Chapter 128: Endless Night (4)

Chapter 128: Endless Night (4)

A strand of lightning struck down from the clear blue sky as if a god was enraged.

Fzzzzzzzzzzzt!—

The lightning that shot down at the empty lot gradually turned into the shape of a human.

"Oh... jin?"

It was the young man that Ha-eun was tantalizingly waiting for and also the person she wanted to see the most at that moment.

"..."

Ohjin confidently stood in the middle of the empty lot and looked around with deeply sunken eyes.

—The men who wore black robes and surrounded the area...

—The old man who wore a neat Taoist garment.

—And Ha-eun, who was crying in a restrained state.

Scrunch—

Ohjin's gentle face distorted like a Yaksha.

Blue fen fires burned in his eyes and wavered ferociously.

"Hmm?"

Cheon Doyoon furrowed his brow while turning his head around.

"What business do you have here?"

"...Take it off."

"What?"

"I said take your hand off my sister, you bastard."

Bang!!—

Ohjin shot his wire shooters at Cheon Doyoon.

Six silver wires burning with blue flames shot towards Cheon Doyoon with the intent to wrap around him.

"Ho."

Cheon Doyoon let out a brief exclamation and lightly jumped back. His nearly ironed black Taoist garment fluttered as his body skated back.

"Your sister... It seems that this old man has made a mistake."

With his eyes blinded by the Dragon Eye, he had done a poor job of investigating the prey's connections and their relationships.

It was an undeniable mistake made from being blinded by greed.

"Holholhol. Still, your sister... but I'm sure this child doesn't have any relatives."

No matter how blinded he was, conducting a basic investigation was a given.

The woman named Song Ha-eun was abandoned by her parents when she was born and had grown up at an orphanage.

He couldn't imagine that she had such a deep connection with the Lightning Wolf that he would come rushing in with such determination.

"I heard the Queen of Leeches has a bad case of jealousy problems, but you've managed to get by."

* * *

* * *

Holholhol—

Cheon Doyoon let out his peculiar laughter and took a step forward.

"Let me offer you a proposal."

"Proposal?"

"The two eyes of this child. This old man will be satisfied with just that."

His wrinkly mouth twisted up.

"Wouldn't that be much better than losing your lives?"

"Shut up."

Ohjin grasped his spear like it wasn't even worth considering,

"Tch, tch."

Cheon Doyoon clicked his tongue while shaking his head and then stared at Ohjin with his cold eyes.

"Even if you are the Queen of Leeches's mate, I cannot let it slide this time."

"Don't worry."

Bzzzzzt!!—

Blue lightning coiled around Ohjin.

"I also have no intentions of letting this slide."

From the moment he laid hands on Ha-eun, he would no longer use lies to pacify the situation.

"O-Ohjin! Run away!!" Ha-eun shouted with a pressed face.

"..."

Despite having trembled from fear just moments ago...

Despite having cried pathetically from being overwhelmed by fear...

'Run Away' was what she shouted.

"Are you insane?! You already know that Lee Woohyuk got helplessly beaten up by that bastard!! There's no way you can beat—"

"Why does that matter?"

"What? Wh-What do you mean?"

"You want me to run away since I can't win?"

After chuckling, he rotated his spear.

There was no need to weigh the odds of victory.

There was no need to calculate the chance of winning.

Whether he could win or not wasn't important.

If he couldn't take down the King of Owls on that spot, he would lose his entire meaning in life.

'And if that's the case...'

He would squeeze out everything he could,

scrape up every nook and cranny,

and struggle with all his might.

'Like I've always done.'

Boom!—

He roughly stomped down and shot forward.

'Exceed.'

Blue lightning wrapped around his entire body.

"Holholhol. You are making a foolish choice."

Cheon Doyoon smiled slyly and stretched his hand forward.

He lightly shook his palm like he was shooing a fly away, and with that simple movement, thousands of black feathers rained down at Ohjin.

"Fuu."

Ohjin calmly breathed in.

'Stigma of Clepsydra.'

Suddenly, the world flowed slowly as if time had come to a halt.

—The thousands of black feathers poured down like rain.

He looked for an opening through the gapless rain of death.

'One step to the right, three steps to the left, and two steps back. Left again and jump.'

Ohjin imagined the movements in his head.

The experience he gained through the extreme image training of avoiding thousands of lasers while receiving horrible burns bore fruit.

Ttutututututu!!!—

The pouring black feathers missed Ohjin's body by a thread as if they were shooting a Hollywood action film.

"...What?"

Cheon Doyoon's eyes opened wide.

It was an attack that could be blocked but was impossible to avoid.

The Star of the Weaver Girl's wolf avoided all of his attacks with splendid movements and fiercely ran at him.

"What kind of nonsensical..."

"Huaaaaaaaa!!"

Ohjin approached him in an instant and roared out.

"M-My King!"

"Block him!!"

The Owls surrounding them quickly obstructed Cheon Doyoon's front.

"Get the fuck out of my way!"

Ohjin rotated his body and swung his spear down. The spear's blade engulfed in blue flames cut an Owl's body in half.

—Blood poured like rain.

Through the gap, Ohjin could see Cheon Doyoon's distorted face and his hand thrusting forward.

Ktutututu!!—

Black feathers started to lump together.

A three-meter-long wedge made out of black feathers. reminiscent of an owl's sharp beak. shot at Ohjin, and he blocked the attack using the gauntlet on his left arm.

"Argh!"

A frightening amount of force was felt through his left arm.

The gauntlet absorbed more mana than it could handle in the blink of an eye and started to redden like it was going to melt at any moment.

'There's no gap to use the counterattack.'

In that case...

Swoosh!—

He held his gauntlet up at an angle and let the black wedge slide past.

After absorbing mana over its allowed limit, cracks started to form on the gauntlet.

"Ah, ugh."

Ohjin felt intense pain once his left arm with the gauntlet equipped twisted in a strange direction.

'Ignore it.'

Ignoring pain wasn't anything too difficult.

"You have enough skill to back up your arrogance."

Holholhol—

Cheon Doyoon laughed, and his eyes shone coldly.

"However, that is all."

His black garment fluttered as he spread his arms out.

A black tsunami appeared out of thin air and approached Ohjin.

"Will you be able to avoid this as well?"

"Kugh!"

—A black tsunami that was several meters high.

The tsunami made of an uncountable number of feathers devoured everything in its path as it rushed at Ohjin.

"Haa, haa!"

He couldn't avoid it, even if he went to the right, left, or above.

'Then...'

Ohjin rotated the spear in his hand and struck the blade down onto the ground.

—Blue Lightning and Lightning Charge.

The two skills intertwined and exploded at the tip of the spear.

Craaaack!—

The floor split apart, causing a crater to form, and Ohjin threw his body into the gap opened in the floor.

He could feel the black tsunami passing by over the top of his head.

"Ho. Your quick-witted senses leave me speechless."

A short exclamation left Cheon Doyoon's mouth.

There was nothing special about breaking the floor to avoid the attack if it wasn't possible to avoid by going any other direction, however...

'Taking action without a second of hesitation when death is approaching right in front of his eyes...'

It wasn't possible to grasp how fast one's decisiveness and situational judgment had to be to display those movements.

"You're too dangerous to keep alive."

The leisure on Cheon Doyoon's face disappeared as it stiffened.

"Hmpf!"

His garment fluttered as he wrote a complicated letter in the empty air.

"Celestial of Noctua..."

Owooong!!—

Cheon Doyoon's blazing stigma sparkled as an immense amount of suffocating mana poured out.

A stigma with nine flicks was exposed through the gap of his fluttering garment.

"Please grant me the feathers that will tear your opponent to shreds."

He spread his arms out wide and swung them down as if he was flapping wings.

"Ten Thousand Black Feather Blossom(黑翼萬花)."

A black storm raged up in the blue sky that had not a cloud in sight.

Hundreds...

Thousands...

Tens of thousands...

An uncountable number of feathers poured down in Ohjin's direction.

"Kugh!"

Ohjin's flesh tore as his body was grazed by the black feathers, and his entire body was colored red as if he had taken a shower using blood.

'Not yet...'

Ohjin endured the intense pain of his sliced body and ground his teeth.

The difference between Ohjin and Cheon Doyoon was so overwhelming that the act of comparing them itself was embarrassing.

Even if he was a special case that could face 8-Star Awakeners without much difficulty, it was an entirely different story if the opponent was a 'high-rank Awakener' who was at or above 9-Stars.

In order to narrow the massive gap that existed between them...

'I need to endure... a little longer.'

Ohjin's eyes shone as he used his blue lightning to barely fend off the raining black feathers.

"Die, Star of the Weaver Girl's wolf."

Cheon Doyoon's cold voice echoed in his ears.

He announced Ohjin's death like it was natural with a dull voice.

"Kugh! Kuk! Cough!"

Stumble—

Ohjin's body collapsed like a doll that had its strings cut off.

"Ohjinnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!"

Ha-eun's ear-splitting wail resonated out.

"Holholhol."

Cheon Doyoon turned his body around, believing his work to be finished.

"Don't worry, I will send you to your little brother's side soon."

"Y-You son of a bitch!!!"

Ha-eun struggled with all her might.

Clack, clack!!—

The chains tied around her clattered, making the loud noise of metal.

"I'll fucking kill you!!!"

"Holholholhol!!"

When Cheon Doyoon took a step forward with a thick smile—

"Now."

Boom!—

—Ohjin, who was collapsed on the floor, violently leaped up.

Blue fen fires lit up in his two eyes soaked in blood.

"Fuuuuuu!!"

Bzzzzzzzt!!—

Ohjin quickly flew up to Cheon Doyoon, who was facing the opposite direction.

"Hmm, you weren't dead?"

Cheon Doyoon had a surprised expression for a moment, but it soon turned calm as he raised his arm.

Wings made of black feathers covered him for protection.

No, to be more accurate... the black feathers tried to cover him.

'Domination.'

Ohjin lowered his posture and grasped his spear.

-Ring!

[The target's 'star' rank is too high!]

[Domination has failed!]

"Hmm?"

Ohjin didn't think domination would succeed anyways. What Ohjin wanted was to create an opening right before the black feathers completely covered Cheon Doyoon's body.

"Vegaaaaaaaaa!!"

Ohjin roared out the Star of the Weaver Girl's name.

Bright silver light shone out of the pendant around his neck.

"What...?"

Cheon Doyoon's eyes widened.

[I was wondering why you were calling me this urgently.]

Vega looked at Ha-eun in restraints and Ohjin covered in blood as soon as she materialized and unleashed her power without hesitation.

[It seems that you are in need of my help.]

Owoong!—

Radiant rays of silver light permeated into Ohjin's body.

Ohjin's mana amplified explosively after he received his celestial's blessing.

"Kuh!!"

Cheon Doyoon quickly withdrew with an expression of dismay.

Due to his certainty of victory, he couldn't prepare for the attack in time.

'I'm too la—!"

Piercing through the wings made of black feathers, the spear blazing with blue lightning shot straight at him.