Not A Regressor-Chapter 326: Treasure Hunt (5)

Kwon Oh-Jin sprinted toward Riarc’s roar. Water droplets flew off his body as he ran. With no time to properly dress, he dashed forward with only a towel over his swim trunks.

In the distance, he saw Riarc and Boppy facing off against a group.

Perhaps because their peaceful moment had been interrupted, Song Ha-Eun glared at the group fighting Riarc. “Who the hell are those guys?”

“Hold on, Ha-Eun.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Come over here, Isabella and Vega too.”

Before jumping in, Kwon Oh-Jin pulled them behind a nearby boulder to observe the group facing off against Riarc.

Demonkin?

Unlike regular demonkin, these ones had dark, tanned skin and crimson-black horns.

Judging by the corpse of one demonkin on the ground with its neck torn open, a fierce battle had already taken place.

The demonkins looked confused and scowled at Riarc.

“Why is a beastkin all the way out here...?”

“And how is he controlling a demonic beast?”

A white-haired demonkin, who appeared to be the leader, calmly raised his spear. “Be careful. That wolf bastard isn’t your average beastkin.”

A dark energy dripped out like lava from his crimson-black horns and gathered at the tip of his spear.

Rumble.

Intense heat radiated from him and engulfed the area. His ice-cold stare at Riarc contrasted with the heat.

“My name is Jakal. A servant of the great Heavenly Demon and a knight serving Lord Deimos.” The demonkin introduced himself as Jakal, nodding slightly as he motioned toward Riarc with his chin, expecting him to reciprocate.

Riarc scoffed and looked at Jakal with utter disdain. “Do you need to know someone’s name to fight them?”

“Announcing one’s name is a knight’s etiquette.”

“I’m no knight. I’m a warrior.” Riarc transformed into his werewolf form.

Crack!

“I don’t care who you are or who you serve,” Riarc said.

Only one thing mattered.

“Are you my enemy?”

The silver wolf’s eyes locked onto Jakal. A chill ran down Jakal’s spine from Riarc’s murderous aura, and the demonkin gripped his spear tighter.

“As a knight of Lord Deimos, I can’t let someone trespass on his land uninvited.”

“Is that so?” Riarc’s lips curled into a savage grin. “That’s all I need to know.”

The silver wolf stomped forward.

Boom!

A streak of light flashed across the black rock beneath his feet, and his muscles swelled to the point of bursting.

“Grrrr!”

In an instant, Riarc closed the distance between them. He lunged into striking range and clenched his iron-like fist crackling with blue lightning. With a thunderous boom like a bomb going off, he swung straight at Jakal.

“What an animal.” Jakal didn’t flinch.

Instead, he calmly twisted his spear to intercept the blow. The punch struck the spear’s shaft. Even though it was just a fist, it felt like being hit by a siege weapon.

Jakal let out a low grunt. Lightning flowed through the spear and into his hands, briefly numbing them, but he quickly dispersed it with his mana.

He thrust his spear, dripping with lava, like a drill. Despite the violet heat scorching the surroundings, his sharply controlled moves aimed at Riarc looked textbook perfect.

Riarc’s claws extended and struck the spear.

Clang! Clang!

The spear and his claws clashed violently.

Riarc did everything he could to close the gap while Jakal slid back to maintain distance.

“Do you know the ideal range for a spear?” Jakal asked in a low voice in the middle of their fierce exchange. “Five steps. That’s the ideal range for a spearman.”

The distance between him and Riarc was currently about five meters.

Jakal took one step forward and closed in.

“One step, you watch the feet.” Jakal took another step forward, keeping a close eye on Riarc’s movements. “Two steps, you watch the eyes.”

On the third step, his spear shot forward.

Whoosh!

The molten tip of the spear aimed straight for Riarc’s forehead.

“Grrk!”

The spear narrowly grazed Riarc’s cheek. Molten droplets from the tip seared his flesh, and a grotesque burn spread across one side of his face. However, even amid the searing pain, Riarc bared his white teeth and widely grinned.

“Do you like to fight with your mouth instead of your spear?”

Ideal distance, watching feet and eyes... What was with the running commentary in the middle of battle?

“Stop talking.”

The ground trembled as the silver wolf charged again.

Boom!

Jakal instinctively raised his spear to defend. “Stop listening.”

In mid-charge, Riarc leaped high into the air and twisted like an acrobat.

Crackle!

Using Lightning Steps, Riarc changed trajectory in midair and aimed straight for Jakal’s back.

“Stop thinking.”

“Urgh...!” Jakal twisted desperately to guard his back.

“Fighting is based on instincts,” Riarc said.

A crushing fist tore through the air and smashed into Jakal’s spear shaft.

Boom!

Jakal hadn’t fully recovered his stance after turning around and flew back from the impact.

“Kugh!” He bounced off the ground like a skipping stone and crashed into a nearby rock wall.

Tons of granite crumbled and rained down with a thunderous crash.

The other demonkin, who had been watching, finally sprang into action.

“Lord Jakal!”

“Grrr!” Boppy leaped in to block their path.

“Out of the way!”

“How dare a mere demonic beast obstruct the Golden Knights!”

Unlike the typical unruly and individualistic demonkin, these so-called Golden Knights looked trained and moved like a disciplined unit. Their well-coordinated attacks quickly overwhelmed Boppy.

Though Boppy fought back fiercely, it couldn’t fend off their teamwork alone. The demonkin quickly pushed Boppy aside and surrounded Riarc.

“Agh...” Jakal, who had been smashed into the wall, slowly got up to his feet with a groan.

He was bruised and bloodied, but didn’t suffer any fatal wounds. His gaze burned with fierce determination.

“I’ll admit... Your skills are impressive for a beastkin.” He wiped the blood from his mouth and gripped his spear again.

Though the shaft had bent like a hook from the impact of Riarc’s fist, channeling mana through it quickly restored its original form.

“But no matter how strong you are alone, you’re worthless against a properly trained force.”

The demonkin surrounding Riarc with their weapons aimed at him. They perfectly encircled him with no openings to escape, but he looked around at them and snorted in amusement.

“Didn’t you go on about knightly etiquette earlier?”

So much for honor. Now, the demonkin was relying on his underlings because he couldn’t win alone.

Jakal smirked faintly and pointed his spear at Riarc again. “Recognizing your enemy’s strength and doing your best to defeat them is also a knight’s duty.”

He wasn’t foolish enough to throw away their overwhelming advantage in numbers just to insist on a one-on-one duel.

“Is that so?” Riarc smirked and turned toward a large boulder nearby, clenching his fists. “Then I guess I should try learning this etiquette of yours too.”

“What?” Jakal furrowed his brow, not understanding what he meant.

Riarc stomped and shouted, “Now, kid!”

The ground suddenly split and threw the demonkin surrounding him off balance.

Rumble!

As the demonkin fell into confusion, a bolt of lightning burst from behind the boulder and crashed down on them.

Crackle!

“Ghhk!”

“Aaaaargh!”

Kwon Oh-Jin jumped in and wildly swung his spear through the encirclement.

Following close behind, Song Ha-Eun appeared on top of the boulder and rained down fire upon them. “Stop trying to act all cool, Riarc!”

“H-Humans?!”

“What are humans doing here?!”

“D-Dammit! Don’t tell me they’re subordinates of the Old Demon?!”

“Ugh! These damned devilish humans!”

The demonkin began to panic the moment they laid eyes on Kwon Oh-Jin’s group. They stared in wide-eyed terror as if seeing zombies out of a horror movie.

Song Ha-Eun cocked her head, puzzled by their extreme response. “Huh? What’s up with these guys’ reactions?”

By their reactions, it seemed as if they feared the entire human race itself.

“I agree. This is strange.” Isabella frowned at the unexpected situation.

Why were these demonkin trembling in fear at the sight of humans?

“Let’s think about that later.” Kwon Oh-Jin spun his spear and struck the head of a demonkin sneaking up behind him with the shaft.

“Let’s clean these guys up first.”

“Got it!” Song Ha-Eun replied.

“Yes, Mr. Oh-Jin!”

With Song Ha-Eun and Isabella joining, the tide of battle instantly flipped.

Deimos’s knights were stronger than the low-ranking demonkin they had fought in the Dragonian Kingdom, but only ten of them weren’t nearly enough to handle Kwon Oh-Jin’s entire party.

“U-Ugh!”

“M-Monster... human monsters!”

On top of the power gap, they were paralyzed by fear. One by one, Deimos’s knights fell without even putting up a proper fight.

The only downside in this otherwise one-sided battle was...

Our outfits are a bit...

Even if they did wear sportswear underneath, seeing Song Ha-Eun and Isabella fighting in just towels made Kwon Oh-Jin’s face burn.

I mean, what is this? A paid skin DLC or something...?

Every time the two women moved, their bare skin flashed before his eyes.

Song Ha-Eun pointed into the distance. “Ah, Oh-Jin! That bastard is running away!”

He could see Jakal turning tail and fleeing.

“I’ll go after him. You finish things up here,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Okay!”

Concluding that splitting up would be better, Kwon Oh-Jin quickly chased after Jakal.

He’s fast.

Even during the fight against Riarc, Kwon Oh-Jin had sensed it. This Jakal guy possessed the skills of an executive demonkin.

The distance between them steadily widened, and Jakal barely became visible.

“Exceed.” Blue lightning erupted violently, dramatically increasing Kwon Oh-Jin’s speed.

Crackle!

He became a streak of lightning and shot toward Jakal. Just then, he heard Jakal’s agonized scream from beyond a large rock.

Slash!

“Gah! Kugh! S-So it was you... damn Old Demon!” It sounded as if someone was squeezing his throat.

Jakal glared with hatred as he kneeled in front of someone ahead.

“The Old Demon...?” Kwon Oh-Jin looked past him and saw an old man standing there. “Huh?”

The elderly man held a rusty iron sword in one hand and cocked his head at Kwon Oh-Jin. Then, a bright smile spread across his wrinkled face like a flower blooming.

“Wah! It’s the nice person, nice person!”

The being whom Deimos’s knights called Old Demon and feared so terribly was...

Megrez, Baek Mu-Kang, energetically waved at Kwon Oh-Jin.