Chapter 236
Chapter 236
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 236
Chapter Title: A Hero for the Small Things (6)
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"Mister..."
Io's eyes welled with tears as her voice trailed off.
Oh-jin turned around with a faint smile.
"Don't come out. Stay in there."
The monsters' attacks had weakened the barrier considerably, but it hadn't disappeared yet.
'It should be able to block one or two more attacks.'
That would be enough.
"Hooooooo! Hoo!"
A monster with the head of an owl and the body of a bear clacked its sharp beak and shrieked.
The monsters that had survived the torrent of lightning staggered to their feet.
'About half of them survived, I see.'
Oh-jin calmly assessed the monsters and gripped his spear.
Every single monster gathered here was so powerful you could believe they had charged straight out of a Magyeong.
He couldn't let his guard down just because the surprise attack had succeeded.
"Haaaah."
His breathing was low and long.
He spread the stigma's magic, coiled within his heart, throughout his entire body.
He circulated the stigma's magic through the mana circuits that covered his body like blood vessels.
An electrifying sensation, as if every single cell was coming alive.
He pressed on his mana circuits as if to detonate the condensed magic.
"Exceed."
Fzzzzzt!
Blue lightning wrapped around his body like a roaring flame.
Spear in hand, Oh-jin kicked off the ground and charged toward the monsters.
"First, one."
Crunch!
The spear he drove into its jaw shattered the monster's skull and burst out through the top of its head.
With a fluid motion like a dance, he pulled the spear out and then struck a monster pouncing from behind with the shaft.
'The Stigma of Pyxis.'
Even while surrounded by monsters, he instinctively knew where to step and where to swing his spear.
"Kerrrruk!"
A shriek rang in his ears.
The foul stench of blood and the sticky cling of sweat.
He swings the spear.
He swings the spear.
He swings the spear.
He no longer knew how many he had killed, or even who he was fighting now.
The sensation of piercing flesh traveled up the spear shaft.
Spilling entrails released a nauseatingly rank smell.
"Hah, hah!"
His wounds were increasing.
The monsters' claws and teeth tore at his flesh.
There was no time to use the Stigma of Hippocampus to create water and heal himself.
He mechanically thrust his spear at the monsters rushing him from all sides.
"Ah, Mister! The monsters keep gathering!"
Io shouted urgently, pointing in a certain direction.
"That monster! That monster is suspicious!"
He turned his head toward where her hand was pointing.
"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"
There, perched high on a tree and not participating in the battle, was the owl-headed monster, letting out unpleasant shrieks.
‘It was giving orders to the other monsters earlier, too.’
Oh-jin's eyes narrowed.
The necklace was gone, but it wasn't hard to guess what grade the owl-headed monster was.
'Red-grade.'
While searching for the safe zone with Io, he had frequently encountered Green-grade and Blue-grade monsters, but he hadn't seen a single Red-grade one.
That meant Red-grade monsters were rare within this dungeon.
And just like the Black-grade monster, having a smaller population, at least within this dungeon, meant it was that much stronger.
‘If the black one was the king... is this one something like a general?’
He sized up the owl-headed monster.
Contrary to its bird head, its body below the neck was packed with hard muscles, like a Hulk that had overdosed on steroids.
'Owlbear.'
He had a vague memory of hearing about them.
Owlbears, excluding 'named' monsters, were said to possess intelligence that ranked among the best, and were powerful monsters capable of freely wielding magic.
‘Still just a monster, though.’
Oh-jin bared his teeth fiercely and gripped his spear.
"Krrrrr!"
"Keoheong!"
Drawn by the Owlbear's shrieks, Green-grade and Blue-grade monsters charged from all directions.
"Heup!"
He held the spear in a reverse grip and raised it high.
"Poknoe!"
He violently slammed the raised spear down, using Poknoe.
The ground overturned, and a cloud of dirt shot up like an explosion.
The monsters, their vision obscured by the dust, momentarily flinched and retreated.
"Hoo! Hooooo!"
The Owlbear, watching the battle from the tree, shouted as if to scold the monsters.
The monsters that had retreated threw themselves into the dust cloud.
"Keut?!"
Perhaps he hadn't expected the monsters to charge in so quickly.
Oh-jin, who had been repositioning himself with the spear pulled from the ground, let out a grunt with a flustered expression.
"Karrrreuk!"
A monster that looked like a leopard leaped high and tore into Oh-jin's neck.
Splurt!
Dark red blood gushed out.
"Keoheok!"
Oh-jin collapsed, clutching his neck.
The monsters piled on top of him, forming a small hill.
"Ah, Misteerrrrrrrrrr!"
Io's ear-splitting scream echoed.
"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"
The Owlbear looked down at the collapsing Oh-jin, who was spewing blood, and pounded its chest.
Just as it was clacking its short beak to celebrate its victory.
"Just as I thought, you bird-brained bastard."
Oh-jin, who had been collapsing while spouting blood from his neck, twisted his lips into a smirk.
Like a mirage, Oh-jin's body slowly melted into the air.
"Hoo?"
By the time the Owlbear turned its head in confusion.
Whoooosh!
With a sharp mechanical sound, Oh-jin shot up onto the tree.
Landing behind the Owlbear, Oh-jin took a spear-throwing stance.
"Huuuuuh."
He poured all the magic in his body into the spear.
He imagined a lightning bolt.
He pictured a blue bolt of lightning striking down from between the thick, dark clouds.
-Rumble.
Was it because he had imagined the dark clouds?
Unexpectedly, Heukcheon reacted, following the magic and gathering at the tip of the spear.
'What is this?'
He hadn't expected Heukcheon to react so suddenly.
But he didn't have time to worry about such trivial matters now.
He focused his mind again, materializing the image in his head.
Dark clouds covering the sky.
A single blue bolt of lightning striking down between them.
As if a god punishing a sinner, the blue lightning set the world ablaze.
Therefore, the most fitting name for this technique was.
"Heavenly Punishment."
Craaaaaack!
The spear left Oh-jin's hand, becoming a single blue bolt of lightning that pierced through the Owlbear's body.
-Ting!
[You have succeeded in combining the power of Heukcheon with the Stigma of Lyra!]
[The proficiency of the skill 《Noejeon Lv10》 has been significantly increased!]
[You have acquired the synthesis skill, 《Heavenly Punishment (天罰) Lv Max》!]
A synthesis skill.
Just as he was feeling pleased with this unexpected gain.
"Hooooooo!"
The Owlbear, impaled by the spear, let out a ferocious roar and leaped toward Oh-jin.
Oh-jin clicked his tongue, tsk, and put distance between himself and the Owlbear.
‘So one shot wasn't enough to kill it.’
If he had aimed for the head, he could have killed it instantly, but it seemed aiming for the torso for safety with a new technique was a miscalculation.
‘Still, it won't last long with its belly pierced like that.’
Oh-jin calmly corrected his posture, preparing to continue the fight.
However, it didn't take long to realize that wouldn't even be necessary.
"Hoo, ho, ooh."
The Owlbear, impaled by the spear, began to move noticeably slower.
Rumble!
A familiar sound accompanied the flow of magic into his body.
For Oh-jin, it was a sensation that had gone beyond familiar to intimate.
It was the feeling he got when absorbing magic with Heukcheon.
‘Why is this…?’
Oh-jin narrowed his eyes and looked at the Owlbear.
He could see a black cloud churning at the spot where the spear had pierced it.
"Ha."
He let out a dry laugh, recalling the contents of the message window that had just appeared before him.
‘It definitely said it was a skill that combined the power of Heukcheon and the power of Lyra.’
If the blue lightning was the power of Lyra, then this was the power of Heukcheon.
In other words, it meant that even if a target pierced by 'Heavenly Punishment' survived the attack, their magic would be continuously siphoned away by Heukcheon's dark cloud.
"Ho, hooo..."
The Owlbear, its magic being siphoned by Heukcheon's dark cloud, staggered unsteadily and then fell from the tree.
‘This is way too good.’
Feeling the Owlbear's magic flowing into his body, Oh-jin smiled darkly.
But his joy was short-lived.
There was still work to be done.
"Krrrrrrrrk!"
The monsters, who had been excitedly tearing at the illusion, finally seemed to realize they had been tricked and looked up at Oh-jin on the tree, growling fiercely.
"Shall we finish this up, then?"
Oh-jin kicked off from the tree and leaped into the pack of monsters.
Having lost their focal point, the Owlbear, the monsters ran amok like a disorderly mob.
As if the roles of hunter and prey had been reversed, Oh-jin moved through the pack of monsters, slaughtering them.
"Keoheong, krrrrr."
Thud.
The leopard monster, the last one remaining, growling fiercely, collapsed to the ground.
Oh-jin gasped for breath and leaned his back against the barrier.
"Ah, Mister...!"
Io rushed out from beyond the barrier and threw her arms around Oh-jin's waist.
The sticky blood stained her clothes, but she didn't care.
"Heuk... Hwaaaang!"
Io hugged Oh-jin's waist and burst into tears.
Oh-jin raised a hand to pat her head, but then he looked down at his blood-soaked hand and lowered it again.
"Sniff... Whew! Hehe. I knew you would come."
"For someone who knew, you looked pretty surprised."
Oh-jin chuckled and glanced back at the civilians inside the barrier.
They were looking at the blood-soaked Oh-jin with terrified expressions.
"First, let's get out of here."
It wouldn't be easy to move with about ten people, but they couldn't stay here forever.
The people huddled inside the barrier exchanged glances, then hesitantly began to walk out.
"Mister, it looks like another candidate has arrived!"
"Hm?"
"Look over there!"
Io raised her hand with a bright smile.
In the direction she was pointing.
A dark figure could be seen approaching through a narrow canyon.
"......"
Spotting the approaching presence, Oh-jin's expression hardened.
"Let's ask them to leave with us!"
"Io, get back inside."
"Huh?"
"Quickly."
He pushed the tilting Io back inside the barrier.
"Hah."
A deep sigh escaped Oh-jin's lips.
He bit his lip and tightened his grip on the spear.
The dark figure approaching from the distance gradually came into focus.
Blue armor covering its entire body and a rusty sword at its waist.
Through the helm's visor, ominous, burning crimson eyes.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
The Blue Knight was walking toward them.