Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Ancient Constellation (7)
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“The Black Lion, Lee Woo-hyeok…”
A man with a long sword scar by his right eye gazed out the window, clicking his tongue softly.
His gaze fell upon a young man relentlessly pushing back against hundreds of demonic beasts.
-Ruuuumble!
The roar was loud enough to reach the top floor of the skyscraper.
Each time Lee Woo-hyeok swung his sword, dozens of demonic beasts were torn to shreds.
“I never thought the Black Lion would come here.”
Park Geon-woo looked down at Lee Woo-hyeok with a fervent gaze.
He carefully stroked the spear on his back, his breath heavy with excitement.
*I'd like to face him.*
To see how well his spear would fare against the Black Lion's sword.
He wanted to leap down right now and find out for himself.
-Vmmm! Vmmmm!
“Ah, it seems you want to fight too.”
Park Geon-woo gripped the spear on his back, speaking to it in a gentle voice as if it were his lover.
“Be patient a little longer. Soon, you'll be able to drink your fill of blood.”
A faint smile on his lips, he patted the trembling spearhead.
*Not yet.*
Though the blood of a warrior boiled within him.
He couldn't ruin a perfectly laid plan just to fight Lee Woo-hyeok.
Shhk.
He carefully took a black cup from his pocket.
“Attack while avoiding him as much as possible.”
At his quiet command, the dark energy within the cup rippled gently.
The energy, which had once filled the cup to the brim, was now less than half full.
“Tsk. At this rate, it won't last much longer.”
Park Geon-woo clicked his tongue and put the cup back inside his coat.
He looked down at the fierce battlefield, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
*Well, I've already achieved my goal, anyway.*
The core of this plan wasn't to kill the Awoken, including the Black Lion, but to ‘sacrifice’ the unchosen—those who hadn't been selected by a Constellation.
And this incident had already claimed more than enough of their lives.
“Huhu. Don't be too sad. All of this is a sacrifice to realize the will of the great Black Star in this world.”
Park Geon-woo smiled faintly as he looked down at the corpses torn apart by the demonic beasts.
Spin.
After gazing out the window for a while, he turned without hesitation.
*It's about time I headed back.*
It would be troublesome if he lingered here and caught the Black Lion's attention.
“Hehe. Well, it's not like he'll ever reach this place, anyway.”
Below the skyscraper where he stood, a rift leading to the Demonic Realm had opened.
As long as the rift remained open, demonic beasts would pour out endlessly. Not even Lee Woo-hyeok could break through that horde to reach the top floor.
“No matter how ferocious a lion is, it doesn't have wings.”
He looked down at the desperately fighting Lee Woo-hyeok, a cold sneer on his lips.
There were still about twenty minutes left until the rift to the Demonic Realm closed.
For that time, at least, this place was an untouchable sanctuary—
“I’m flyiiiing! Flyiiiiing! Fuuuuuuuuuck!!!”
“Huh?”
What’s that sound?
Just as Park Geon-woo raised his head toward the sound.
-Craaaash!!!
The glass window shattered horrifically as a young man came tumbling into the building.
Curly black hair.
Fiercely glowing eyes that didn't match his gentle features.
“…Lightning Wolf?”
“Ugh, damn. Thought I was a goner.”
Oh-jin brushed the glass shards off his body and stood up.
He glanced around, then turned to Park Geon-woo and grinned.
“You're the one controlling the demonic beasts?”
“…How did you get here?”
Park Geon-woo stared at Oh-jin, his expression one of disbelief.
The floor he was on was the 50th floor.
A floor located over 200 meters high.
But he ‘jumped’ up here?
“You… what trick did you use?”
“Hit a home run.”
“……?”
“What, you bastard? You don't know what a home run is?”
Is he a Hanwha fan?
“Anyway. We're not exactly in a situation to have a leisurely Q&A session, are we? Right?”
Asking each other questions is a waste of time when neither of us is going to answer honestly.
-Click.
Oh-jin took a metal rod from his waist and formed it into a spear.
“Let's save the Q&A for after we've had a go at each other.”
“…You're quite confident.”
“Should I be cowering and thinking my life is screwed before we even fight?”
It'd be different if I wasn't planning on fighting in the first place.
But once you've decided to fight, you should erase any thought of defeat from your mind.
*And.*
I didn't come all this way without a plan.
*This is doable.*
I reached 5-Star while fighting Ashad Khan.
Heukcheon achieved its fourth bloom, and the Stigma of Lyra grew even stronger.
Even if my opponent was a Political Officer ranked higher than Ashad Khan, I was confident I wouldn't lose easily.
*If this was an enemy I absolutely couldn't handle, Vega would've stopped me no matter what.*
But Vega only said she ‘found’ him; she never said I absolutely shouldn't go or that I should run away immediately.
If the Constellation of Polaris detected him despite the restrictions and didn't say anything like that…
*It means he's an opponent I can definitely fight and win against.*
And one more thing.
I had an ace up my sleeve.
*Well, I don't know if it's actually possible or not.*
It wouldn't matter much even if my trump card failed.
*If it doesn't work, I can just book it to where Lee Woo-hyeok is.*
I had no hesitation about running away.
Fighting an unbeatable opponent until you die was the dumber move.
“Alright, enough talk. Let's do this.”
Oh-jin aimed his spear at Park Geon-woo.
“A spear. Come to think of it, they did say Lightning Wolf uses a spear.”
Park Geon-woo sneered and twirled the spear in his grip.
A short spear, less than two meters long.
Unlike Oh-jin's, it was a spear specialized for thrusting.
“Let's see the skills of the great Apostle of Polaris!”
Without any preliminary motion.
Park Geon-woo's body shot forward like a beam of light.
-Kaaaaang!!
“Kuhk!”
Oh-jin hastily retreated, swinging his spear in a short arc.
With a clear clang of metal, his body was pushed back.
“This is just the beginning!”
Park Geon-woo's sharp thrusts rushed in.
Each time he thrust his spear, black feathers formed around it and shot toward Oh-jin.
-Kakang! Kakagagagagang!!
A hail of spear strikes.
Each black feather targeted Oh-jin as if it were a spearhead.
“Kuhk!”
Oh-jin barely blocked the attacks, swallowing a groan.
*As expected, he's damn strong.*
The opponent's skill was clearly a level above Ashad Khan's.
He was at least an 8-Star opponent.
*Yeah, this is how it should be.*
Thump, thump.
Was it because it had been a while since he'd fought someone strong?
A thrilling tension he hadn't felt since Ashad Khan spread down his spine.
“Was this all you had to back up your arrogant words?”
Park Geon-woo pressed Oh-jin fiercely, as if he'd seized the upper hand.
-Kang! Kang! Kaaaaang!
Oh-jin barely blocked the relentless barrage of strikes as he continued to think.
*Should I use Exceed?*
A 1 or 2-Star difference might be manageable.
But without Exceed, it would be difficult to close the fundamental gap in specs between a 5-Star and an 8-Star.
*No, not yet.*
It wasn't easy to receive attacks when he was so far behind in both strength and speed, but…
*For now—I can hold on.*
The Pyxis spearmanship that flowed in through Lee Shin-hyeok's memories.
He was using the spearmanship that could freely control all bearings and directions to barely offset the overwhelming difference in their specs.
“…Indeed. Your spearmanship, at least, is commendable.”
Park Geon-woo looked at Oh-jin with admiration, but then let out a sneer.
“But in the end, the spearmanship you wield is nothing more than a soulless, incomplete version.”
“What?”
Soul?
What's this bastard going on about a soul for?
“You—what do you think of the 'spear'?”
“That it’s a weapon you can't really name a cool energy attack for.”
“What? What do you mean?”
*‘Sword Ki’ works, but ‘Spear Ki’ just sounds wrong.*
“……”
Park Geon-woo stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“Hearing you spout such nonsense, I now understand why your spearmanship felt so soulless.”
He caressed the spear in his hand as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
“The likes of you think of the spear as nothing more than a tool for slaughter.”
“If not that, then what is it, you prick?”
Park Geon-woo's eyes grew deep and solemn as he extended the spear forward.
With a disciplined movement, he brought his feet together, spun the shaft, and struck the floor with a thump!
“The spear is the truth that pierces all of creation. The horizon that divides the void from reality.”
“Huh?”
All cre… what?
“It possesses the qualities of both flow and strength, and according to the principles of the Taegeuk—”
“Explosive Lightning.”
Kwajajajajak!!!
“Keoheok!!!”
Struck by the exploding lightning, Park Geon-woo's body was violently thrown backward.
“What a load of bullshit.”
The horizon that divides the void from reality?
The principles of the Taegeuk?
“A spear is just a weapon made for stabbing and tearing people apart, you idiot.”
What's the point of spouting all that crap about creation and truth when you're just using it to kill people? What a poser.
“Instead of spewing nonsense, why don't you swing your spear one more time?”
Fwoosh!
He savagely slammed down his spear, now wreathed in Lightning Flames.
-Kaaaaaaang!!!
“Kuhk!!!”
Park Geon-woo hurriedly raised his spear, barely blocking the attack.
“You, you, you bastard… how dare you…!”
Did he think his beliefs about the spear had been mocked?
Park Geon-woo gripped his spear, his face flushed red with rage.
“Then let's see you try to defeat me with pure spearmanship alone!!”
“With pure spearmanship alone?”
“Yes! Let's fight without using our Stigmas!”
Park Geon-woo shouted gallantly, pointing the tip of his spear at Oh-jin.
“Without using our Stigmas…”
Oh-jin nodded.
“Alright. Let's have a fair fight using only spearmanship.”
“I will prove you wrong.”
Park Geon-woo moved his spear with fluid grace.
The warrior's blood engraved in his soul began to boil.
“The spear—is no mere tool.”
In a world of rifts and swarming monsters, the only thing that had protected him…
was not his family, his friends, or his lover.
It was a single spear.
This one spear had guided him to the Black Star.
“The spear is a part of my body.”
Body and Spear as One.
A state said to be attainable only by reaching the pinnacle of spearmanship.
He had reached that state long ago.
“Come.”
Park Geon-woo aimed the tip of his spear at Oh-jin.
A picture-perfect stance.
Even without using his Stigma, the aura emanating from him was breathtakingly intense.
“Here I come.”
Unyielding to the suffocating pressure.
Oh-jin raised his spear.
Without using his Stigma.
For a clash of pure spearmanship against spearmanship—
“Exceed.”
Kwazijijijijijik!!!
The Stigma of Lyra erupted fiercely, and blue lightning wrapped around Oh-jin's entire body.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
“What do you think, you bastard?”
I was lying.