Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: To Overcome (3)
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BOOM!
The ground he stomped on exploded.
Propelled by the fierce momentum, his body shot forward like a bullet.
“Krrk? Again? What? Trickery?”
Choi Jong-cheol’s face twisted viciously as he raised his arm.
His arm, transformed into the shape of a wicked awl, swung toward Oh-jin.
Oh-jin angled his spear, deflecting the awl.
-KRRRRRRRRR!
An attack that would have been difficult to even parry just moments ago.
“You’re the one playing tricks.”
Now, using Exceed, he could deflect an attack like this with ease.
“Die, you bastard.”
POW!
After deflecting the awl.
He ducked low, closing the distance into Choi Jong-cheol’s guard.
He spread his right hand open and placed it on the man’s solar plexus.
“Explosive Thunder.”
FZZZZZZZZZZT!!!!
A colossal bolt of lightning, incomparable to before, struck Choi Jong-cheol in the chest.
“Kieeeeeeeek!!!”
Choi Jong-cheol let out a horrifying scream and was thrown backward.
His hide, which hadn’t even been scratched before, was now visibly charred black.
A sound of admiration escaped Oh-jin’s lips.
“Whoa.”
This is insane.
In terms of sheer firepower, it felt even stronger than when he had received the blessing.
‘Well, I probably can’t maintain this state for long.’
He frowned at the gradually intensifying pain.
He could endure any amount of pain, but it was obvious that maintaining the Exceed state would result in more than just simple discomfort.
“Let’s wrap this up quickly.”
Grin.
Oh-jin bared his teeth in a savage smile.
“Non? Sense? Don’t…!”
Choi Jong-cheol shrieked in defiance.
“Whether it’s nonsense or not—”
A flurry of spear strikes, too fast for the eye to follow, rained down.
“See for yourself.”
A torrent of blue lightning relentlessly hammered Choi Jong-cheol, giving him no room to breathe.
-CRUNCH! CRACK! SHATTER!
“Krrk! Kieeeeeeeek!!”
Overwhelming.
Even such a cliché expression felt inadequate to describe how utterly Choi Jong-cheol was being toyed with.
From the beginning, Oh-jin had been several steps ahead of Choi Jong-cheol in terms of skill.
Now that the gap in strength and speed had closed, such a one-sided result was only natural.
And on top of that.
“The beasts have been dealt with, Mr. Oh-jin!”
Park Chang-hyun, having finished off all the Awakened who had turned into beasts, joined the fray.
“Don’t? Interfere? Don’t!”
“You’re not going anywhere!”
Park Chang-hyun approached the violently thrashing Choi Jong-cheol and blocked his attack with his shield.
-BOOM!!
A roar like an exploding cannon shell.
“Kugh!!”
The staggering impact sent his shield arm flying back.
“Don’t block him head-on. Just draw his attention.”
Oh-jin said as he flashed past.
“Ah, yes. I-I understand!”
Park Chang-hyun nodded with a bewildered expression.
He glanced down at his tingling arm, his face hardening.
‘He was overwhelming a beast with this kind of power all by himself?’
He looked on in disbelief as Oh-jin continued to mercilessly beat Choi Jong-cheol.
From the looks of it, you’d think he was fighting some kind of 2 or 3-Star monster.
‘What… is this?’
Park Chang-hyun’s mouth hung open.
He was a 6-Star Awakened of Taurus.
A powerhouse whose strength was second to none.
—And yet, he was sent flying by a force this powerful.
Right now, an Awakened who was a mere ‘4-Star’ was dominating a monster with that kind of strength.
“…How?”
Park Chang-hyun’s shoulders trembled slightly.
This beast was, at the very least, a 7-Star or higher.
For a 4-Star Awakened to be unilaterally overwhelming a 7-Star beast.
‘Not even the Seven Stars were like this.’
The seven Awakened considered the strongest in the world.
Even they, who had achieved legendary feats incomparable to other Awakened, had never managed something so absurd.
‘Mr. Oh-jin. Who in the world… are you?’
Frankly, Oh-jin, who was dominating the transformed Choi Jong-cheol, felt more like a monster than the beast itself.
“Krrrrrrrr!!”
“Hoo. This is no time to be lost in thought.”
Park Chang-hyun shook his head and raised his hammer.
His job here was to draw the beast’s attention and assist Oh-jin, just as he was told.
“Hyaaaaaaah!”
BOOM!
With a fierce battle cry, he charged toward Choi Jong-cheol.
“Kishahyaaaaaaat!!!”
Choi Jong-cheol thrashed his body like he was having a seizure, swinging his arms indiscriminately.
The black energy coiling around his body erupted like an explosion.
“Don’t? Interfere? Don’t!!!”
The beast’s bloodshot eyes turned toward Oh-jin.
“That one? I must? I must? I must!!”
It shrieked and charged.
“This curious little fucker’s speech pattern is really getting on my nerves.”
Oh-jin frowned, lightly dodging the attack.
‘I’m running out of time.’
He didn’t have much time left to maintain Exceed.
‘One shot.’
He had to end this with the next attack.
And to do that.
“How much longer is it going to take, Nunna.”
He turned his head to look at the black haze rising from the city center.
As long as that haze was connected to Choi Jong-cheol, killing him in one blow was impossible.
As he watched the haze with an anxious expression.
-WHOOOOOSH!!!!
A massive fire dragon was seen soaring up from the city center.
He could feel the intense heatwave even from here.
“Pfft!”
At the impeccably timed moment, Oh-jin burst out laughing.
“That’s my Nunna for you. Never one for a quiet entrance.”
“Krrk? H-How? Why?”
Choi Jong-cheol’s eyes widened as he turned his head.
The power of the Black Star that had been dormant in the city center.
His connection to that power had been abruptly severed.
“N-No? No? Noooooo!!”
Choi Jong-cheol’s body trembled as he staggered backward.
The black energy that had been surging from his body began to dissipate.
“Alright, then.”
Grin.
Oh-jin smiled viciously and gripped his spear.
“Let’s end this now.”
Time to put a period on this tiresome battle.
-THWIP!
He raised his left arm and fired a wire at Choi Jong-cheol.
Three wires tangled around his body.
“Hss.”
He took a short breath.
He infused the Stigma’s mana into the wire shooter.
WHIIIRRRRR!!!
The wire pulled taut with a fierce, metallic screech.
Of course, no matter how much Choi Jong-cheol’s strength had waned, he wasn’t weak enough to be dragged by a wire.
‘In that case.’
I’ll go to him.
-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!!!
He kicked off the ground and sprinted.
He let the force pulling on his left arm carry him, adding to his speed.
“D-Don’t come here! Stay awayyyy!!”
Choi Jong-cheol hastily created wings and took to the sky.
“It’s useless.”
Already caught by the wires, he couldn’t escape.
Firmly gripping the silver spear, which blazed with savage blue lightning.
“—It’s over, you motherfucker.”
He shoved the silver spear into Choi Jong-cheol’s mouth.
-FZZZZZZZZZZT!!!
“Kururururueeeek?!”
The torrent of blue lightning flowing through the silver spear ravaged his insides.
Choi Jong-cheol’s body swelled up like a balloon, and then.
-POP!
It shattered into pieces and scattered.
[Deactivating the Exceed skill.]
[The skill 《Exceed Lv1》 has risen to 《Exceed Lv2》.]
[The skill 《Lightning (雷電) Lv5》 has risen to 《Lightning (雷電) Lv6》.]
“Fuck.”
Splatter!
Standing in the rain of blood, Oh-jin frowned.
‘Hurts like hell.’
Was this the side effect of entering an overload state?
A sense of powerlessness, as if his strength had been snuffed out, was accompanied by a pain that felt like needles stabbing his blood vessels all over his body.
‘Still, gotta collect my reward.’
He had leveled up his Lightning skill and learned a new skill called Exceed, but.
That wasn’t the reason he had targeted Choi Jong-cheol in the first place.
‘Can I still absorb him when he’s been blown to bits like this?’
It was worth a try.
Oh-jin used Black Heaven to absorb the Stigma dwelling within the scattered pieces of flesh.
Discreetly, of course, so the other Awakened wouldn’t notice.
-Gurgle, gurgle.
A black cloud spread out like a net, touching the fragmented remains of Choi Jong-cheol’s corpse.
Vwoom!
The Stigma engraved on his left chest glowed, and he could feel power flowing into his body.
‘Wow, I can even absorb it in this state.’
Oh-jin absorbed Choi Jong-cheol’s Stigma while lying flat on the ground.
He could feel an immense power rushing in through the black cloud.
-Ding!
[Black Heaven is absorbing the power of the Black Star dwelling within the Sacred Relic!]
“Huh?”
Oh-jin’s eyes widened at the unexpected message.
‘A Sacred Relic, not a Stigma?’
It seemed he had absorbed the power of the black orb that had been absorbed into Choi Jong-cheol’s body.
[Successfully absorbed the power of the Sacred Relic!]
[The trait ‘Transformation (變形)’ inherent to the Sacred Relic has been added to Black Heaven’s traits!]
What the hell is Transformation?
Oh-jin frowned and opened the description window.
[Transformation (變形): You can freely change the form of your body using the Stigma’s mana.]
“Oh, what’s this? This is fucking awesome.”
An exclamation of awe escaped him.
If he could freely change the form of his body, the applications were literally endless.
‘Was this the ability he used to freely transform into a scythe or an awl earlier?’
The Aquarius Stigma didn’t have the ability to change one’s body, so it was safe to assume it was the power of the Sacred Relic.
Anyway, is this it?
I thought there was also an ability to turn people into beasts or control them.
‘It seems I’m not absorbing the Sacred Relic’s power completely, but only a part of it.’
Well, still.
Being able to absorb even a limited portion of a Sacred Relic’s power was incredible.
If other Awakened knew about this, they would be utterly shocked.
“But… what about the Stigma?”
Oh-jin’s expression twisted harshly.
What he wanted wasn’t the power of the Sacred Relic Choi Jong-cheol possessed, but Choi Jong-cheol’s own power.
As he looked down at the black cloud, overcome with disappointment.
[‘Black Heaven’ has absorbed the ‘Aquarius Stigma’!]
‘That’s it!’
A bright smile spread across Oh-jin’s face.
The Aquarius Stigma, which boasted the absolute best performance among healer types.
It was the Stigma he had wanted most since awakening Black Heaven.
“Shall I give it a try?”
His body was a wreck anyway, so the timing was perfect.
Oh-jin placed his right hand on his chest and activated the Aquarius Stigma.
-Vwoom!
Something like a blue water droplet formed.
As the blue droplet created in the air seeped into his body, the crushing pain throughout his body subsided a little.
‘The effect is still a bit weak.’
It was about as effective as a mid-grade potion at best.
‘But if I train it consistently from now on, it’ll be more than usable.’
He didn’t even need to focus on training the Aquarius Stigma specifically.
Thanks to the ‘All Rivers Return to the Sea’ trait of Black Heaven, a portion of his Lyra Stigma’s proficiency would be automatically shared with it.
“Hm?”
Oh-jin frowned as he was treating his wounds using the Aquarius Stigma.
Vwoooooom!!! Fzzt! Fzzzt!!
Lightning suddenly started to mix with the blue droplets seeping into his body.
‘What the?’
As he watched the scene with puzzled eyes.
[A significant compatibility has been confirmed between the designated representative Stigma and the currently active Stigma.]
[The Lyra Stigma and the Aquarius Stigma are resonating!]
[You have acquired the synthesis skill, 《Hydroaffinity (水力親和) Lv MAX》!]
“Huh?”
He had just used the Aquarius Stigma, and a synthesis skill was created out of the blue.
‘What?’
He opened the description window with a bewildered expression.
[《Hydroaffinity (水力親和) Lv MAX》: A skill created by the connection between the Lyra Stigma’s ‘Lightning (雷)’ energy and the Aquarius Stigma’s ‘Water (水)’ energy. You can heal wounds by absorbing water.]
I can heal wounds by absorbing water?
“Holy shit?”
Oh-jin’s jaw dropped.
If he could heal his wounds simply by absorbing water without any restrictions, there was no skill more overpowered than this.
‘Can I use it on others too?’
He scanned the message window with an excited gaze.
[The effect of the ‘Hydroaffinity’ skill applies only to yourself.]
“Ah.”
A disappointed sigh escaped Oh-jin’s lips.
If he could have used this skill on others, all his problems would have been solved at once.
“…Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue lightly and closed the message window.
‘No need to rush.’
In any case, he had obtained the Aquarius Stigma.
He could develop its lacking abilities from now on.
‘If I do that.’
Oh-jin clenched his fist tightly.
“Oh-jiiiiiiin—!!!”
Just then.
A familiar voice called out from a distance.
-Thud-thud-thud-thud!!
Ha-eun, her red hair flying, approached and looked down at Oh-jin collapsed on the ground, letting out a shriek.
“Aaaaaah!! My Oh-jin’s been beaten to a pulp!!!”
“I’m in better shape than I look.”
In reality, he wasn’t fine at all.
But for now, let’s just say he was fine.
“Your face!! Who the hell messed up my Oh-jin’s face like this!”
“My face isn’t hurt, though?”
“Ah. So you just normally look like this?”
“This girl…?”
What’s wrong with my face?
“Kyahahat! Just kidding, you bastard!”
Ha-eun burst into cheerful laughter, her shoulders shaking.
She gently brushed back the hair of the fallen Oh-jin and smiled softly.
“…I’m glad. That you’re safe.”
Her voice was low and subdued.
“Really… always rushing in alone. Do you have any idea how worried this Nunna was?”
“……”
Her hand stroking his hair was trembling slightly.
“Nunna.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to touch your leg for a second.”
“What, you crazy bastard?”
Ugh.
He pushed himself up and fumbled for her right leg with his hands.
“Hey!! Kwon Oh-jin! W-What’s gotten into you?!”
Thanks to the high-end prosthesis, it felt as smooth as a real leg, almost indistinguishable.
‘But in the end, it’s just a prosthesis.’
Oh-jin’s eyes gleamed sharply.
‘I heard that high-ranking Aquarius Awakened can even regenerate damaged organs and limbs, right?’
Heh.
With a faint smile, he removed his hand from her leg.
Aquarius Stigma this, that, whatever—he could think about it later.
‘What’s important right now is.’
Oh-jin looked up at the flustered Ha-eun.
“Nunna.”
“Y-Yeah?”
“I’m so fucking tired I could die.”
Perhaps it was because seeing Ha-eun had eased his tension.
An overwhelming wave of fatigue crashed over him all at once.
Seriously, no joke, he couldn’t last another second.
“I’m going to sleep.”
“What? You’re sleeping? Here?”
“Carry me to the car.”
Thump.
He collapsed.
“Hey! Kwon Oh-jin, you bastard!!”
Her shouts gradually faded into the distance.
“So why did you suddenly touch my leg, anywayyyyy!!”
It’s a secret.