Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Night That Falls During the Day (4)
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A cloudless blue sky.
As if a god had flown into a rage, a bolt of lightning struck from a clear sky.
*Fzzt-zzzzzzzt!*
The lightning that struck the clearing gradually took the form of a person.
“Oh-jin…?”
The form of the young man Ha-eun had most desperately longed to see in that moment.
“……”
Oh-jin stood resolute in the center of the wide clearing, his gaze dark and heavy as he scanned his surroundings.
The strange figures in black robes surrounding the clearing.
The old man in a pristine uniform, and Ha-eun, captured by them, shedding tears.
*Grit.*
Oh-jin’s gentle face twisted into a demonic mask.
The blue ghost fire burning in his eyes flickered ferociously.
“Hmm?”
Cheon Do-yoon frowned and turned his head.
“What business do you have here?”
“…off.”
“What was that?”
“I said, get your hands off her, you bastard.”
*TWANG!!*
Oh-jin fired his wire at Cheon Do-yoon.
Six silver threads, wreathed in blue flames, shot out to ensnare Cheon Do-yoon.
“Hah.”
Cheon Do-yoon let out a short sigh and lightly stomped his foot.
His cleanly pressed black uniform fluttered as his body slid backward across the ground.
“‘Her’… Indeed, it seems this old man has made a mistake.”
Blinded by the Dragon’s Eye, he had been careless in investigating the relationships of his target.
It was an inexcusable error, born of greed.
“Hoholhol. Still, to call her that… I was certain this child had no family to speak of.”
Even blinded by greed, he had naturally conducted a basic investigation.
He’d heard the woman named Song Ha-eun was abandoned by her parents at birth and raised in an orphanage.
To think she had a bond so deep that the Lightning Wolf would come charging in with such fury.
“I heard the Leech Queen was quite the jealous type. You’ve done well to survive.”
Hoholhol.
Cheon Do-yoon let out a strange laugh and took a step forward.
“I shall make you a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“This child’s two eyes. This old man will be satisfied with those alone.”
The corners of his wrinkled mouth twisted upward.
“Is that not better than losing your life?”
“Shut up.”
As if it wasn’t even worth considering.
Oh-jin gripped his spear.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Cheon Do-yoon clicked his tongue and shook his head.
He glared at Oh-jin with eyes that had grown cold.
“No matter if you are the Leech Queen’s man, I cannot let this pass.”
“Don’t worry.”
*Crackle-crackle!!*
Blue lightning enveloped Oh-jin.
“I have no intention of letting it pass either.”
Now that he had touched Ha-eun, Oh-jin had no intention of trying to smooth things over with flimsy lies.
“Oh, Oh-jin! Run! Hurry!!”
Ha-eun cried out, her expression desperate.
“……”
Just a moment ago, she had been trembling in fear.
Terrified, weeping pitifully.
And now she was telling him to run.
“You crazy bastard!! You know Lee Woo-hyeok got destroyed by that guy without even landing a hit!! There’s no way you can win….”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“What? What do you mean, what does that have to do with anything?”
“You want me to run because I can’t win?”
He let out a hollow laugh and spun his spear.
There was no need to weigh the odds.
No need to calculate the probability of victory.
Whether he could win or not wasn't what mattered.
If he failed to defeat the King of Owls here and now, he would lose his very reason to live.
*‘In that case.’*
He would squeeze out everything he had.
Scrape the very bottom of the barrel.
He would have to fight tooth and nail.
*‘Just like I always have.’*
*Thump!*
He stomped the ground and shot forward.
*‘Exceed.’*
Blue lightning wrapped around his entire body.
“Hoholhol. A foolish choice.”
Cheon Do-yoon smirked and extended a hand.
He waved his palm lightly, as if shooing away a fly.
—With that simple motion.
Hundreds, thousands of black feathers rained down on Oh-jin.
“Hmph.”
Oh-jin calmly drew a breath.
*‘The Stigma of Moraesigyyejari.’*
In that instant.
The world slowed to a crawl, as if time had stopped.
Thousands of feathers poured down like rain.
He searched for a path through the downpour of death, which seemed to have no openings.
*‘One step to the right, three steps to the left, then two steps back. Turn left again and jump.’*
He pictured the movements in his mind.
Extreme image training, repeated until his whole body was covered in horrific burns.
The experience of dodging hundreds, thousands of lasers was now paying off.
*Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!*
He dodged the cascading black feathers.
As if filming a Hollywood action movie, the black feathers grazed past Oh-jin’s body, missing by a hair's breadth.
“…What?”
Cheon Do-yoon’s eyes widened.
It was an attack that should have been impossible to dodge, only to be blocked.
Yet the Wolf of Jingnyeoseong was weaving through his assault with astonishing movements, charging ferociously.
“How absurd…”
“Haaaaaaaaah!!”
Having closed the distance in an instant, Oh-jin let out a fierce roar and leaped into the air.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“Stop him!!”
The Owls surrounding them hurriedly moved to block Cheon Do-yoon’s path.
“Get out of my way!”
He spun his body, swinging the spear in a horizontal arc.
The blue flames gathered on the spearhead cleaved the Owls in two.
Blood rained down.
Through the crimson shower, he saw Cheon Do-yoon, his expression twisted, thrusting his palm forward.
*Krrrrrrrrrr!!*
Black feathers converged, sharp as awls.
The feathers, now a massive three-meter wedge, shot toward Oh-jin.
A wedge reminiscent of an owl’s sharp beak.
Oh-jin blocked the wedge with the gauntlet on his left arm.
“Kughhh!”
A terrifying pressure shot through his left arm.
The gauntlet, having exceeded its limit for absorbing magic in the blink of an eye, glowed red-hot as if it would melt at any moment.
*‘No time to counter.’*
Then.
*Screeeech!*
He angled the gauntlet, deflecting the black wedge.
The gauntlet, having taken in more magic than it could handle, cracked.
“Ah, ugh.”
His left hand inside the gauntlet was bent at a grotesque angle, and a dizzying pain shot through him.
*‘Ignore it.’*
Ignoring pain was not a difficult task.
“I see you have the skill to back up your insolence.”
Hoholhol.
Cheon Do-yoon let out a strange laugh, his eyes glinting coldly.
“But that is all.”
His black uniform fluttering, he spread his arms wide.
A black tidal wave formed in the air and crashed down upon Oh-jin.
“Can you dodge this as well?”
“Kugh!”
A black tidal wave several meters high.
The wave, composed of countless feathers, swept toward Oh-jin, swallowing everything in its path.
“Hah, hah!”
There was no escape to the right, to the left, or even up.
*‘In that case.’*
Oh-jin spun the spear in his hand and slammed the blade down hard.
Changnoe and Poknoe.
The two skills intersected, exploding at the tip of his spear.
*K-k-k-k-krak!*
A massive crater formed as the ground split apart.
Oh-jin threw himself into the fissure.
He felt the black tidal wave graze the tip of his hair as it passed over him.
“Hah. Such astonishing reflexes.”
A short gasp escaped Cheon Do-yoon’s lips.
The idea of breaking the ground to escape downward when there was no escape to the right, left, or above wasn’t particularly special in itself.
*‘To move without a moment’s hesitation when death is right before you.’*
Just how quick must one’s judgment and decisiveness be to pull off such a move?
“You are too dangerous to be left alive.”
Cheon Do-yoon’s leisurely expression hardened.
“Hup!”
His uniform fluttering, he wove a complex hand seal in the air.
“O Noctua, Constellation of the Owl.”
*Wooooong!!*
His Stigma flared to life, unleashing a suffocating torrent of magical power.
Through the fluttering uniform, a Stigma with nine strokes was visible.
“Grant me the feathers to tear your enemies to shreds.”
He spread his arms wide, then swung them down in a great arc, as if flapping wings.
“Heugikmanhwa.”
A black storm raged from the cloudless blue sky.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.
An innumerable number of feathers rained down on Oh-jin.
“Kugh!”
The black feathers grazed his body, tearing at his flesh.
Oh-jin’s entire body was drenched in red, as if he had taken a shower in blood.
*‘Not, yet…’*
Suppressing the dizzying pain that wracked his body, Oh-jin gritted his teeth.
The gap between him and Cheon Do-yoon was so overwhelming it was embarrassing to even compare.
Even if he was a special case who could handle an 8-Star Awakened without much difficulty, it was a completely different story when his opponent was a ‘high-ranking Awakened’ of 9-Stars or more.
An Awakened who was merely a 6-Star, special case or not, and a 9-Star Awakened who had stepped into the realm beyond human.
To close the vast gap between them…
*‘A little longer… I have to, endure.’*
He barely managed to block the storm of black feathers with a barrier of blue lightning, his eyes gleaming.
“Die, Wolf of Jingnyeoseong.”
Cheon Do-yoon’s cold voice reached his ears.
He declared it with a flat tone, as if Oh-jin’s death were a foregone conclusion.
“Gah! Kck! Cough!”
*Stumble.*
Like a puppet with its strings cut, Oh-jin’s body collapsed.
“Oh-jiiiiiiiiiiin!!!!”
Ha-eun’s heart-wrenching scream echoed in his ears.
“Hoholhol.”
Cheon Do-yoon turned around as if his work was done.
“Do not worry, I will send you to your brother’s side shortly.”
“You, you son of a biiiitch!!!”
Ha-eun thrashed as if having a seizure.
*Clank, clank!!*
The iron chains binding her rattled violently.
“I’ll kill you, you motherfucker!!!”
“Hoholholhol!!”
Just as Cheon Do-yoon took a step forward with a dark smile on his face.
“—Now.”
*K-thump!*
Oh-jin, who had been falling to the ground, stomped his foot hard.
Blue ghost fire blazed in his blood-soaked eyes.
“Ssssssssssup!!”
*Crackle-crackle-crackle!!*
A ferocious lightning flared.
He kicked off the ground and soared toward the back of the turned Cheon Do-yoon.
“Hmm, you were not dead?”
Cheon Do-yoon’s expression was momentarily surprised, but he calmly raised his arm.
Wings made of black feathers formed to shield him.
No, more accurately.
They tried to shield him.
*‘Dominate.’*
Oh-jin lowered his stance and gripped his spear.
*Ding!*
[The target’s ‘Star’ is too high!]
[Domination has failed!]
“Hmm?”
He hadn’t expected the domination to succeed anyway.
What Oh-jin wanted was the momentary opening created by using Dominate just before the black wings could completely cover Cheon Do-yoon’s body.
“Vegaaaaaa!!”
Oh-jin roared the name of the Constellation of Jingnyeoseong.
The pendant around his neck shone with a brilliant silver light.
“What…?”
Cheon Do-yoon’s eyes widened.
[I wondered what could be so urgent that you would call upon me.]
The moment she manifested, Vega glanced at the captured Ha-eun and the blood-soaked Oh-jin, then unleashed her power without hesitation.
[It seems you are in need of my aid.]
*Wooooooong!*
A brilliant silver aura seeped into Oh-jin’s body.
Blessed by the constellation, Oh-jin’s magical power amplified explosively.
“Kugh!!”
Cheon Do-yoon stumbled backward, his face a mask of horror.
Certain of his victory, he had failed to prepare for an attack.
*‘Too late…!’*
Piercing through the wings of black feathers.
The spearhead, blazing with blue lightning, shot toward him.