Chapter 67: Heavy Rain (9)

Chapter 67: Heavy Rain (9)

"Haa."

Taking in the pouring rain, he took a moment to catch his breath.

"..."

He released his transformation while looking down at Jang Sukho's corpse.

His hand that was reduced to the size of a small child's returned to its original appearance.

Tremble—

His right arm shivered like a quaking aspen.

Was it because too many internal injuries had accumulated?

"...I can't even clench my fists properly."

Despite his injuries being regenerated, intense pain still remained.

'I guess it isn't an omnipotent skill.'

Nevertheless, just being able to regenerate his body to a good condition when it wouldn't have been strange if he had died right away was amazing.

Water Affinity...

A skill he originally thought was useless had potential that far exceeded his imagination.

'There are more reasons to gather stigmas now.'

Now that he had gotten a proper taste of the effects of a combination skill, he started to consider absorbing stigmas more actively.

'Combination skills also start out with Max Lv.'

The fact that they had no more potential to develop was unfortunate, but there was also the merit of not needing to pay attention to their proficiency.

"Well, th—Argh!"

A sudden burning pain started to stir up in his body.

The pain wasn't coming from his arm but from the left side of his chest.

'If it's my chest...'

Perhaps...

"...Ha."

Ohjin lifted up his tattered clothes and observed his stigma.

Five flicks were shining radiantly next to the stigma of Lyra.

"Vega's going to be surprised again once she sees this."

Around two months had passed since he had reached 4-Star during the spar with Riak.

Quite a lot of incidents happened during that time, but even when considering that, it was hard to believe that he had reached 5-Star in just two months.

'5-Star, huh.'

5-Star was when you started to get regarded as a mid-rank Awakener.

You were able to receive a fair amount of attention wherever you went.

'But that's in the case of insignificant stigmas.'

The more powerful the strength of the stigma, the harder it was to raise the 'star'.

In the case of the 12 Zodiacs, reaching 5-Star would allow you to take the position of an executive in just about every guild.

'If it's a North Star's stigma...'

Would they have to hand over the position of Guild Leader?

"Well... there's still a long way to go."

Generally, you were able to live a luxurious lifestyle with just being a 5-Star alone, but when he considered the road he would have to walk down in the future, 5-Star was far from enough.

"..."

Ohjin looked down at Jang Sukho's corpse while clenching and unclenching his hands.

'I need to get stronger.'

He needed to grow until there was no one who was able to look down on him...

So that he could live whilst telling the truth..

And in order for that...

"I'll eat everything up."

He held out his hand towards Arshad Khan's corpse.

'Black Heaven.'

The black clouds swallowed up the stigma of the Owl Nebula.

"Fuu."

A stunning amount of mana rode the black clouds and flowed into his fingertips.

'He was a 7-Star Awakener?'

Counting the number of flicks engraved on Arshad Khan's chest, his lips curved up.

Ohjin could start to understand why people said there was an immense difference every time the stage of a 'star' went up.

'Even the quality itself is different.'

If that was the power of a 7-Star, he started to wonder what an 8-Star would be like.

And what about a 9-Star, which was when you started to be recognized as a 'high-rank' Awakener?

"Well... this bastard was probably considerably stronger than other 7-Stars."

In addition, he had also received a blessing from his celestial.

At that point, it was honestly safe to say that he had won against not a 7-Star, but an 8-Star Awakener.

'A 4-Star winning in a fight against an 8-Star.'

He forced out a chuckle.

"I won't even be able to brag about this."

People that heard would most likely tell him to stop spouting nonsense and cuss him out.

Rumble, rumble—

The Black Heaven's energy that crawled out of his hand wriggled its tendrils like it had eaten a satisfying meal and returned back inside his body.

And then—

"Ugh!"

Thump—

—A scorching pain burned the inside of his head.

Visions appeared in front of his eyes.

-Hmm. Are you saying the Lightning Wolf and the Valhalla guild are in a cooperative relationship?

-Yes. Lee Woohyuk will most likely request help from the Lightning Wolf.

—A memory of someone sharing a conversation over the phone.

'This is...?'

Ohjin furrowed his brow.

The memories that flowed into his head weren't from Lee Shinhyuk.

'Arshad Khan.'

They were his memories.

* * *

-Just when I thought we were finally going to destroy the Association Chairman's lineup, that guy intervened all of a sudden. Han Joonman has also been poking his nose here and there... I was planning to observe a little longer, with him being North Star's apostle and all, but now I think it'd be best in several ways to end him here.

'Association Chairman's lineup?'

'Han Joonman?'

'What is this?'

Ohjin furrowed his brow.

'Are there factions within the Association? And if so, is one of those factions made of the members from the Black Star Organization?'

'So that's why my relationship with the Valhalla guild was known to them.'

It felt like the puzzle pieces were finally clicking into place.

"Argh!"

Without a reprieve to mull over his questions, memories continued to push in.

-I understand. King's Delegate. Following your command, I will eliminate him.

-Hahaha! Indeed, there aren't many people as reliable as you. You're completely different from Yujin.

-Please do not compare me with that fool.

The edge of his lip tilted up as he continued.

-By the way... what's going on in Italy?

-Ahh, you're talking about the 'Queen of Leeches', correct?

A fed-up voice was heard across the phone.

-Don't even mention it. That crazy bitch is doing whatever she wants. The news has even reached the 'Demon Realm'.

-Is there nothing we can do?

-No matter how crazy the Queen of Leeches is, she's still ranked 3rd out of the Executors. It's hard to take measures directly.

-Then...

-Well, we've still prepared countermeasures.

-Countermeasures?

-Fufu. Poison should be dealt with by poison.

A voice rang out clearly.

With the faint sounds of an immature child's chatter—

"Mmmh!"

—his distorted sight returned back to normal.

-Ring!

[Part of Awakener Arshad Khan was successfully inherited.]

[has been acquired.]

[has been acquired.]

Blue messages appeared in front of his eyes in succession.

[The acquired skills will transform due to the influence of the stigma of Lyra.]

[has transformed into]

[has transformed into]

"...So they'll match the stigma and transform automatically."

Ohjin narrowed his eyes as he read the blue message windows.

'Now that I think of it, Transmission never said that it'd only happen with Lee Shinhyuk's memories.'

He had obtained Arshad Khan's memories this time.

"...That was quite a lot of information."

Putting aside Italy and the so-called Queen of Leeches for the moment, the fact that members of the Black Star Organization were hiding inside the Association was an issue that couldn't be ignored.

'I'll have to talk about this with Joonman.'

As he was brought up in the memories, he was highly likely to know something.

"So that's everything for now—"

Rumble!!—

Black clouds explosively shot out of Ohjin's left chest.

The thick clouds scattered out wide like a blooming flower and slowly permeated into his body.

"Or not."

A forced chuckle flowed out of Ohjin's mouth.

[The Black Heaven's conditions for the fourth awakening have all been accomplished!]

[The Black Heaven's fourth awakening is starting!]

Reaching the 5-Star rank followed up by the fourth awakening.

'It was tough, but I earned a lot.'

Though that didn't mean he would want to experience it once again.

[Quests are now activated due to the fourth awakening!]

"...Hm?"

'Quests?'

[Quest - Star-Devouring Devil of the Sky①]

Objective: Absorb starstones to open the Black Heaven. (Completion: 0%)

Reward: Obtain a random 'Ancient Constellation'.

"What's this?"

Ohjin tilted his head as he looked at the quest window that appeared in front of his eyes.

'Ancient constellation?'

He had never heard of that title in his life.

'Hm... I'll have to ask Vega about this.'

It wasn't something he could figure out at the moment anyways.

"Fourth awakening, huh..."

Crack! Crackle!!—

Ohjin slightly stirred up his mana and created lightning.

The lightning blazed up with blue lights that were a shade deeper than usual.

'As expected.'

The stigma of Lyra's power increased with the Black Heaven's awakening stage.

'If the awakening stage continues to increase in the future... I can't even imagine how much stronger I'll get.'

A deep smile was put on Ohjin's face.

"By the way..."

Ohjin narrowed his eyes and looked around.

He stood still and waited for a moment, but nothing changed.

'Why isn't it coming?'

What could be said to be the most important reward for him...

The memories of Lee Shinhyuk didn't flow into his head.

As he looked around with eyes full of question—

[The records of Awakener Arshad Khan and Awakener Lee Shinhyuk colliding has caused part of Awakener Lee Shinhyuk's records to be lost.]

[The Black Heaven will automatically restore the records needed for Transmission.]

['Transmission' will proceed according to the progression of the restoration.]

"Ah."

It appeared that their memories had collided when two 'Transmissions' happened simultaneously.

'Well... it says that it'll get recovered automatically.'

As long as it didn't disappear forever, there wasn't much reason for him to care.

"Then, should I start to head back?"

After removing all the message windows, he moved his feet.

Thud!—

"Argh!"

Without even being able to make a proper step, he slipped down onto the ground.

'Damn.'

The state of his body was so bad that he couldn't even walk properly.

'Water Affinity is limited to recovering external wounds, after all.'

Though it couldn't be seen, the interior of his body was most likely in a complete mess.

Ohjin put on a bitter smile and put strength into his shaking legs.

"...Let's go."

Before heading off, he turned back and looked down at Jang Sukho's corpse for the last time.

"..."

Shwaaaaaaa—

He walked away through the pouring rain.

* * *

Creak—

He managed to open the front door and went inside.

"Hey! Gwon Ohjin!"

A welcoming voice was heard.

His fatigued lips slowly curled up.

"Where did you go without te—"

Ha-eun's face severely stiffened as she came out of the adjoining room.

"Y-You, what happened to you?"

"...Ha-eun."

Stagger, stagger—

Without having the leisure to clean up his rain-drenched body, he approached her.

Raising his hand, he touched her face.

It was warm.

A polar opposite to Jang Sukho's ice-cold hands...

It was filled with warmth.

"Ohjin...?"

Her russet eyes looked up at him.

An indescribable sense of relief spread out across his entire body.

Bang!—

"Kyaa! Wh-What?!"

Embracing her body, he collapsed in front of the front door.

"...Just for a moment."

He didn't expect much.

He didn't want the world.

He simply wanted for the warmth in his embrace—

"Stay like this for me."

—to never get swept away by the rain.