Chapter 116: Owl Hunting (7)

Chapter 116: Owl Hunting (7)

"Ugh..."

"Cough. Kuh."

The sound of dreadful screams gradually decreased inside the prison filled with purple gas.

"You haven't died, don't overreact."

Ohjin smirked as he looked at the restrained Owls.

"I won't let you die here."

To them, death was an excessive luxury.

"Ah, ugh."

The Owls looked at him with tears in their eyes like they would prefer death.

"You need to live and pay for your sins, don't you?"

"Uh, u... ah."

An Owl he was looking at dropped his head with a groan, on the verge of breaking.

'This is probably enough.'

Even if Ohjin didn't kill them, he would be able to absorb their mana without much difficulty in their weakened states.

'There was never a condition that required the target to be dead in order to use Stigma Absorption.'

Although it was still impossible for him to absorb the mana of an energetic target, it was a completely different story if they were on the verge of death.

'Black Heaven.'

The black clouds that crept out of his hand started to mix with the purple gas and spread out across the entire prison. The clouds greedily wiggled around as if they were living organisms and headed to the chests of the Owls.

"Haa."

Rumble!—

Mana rode up through the Black Heaven's clouds and flowed into Ohjin. It was unfortunate that he wasn't able to obtain new stigmas, as everyone there had the stigma of Noctua, but being able to suck out the mana of over 2,000 Awakeners was an incredible opportunity.

'Kya! There's no elixir like this!'

Needless to say, their mana was very lacking in quality, but the overwhelming amount of quantity did more than enough to neutralize that shortcoming.

Rumble!!—

'This is crazy.'

A bright smile was placed on Ohjin's face because of the mana that rushed in like a tsunami. It was what he believed to be the fastest method of growing stronger.

'Constant training is also important, but...'

Indeed, there was nothing better than stealing the efforts of others.

"There shouldn't be any case of lacking mana now."

Well, it wasn't like he lacked it before. It was just that with the incredible amount of mana he accumulated, he would now be able to use it without restraint.

'And...'

If he absorbed the stigma of over 2,000 Awakeners at once...

'...Perhaps?'

Ohjin looked down at the left side of his chest with an expression full of anticipation.

As if it was responding to him—

Rumbleeeeee!!!!—

—black clouds explosively soared out of his chest.

-Ring!

[You have absorbed an enormous amount of stigmas!]

[The Black Heaven's Fifth Awakening is starting!]

* * *

* * *

"Nice."

Ohjin smirked and snapped his fingers.

'Of course, this is how things should be. I absorbed the stigmas of over 2,000 Awakeners at once.'

Ohjin hadn't made his plans in anticipation of the mana which he didn't feel much need for but for the Black Heaven's awakening from the beginning.

Rumbleeeee!!—

The black clouds that twisted around him got sucked into his body.

[The Black Heaven has reached the Fifth Awakening.]

[The effects of the Black Heaven's traits have been enhanced.]

[A portion of the stigma of Lyra's sealed power has been released.]

[The Black Heaven's new trait, 'Heaven Unfolding', has been acquired!]

An intense surge of power boiled up with the message of the Fifth Awakening of the Black Heaven.

"Haa."

Crackle! Crackleeee!—

Sparks of lightning that were more profound and thicker than before blazed up frighteningly.

Putting the enjoyment of the power heating up his body aside, Ohjin's eyes headed to the message that said 'new trait'.

'Heaven Unfolding?'

"Let's see."

Ohjin opened the status board and confirmed the details of 'Heaven Unfolding'.

[Ευχαριστώ που ψάχνατε, έγραψα οτιδήποτε]

Pzzt!—

The status board made static noise as imperceivable letters appeared.

"What?"

He tried a couple more times, but the results were the same.

'Did some kind of error occur?'

And if that wasn't it...

'Or is it information I can't access yet?'

He didn't know what was correct, as he had never even heard of that phenomenon before.

"Hmm."

Ohjin tried a couple more times but soon sighed while shaking his head.

'There's nothing I can do right now.'

It was futile to invest any more time into something that couldn't be solved through thinking.

"Then..."

Ohjin sat on top of the gas tank and slowly closed his eyes.

Gaining enormous power wasn't the only thing he could earn from the Black Heaven advancing. In one way, it could be said to be more important than power to him since he was pretending to be a regressor.

Pzzt!—

[Transmission will start according to the advancement in the Black Heaven's awakening stage.]

'Come at me.'

The memories of what Lee Shinhyuk experienced in the 1st Round started to flow into his head.

-There's a star relic buried in Mt. Baekdu?

-Yeah. It's confirmed information that Sunyoung brought.

Lee Woohyuk nodded his head and sat in front of Lee Sinhyuk.

-I heard that those Pseudo Star Cult bastards are in the middle of desperately looking for that star relic.

-What star rank is it for them to act that way?

-I don't know.

Lee Woohyuk shook his head.

-But judging from how the Pseudo Star Cult is frantically in search of it, it's probably not a common star relic.

-That's true. Those bastards aren't ones to mobilize easily.

Lee Shinhyuk's eyes shone.

-Isn't it a jackpot if we find it?

-...Brother, that's not what's important.

-Ah.

Flinch—

Lee Shinhyuk's shoulders shook.

-Rather than finding the star relic, punishing those Pseudo Star Cult bastards is more important.

-Groan. I already know that, okay?

-...Sigh.

Lee Woohyuk exhaled deeply while looking at Lee Shinhyuk, who was avoiding his gaze.

-Well, let's try looking for it if we have time remaining. We might be able to use it as bait if we're able to snatch away the star relic they're so desperately after.

-R-Right? That's what I was trying to say!

-Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Brother.

Lee Woohyuk smiled as he nodded his head.

-By the way, Brother...

-Ah, wait a sec.

Lee Shinhyuk suddenly took out his phone and stared into his screen. His lip wriggled up.

-...Did Ha-eun contact you?

-Huh? Y-Yeah.

-What did she say?

-Ha-eun said that she'll sleep after taking care of her little brother and for me to sleep well.

Lee Woohyuk chuckled and started to click his tongue.

-Wh-What? Is there a problem?

-So when are you going to ask her out?

-Wh-What about you?! You haven't asked Sunyoung out yet, either!

-K-Khm!

Lee Woohyuk's cheeks heated up as he cleared his throat.

-By the way, about the person that's Ha-eun's little brother.

-Um, yeah?

-Have you met him before?

-...No.

-Hm. You don't even know his face or name, right?

-Yeah.

Lee Shinhyuk exhaled out a deep breath and nodded his head.

-I'm not sure why, but it seems like that person has a negative opinion of me. He even told her to keep his name a secret.

-What if Ha-eun and that guy are dating? I heard that he's not blood-related with her.

-N-No, that isn't it!!

Bang!—

Lee Shinhyuk hit the table with his fist and abruptly got up.

Soon, he scratched his head with an embarrassed expression and sat back down.

-So... I asked her once before... If she's in a relationship with the guy who she's taking care of.

-Did she say she wasn't?

-Yeah. She said that they weren't in a relationship.

Lee Shinhyuk shook his head.

-Then is their relationship something like family? I heard they've stuck together ever since her orphanage days.

-No, she said it wasn't that, either.

-Huh? Then just what kind of relationship are they in?

Lee Woohyuk's eyes opened wide as he tilted his head.

-About that...

Lee Shinhyuk bit his lips tightly and clenched his fist.

As if he was forcefully saying something he didn't want to, he hesitated for a while and soon opened his mouth with a deep sigh.

-That... they're in a relationship where staying together goes without saying.

The transmission ended with those words mixed in with his sigh.

Pzzt!—

[Part of Awakener Lee Shinhyuk's records were successfully inherited.]

[ has increased to .]

With the message that the spearmanship of Pyxis was raised to level 9, the transmission was completed.

"Ha..."

A slight smile was placed on Ohjin's face as he slowly looked back at the memories that flowed into his head.

'A relationship where staying together goes without saying, huh.'

Did she share the same thoughts as he did?

"...Hah."

For some reason, it was difficult to contain the laughter that slipped past his lips. Ohjin smiled for a while, and then swept back his hair while narrowing his eyes.

'Let's start by organizing the information I obtained.'

First off, about him during the 1st Round...

'They said that she was taking care of me...'

In that case, it could mean that he received an injury so severe that it required him to be taken care of by Ha-eun.

'Well, I would've been thrown away to the herd of Ant-horns.'

Just being able to survive that was a miracle.

'And that would explain why I avoided Lee Shinhyuk.'

Ha-eun wasn't saved by him, but by Lee Shinhyuk in the 1st Round.

And if he heard that news...

'...I wouldn't be able to face him.'

When he heard the news that the bastard who threw him away at a herd of monsters to run away was the one who cured Ha-eun's eyes, what kind of emotions would he have felt?

"..."

It wasn't easy for him to imagine, as he hadn't experienced it personally.

"Well... let's put this aside for now."

Ohjin kept thinking for a while but eventually shook his head. He started to think of another bit of information he had obtained from Lee Shinhyuk's memories.

'The star relic buried in Mt. Baekdu and the Pseudo Star Cult...'

Pseudo Star Cult.

That group didn't fail to appear once again.

'Will I be able to meet them if I go to Mt. Baekdu?'

There was no method to find out precisely 'when' the matters took place, as there was no information that indicated the time period in the memories that time around.

'It does seem to be at a later point than now since Lee Woohyuk doesn't know about the Pseudo Star Cult at the moment.'

Ohjin still wasn't able to find out what kind of group the Pseudo Star Cult was and why Lee Woohyuk and Lee Shinhyuk were after them.

"For now... there's more than enough reason to try going there."

He wasn't sure if he would be able to obtain the star relic since he had no idea where it was buried, but it was worth a shot.

'I can take things slow.'

There was still time remaining since Lee Woohyuk didn't know the Pseudo Star Cult in the present.

'It'll probably be enough time to get my body used to my newly obtained strength.'

Bzzzzt!—

Ohjin created lightning on top of his palm and smiled.

"Well, then."

He turned his head to look around.

"Ah... uh."

"Kugh... uk."

The Owls that had their mana sucked out by the Black Heaven's clouds were trembling with their eyes turned inside out.

Ohjin had intentionally left some mana behind.

Although it was just a handful of mana, there was a reason he left it behind.

"Domination."

Once more, black clouds spread across the prison.

"...Heh."

"Heh-hehe."

Soon, the Owls put on dumb expressions with cloudy eyes.

It could've been because his trait was enhanced from the Black Heaven advancing stages or because the Owls' mental states were completely destroyed, but he was able to succeed in dominating over 2,000 Owls at once.

"Forget about everything that happened here today."

"...Yes."

"I shall follow... your orders."

"And sincerely repay your sins for the rest of your lives, you bastards."

Ohjin used the valve to close the gas tank from leaking any more poisonous gas.

"Now..."

Before opening the door to head outside, he looked back and respectfully bowed down to the restrained Owls.

"Thanks for the meal~!!!"

T/N: 'Ευχαριστώ που ψάχνατε, έγραψα οτιδήποτε' Search the meaning of this for an Easter Egg from the author :^ ).