"Fuu."
Ohjin took in a deep breath.
Bang!—
He vaulted into the air by striking his spear against the ground. Simultaneously raising his right arm, he shot his wire shooter.
He aimed not for Arshad Khan but for the subordinates next to him.
"U-Uh?"
Fwish!—
The wire shot out, exceeding the speed of sound, and wrapped around their bodies.
As Ohjin lightly flicked his right arm, those that had been caught by the wires shot at Arshad Khan like a cannon.
"Ho."
Arshad Khan's eyes shone in interest.
Slash!—
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
Without a moment of hesitation, he used the scimitar in his hand to cut the bodies of his subordinates in half.
Blood and intestines spurted out from the bisected bodies.
A curtain of red gore spread out from the curve of the blade.
‘Now!'
He never thought that Arshad Khan would hesitate in the first place. What he was aiming for was the red curtain of blood.
Aiming for the short gap when Arshad’s sight was blocked off, Ohjin extended his left arm.
Bang!—
The wire stuck tight onto a nearby piece of rebar.
Concentrating mana into his shooter, his body that was in mid-air shot forward with explosive speed.
‘Thunder Fall.'
With both of his hands grasped onto the spear, he aimed at Arshad Khan's head.
Blue lightning crackled from the spear's tip and coiled around the entire spear as it blazed up.
‘It's not enough.'
The difference between him and Arshad Khan that he had sensed using the stigma of the Hunting Dogs was beyond his imagination.
That amount of force wasn't enough to deal damage.
‘Lightning Flash x5.'
Blazing lightning concentrated at the spear's tip.
His magic circuits cried out from the excessive amount of mana he was channeling—an intense pain like that of sharp needles stabbing his blood vessels permeated around his entire body.
‘It can't be helped.'
He bit his lips and endured the pain.
Compared to the amount of mana he currently possessed, his mana circuits were outrageously narrow.
It was on the level of sipping water out of a straw from a massive bucket.
Without squeezing out his circuits and enduring his body becoming ruined, he couldn't inflict proper damage.
Bzzzzzzzzzzt!!!—
The blue lightning concentrated at the spear's tip released.
Currents of lightning evaporated the red curtain and smashed down on Arshad Khan.
Flutter!—
Black feathers wrapped around Arshad Khan's body—it looked as if was wearing sturdy armor made out of feathers.
"Haa."
He spat out a short breath as he raised his scimitar at an angle.
The spear clashed with the scimitar and followed down the blade's curvature downwards, slipping straight into the ground.
Booooom!!—
Lightning sparked out in all directions with a massive explosion, but it was unable to touch Arshad Khan, who was wrapped in the armor of black feathers.
‘Damn it!'
After instinctively realizing his attack had failed, Ohjin focused all of his lightning into his legs without a second of hesitation.
‘Lightning Flash!'
Utilizing the thrust of the explosion that happened under his feet, he quickly created distance with Arshad Khan.
* * *
* * *
"…Remarkable."
Arshad Khan opened his eyes wide with an expression of surprise while looking at the ferociously blazing lightning.
"It's to the extent where it's hard to believe you're a 4-Star."
He had a rough idea from when he received a report of their failure to awaken the ‘Black Star's Fragment' laying dormant under Sokcho caused by the Lightning Wolf alone, but the Star of the Weaver Girl's apostle was exhibiting destructive force that far exceeded his expectations.
"However—"
Arshad Khan's eyes shone coldly.
Black mana surged into the scimitar in his hands.
It was undeniable that the Lightning Wolf was an Awakener that developed with unprecedented speed, but…
"That is all."
It was a firm declaration.
He slowly swung the scimitar in his hand around.
Swoosh—
So slow that a 10-year-old child would be able to look and avoid it.
A sluggish sword strike that was like sweet sleep in the daytime.
‘…Huh?'
Ohjin narrowed his eyes as he gripped his spear.
The distance between him and Arshad Khan was around 50 meters.
There was no way that swinging his sword from that distance would do anything to Ohjin. No, with the sword being swung at that speed, he could avoid it even if it was swung right in front of his nose.
He was certain of that conclusion, however—
Baaaaaaaang!!!—
"……!!!"
—A loud sound that rumbled the eardrums echoed out.
A series of explosions followed the path of Arshad Khan’s slowly swinging sword and swept the surroundings.
Avoiding it was impossible.
Ohjin thrusted his spear towards the approaching explosion out of reflex.
It was an action closer to that of instinct than anything borne of rational thought.
Boom!!—
"Arghhhhh!!"
Blue lightning clashed directly with the explosion.
The skin of his palms around the spear ripped from the powerful impact.
It was an overwhelming difference in power.
"Your reflexes aren't bad. Or is it that you simply have good instincts?"
Arshad Khan laughed leisurely as he raised his scimitar once again.
Like a droplet formed at the tip of a leaf, the scimitar swung down slowly.
"Fuu."
Ohjin added more strength into the grip on his spear as he took in deep breaths.
He had no leisure to answer such taunts.
‘Calm down and identify the ability that Arshad Khan possesses.’
Once he concentrated mana into his eyes, he could see that tiny black feathers were shooting out of the slowly swinging scimitar.
‘Is that what creates the explosion?'
Rotating his spear, he used Blue Lightning.
The fan-shaped stream of lightning touched the black feather.
Baaaaaaang!!!!—
A powerful explosion shook the earth.
Despite making it explode in advance from quite a distance away, the shock waves were strong enough to push his body back.
‘So these feathers were the ones that destroyed the factory.'
He was dumbfounded by the absurd power.
“Did you think it was over?”
Smirk—
The edge of Arshad Khan’s lips curved up slowly.
“…What?”
When Ohjin narrowed his eyes—
Baaaaaaang!!!—
—The black feather that had already exploded once created a second explosion.
He urgently made a wall of lightning, but—
“Kugh!!”
—the explosion effortlessly tore the lightning wall apart and struck Ohjin’s body.
Boom! Ka-doom! Bang!—
Ohjin bounced on the ground like a skipping stone as he was sent flying back.
His body flew for a while and finally stopped after crashing into the concrete and rebar debris.
Gray smoke rose up.
“Cough!”
Blood ran out of his neck and spurted out.
“Your body is also unusually sturdy.”
He heard a voice directly in front of him.
“Kugh!”
Grasping his spear, he quickly got back on his feet.
He saw the scimitar swinging through the air, aimed at his neck.
Clang!—
The spear and scimitar clashed.
Clang! Clang! Cla-kang! Claaaang!!—
Sparks leapt out with the loud sound of grinding metal.
In the exchange that continued for over ten seconds, the spear and scimitar maintained a taut equilibrium.
“Ha.”
Arshad Khan laughed.
“One year… no, if even half a year passed, you would’ve become a monster we could no longer handle.”
The exceptional skill that was displayed from Ohjin when he was merely a 4-Star Awakener was to the point that it made cold sweat run down his back.
“However.”
It wouldn’t happen.
The Lightning Wolf would die today on that spot.
Clang!!—
The scimitar struck down on the spear’s shaft like a flash of light.
The silver spear spun as it was sent flying away.
“Shit!”
Ohjin quickly jumped back and narrowly caught his silver spear.
“Haa, haa!”
He didn’t lack in technique when it came down to handling his weapon.
However…
“Argh…”
The skin of his palm was completely peeled off.
His hands shook, only the red and fleshy muscle remaining.
‘I don’t have enough power.’
Ohjin didn’t mean that he had insufficient mana.
Thanks to the stigmas absorbed by the Black Heaven, he still had plenty of mana remaining.
It was even highly likely that he had more mana than Arshad Khan.
‘…There’s too much of a difference in the amount of mana that can be released at once.’
With outrageously narrow mana circuits compared to the amount of mana…
His body that was still 4-Star held him back.
“……”
Ohjin clasped his spear with his bloody hands as he chewed on his lips.
Since it had come to this,
there was only one option remaining.
‘I did want to use this if I could avoid it, but…’
He had no choice.
“Have you now realized the difference in strength?”
‘Yeah, yeah, fucking smarty pants.’
“—Exceed.”
Bzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzzt!!!!—
[!DANGER!]
Red warning windows flocked in front of his eyes.
He ignored them.
“Whatever you try to do, it’s—”
Baaaaaaang!!!—
He sprinted.
Footsteps made of lightning flared up like torchlight.
“—Kugh?!”
Arshad Khan’s eyes opened wide as he swung down his scimitar.
Following the path of the scimitar, a series of destructive explosions occurred.
“Fucking hell.”
Ohjin focused on his mana.
As he narrowed the release of mana as if he was partially obstructing a hose's exit, the mana shot out through his crumpled mana circuits like a bullet and condensed at the tip of his spear.
Bzzzzzzzzt!!!—
His lightning at the spear’s tip gathered up and created a blue flame.
-Ring!
[《Lightning&Thunder Lv6》 has increased to 《Lightning&Thunder Lv7》]
[《Lightning Flames Lv1》 has been acquired!]
-《Lightning Flames》 is a powerful skill that corresponds with 《Sword Aura》. Its destructive force exceeds 《Sword Aura》, but much more mana will be consumed.
[《Lightning&Thunder Lv7》 influences the proficiency of the skill 《Lightning Flames Lv1》]
[《 Lightning Flames Lv1》 has increased to 《Lightning Flames Lv2》!]
[Warning! The current state of your body has not met the standards required to use 《Lightning Flames Lv2》!]
[The amount of mana consumed increases dramatically!]
Messages showered down.
‘Sigh, whether it’s this guy or that guy.’
“You talk too much.”
Baaaaaaang!!!—
The blazing lightning clashed with the scimitar.
“Kugk!!”
Arshad Khan’s body was violently sent flying back.
Just like Ohjin had, his body bounced on the ground and plummeted disgracefully.
“What is this…”
Arshad Khan wiped off the blood trickling out of his lips and looked at Ohjin with eyes full of wariness.
He felt powerful mana from the blue lightning that had swept him back.
“……”
“So believing that it’d take half a year… was a foolish thought.”
Ohjin was already an existence that could threaten the Black Star Organization.
“I can’t let someone who can be a hindrance to our plans survive.”
Stumble, stumble—
Arshad Khan got back on his feet.
The situation was reversed with the Lightning Wolf revealing his hidden card, but—
“Almighty star of the Owl Nebula—”
—that didn’t mean he didn’t have one either.
“—Grant the Black Star’s blessing to this humble servant.”
Owooooong!!!—
Black mana fluctuated while black light scattered out explosively from the stigma engraved on his left chest.
“Worship them, praise them, admire them—”
Flutter!—
An uncountable amount of black feathers raged up.
“—The time of owls has come.”
Arshad Khan slowly walked out of the tornado of black feathers.
