Chapter 122: Dragon’s Resting Ground (5)
“Hah,” chuckled Kang Changhyuk.
His eyebrows raised out of irritation, and he slowly twirled the dagger in his hand with a grin.
“The way you talk about nonsense hasn’t changed.”
“Hearing those words from a dumbass who got his guild brought to ruins by that nonsense is really scaring me shitless.”
“You son of a…!”
Scrunch—
Kang Changhyuk’s expression distorted.
He held his dagger in a reverse grip and charged at Ohjin.
Swoosh!—
Despite wildly kicking off the ground, it made no sound, and there was no trace left on the ground. As if he had jumped from a fluffy bed, Kang Changhyuk sprinted across the walls in complete silence.
“Let’s see if you’ll be able to maintain that demeanor after I impale a hole through your neck!”
“Why is it that all of you bastards have the same pattern?”
‘Does their linguistic competence deteriorate after serving the Black Stars? Every bastard I meet speaks the damn same way.’
Swoosh!—
Ohjin curved his back like he was going to fall and avoided the dagger that was aimed at his neck. Pivoting on his right foot, he turned his body around to catch the back of Kang Changhyuk’s head and threw him at the cave’s wall.
“Kugh!”
Kang Changhyuk quickly somersaulted and narrowly avoided crashing into the wall.
Bzzzzzzzt!!!—
Currents of blue lightning rushed to Kang Changhyuk, who had just managed to avoid an attack.
“A mere attack like this…!”
Instead of avoiding the attack, he ran towards the rushing blue lightning. According to what the Association officially announced, the Lightning Wolf was a 5-Star Awakener. The difference between Kang Changhyuk, who was an 8-Star Awakener, and him was an entire three stars.
With the difference of three stars, using his body would be more than enough for that pathetic atta—
Bzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!—
“Agugahguah!!!!”
The blue lightning penetrated from his head to his groin, causing intense pain to spread out. His legs gave in as his entire body was paralyzed for a moment.
Bam!—
Ohjin kicked the head of Kang Changhyuk, who was stumbling forward like a soccer ball, and his body rotated vigorously and crashed into the cave’s wall.
“Kugh! Kuk! Cough!”
Kang Changhyuk spat out blood and looked at Ohjin with widened eyes like he was in disbelief.
“S-Shit, this is the power of a 5-Star?”
At the very least, the power contained in the lightning that smote him should’ve been from an Awakener in the same rank… no, an Awakener who was in a rank higher than he was.
‘8-Stars aren’t that hard to face anymore.’
Ohjin smiled slyly while looking at Kang Changhyuk, who was shaking from shock.
As long as it wasn’t someone like Lee Woohyuk, who had top-level skills amongst 8-Stars, defeating someone like Kang Changhyuk, who was, when put nicely, on the thin line between second-rate and average, could be done without much difficulty.
‘The problem is those other guys.’
He moved his eyes to the five Owls who were silently looking their way.
—The elites of the Black Star Organization named Night Hunters.
It wouldn’t be easy to come out victorious once they decided to intervene, however…
“I’ll welcome it.”
Thump, thump—
HIs heart beat violently, and an electrifying sensation ran down his spine.
“Are you all planning to sit around all day?”
Ohjin leisurely beckoned with his hand.
“…”
“…”
The Owls who were observing the fight with their hoods pressed down in silence slowly started to move.
—Delicate movements that made one think of highly trained assassins.
Ttututututu!!—
An uncountable number of feathers surged up in the dungeon. The powerful shockwave caused by the feathers exploding rapidly rushed to Ohjin.
Ta-Tak!—
Ohjin concentrated lightning into his legs and kicked off.
“Hmpf!”
A long trace of connected lightning was left behind.
While avoiding the feathers that shot at him, he fired his wire shooters at the Owls.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
Six wires were shot and aimed at the Owls.
“…Kugk!”
The Owl who wasn’t able to avoid it was caught by the wires.
“Lightning Charge.”
“Arghhhhh!!”
Bzzzzzzt!!—
A current of blue lightning ran down the wire and flowed into the Owl.
“Kugh… kuk!”
The Owl fainted while spewing out white foam from his mouth.
“Huh? He fainted in one blow?”
The Night Hunters made a name for themselves but had ended up fainting in one blow. Ohjin had an expression of shock while looking at the Owl flopping around like freshly caught fish.
‘Were these bastards always this weak?’
No, when considering the energy they emitted, their agile movements, and the shock of when the feathers exploded, the Night Hunters were all above Arshad Khan.
‘It’s not that the Night Hunters are weak…’
He had just become excessively strong.
“It was worth going through all that trouble.”
Smirk—
The tip of Ohjin’s mouth was raised along with his spear.
The remaining Owls split up into four directions and rushed towards Ohjin.
‘Two behind, one above, and one to my side.’
After using the stigma of the Hunting Dogs to confirm their movements, Ohjin held the spear’s shaft widely and rotated his body.
‘First, two behind me!’
Slash!!—
He drew a semicircle as he slashed his spear, and the wavering Lightning Flames on the blade spread out in the shape of a fan.
“Ugh!”
“Aah!”
Both of the Owls urgently held up their weapons and blocked the attack, but in the end, the attribute of Lightning Flames wasn’t fire, but lightning.
The Owls groaned as they were shocked by the electricity that ran down their weapons and stumbled while backing off.
“Hyat!”
An Owl rushed at him from the front and thrusted forward feathers that were crumpled into the shape of an awl.
Ohjin raised his left arm and blocked the awl made of feathers.
Clank!—
The gauntlet equipped on his left arm clashed with the awl.
“Die!!!”
The Owl’s stigma blazed brightly as an intense explosion occurred at the tip of the awl.
“The one who’s dead is your mother.”
“What…?!”
The gauntlet glowed red and started to absorb the explosion.
Ohjin extended out his gauntleted arm.
Boooooom!—
The explosion that was absorbed by the gauntlet attacked the Owl.
“Kugk!!”
He was sent flying back while gushing out blood.
‘And for last…’
Ohjin slightly raised his head.
The Owl that flew up with wings made of black feathers dropped down like he was trying to snatch away prey.
‘This’ll be hard to avoid.’
It didn’t matter.
If he couldn’t avoid it, he could just block it.
Owoong!—
“Argh! What is this…!”
His orange bracelet emitted light and created a translucent barrier in front of Ohjin.
Claaaaang! Crack!—
The barrier was utterly destroyed in just one second, however…
‘One second is more than enough.’
Ohjin rotated the shaft and thrusted it at the stomach of the Owl flying towards him.
Psshk!—
“Kugh!!”
Blood flowed down the blade.
“Arghhh! N-Now!”
“Hm?”
The Owl that was hanging on the spear with his stomach pierced like rotisserie chicken grasped the spear’s blade with his hands.
“Huhu! Goob job!”
Using the brief opening created from the Owl’s sacrifice, Kang Changhyuk sprinted to Ohjin with a dagger grasped in his hand.
He put his palm on the dagger’s hilt and closed his fingers. As he held it up high in that state, his form was like a scorpion with its tail raised up high.
“《Thousand Poison Stab》!”
His stigma shone vigorously as green-colored light started to form at the tip of the dagger.
—A dagger with a thousand kinds of deadly poison.
The scorpion’s tail that could lead one to death with just a graze aimed for Ohjin.
Chik!—
Ohjin threw his spear away to avoid the attack.
Thanks to his fast reaction speed, he was able to avoid the attack to the degree of his right arm being slightly cut, but…
“Hahaha! This is checkmate, you bastard!!”
An uncontrollable burst of laughter exploded out of Kang Changhyuk’s mouth.
Although he had only lightly grazed his skin, it was enough for the deadly poison on the dagger to lead him to death.
“You don’t understand the meaning of checkmate.”
“What?”
Ohjin grabbed the spear he threw on the ground and cut his right arm off without hesitation.
Slash!—
Blood gushed out of his right arm that was cut just beneath his shoulder.
“Wh-What kind of insane bastard…”
Kang Changhyuk’s face was dyed pale.
Ohjin smiled brightly and raised his left arm.
Bang!—
The wire wrapped around Kang Changhyuk’s neck.
“Now this is what you call a checkmate, you dickhead.”
Whirrrrrrrrr!!—
The wire wrapped around his neck unwound at a quick pace, causing Kang Changhyuk’s body to get dragged along.
“Aaaaaaaahh!!!”
After concentrating lightning on his head, he struck down his forehead like a hammer at Kang Changhyuk’s head.
Crunch!!!—
With the terrifying sound of breaking bones, the front of Kang Changhyuk’s head caved in.
“Haa.”
Ohjin exhaled out a low breath while turning his head around.
There were two Owls remaining. They were the ones who ambushed him from behind in the beginning.
His eyes, wet from blood, headed to the Owls.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”
Despite blood gushing out of his cut arm, Ohjin walked towards the Owls with leisure.
“Damn it!”
“R-Retreat. We’re retreating!”
The two Owls turned their bodies around and ran away.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He raised his spear and aimed it at them.
‘Charge x3.’
Pzzzzzzt!!—
He threw the spear with condensed lightning at the two Owls who were running away.
Baaaaaang!!—
“Ahhhhh!!”
“Ugauagauagagahk!!!”
The Owls who were caught up in the lightning that exploded out of the spear were burned black and collapsed.
“Tch.”
He extended his hand out to the six corpses scattered around the ground.
Rumble—
The Black Heaven’s clouds crawled out and absorbed the mana held within the corpses.
He was able to eliminate the six of them without taking as long as he thought, but…
“I didn’t think that I’d lose my right arm.”
Even if his arm was cut off, he would be able to regenerate it in no time with the Water Affinity skill if there was enough water, but there was no way there would be sufficient water inside that cave full of sordid rocks.
* * *
‘First off, let’s remove the poison.’
He touched his right arm that had turned purple from Kang Changhyuk’s poison.
‘Stigma of Scorpio.’
Having the stigma of Scorpio didn’t mean you were immune to being poisoned, but with enough time, getting rid of it wasn’t difficult.
His purplish right arm returned back to its original form.
“Hmpf.”
After taking in a short breath, he raised his cut right arm and stuck it to his shoulder.
He took out an emergency potion from his slingback and poured it over the wound.
As a potion that Ohjin created himself using the stigma of Aquarius, it performed no worse than most top-grade potions.
“Kugh!”
Sizzle!—
While feeling sharp pain, his right arm was poorly stuck together.
‘It doesn’t move properly.’
Top-grade potion or not, as long as it wasn’t an elixir, completely healing a severed arm in a short frame of time was impossible.
‘The Night Hunters being here means there’s a high likelihood that Cheon Doyoon came with them.’
The fact that the dungeon clear message didn’t pop up meant that Cheon Doyoon wasn’t able to find the Dragon’s Heart yet, but there was a risk of running into him if he continued exploring.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can turn back.’
He turned his head to look back.
The tunnel was completely blocked off by the rocks that had rained down from the collapsed ceiling.
Even if he went looking for another exit, it had the same risk of running into Cheon Doyoon.
‘If there’s a risk of meeting Cheon Doyoon regardless of my choice…’
He would find the Dragon’s Heart before Cheon Doyoon and run off.
“Alright.”
Naturally, he had a method in mind that could save his skin in the worst-case scenario of running into Cheon Doyoon.
‘But my priority is still finding the Dragon’s Heart before him.’
Ohjin’s eyes shone as he walked deeper into the cave.
He activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs and felt the flow of the ‘dragon vein’.
In the midst of the clashing currents of mana, there was a location where mana gathered up like a huge river lake.
‘There.’
Ohjin sprinted to the place he felt the thickest mana. He exited the tunnels that were like a maze.
Wooooosh!—
In the cave settled in darkness, he could see a massive cavity that was full of blinding light like the rising sun.
—A place where hundreds of meters were covered in blue crystals from bottom to top.
And in that place—
“Holholhol. Looks like an uninvited guest has appeared.”
—an old man wearing a black daopao was smiling with displeasure.
‘I was late.’
The King of Owls, Cheon Doyoon.
As if he had come out for a stroll at a nearby park, the old man had his hands behind him and stood without a worry in the world in the middle of the cavity.
He narrowed his eyes and stared at Ohjin.
“You’re known as the Lightning Wolf, right? I’m certain I positioned hunters around this area… how did you get here?”
“I killed them. What did you expect?”
Ohjin answered while shrugging his shoulders.
“Holholhol!! I see!”
Cheon Doyoon stroked his beard with one hand and laughed broadly.
He looked like a Daoist who built up a lot of knowledge on the surface, but he couldn’t hide the greed and madness contained in his eyes.
“But your luck has run out at the end.”
He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips while slowly stretching his arm out at Ohjin.
A frightening amount of mana gathered in Cheon Doyoon’s hand.
“Die, Star of the Weaver Girl’s wolf.”
Slowly and peacefully, as if standing up and reading out the text of an English schoolbook, he declared Ohjin’s death like it simply went without saying.
“You won’t be able to get out of here alive the moment I die.”
“Hm?”
Cheon Doyoon’s eyebrows slightly raised.
Finding it amusing, he burst out in laughter.
“Holholhol! You talk as if you have a hidden card.”
“I do.”
“I understand that you want to live, but if you thought that bluff would work on me…”
“The moment you kill me, that information will be passed down to my darling immediately. Everything, starting from the location and the one who laid hands on me.”
“…Your darling?”
Cheon Doyoon looked at Ohjin with an expression of confusion.
Ohjin cackled out while looking back at him.
“You still don’t get who she is? You should’ve heard of her before.”
“Wait…”
“The Queen of Leeches.”
“…!!!”
“I’m Isabella Colagrande’s husband.”
Cheon Doyoon’s leisurely expression was drowned in astonishment.
