Chapter 192: Starzone Monsters (3)
Chapter 192: Starzone Monsters (3)
Woosh!—
Ohjin quickly shot across the dark-red sea covered with Ant-horns.
The intense heat gradually made it hard for him to open his eyes as he got closer to the deeper parts of the sea.
'It feels like I'm at a volcano.'
He covered his body in mana and activated the stigma of Bufo.
His skin turned ash-gray and lessened the heat he felt on his skin.
'The simple effect of enhancing your body really is useful.'
Not only did it increase your strength, but it also raised your durability and dexterity, which made it incredibly versatile.
"Krrrrr!"
"Roaaaaaar!"
The Ant-horns shrieked and quickly swam across the sea.
Ohjin activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs to enhance his eyesight and examined the crowded group of Ant-horns.
'Found it.'
He spotted the buoy that was floating between the Ant-horns and had the words 'No Entry' written on it.
It was the area managed by the Colagrande Household that he found when he was swimming with Vega.
'There should be a gate around here.'
On top of that, the possibility of a dragon vein flowing in that gate was high.
Ohjin narrowed his eyes and looked down at the sea that was so full of Ant-horns that he couldn't even see the water beneath them.
"I need to get through them somehow..."
What he needed was a powerful technique that would allow him to penetrate through the Ant-horns.
He didn't have to think hard to figure out which skill in his arsenal displayed the most firepower.
'Lightning God Physique.'
His eyes turned cold.
The skill was as burdening to use as it was powerful, but there was nothing else that would be as effective.
"Charge."
Bzzzzt!—
With his left hand holding the spear, he extended his right arm and blue lightning started to gather in it.
'Charge, Charge, Charge.'
One time, two times, three times, four times...
The blue lightning in his right arm became fiercer with each successive Charge.
"Ugh."
The pain made it feel like his muscles were tearing apart and that he was getting skinned.
His veins twisted, and his mana circuits heated up.
Just when he started to think that the pain would pass his threshold and that his arm would blow up—
BZZZZZZZT!—
—his lightning-covered right arm became lightning itself.
Immense energy poured out of his arm that had turned into the body of the Lightning God from the tip of his finger to his shoulder.
"Kruu?"
"Kuuu! Krrrrrr!"
Had the Ant-horns felt the intense energy of mana that was blazing like the sun over their heads? The monsters that were once busy swimming across the sea like crazy stopped in their tracks to simultaneously look up at Ohjin.
They trembled while looking at the arm of the Lightning God.
Gathering up into one spot, they started to overlap their bodies and create a tower.
Just like how the giant's body was raised from the sea at the beginning, an uncountable number of Ant-horns gathered up into one entity and moved its body in his direction.
The mass of monsters tried to envelop Ohjin like an enormous tsunami.
"Too late."
Ohjin smirked while looking at the tsunami of Ant-horns approaching him and reached out with his lightning arm.
"Divide."
C
R
A
C
K
L
E
!
A blue lightning bolt shot from his arm and divided the Ant-horn army down the middle, and a strong stench stung his nose.
The Ant-horns' arms and legs were torn apart and fell from the sky like rain.
"Huff, huff!"
Ohjin took in rough breaths and bit his lips.
Just how many had he killed in one blow? A thousand? Ten thousand?
There was no way to know for sure, but there was one thing that was certain...
'This is insane.'
It was already a powerful skill that could incapacitate a high-ranking Awakener of a North Star, but it had become even stronger with the Black Heaven's seventh awakening.
As powerful as it was, the side effects were, naturally, nothing to scoff at.
"Argh!"
Ohjin chewed his lips and looked down at his tattered right arm.
All he had done was shoot a single lightning bolt, but the pain made it feel like his entire arm was going to tear off.
His vision distorted for a moment as he nearly lost consciousness—
'I need to go right now.'
—but he could see the tsunami of Ant-horns wriggling and starting to recover itself.
About ten thousand Ant-horns were hit by the lightning and died instantly, but there were still a shocking number of them covering San Fruttuoso's sea.
If he lost the opportunity he'd gained, finding the gate beneath the sea would become a pipe dream.
* * *
Translator - Maccas
Proofreader - ilafy
* * *
"Hmpf!"
He headed towards the sea that was littered with the corpses of Ant-horns.
Splash!—
A pillar of water soared up as his body crashed directly into the sea.
'Kugh.'
An intense heat made him feel like he was in a sizzling pot of oil, and he frowned.
The death of over ten thousand Ant-horns tainted what once used to be a beautiful emerald sea with their viscous blood and changed it to a ruby color.
'Stigma of Hippocampus."
Swoosh!—
His body shot forward like he had a motor attached to him once the stigma of Hippocampus activated.
That wasn't all.
'I can even breathe in the water."
After realizing that he could breathe in the bloody sea, he swam to the depths without hesitation.
The heat became even worse as he passed by the buoy containing the warning message and headed deeper into the sea.
It felt like he had submerged himself in lava.
'Found it.'
Ohjin's eyes shone when he discovered a massive seafloor cavern.
To be exact, it was what he suspected to have once been a seafloor cavern.
'Everything's completely destroyed.'
It looked like the pressure of the Ant-horns leaving the gate caused it to collapse. The seafloor cavern that should've been protecting the gate like a hard shell had crumbled.
"Krrrrrrr!"
"Kararak!"
Hundreds of monsters targeted Ohjin and swam towards him as he neared the gate.
Ohjin twisted his body and fiercely thrusted his spear.
Bzzzzzzt!!—
Blue lightning spread in the seawater and electrocuted the monsters.
'I don't have time.'
Ohjin needed to head to the dragon vein quickly.
He narrowed his eyes and observed his surroundings.
There was a gate emitting bright light through the gap in the broken rocks, and there was an enormous amount of mana flowing out like it was going berserk.
'Over there.'
He closed his eyes after approaching the gate.
'Dragon vein' referred to a place created by the entanglement of an unnaturally large flow of mana.
He slowly stretched his hand out to it.
'Black Heaven.'
Rumble—
The black clouds seeped out of his hand and covered the volcano-like red mana.
'Ugh!'
He felt a huge amount of mana pulsing into his body through the clouds.
The Black Heaven gluttonously devoured the dragon vein and the mana permeated his body.
'Still, there's not as much mana as before.'
Ohjin firmly grasped his consciousness and led the dragon vein's mana to the Black Heaven as it crashed in like a tsunami.
The endless black sky absorbed all of the dragon vein's mana, and he could tell that the boiling seawater's temperature was gradually decreasing.
And then—
Sizzle!—
—the stigma engraved on the left side of his chest gave off radiant light.
There were seven flicks right next to the stigma of Lyra.
He felt that a new, eighth flick was being engraved underneath them.
-Ring!
[You have successfully absorbed the dragon vein's mana!]
[The 'Stigma of Lyra' has been promoted to 8-Star!]
8-Star...
He finally set foot in the realm where becoming a high-ranking Awakener was just one step away.
'I did happen to think that it was about time.'
Ohjin believed that he would become an 8-Star Awakener soon after raising his skill to level 10 and obtaining Lightning God Physique, but he hadn't expected it to happen via absorbing the dragon vein.
His eyes shone as he looked down at the eighth flick on his chest
'By the way... is it over?'
After absorbing the dragon vein, he could tell that the sea was cooling down and confirmed the disappearance of the insane amount of mana.
He couldn't see from his location, but cutting off the dragon vein's mana should've influenced the Ant-horns that were attacking the town.
Ohjin turned his head to look at the monsters swimming towards him, and their movements felt much duller compared to before.
'It ended much easier than I thought it would.'
Needless to say, it was only possible since Ohjin had an overpowered ability called the Black Heaven that could absorb the dragon vein.
He put an end to the case without much trouble.
'Should I head back now?'
The dragon vein's mana did disappear, but the Ant-horns wouldn't die like some severed puppets.
He had to personally end the lives of the monsters that were weakened after losing their source of power.
When he was about to turn around to return to the shore where Ha-eun and Vega were—
'Hm?'
—he saw something in the gaps of the rocky debris.
...A fragment shining with blue light.
'...A star relic?'
No, it was the remains of a 'used' star relic.
Ohjin narrowed his eyes and examined the area around the fragmented star relic.
There was a fragment in every pillar that held up the undersea cavern, and he saw traces of huge explosions near those areas.
Only one conclusion came to mind...
'Its destruction wasn't a natural occurrence.'
Someone had intentionally made the cavern collapse and stimulated the dragon vein into going berserk.
'But why?'
What could they possibly obtain by causing the dragon vein to run wild?
"..."
The seawater encompassing his body was slowly losing its warmth as his questions remained unanswered.
* * *
"Krrrrr!"
"Roaaaaar!!"
Monsters covered the entire town.
Isabella tried to fend off the monsters with the household's employees, but they were getting pushed back by their numbers.
"Huff, huff."
A drop of sweat ran down her forehead, and she gasped for breath while holding a staff that shone with golden light.
'We won't last like this.'
Still, that didn't mean that they could retreat any farther. The moment the line of defense she was protecting fell apart, not only the tourists visiting San Fruttuoso, but also the residents would get torn apart by the monsters' teeth.
"Ugh."
Isabella looked up at the hot sun and chewed her lips with a nervous expression.
"I'll block them off. Everyone, head toward the town."
"Pardon?"
"H-However, we can't leave Lady Isabella beh—"
"Are you telling me that you're going to defy the next matriarch's order?"
Isabella's eyes shone coldly.
The employees anxiously looked at each other.
"You're all fired if you don't disappear from my sight within five seconds."
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
They turned around with pale faces and headed off.
"Sigh."
Left alone, Isabella narrowed her eyes and turned to face the monsters that were approaching.
She felt an intense pain radiating from the stigma engraved on her chest because of the 'curse'.
'I didn't want to use my powers during the day, but...'
Isabella was left with no other option.
"Krrrrrrr!"
"Kruuuuu!"
She coldly looked at the monsters.
Flinch—
The monsters that were charging in like crazy suddenly stopped simultaneously.
"Worthless beings."
The thick smell of blood spread out as red energy surrounded Isabella, and she leisurely extended her hand to the monsters.
Plop! Pop! Crunch!—
The monsters' bodies bloated up like overinflated balloons and blood exploded out like a fountain from tens of thousands of monsters.
"Huff, huff."
The Queen of Leeches clutched her chest with a distorted expression on her face amidst the thick puddles of blood.