I’m not a Regressor

"Woah," exclaimed Ha-eun.

It wasn't as much as Ha-eun, but Ohjin also looked around with quite a bit of surprise.

"It's really beautiful inside."

An enormous underwater tunnel.

The view of the beautiful sea was on full display as the tunnel was made out of something that looked to be translucent glass.

Outside the tunnel, fish that they had never seen in their life were swimming freely in the sea.

"It's like we entered an aquarium."

As Ha-eun had expressed, it would've felt similar if there was an aquarium that was built hundreds and thousands of times the normal size.

Riak placed his nose near the ground.

"Sniff, sniff. There doesn't seem to be any monsters nearby."

"It's probably because there are a lot of Awakeners near the entrance."

"Are we going deeper inside?"

"Of course."

The goal was to farm the amount of starstones needed to complete the Black Heaven's quest.

They hadn't come all that way to relax and watch the scenery.

[Then let's head deeper inside.]

Plop—

Vega sat on top of Ohjin's head like it was her exclusive seat. She wrapped her hands around Ohjin’s curly hair like they were reins.

"I shall lead you to your destination well, Lady Vega."

[Fufu. The ride’s comfort is very nice.]

Vega received his playful remark and patted his head.

Step, step—

They headed deeper inside while looking at the pleasant scenery.

Was it due to it being a high-difficulty gate? The presence of humans gradually started to disappear.

And then—

"Mrclughluhlua!!!"

—The ground shook with the sound of a strange cry.

A two-meter tall fish with a large build appeared at the other side of the tunnel. Despite it being a fish, its body resembled a human starting from the bottom of its neck.

"…Merpeople?"

"It's a monster known as a Murloc."

"Thank god it's not called a mermaid."

Ha-eun looked at the Murloc with disgust.

The Murloc had muscles like that of a bodybuilder overdosed on steroids all around its body. It couldn’t look any more grotesque when it had that kind of bulky body with the face of a fish.

Fwooooosh!!—

"Looks like it'll be full of protein once it's barbecued."

Ha-eun smirked while creating flames on both of her hands.

"Ha-eun, wait."

"Hm? Why?"

"I want to try facing one of them alone."

Ohjin was curious as to how well he would be able to face off against 5-Star monsters.

‘The demon beasts that appeared in Sokcho were also 5-Star.'

How much stronger had he become when compared to then? His curiosity of wanting to test that question boiled up.

"Okay, I got it."

Ha-eun put out the flames and took two steps back.

Click, clack!—

Ohjin sent mana into the steel rod and then grasped what turned into a silver spear with a crescent blade.

‘There are three of them.'

The one in the middle had the bulkiest build.

‘Starting from that one…'

Grip—

After grasping his spear…

Bang!—

Ohjin swung it down against the ground and used it as a lever to propel his body high up into the air.

"Mrrrrgggll!!!"

The Murlocs reacted quickly and created distance from where he could land.

They split apart into three and planned to attack Ohjin simultaneously, each from a different direction, as he fell.

"Nope."

Bang!—

He shot his wire shooter.

The revamped wire shooter shot out the wire at a speed that was much faster than before.

Swoosh, swoosh—

"Mrrrggl?"

The wire wrapped around the Murloc's body.

‘Lightning Charge.'

Bzzzzzzzzzt!!—

The powerful blue lightning ran down the wire and fried the Murloc's brain.

"Brgrugugulgrul!!!"

Indeed.

It was a 5-Star monster.

It did squirm from pain, but the lightning running through the wire wasn't enough to kill it.

However…

"That is all."

Whirrrr!!—

With the loud noise of metal, the wire pulled tight.

Slash!—

The silver spear swung in a wide arc and cut the Murloc's body in half.

"Mrgrugugul!"

"Mrclughluhlua!"

The other two Murlocs quickly rushed in.

They were fast.

The force behind their charge was enough to hear the sound of air ripping apart.

"This is a bit disappointing."

It was only natural. They weren't strong enough to be a threat to him.

Fwish, fwish, fwish, fwish!!—

Ohjin raised his spear above his head and rotated it like a propeller.

Fwoosh!—

Blue flames blazed up ferociously at the tip of the spear.

"Hmpf!"

Matching the timing with when the Murlocs got in range, he held on to the end of the shaft and swung it widely.

Swoop!—

With the illusion of the spear's length increasing for a moment—

Spat!—

"Mrrrgluru!!"

The Murlocs’ upper and lower bodies separated.

Blood and intestines gushed out.

‘Did it take me around 5 seconds?'

Ohjin chuckled as he shrugged. He did expect it to be easy, but it was much more one-sided than he thought.

"Damn… does this make any sense?"

Ha-eun approached him with an expression of disbelief.

"Are you really a 5-Star? No, besides that, how did you become this strong in two months…"

When comparing the current Ohjin and the Ohjin she had seen during the subjugation at Sokcho, the difference was heaven and earth.

Ha-eun had also thought he was strong compared to his ‘star' back then, but now it was unbelievable.

"At this point, shouldn't you be able to beat a 6… no, a 7-Star?"

"Didn't I tell you? I fought and beat a 7-Star Awakener not too long ago."

"Oh, you're right."

Ha-eun scratched the back of her head and pouted.

"Still, catching up to me half a year after you awakened is making me feel a certain type of way."

"I probably can't beat you yet. Haven't you completely recovered your body?"

Ha-eun was an Awakener that was on the strong side amongst 7-Star Awakeners in the past.

Now that she had also obtained a new power, the Dragon Eyes, victory in a head-to-head match couldn't be guaranteed.

"Heh! Of course I still win in a one-on-one fight!"

They weren't words full of bravado.

In order to face Ha-eun, who had fully recovered, it was still unreasonable to imagine it without using either Exceed or Vega’s blessing.

"And…"

Smirk—

The tip of Ha-eun's lips curved up.

Click—

She raised her hands behind her head and removed the eyepatch that was covering her left eye.

"I haven't been playing around, you know?"

Snap!—

Ha-eun lightly flicked her fingers.

Fwooooosh!—

Chains made of flames were created in a blink of an eye and rushed towards a corner in the tunnel.

Rattle, rattle!—

"Mrrrrgulllgll!!!!"

"Mgcrul! Mgggrrrul!"

Two Murlocs that were secretly hiding in the corner were dragged out by the flame chains.

They had a smaller build when compared to the three Ohjin eliminated, but there was a Murloc that had menacing thorns prodding out around its body.

"Looks like there are assassin-types, as well."

"Mrclugh!!"

They took their time observing the two Murlocs tied up by Ha-eun's flame chains. Purple liquid was dripping from its thorns that were like those from a blown pufferfish.

Snap!—

"M-Mgr…"

Fwoosh!—

As she snapped her fingers once more, the flame chains turned the Murlocs’ bodies into ash.

"…How did you know they were hiding?" asked Ohjin with surprise.

He hadn't expected there to be two more Murlocs hiding nearby.

"Well…"

Ha-eun smiled as she placed her hand on top of her exposed left eye.

Despite its appearance being grotesque, she fumbled around with it lovingly.

"I should be able to see this much when it was a gift from a certain someone."

"……"

‘Huh. Why does she look so cute all of a sudden?'

[Khm!]

Vega cleared her throat in discomfort.

[5-Star monsters certainly aren't much of a threat.]

"Yeah."

Ohjin nodded and then started harvesting the starstones.

As per the rumors, two starstones came out of each corpse.

‘It's been a while since I've seen a blue starstone.'

It even felt welcoming as it had been swarming with demon beasts lately.

‘Does this mean that the weird phenomenon in this gate isn't from the influence of the Black Stars?'

So far, the Black Stars’ power had always been involved in locations where demon beasts appeared.

Blue starstones signified that they weren't demon beasts, which meant that there was a high probability the cause of the gate's weird phenomenon was something else.

‘Let's look into that later.'

It was time to enjoy the unexpected EXP event.

"Grrr. So it was a gate where these weaklings appeared. My excitement has died down."

Disappointed, Riak puffed smoke from his nose.

"Judging from how you called them weaklings, I'm guessing monsters of this level are easy, even in your restricted state?"

"Of course! Just what do you think of this mighty Riak!"

"Then let's use this opportunity to test how much power the both of you can use."

Ohjin looked at Riak and Vega.

[Ho. Are you saying that you want to confirm how much help this lady can be?]

"After all, it's important to confirm what our total forces add up to."

[Fufu. Desiring to test out a celestial's power is truly discourteous, however…]

Dazzle—

Vega flew towards Ohjin.

[I'm also curious as to how much power I'll be able to use in this state.]

"Alright."

Ohjin went a little deeper inside the underground tunnel.

"Mrrrgurul!!"

"There are four of them this time."

"No assassin-types."

Ohjin looked back to take a slight glance at Riak and Vega.

"Grrr! Stay put there and observe, human!"

[This lady shall demonstrate her strength.]

Riak and Vega charged at the Murlocs.

Slash! Swish! Sla-Slash!!!—

"Mmmrrrggglll!!!"

The silver wolf ran across the tunnel's walls like they were flat ground and darted through the Murlocs.

Bzzzzt!—

[How dare you be so ill-mannered in front of this lady.]

Blue lightning slivered across the ground like a snake and tied up the Murlocs.

In the blink of an eye, the blue lightning climbed up the Murloc's body and dug into the gills on its neck.

The Murloc that had lightning flown into its gills collapsed and started to have a seizure on the ground.

"Woah."

Ohjin’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Vega’s control that had consistently made him exclaim without fail.

However, Ohjin, who was calmly observing the battle, clicked his tongue in shame.

‘The output is too low.'

The power of lightning Vega could output in a restricted state was, at best, around the rank of a 2~3-Star.

Vega did take down the Murlocs with her astonishing control, but the output was not nearly enough to land the finishing blow.

‘It's the same for Riak.'

It felt like Riak was barely able to cover his miserably weakened strength and speed by making use of his overwhelming technique.

‘Looks like I won't be able to get carried.'

* * *

* * *

It didn't matter.

Ohjin had no plans of relying on their strength to develop in the first place.

"Grr! This is annoying!" shouted Riak in frustration.

It was understandable. If it wasn't for the restriction, Riak would be able to turn the monsters into ashes in an instant, but instead, he was forced to expend great effort to deal damage.

"Heheh! You boasted, but it looks like you were nothing much."

"Wh-What did you say?"

"Fufu. Looks like I have no choice but to help out~"

"I don't need it!"

Ha-eun cackled as she started to participate in the battle.

[Fuu. It's already exhausting.]

Vega sighed deeply and sat down on Ohjin’s shoulder.

"Well done, Vega."

[It looks like I won't be able to give you much help.]

Vega dropped her head like it was a shame.

"It's better this way."

[Hm? What do you mean?]

"I would become indolent once I started to rely on your strength. The current amount of strength is perfect."

Ohjin comforted the dispirited Vega.

[Fufu. Are you comforting me?]

With a faint smile on her face, she patted his forehead.

[You really are a strange child. I understand why the past Vega got into that kind of r… relationship with you.]

Vega smiled bashfully and finished her words in a low voice so that Ha-eun couldn't hear.

Strech, strech—

It looked like Vega was embarrassed by the words she said as she pulled on Ohjin's earlobes.

"Uh, hm."

Though he had never been in ‘that kind of relationship' with Vega in his past life—

"Didn't I tell you?"

Ohjin put on a slight smile and looked back at Vega on his shoulder.

"It's fine if you don't remember. It's fine if you don't reminisce."

Like how the world wouldn't disappear because you closed your eyes…

"Even if you forget, I still remember. Whether they are happy or sad memories."

[My child…]

Vega’s pupils shook.

‘This should be enough, right?'

It was time to end things.

"Let's go now."

[…Okay.]

As they got near, they could see that Ha-eun had already finished the battle.

"Let's harvest the starstones and head deeper inside."

"Grr! I'll fight alone this time!"

As they were going deeper into the gate—

"Hm?"

—they discovered three Murlocs collapsed on the ground with holes pierced all around their bodies.

"Fuya. Indeed, It’s a little~ difficult to take down three at once!"

The youth with orange hair that they saw at the entrance was taking a rest while drinking a potion.

A spherical marble was floating around him.

"Hm? You are…"

The youth's eyes wandered towards them. In a short frame of time, his expression changed second by second, and the edge of his lips gradually went up.

"Lightning Wolf! You're the Lightning Wolf, right?"

"Yes."

It wasn't a nickname Ohjin particularly liked, but he had gotten a fair bit used to it since so many people addressed him that way.

"Hahaha! Iya~! I didn't think that I would be able to meet the Lightning Wolf here! I'm a fan!"

The youth lent out his hand.

"Uh… how do I put this. You could say this was destined to be in one way or another, so…"

He pointed at the marble that was floating around with his thumb as smiled.

"Do you have any thoughts on taking part in my stream as a guest?"

"What?"