Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Heavy Rain (5)
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Thud, thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed softly, reverberating through the floor.
‘It's not just one.’
The footsteps coming from upstairs weren't from a single person.
At least five.
No, maybe even more than ten.
‘Should I go out and fight?’
He was confident in his abilities.
Not out of bluffing arrogance, but objectively.
The Stigma of Lyra, the Black Heaven, and his innate talent for wielding Stigmas.
It was an undeniable fact that he possessed a power on a different level from a typical 4-star Awakened.
But.
‘I have a bad feeling.’
The thick scent of mana flowed in through his sense of smell, made extremely sensitive by Canes Venatici.
The scent was so potent it felt like it could paralyze his nose, on a completely different level from the three owls he had just wiped out.
His proficiency with Canes Venatici wasn't particularly high, but…
…he could tell for sure that this was an enemy he would struggle to handle right now.
‘Who is it?’
Ashad Khan?
Another Executor?
Or if not them…
‘…No, it's not Cheon Do-yoon.’
If it were a powerhouse of that caliber, he wouldn't even be able to sense them with Canes Venatici.
His head would've been lopped off before he could even feel their presence.
‘First, I run.’
Whoever it was.
They were a burdensome opponent to face.
“Follow me, and don't make a sound.”
He muttered in a low voice.
He felt Jang Seok-ho nod.
He got down low and crawled slowly across the floor.
Slowly, he headed downstairs.
First, he needed to get as far away from them as possible.
‘A building with three basement levels should have a ventilation shaft, right?’
His plan was to go down to the third basement level and escape through a ventilation shaft.
It was a method straight out of a stealth action movie, but it was the only realistic way to slip out unnoticed.
“Did you see where the ventilation shaft is on the third floor?”
“Ah, no. I didn't see it.”
Of course.
He must have been too frantic looking for his son to have had the time to notice where a vent was.
“Slowly. Come down without making a sound.”
Jang Seok-ho nodded and took off his shoes.
He descended the stairs carefully in his socks.
The third basement level they reached was like an abandoned warehouse, piled high with old, rusted machinery.
‘Damn it.’
It looked like the slightest touch would send everything tumbling down with a crash.
He walked as carefully as possible, searching for the ventilation shaft.
Just then.
-Rumble, CRASH!!
‘Ah, for fuck's sake!!!’
A pile of machinery in one corner collapsed with a roar.
He hadn't touched it, nor had Jang Seok-ho.
It had simply collapsed on its own.
It seemed something Jang Seok-ho had disturbed when he first searched the third floor had finally given way.
‘Talk about shitty luck.’
It was like falling backward and still managing to break his nose.
“Hide somewhere nearby.”
Oh-jin raised his spear.
It was too optimistic to think they wouldn't come down to the third floor after hearing this commotion.
Escape was out of the question, so he had to fight.
However.
“……”
No matter how much time passed, there was no sign of them coming down the stairs.
“…What is this?”
Why aren't you coming down, you bastards?
“Wh-what's happening?”
Jang Seok-ho approached and asked.
There was no way they wouldn't come down after hearing the noise, yet they hadn't moved an inch from their original spot.
“……”
An ominous premonition struck him.
‘The fact that they aren't coming down even in this situation means…’
No way.
“Son of a bitch!!”
Oh-jin grabbed Jang Seok-ho's shoulder and rushed toward the stairs.
“Wh-what is it?!”
“Shut up and follow me!!!”
He scrambled up the stairs.
But before he even reached the second floor.
-RUMMMMMBLE!!!!
The surroundings shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Crack! Craaack!
He could see the staircase shattering and collapsing.
Oh-jin bit his lip hard.
His premonition was spot on.
‘These bastards!’
From the very beginning, they had no intention of coming down.
Their plan was to demolish the factory itself and bury them alive.
‘I have to get out—’
Before the thought could even finish.
-KABOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
A second explosion erupted.
A gray waterfall of concrete and rebar crashed down on Oh-jin and Jang Seok-ho.
“Hmph!”
Bzzzzzt!!!
He hurriedly created a wall of lightning.
Hundreds, thousands of tons of debris crashed against the lightning and were pushed back.
But that was only for a moment.
-BOOM! KABOOM!
“Kuhk!”
Explosions went off within the cascading debris.
A third, a fourth, a fifth.
Explosions detonated one after another without pause.
‘Damn it all!’
Did they unload a truckload of bombs here or something?
And they weren't just ordinary bombs.
The impact that pierced through the debris carried the clear trace of mana.
With mana involved, their power was worlds apart from a normal explosion.
The wall of lightning cracked.
-RUMMMBLE!!
The wall of lightning shattered to pieces, and a gray tidal wave swallowed everything around them.
His body, having lost its footing, plummeted endlessly downward.
A dizzying impact slammed into his entire body.
About thirty seconds passed like that.
The explosions, which had seemed like they would last forever, finally ended.
“Keugh!!”
Oh-jin pushed through the debris covering his body and pulled himself out.
The dirt and sand that had flooded his mouth crunched unpleasantly.
“Ptui!!!”
He turned his head and surveyed his surroundings.
‘Crazy.’
The factory and the entire two-hundred-meter radius around it had collapsed.
A massive crater had formed where the factory once stood, as if a meteor had struck.
“Ah… ugh.”
Just then, he heard a faint groan.
It was Jang Seok-ho's voice.
“Where are you?!”
Oh-jin rushed toward the sound of the groan.
Between slabs of concrete.
He saw Jang Seok-ho's body.
“Hmph!”
Rumble!
He lifted a massive slab of concrete with his bare hands.
The sight of Jang Seok-ho, lying crushed beneath it, was revealed.
“Ah…”
His two legs were gruesomely mangled.
A sharp piece of rebar had pierced his stomach, and his eyes were filled with stone fragments instead of pupils.
—He couldn't be saved.
Even if he was barely breathing, it was too late to do anything.
He.
Soon.
Would die.
“Oh, Oh-jin. A-are… you… al-alright?”
He asked in a faint voice, as if it would cut out at any moment.
Oh-jin glanced down at the bracelet on his wrist.
Three knots that had lost their light.
Before being swept up in the explosion, only one knot had been dark.
“…I'm fine.”
“Ha, haha. That's a relief, cough! …then.”
It was nonsense.
Nothing about this could be called a 'relief'.
“Here… is the… information… I promised… to give you.”
Jang Seok-ho held out a trembling hand.
In his hand was a small USB memory stick.
“……”
Why was he trying to give this to him?
The deal had failed.
Not a single part of the promise had been fulfilled.
He hadn't saved his son, and he couldn't even save the man himself.
And yet.
Why.
“I have… a favor… to ask.”
Stringing together his ragged breaths.
Struggling, desperately.
The plea he had choked out while grinding his forehead into the floor.
Once more.
“I-if you make it out of here alive… find Hyun-woo… find my Hyun-woo, please.”
“……”
A sensation like insects crawling slowly over his skin.
His tongue stung as if it had been burned.
What should he say?
That there's no need to look.
That his son was already long dead.
Should he say that?
“Ha, haha. The kid's… a bit of a… rascal, you see.”
He didn't know.
Even though he had told countless lies.
Even though he had deceived others as easily as breathing.
“He might… cause some… trouble.”
To a father asking him to find and save his already dead child.
What kind of lie would be best.
He couldn't figure it out.
“But… he's a good… kid. Please… save him.”
Was there any need to care?
He had gotten everything he wanted anyway.
No, he'd gotten more than he wanted.
A useful holy relic and information, all for free. Wasn't that enough?
Now, all he had to do was casually say he'd save his son and then forget all about it.
Go back home.
Act like nothing happened, joke around with Ha-eun, and go buy something for dinner.
Did she say she wanted beef?
It was getting late, so maybe a quick hamburger would be good.
It's a simple matter.
Nothing difficult about it.
Doesn't even require a second thought.
“……”
Throb, throb.
His head ached.
He'd only met the man a few hours ago.
There was no long epic, no meaningful backstory.
It was just one of countless common misfortunes.
So why.
Why, why, why.
—did he feel so damn shitty?
“Oh! Lord Ashad!! That bastard's still alive?”
A flippant voice rang out.
“Hee-yah… to survive that explosion… Looks like the rumors about the Lightning Wolf were true!”
Annoying.
The ending is always the most important part of a lie.
Don't interrupt.
“I'll go take care of him!”
Th-th-thump!
The flippant voice grew closer.
“Hyaaaah— Keoheok?!”
He grabbed the head of the man rushing at him.
-CRUNCH!!
And slammed it down onto a protruding piece of rebar.
The rebar pierced through his forehead, shattered the back of his skull, and came out the other side.
Sticky blood seeped between his fingers.
“How about you shut the hell up for a minute.”
He slowly straightened up and looked around at the men surrounding them.
“I'm—thinking right now.”
Within his deep-set black eyes, a blue will-o'-the-wisp ignited.
“Thinking, you say.”
Thud, thud.
A man with bronze skin walked over leisurely.
The thick scent of mana he had smelled when they first entered the factory.
He was the source of that mana scent, so strong it felt like it could twist his nose.
‘Ashad Khan.’
The mid-level Executor of the Heukseonghoe he had heard so much about.
“What are you thinking about? Don't tell me you're trying to figure out a way to get out of here alive?”
“No.”
He answered firmly.
“If it were that simple a problem, I wouldn't have been thinking for so long.”
“Hoh. A simple problem, you say?”
Ashad Khan's eyes gleamed with interest.
He crossed his arms and scanned Oh-jin from head to toe.
Pfft.
He asked, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
“Then what were you pondering so deeply?”
“About your mother.”
“…What?”
“On her deathbed, she asked me to please look after her dumbass son… and it feels like I've failed to keep that promise.”
“……”
Ashad Khan's eyes narrowed.
Shing.
He drew an elegantly curved scimitar.
“…तुम बड़े नीच हो.”
He didn't know what it meant.
But he could tell the man was quite displeased.
“Q-quickly… r-run. Ashad Khan is… dangerous…”
Jang Seok-ho forced the words out.
He still hadn't given him an answer.
Even now, standing at the very edge of his life, he was desperately crying out for a hope that had yet to respond.
-Wooooong!
He sprinkled healing droplets made from the Stigma of Aquarius onto Jang Seok-ho.
It would only prolong his suffering, but…
“Don't die just yet. Wait a minute, mister.”
He still.
Had one last lie to tell him.