Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: The Night That Falls in the Day (5)
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-Ssshhhk!
Through the gap in the black wings that had yet to completely cover Cheon Do-yoon’s body.
The spearhead, blazing with blue flames, pierced through.
“Kugh!”
Cheon Do-yoon stumbled back with a frantic look, but he couldn't evade a surprise attack that came when he was certain of victory.
Bzzzzzt!!
The spearhead that broke through his wings dug into his chest.
The Lightning Flame clinging to the spearhead spread through his entire body like a poison.
“Gah! Gyaaaaaah!!”
A pain that wracked his entire body.
Cheon Do-yoon's eyes rolled back as his body convulsed violently, as if he were being electrocuted.
White foam trickled down from the corners of his wrinkled mouth.
“How’s that? Feeling the tingle?”
Oh-jin twisted the spear lodged in Cheon Do-yoon’s chest, tearing the wound open.
Acrid smoke rose as the wound in his chest gaped.
‘I have to end it here.’
A surprise attack that capitalizes on carelessness only works once.
If he couldn't kill Cheon Do-yoon with this blow, he didn’t know when he’d get another chance like this.
‘Cheongnyongjin.’
To the mana that had explosively increased thanks to Vega's blessing, he added the mana drawn from the Dragon Vein.
He would pour every bit of mana he could muster into the tip of his spear and detonate it!
-Bzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!
The lightning blazed so fiercely it blinded him.
Just as the spearhead in his chest was about to pierce Cheon Do-yoon’s heart.
-Krrrrrrk!!
“Ugh!”
A powerful repulsive force surged up the spear shaft.
The flesh of his palm tore, drenching the shaft in red blood.
‘What the?’
Frowning, he looked at the tip of the spear buried in Cheon Do-yoon's chest.
Instead of blood, black feathers poured out from the flesh gouged by the spearhead.
The black feathers covered his chest in an instant, as if a beehive had been disturbed.
The spearhead that had been digging into Cheon Do-yoon's chest was violently repelled.
“You… baaaastard!!”
Cheon Do-yoon roared as he grabbed the spear shaft embedded in his chest.
Crunch! Crackle!
The black feathers that began pouring from his chest covered Cheon Do-yoon's entire body.
He looked less like an owl and more like a porcupine with its quills raised sharply.
-Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!
The black feathers covering Cheon Do-yoon scattered explosively in all directions.
Oh-jin bit his lip and slid backward.
“Hah, hah! Cough!”
Cheon Do-yoon clutched his chest and coughed up blood.
“Tsk.”
Oh-jin's expression twisted as he clicked his tongue.
He had succeeded in dealing significant damage with the surprise attack, but that was all.
His plan to kill Cheon Do-yoon in a single blow had failed.
“Vega, support me from the side.”
[I under… stand.]
Vega frowned and nodded, as if the constraints of the Law were already taking effect.
He was worried seeing Vega in pain, but he couldn't afford not to borrow her power now.
“The blessing of Vega… Hol, hol, hol. So you had a hidden card.”
Cheon Do-yoon took something out from his robes.
A blue gem the size of a fist.
The Dragon's Heart, obtained from a dungeon not long ago, emitted a brilliant light.
“Then I suppose this old man must play a hidden card of his own.”
Crunch.
Cheon Do-yoon shoved the Dragon's Heart into his chest, into the wound torn open by the spearhead.
Like forcing a puzzle piece into a spot where it doesn't fit, the blue gem dug into his flesh and settled near his solar plexus.
-Woooooong!!
“Hah.”
A dazzling blue light emanated from his solar plexus.
The nine strokes engraved on his left chest glowed even more fiercely, as if resonating with the blue light.
“Hol hol hol!! Such overwhelming mana, indeed…!”
As if intoxicated by the surging power.
Deep greed filled his wrinkled eyes.
“If the heart alone is this powerful, imagine if I were to obtain the eyes that can perfectly control it…”
His greedy gaze turned to Ha-eun.
Flinch.
Ha-eun’s body, bound in chains, trembled.
“Turn your eyes away, you bastard.”
Who gave you permission to stare at what's mine?
-Bzzzzzzzzzt!
Blue lightning condensed at the tip of the spear aimed at Cheon Do-yoon.
‘Charge, 8 stacks.’
He had condensed lightning eight times at the tip of his spear.
Normally, five would have been his limit, but with Vega's blessing, condensing it eight times was as natural as breathing.
“Discharge.”
Kzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!
Like unleashing a wild beast, the lightning condensed on the spearhead shot out fiercely.
“Hol hol hol! Such a meaningless struggle!”
“Why don't you spout that shit after you've won?”
KABOOOM!
A deafening roar echoed as lightning and feathers collided.
The ground of the clearing cracked as a terrifying shockwave swept through the area.
“Do you think you’ve already won just because you managed to injure this old man once?”
Cheon Do-yoon effortlessly deflected Oh-jin’s onslaught of attacks and formed hand seals.
Each time a seal was drawn in the air, black feathers shot toward Oh-jin in bizarre forms.
Sometimes in the shape of a scythe, sometimes chains, sometimes a sword.
Dozens, hundreds of types of feathers descended upon Oh-jin, as if weapons were being thrown from a massive armory.
-Clang! Kang! Clangclangclang!
“Grrrgh!”
It didn't feel like fighting just Cheon Do-yoon, but like facing an entire army alone.
Feathers of all shapes and sizes, aiming for his blind spots, sharply pierced and tore at Oh-jin’s body.
[M-My child!]
Vega unleashed as much lightning as she could to reduce the number of incoming feathers, but it was far from enough.
“Hah, hah!”
There are too many.
Way too many.
He’d parry one feather, and two would fly in; he’d parry two, and four would come.
It was as if the entire world was covered in the owl’s wings.
Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but black feathers.
‘In... sane…!’
This was the power of a high-ranked Awakened, known to be beyond the realm of mortals.
Before that overwhelming power, Oh-jin was helplessly swept away.
“Kugh! Gak! Argh!”
Clang! Kang! Clangclangclang!
Biting his lip, he swung his spear.
No matter how desperately he swung, and swung, and swung.
His wounds multiplied, like trying to block a downpour with his bare hands.
‘At this rate.’
I won’t be able to save Ha-eun—
“Don’t… bullshit… me.”
He cut off the negative thoughts rising in his head.
‘It’s not a matter of whether I can or not.’
I have to do it.
“It seems your skills don’t match your arrogance.”
Hol hol hol.
An unpleasant laughter echoed.
He ignored it.
He didn't have the luxury to be distracted by such things.
“Kugh!”
He parried the storm of feathers.
Scattering blue lightning in all directions, he barely managed to block the downpour of feathers.
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
His breath hitched in his throat.
His consciousness blurred as if he would faint at any moment.
‘No… I can’t.’
Oh-jin gritted his teeth and drew out even more mana.
Perhaps because he had drawn too much mana at once, he could feel his mana circuits swelling to the point of tearing.
A terrible pain, as if his entire body was being sawed apart, washed over him.
‘Endure it.’
Pain can be ignored.
Agony can be disregarded.
‘If enduring it is all it takes.’
Then.
It's nothing.
“Hmm…?”
Cheon Do-yoon, who had been relentlessly pushing Oh-jin, saw his expression harden.
‘What in the world is happening?’
He was pouring out attacks, drawing even on the mana from the Dragon's Heart.
‘Why is he—lasting so long?’
It was impossible.
It shouldn't be happening.
The Stigma visible through the Lightning Wolf's torn clothes clearly had six strokes.
How—could a mere 6-Star Awakened withstand the attacks of a high-ranked Awakened for so long?
“……”
No.
He wasn't just ‘enduring’.
“Hah, hah!!”
Krrk! Krrk-krrk-krrk!!!
The blue flames on the spearhead fiercely pushed back the feathers.
Burning, crushing, and tearing them apart.
That's right.
He wasn't ‘enduring’.
He was gradually being ‘pushed back’.
“Heh. So this is the extent of Vega's blessing.”
Cheon Do-yoon shook his head in disbelief.
In his mind, nothing other than a constellation's blessing could explain this absurd phenomenon.
[No. It is not because of my blessing.]
Vega flew up, glaring at Cheon Do-yoon with sharp eyes.
[This is a miracle achieved by my child alone. It is power born from his unwavering conviction to protect someone precious.]
“Hoh.”
Cheon Do-yoon gazed at Vega and gave a faint smile.
“Indeed. It seems the great Constellation Vega has excessive faith in her Apostle.”
Facing Polaris, Cheon Do-yoon’s expression was completely at ease.
He was well aware that constellations were bound by constraints and could not use their power.
“However—it would be a problem if you think Lady Vega is the only one who can bestow a blessing.”
The corners of his wrinkled mouth lifted into a bright smile.
Cheon Do-yoon spread his arms wide.
“Constellation of Noctua, O Noctua.”
A black light erupted from the nine strokes engraved on his chest.
“Grant your humble servant the blessing of the owl.”
Woooong!
The erupting black light transformed into the shape of an owl and floated behind him.
[Hol hol hol. I wondered why you were so desperately calling for me. This is quite an interesting situation, isn't it?]
The owl floating behind Cheon Do-yoon let out a bizarre laugh.
‘What the hell is that now.’
Oh-jin, who was barely blocking the relentless attacks, fixed his eyes on the owl that had appeared behind Cheon Do-yoon.
It was clearly different from when other Awakeners of Noctua had received blessings before.
Back then, it felt like they were paying a price to merely borrow the constellation's ‘power’.
‘This… he’s summoned the constellation itself.’
It was a situation similar to when Vega had manifested in person to grant her blessing.
This was something only possible for the ‘King of Owls,’ not the half-baked Awakeners he had fought until now.
[Hol hol hol!! Even for Polaris, it seems a fledgling Apostle can only do so much!]
Noctua flapped its wings frivolously and clacked its beak.
In terms of status among constellations, he couldn't dare compare himself to Polaris, but in a battle between ‘Apostles,’ Cheon Do-yoon was still several steps above Oh-jin.
[Now! Go on and crush Vega’s wolf to death!]
“Hol hol hol. I shall obey.”
Letting out the same bizarre laugh as Noctua.
Cheon Do-yoon crossed his arms toward Oh-jin.
-Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!
“Kugh! Gak!!”
A pained scream erupted from Oh-jin, who had been barely withstanding Cheon Do-yoon's attacks.
Black feathers, imbued with a power incomparable to before, stormed in from all directions and tore Oh-jin to shreds.
[M-My child!!]
Vega urgently tried to intervene, but.
“Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!”
Black feathers embedded themselves all over Oh-jin’s body.
Like a wooden puppet with its strings cut, his tattered body collapsed to the ground.
“Ah, ugh.”
Drenched in blood, Oh-jin’s body trembled.
‘No…’
No matter how much strength he mustered, he couldn't move a single finger.
‘At… this… rate…’
Oh-jin bit his lip and barely managed to lift his head.
He could see Cheon Do-yoon and Noctua cackling as they looked down on him.
“Hol hol hol! Your arrogance ends here.”
Cheon Do-yoon took a leisurely step forward.
A sword made of black feathers formed in his gently raised right hand.
“Die, Wolf of Vega.”
The sword fell in a slow arc.
[…….]
Gazing at the sword, Vega clenched her fists tightly.
As if she had made a decision, her eyes flashed with a golden light.
[That’s enough.]
Wooooooong!!!
A halo of light swirled out explosively.
Vega’s body, which had been only 30 centimeters tall, manifested in her true form.
And.
—The world blazed with a brilliant silver light.
“Wh-What.”
Tremble.
Cheon Do-yoon’s eyes widened as his legs trembled uncontrollably.
A boundless pressure crushed his entire body.
He couldn't move his body, couldn't blink his eyelids, couldn't even breathe.
All he could do was tremble pitifully and stare at the goddess who had manifested before him.
[Th-This is insane!!!]
The owl floating behind Cheon Do-yoon was just as horrified.
[To use your Sanctuary here!! A-Are you trying to get yourself annihilated!!]
It stared at Vega in disbelief.
[Even for the Constellation of Polaris, you can’t use your Sanctuary on Earth….]
[Noctua, was it?]
Cutting off the owl’s words.
The silver-haired goddess slowly took a step.
She gracefully raised her hand, extending her index finger.
As if drawing a line in the air, she slowly brought her raised hand down.
———!
Without a deafening roar or a blinding flash of light.
A single streak of blue lightning fell as silently as a drop of water.
[Kugh!!!!]
The owl, which had been flapping its wings erratically, was unceremoniously slammed into the ground.
[How dare a trivial thing like you run your mouth in my presence?]
The goddess’s chilling eyes turned to the owl.