Chapter 304: Sky Mountains (10)

A monstrous roar echoed through the air. “

Kuooooooo!

”

Red blood leaked from the demonic beast’s crushed eyeball.

“

Ptoo.

” Kwon Oh-Jin spat out the remains of Behemoth’s eye and used his spear as a crutch to stand up.

Behemoth, now missing one eye, stumbled back in shock. Its reaction was understandable since its prey, on the brink of death, suddenly leaped up and bit out its eye.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s bloodstained mouth twisted into a grin. “That’s why you shouldn’t say things like you won’t kill me so carelessly.”

If he couldn’t win in a head-to-head fight, then he could only do one thing: lull Behemoth into carelessness and strike by surprise. In this kind of situation, his greatest advantage was the certainty that he wouldn’t die. Without bearing the risk of death, he could tread the edge of life and death and bait his enemy into lowering its guard.

“T-This guy’s insane,

meow

?!”

Even if Kwon Oh-Jin knew he wouldn’t die, no sane person would attempt to make the enemy careless by suffering wounds that exposed his ribs and cost him a leg.

“Did I not tell you?” Vega smiled faintly at Felis. “You truly know nothing about my child.”

Vega instinctively understood that Kwon Oh-Jin wouldn’t fall so easily the moment she saw him all battered. Even with severe wounds that exposed his bones, he would never give up. Others would only laugh in disbelief like Felis if Vega said it aloud.

“You know who I am.”

In all the time they had spent together until now, Vega had come to understand far more than she expected. Not the Kwon Oh-Jin she knew as a Regressor nor the Heaven-Defying Star, but the human standing before her right now.

“

Grrrrrr!

” Behemoth, enraged and half-blinded, roared and charged at Kwon Oh-Jin.

Kwon Oh-Jin stretched out his right arm to face the charging beast. Razor-sharp fangs sank into his flesh.

Crunch!

The fangs instantly crushed his bones and tore away his flesh.

“

Haaa.

”

However, he grabbed Dantalian with his left hand. The black spear transformed into a palm-sized folding knife.

Just earlier, he had bitten off Behemoth’s right eye. In other words, Behemoth had a blind spot as it bit his right arm.

“He can’t see my left side.”

Kwon Oh-Jin stabbed Dantalian into Behemoth’s eyelid.

“

Grrrrrr!

”

As soon as it felt the pain, Behemoth jerked its head back in a panic.

“It’s too late.”

Dantalian, still lodged in Behemoth’s eye, transformed into a hook shape.

Crunch!

Like a fishing hook, it dug into Behemoth’s flesh and locked in tight. Then, Kwon Oh-Jin sent lightning through Dantalian.

Crackle!

Blue sparks leaped as lightning surged directly into Behemoth.

“

Kraaaah!

” Behemoth thrashed in agony and swung its forepaws.

Struck by its flailing paws, Kwon Oh-Jin flew like a baseball over a fence before plummeting down.

“

Kugh!

”

The agonizing pain felt like being scorched by fire. Every single part of him hurt. Clutching his tattered and chewed-up right arm, Kwon Oh-Jin forced himself to his feet.

Behemoth thrashed wildly and tried to rip Dantalian out of its right eye. “

Kraaaah!

”

Even amid the unbearable pain, Kwon Oh-Jin laughed like a maniac. “It won’t come out that easily.”

Dantalian had a will of its own. Even if he weren’t holding it directly, it would shift and reshape itself to dig deeper into Behemoth.

“

Grrrrrr!

” Realizing it couldn’t easily remove Dantalian, Behemoth turned toward Kwon Oh-Jin and furiously growled.

A dark aura burst forth like an explosion.

“B-Behiring! W-Wait a minute,

meow

!” Felis cried out in alarm.

The killing intent radiating from Behemoth felt as if it had completely forgotten her order not to kill Kwon Oh-Jin. If this continued, he would really die at the hands of Behemoth.

Behemoth ignored the order to stop and stomped forward. “

Grrrrrrr!

”

It charged at Kwon Oh-Jin with surprising speed for a creature that had lost one eye and aimed its sharp horns at him.

“

Ugh!

” Kwon Oh-Jin fired a wire at a nearby tree and quickly pulled himself away.

Bang!

“Behiring! I told you to stop,

meow

!”

“

Graaaah!

” Behemoth went completely out of control.

Felis urgently turned to Vega. “Why aren’t you stopping it,

meow

?!”

“

Hmm?

Isn’t that your Star Spirit?”

Unlike Felis, who completely panicked, Vega looked calm as she watched the fight.

Felis shouted in frustration, “If you leave it like that, your child is going to die! Weren’t you just saying earlier that you’d break the restrictions of the Law to protect him?!”

“I did.”

That hadn’t changed. If Kwon Oh-Jin truly found himself on the brink of death, she would protect him even at the cost of her own existence.

“Don’t panic.” Vega smiled faintly as she watched Kwon Oh-Jin calmly assessing Behemoth while keeping his distance. “My child will win.”

An unwavering certainty filled her.

Felis frowned in disbelief. “You can still say that after seeing the state he’s in,

meow

?”

Although Kwon Oh-Jin had inflicted serious wounds on Behemoth, he had also paid a heavy price. In fact, Kwon Oh-Jin’s injuries looked far worse.

His left leg had been torn off below the knee, leaving him unable to move without his wires. Blood still poured from the large wound across his chest. Though he had succeeded in stabbing Dantalian into Behemoth’s eye by sacrificing his right arm, now he had one useless leg and one mangled arm left.

How would a warrior missing a leg and an arm defeat Behemoth?

“That child is going to die,

meow

!” Felis shouted anxiously.

Even if it was just because of his scent, Felis didn’t want to lose Kwon Oh-Jin.

However, Vega remained calm. She trusted him and saw something Felis couldn’t. A change was occurring within Kwon Oh-Jin’s body.

“Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since you reached eight stars,” Vega said.

Other Awakeners took much longer, but Kwon Oh-Jin had remained stuck at this stage for some time considering how rapidly he had grown until now. Reaching nine stars was incredibly difficult for most Awakeners.

After watching him all this time, Vega knew that Kwon Oh-Jin, the Heaven-Defying Star, would shine the brightest in the most hopeless darkness.

Kwon Oh-Jin gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up and clutched his shredded right arm. “

Haaa

.”

Even standing up is hard.

With only one foot to support himself, his balance kept faltering. If he used Open Heaven, his limbs would regenerate through the storm clouds.

But I can’t use that in front of Vega.

Aside from Vega’s presence, the aftereffects were too dangerous to risk.

In that case...

He only had one option left and took a deep breath.

Lightning Charge.

Blue lightning began to concentrate in his right arm and left leg.

Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge. Lightning Charge.

The over-condensed lightning raged like a wild beast trapped in a cage, thrashing to be set free.

Kwon Oh-Jin ignored the raging lightning and kept condensing it.

“

Kugh!

”

He swelled like an overinflated balloon. Agonizing pain gnawed at his mind, urging him to release the lightning immediately.

“Stay still, you bastard.”

He didn’t stop because he had no reason to. This level of pain was nearly routine to him by now.

Crackle!

His shredded right arm burst apart, and a new arm made of pure lightning formed in its place. His torn left leg followed.

Lightning Form was a skill that transformed the mere human body into the form of a god. Unlike before, when he could only convert a single arm, crackling blue lightning replaced his left leg below the knee and even a large part of his chest, where his bones had been exposed.

Sensing something unusual, Behemoth suddenly froze mid-step. “

Grrr?

”

Its blood-red left eye scanned Kwon Oh-Jin up and down.

“What’s wrong?” Kwon Oh-Jin looked back at Behemoth with a smile. “You scared?”

It was an utterly childish provocation, but it worked because Behemoth had only ever seen the fearful gazes from other demonic beasts as the ruler of the Sky Mountains. It had never known fear before.

“

Grrrrrr!

” It viciously growled and crouched.

A black aura erupted from Behemoth as it began absorbing the surrounding fog. The mountains trembled as if an earthquake had struck.

Rumble!

The ground beneath Behemoth’s feet cracked like a desert and began to collapse. As the beast absorbed the fog, a swirling black storm formed around it.

So, it wasn’t just called the Black Storm because it moved fast.

Until now, the name Black Storm had seemed more like a metaphor referring to Behemoth’s incredible speed. Now, a real mana storm surrounded Behemoth. The black storm was powerful enough to tear through steel like paper.

Enveloped in the storm, Behemoth stomped toward Kwon Oh-Jin. If it had moved like a nimble cat before, it now charged like an enraged bull, straightforward and unstoppable.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s lips curled into a smirk as he watched the charging Behemoth. “Yeah, that’s more like it.”

He had successfully transformed his arm and leg into lightning, but making them move as naturally as real limbs still seemed impossible. In that sense, Behemoth coming to him straightforwardly actually turned out to be ideal. Of course, the storm around Behemoth carried immense strength.

But I’m not lacking in strength either.

Kwon Oh-Jin clenched his right fist made of blue lightning. Like drawing a bow, he pulled his arm back and locked eyes with Behemoth charging toward him.

Crack! Crackle!

Next to the Stigma of Lyra, eight radiant strokes began to glow.

[The Stigma of Lyra has been promoted to nine stars.]

Now, nine blazing strokes flared like a roaring flame.