Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Black Star's Holy Relic (4)
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A soft sensation covering his lips.
*Gulp.*
A sweet liquid trickled over his tongue and down his throat.
“Ugh…”
Feeling a gentle touch on the back of his head, Oh-jin slowly opened his eyes.
[Are you awake?]
“…Lady Vega?”
The first thing he saw was the beautiful goddess with brilliant silver hair and golden eyes.
Not her shrunken 30cm form, but the adult woman she had been when they first met.
‘What the hell is this?’
Oh-jin's eyes widened as he glanced around, trying to grasp the situation.
He was lying with his head on Vega's lap.
She was gently stroking his hair, like a mother caring for an exhausted child.
‘This is insane!’
Oh-jin scrambled to sit up.
[Lie down a little longer.]
“Huh? But…”
[Ahem. Did I not tell you to lie down?]
Vega said in a deliberately stern voice.
A hand gently pressed against his forehead, and he laid his head back down on her lap.
*Rustle.*
The feel of her dress against the nape of his neck tickled.
“…What happened?”
[It seems you expended too much energy. You fainted the moment the battle was over.]
So Vega had been personally taking care of him while he was unconscious.
‘Sleeping with my head on a Constellation's lap.’
He had to be the first Awakened to have such a crazy experience.
[You are…]
Vega placed a hand gently on Oh-jin's forehead and continued.
[More reckless than you appear.]
Her tone was chiding.
[You must take better care of yourself. Even if you are a Regressor, you are still human.]
“……”
She was the main reason he had to act so recklessly this time, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.
Best to just quietly agree.
“Yes, I'll keep that in mind.”
[Hmm.]
Vega looked down at him, seemingly displeased about something.
“Is something wrong?”
[…No.]
She shook her head, her lips pressed together in an expression of lingering doubt.
‘What is it?’
Did I raise her suspicions by confidently telling her not to worry, only to get my ass kicked and barely win thanks to her blessing?
‘Shit. What else was I supposed to do?’
In that situation, the blessing was the only way to deal with the slime giant.
[Ahem.]
After a moment of thought, Vega cleared her throat and averted her gaze.
[That… um. Earlier, did you not call me without any honorifics?]
“Ah.”
After getting smacked by the giant, he'd been out of his mind, and with that strange heat coursing through him, he had spoken informally.
“I apologize. I was out of it.”
Thankfully, she didn't seem to care about him getting beaten up by the slime giant.
[I am not chiding you. In fact, you have addressed me without honorifics several times before, have you not?]
As she said, he had spoken informally a few times to act like he had some deep backstory.
[…you may.]
“Pardon?”
[If you wish, you may address me casually.]
What's this all of a sudden?
“Even so, that seems a bit…”
[Is there a problem?]
“No, it's not that, but…”
[In your past life, were you and I not in a… a cl-close relationship?]
No.
We weren't.
[Or perhaps…]
The hand that had been gently stroking his hair moved down and pinched his cheek.
With considerable force.
[Are you saying you can speak casually to the me of then, but not to the me of now?]
Her voice held a hint of anger.
‘Why is she suddenly being like this?’
He was a bit bewildered, but he couldn't refuse when she put it like that.
“Alright. I'll speak casually then.”
[Fufu. Do so.]
She laughed, her voice filled with satisfaction.
-Crackle!
[Ugh…!]
Just then, a sudden spark flew, and Vega frowned.
[It seems… the restrictions have begun in earnest.]
It was only natural, considering she had not only given a blessing but also manifested in her complete form.
“Are you okay?”
[Mm… This time, it will take quite a while to recover.]
“How long is ‘a while’?”
[Two weeks at the earliest. A month at the latest.]
That was twice as long as when she gave him the blessing last time.
It meant she had overexerted herself that much more this time.
“…Sorry.”
[For what? It is not your place to apologize.]
Vega smiled gently and continued.
[The monster you faced was at least a 5-Star beast. And it was different from a typical one.]
Definitely.
Compared to a normal monster, it felt somewhat alien.
[Though you had my help, you would not have won without your own skills to back it up.]
“Thanks for saying so.”
He had worried that acting like he knew everything only to get wrecked would make her suspicious, but thankfully, her reaction suggested her trust in him had deepened instead.
“Well then, I should get up… Hm?”
*Clink.*
As he sat up from her lap, he noticed empty glass vials rolling on the floor.
They were the three mid-grade potions he had brought for emergencies.
[I used them myself so that you would regain consciousness quickly.]
Vega puffed out her chest, crossing her arms triumphantly.
*Hmph!*
Seeing her snort like that, she seemed to be expecting praise.
“I… I… see.”
Oh-jin clenched his fists, forcing a smile.
*Tremble, tremble.*
His clenched fists were shaking.
‘No.’
Three vials.
Three whole vials!!
‘How could you use all three at once!!!’
*Seethe.*
Rage boiled within him.
He felt like he was about to tear his hair out and have a fit.
‘That's… that's so much money, dammit…’
Thinking about the price of the potions, each costing millions of won, brought tears to his eyes.
[Fufu. You are so moved you are crying!]
Shut up, please.
“…Ha, haha. Yeah. Th-thanks.”
He summoned superhuman patience to twist his lips into a smile.
He wanted to grab her by the collar and shake her, but he couldn't do something so crazy to the Constellation he served.
‘By the way.’
Oh-jin's gaze shifted to the empty potion vials.
A question suddenly popped into his head.
“How did you give them to me?”
[……!]
Vega's eyes widened, and she flinched.
She whipped her head to the side and spoke in a mumbling voice.
[D-Don't worry about it.]
“Huh? Don't worry about what?”
[I-I shall be going now!!!]
“Hey.”
Vega turned as if to flee.
Her body transformed into a brilliant silver halo of light and was absorbed into the necklace.
“…What was that about?”
He looked down at the necklace, bewildered, but there was no reply.
—An incredibly awkward silence.
A desolate atmosphere settled over the now-empty cavern.
“Hmph.”
Oh-jin scratched his head and turned around.
Right now, there was something more important than how Vega gave him the potions.
“Heh, hehehe!”
A laugh escaped him naturally.
His mouth watered as he looked at the black chalice embedded in the center of the statue's brow.
“Alright, shall we check out the spoils?”
Lightly jumping up to the statue's head, Oh-jin grinned as he took the black chalice in his hand.
*Crack.*
With a dull sound, the black chalice was pulled from the statue's brow.
‘I wonder what kind of abilities it has.’
Oh-jin's eyes shone as he touched the black chalice.
A faint black light emanated from the cup, carrying a sticky, ominous aura.
The unsettling aura was unpleasant, but…
‘I'll take it out for now.’
He couldn't just throw away a Holy Relic he'd worked so hard to get.
There was no way to know its abilities right now, but if he took it to a professional appraiser, he could easily find out its power and grade.
“Since I went through all this trouble, I hope it's at least a 3-Star Holy Relic.”
A 3-Star would be worth 100-200 million.
A 4-Star could fetch over 500 million.
‘Woah, damn.’
Just imagining it is thrilling.
-Rumble, rumble.
“…Huh?”
Just then, a strange sensation spread throughout his body.
—The same inexplicable euphoria he felt earlier.
A hot sensation, as if he'd drunk strong liquor, warmed his body.
‘What the…’
A thirst that felt like his throat was on fire.
Oh-jin followed his instincts, gripping the black chalice with both hands.
And then.
[The Black Heaven absorbs the power of the Black Star dwelling within the Holy Relic!]
A message appeared before his eyes.
“The power of the Black Star…?”
What the hell is that?
-Ruuuumble!!
Before he could ponder it further, black storm clouds flowed from his fingertips and enveloped the Holy Relic.
“Kugh!”
Mana flowed into him through the black clouds.
A sticky, unpleasant mana, different from ordinary mana, settled into his body.
[Successfully absorbed the power of the Black Star!]
[The trait of the Black Heaven evolves!]
[The 'Black Curtain' trait now conceals all presence, not just the aura of the Black Heaven. This effect can be controlled at the user's will.]
[A portion of the conditions for the Black Heaven's third bloom has been met.]
*Rumble.*
The black clouds covering the Holy Relic squirmed as if satisfied before being reabsorbed into his body.
“Hah.”
Oh-jin stared blankly at the black chalice in his hand.
‘What was that?’
Did the Black Heaven have the ability to absorb the power contained in a Holy Relic?
‘No, more importantly, is this even a real Holy Relic?’
He'd never heard of a Holy Relic containing something called the power of the Black Star.
“…Could this be the unsettling aura Vega mentioned earlier?”
It was just a guess for now, but he felt that this Holy Relic was different from ordinary ones.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Whether this Holy Relic was different or not…
…hadn't the Black Heaven just gobbled up all the power inside it?
“D-Don't tell me it's just an empty shell now?”
He frantically turned the black chalice over in his hands, but the ominous, sticky aura he'd felt when he first touched it was completely gone.
“No.”
What is this.
“My, my Holy Relic. Where did my Holy Relic go?!”
Boiling rage.
“N-No. No!!”
A Holy Relic whose abilities and grade he hadn't even had a chance to check.
He thrashed about in despair, like someone whose winning lottery ticket had been torn to shreds before they could scratch it.
“Son of a biiiiiiiiiiitch!!!”
A deafening scream echoed throughout the cavern.
Oh-jin shoved a fist into his mouth and sobbed.
“Ughhh… *sob*. Dammit… dammit… I worked so hard for this Holy Relic… you piece of…”
Thinking about it rationally.
It definitely wasn't a loss.
He had absorbed the mana from the Holy Relic, unsettling as it was, and even fulfilled a condition for the Black Heaven's third bloom.
Most importantly, his useful 'Black Curtain' trait had evolved.
In truth, he'd gained a reward far more valuable than most Holy Relics.
‘I know.’
I know that.
‘But how can I not feel so damn wronged.’
This was a matter of emotion, not logic.
It was probably like a kid opening a Christmas present from his parents to find a thick wad of cash instead of the three-stage transforming robot he wanted.
Even if the cash was more than enough to buy the robot, he'd still feel a strange sense of disappointment.
“Dammit.”
Oh-jin dejectedly fiddled with the now-empty black chalice.
-Step, step.
“Hm?”
Footsteps echoed in the wide cavern.
Oh-jin turned his head toward the sound.
“Oh? Looks like someone was here before us.”
Emerging from between the dense stalagmites were people cloaked in black robes.
‘Who the hell are these guys?’
There were five of them.
A sticky, ominous aura emanated from them, their hoods pulled low.
Just like.
The same aura he had felt from the black chalice.
“Hmm… I didn't expect someone to have entered the gate before us.”
His voice was gentle, almost calming.
The one in the middle of the group stepped forward and pulled back his hood.
A young man with light brown hair and narrow, slitted eyes sighed regretfully as he looked at the black chalice in Oh-jin's hand.
“Were you perhaps looking for this?”
Oh-jin asked, holding up the black chalice.
“Haha. Yes. But it seems we were too late.”
The brown-haired young man scratched his head with a naive expression.
“It's something we desperately need… What should we do.”
*Beaming.*
The young man gave a bright smile and slowly opened his slitted eyes.
The pupils visible between his narrow eyelids glinted ominously.
“Oh, is that so?”
Oh-jin twirled the chalice in his hand.
He strode towards them and held out the black chalice.
“Then would you like to buy it from me?”
*Beaming.*
He asked with the same bright smile as the young man.