Chapter 150: Elemental Property (2)
A torrential downpour fell through the thick mist. Crashing down like a summer storm, its intensity made it hard to even keep one’s eyes open.
Shhhhhh!
Sosuke let out ragged breaths, “Haa... Haa...”
He looked at Kwon Oh-Jin, who was barely standing and swaying unsteadily, battered by the relentless rain.
What... is this?
Something felt off. Considering how helpless Kwon Oh-Jin had been, he should have been a bloodied corpse on the ground by now.
Why won’t he die?
Kwon Oh-Jin had definitely been wounded and drenched in blood. His horribly twisted limbs swayed in the rain, and yet...
“Haa! Haa! Damn it!”
Cursing through his gritted teeth, Sosuke absorbed more of the elixir. This substance had been created by dissolving the Stigmas of over 1700 Awakeners over the years. Of course, it was still significantly less efficient compared to an elixir produced by an actual Aquarius Awakener.
“W-Why won’t you just die!”
This elixir had been made from the sacrifice of countless lives. It didn’t make sense for someone to withstand an attack imbued with such overwhelming power.
“Haa! Haaa!”
Minutes passed as Sosuke continued his desperate, meaningless attacks against Kwon Oh-Jin, who refused to fall like a never-toppling doll. His breathing had grown labored, and he clutched at his chest.
Even though the elixir granted him an immense amount of mana, he still exhausted himself from using it. He could feel his mana circuits reaching their breaking point, fraying as if they could snap at any moment.
The bloody Kwon Oh-Jin had been screaming in agony and taking a relentless beating without a chance to fight back. Now, he smirked and straightened his back.
“Are you done now?”
As he took a slow and deliberate step forward, the fear that once twisted his face disappeared without a trace.
Sosuke softly gasped, “Ah.”
At last, he understood why Kwon Oh-Jin hadn’t collapsed even after he poured out so much mana that his circuits felt like burning. He still failed to kill Kwon Oh-Jin because...
“You were faking it from the start.”
Kwon Oh-Jin had acted terrified just like a cornered animal and pathetically screamed like a coward. All of it had just been an act to lure Sosuke into overextending and exhausting his stamina.
“H-How! Just how can you take all those attacks and still be fine?!”
Even if his opponent were a high-ranking Awakener of Scutum, surviving would be impossible after taking that many direct hits without any proper defense or evasion. And yet, the Thunder Wolf before him wasn’t even an Awakener of Scutum, let alone a high-ranking Awakener.
“What the hell... are you?”
It was like watching a corpse repeatedly rise after being burned, crushed, and stabbed dozens of times. A scene straight out of a B-grade horror movie unfolded before Sosuke’s very eyes. His legs trembled, and cold sweat trickled down his back.
Kwon Oh-Jin looked up with a big smile. “You said something about elemental properties earlier, didn’t you?”
Raindrops infused with mana struck him and carved fresh wounds into his flesh, only for them to heal instantly as if time rewound. Kwon Oh-Jin’s regenerative power had grown even greater than when he fought Ashad Khan in a storm.
During his battle with the Seahorse Awakeners over the past three days, he had confirmed that he could absorb the water they created through Water Affinity.
The stronger the attack, the more my regeneration accelerates.
Of course, the initial pain of the wounds being inflicted felt like being sliced apart by a scalpel, but enduring that level of pain was nothing to him.
“Just like you said, I guess there really are advantages that come with certain elemental properties.”
He had confidently told Song Ha-Eun that he could defeat Sosuke alone because it didn’t matter what trump card Sosuke had. As long as Sosuke possessed the Stigma of Seahorse...
He can’t beat me.
Kwon Oh-Jin slowly raised his spear as rain poured on him. His acting had successfully drained a good portion of Sosuke’s stamina. Now, he could finish Sosuke off however he pleased.
Of course, my lightning doesn’t work on him.
That didn’t matter because the Stigma of Lyra wasn’t the only Stigma he possessed. The Stigma engraved on his chest glowed.
Woong!
Thousands of black feathers spread like wings around Kwon Oh-Jin.
Sosuke’s eyes widened in shock. “The Stigma of Owl Nebula? H-How do you have that Stigma?”
A shiver ran down his spine as he watched the apostle of the Weaver using the Stigma of Owl Nebula. Before he could even begin to process his questions, the black wings flapped violently.
“Ten Thousand Black Feather Blossom.”
Kwon Oh-Jin used the technique that Cheon Do-Yoon frequently used.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Thousands of feathers shot through the air and engulfed Sosuke.
“I already told you that kind of attack won’t work on me!”
Sosuke turned into liquid, and the countless feathers passed through him. The sharp feathers pierced through him and emerged on the other side.
“Oh? You sure about that?”
Kwon Oh-Jin smirked as the feathers he had fired stopped moving.
Sosuke suddenly groaned, “Kugh!”
Instead of simply passing through Sosuke, the thousands of feathers halted in midair and began mixing with his liquid form.
“D-Damn it!”
Just as Sosuke had previously filtered out impurities to create pure water, he attempted to expel the black feathers from within him. However, there were simply too many embedded within him. Removing them all was not an easy task.
Sosuke, now riddled with black feathers, looked like a torn feather parka being spun in a washing machine.
“Well, I guess you’re not exactly pure water anymore, huh?”
Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and activated the Stigma of Lyra once again.
Lighting Charge.
Fierce blue lightning condensed.
Crackle!
Once. Twice. Three times. The lightning grew denser, gathering at the tip of his spear.
“Explode.”
Kwon Oh-Jin took a deep breath and lifted his spear. He stepped forward with his left foot and pulled back his right arm holding the spear like a drawn bow. Using the tension in his waist, he threw the spear with all his strength.
Crackle!
A streak of blue lightning cut through the air. The spear plunged into Sosuke’s solar plexus and unleashed the stored lightning. A deafening roar like crashing thunder erupted as the lightning explosion engulfed Sosuke.
Rumble!
“Ah, ugh!”
Sosuke trembled violently and looked down at himself. His entire right upper torso had been blown away by the explosion.
“I-I need to r-regenerate, quickly...”
His face twisted in terror as he desperately moved his remaining arm. The elixirs he had crafted over the years responded to his call, rushing to heal his wounds.
Kwon Oh-Jin reached out for the elixirs swarming toward Sosuke. “I can’t let that happen.”
Like a parched desert absorbing water, Kwon Oh-Jin absorbed the blue elixirs created by Sosuke.
Sosuke’s expression turned desperate as he watched his precious elixirs vanish at an alarming rate. “S-Stop!”
It took numerous years to prepare those elixirs to artificially create the Dragon Vein. Over 1700 Awakeners had been sacrificed to refine such mana. Sosuke couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands.
“That... is our hope.”
Sosuke reached out toward the vanishing elixirs with a look of despair. It was the only way they could reclaim their lost glory. The one chance to rid themselves of the disgrace of being called the Star-Forsaken Land was being stolen right in front of his eyes.
“There really is no sucker like you.”
Kwon Oh-Jin grinned, feeling the elixir seep into him.
Of course, the added elixir didn’t hold much significance to him after already possessing an overwhelming amount of pure mana.
Even if it doesn’t mean much to me, it means everything to him.
Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled as he watched Sosuke desperately reach out.
Ten million dollars could seem insignificant to a billionaire, but it could mean everything to an average person. Likewise, Kwon Oh-Jin found this mana to be trivial while it was irreplaceable to Sosuke.
“Ahhhhh!”
Sosuke, completely robbed of his elixir, snapped and lunged at Kwon Oh-Jin. However, he no longer had the strength to fight after exhausting most of his mana.
Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed Sosuke’s head. With his mana depleted, Sosuke returned to his original solid state.
Sosuke’s terrified eyes darted around in panic through the gaps in Kwon Oh-Jin’s fingers.
“Ah...”
Kwon Oh-Jin activated Lightning Charge while grabbing onto Sosuke’s head. Blue lightning condensed around his head.
“Aaaaaagh!
”Sosuke thrashed violently and struggled to break free, but he couldn’t escape Kwon Oh-Jin’s crushing grip after using up all his strength.
“Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge.”
Crackle!
The concentrated blue lightning spiraled into Sosuke’s head. His eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness, and his head began to swell unnaturally.
Pop!
A grotesque splatter of brain matter, crushed eyeballs, shattered cheekbones, and broken teeth burst forth.
Kwon Oh-Jin flicked the blood off his hand and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk.”
The fight with Sosuke had gone exactly as expected.
“That was too easy.”
Thanks to Water Affinity, even severe injuries healed instantly. He didn’t feel much tension in the fight.
I can tell why he’s ranked seventh.
Even if Sosuke’s elemental property was overpowering, his level of power felt utterly insignificant compared to Cheon Do-Yoon.
If the gap between sixth and seventh rank is this wide, just how powerful are the other Executors?
Kwon Oh-Jin pondered for a moment before shrugging and reaching toward Sosuke’s body.
No matter how strong they are, it won’t matter as long as I devour them all and grow even stronger.
The Black Heaven clouds engulfed the Stigma of Seahorse. Mana flowed through the black clouds and entered Kwon Oh-Jin.
A clear chime echoed as a blue message window popped up before his eyes.
Ring!
[All the conditions for the Black Heaven’s sixth enlightenment have been met!]
[The Black Heaven is undergoing its sixth enlightenment!]
The black clouds from Kwon Oh-Jin’s left chest fully engulfed him.
[According to the Black Heaven’s enlightenment progress, Lee Shin Hyuk’s memories will be inherited.]
Tzzz.
His vision distorted as if covered in static. Following a familiar sensation, Kwon Oh-Jin slowly closed his eyes. As his eyelids lowered, the world faded to darkness, only to be replaced by another’s memories.
A dazzling nightscape spread out before him. It was the garden on top of the Yongsan auction house. The same place where he had once gifted Song Ha-Eun the Demonic Dragon Eye.
There, Lee Shin-Hyuk stood stiff as a board like he was about to undergo an interview for a major corporation.
“Ahem! H-Ha-Eun!”
He held out a palm-sized, square box toward Song Ha-Eun.
“I like you! From the moment I first met you... I always have!”
His face flushed bright red as he spat out a cringeworthy confession straight out of an outdated rom-com.
Kwon Oh-Jin’s expression twisted violently as he watched Lee Shin-Hyuk’s memory unfold.
This motherfucker.