Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Heavy Rain (7)
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‘What the fuck.’
The magical power was so intense it made my skin tingle.
A dizzying thrill shot down my spine.
‘Why does that bastard have a second phase?’
Wasn't his rank just Intermediate Executor?
He feels like a mid-boss, so why does he keep pulling out new tricks?
‘I don't… have much time.’
Even now, the crushing pain wracking my entire body was growing worse.
I'd already learned the hard way from the last battle that I couldn't last long in the 'Overload' state.
‘I have to end this as quickly as possible.’
Oh-jin bit his lip firmly.
He pointed the tip of his spear, blazing with Lightning Flame, at Ashad Khan.
“Hmph!!”
*Boom!*
The ground buckled as if a bomb had gone off.
Blue lightning streaked across the darkened, abandoned factory.
“Useless.”
Ashad Khan declared in a cold voice, slowly swinging his curved sword.
The strike was slow, almost languid, just like before.
But the power it contained was on a completely different level.
*-Swish-swish-swish-swish!!!*
A storm of black wings swirling around him moved with the sword strike.
Like a torrential downpour.
Thousands, tens of thousands of feathers rained down on Oh-jin.
“Ugh!”
He halted his charge.
He hastily shot his right arm out to the side.
*Twang!*
Without even a moment to check if the wire had latched onto a rebar, he poured all his magical power into the shooter.
His body, attached to the wire, shot sideways like a fish hooked on a line.
But.
‘Damn it, there are just too many of them!’
Despite his quick reaction, he couldn't completely escape the range of the black feathers.
The descending black feathers caused a massive explosion.
He reflexively created a wall of lightning.
The power of each one was considerably weaker than before, but.
There were a few too many.
No, there were far too many.
*-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!*
“Keuk!”
He was thrown back by the blast.
His skin was peeled away, revealing raw, red flesh.
“Kuaargh!”
Biting down on his lip, he barely managed to regain his footing.
Still, having somehow escaped the epicenter of the explosion, he had taken less damage.
But that was all.
Ashad Khan, blessed by the Black Star, was so strong that Oh-jin couldn't think of any way to fight him.
“You're still good at running away.”
A languid voice came from behind him.
“……!”
He spun around and swung his spear upward.
From groin to crown.
The spear, wreathed in Lightning Flame, split Ashad Khan's body in two.
Guts and blood poured out from the bisected body.
‘No.’
It couldn't end this easily.
“Sharp.”
Just as he'd expected.
Ashad Khan's bisected body dissolved into black feathers and vanished.
*-Swoosh!*
The curved sword swung low, aiming for his right thigh.
He slammed the spear into the ground to block the sword.
*Krrrrrrang!!!*
The curved sword, shrouded in a black aura, violently pushed against the spear shaft.
The dizzying impact felt less like a sword and more like being struck by a battering ram.
“Kugh!!”
He squeezed out every ounce of his magical power, creating a Lightning Flame.
The blue flame of lightning engulfed the entire spear and blazed.
‘Crazy… The mana consumption is insane!’
Was it because my body isn't developed enough that the mana cost increases so drastically?
With a penalty added to a skill already known for its high mana cost, his reserves were depleting at a dizzying rate.
He had been confident that in terms of pure mana capacity, he wouldn't lose to anyone.
But even with that vast amount of mana, maintaining the Lightning Flame was difficult.
“Hah. To think you'd block even this.”
Ashad Khan stared at Oh-jin in surprise.
But only for a moment.
He looked at Oh-jin, whose legs were trembling, and smirked.
“But I wonder—how long can you last?”
*Wooooong!!*
The black light erupted.
The blue flame wrapping the spear shaft began to fade, pushed back by the black light.
“Kugh!”
Oh-jin gritted his teeth, barely withstanding the attack.
He scraped together every bit of his rapidly draining mana, like water from a cracked jar, and desperately pushed back against the curved sword.
No.
He tried to push back.
“A futile effort.”
Once more.
The black light intensified.
A cold sneer formed on Ashad Khan's lips.
“No matter how much you struggle.”
*Crack! Crackle!*
Like glass cracking.
The silver spear, wreathed in blue flames, began to splinter.
“You cannot escape—the Owl's time.”
*CRACK-SHATTER!!!*
Shards of the shattered spear embedded themselves in Oh-jin's body.
His collarbone, shoulder, stomach, and thigh.
The sharp fragments dug into his flesh.
“—Ah.”
“It's over.”
With that cold declaration.
*Slice!!!*
The curved sword, shrouded in black light, sliced through his right arm.
Blood gushed from his right arm, cleanly severed below the elbow.
“…You dodged in that situation?”
Ashad Khan's eyes widened in surprise.
He had originally aimed for the neck, but in the brief moment the spear shattered, Oh-jin had pulled his body back, resulting in only an arm being cut off.
“Well… it only delayed your death by a little.”
Whether he cut the neck or the arm.
The fact that he had rendered him combat-incapable remained unchanged.
A warrior with a severed arm couldn't possibly continue a proper fight.
‘It's over.’
Ashad Khan slowly relaxed his grip on the curved sword.
His languid gaze fell upon Oh-jin.
A wretched sight: his entire body pierced by sharp fragments from the shattered silver spear, clutching his severed right arm.
The amount of blood pouring out was enough that it wouldn't be strange for him to die of shock at any moment.
At this rate, he would die on his own without needing his throat cut.
“—Over, my ass.”
“……!!”
“Who the hell says it's over?”
*Boom!*
Oh-jin, who had been hunched over, straightened up as if spring-loaded.
He charged forward fiercely, his remaining hand clenched into a fist.
“Ha.”
Ashad Khan watched the charging Oh-jin with a look of disbelief.
“A persistent one, aren't you.”
He looked at Oh-jin with an expression of utter exasperation.
His momentum was fierce, but.
‘Slow.’
Having already lost a near-lethal amount of blood, his movements were incredibly sluggish.
*Swish.*
Ashad Khan turned to his left and swung his sword lightly towards Oh-jin's left arm.
*-Slice.*
The curved sword smoothly split his left arm in two.
Blood poured from the arm, split down the middle from fist to elbow.
It wasn't severed like his right arm, but.
The pain must have been so excruciating that having it cut off would have been better.
“You should have just stayed down. Now you've just earned yourself more pain....”
Cutting off Ashad Khan's words, which were laced with a venomous sneer,
“I told you—don't end it on your own terms, did I?”
He swung his right arm, now just a stump ending at the elbow, like a club and struck him across the cheek.
*-Thwack!!*
“Keuk!!”
Perhaps never imagining he'd be struck in the face by an arm that was only an elbow, Ashad Khan was knocked backward by the blow.
He climbed on top of the fallen Ashad Khan and slammed his forehead into the man's philtrum like a hammer.
“This is! Just! The beginning, isn't it? Huh?!”
*-Thud! Whack! Crunch!*
Once, twice, three times.
With all his might, even as the skin on his forehead tore.
“So who! The hell! Decided!! It was over!!!”
“Aaaaargh!!”
Ashad Khan reflexively swung a fist, striking his cheek.
*Crunch! Crack!*
His nose shattered.
Broken front teeth, mixed with blood, stabbed at his throat.
A crushed cheekbone dug into his eyeball.
And yet.
He doesn't stop.
He doesn't back down.
Once more, and again.
He slams his forehead down with all his strength.
“Kugh! You, you crazy bastard!!!”
“Kahak!!!”
Ashad Khan scrambled to his feet and kicked Oh-jin in the stomach.
Oh-jin coughed up blood and rolled across the ground.
“Ugh!”
Ashad Khan, his face contorted in a deep frown, touched his nose.
Wet blood soaked his hand.
“Dammit!”
A harsh curse escaped his lips.
To think he'd receive such an injury even after receiving the 'blessing'.
And from an opponent whose body was riddled with shattered spear fragments and had an arm cut off, no less.
“Don't end it on my own terms…?”
Ashad Khan strode toward the fallen Oh-jin.
He brutally stomped on Oh-jin's knee.
*Craaaack!!*
“Aaaaargh!!”
The stomped leg bent at an unnatural angle.
“Well!! Isn't this what you wanted? Why are you just lying there like an idiot?”
Keeping his weight on the stomped knee, he twisted his foot as if putting out a cigarette.
The shattered leg bone could be seen tearing through the knee and jutting out.
“Get up! Get up and fight me!”
“Kugh! Kuaaaaagh!!”
Ashad Khan thoroughly trampled Oh-jin's fallen body.
To inflict maximum pain.
He crushed his limbs, piece by piece.
“Hah, hah!”
A few minutes passed like that.
“……”
Not even a scream escaped the fallen Oh-jin anymore.
“…Ptui!”
Ashad Khan spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth.
He had gotten more worked up than necessary by Oh-jin's unexpected counterattack.
‘Crazy bastard.’
Recalling the sight of him slamming his head down with a crazed shout sent a chill down his spine.
He had faced many enemies before.
But he had never seen such a tenacious monster, not even in the Demonic Realm.
‘Still.’
Ashad Khan calmed his ragged breathing and looked down at the fallen Oh-jin.
His body was a bloody pulp, its original form almost unrecognizable.
‘Now it's really over.’
As he thought that.
“Hu, huhu.”
A laugh escaped him unconsciously.
“Hahahahaha!! Finally, finally!!”
A thrilling sensation.
More than the sense of victory from defeating his enemy, it was the 'relief' of no longer having to fight that crazy bastard that came first.
After laughing like that for a while longer.
“…Pathetic.”
*Hoo.*
Instead of laughter, a deep sigh escaped.
Ashad Khan clicked his tongue and traced the seven strokes engraved next to his Stigma.
What was there to be so happy about, a 7-Star Awakened barely winning against a 4-Star Awakened even after receiving a Constellation's blessing?
If Cheon Do-yoon found out about this, he would immediately strip him of his Executor title.
But.
Even knowing that.
‘Still… it's over.’
He couldn't suppress the smile spreading across his lips.
*-Plip, plop.*
“Hm?”
He felt a cold sensation on his head.
One drop, two drops.
Raindrops seeped into the dry earth.
“Come to think of it, I think they said a typhoon was coming today.”
He looked up at the sky, thick with dark clouds, and narrowed his eyes.
*-Whoooooosh!!!*
Not even thirty seconds after the first drops fell, the rain began to pour down with tremendous force.
“Ugh!”
Was it because the rainwater was seeping into his wounds?
A short groan escaped Ashad Khan's lips.
‘Did I overdo it?’
He lifted his clothes slightly and looked down at his left chest, where the Stigma was engraved.
Centered on the Noctua Stigma engraved on his chest, hideous, tree-root-like veins were bulging.
“I should get going.”
Considering the price of the blessing would soon kick in.
He had to get out of here as quickly as possible.
‘...I should contact 'him' and report that the mission was a success.’
The one who had informed him that the Valhalla Guild and the Lightning Wolf were cooperating.
He thought of the 'King's Proxy', the one who was effectively leading the Black Star Society in place of Cheon Do-yoon, who rarely showed himself in public.
‘I think he said he's at the Association right now.’
In that case, he would have to be careful when contacting him.
Ashad Khan sheathed his curved sword at his waist and turned around.
*Crunch, crunch.*
He walked slowly, his feet treading on dry earth.
“Hmm?”
Something.
Was strange.
‘It's… dry?’
He reached his hand toward the ground.
Dry soil trickled through his fingers.
“…What the.”
In the middle of a torrential downpour that seemed to pierce the sky.
How could there be 'dry soil'?
He turned his head to look around and saw that not just the spot he was standing on, but the entire area around him was dry.
Yes.
As if.
The pouring rain was being absorbed somewhere.
“Where… do you… think you're going?”
“……!!!!”
Ashad Khan spun around hastily.
“Wha-what. How are you…?”
His eyes wide, he stared at Oh-jin, who was slowly getting to his feet.
“Puhuhuhu! To be honest, I didn't calculate this far ahead.”
*Stagger, stagger.*
He gets to his feet.
He stands on the crushed earth with his mangled legs.
*Crack, creak!*
As if a video was being played in reverse.
The leg, bent at an unnatural angle, snapped back into place.
The leg bone that had pierced through the skin retreated back into the flesh.
“Well, you got the blessing of the Black Star or whatever, so shouldn't I get a blessing of this level too?”
*Bubble, bubble.*
New flesh sprouted from the cross-sections of his wounds, as if boiling.
Both of his severed arms were restored to their original state, as if they'd never been cut.
“Haaah.”
Oh-jin spread his arms wide toward the pouring rain.
The cold drops of water striking his skin.
He closed his eyes gently, taking in the pouring rain with his entire body.
[The area is filled with the energy of water.]
[The efficiency of the skill 《Hydro-Affinity Lv MAX》 increases explosively!]
“Earlier… you said something about the Owl's time?”
He grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth.
He slowly opened his closed eyes.
“Then.”
From now on.
“—It's my time.”
Beneath the black sky, draped with thick, dark clouds.
A pair of blue eyes flashed fiercely.