, following the spear techniques Lee Shin-hyuk had taught me.
-Crack!
“Shrieeeek!!”
I drove the spear shaft into the Elder Anthon’s gaping maw. Its razor-sharp jaws clamped down with enough force to splinter the shaft.
“Not so fast!”
Crunch!
I twisted the shaft while simultaneously driving my heel down, crushing the Anthon’s skull.
The Anthon’s carapace—impervious to bullets—caved in under the simple heel strike, buckling inward.
‘Excellent.’
My body felt impossibly light, like a feather.
Every muscle in my frame writhed with living vitality.
“Growwwl!”
An Anthon attacked from behind. I easily evaded by bending at the waist, letting it pass overhead, then seized its hind leg as it streaked past.
“Shriek?!”
The Anthon thrashed in panic.
“Hm!”
I hurled the captured Anthon directly into the swarm.
Shrieeek!
The Anthon rocketed through the air like a projectile, colliding with its brethren and tumbling across the ground.
‘Indeed, my physical specs are in an entirely different league from ordinary 1-star Awakened Users.’
The average Anthon weighed around eighty kilograms.
Only an Awakened User of Taurus could casually lift and hurl a weight equivalent to two sacks of rice like a cannonball—and certainly not a mere 1-star Awakened User.
Much less one at my current rank.
‘But monstrous power extends beyond mere physical specs.’
The true strength of the Lyra stigma revealed itself when I channeled mana through the mark.
-Crackle, crackle!
Brilliant light erupted from my left chest as azure lightning ignited across my entire frame.
“…I’m still not at the level I was back then.”
When I received Vega’s blessing.
Unlike the azure lightning that had swept around me like a tempest, now tiny sparks of electricity danced around my body like a starving Pikachu struggling to muster a hundred-thousand volt attack.
“Tsk.”
One couldn’t expect to be satisfied on the first attempt.
Besides, I had come here precisely to amplify this lightning to the magnitude it had been when I received the blessing.
“Grrrgh!”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
The Anthons that had been tangled and rolling about unleashed furious roars and charged at me.
‘I’ll ponder the details later.’
Now was the time to focus on combat.
Following the movements of Lee Shin-hyuk etched into my mind, I thrust my spear with savage intensity.
* * *
Within the forest thick with sticky humidity.
Charred corpses of Anthons lay scattered across the empty field created by burning vegetation.
A acrid stench assaulted my nostrils.
“Whew, how much is all this worth?”
Oh Jin rummaged through the corpses, collecting the Star Essence Stones into a pouch.
The weight emanating from the palm-sized pouch was substantial.
It was a pleasant, gratifying heaviness that made the corners of my mouth curl upward.
‘That’s probably worth around 800,000 won?’
800,000 won from just three hours of hunting.
And since I had entered without a party, there was no need to split the earnings.
All those days of risking my life in degrading performances for 200,000 to 300,000 won a day suddenly felt utterly futile.
“No wonder everyone’s going crazy about becoming an Awakened User.”
I had once heard on the news about people gathering in front of Gates leading to the Star Palace, praying daily to be chosen by a Constellation. Now I understood their desperation a little better.
‘Though looking at the mortality rate of Awakened Users, it’s not all sunshine and roses.’
But what did it matter?
Money had always been worth more than life.
“Still… it’s true that real combat is the best way to train a Stigma.”
Crackle, crackle!
Oh Jin created lightning delicately at my fingertips, eyes gleaming.
In just three hours, generating lightning through my Stigma had become quite natural.
‘I wonder if I’m just fast, or if everyone reaches this level.’
There were no other Awakened Users bearing the Stigma of Lyra to make an accurate comparison.
As I shaped the lightning at my fingertips into a small sphere and spun it around, I eventually turned my body.
‘Well, I’ll find out eventually.’
Oh Jin didn’t know it.
But had any other Awakened User formed a party with me, their eyes would have bulged in absolute shock.
Generally, the higher the ‘grade’ of a Stigma, the greater its power—but the more difficult it becomes to increase proficiency.
Even the apostles of the Zodiac Twelve Palaces required days to manifest their stigmas, yet for him—the apostle of the Polaris—to freely manifest his stigma in mere hours defied all reason.
━But.
He had accomplished the impossible.
Without even realizing
that he was an anomalous existence.
Without even realizing it.
“Now then.”
Oh Jin narrowed his eyes and surveyed his surroundings.
The spear rested in his hand rather than strapped across his back.
‘The movements of these Anthons are certainly strange.’
Unlike the typical packs that formed around an Elder, the Anthons he encountered today frequently traveled with multiple Elders together.
In other words, a ‘superior species’ existed that commanded these Elders.
“The problem is, I have no idea where it’s hiding….”
He had considered searching directly, but it seemed he would need to employ a different approach.
“Fortunately, I brought this just in case.”
Oh Jin unzipped his sling bag and retrieved a rectangular blood packet.
It was a sort of ‘business tool’ he had found useful when feigning injury or performing deceptions.
‘It’s pig blood, not human blood.’
It should pose no problem.
Anthons made no distinction between human and animal flesh.
-Splurch!
He tore open the blood packet and spilled its contents across the ground.
He climbed into a nearby tree and concealed himself among the branches.
-Rustle, rustle, rustle!
‘There we go.’
Moments after spilling the blood, the undergrowth trembled and a swarm of Anthons came rushing toward the scent.
Approximately twenty creatures.
And at their center━
‘Found it.’
An Anthorn with a black carapace, massive as a tiger, commanded the pack.
A creature whose difference from the ordinary red-carapaced Anthons was unmistakable at a glance.
A mutant variant had appeared, exactly as the Awakened Users Association had theorized.
‘End this quickly.’
No matter how formidable the power of the Lyra stigma, prolonged combat against more than twenty enemies would prove difficult.
Swift and decisive.
I had to eliminate the mutant within three minutes at most.
“Hah.”
Standing atop the branch, I drew a sharp breath.
Thump.
My heart pulsed with an electric thrill that raced down my spine.
The stigma carved into my left chest blazes with light.
—Crack!
Searing blue lightning crackles.
And—
‘…What is this?’
As if dark storm clouds had swallowed the sky, my vision suddenly plunged into darkness.
In the dense gloom, only the mutant Anthorne’s silhouette was visible.
‘Was it always this dark here?’
I couldn’t tell.
Before my thoughts could continue, my body moved first.
—Thud!
I kicked off the tree and launched into the air.
The spearhead pointed downward, channeling my full body weight into the strike.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!!!
Lightning coalesced along the spear’s blade.
The blue lightning that flickered like flames now carried something different than before—
a murky darkness
intertwined within it.
[《Lightning Strike (落雷) Lv1》 activated.]
Boom
boom
boom
boom
boom
boom
!
!
!
The lightning spear fell like a meteor.
The spear pierced through the mutant Anthorne’s back and burrowed into the ground.
A sickening stench of charring flesh permeated the air.
“Huh? What?”
One hit?
It actually dies in just one hit?
Though it was a decisive surprise attack, I hadn’t expected the mutant Anthorne to collapse instantly, and I found myself bewildered instead.
“Kiiiiing!!”
“Kraaaagh!”
With the mutant dead, the Anthornes surrounding the area fell into chaos, spinning in place before suddenly turning to flee.
“Wait, hey! Hold on!!”
I hadn’t anticipated the Anthorne swarm would collapse so easily, and I called out urgently without managing to chase after them.
“If you’re going to run, cough up the Star Stones, you bastards!!!”
A single Anthon yielded roughly twenty thousand won worth of Star Stones.
An exorbitant sum—equivalent to three Whopper meals.
“Damn it!”
Crack!
I reached for my spear to give chase, but it was driven so deep into the earth that it wouldn’t budge.
In the end,
“Ugh.”
I exhaled a sigh and abandoned the pursuit.
‘It’s a shame, but at least I caught a mutant.’
Since mutants didn’t appear often, the Star Stones from a mutant specimen should fetch at least a million won.
“Hehehehe.”
The mere thought made me chuckle involuntarily.
Just as I turned to harvest the Star Stones,
-Crack!!
“Ugh!”
A sharp sensation pierced my left chest.
I lowered my head urgently and saw the Constellation Mark of Lyra blazing with intense light.
‘Huh? Could it be….’
Zing!
Another line was drawn beside the Constellation Mark that was radiating light.
-Ding!
[‘Constellation Mark of Lyra’ has been promoted to 2-Star!]
A clear chime accompanied the blue message window that materialized before my eyes.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
To think I’d reach 2-Star in a single day, let alone a week.
‘Does this even make sense?’
I’d anticipated rapid growth given the Constellation Mark’s abundant mana, but reaching 2-Star in just one day was beyond expectation.
“Don’t tell me I’ll reach 3-Star in a week?”
If that were the case, there’d be no need to worry about fraud or anything else—my head would simply explode.
Reaching 3-Star in a week was impossible unless one was a true regressor.
In fact, even 2-Star in a day was absurd.
‘Normally it takes about six months to reach 2-Star.’
Of course, most of that extended timeline was due to insufficient mana in the Constellation Mark, but even accounting for that, this was miraculous progress.
“2-Star, then.”
I grasped the spear lightly and swung it.
Whoosh! Whoom!!
Even with a casual swing, the air tore apart with a resounding crack.
I could distinctly feel my body becoming more agile and powerful than when I was 1-Star.
‘Good.’
This should be enough for today’s haul.
“Let me just harvest this quickly and head back.”
I hummed cheerfully as I approached the mutant’s corpse.
Thinking to myself that I’d order a Guinness Whopper instead of the regular one today.
—Rustle.
Just then, the nearby bushes trembled.
‘What’s that?’
There’s no way those who fled would be crazy enough to come back.
I narrowed my eyes sharply and gripped my spear.
“Oh, what’s this? The outer shell is black, huh?”
“Whew~ Bro! Did you catch a mutant?”
What emerged from the bushes was a pair of rough-looking men.
Bulging muscles swelled between the gaps of their weathered armor.
“Wow, even for an Ant Horn, to catch a mutant alone? You’re no ordinary fighter, bro.”
“We’re 3-star Apostles of the Canis Major Constellation. Nice to meet ya~”
Despite their appearance, the two approached me with friendly smiles.
My eyes narrowed.
‘These bastards.’
They were clearly not approaching with good intentions.
It might be called prejudice, but if someone with a face that looked like it had been ground into asphalt wasn’t a robber, then that would be a crime in its own right.
‘3-star Apostles wouldn’t come to a Low-rank Gate like this… They must be after the mutant.’
If that were the case.
There was no way they’d let me walk away after seeing me dissect the mutant’s corpse.
Awakened Users could turn to banditry as easily as flipping their hand, after all.
“Hmm….”
One of the approaching men bent his waist slightly and sniffed the air.
Like a hunting dog tracking its prey.
“Whew, you sure burned through a lot of mana catching that mutant.”
“Hehe. So you must be pretty tired, huh?”
“Right? It’s not like any 4 or 5-star Awakened User would come here.”
The two whispered to each other in low voices.
‘I don’t even need to hear it to know what you bastards are saying.’
I clicked my tongue in disapproval.
“But wait, something feels off about this? We wiped out a whole swarm of Ant Horns back there, right? Aren’t these the ones that escaped from that?”
“Oh, so that’s what happened? This won’t do, this won’t do at all.”
The two drew their swords and twisted their mouths into cruel grins.
‘As expected.’
They really are bandits.
‘…There’s no way around this.’
Oh Jin exhaled a sigh and quickly dropped to his knees.
“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t know! Please stop!!”
“Huh?”
“What?”
The two men were taken aback by Oh Jin’s immediate submission without a moment’s hesitation.
Regardless of their reaction.
Oh Jin remained prostrate on the ground, frantically rubbing his hands together.
“I-I’ll give it to you!!!”
“Kahahaha!! This young man certainly knows how to listen!”
One of the men burst into laughter and took a step forward.
Just as he was about to pass Oh Jin and approach the mutant corpses scattered across the ground—
“Ah, that’s not what I meant to give you.”
I thrust the spear roughly through the man’s back.
His armor shattered as the sharp spear pierced through his body.
“Gack! Cough!!”
“Go give my regards to your deceased mother.”
“Damn it!”
The other man urgently swung his sword and charged forward.
I spun the spear that had impaled his companion and blocked the sword.
The man, now a human kebab shield, let out a scream.
“W-what?!”
Crack!
Unable to stop his sword’s momentum, the man cleaved his companion’s head clean in two.
“What the hell are you doing!!!”
Oh Jin screamed with his eyes wide open at this unbelievable sight!
“You killed your own ally!!!”
“Y-you bastard!!”
“What would your deceased mother think if she saw this!!!!”
“Shut up, you asshole!! Our mother is still alive and well, what are you talking about!!”
“Stop lying!!!”
I spoke with fierce conviction!
“I watched your mother die with my own eyes, so where do you get off spouting such nonsense!!!”
“What the hell are you saying!!! She’s alive, I’m telling you!!!”
“Accept reality!!”
“What are you talking about, you crazy bastard!!”
“Your mother is dead!! She no longer exists in this world!!!”
This isn’t a lie!!!

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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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