Chapter 20: Unleash the Hounds (1)
Chapter 20: Unleash the Hounds (1)
"......"
A deathly silence.
The elder looked at Yujin with a very distorted expression.
"Holholhol. Yujin... just what are you doing?"
A horrifying killing intent bloomed from the frighteningly shining eyes of the elder.
"T-The, the thing is..."
His body shook as he desperately poured mana into the black drinking glass placed in the middle of the circle.
However, no matter how much he poured...
"Why... why is there no reaction..."
"...haa."
The white-haired elder, Cheon Doyoon, sighed deeply while stroking his beard.
"How much would the other Executors have mocked the owls if they saw this scene..."
"N-No! T-This is..."
"Yujin.
Flick—
He lightly flicked his finger.
Psk!!—
"Ughk!!"
A black feather shot out in the blink of an eye and grazed past his nape.
Blood flowed down his collarbone.
Yujin pressed down on his blood-dripping nape and looked towards Cheon Doyoon with eyes full of fear.
"E-Executor."
"Don't let me down any further."
"...Kugh. Yes, sir.
Chewing on his lips, he dropped his head.
"Eh, the mood has been ruined. Yujin, you may take your leave."
Tsk—
Cheon Doyoon clicked his tongue while turning his body away.
"The other Templars may also return to their post."
"Kek... kekek."
"Hohoho!"
The black-robed beings laughed mockingly while looking at Yujin.
Flutter!—
Soon, all of them disappeared.
"...Ah, ugh."
Yujin, who was left alone, clenched his fists.
"UaaaaaaaaaaaAH!!!!!!"
His outcry filled with anger rang throughout the dark mountain.
"Fuck!!! Fuck!!! Fuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!"
Tututu!! Tutututututu!!!—
Every time he convulsed, black feathers that appeared out of thin air swept the surroundings like a machine gun.
"Hugh! Hugh!"
Yujin faced the other direction with bloodshot eyes.
Step, Step—
He headed towards the insides of the observatory.
"S-Sir Yujin."
Underground, his fifty subordinates were shaking with fear behind their eyes.
"...That bastard."
An image naturally formed inside Yujin's head.
The youth with slightly droopy eyes who gave off a gentle impression.
"Where's the guy that went to kill that bastard?"
"T-That's"
"We... have lost contact."
"......."
Losing contact meant the failure of a mission.
"...find him."
"Yes?"
"I said find that son of a bitch, you useless pieces of shit!!!!"
Yujin's harsh criticism echoed throughout the basement.
* * *
One week after he returned from the dungeon in Mok-dong.
Ohjin hadn't entered any other dungeons and meekly stayed inside his home during this time.
There were two reasons.
One was obviously because he needed to hide himself from the Black Star Organization searching madly for him,
And the other was—
"Fuuu."
—to become used to his body and mana that had grown explosively after reaching the 3-Star rank.
"Ch-hat!"
On the rooftop of the rented house.
Hot sweat splattered over the shabby space filled with dark grime and mold.
Whoosh! Whoosh!—
Spearmanship flowed at a dazzling speed.
Movements in a series of stabs, cuts, and strikes naturally coursed through the air like flowing water.
"Hmpf!!"
After lightly stamping his feet, he jumped nearly 15 meters into the air and grabbed his ankles with both hands to conduct a back somersault.
It was an acrobatic movement a normal person wouldn't dare to attempt.
No, jumping in place close to 15 meters into the air was something difficult even for most Awakeners.
—Naturally.
It was nothing but a simple warmup for Ohjin, whose body had advanced another step higher after reaching 3-Star.
"Fuu."
Thud!—
Ohjin landed onto the ground with an elegant posture and looked down at his body drenched in sweat.
"Without a doubt... the stigma of Lyra is overpowered."
He had been overworking his body for 3 hours without rest from early morning until then, but although he was sweating, he didn't feel all that tired.
Even from Awakener standards, unless it was a stigma specialized in the body like Taurus, a 3-Star Awakener that could compare to him in simple physical ability most likely didn't exist.
'I can't be sure about the higher ranks, though.'
Regardless of the stigma's type, an Awakener's physical ability would improve as the star rank increased.
In cases where one possessed a physical-type stigma, their physical ability would increase much more compared to other stigmas.
'On the contrary, recovery-type stigmas like Aquarius would have small improvements on physical ability.'
To be more specific, even amongst physical-type stigmas—strength for a power type like Taurus strength, dexterity for a speed type like Scorpio—physical abilities would increase centered around their specialty.
'The reason why Lyra is overpowered is because even though it isn't a physical-type, it's still equipped with physical abilities around that level.'
The ability of the stigma of Lyra was lightning.
If you had to classify, it would not be a physical-type but a supernatural-type. Yet despite that fact, the physical abilities it held were powerful enough to slap Taurus's cheeks left and right.
Using a game as an analogy, you could say it was similar to a magician possessing a body powerful enough to smash the shit out of a warrior with their staff.
"If there was a game balance team, people would riot."
Ohjin giggled as he placed his spear against the wall.
Now that he had thoroughly trained his body, it was time to train the skills that came with his stigma.
"Skill board."
Boop—
Reacting to the low-pitched voice, a blue window appeared in front of his eyes.
[Stigma of Lyra]
⯁Possessed skills
①
②
③
He currently possessed three skills..
'I need to prioritize training Thunder & Lightning.'
It was the conclusion he came up with after training each skill over the past week.
'The skill that's the foundation of the stigma of Lyra is Thunder & Lightning..'
In the end, Blue Lightning and Thunder Fall were just skills derived from Thunder & Lightning.
'If I level Thunder & Lightning, the other skills will naturally rise with it.'
Gently closing his eyes, he focused mana into his left chest.
Crack! Crackle!!—
Blue lightning blazed as a powerful spark erupted.
The amount of lightning increased distinctly compared to when he was ranked 2-Star.
Controlling the lightning, he compressed it into the shape of a ball.
The lightning shrank into the size of a basketball and flashed violently.
"Looking at it like this, there certainly is a big difference.'
There was the influence of his total amount of mana increasing once he was promoted to 3-Star, but more than that, the large difference came from the fact that he could use more mana at once.
'Since my mana was overflowing when I was 2-Star anyways.'
Simply taking only the total amount of mana into account, he wasn't inferior compared to 6-Star; he had as much as 7-Star Awakeners at least.
'No, I might have more.'
"...There was a time when my mana wouldn't decrease even when I tried to burn through it."
Did it only refuse to decrease? No, rather, it had increased.
He recalled the memory of when his mana explosively increased when he had fired tens, hundreds of times in succession during combat with the mucus giant.
'Though I'm not sure why that kind of phenomenon happened...'
A few days ago, when he had set a day aside to experiment if the same phenomenon would happen again, his mana decreased as per usual.
'...Let's just keep that in mind for now."
Even if he thought about it now, It wasn't like he could figure out the cause or create the same phenomenon from back then.
"I'll just have to work on what I can right now."
* * *
Focusing the lightning flowing over his body to his fists, he performed light martial arts.
Whoosh! Whoosh!—
"Hmpf!"
Even if you called it martial arts, it was extremely clumsy, as he had never learned it professionally nor possessed a skill.
'Still, it's better than nothing.'
He was doing nothing but swinging his arms and legs in the air for now, but his skill would increase with time.
Crack! Crackle!!—
In any case, the point of the training was not for training martial arts, but to freely focus lightning to any part of his body.
Compared to his clumsy martial arts, he could feel his proficiency in handling lightning increase day by day.
"Ch-hat!"
For the finale, he retrieved the spear he had left by the wall and used lightning.
With blue lightning forming at its edge, the spear's blade cut sharply through the air.
"...Hm."
After he had continued training for around 30 minutes—
Tap—
—Ohjin placed the spear on the ground and furrowed his brows as if he was unsatisfied.
'Something about it just doesn't feel right.'
Tsk—
He clicked his tongue while looking down at the spear.
"This is a good weapon, but..."
Although Lee Shinhyuk's weapon was light and sharp, it interfered every time he used lightning because the spear's shaft was made out of wood.
'And only using the spear is somewhat of a shame.'
He kept on having a feeling that only using a spear wasn't enough to utilize lightning to its fullest extent.
In his last combat, he had also used nothing but his fists to fight the giant after sticking the spear into its back.
'It's not like I can become some kind of spear master from some Murim.'
The only reason he was proficient in spearmanship was because he had inherited Lee Shinhyuk's skill.
'I'll need to get new equipment soon.'
He didn't need it immediately since he was in more urgent need of raising his skill's proficiency over getting new equipment.
"Should I head back now?"
Holding his shirt drenched in sweat over his shoulders, he went down the stairs.
"Hm?"
Going down the stairs, Ha-eun could be seen.
She was on her crutches, smoking out the open window.
"You're smoking again?"
"Bruh, it's not like I smoke that much."
"I told you to smoke inside the house, don't come outside."
"But it smells."
"Then don't smoke."
"That's impossible."
"You deranged chain smoker."
Shaking his head, he headed past her towards the stairs that lead down.
As the house was only around twenty steps away, it was a distance where she could amply go back and forth.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Wait til I'm finished smoking, man."
"What kind of horrific words are you saying to a non-smoker."
"Smoke as well if you have any complaints. An Awakener's body will recover from the toxins in cigarettes on its own anyways."
"Waste of money."
"Fuck, why do I even bother," Ha-eun mumbled in a low-pitch and dropped her head.
"Finish quickly." he stopped by the stairs and waited for her to finish smoking.
Sizzle—
Ha-eun fumbled around for the ashtray and rubbed the cigarette out.
"Are you finished training?"
"Yup."
"Argh, you reek of sweat. Go and wash up, you rascal."
"Hey, you're the one who held me here."
"Ah, right. Hihi! Sorry~"
'This bitch.'
"Hupf."
Ha-eun, who had clumsily reached out her hands and hugged his arms, leaned her chin on his shoulder.
"Now, hurry up and support me."
"Didn't you say I smelled?"
"Mhm. It's so goddamn bad. My nose is going to rot, you bastard."
'Then why are you holding on to me.'
"...Haa."
He let out a short sigh and helped her into the house.
After laying Ha-eun down on the bed, he entered the cramped bathroom and filled a large plastic bowl with water.
Splash!—
He cooled his heated body with ice-cold water.
"Ooh, nice."
Letting out a moan like a middle-aged man that had finished a day's hard work, he scrubbed every nook and cranny with cheap soap.
Click—
Coming out after finishing the refreshing wash, he could see Ha-eun perched by the bed.
"Have you finished washing up?"
"Yup."
"Come here so I can confirm if you washed up well."
"Hey, I'm not a kid."
"Come here, you rascal," Ha-eun said as she tapped next to her seat.
He sat down next to her while smiling.
"Sniff, sniff."
Ha-eun, who had come up close, flared her nose and sniffed the smell.
Soon, the edges of her mouth perked up as if she was satisfied.
"Hihi!! So you've cleaned up properly, you rascal!"
"You looked so much like a fucking pervert just now."
"So what."
Poke Poke—
While using the tip of her finger to poke his side, she pouted her lips.
"Now, turn your back this way."
"Why?"
"Just listen to me, man."
Tilting his head, Ohjin turned his body around.
Knead—
Her soft touch made contact with his shoulders.
Her hands filled with just the right amount of strength gently stimulated his back muscles.
"Huh? You're giving me a massage?"
Ohjin unconsciously burst out into laughter.
"What, you got a problem?"
"Haha! No. It's because I like it."
"Shut up, you bastard."
Different from her violent language, Ha-eun's touch that was slowly circling and stimulating his back muscles was incredibly pleasant.
"I'm dying~!"
'Mhm, It feels so good.'
"Does it feel good, you bastard?"
Grunch—
Powerful pain, like his shoulders were stuck between some kind of press machine, shook him.
"I'm dying!!!"
"I'm seriously dying!!!!"
"Hehehe!! You baby, stop overreacting!"
Ha-eun broke out into laughter.
"Hey, what do you mean overreacting!"
Although she was nothing but a half-Awakener who couldn't use her stigma, as she was an Awakener that reached 7-Star in the past, the power behind her hand grip wasn't something you could laugh at.
"Huhuhu. Alright, alright, you baby. I'll do it softly."
Ha-eun giggled while massaging his back with just the right amount of strength as she had done at the start.
"It's finished."
"Thanks."
"Don't unnecessarily overdo yourself. How many hours have you been running around since dawn?"
"I'm not overdoing it."
As the stigma of Lyra was so overpowered, he didn't feel tired after continuous hours of training.
"You're talking back to me again."
Ha-eun lightly pinched his sides and carefully leaned her forehead onto his back.
"......"
An awkward silence suddenly set down.
"...Hey."
Cautiously.
A voice broke the awkward silence and rang out.
"Yeah?"
"After you became an Awakener... have you made a lot of money?"
"I made tons."
'I was lucky.'
The fact that he was the one and only apostle of Vega, received Lee Shinhyuk's memories, and that the Black Star Organization pushovers had appeared just at the right time.
He was making money at a speed incomparable to that of other Awakeners.
"...Really?"
Like chewing and swallowing grains of sand, she continued with a dry voice.
"Then I guess there aren't many days left of us living together."
As if a power switch was turned off.
A cold and stiff air spread throughout the cramped house.
"That's right."
Ohjin nodded quietly.
"There isn't much time left."
At this pace, he would soon be able to reach his goal of ten million dollars.
'And, if that happens...'
Everything would end.
Along with this everyday life that seemed like it would last eternally.
"Hihi! Did you suddenly become serious?"
Song Ha-eun giggled while smacking his back.
Smack! Smack!—
'It fucking hurts.'
Bzzzzzt!!—
At that moment, the smartphone he had placed on top of the shelf vibrated.
"What is it? Did you get a call?"
"Yeah. Give me a sec."
Looking at the smartphone, the name 'Team Leader Han Joonman' was displayed on the screen.
Click—
He opened the front door and took the call outside.
-Ah, are you available for a call?"
"Yes. I was actually going to contact you soon."
Just when he had thought of contacting them in order to sell the star stones and star relics he had ripped off of the Black Star Organization, they had contacted him instead. He could also gather more information about the Organization from them.
-That's great. I contacted you because there's something I needed to tell you.
"What is it?"
-An urgent request has come in.
A request.
The timing wasn't good, as he hadn't set any countermeasures for the Black Star Organization yet.
In the least, it was the right move to hide until Vega could materialize herself once again.
"Sorry. I'm not in a situation where I can receive a requ—"
-The remuneration is 2 million dollars.
"Woof!! Woof, woof!! Grrrr! Krah!!!"
-Excuse me?
"I'll head to the Association right away. Let's talk about the details later."