Chapter 132: Endless Night (8)
“…What nonsense are you talking about?”
Cheon Doyoon furrowed his brow and gazed at Ohjin.
Ohjin said that it was too dark when the sunlight was hot enough to tingle his skin at that moment.
“Have you finally gone bli…”
When he looked up at the sky—
“Huh?”
—Cheon Doyoon could see it.
The clear blue sky without a dot of clouds was submerged in darkness, and night settled in the day.
“Wh-What?! What have you done?!”
Cheon Doyoon cried out in an urgent voice and staggered backwards.
It wasn’t because the blue sky was submerged in darkness.
No, in reality, the sky was still shining with blue light as usual.
The thing that was submerged in darkness wasn’t the sky…
“Huff! Huff! Huff! J-Just what is…”
Cheon Doyoon rubbed his eyes as his shoulders trembled.
Nothing could be seen.
No matter how dark the weather had gotten, it should’ve been impossible for Cheon Doyoon to lose his sight with his superhuman body.
The pitch-black darkness stole away his sight and left him as if he was blind
Bzzt, bzzzzt—
For a moment, the sound of something crackling was heard inside of the darkness.
When he quickly turned his head to where the sound came from—
“A-Ahh.”
—a pair of azure fen fires were burning in the darkness.
The only things that shone inside of the thick darkness were blue lights that flamed like Will O’wisps.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!!”
Cheon Doyoon floundered with a panicked expression.
Vision accounted for more than 80 percent of a human’s perception.
Cheon Doyoon fell into a panic after he had suddenly been robbed of that sense.
Thud, thud—
The sound of footsteps softly echoed out inside of the darkness.
The frightening sound of footsteps that was like the falling water droplets at dawn caused Cheon Doyoon’s face to go pale.
“D-Do you think I won’t be able to face you because I can’t see?!”
He put on a poor act and recklessly shot feathers to the place the azure fen fires were wavering.
Ttututututu!!—
The shooting feathers could be heard faintly.
Still, it seemed that it was effective, as the azure fen fires that were burning at a distance away were extinguished like a match blown away by the wind.
“H-Holhol!! Didn’t I say so?! I can defeat you easily, even if I cannot see!!” shouted Cheon Doyoon in the direction of where the fen fires had disappeared.
He had no way to confirm if the attack had hit Ohjin, but when he thought about how he was on the verge of death moments before, he felt certain of his death.
“Holhol!! Hol…”
But why was it…?
Even though the ominous azure fen fires couldn’t be seen anymore…
Even though the crackling sounds and his annoying voice could no longer be heard…
Why, why, why… was the world still submerged in such darkness?
“Goddammit! W-Why am I still unable to see!!” Cheon Doyoon screamed in a nervous tone as he rubbed his eyes.
“Huff! Huff!”
Anxiety spread like poison.
—Anxiety of the possibility of not being able to see ever again.
—Anxiety of the possibility of getting trapped inside of the endless night.
“Damn it! Goddammit!!“
He moved his body around as if he was having a seizure.
Tak!—
Did he stumble on a piece of stone? Suddenly, his balance collapsed.
“Kugh…!”
Fortunately, he was able to recover his balance and avoid pathetically falling over, but…
‘What… is this?’
An ominous feeling ran down his spine.
The strange feeling he felt starting a while back gradually became clearer.
“My eyes… aren’t the only thing that’s affected.”
Even if he’d lost his vision, he was a 9-Star Awakener that was evaluated to be outside the scope of humans. His senses weren’t so poor that he would stumble over a small stone on the ground.
But having stumbled over a stone despite that signified…
‘My other senses… are also becoming numb.’
Smell, touch, hearing, and although there was no way to tell, possibly even taste.
His other senses hadn’t completely disappeared like his sight, but he could distinctively feel them numbing.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
The sound of his own breathing felt like it coming from far away.
He felt like he’d been tossed into deep space and left completely alone, and that fear started to encroach on his mind.
Crackle—
At that moment, a faint sound rang out in his ears.
“Kugh!!”
He quickly turned his head around in the direction of where the sound had come from.
Only pitch black darkness remained in that area.
“Wh-Where are you!!”
He cried out, but no answer returned.
“I asked where you were, you bastard!!!”
Ttutututututu!!!!—
Cheon Doyoon gathered up his mana and shot out feathers in all directions.
Hundreds… thousands… tens of thousands of feathers swept the area like a storm.
“Huff! Huff! Huff!!”
Was he just imagining it? It felt like his stamina was draining quickly, it was as if his body were making intense movements underwater.
‘No…’
He wasn’t imagining it.
“Huk! Huk!”
Like a dry land absorbing water, he could feel the mana he gathered up quickly drying out.
“Where are you!! Tell me where you are!!”
However, he couldn’t stop attacking.
The only thing that allowed him to survive in that pitch-black darkness was the power of the stigma that took root on his left chest.
The irresistible anxiety that he would be locked up in that endless darkness forever the moment he stopped attacking suffocated him.
“Huk! Huh! Huk!”
He needed to catch his breath.
The vast amount of mana he’d obtained from becoming a 9-Star Awakener was disappearing like it was getting sucked out by a sponge.
* * *
* * *
‘Shouldn’t it be over now…?’
Cheon Doyoon had no way of finding out where Ohjin was hiding, but he had poured out so many attacks in all directions that it wouldn’t be strange if a mountain had disappeared without a trace left behind.
With that much power, Ohjin should’ve been caught up in the attack and killed, even if he was in a recovered state.
“There should be no room to avoid…”
When he was subconsciously looking around with a faint smile on his face—
Crackle—
—a clear sound was heard once again.
“—Ah.”
It was different from the previous times when he couldn’t determine where the sound was coming from.
And that was because… the sound came from right under his chin.
“Wh-What?”
He quickly lowered his head.
A pair of azure fen fires were burning ominously right in front of him.
“A-Ahh.”
stagger—
He took steps backwards.
Goosebumps started to spread all over his skin.
While he was shooting feathers like crazy, had the Lightning Wolf continuously been…
…staring up at him from right below?
“Ah, uh.”
Fear sucked the color out of his face.
Once he imagined the possibility that Ohjin had always been next to him within arm’s reach, irresistible fear crashed down on his mind.
“Aahhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Cheon Doyoon threw away his dignity as a king and pathetically fell on his bottom.
He could feel something wet between his legs.
“Y-You bastard!!!”
With his sense of rationality lost, he flailed his arms. Black feathers rained down in the direction of the azure fen fires.
“T-Ten Thousand Black Feather Blossom! Ten Thousand Black Feather Blossom!!!”
It was an unsightly attack that was shot while he wet his pants, but he was an Awakener who had achieved the realm of 9-Star that only the select few out of an uncountable number of Awakeners could achieve.
The raging black feathers containing destructive force shot at the azure fen fires.
However—
Bzzzzzzzzzzt!!!—
—with a thunderclap, lightning stormed out.
Not the blue lightning the Lightning Wolf always used, but black lightning that looked like it was combed with darkness.
Pitter-patter—
The feathers containing destructive force suddenly lost their strength and fell to the ground.
“Eek!!”
Cheon Doyoon clenched his teeth and extended his arm forward.
Crackle—
A strand of black lightning grazed past his extended arm.
Plop—
“…Huh?”
Cheon Doyoon could no longer feel anything beneath his left elbow.
“A-Ahh.”
A suppressed groan escaped Cheon Doyoon’s mouth.
Immeasurable fear spread out like ink diffusing in water.
“Why… just why…?”
Because his arm was cut off in vain?
Because blood was gushing out of the cut surface?
“Ah, uah.”
That wasn’t it…
That wasn’t the reason why he was shaking in that much fear…
“Uaaaaaaaaaahh!!”
It was because he couldn’t feel any kind of pain, despite having his arm cut off.
“S-Stop!!! Stop it!!”
Engulfed in fear that drove him crazy, he cried out.
“I-It’s my loss!! I’ll give up on the Dragon Eye… and even the Dragon’s Heart!!”
They were treasures he had always longed for, but they no longer mattered at that point.
“S-So please!! Pleaseeeee!!”
He didn’t need the Dragon Eye or the Dragon’s Heart.
Following the orders of the Queen of Snakes was meaningless.
“Get me out of this place!!! Please!!!”
If he could only escape from that demented darkness, those things didn’t matter.
Plop—
Black lightning sparked, and that time, he lost sensation in his right arm.
Nonetheless, he couldn’t feel pain.
“A-Ahh. S-Stop. Stop…”
—Have you imagined it before?
—The fear of suddenly losing each sense one by one inside of a pitch black darkness like switches were turning off.
—A mental despair that made you feel like your existence itself was being erased from the world.
Plop—
The sensation in his two legs disappeared.
Plop—
The sensation below his hips disappeared.
Plop—
The sensation in both of his shoulders disappeared.
“No… no… please…”
Cheon Doyoon pleaded as he bawled his eyes out.
“Do you want to leave this place?”
At that moment, a low voice was heard inside the pitch-black darkness.
Cheon Doyoon opened his eyes wide and nodded his head like crazy.
“Y-Yes! P-Please get me out of this place!! I’ll do whatever you ask me! S-So please!!”
He had no idea why the Star of the Weaver Girl’s apostle had such an abominable ability.
But what did that matter?
If Ohjin was willing to take him out of that mental darkness, he would even lick his foot.
“Then let’s make a deal. You like deals, don’t you?”
Flinch—
“If you listen to my one request, I’ll let you out of this place.”
Like the temptation of the devil, Ohjin’s sweet voice rang out.
“A-Are you being serious? Will you really let me out of this place?”
Light of hope shone in Cheon Doyoon’s eyes.
Holding onto the rope dangling at the edge of a cliff, he bowed deeply and looked up at the devil.
“Of course, I’m being serious.”
His pure white teeth could be seen beneath the ferociously burning azure fen fires.
“After all, I don’t know how to lie.”
