I’m not a Regressor

I’m Not a Regressor

Chapter 233: A Hero for the Downtrodden (3)

“What the…?” Namgung Hui looked down at Ohjin, who’d fallen into the rapids, and seemed confused. From what he knew, the stigma of Lyra was related to ‘lightning’ and had nothing to do with water.

"How the hell?" How was Ohjin moving around underwater like it was second nature? It was as if he’d caught a fish that suddenly stood on its fins and walked around. Of course, since Hui was a high-ranking Awakener, he could swim against such a heavy current, but even he couldn’t move as easily as Ohjin.

"Krrrrrrk!” A group of monsters surrounded Ohjin within the rapids.

Ohjin went deeper into the river and spread his arms. ‘Lightning Charge.’

Pzzzzzt—!

Blue lightning exploded out and swept the approaching monsters away. He didn’t even need to aim—lightning attacks were naturally stronger in the water.

‘Even if I attack randomly, I’m sure to kill a few.’

Kzzzt! Bzzzt—!

“Krrrrk. Keuk” The monsters died and slowly floated to the surface of the water.

-Ti-ring!

[You have defeated a green-ranked monster.]

[You have defeated a blue-ranked monster.]

[You have defeated a blue-ranked monster.]

[You have defeated a green-ranked monster.]

His points went up in an instant.

‘How sweet!’ Ohjin smiled and looked down at his silver bracelet before looking back up at Hui, who was still watching from the air. He knew that, since he was submerged, Hui wouldn’t be able to clearly see him.

‘Not giving him any gifts back would be shameless of me.’ He grabbed a monster with sharp, blade-like scales and injected lightning straight into its body. ‘Charge.’

Kzzzt! Kzzzzzzzt—!

The monster’s corpse swelled like a balloon, to the point where it looked like a pufferfish.

‘Now!’ Just before the corpse exploded, Ohjin threw it toward Hui with all his might. The body soared through the air as if it were a bullet.

“Krrrrk?!” Namgung Hui urgently lifted his fan.

Craaaaaackle—!

The lightning within the corpse exploded like a grenade and scattered sharp scales in every direction.

"Oh, wind!" Namgung Hui spread his fan and sent a gust of wind forward to sweep the scales away. While he was distracted defending himself…

Splash—!

Ohjin jumped out of the water and closed in on him.

Poooow—!

“Keuk!” Hui took a punch right to the nose and, following the dull sound of a club striking leather, fell from the sky and into the rapids.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!" Though surprised, he was still a 10-Star Awakener and quickly exited the river and rose back into the air. "Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!" he yelled.

“Accidents happen, right?” Ohjin smirked and waved his hand. “For example… what if I accidentally struck a flying pig with my fist?”

"You…" Hui gave him a fierce glare, and just when his bloodthirst peaked and he was about to attack…

-zzzt! Zzzt—!

Someone urgently spoke from the square walkie-talkie on his waist.

-Mr. Namgung! I found the black-ranked monster!

Hui quickly switched the walkie-talkie off before the voice could reveal the monster’s location. "I'm afraid I'll have to go," he abruptly said.

Whoong—!

An intense gust of wind wrapped around him, which he used to send himself soaring higher into the sky.

"There won’t be any point in trying to track me like before,” he said. Sure enough, the wind surging around his body completely blocked his scent, and he didn’t leave anything like footprints since he was flying, which would make tracking him impossible.

Hui gave Ohjin one last sharp look. “Once I’ve joined the Seven Stars… I’ll come looking for you.” Then, he flew into the distance.

“Did that bastard talk his way into being a 10-Star or something?” Ohjin scoffed as he watched the man fly away.

“Uncle!” NT ran over and hugged Ohjin. “A-are you hurt anywhere?”

"Just as you can see, I’m fine." Ohjin shrugged and lightly stroked the whimpering NT’s head.

She looked angry as she stared toward where Hui had flown. “How could someone like that become a candidate for the Seven Stars?”

"I’d like to ask the same thing," Ohjin said. He had met many people in his life, but he hadn’t met someone as petty as Namgung Hui for quite some time.

NT patted her chest and angrily shouted, “I guarantee you that a person like him will never be able to join the Seven Stars!”

Ohjin smirked at how cute she looked and nodded.

The girl continued on a rant. “I mean it! Even if he wins the contest, I’ll eliminate him myself!”

"Yes, yes." Ohjin picked her up and patted her on the back. Point farming had been nice, but it was time to get her to a safe zone. "Hold on tight."

"Aaack!"

Ta-ang—!

He fired the wire shooter at a rock on the other side of the river and used it to go soaring into the air.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" NT hugged his neck and screamed.

After they reached the other side, Ohjin put her down.

"Wow! Wow! Uncle, that was so much fun!" The girl jumped up and down, her eyes shining in excitement. "One more time! Do it again!"

“Sorry,” Ohjin said, ”but it’s dangerous, so I can’t.” He let her walk behind him and hold onto his shirt as he headed toward the safe zone.

* * *

Translator - Rainypup

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

"Is that a safe zone?" Ohjin wondered as they tracked Hui’s previous scent to a place covered by a protective green barrier. He tapped the subtly glowing barrier with the back of his hand. ‘It’s hard.’ The barrier was so strong that even he’d be hard-pressed to break it.

“Fuu. We’re here, huh?” NT lightly kicked a piece of stone around, not wanting to say goodbye yet.

"I'll go see you after the competition," Ohjin said.

"Oh! Really? That’s a pinky promise!" NT stretched her pinky out to him.

"Yes, it's a promise." He locked his pinkie with hers.

A bashful smile crept onto NT’s face as she removed a square device from her clothes.

"Then your score is… drum roll!" She lifted her arms. "BamBamBam! Perfect score! It's a perfect score!"

-Ti-ring!

[You have safely guided ‘Civilian Number Two’ to a safe zone.]

[You have earned 1,000 points.]

1,000 points at once…

The blue-ranked monster he’d had difficulty dealing with was only worth 30 points, which meant that saving civilians was far more efficient. Of course, he didn't know if any other civilians would give him a perfect score like that, but being able to earn so many points at once was quite lucrative.

"Hehe. I'll be going in now," NT said.

“Stay there until it’s over,” Ohjin warned her before taking out another calorie bar and handing it over.

NT nodded and accepted the calorie bar. "Okay, but you have to play with me after the competition, alright?”

"Yes."

After that, she entered the safe zone. Ohjin saw there were nine other civilians inside, who’d probably been rescued by other candidates.

'Everyone has a green highlight in their hair. Did they do it to match or something?' He turned from the bored-looking civilians within the safe zone and focused. ‘I don’t have time for this.’

Nine other civilians within the zone meant that up to nine other candidates had rescued them. Of course, they wouldn’t have all received perfect scores, but it’d be hard for him to keep up with anyone who’d rescued at least two.

"Should I look for the black-ranked monster?" He narrowed his eyes in thought and crossed his arms. Even if he wanted to do that, he didn’t know where it was. ‘Namgung Hui… definitely flew in that direction.’ According to the map, it was a glacial area.

“Well, all I can do is head toward it for now." He activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs and quickly followed the route Hui had taken.

Whoosh—!

Freezing winds assaulted him as he reached the glacial area.

‘This place is well-made.’ He’d only run for a few minutes, but he almost instantly went from one terrain type to another and was surrounded by snow.

"Huh?" A certain scent caught his attention, and he walked toward it over the icy glacier. "…Blood?" There were drops of blood on the otherwise spotless ice. When he turned to where the trail of blood led, he saw a massive, icy cave with a gaping entrance about 50 meters high.

‘Ah… whoever it was didn’t go in there, instead…’

It was the other way around; whoever the blood belonged to had run away from the cave and whatever was inside of it.

“…” He followed the blood into the cave made of spotless, white ice, and at the entrance, he found Namgung Hui lying unconscious on the ground.

"Namgung Hui? What the hell is he doing here?" He tried to tap the unconscious man awake.

Hui barely clawed his way back into consciousness and trembled as he muttered, "M-monster… inside… A m-monster…" Then his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Ohjin took a closer look and saw crimson blood trickling from a cut on Hui’s body that appeared to have been made by a sharp sword.

“…” He looked into the cave and gulped. That could only mean one thing…

The black-ranked monster was waiting inside.