Chapter 171
Chapter 171
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 171
Chapter Title: Interlude – The Goddess's Atonement (3)
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Oh-jin’s hand swung down and struck Vega’s backside.
-Smack!
[Hmph!]
Vega flinched, sucking in a sharp breath.
The lingering, soft sensation on his palm.
Oh-jin shook his hand vigorously, as if trying to erase the feeling from his mind.
“There, are we done now?”
His head felt like it was on fire.
He’d never imagined he would feel this way toward Vega.
His heart pounded like thunder.
In any case, he had given her a good spank as she’d wished. Now, all he had to do was calm his own surging excitement.
Just as he was about to lower his arm, he thought.
[Is it… over already?]
Huh?
“You want… more?”
[Th-This cannot be called atonement.]
“……”
Oh-jin anxiously bit his lip.
He felt like he was about to lose his grip on his sanity after just one time.
And she wanted him to do it again?
‘Ah, screw it.’
He squeezed his eyes shut and raised his hand again.
-Smack! Smack!
The crisp sounds echoed through the air.
Each time Oh-jin’s palm landed, the silver dress Vega wore rippled.
[Hnngh! Nngh! Ahh!]
Vega let out a low moan, her eyes squeezed shut.
She had removed the protection of her ‘divinity’ to receive a proper punishment, so a sharp sting spread through her backside with every slap.
‘H-How humiliating.’
But even worse than the pain was the overwhelming sense of shame.
The fact that Oh-jin, whom she considered a child she had practically given birth to, was spanking her created an unbearable feeling of depravity and humiliation.
Her head was so hot she felt as if she might melt into a puddle.
‘But.’
This shame was also part of the ‘punishment’.
After all, many forms of punishment were designed not just to inflict physical pain, but also psychological shame and humiliation.
If this was one of those, she couldn’t stop the punishment just because she felt ashamed.
[I am sorry… my child.]
She repeated her apology as she was spanked.
The sin of not trusting her child.
One moment she was proudly calling him the Star of the Unheavened, the one who would save the world, and the next, she had turned on him and doubted him in a heartbeat.
‘Foolish one.’
It wasn't that she believed in him because he was a regressor who knew the future.
It wasn't that she trusted him because he was the Star of the Unheavened who would save the world.
It was because he was ‘Oh-jin’.
Because he was a hero who would fight for what he sought to protect, no matter the hardship or adversity.
That was why she had believed in and trusted him.
And yet.
‘I have been by his side, watching what kind of person my child is.’
Hadn't she seen with her own two eyes how desperately he had fought for Ha-eun, for herself?
When others doubted him, she should have been the one to defend and protect him, yet she was the one who had doubted him.
‘It is only right that I be punished.’
In fact, a punishment like this felt far too lenient.
-Smack! Smack!
The punishment continued.
With her divine protection removed, Vega’s backside began to swell and turn red.
As the stinging pain spread like ink.
[Haah.]
For some reason.
Vega’s voice sounded as if it were slightly wet with moisture.
A voice that shook one’s reason.
Oh-jin quickly lowered his arm and averted his gaze.
“Th-This should be enough, right?”
[…….]
Vega looked at Oh-jin with a wistful expression, as if she were disappointed.
Her lips parted as if to say, *a little more*, but she quickly shook her head, her face blushing.
[Thank you for giving this foolish constellation a chance to atone.]
“…It’s not really something you need to atone for.”
[No. This is my fault.]
Vega gave a faint smile and gently pulled Oh-jin into an embrace.
Usually, in a situation like this, the one who did the hitting would comfort the one who was hit.
But like a reflection in a mirror, it was Vega, the one who had been punished, who was gently hugging Oh-jin as if to comfort him.
[If I ever commit a wrong again in the future, please give me a harsh punishment, just like now.]
“You want me to do this again?”
Oh-jin gulped and quickly shook his head.
To commit the insane act of spanking a goddess’s bottom again.
He didn't think his sanity could handle it.
[You… will not?]
“Ugh.”
Vega looked up at him with pleading, downcast eyes.
Faced with that irresistible gaze, Oh-jin swallowed a groan.
“…Later.”
[Fufu. I will be counting on you.]
Oh-jin forced an awkward smile at the sight of Vega humming a tune with a cheerful smile.
‘I think my goddess has awakened to a strange new taste.’
He shuddered just imagining the chaos that would ensue if Ha-eun ever found out about this.
[By the way… was the technique you used in the final match Noeshinche?]
“Yeah, it was.”
When his Noejeon reached level 10, he had acquired the skill called Noeshinche.
[Hah. Truly… it is hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes.]
Vega shook her head.
Noeshinche was a technique that transformed the body itself into lightning, allowing the user to wield power that transcended physical laws.
It was a top-tier technique that even high-ranking Awakeners of the Lyra constellation could barely grasp the fundamentals of, yet Oh-jin had mastered it as a mere 7-star.
“Well, it still seems to have some issues for practical use.”
To use Noeshinche, he had to charge dozens of times to condense the lightning to an extreme degree.
After a lengthy preparation, the only part of his body he could transform was a single arm.
The duration was also incredibly short, only a few seconds, making it a technique with many limitations in actual combat.
[The very fact that you have learned that technique at your current level is what makes no sense.]
Vega continued in a worried tone.
[As I said before when you used Exceed, techniques that do not match your star level come with great side effects, so do not use it recklessly.]
“I’m not planning on using it unless I have to.”
He might be able to use it as a finishing move in situations where various conditions aligned.
But in the world of superhumans, where dozens of attacks were exchanged in a single second, Noeshinche was still a difficult skill to utilize.
‘Still, the important thing is that I *can* use it.’
The power of Noeshinche had been enough to overwhelm Xiaoran, a high-ranking Awakener of the North Star, in an instant.
Of course, she hadn't been using her weapon or Stigma.
But even considering that, it was clear the skill had tremendous potential.
“By the way, is level 10 not the end for Noejeon?”
He had heard there would be a big change at level 10, so he had secretly thought it was the maximum level.
But the ‘MAX’ indicator that appeared when a skill reached its maximum level was nowhere to be seen.
[The Noejeon skill can grow up to a maximum of level 12.]
“Ah, so it’s the same as the star levels.”
It was said that an Awakener’s star level could grow from 1 to a maximum of 12.
Of course, even among the Seven Stars, known as the world’s strongest Awakeners, there was no ’12-star Awakener’.
‘The highest officially announced so far was 11-star.’
Considering how the gap between star levels widened exponentially at higher ranks, he couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of monster an 11-star would be.
“Then I guess I have to start running toward level 11 now.”
Oh-jin looked at his Noejeon skill, proudly displaying ‘Level 10’, and smiled with satisfaction.
If the difference between level 9 and 10 was enormous, the gap between 10 and 11 would be even greater.
[Do not be too hasty. You have only just reached level 10, have you not?]
“Come to think of it, what level is Riak’s Noejeon?”
Vega, being the master of the Lyra constellation, would obviously be at level 12.
He was suddenly curious what level the spirit who had inherited a part of her soul would be.
[Level 10.]
“Huh?”
Oh-jin’s eyes widened.
‘What? He’s the same level as me?’
He had never imagined that Riak, who had inherited a part of Vega’s soul, would be at the same level as him.
[Hah. Do you now understand what an absurd feat you have accomplished?]
“Hmm.”
Hearing it put like that, he could certainly feel how ridiculous it was for him, a mere 7-star, to have achieved level 10 in Noejeon.
[Well, even if you are both at level 10, there is likely a large gap in reality.]
“That’s true.”
There was bound to be an immense gap between a novice who had just entered level 10 and Riak, who had reached level 10 decades, or even centuries, ago.
[Hah. I do worry… Riak must break through his ‘wall’ soon.]
Vega let out a deep sigh.
‘So the wall Riak mentioned was level 11.’
He had often heard that before they met, Riak had been mired in despair from being unable to overcome a wall for a very long time.
“Well, that guy will be able to do it.”
[Hmm. Are you saying that because you know the future?]
“Who knows?”
Oh-jin grinned and shrugged.
[Well, that aside. Are you not very tired?]
“I am feeling a bit sleepy.”
He had received treatment from Albireo.
But the accumulated fatigue hadn't been completely healed.
[Then come here and sleep first.]
Vega took his hand.
[Fufu. I shall sing you a lullaby by your side.]
“No.”
*Are you my actual mom?*
***
“Yaaawn~”
A middle-aged man stretched with a long yawn.
He trudged through an alleyway steeped in cloying darkness.
A ruined district located near Incheon Port.
The Yonghyeon-dong district, which had been swept away by monsters pouring out during the gate incident nine years ago and left abandoned without being rebuilt, had a desolate, ghost-town atmosphere.
It was a street where no one roamed except for the homeless.
“Tch. What kind of monster is supposed to have shown up in a shithole like this?”
He clicked his tongue and looked around.
A rumor that a recent disappearance in the area was the work of a monster that had escaped from a gate was spreading rapidly among the residents of Incheon.
For the Mirinae Guild, the major guild currently managing Incheon, it was a rumor they couldn't simply ignore.
‘They could’ve just sent a few grunts to check it out.’
As if to show off to the residents of Incheon just how seriously they were taking the rumor, the Mirinae Guild had dispatched him, a man holding the position of vice guild master, to the Yonghyeon-dong area.
“Does an 8-star Awakener really need to be doing this crap?”
He sighed once more and walked through the street steeped in oppressive darkness.
The rotten stench from the food waste carelessly thrown on the ground unpleasantly pricked his nose.
After looking around for over an hour.
“See? Fucking bullshit rumors.”
The man spat out a harsh curse and hawked up a thick glob of phlegm.
Clang!
He was about to turn around after irritably kicking a can rolling on the ground.
-Hissesssssssssss.
A sound like leaking gas came from the other end of the alley.
The man narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound.
“What the?”
As he took a step toward it.
-Squelch!
“Keuk!”
A dark blue spearhead burst through the man’s chest.
With his chest pierced, a gush of blood, *cough*, poured from the man’s mouth.
“Wh-What?”
The man’s eyes trembled.
Like a broken doll, he slowly turned his head back.
“Hiss, hisssss.”
Standing there was a monster in black armor that covered its entire body, like a knight from the medieval era.
Even though its body was covered in armor, he could tell at a glance that it was not a human, but a ‘monster’.
-Fwoosh!
It was because of the ominous, dark blue flames that burned from between the gaps in the armor.
Gleaming, dark blue eyes from within the helm that covered its face turned toward him.
“Ah, uh.”
The man stared at the monster, his body trembling in fear.
The monster pulled out the spear that had pierced the man’s chest and grabbed his neck with one hand.
*Creaak.*
The jaw of the helmet split open, revealing sharp teeth and a red tongue.
“S-Save….”
Before his desperate plea could finish.
-CRUNCH!!
The monster bit off the man’s entire head.
The black armor was stained with the blood that flowed down from the man’s head.
*Crack! Craaack!*
The monster in black armor tore into the chest of the headless man with its hands.
Perhaps because he was an Awakener with a superhuman body.
Inside the torn-open chest, the heart was still beating intermittently.
“Hiss, hisssss.”
The monster’s lips curled up, its dark blue eyes glinting.
It tore out the beating heart with its hand.
Swallowing the waterfall of blood that poured down its throat, it chewed on the Awakener’s heart, which was imbued with the star’s magic.
As it continued its ‘meal’.
“Fufu. Is it tasty?”
A cloying voice came from the depths of the darkness.
“Hisssss!!”
The monster in black armor quickly turned and thrust its spear.
*Tap.*
The dark blue spearhead was stopped by slender, snow-white fingers.
“Be still.”
A woman walked out from the pitch-black darkness.
Her build was so slender she was more like a girl than a woman.
Long, wavy, platinum-blonde hair that shone in the darkness, and a jet-black dress covering her slender body.
She was a delicate woman who looked as if she would break if touched carelessly.
But contrary to her fragile appearance, an oppressively sinister aura flowed from her.
“Won’t you help me for a moment?”
The woman smiled brightly and stuck out her tongue.
Her long, thin tongue extended down past her chin, reaching her chest.
Yes.
Just like.
A snake’s tongue.