Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Living Armor (6)
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“Noona?”
Oh-jin’s eyes widened as he saw Ha-eun appear on a motorcycle.
He was sure she was supposed to be in the middle of her 'molting' process, wreathed in brilliant flames.
“It’s all over, you punk.”
Ha-eun scoffed and walked over to Oh-jin.
“When I woke up, I asked where you were, and they told me you were out here investigating. So I came right away, but…”
Her eyes narrowed, glaring at Oh-jin, who was cradled in Isabella’s arms.
“Looks like you’ve been having a real good time while I was away, huh?”
“Does this look like I’m having a good time?”
Oh-jin pointed to his blood-soaked chest.
“Being held by a rich, pretty girl with big boobs who can cook? That’s what I call a good time.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
“You agree? You little shit?”
“No, I don’t! It’s been a hard and painful time.”
“Right, right. That’s my Oh-jinnie.”
Ha-eun chuckled and lightly ruffled Oh-jin’s hair.
She glanced at Isabella, who was still holding Oh-jin, and spoke in a low voice.
“Thanks.”
“Pardon?”
“For protecting my Oh-jinnie. Thanks.”
“…”
Isabella looked slightly taken aback, clearly not expecting to hear a ‘thank you’ from Ha-eun.
Ha-eun averted her gaze from Isabella and turned her head toward the monster in the jet-black armor.
“So it’s you? The one who made my Oh-jinnie shit his guts out.”
“I didn’t shit my guts out, though.”
“I’ll check later to see if you did or not, so just stay put.”
“What?”
What are you going to check?
“Anyway.”
She casually ignored Oh-jin and pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket.
She took one out, placed it between her lips, and created a small flame at her fingertip.
*Tssss.*
A firefly seemed to land on the tip of the white cigarette.
“This is why I can’t take my eyes off my Oh-jinnie for a second.”
Killing intent formed in her cold, red eyes.
*"Shhheeeeeeeek."*
“What’s with this bastard? Sounds like a guy who’s been constipated for three days finally letting one rip.”
The eerie cry that had terrified hundreds of Awakeners was instantly reduced to something utterly base.
It couldn’t have understood her words, but the Living Armor aimed its spear at Ha-eun, its chilling killing intent rising.
“What? You pissed?”
She smirked and took a deep drag from her cigarette.
“But what am I gonna do about this?”
*Click.* She reached back and undid the eyepatch covering her left eye.
Beneath the black patch, a yellow, reptilian eye was revealed.
*Fwooo.*
Milky smoke drifted from between her red lips.
After pinching the still-lit cigarette butt between her fingers.
“Because I’m more pissed, you motherfucker.”
*Fwang!!!*
With a flick of her fingers, the half-smoked cigarette shot out like a bullet.
The tiny firefly on its tip spread its wings and took flight.
*Fwhooooosh!!*
A brilliant, blazing flame.
The little firefly became a dragon, coiling around the Living Armor.
*“Shhheeeeeeeek!!”*
Engulfed in flames so hot it was hard to even keep one’s eyes open, the Living Armor shrieked.
The armor, already battered from successive battles, began to melt in the intense heat.
*Kooong!!*
Before its body could melt away completely, the Living Armor charged forward with a powerful stomp.
A dark blue flame ignited at the tip of the spear aimed at Ha-eun.
“Flames.”
Ha-eun dodged the spear with a fluid step.
She grabbed the shaft as it grazed her left side, pulled it hard, and clenched her other fist.
*Fwhooooosh!!*
The dragon’s eye on her left side glinted fiercely as flames gathered in her clenched fist.
“Burn like hell.”
*Kwaaaaaang!!*
She drove her flaming fist straight into the serpent emblem carved on the Living Armor’s chest.
The immense flame condensed in her fist erupted like a volcano.
Three dragons of searing flame surged up her arm and wrapped around the Living Armor’s body.
*Hsss.*
Taking a short breath, she opened her fist and grabbed the Living Armor’s breastplate.
“Hyaaaah!!!”
*Crrrack!*
With a powerful cry, she ripped off the breastplate, which had already half-melted in the flames.
*“Shhheeeeeeeek!!”*
The Living Armor struggled and retreated backward.
Even as it backed away, it violently shook the spear shaft still held by Ha-eun.
“Ugh!”
Ha-eun, holding the spear with her left hand, was thrown back by the immense force.
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes and glared at the Living Armor.
“Damn, this bastard is strong as hell.”
If the Living Armor had been in perfect condition, even she, having just completed her 'molting,' would have been no match for it.
But.
“Looks like you’re a little tired, huh?”
The corners of her lips twisted into a smirk.
Ha-eun took another cigarette from the pack and held it high.
“Flames.”
Six fire dragons gathered around the cigarette.
“Burn with all your might.”
She swung the raised cigarette down as if it were a sword.
*Fwhooooosh!*
The fire dragons scattered in six directions, swimming through the air like living creatures.
Opening their massive maws, they ravaged the black armor like a pack of hyenas tearing at a carcass.
*“Shhheeeeeeeek!!”*
One of the fire dragons slithered into the gap where the breastplate had been torn away.
Red flames mixed with the dark blue fire that made up the Living Armor’s body.
The differently colored flames tangled together as if fighting for dominance.
The Living Armor thrashed in agony.
*Hoo.*
Cold sweat trickled down Ha-eun’s forehead.
She had only just finished ‘molting,’ so controlling six fire dragons was no easy task.
‘I have to end it here.’
If the Living Armor found even a moment’s leeway to escape, she, with her low mobility compared to her firepower, would have no way to catch it.
And one more thing.
‘How dare it touch my Oh-jinnie?’
The memory of Oh-jin lying there, covered in blood, made her rage surge.
*Fwoosh.*
A tidal wave of magical power poured out from the Dragon’s Heart nestled in her left breast.
A round orb formed on her open palm.
A red orb that neither seared nor burned fiercely.
*Kwang!*
Clutching the Yong'ok, she kicked off the ground violently.
Her reddish-brown hair, tied in a ponytail, swayed like fire.
The wind brushed her cheeks.
With every step, the ground caved in as if she were running on wet cement.
*“Shhheeeek!”*
The violently thrashing Living Armor hastily raised its spear.
“Too late, you bastard.”
Ha-eun leaped lightly, landing on the spear shaft with the agility of a predator.
She reached out with her left arm, grabbed the Living Armor’s helmet, and lifted it as if to tear it off.
“Open wide.”
She roughly shoved her fist, still clutching the Yong'ok, inside the helmet.
“Something hot’s going in.”
*“Shhheeeeeeeek!!”*
“Uh-uh. No biting, you punk.”
Before the Living Armor could bite her arm, Ha-eun swiftly pulled it out and kicked the armor.
Doing a clean backflip to create distance, Ha-eun leisurely pulled the cigarette pack from her pocket.
“Ah, the last one.”
She put the last cigarette to her lips and brought her fingertip to the end.
*Tssss.*
Just as she took a leisurely drag.
*FWHHOOOOOOOOSH!!*
Vicious flames erupted from the seams of the black armor.
Not the eerie, dark blue flames like will-o’-the-wisps, but crimson flames like a dragon’s breath.
*Kooong!*
The half-melted jet-black armor collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
The dark blue eyes that had gleamed eerily from within the helmet flickered and went dark.
“Damn, that was tough.”
Ha-eun grinned and turned around.
She acted as if nothing was wrong, but her forehead was beaded with cold sweat, like dew on a blade of grass at dawn.
“You got any potions on you?”
Ha-eun walked over to the fallen Oh-jin and asked, looking down at him.
“I brought some.”
Isabella took a potion from the small bag at her waist.
It wasn’t an elixir that could regenerate severed limbs, but it was a top-grade potion easily worth billions a bottle.
“Let me give it to you, Mr. Oh-jin.”
Isabella placed Oh-jin’s head on her lap, opened the potion bottle, and was about to take a sip of the blue liquid.
“Hold it right there. What do you think you’re doing, you bitch?”
Ha-eun grabbed Isabella’s head, pulling her away as she was about to take a sip.
Isabella shot Ha-eun a sharp glare.
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
“If anyone’s feeding him, it’s me.”
“My, to hear you talk, one might think you’re the one who brought the potion.”
Just as a murderous atmosphere began to brew between Isabella and Ha-eun.
“Hey, it’s not like I’m on my deathbed.”
Oh-jin frowned and sat up.
His body ached from the internal injuries from fighting Deneb’s Apostles and the wounds from the Living Armor, but he wasn’t so helpless that he couldn’t drink a potion by himself.
“Thanks, I’ll drink it.”
He snatched the potion bottle from Isabella’s hand and poured it into his mouth.
As expected of a top-grade potion worth billions.
A refreshing energy spread through his body, and the pain gradually subsided.
“Ah…”
*Tch.*
Ignoring the two women’s disappointed gazes, Oh-jin got to his feet.
He slowly walked over and looked down at the corpse of the Living Armor, half-melted and sprawled on the ground.
‘I should probably consume it before the Cheonhye Guild gets here.’
Oh-jin glanced back at Isabella and said.
“Can you go check on Woo-hyeok for a second?”
“Ah. Y-Yes, one moment.”
As if just remembering Lee Woo-hyeok, who had been sent flying by the Living Armor’s attack, Isabella nodded and scurried away.
Ha-eun approached, glancing at Isabella’s retreating back.
“You’re gonna use that… what was it, Heukcheon or whatever, to absorb that thing?”
“Of course.”
A monster created by the ‘Serpent’.
He couldn’t pass up such a nutritious meal.
“Isn’t that… a little dangerous?”
Ha-eun asked with a worried expression.
She seemed worried that the ‘Serpent’s’ power dwelling within the monster might have some negative effect on Oh-jin.
Oh-jin chuckled and shook his head.
“If this power couldn’t handle something like this, it wouldn’t have become a threat to the world in the first place.”
No matter how great the Serpent’s power was, there was no way Heukcheon couldn’t contain it.
The countless constellations embroidering the night sky.
Because Heukcheon was what devoured them all.
*Rumble.*
A black cloud flowed from Oh-jin’s hand, covering the jet-black armor.
*-Tiring!*
[You have absorbed a portion of the ‘Stigma of Ophiuchus’. You must absorb more of the Stigma to use its power.]
[All conditions for ‘Heukcheon’s’ seventh bloom have been met!]
[The seventh bloom of ‘Heukcheon’ will now begin!]
“What?”
Oh-jin’s eyes widened as he read the message window that appeared before him.
He never imagined Heukcheon would bloom here.
[Heukcheon has reached ‘Seven Stars Bloom (七星改化)’.]
[Following Heukcheon’s bloom, a portion of the Awakener Lee Shin-hyeok’s memories will be passed down!]
*Zzzzzzt.*
His vision distorted with a familiar static.