Not A Regressor-Chapter 332: Treasure Hunt (11)

His sword looked as white as a snowy field. Its elegant, flowing curve could make anyone gasp in awe. Delicate snowflake patterns, like those crafted by a master artisan, were etched into its surface. There was no need to explain that this sword was clearly a masterpiece. No, even calling it a masterpiece was far too modest.

A divine relic.

This sword wasn’t made by a human, but by a god. Just drawing it from its sheath released a chilling cold that seeped into anyone like poison. Every breath turned pale frost, and Kwon Oh-Jin’s muscles stiffened as if he were submerged in ice water.

I didn’t think I’d be freezing inside a volcano.

If he’d known this would happen, he would’ve brought a cold-resistance vest instead of one for fire. His sharp gaze locked onto the white sword in Deimos’s hand.

In what world is that thing considered square?

Whether it was light or not, he couldn’t say without holding it. However, it certainly didn’t fit the description of a square at all.

—My treasure! Give it back!

Baek Mu-Kang shouted in a fluster from the communication orb.

Deimos turned toward the voice and chuckled.

“I see, so that’s what this is all about.” Deimos sneered. “Your goal from the beginning was Deneb’s Star Sword.

He raised the white blade in his hand. Among the countless treasures he possessed, Deneb’s Star Sword was his most prized treasure. He had gone to great lengths to obtain it, even facing the restrictions of the Law to find and take it from Deneb’s first apostle. He wouldn’t return it no matter how much someone begged.

Deimos glared at Baek Mu-Kang through the communication orb. “Persistent bastard.”

Even after all the times Deimos had shaken him off, even after driving him to the brink of death, that crazy old man hadn’t given up.

If I knew he was this persistent, I would’ve killed him a long time ago.

He had held back to avoid Deneb’s wrath. Now, seeing Baek Mu-Kang chase him all the way to his own territory, a murderous rage boiled up.

With seething bloodlust, Deimos glared at the orb. “Well, this works out. I’ve always wanted to kill you with my own hands anyway.”

He hadn’t been able to kill Baek Mu-Kang before because of Deneb, but the situation had changed.

Once he awakens, all the Celestials will be devoured anyway.

Raising the Star Sword, Deimos released a chilling killing intent.

Before killing Baek Mu-Kang, he intended to deal with the accomplice standing before him first.

“Deneb’s Star Sword, huh...” Kwon Oh-Jin murmured as he raised his spear to match Deimos.

He had recognized at a glance that it was no ordinary weapon, but hadn’t expected it to be a sword made by Deneb himself.

No wonder the elder was so obsessed with finding his treasure.

Calling it a treasure hardly did it justice. It wasn’t just valuable, but a symbol of his status as Deneb’s first apostle. No wonder Baek Mu-Kang had pursued it so desperately.

But something feels off.

Like gears that wouldn’t quite align, something felt subtly wrong.

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned in thought but shook his head.

I’ll think about it later.

He couldn’t afford to be distracted now. Tightening his grip on the spear, he drew upon his Stigma’s mana. The Stigma of Lyra on his left chest flared with light as an immense amount of mana flooded through him.

“Hup!”

Boom!

As if they had coordinated it, Kwon Oh-Jin and Deimos both launched forward at the same time.

Blue lightning and white flames clashed in midair. A violent explosion ripped through the vault filled with treasures.

Deimos looked sadly at the treasures scattered across the floor, almost on the verge of tears.

“Ugh.”

This time, he didn’t throw himself forward to shield them.

“You little bastard!”

Instead, he simply pressed forward and unleashed a barrage of attacks with eyes full of hatred.

“Kugh!”

White flames danced wildly. Every swing of the Star Sword brought down a searing inferno on Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Haa! Haa!”

Wherever the flame touched, his skin blistered and decayed. A biting chill pierced deep into his core.

Shit, he’s strong.

They didn’t call Deimos an archduke for nothing. Even a high-ranking Awakener like Kwon Oh-Jin could barely hold his own.

“Die,” Deimos said.

A wave of white flames erupted from the blade and hurtled toward Kwon Oh-Jin.

Kwon Oh-Jin dove to the side to avoid it, but the frost that had already formed around his ankles restricted his movements.

Damn it!

Just as the flames were about to consume him, Baek Mu-Kang burst into the vault with a deafening crash.

Boom!

“Give me back my treasure!”

He stepped in front of Kwon Oh-Jin and swung his rusty sword. His Stigma of Cygnus burned brightly, and a white frost burst from the rusty sword mixed with Deimos’s white flames.

Crack!

Chilling, cold air spread in all directions. The Golden Vault, kept at the optimal temperature to preserve thousands of treasures, froze over as if it had become a freezer.

Song Ha-Eun, Isabella, and Vega arrived right behind him.

“Mr. Oh-Jin!”

“Oh-Jin! We're here!”

“Are you alright, my child!?”

The three women approached him. Their expressions stiffened at his blackened, necrotized skin.

“How dare that dried squid-looking bastard hurt my Oh-Jin!”

It's a bit harsh to call him a dried squid, isn’t it?

“Please hold still for a moment.” Isabella pulled out a potion from her handbag and poured it over his wounds.

She used the highest-grade potion available, but even the best potion couldn’t fully heal his skin.

Gritting her teeth, Isabella glared at Deimos. “How dare you touch Mr. Oh-Jin...”

Kwon Oh-Jin shook his head and gripped his spear again. “I’m fine now.”

Wounds from the white flames were nearly impossible to heal anyway. It was better to use this time to strike back at Deimos together.

“Hm. Looks like I took too long.” Deimos clicked his tongue as he glanced at Kwon Oh-Jin’s group.

He had wanted to finish Kwon Oh-Jin off before his companions arrived, but Kwon Oh-Jin had resisted more than expected.

“In that case...” Deimos pulled out a golden tablet with a horned demon etched on it. “Come, my knights.”

Woong!

As he raised the tablet, a brilliant golden light radiated from it like a rising sun. Over a hundred demonkin knights clad in golden armor emerged from within that brilliant glow and spread out across the vault in formation.

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned as he watched the formation unfold.

So, that’s why he came alone. He had a summoning Astral Relic for his knights.

“Tsk.”

Although there were fewer demonkin than they had faced in the Dragonian Kingdom, these knights possessed skills on an entirely different level.

Some of them even seem like executive-ranking demonkin.

Deimos raised the Star Sword. “Kill those damn rats that dared to sneak in and steal my treasures.”

“Glory to the Golden!”

The Golden Knights charged at Kwon Oh-Jin’s group.

“Ha-Eun, I’m leaving them to you.”

“Sure thing. I’ll roast them whole.”

There was no one better than Song Ha-Eun for fighting multiple enemies. Pulling out a cigarette, she bared her teeth like a wild beast.

“Bella, cover her,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“I could take them on myself—”

“Please.”

“Alright...”

For Song Ha-Eun to go all out, she needed a reliable person to shield her. Sure, he could’ve taken that role while Isabella focused on Deimos.

I’m not just here to take a beating and not return the favor.

Kwon Oh-Jin glanced down at his necrotized arm and raised his spear. This time, he wouldn’t be fighting Deimos alone.

“I shall support you from behind,” Vega said.

“My treasure! I need my treasure!”

Vega was with him, and Baek Mu-Kang also paced restlessly nearby.

“Let’s go, elder.”

“Yes! I’ll make that bad man pay!”

At Kwon Oh-Jin’s signal, Baek Mu-Kang charged straight toward Deimos. Their swords clashed violently.

“Give me back my treasure!” With swordsmanship as fluid as flowing water, Baek Mu-Kang pressed in on Deimos.

“You’re loud as always.”

The rusty iron sword in Baek Mu-Kang’s hands shattered into pieces.

Crack!

Baek Mu-Kang stared blankly at the broken blade in shock. “H-Huh?”

Just then, Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed a nearby sword and tossed it to him.

“Here! Use this!”

It had just been lying around the vault. Even so, it was still leagues above the rusty junk he had been using.

“I’m not used to this sword.”

“You’ll have to manage.”

After all, he couldn’t face Deimos barehanded.

“Hup!”

The battle resumed.

Vega rained down lightning from the air, keeping Deimons on edge, while Baek Mu-Kang rejoined the fight with his new sword.

“Urgh!” Deimos gritted his teeth and stumbled back.

This is way more manageable now.

It had been tough handling Deimos alone, but things felt far more under control now with Vega and Baek Mu-Kang joining in.

If I can just find the right timing to use Lightning Form...

If Kwon Oh-Jin could fully activate his skill and not a simplified one, he could land a decisive blow.

“Buy me some time!”

“Alright, my child!”

“Okay! I listen to nice guys!” Baek Mu-Kang stepped forward and pressed Deimos.

Kwon Oh-Jin fell back and began focusing mana into his right arm.

Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge.

He condensed the lightning over ten times. An intense amount of mana began to compress into his right arm. It swelled dangerously as if it could burst at any moment.

Agonizing pain rippled through his arm.

“Lightning Charge.”

Crackle!

His right arm exploded, reforming into an arm made entirely out of lightning.

“Move out of the way!” He sprinted past Baek Mu-Kang and swung his Lightning Form arm.

Rumble!

A wave of blue lightning crashed down on Deimos.

Deimos's eyes rolled all the way back as he screamed in agony, “Aaaaaaaah!” He collapsed onto the ground, drooling uncontrollably. “A-Ah. M-My treasure. My... gold.”

Crawling helplessly, Deimos reached for the treasures that had been swept away in the lightning storm. Most of the gold had been destroyed and reduced to mangled scraps.

“A-Ah.”

Clutching handfuls of the ruined gold, he curled into a fetal position. Then, he began shoving the gold into his mouth, devouring it ravenously.

Crunch. Chomp.

His eyes, glazed with madness, turned toward Kwon Oh-Jin. “No one can take my treasures away from me.”

Chomp! Crack!

The more gold he ate, the more his skinny physique swelled like some bodybuilder on steroids.

“What the hell...?” Kwon Oh-Jin’s jaw dropped as he stared in disbelief at Deimos’s drastically growing form.

Deimos wasn’t just growing bigger in size. His mana was also multiplying exponentially with every piece of gold he ate.

Kwon Oh-Jin knew it had felt all too easy to be true, but never expected Deimos to grow stronger by eating gold.

Seriously, does every damn guy I face have a second phase? What is this, Black Souls[1]?

1. A reference to Dark Souls, a dark fantasy action role-playing video game series known for its hardcore and difficult gameplay. ☜