Not A Regressor-Chapter 31: Underworld (4)

Shhhh!

Thick smoke filled the tunnel, and the ear-piercing screams of the Reptilians shook the air.

“Krraaaa!”

The Reptilians writhed in agony, causing the silver wires coiling through the passage to tighten around them further. They desperately tried to sever the wires using the sharp bones on their hands, echoing the sound of scraping metal.

“It won’t cut that easily,” Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled as he watched.

The wires, reinforced with Starstones and infused with his mana, were far too tough to be broken by mere Reptilians.

“Kaaaaaaa!”

Realizing they couldn’t cut through the wires, the Reptilians fortunate enough not to get caught in the wires retreated into the tunnel. However—

Boom!

“Kuraaa!”

One of the fleeing Reptilians was shot forward like a missile, landing on the tangled wires that shook from the impact.

Kwon Oh-Jin turned toward the monster that had thrown the Reptilian.

“That’s...”

This monster was more than twice the size of the other Reptilians, with a crimson red, muscular build shaped like the armor of a king.

Is it a Reptilian Champion?

The monster roared fiercely, and the Reptilians stopped their attempts to flee and turned back to face Kwon Oh-Jin, visibly terrified.

“Gurkaaaa!”

At the call of the Reptilian Champion, the horde of Reptilians grouped together and started to break through the passage. Together, they pushed the corpses entangled in the wires forward, as if pushing a bus out of a ditch.

The silver wires screeched as if screaming.

This won’t hold much longer.

Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue and channeled more mana into the wire shooters on his wrists.

Shhhh!

The wire retracted back into the shooter, cutting the Reptilian corpses into pieces first.

“KuRuuuuUU!”

Perhaps thinking this was its chance, the Reptilian Champion roared and pulled out its massive bone spike. The swarm of Reptilians climbed the walls and charged toward Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Haha, look at these worthless creatures struggling with all they've got,” Vega scoffed, crossing her arms.

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded, raising his spear. “I know, right?”

Then, the brawl began.

Kwon Oh-Jin swung his spear viciously, tearing through the Reptilian swarm.

Zap!

“KaraaaaaAAAc!”

Reptilians dropped dead every time he swung his lightning-condensed spear.

With so many of them having already succumbed to the wires, their remaining swarm posed little threat to him.

Enraged by the worsening situation, the Reptilian Champion stepped forward to take control of the battlefield.

Thud!

“GuRuAaaaaa!”

“It’s too late.”

You should have attacked together from the start.

Thud! Thud!

Each heavy step of the Reptilian Champion sent powerful tremors through the passage. Its swarm already slaughtered, the lone Reptilian Champion thrust its massive bone spike forward. Kwon Oh-Jin raised his spear to block the attack.

“Hoo.”

Clang! Clank!

He then spun around, swinging his spear down low to strike the Reptilian Champion in its knee.

Whack!

The monster stumbled, having its stance ruined.

“KAaaRacC!”

Letting out an incomprehensible screech, the Reptilian Champion flailed around, desperate to create some distance. It swung its bone wildly as it retreated.

“Where do you think you're going?”

Bang!

Kwon Oh-Jin shot out his wires.

Reacting quickly, the Reptilian Champion swung at the wire's anchor as if hitting a ball with a baseball bat.

Clang!

The wire bounced off and embedded itself into the fleshy walls of the tunnel.

“KuRarara!”

The Reptilian Champion's lips curled into a smug grin as it locked eyes with Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Look at you, getting all cocky.”

With a smirk, Kwon Oh-Jin infused his mana into the wire shooter on his left wrist. The wire pulled tight, launching him forward.

Whoosh!

Letting the momentum carry him, he thrust the spear in his right hand forward with all his might.

“Hmph!”

Crack!

His spear pierced through the Reptilian Champion’s eye.

“KaaaaaAAAA!”

It let out a monstrous scream as it grabbed the spear in pain.

This is the end for you.

“Azure Lightning.”

Crackle!

“KraaaaaRac!”

Blue lightning coursed through the spear, frying the Reptilian Champion’s brain. The massive monster fell to the ground with a thud.

“Hoo.”

With lightly ragged breath, Kwon Oh-Jin pulled out his spear.

“You’ve gotten a lot more used to utilizing Azure Lightning.”

“Well, I did practice hard for the last three weeks.”

On uneventful days, he would wake up early and train the Stigma of Lyra nonstop until the sun set. Although it still didn't come as naturally as when he received Vega's blessing, his progress was remarkable, considering he had to brute-force the skill in the past.

“Hmmm. It’s not the kind of technique you can master through hard work alone.”

Vega shrugged, too tired to be surprised anymore.

“Well then, let’s gather up the loot, shall we? Hehehe!” Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled to himself and laid the spear down on the ground.

Pulling out a knife from the holster on his thigh, he sliced into a Reptilian corpse.

The Starstone isn’t that big.

Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue in disappointment.

High-ranked monsters didn’t always possess large or high-quality Starstones. In extreme cases, even a seven or eight-star monster had Starstones worse than an Anthorn's.

These small scraps aren’t worth a thing.

On the bright side, his main prize was waiting for him. He extracted a black, basketball-sized Starstone from the Reptilian Champion.

“That’s one ominous-colored Starstone,” Vega said.

A mutant Starstone was a rare commodity obtained within gates occupied by mutant monsters.

Though, it doesn’t feel as rare anymore.

In fact, he felt more familiar with black Starstones than the usual blue ones due to all the encounters with mutant monsters as of late.

“Do you feel an unpleasant energy from this as you did earlier?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked Vega, holding out the Starstone toward her.

She lifted it with both arms and examined it, turning it in all directions.

“It’s faint, but yes. I can sense the same energy as before.”

“Hmm.”

Kwon Oh-Jin squinted at the Starstone.

There must be a connection between these mutants and the power of the Black Star.

The black slimes he'd encountered back in the cave had also carried black Starstones. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that so many mutant monsters had appeared in a gate where the Astral Relic with the power of the Black Star resided.

Does that mean there’s an Astral Relic laying dormant here too?

All he saw in Lee Shin-Hyuk’s memories were the rampaging monsters, so he couldn't be sure.

“Hmm. This place is unsettling in many ways,” Vega remarked as she glanced around the fleshy tunnel.

“Yeah.”

Kwon Oh-Jin pondered for a moment before clicking his tongue and turning away. He decided to set aside the contemplation of the black Starstones for now.

It’s not like I can get any answers right now anyway.

He couldn’t afford to waste time on needless speculations.

“Let’s go.”

After extracting all the Starstones from the Reptilians scattered across the passage, he headed down the tunnel. Though a sense of unease lingered, he shrugged it off.

As long as it's worth money, who cares what color it is?

Starstones from mutants sold for a higher price, so having more mutants around was something to be welcomed.

And I can absorb the power of the Black Star, too.

He didn’t fully understand the power of the Black Star, but one thing was certain—it made him stronger.

As he continued deeper into the passage, a few Reptilians ambushed him, but he wiped them out without much trouble.

After about thirty minutes of walking, he finally reached the passage's end, which opened up into a chamber made of dark red flesh.

“Oh, wow.”

At the centre of the chamber, a massive, fleshly monster was curled up like a cocoon. The giant was completely still with its eyes closed, seemingly in a deep slumber.

Whoa, seeing it up close, this thing's no joke.

The monster was about ten meters tall, much smaller than he had seen it in Lee Shin-Hyuk’s memories, but it radiated a terrifying aura.

That monster is strong as fuck.

Kwon Oh-Jin took a deep breath, calming his pounding heart.

He raised his left arm and aimed the wire shooter at the giant.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Wires shot out with strong recoil and embedded themselves into the giant.

Drip.

Dark red blood oozed from where the wires had pierced, but the giant didn’t react at all.

Azure Lightning.

Zap!

Blue lightning coursed through the wires and scorched the giant.

I was spot-on.

The giant remained completely still, just as before.

“Hehe, what’s the use of just being strong, huh?”

A sly grin spread across Kwon Oh-Jin’s face. The giant’s sheer presence was enough to send shivers down his spine, but—

What’s the point?

It was just a powerless behemoth, trapped and unable to lift a finger. No matter how massive or intimidating it appeared, there was no need to fear it.

“So, that’s the sealed monster?”

“Yeah. This is the one that wrecked Seoul Station in my first life,” he conveyed as he approached the curled-up giant. “But as you can see, it’s nothing but a giant piece of flesh right now.”

He looked up at the giant with greedy eyes.

Who would’ve thought I could get a lovely Starstone this easily? Lee Shin-Hyuk sure did put himself to good use for me.

Gripping his silver spear, Kwon Oh-Jin activated his Stigma.

“Well, let’s kill it off. Here I go!”

He moved closer and thrust his spear at the monster.

Gush!

The giant’s flesh tore open, and blood splattered everywhere.

“Hyaa! Haah! Chaa!”

Kwon Oh-Jin unleashed a series of strikes, flowing smoothly as water.

He slashed, stabbed, and twisted his spear into the giant, chunks of flesh flying in all directions.

Hahaha! This is kind of fun.

It felt like an incredibly realistic punching bag—or rather, one of those arcade punch machines.

“Die, you chunk of meat!”

Mindlessly beating the crap out of the powerless giant felt oddly satisfying. It was a perfect way to relieve stress.

I’m destressing and making money! Isn’t this just great?

Could things get any better for him?

Thanks, Shin-Hyuk! I swear, you make my life more enjoyable!

“Hahahahaha!”

Kwon Oh-Jin was happily swinging his spear when the giant suddenly opened its eyes.

“Huh?”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s expression froze.

What the hell?

“My child, didn’t you say the monster was sealed?”

“O-Of course!” He nodded urgently. “It just opened its eyes, that's all. It still can’t move!”

The seal only seemed to restrict it physically while leaving its consciousness intact.

Yeah. That must be it. Even if it's conscious, it doesn’t mean shit if it can't move—

Rumble!

The giant started to get up.

“Karaaaaaaa!”

A terrifying roar echoed through the air, like something one would hear at an antisocial cult's satanic ritual.

Four massive arms appeared on the giant, pounding violently against the walls.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Holy fuck.”

Why is this thing moving?