I’m Not a Regressor - Chapter 237
Chapter 237: A Hero for the Downtrodden (7)
“Damn it!” Ohjin cursed without meaning to and bit his lips as he stared at the slowly approaching blue-armored knight. It looked like it would be out of the frying pan and into the fire for him.
Of course, he’d imagined he’d have to fight the knight in the worst-case scenario. ‘I was hoping I was wrong.’ As always, though, nothing went the way he hoped it would.
‘Can I beat it?’ He thought back to Jason Hardy and Orlando Bale being defeated, and he couldn’t think of a way to emerge victorious without using Heaven Unfolding. ‘Shit, I can’t use Heaven Unfolding, though…’
He already knew that, once he started to rely on it, he would eventually bring about a certain catastrophe. He had to avoid using it unless it was the worst situation. ‘It’s not yet to the point where I’m out of options.’
He squinted and tightened his grip on his spear. He couldn’t think of a way to beat the monster, but there was at least a way to fight it on equal footing.
“…” The blue-armored knight came to a relaxed stop, and its dark-red eyes glared at him through its helmet. Without saying a word, it drew its rusty sword.
Shlink—
A freezing chill spread over the area, and just when the tension seemed thick enough to cut with a knife…
“Namgung Hui, now!” Ohjin shouted as he looked over the knight’s shoulder.
“…!” The knight turned in a hurry but couldn’t even see so much as a rat behind it, and there was certainly no Namgung Hui.
Ohjin smirked and leaped forward. “As expected, you understand humans, don’t you?” ‘Lightning & Thunder’ stretched out from the end of his spear and shot toward the knight.
The monster lifted its rust sword to deflect the attack, but how could someone parry lightning with a sword?
Kzzzzzt—!
The blue lightning flowed into the sword, electrocuting the knight through its armor. Following the attack, the knight swayed on its legs.
“Hup!” Ohjin exploited the opening and rapidly closed the gap between them. Since the knight understood language and had some level of intelligence… “Blue Lightning!” His lightning fanned out.
Pzzzzzzzzzt—!
The knight avoided the lightning with the same, mysterious teleportation step it’d used against Jason and swung its sword. Thinking fast, Ohjin wrapped Lightning Flames around the blade of his spear and moved to block.
Just before their weapons met…
Ta一ang!
Ohjin fired a wire into a nearby tree and launched himself into the air as he released his spear and let it bounce off of the knight’s rusty sword before it rolled on the ground.
Claa-aang—!
‘Since it has intelligence, it can be lied to.’ Still on an upward trajectory, he spun in the air and used Thunder Fall to drop toward the knight.
“…” The monster calmly faced Ohjin and swung its sword at him during his rapid descent.
Ohjin brought his lightning-covered fist down against the edge of the rusty sword.
Crack—!
“Keuk!” Intense mana surged through the knight’s weapon and started to tear apart Ohjin’s fist. He quickly jumped back and created some distance before he lost the exchange.
‘Ah, so will it not be that easy to trick?’ The knight’s reaction times were too fast. Even though he’d used a feint and dropped his weapon, it hadn’t helped. He frowned and channeled the stigma of Aquarius to heal his ruined fist.
“This bastard is fucking strong.” Experiencing something and observing it were two entirely different things—he felt just how ridiculously strong the knight was during their fight.
Thump, thump—
His heart violently pumped against his ribcage, and a thrill went down his spine. When was the last time he felt such excitement—the thrill of dancing on the razor’s edge? The heat rose to his head while adrenaline surged through him.
“Haa.” He slowly exhaled and reached for his rolling spear, which shot back into his hand as blue lightning continued to spark. Riak had said he was out of his mind, right?
Ohjin licked his lips. ‘I agree; I think I’m a bit crazy.’ The excitement and heat rushing over his body brought such indescribable pleasure that he felt pure ecstasy. Finally, he smiled and burst into laughter.
“…?” The knight tilted its head in confusion, as if it were looking at some sort of strange creature from the depths.
Ohjin never expected a monster would look at him in such a way, but he didn’t care. “Now, let’s do this again.” An upward leap sent air rushing through his hair. A moment later…
Crash—!
His spear collided with the knight’s sword in a screeching contest of metal. Each second felt like an eternity, and their dance of war continued at a speed a normal civilian would’ve perceived as a blur.
‘It’s fast…’ The blue-armored knight’s sword aura was efficient, accurate, and, above all else, fast. Even though Ohjin tried mixing feints in with his attacks, the knight parried everything as if it could see the future.
‘I’ve never seen such a perfect example of ‘efficient swordsmanship’. The knight only ever used the absolute minimal movements, force, and speed required to defend and counter the spear.
Slash—!
Though he managed to turn and avoid a fatal injury, he couldn’t stop the knight’s sword from slashing open his shoulder. Blood poured from the gaping wound. ‘It’s cold…’ Maybe it was because they were near the ice caves again, but he saw his shoulder start turning blue as if it were being affected by frostbite.
“Fsssshhhh.” A low breath left the knight’s helmet.
He wasn’t sure why, but Ohjin felt like the knight was also enjoying the situation.
-Clang! Claa一aaaang!
They exchanged blows hundreds more times, and Ohjin’s wounds built up and turned blue with frostbite as the battle continued. Eventually, he visibly slowed, and white puffs of breath puffed from his mouth like car exhaust.
“Heuk, heuk…!”
‘Not yet.’ Ohjin bit his lips as he looked at the knight before firing his wires toward it to create some distance.
Ta-ang! Ta-ang!
The knight sidestepped and dodged the wires by a hair as if expecting the attack, and the wires fell limp to the ground.
‘Not yet.’
The knight glided up to him and slashed its sword at his chest, sending a spurt of blood out and soaking his clothes even more.
‘Not yet.’ He fell backward and dropped his spear again.
“Fuu…” The blue-armored knight slowly looked down at him, let out a short breath, and sheathed its sword before reaching down to grab him.
“Now!” Still lying down, Ohjin suddenly opened his eyes and channeled mana into his wires.
Shllliiiiiinnnngg—!
As they contracted, the wires wrapped around the knight’s legs and pulled.
“…!” Surprised, the blue-armored knight drew its sword and cut at the wires. Using that moment, Ohjin shot to his feet and threw a right-handed punch imbued with Lightning God Physique.
‘I only have one chance.’ It was the moment he’d been waiting for since the fight started. ‘Stigma of Clepsydra.’ The world came to a jarring halt. Strangely enough, the knight’s sword moved at such high speed that it continued to visibly close in toward Ohjin’s shoulder.
It looked like it’d hit him before he managed to punch the knight, but…
Shlink—!
The rusty sword passed through his shoulder as if it were air.
Bzzzzzzzzzt—!
A moment later, his crackling fist seemed to strike the blue-armored knight’s helmet.
Bang! Craaaaaaash—!
The knight went tumbling and rolling across the ground.
“Ha!” Ohjin exclaimed as he looked at the knight. “Shit, it blocked that?” At the last second, just before his fist made contact with the knight’s head, it’d changed the trajectory of its strike and blocked with the flat of its blade.
Drrrrk—
He saw proof of that in the scattered remnants of the knight’s rusty sword and gave the fallen knight a solemn look. “Damn it…” His entire right arm was in tatters due to the Lightning God Physique’s aftereffects; just when he thought it was time to use Heaven Unfolding…
“Ugh… my head.” It looked like the sword had failed to absorb all of the shock, and the knight’s helmet cracked and shattered into pieces.
He saw a handsome face underneath. “Allen…?” Ohjin asked.
Sure enough, Allen, an apostle of Deneb and a member of the Seven Stars, staggered to his feet while groaning and clutching his head. “I expected you to be strong… but I honestly never imagined you would be this strong.” The man shook his head and wiped the blood from his forehead.
Ohjin heard the man muttering to himself and wondering if he was really an 8-Star. “Ha…” Disbelieving laughter left his mouth. If the blue-armored knight was Allen, then…
Clap, clap, clap—!
He heard applause behind him and turned his head to see a woman he didn’t recognize. She had dark-green hair, a slim figure, and was about as tall as Ha-eun. As if that wasn’t enough, she was undeniably beautiful, and her emerald-green eyes sparkled at him.
“Wow! That was amazing! I never thought anyone would hit Allen!” She burst into laughter and clapped her hands in joy. “Oh, by the way, I’m Rebecca. You’ve heard of me, haven’t you?”
Of course he’d heard of her… She was the Star of Celestial Shining Pearl, Rebecca Bell—a high-ranking Awakener of Gemini. It would be harder to find someone who didn’t know her.
“Um…” she said. “Would you have an easier time recognizing me if I used the name ‘NT’?”
“What?” Ohjin asked.
A big smile crossed Rebecca’s face, and she bashfully approached and stroked his cheek as he stood still in shock with an unreadable expression.
“Fufu,” she said. “Good job, Uncle. I thought I would fall in love when you said you’d kept your promise.”
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