Chapter 237
Chapter 237
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 237
Chapter Title: A Hero for the Little Things (7)
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“Damn it.”
The curse escaped his lips unconsciously.
Oh-jin bit his lip, watching the blue knight approach at a leisurely pace.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say.
He had considered the worst-case scenario of facing the blue knight.
‘But I was hoping my prediction would be wrong.’
As always.
The world never went as planned.
‘Can I win?’
He recalled the movements of the blue knight that had overwhelmed Jason Hardy and Orlando Vale.
He couldn't think of any way to beat the blue knight without using Gaecheon.
‘I can't use Gaecheon.’
It was a given that once he started relying on that power, he would eventually meet his fated doom.
Unless it was a truly hopeless, worst-case situation, he shouldn't use Gaecheon.
And.
“This isn't exactly a hopeless situation.”
Oh-jin gripped his spear, his eyes narrowing.
He couldn't think of a way to defeat the blue knight, but he at least had a way to contend with him.
“……”
The blue knight, who had been approaching at a leisurely pace, came to a sudden halt.
Crimson eyes glowing from within the helmet stared at Oh-jin.
*Shing.*
Without even a monstrous cry, the blue knight drew the rusted sword from its sheath at his waist.
A freezing chill spread through the air.
Just as a taut tension, ready to snap at any moment, descended.
“Namgoong-hwi! Now!!”
Oh-jin suddenly shouted, looking behind the blue knight.
“……!”
The blue knight hurriedly turned its head.
In the direction it turned, there was no Namgoong-hwi, not even a single mouse.
“Just as I thought.”
Oh-jin twisted his lips into a smirk and kicked off the ground.
“You can understand human speech, can't you?”
Noejeon shot out from the tip of his spear toward the blue knight.
The blue knight swung its rusted sword, batting the Noejeon away.
But was Noejeon something that could be simply batted away?
*Crackle!*
The blue lightning traveled up the rusted sword and struck the blue knight's body.
Stumble.
The blue knight's legs wavered slightly.
“Hup!”
Oh-jin didn't miss that brief opening and charged toward the blue knight.
The fact that it understood his ‘words’ meant the blue knight possessed some degree of intelligence.
In that case.
“Changnoe!”
*Fzzzzzt!*
Blue lightning spread out in a fan shape.
The blue knight dodged the lightning with the same uncanny movements it had shown against Jason.
Oh-jin, shrouding his spearhead in Noeyeom, thrust fiercely.
The moment the sword and spear were about to clash.
*Twang!*
Firing his wire shooter at a nearby tree, Oh-jin let go of his spear and launched himself into the air.
*Claaaaang!*
The spear, struck by the rusted sword, spun and was flung away.
“Having intelligence means you can be fooled by lies.”
Having flown into the air, Oh-jin spun his body and used Naknoe to descend rapidly.
“……”
The blue knight, unfazed, turned its head toward Oh-jin.
It swung its sword at the fiercely descending Oh-jin.
*Kra-crack!*
A fist covered in blue lightning clashed with the rusted sword.
“Kugh!”
The intense mana radiating from the rusted sword turned his fist to pulp.
Oh-jin swallowed a groan and put distance between himself and the blue knight.
‘So it won't be fooled that easily.’
Even after a life-threatening feint like abandoning his weapon, the blue knight's reaction was too fast.
Oh-jin activated the Stigma of Aquarius to heal his pulped fist, his brow furrowing.
“This bastard is ridiculously strong.”
It was different from just watching.
Facing the blue knight directly like this, he could feel to his bones just how absurdly powerful it was.
*Thump, thump.*
His heart pulsed wildly, and a thrilling shiver ran down his spine.
How long had it been, how long had it truly been since he'd felt this kind of excitement?
The thrill of dancing on a razor's edge, of performing acrobatics on a cliff's precipice.
The back of his neck grew hot as endorphins flooded his system like crazy.
“Haa.”
Oh-jin let out a low breath and reached for his discarded spear.
*Fzzzt.*
A tendril of blue lightning connected, and the spear floated up into Oh-jin's hand.
Did Riak once call him insane?
‘I agree.’
He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.
This excitement, felt for the first time in a long while, became an unparalleled pleasure that heated his entire body.
Oh-jin raised the corners of his mouth and let out a chuckle.
“……?”
The blue knight looked at the laughing Oh-jin and tilted its head as if it couldn't understand.
Its gaze was like one looking at a bizarre deep-sea monster.
He never thought he'd receive such a look from a monster, but he didn't particularly care.
“Alright, let's start again.”
He readjusted his grip on the spear and kicked off the ground.
*Kwang!*
The blue knight and Oh-jin clashed.
The clang of sword against spear echoed loudly.
A short time, a single second split into dozens of fragments.
An exchange of blows that the naked eye couldn't follow embroidered the empty air.
‘Fast.’
The blue knight's sword strikes were short, concise, and faster than anything.
It was as if it knew exactly where and how Oh-jin would attack, what feints he would mix in, parrying every single attack that rained down from all directions.
‘If there's such a thing as the most efficient swordsmanship, this would be it.’
Extreme efficiency.
With minimal movement, minimal strength, and minimal technique.
It deflected his spear, defending and simultaneously lunging to stab Oh-jin sharply.
*Shhhk!*
He barely managed to twist his body and dodge, but he couldn't avoid getting grazed on the shoulder.
Blood poured from the torn flesh.
‘Cold.’
Was it because they were in an ice cave?
He could see his shoulder, grazed by the blade, turning blue as if frostbitten.
“Ssssuuuu.”
A low hiss came from the blue knight's helmet.
For some reason he couldn't explain, Oh-jin felt as if it was ‘enjoying’ this situation.
*Kang! Kakakakang!*
The exchange continued for dozens, hundreds, approaching a thousand blows.
As the fight wore on, the number of wounds on Oh-jin's body increased.
The cuts from the sword became blue with frostbite from the cold air, and Oh-jin's movements gradually slowed to a noticeable degree.
“Hah, hah!”
His breathing grew ragged.
The white breath escaping Oh-jin's mouth scattered like cigarette smoke.
‘Not yet.’
Oh-jin chewed his lip, staring at the blue knight.
*Twang! Twang!*
He fired his wire shooter to create distance, but the blue knight, now accustomed to the wires, dodged them with light movements.
The missed wire fell limply to the ground.
‘Not yet.’
The blue knight glided forward, sword in hand.
*Shhhk!*
The rusted sword grazed Oh-jin's chest.
Spilled blood soaked his clothes.
‘Not yet.’
Oh-jin collapsed backward, and the spear he was holding rolled across the floor.
“…Hoo.”
The blue knight, gazing down at the fallen Oh-jin, let out a short breath and sheathed its sword.
As it slowly walked over and reached a hand toward the fallen Oh-jin.
“Now!”
The fallen Oh-jin's eyes flashed open as he channeled mana into his wire shooter.
*Whirrrrr!*
The wire lying on the ground wrapped around the blue knight's legs and pulled taut from both sides.
“……!”
The blue knight, seemingly flustered, drew its sword and cut the wire.
In that brief moment when the blue knight's attention was on the wire, Oh-jin's body shot up from the ground toward it.
He threw a clenched fist.
His right arm, using Noeshinche, transformed into blue lightning.
‘One chance.’
From the very first moment he confronted the blue knight, he had waited for this instant.
‘Stigma of the Hourglass.’
The world stopped.
In the frozen world, only the blue knight's rusted sword moved at high speed.
The blue knight's sword swung toward Oh-jin's shoulder.
At this rate, he would be pierced by the sword and thrown back before his fist could land.
*Swoosh!*
The rusted sword passed right through Oh-jin's shoulder.
As if it had sliced through ‘air’ instead of a human body.
*Kra-ka-ka-ka-kow!*
The fist of the Thunder God violently struck the blue knight's helmet.
*Thud! K-gugugugung!*
The blue knight was violently thrown back, tumbling across the ground.
“Ha.”
Watching the blue knight roll across the floor, Oh-jin let out a dry laugh.
“You're crazy… you blocked that?”
In the final moment, just before the Noeshinche-infused fist struck its head, the blue knight had drastically changed its sword's path and blocked the punch with the flat of its blade.
*Crumble.*
As proof, the rusted sword held by the blue knight could be seen shattering into pieces.
Oh-jin stared at the fallen blue knight with a look of disbelief.
“Damn it…”
The aftermath of using Noeshinche left his entire right arm in tatters.
Just as he thought the only option left was to truly use Gaecheon.
“Agh… my head.”
Unable to deflect all the impact with just the sword, the blue knight's helmet cracked and then shattered.
The face revealed from within the broken helmet was quite familiar to Oh-jin.
“…Allen?”
Martial Star Allen Oskar.
The Apostle of Deneb and a member of the Seven Stars was clutching his head as he staggered to his feet.
Allen let out a dry laugh and scratched his head.
“I knew you were strong, Mr. Oh-jin… but honestly, I never imagined you were *this* strong.”
Allen wiped the blood from his forehead and shook his head.
His voice could be heard muttering, "Is this really an 8-Star?"
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped Oh-jin's lips.
The fact that the blue knight's identity was Allen meant…
*Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!*
The sound of applause came from behind.
When Oh-jin turned his head, a woman he'd never seen before was standing there.
Deep green hair, a slender figure, and a tall stature similar to Ha-eun's.
She was a beautiful woman with sparkling emerald eyes.
“Wow! That was amazing, really! I never imagined you'd actually land a hit on Allen!”
She burst into a peal of laughter, clapping her hands gleefully.
“Oh, right. The name's Rebecca. You've heard of me, right?”
Nokjonseong, Rebecca Bell.
A high-ranking Awakened of Gemini.
How many people wouldn't know that name?
“Hmm… I wonder if the name ‘Io’ is more familiar to you than Rebecca?”
“…What?”
Rebecca approached Oh-jin with a bright smile.
She caressed the cheek of the dumbfounded Oh-jin and grinned.
“Hehe. Good work, mister. When you said you kept your promise earlier, I thought I was really going to fall for you.”