I’m not a Regressor

I’m Not a Regressor

Chapter 231: A Hero for the Downtrodden (1)

“What the…?” Ohjin’s eyes narrowed when he heard the screams. Rather than the reaction being from the scream itself… ‘That sounded like a kid.’ He pivoted in mid-air with Lightning Shadow Step and used his wire shooter to swing toward where the screams were coming from, arriving in about a dozen seconds.

Fsssshhhh—!

"Aaaahhhhh! Save me! Keuk, ugh, the shouting is making my throat hurt.” He saw a girl of about 10 years old with a unique hairstyle streaked with green highlights cowering in the cave.

“Krrrrkk! Growl!” A monster snarled about 10 meters in front of her, bared its teeth, and leaped at the girl. “Raaaaar!”

Kzzzzt—!

The green necklace around the monster’s neck lit up, and the monster fell back and retreated.

"Hehe. It's annoying, right? Catch me! Catch me~!" The girl stuck her tongue out at the monster, which only further enraged it.

“…” Ohjin laughed in disbelief. ‘Is this how they’re keeping the civilians safe?’ The red-eyed monster continued to run at the girl, but the necklace stopped it each time.

The girl saw him and waved her hands with a bright smile on her face. “Oh, Mister! Over here, over here! There’s a good citizen who is being threatened by a scary monster!”

He’d had no idea how the ‘civilian rescue’ was supposed to happen at first, but that was enough for him to figure things out.

"Grrrrr!" Had the monster also spotted him? Its fierce, red eyes turned to him before it leaped toward him at terrifying speed with its leopard-like legs. Though it was a powerful-looking monster one would expect to find in a competition meant for the next Seven Stars—

“Blue Lightning.”

一it was no match for Ohjin.

Kzzzzzt—!

Blue lightning fanned out and struck the monster, causing it to writhe in pain. “Keuhung!”

He crouched down to avoid its reckless swings and removed his folding knife from its sheath at his waist.

Whooong! Click—!

The knife almost instantly formed into a spear, penetrated the monster’s neck, and dug deep into its skull.

-Ti-ring!

[You have defeated a green-ranked monster.]

[You have earned 5 points.]

Rather than the blue message screens he was used to, he received the notification in the form of a voice coming from the silver bracelet on his wrist. When he lowered his head to take a look, he saw the ‘0’ on its display had changed to a ‘5’.

"Wow! You killed it in one hit!" The girl laughed and clapped.

Ohjin approached her and asked, “How long have you been here for?”

"Oh! You got a deduction! Deducted!"

‘What, why?’

"You should have asked me if I was hurt first!" she exclaimed.

“…” He’d clearly seen that the monster couldn’t touch the girl, so she couldn’t have been hurt anywhere. ‘So this is how we’re evaluated…’ As the girl said, it would be best to ask someone if they were hurt in a real-life scenario.

"Sorry. Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked.

"Hehe. You apologized quickly, so I'll pretend there were no deductions. As you can see, I'm not hurt!" The girl quickly stood and brushed the dust off her knees. All he needed to do was take her to the safe zone for points.

‘This screws up my plan a bit…’ He’d originally intended to monopolize the monsters in the underwater area, but he figured looking for a safe zone was a higher priority since he’d rescued someone.

“Uncle, you’re the Lightning Wolf, right?”

“I am the Lightning Wolf, but I’m not an uncle.”

“I’m totally your fan!”

‘This bloody little kid…’ "What's your name?"

"Oh, my name is ‘Civilian Number Two'!"

“What kind of name is that?” he asked.

"Hehe. I was told not to tell you my name. Hmm… but it's kind of weird to call me ‘Number Two, so please call me 'NT'!" She smiled and raised her hand.

Ohjin smiled back and nodded. "Let's move for now." The moment he tried to get moving to search for a safe zone…

"Oh! That’s more points deducted!"

“What, why again?”

"I’m such a delicate little girl! You have to hold my hand and guide me! How could you make me go alone?"

He searched for an appropriate counterargument. "If we hold hands, then it’ll be hard for me to react to an ambush. It’s safer to have you nearby but not in contact.”

“Huh?" NT’s eyes widened, and she scratched her head. “N-now that I think about it, you’re right. Ahem. Let’s pretend I didn’t deduct points!”

"Our examiner's standards are very strict," Ohjin observed

"Hehe. The regulations say you need to score well." She almost looked embarrassed.

‘I wasn't complimenting you; I was being sarcastic.’ Ohjin smirked and led the way down the mountain path. "Do you know where the safe zone is?"

"We weren’t told! I heard you’d see it on the map if you got close enough, though.”

He looked down at the silver bracelet around his wrist and saw that there were no other indicators on the map yet. ‘Do I have no choice but to wander around?’

Shhhhk—!

He heard movement in the bushes.

"Uncle?"

"Quiet." He brought his index finger to his lips and activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs, whereupon he detected a beast’s scent.

‘There’s one, and it’s located… below!’

Crash—!

A monster soared up out of a pile of dirt. It looked similar to a shark, but it had four limbs with large claws in place of fins.

Ohjin checked the necklace around the monster’s neck and gripped his spear. ‘Blue…’

"Krrrrrrk!" The shark-like monster thumped the ground with its two legs and let out a ferocious cry.

* * *

Translator - Rainypup

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

The earth surged as a shockwave spread, and fragments of stone shot with bluish mana at the ends toward them.

‘Are there even monsters that use mana?’ Monsters had mana, of course, but it was rare to see one using mana to attack like an Awakener did with their stigma.

“They prepared well.”

Kzzzzzzt!

spread out and deflected the fragments of stone. “Lightning Flames.” A bluish flame surged along the blade of his spear, and he struck the rushing monster’s head.

Clang—!

The spear clanged off of something that sounded metallic, and the shock reverberated through Ohjin’s arms. “It’s pretty hard.” He frowned and took a closer look at the monster. Though his spear bounced off of it, it looked dazed. ‘If its skin is hard…’ He smirked at the monster and said, "Charge."

Kzzzzzzt!

Blue lightning gathered at the end of his spear, and he stacked Charge three times as he waited for the monster to return to its senses. Considering how monsters usually acted, it had a set action after being hit in the head in such a way.

Sure enough, the shark-like monster shook the blow off and gave him a fierce look. "Grrrraaaaaa!"

“Yeah, open wide.” Of course, he expected the roar and lobbed his spear into the monster’s mouth. "Discharge."

“Kweeeeeeeeeee!” The monster collapsed, cooked from the inside out, and black smoke rose from its mouth.

-Ti-ring!

[You have defeated a blue-ranked monster.]

[You have earned 25 points.]

“Was it worth five times as much as the green-ranked?” There’d been a great difference in power.

"Wow! You're not a high-ranking Awakener, right? I heard that monsters above green rank would be difficult for even them to deal with!” NT clapped and praised him after coming out of hiding from behind a nearby tree.

He’d been worried about the possibility of her getting hit by a piece of shrapnel, but that didn’t seem to have happened.

"Wait a minute," he said as he activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs and confirmed they were safe for the moment. “Isn’t this too dangerous for a kid like you?” He remembered how the ones in charge claimed they’d put minimal safety devices in place. She could’ve been seriously hurt if he’d failed to stop all of the stone fragments.

“That's right,” she said. “There was something about how even if we were injured or accidentally died in the process, we wouldn’t hold them accountable.”

"What…?” Ohjin frowned. How could they make a girl of almost 10 years of age sign something like that? ‘Are they insane?’ No matter how crazy the world was, it seemed to be a bit much.

"Hehe. Don't worry! You'll save me if I'm in danger, right?" she asked.

"Didn't your parents say anything?"

"I don’t have any." NT continued with a big smile. “I heard they left me and traveled far away.”

Ohjin gave her a serious look.

She burst into laughter. "Hehe! Your face is funny!" Then, she mischievously poked his side. "Don’t give me such a scary look. The teachers and children at the orphanage are all nice to me!"

“Is that so…?" He only had bad memories of orphanages and continued to give her a worried look. “Are you saying you applied for this of your own volition?”

"Yeah! I applied after seeing the announcement!"

"Why do you have to do such a dangerous thing…?"

"Because I’ll earn a lot of money!"

“…” It was a very simple reason, but it was more convincing than anything else she could’ve said.

“All I have to do is quietly hide for six hours, and I’ll get all the food I want with the others at the orphanage! How could I pass on that?!” Her eyes shone as she spoke.

It left Ohjin with a bitter taste in his mouth. “Wasn't it scary…?" he asked, even though he knew it was a stupid question.

NT shrugged. "Um, I was scared at first, but I'm fine now. It's a lot scarier to have to eat nothing but tasteless oatmeal every day!" It was not difficult to imagine how poor an orphanage in a world full of monsters would be. Who would donate to something like that when everyone was busy trying to survive?

She’d probably lived a rough life without regular meals each day. He felt that his heart was on the verge of breaking as he looked down at her bright smile and could almost see Ha-eun at her age.

"Let's go," he said. He couldn’t afford to get lost in his memories.

"Yes!"

They set off in search of a safe zone again.