Not A Regressor - Chapter 98

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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 98
Ancient Constellations (9)
‘I completed the Quest?’
Kwon O-jin stared at the blue message window that materialized before his eyes, his gaze widening in surprise.
He had merely absorbed the Stigma Stones of the demonic beasts to replenish the magical power that had been depleted from the ground.
Yet an unexpected Quest had shattered.
‘I thought the quality was too low for it to count.’
The number of demonic beasts was staggering enough to leave one’s jaw agape, but each individual was only around 4 to 5-star level.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were weak by any measure.
Since the Quest had failed even when absorbing Stigma Stones from Neglish, a demonic beast of equivalent rank, he naturally assumed that absorbing the Stigma Stones of these creatures would also be insufficient.
‘Quality adjustment, then.’
He had pondered this several times before.
Perhaps there was some hidden connection between Black Heaven and Black Star.
‘This isn’t the time to think about that.’
Kwon O-jin set aside his deepening thoughts and fixed his gaze on the blue window before him.
Progress: 100%.
Alongside the message about randomly acquiring one of the Ancient Constellations, the text strings displayed on the blue window swirled dizzily.
-Ding!
[You have acquired ‘Hourglass Constellation’s Stigma’ as a Quest reward.]
‘Hourglass Constellation?’
It was a constellation he had never heard of before.
‘Well, it makes sense that I wouldn’t know of it.’
The Ancient Constellations were those that existed before the distant past when the world was destroyed once by Black Heaven.
There was no reason for him to recognize any of them.
‘What kind of ability could it be?’
His eyes gleamed with anticipation as he activated the Hourglass Stigma.
The Stigma burned brightly, and a blue aura enveloped the surroundings.
And then.
“━What?”
The world.
Stopped.
The scattering ash and smoke.
The viscous blood pooling and flowing on the ground.
The small insects gathering on the mangled flesh.
Everything.
Froze in an instant, as if someone had pressed the pause button on a video.
‘What… what’s happening?’
Within the frozen world, Kwon O-jin’s eyes widened in shock.
He tried to move his arm, but even his own limb refused to respond properly.
“Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus.”
Then.
A voice stretched out like a tape being pulled long echoed through the air.
When I turned my gaze in that direction, I saw Park Geon-woo frozen in place with his eyes wide open.
‘No.’
To be precise.
It wasn’t a complete ‘stop’.
He was moving, albeit extremely slowly, bit by bit.
‘Ah, so that’s what it is.’
Now I could finally understand exactly what ability the hourglass stigma possessed.
‘It slows down perceived time.’
In other words.
An ability that makes everything except my own ‘thoughts’ feel as slow as watching a slow-motion video.
‘This is insane.’
I dropped my jaw at an absurdly broken ability.
To slow down everything except thought itself.
Did that mean while others thought for one minute, I could continue thinking for an hour, or even longer than a day?
“━What the hell did you do!!!”
Then.
Park Geon-woo’s voice returned to normal.
The frozen world began moving again.
‘Not quite at that level yet.’
I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
The perceived time I could slow down was roughly five seconds at this stage.
‘So five seconds feel like twenty-five seconds?’
Five times the perceived time.
-Ding!
[‘Hourglass Stigma’ can be used up to 3 times per day. Afterward, the usage limit and performance may change depending on the stigma’s proficiency level.]
And three uses per day.
‘This is the perfect stigma for critical moments.’
Five times the perceived time would act as a variable in combat.
A decisive variable capable of reversing an unfavorable battle situation in an instant.
“You… did you receive a blessing from Vega Star?”
Park Geon-woo glared at me with a tense expression.
It was only natural for him to be so wary, given that the mana which had been faintly flickering as if it might dissipate at any moment suddenly surged explosively.
“I told you. We don’t need our goddess’s help.”
“Then where exactly did you get such tremendous mana from…?”
“Who knows?”
I couldn’t very well ramble on about the Black Star.
I shrugged and adjusted my grip on the spear.
“…Tch.”
Park Geon-woo’s expression grew anxious as he bit his lip, then his eyes blazed with ferocity.
“I don’t know what method you used to replenish your mana.”
Whoooosh!
The black feathers covering his body rose in unison, coiling around his spear.
Mana concentrated at the spear’s tip.
“━Your death in this place is inevitable.”
He pushed off the ground and charged forward.
A savage gust swept through as the spear point, bristling with dizzying power, shot toward Kwon O-jin at blinding speed.
‘Hourglass Stigma.’
Once more.
I stopped the world.
-Whooooom!
I evaded Park Geon-woo’s spear strike—delivered with all his might—with ease.
Though my movements were also restricted within the slowed time.
From a position where I could leisurely observe where the spear tip was aimed and how far it had come, dodging the attack was effortless.
“Huh!”
Had he truly not expected me to evade so easily?
Park Geon-woo’s eyes widened as he turned his head with a look of shock.
“Grrk!”
Saliva dripping, he hastily swung his spear again.
-Whoosh! Whoosh!
The attacks moved so sluggishly I could yawn—there was no way I’d fail to dodge.
“Damn it!! What, what in the hell?!”
As his attacks suddenly ceased to connect, Park Geon-woo thrust his spear forward with an anxious expression.
-Clang!
I lifted my spear to deflect his, then swept a kick toward his abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Thud!
With a dull sound, Park Geon-woo’s body flew backward.
‘Thunder Wing.’
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!
I unleashed a barrage of lightning feathers toward the fallen Park Geon-woo.
“Eek!”
With an urgent expression, Park Geon-woo rolled frantically across the ground to evade the lightning feathers.
The lazy donkey’s tumble.
For one who prided himself as a martial artist, it was an utterly humiliating method—but survival left no room for pride.
“Yeah, forget all that nonsense about the myriad phenomena and the principles of yin-yang.”
I kicked toward the rolling Park Geon-woo.
Using the spear shaft like a pole vault, I launched my body skyward, then twisted the spear tip downward like a descending thunderbolt.
“Fight me for real this time.”
The concepts of righteousness and honor so common in martial arts tales are nothing but delusions.
I roll across the ground to evade the sword’s edge, prostrate myself to dodge the spear’s thrust.
Real combat is this ugly, this pathetic.
“There’s no need for bluster or vanity.”
I’ll do whatever it takes to win.
I don’t care about means or methods.
That’s how I’ve lived.
That’s how I continue to live.
“If you want to kill me—stake everything you have, you bastard.”
Kwon O-jin twisted his lips into a savage snarl and drove his spear downward toward the fallen Park Geon-woo.
-KWAAAANG!!
“Gasp! Gasp!”
Park Geon-woo desperately rolled across the ground, narrowly evading the attack, then crawled frantically to widen the distance.
“Damn it all!”
He pushed himself up with a face twisted by humiliation.
To be reduced to such a pathetic state despite receiving the blessing of Black Star.
“…I’ll kill you.”
A humiliation and insult that no warrior could bear.
Park Geon-woo bit his lip and gripped his spear again.
His eyes, brimming with murderous intent, fixed upon Kwon O-jin.
“You—I will absolutely!!!”
He charged forward with a fierce cry.
“Tsk tsk. No matter what I say, you just won’t listen.”
Then again.
What in this world can truly be resolved through words?
No one listens to anyone else anyway.
They see only what they wish to see.
They hear only what they wish to hear.
Trapped within the narrow confines of their own limited thinking, they simply struggle to survive.
‘Hourglass’s Stigma.’
One final time.
I stop the world.
Within time flowing sluggishly like slow-motion video, I calmly observe the direction of Park Geon-woo’s spear point.
‘Right chest.’
After assessing the spear’s trajectory, I count in my mind.
‘3 seconds.’
I arch my body backward and slide away to increase distance.
‘2 seconds.’
Slowly, I raise my left arm to aim at the spear blade.
And.
‘Now!’
Twang!!
I flashed my eyes and fired the wire shooter toward the incoming spear blade.
The direction of the spear blade shifted as the weight at the end of the wire struck it.
Hitting a spear thrust with full force by an 8-star awakener was harder than shooting the wings of a fly darting through the air with a gun, but.
-Clang!!
With the stigma of Horologium now active, even such acrobatic feats were no longer difficult.
“Wh, what—?”
Before Park Geon-woo could correct his deflected spear,
‘Back to Lyra Constellation’s stigma.’
I grasped the spear with my right hand and switched stigmas as naturally as flowing water.
The slowed time returned to normal, and blue lightning erupted fiercely.
“It’s not me who dies here.”
Click!
I pressed the spear shaft against my ribs.
I extended my right leg long behind me.
Twisting my body with my left foot as the pivot, I thrust the grasped spear violently toward Park Geon-woo’s exposed ribs.
“It’s you, bastard.”
Whoosh!!
The spear blade, entering in a perfect counter, carved deeply through Park Geon-woo’s body from his ribs to his neck.
“Cough! Hack! Gag!”
Park Geon-woo trembled violently, spitting blood foam from his mouth.
“Hah!”
Crack!
I twisted the spear piercing through Park Geon-woo’s body roughly.
I watched the light fade from his eyes, marked by a single line of a scar.
“Phew.”
I steadied my slightly ragged breathing and smiled wickedly.
I recalled the sensation of when the world had stopped in my mind.
‘This is even better than I imagined.’
I had held considerable expectations from the start for something called an Ancient Constellation,
but this was honestly far beyond what I’d anticipated.
‘The three-use limit is a bit disappointing, though.’
Still, if proficiency increased it would change, so considering future growth potential, this was an enormous gain.
“Excellent.”
I approached Park Geon-woo’s corpse with a satisfied smile.
Having won the battle, it was now time to claim my reward.
‘Black Star.’
Dark clouds enveloped Park Geon-woo’s body.
“As expected, an 8-star awakener has a different amount of mana.”
Vast magical energy flowed into my body through the Black Heaven.
In the past, I would have felt no particular joy since my magical reserves were already overflowing.
But recently, with techniques like Exceed and Thunder Inflammation consuming excessive amounts of magical energy, I had been suffering from a shortage—so a smile naturally spread across my face.
—Crack.
“…Hm?”
In the midst of absorbing the magical energy.
My vision inverted along with a familiar sensation.
‘Is it a transmission?’
Kwon O-jin’s eyes gleamed sharply as I concentrated my mind on the memories flowing into my consciousness.

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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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