Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Compatibility (2)
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Swoooooosh!
A downpour fell from the thick mist.
The rain was so fierce it was hard to keep one's eyes open, pouring down like a summer squall.
"Hah, hah."
Ragged breaths escaped Sosuke's lips.
He watched Oh-jin, who stood precariously, staggering under the pelting rain.
*'What is this?'*
Something was wrong.
Considering how helplessly he'd been beaten, he should have already collapsed, his entire body a bloody pulp.
*'Why won't he... just die?'*
Wounds were definitely appearing.
His body was covered in blood, and his horribly twisted limbs swayed with the falling rain.
And yet.
Why, just why.
"Hah! Hah! Dammit!"
He spat out a harsh curse and absorbed more of the 'elixir'.
An elixir created over years by melting the Stigmas of over 1,700 Awakeners.
Of course, its efficiency was significantly lower than an elixir made by a true Aquarius Awakener.
"Why, why won't you fall down!!!"
An elixir created by sacrificing countless lives.
It made no sense for him to withstand such attacks, imbued with that immense magic, so tenaciously.
"Gasp! Gasp!"
For several minutes, he continued his meaningless assault on Oh-jin, who, like a roly-poly toy, refused to fall no matter what.
Sosuke gasped for breath, clutching his chest, feeling winded up to his chin.
Even if he had gained immense magic through the elixir, he was the one wielding it.
He could feel his magic circuits, pushed beyond their limits, fraying as if they would snap at any moment.
"Are you done?"
Covered in blood.
Oh-jin, who had been screaming wretchedly while taking the one-sided beating, smirked and straightened his bent back.
As he took a leisurely step forward, the pathetic, fear-stricken look from before was nowhere to be seen on his face.
"...Ah."
A low gasp escaped Sosuke's lips.
Only then did he realize why Oh-jin hadn't collapsed.
Why he couldn't kill him despite unleashing an attack so fierce it burned out his own magic circuits.
"You... it was all an act from the beginning."
The cornered, terrified expression.
The pathetic screams.
It was all just an act to bait him into overextending himself and exhausting his stamina.
"H-How?! How can you be fine after taking all those hits?"
Even if his opponent were a high-ranking Scutum Awakener, they wouldn't have survived taking that many attacks without proper defense or evasion.
Moreover, the Lightning Wolf he knew was neither a Scutum Awakener nor a high-ranking one.
"What... are you?"
Was this what it felt like to see a corpse—stabbed, burned, and crushed dozens of times—get back up perfectly fine?
Witnessing a scene straight out of a B-grade horror movie made his legs tremble and a cold sweat run down his spine.
"You were saying something about compatibility earlier?"
Oh-jin grinned darkly and raised his head.
Each raindrop, imbued with the Stigma's magic, tore at his flesh, but the wounds healed in the blink of an eye, as if time itself had reversed.
A regenerative ability even stronger than when he fought Ashad Khan in the storm.
During his fights with the Hippocampus Awakeners over the past three days, he'd confirmed that he could absorb the water they created with his Hydro-Affinity skill.
*'The stronger the attacks I take, the faster my regeneration becomes.'*
Of course, there was a sharp pain between the wound's appearance and its regeneration, like his flesh was being sliced with a scalpel.
But enduring that level of pain wasn't particularly difficult for him.
"Just like you said—it seems some compatibilities are just unavoidable."
This was why he'd been so confident he could beat Sosuke alone.
It didn't matter what tricks Sosuke had up his sleeve.
As long as his Stigma was that of Hippocampus.
*'He can't beat me.'*
Oh-jin slowly raised his spear, letting the pouring rain wash over him.
He had succeeded in draining some of Sosuke's stamina by pretending to be injured.
Now, all that was left was to cook the exhausted man as he pleased.
*'Of course, lightning won't work on him.'*
It didn't matter.
Because the Stigma of Lyra wasn't the only one Oh-jin possessed.
-Wooooong!
The Stigma engraved on his left chest emitted a glow.
Hundreds, thousands of black feathers unfurled around Oh-jin's body like wings.
"...The Stigma of Noctua?"
Sosuke's eyes widened.
"H-How do you have that Stigma...?"
A chilling thrill ran through him at the sight of Vega's Apostle using the Stigma of Noctua.
But before he could find an answer to his question, the wings made of black feathers flapped powerfully.
"Heugikmanhwa."
The skill Cheon Do-yoon often used was now manifested through Oh-jin.
Shushushuk!!
Thousands of feathers, shot along the black wings' trajectory, descended upon Sosuke.
"I told you, that kind of attack won't work!"
Sosuke turned his body into liquid, receiving the thousands of feathers with his body.
The sharp feathers passed through his body.
"Well, are you sure it won't work?"
Oh-jin smirked and 'stopped' the movement of the feathers he had shot.
"Keuk!"
A groan escaped Sosuke's lips.
Instead of passing through him, the thousands of feathers stopped moving and began to mix within his liquefied body.
"D-Dammit!"
He tried to expel the black feathers just as he had expelled impurities to create pure water.
But with so many feathers embedded in his body, he couldn't easily get them out.
His body, now mixed with clumps of black feathers, looked like a torn down-parka that had been put through a washing machine.
"Now, I suppose we can call this water a little less pure, can't we?"
Oh-jin chuckled and reactivated the Stigma of Lyra.
*'Charge.'*
Crackle!
Fiercely blazing blue lightning condensed.
Once, twice, three times.
The blue lightning, condensing with increasing brilliance, gathered at the tip of his spear.
"Explode."
He took a deep breath and raised his spear.
Stepping forward with his left foot, he pulled back his right arm holding the spear as if drawing a bowstring.
Using the elasticity of his waist, he threw the spear in his hand with all his might.
-Bzzzzzzzt!!
The blue lightning flew, cutting through the air.
The spear, piercing Sosuke's solar plexus, unleashed the condensed lightning.
Krrrrrumble!!
With a sound like crashing thunder, the explosion of lightning engulfed Sosuke.
"Ah, ugh."
Sosuke trembled, looking down at his own body.
The lightning that had exploded near his solar plexus had blown away the entire right side of his upper body.
"Q-Quickly, re-regenerate..."
With a terrified expression, he fumbled with his one remaining arm.
The elixirs he had spent years creating answered his call and began to gather to regenerate his wounds.
"Not so fast."
Oh-jin reached out his hand toward the elixirs flocking to Sosuke.
Like parched earth soaking up water, the blue elixirs Sosuke had created began to be absorbed by Oh-jin.
"S-Stop!"
Sosuke watched the rapidly disappearing elixirs and shouted with a desperate look.
The elixir prepared to artificially create a 'Dragon Vein'.
He couldn't let the mass of magic, created by melting the lives of 1,700 Awakeners over years, fall into the wrong hands.
"That's... our... hope."
Sosuke reached out toward the elixirs being absorbed by Oh-jin with a desperate expression.
The hope that would restore their faded glory.
The only way to escape the stigma of being a 'land forsaken by the stars' was being snatched away right before his eyes.
"Looks like the real sucker was someone else."
Oh-jin grinned darkly as he felt the elixir seeping into his body.
Of course, for him, who already boasted an overwhelmingly unparalleled amount of pure magic, this much magic didn't mean much.
*'It might not mean much to me, but it's different for him.'*
He smirked, watching Sosuke reach out with a desperate look.
Just as a billion won has a different value to a multi-billionaire than it does to an ordinary person.
Even if it was an insignificant amount of magic to Oh-jin, to Sosuke right now, it was the most precious magic he could have.
"Uwaaaaaaah!!"
Having had his elixir stolen, Sosuke's eyes went wide as he charged at Oh-jin.
But having already used up most of his magic, he had no strength left to fight Oh-jin.
-Thud.
Oh-jin grabbed the charging Sosuke's head.
His body, which had been sloshing like water, returned to its original form, as if his magic had run out.
"Ah..."
Through his fingers, he could see terrified eyes.
"Charge."
Oh-jin used 'Charge' on Sosuke's head.
Blue lightning condensed inside the captured head.
"Aaaaaaaargh!!"
Sosuke writhed in agony, trying to break free from Oh-jin's grasp, but with most of his magic depleted, he had no way to escape the destructive grip.
"Charge, charge, charge, charge, charge."
Bzzzzzzzzzt!!
Blue lightning, condensed beyond its limit, raged inside Sosuke's head.
Sosuke's head swelled abnormally as he passed out, his eyes rolling back as if he had surpassed the threshold of pain.
And then.
-Splaaat!!
Brains, eyeballs, crushed cheekbones, and teeth spilled out.
"Tsk."
Oh-jin clicked his tongue, flicking the blood from his hand.
The fight with Sosuke itself had gone exactly as he'd expected.
"This was too easy."
With Hydro-Affinity, no matter how severe the trauma, he regenerated instantly, so there was no tension in the fight.
*'There's a reason he's ranked 7th, I guess.'*
Even considering the near-worst compatibility matchup.
Compared to Cheon Do-yoon, whom he had fought before, Sosuke's power felt insignificant.
*'If this is the gap between 6th and 7th place.'*
How strong must the other Executors be?
"......"
After pondering for a moment, Oh-jin shrugged lightly and reached for Sosuke's corpse.
No matter how strong they were.
*'I just need to devour them all and become stronger.'*
Grrrgle.
The cloud of Black Heaven covered the Stigma of Hippocampus.
Magic flowed in, riding the churning cloud.
[All conditions for the flowering of 'Black Heaven' have been met!]
[The sixth flowering of 'Black Heaven' will now begin!]
A clear bell-like sound chimed as a blue message window appeared before his eyes.
Krrrrrumble!
The dark cloud that emerged from his left chest enveloped his entire body.
[A portion of Awakener Lee Shin-hyeok's memories will be passed on with the flowering of Black Heaven!]
Zzzzt.
His vision distorted as if filled with static.
Following the now-familiar sensation, he slowly closed his eyes.
As his eyelids fell, the world shut off, and the memories of another world turned on.
Before him was a dazzling night view.
The sky garden atop the Yongsan Auction House, where Oh-jin had given Ha-eun the Dragon's Eye.
-Ahem! N-Nunna!
There, a tense-looking Lee Shin-hyeok stood stiffly before Ha-eun, as if he were at a job interview for a major corporation.
He held out a small, palm-sized box to Ha-eun and exclaimed.
-I... like you. Ever since I first met you... always.
His face flushed red as he uttered a cringeworthy confession that sounded like it came from an old rom-com.
*'This son of a bitch?'*
Oh-jin's expression twisted violently as he watched Lee Shin-hyeok's memory.