Chapter 51: Going Beyond (1)

Red flames brightly blazed, scattering ash and dust into the air. Amidst the chaos, a woman stood tall, unwavering.

Kwon Oh-Jin let out a short laugh and murmured, “Ha-Eun.”

She shone like a jewel, just like eight years ago—no, like the first time they had met. Even amid blood and torn flesh, she was still breathtakingly beautiful.

“Stay still,” Song Ha-Eun demanded. She pulled a potion from her jacket and poured it over Kwon Oh-Jin’s wounded shoulder, where a chunk of flesh had been torn away.

His shoulder stung with excruciating pain. Though the wound didn't miraculously disappear, it had stopped bleeding.

“That’s an expensive potion,” Kwon Oh-Jin remarked.

Song Ha-Eun grimaced. “What? Is that what’s important right now?”

“Pfftt!

I’m joking.”

He chuckled. No matter how obsessed he was with money, he wasn’t stupid enough to worry about the price of a potion in a situation like this. Her arrival had bought him a brief moment to catch his breath.

I’ve made it out alive thanks to her.

And the fact that she’s here means...

Whoosh!

A massive demonic beast jumped through the wall of flames and charged forward, with sharp spikes shining like awls.

“Kraaa!”

Just as it got close to the pair, a young man with a giant shield jumped in between.

“Hup!”

Boom!

The creature's sharp spikes clashed against the shield, unable to pierce through. The demonic beast twisted, trying to break past it.

“Not so fast!” Park Chang-Hyun shouted. He swung his hammer imbued with the mana of his Stigma down on the demonic beast.

Slam!

Its head exploded, brain matter splattering as its eyes burst from their sockets.

“Are you alright, Oh-Jin?!” Park Chang-Hyun asked, looking back at him. Kwon Oh-Jin could only smile at the young man's reliable support.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“A-Also, did you kill all these demonic beasts by yourself?” Park Chang-Hyun asked, scanning the carnage around. His mouth hung open. Even at a glance, there had to be over a hundred corpses piled up.

This is unbelievable...

he thought, staring at Kwon Oh-Jin in disbelief.

Even if he was an apostle of the North Star, how could a mere four-star Awakener take down over a hundred six-star demonic beasts alone? If Park Chang-Hyun hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would’ve laughed off such a claim.

He’s human, just like me, right?

He swallowed nervously.

Gulp.

“Let’s get rid of those ones over there first,” Kwon Oh-Jin said, grabbing his spear.

They moved toward the swarming demonic beasts. Even though he'd had less than a minute to rest, it was enough time to steady his breath and calm the mana boiling within him.

“I’ve already contacted the subjugation force. More Awakeners will be joining us soon,” said Song Ha-Eun.

“Thanks. You’re the best,” Kwon Oh-Jin replied. Things would get a lot easier once the other Awakeners joined them.

“... So don’t push yourself, just stall enough for the rest of them to get to us,” she said, turning away. After taking a deep breath, she took off her eye patch.

Click.

Her atrocious eye shone in the light.

Kwon Oh-Jin was taken aback. “Ha-Eun?”

“

Ugh,

I’m not used to it yet, but I don't have a choice.”

She stepped forward, her serpentine, vertical-slit pupil locking onto the demonic beasts. The monsters flinched, staggering back in fear at the sight of her Dragon Eye.

“Kirrk?!”

“Agh!”

Song Ha-Eun groaned, squinting her left eye. The ugly veins around it started to bulge and grow thicker.

“Shit, this hurts like hell!”

She bit her lips and spread her arms out wide. The Stigma on her chest began to glow, more intense than anything Kwon Oh-Jin had seen before.

“Ha-Eun, this is...”

“

Hehe.

I wasn’t just slacking off these past three months, you know?”

She smiled as she crossed her outstretched arms in the shape of an X. A red, dragon-shaped flame rose from the ground and coiled around her.

Whoosh!

“I’ve got way more experience as an Awakener than you,” she declared, stomping forward with force, surrounded by flames.

Boom!

An inferno erupted like a volcanic explosion, and the ground cracked under her feet, sending up pillars of fire through the fissures.

“I can’t keep hiding behind you forever, now, can I?” she said with a smirk. Her red ponytail fluttered as the firestorm roared around her.

Whoosh!

The monsters hesitated, visibly unsettled—whether by her blazing aura or the primal fear awakened by the mighty Fire Dragon coiling around her.

“K-Krrrk!”

“Kraaa!”

Song Ha-Eun's gaze settled on one particular demonic beast, its mouth holding a chunk of flesh it had bitten off from Kwon Oh-Jin earlier.

“You. Do you have any idea whose shoulder you just took a bite out of?”

Baring her teeth, she stretched out her hand as if aiming a gun and snapped her fingers, projecting the fire dragon toward the creature.

Swoosh!

The dragon's giant maw, made out of flames, opened wide and swallowed the demonic beast whole. The heat even swept away the surrounding beasts, turning them all to ash.

“...

Woah.

” Kwon Oh-Jin couldn't help but gasp as he watched Song Ha-Eun incinerate all the monsters with overwhelming firepower.

Is that the true power of the Dragon Eye?

Though he didn’t know exactly how it worked, he could feel that the flames surrounding her moved as if they were alive, rampaging with a mind of their own in every direction. It was an overwhelming, unbelievable sight.

Things just got a lot easier thanks to her.

Kwon Oh-Jin grinned as he moved to stand beside Song Ha-Eun. “Anyone listening would think that it was

your

shoulder that got bitten off.”

“Well, it basically belongs to me anyway,” she said.

“And why does that belong to you?”

“

Hahaha!

Anything you own is pretty much mine by default.”

“What kinda logic is that?”

“Oh-Jin, you can’t eat, drink, or even breathe without my permission.”

Were the Nazis this extreme?

“Don’t get hurt, okay?” she continued.

“I feel like I might die from the cringe.”

“This motherfucker...”

“They were truly moving words, Ha-Eun. I can barely hold back my tears.”

“Y-You...! Back then, you spat out all that cringy ass shit like it was nothing!”

“Pffft!”

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled, roughly pulling her close by the waist.

“H-Hey!!”

Wham!

He drove his foot into the head of a demonic beast that had pushed through the flames.

“I’ll try not to get hurt, okay?” he said softly. Then, he gently patted her waist and turned away.

I guess I can’t be too careless when she’s this worried about me.

Park Chang-Hyun smiled as he glanced over at them. “You two are really close, aren’t you?”

Kwon Oh-Jin shrugged, then charged toward the incoming wave of demonic beasts. Blue lightning crackled through Song Ha-Eun's flames, pushing back the advancing monsters.

After some time, the rest of the Awakeners arrived at the scene.

“W-Why are there so many of them?!”

“

H-Huh,

isn’t that the Thunder Wolf?”

“No way... Those three were holding off all these demonic beasts on their own?”

“This is insane! No rookie should be able to handle this.”

The demonic beasts were then driven back even faster thanks to the reinforcements.

“Kheeee!”

“K-Kra!”

Great.

The battle had clearly shifted in their favor.

However, Vega was struggling. Kwon Oh-Jin could hear her panting.

“

Haa, haa, haa!

”

Seems like my goddess is reaching her limit too. It's time to end this.

Kwon Oh-Jin sharply glared at Choi Jong-Cheol.

“U-Uh...”

Choi Jong-Cheol trembled as he looked down at the onslaught. “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?”

He incessantly scratched his cheeks nervously, nails clawing into his skin until blood trickled down his face.

“Why are we losing?

Huh?

Why?”

His nails dug into his own flesh, peeling away strips of skin.

“I did everything you asked! I followed every order, didn’t I?!”

With a grotesque twist, Choi Jong-Cheol’s head snapped to the side.

Crack.

Yet, he continued his frantic questioning.

“But... but... but—!”

Slowly, his broken, puppet-like head creaked toward Kwon Oh-Jin.

“

Why

can’t I kill you?!”

As if unsatisfied with his exposed cheekbones, he drove his fingers into his own eye socket.

“Oh-Jin... w-what’s wrong with him?” Song Ha-Eun asked. Her face had gone pale with horror.

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why?!

” Choi Jong-Cheol screeched, gouging out his eyeball from its socket.

“

Aaahhhh!"

she screamed. "He’s actually pulling his own fucking eye out!”

“Krrr!

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! I said, kill him!” Choi Jong-Cheol screamed. He had fallen deep into madness, stuffing his eyeball into his mouth.

Chomp.

“Fuck! That piece of shit is eating his own goddamn eye, Oh-Jin!”

Calm down, Ha-Eun. And stop pulling on my clothes.

“W-Was he always that crazy?” she asked.

Kwon Oh-Jin shook his head. “No way.”

The Astral Relic seemed to have completely taken over his mind. Kwon Oh-Jin bit his lips and charged toward Choi Jong-Cheol, who had started to seize.

If I leave him like this any longer, there’s no telling what he’ll do.

Kwon Oh-Jin had to end this while he still had the chance. He closed in on Choi Jong-Cheol and unleashed Explosive Lightning ten times, then struck his spear down with all his might.

Crackle! Crackle!

“A-Ah,”

Choi Jong-Cheol gasped. The black orb in his hand shattered, unleashing a torrent of dark energy.

Crack!

Woong!

Kwon Oh-Jin couldn't resist being thrown back.

“Argh!”

Choi Jong-Cheol lifted his arms up high and screamed.

“Ahhhhh!”

The dark energy erupted outward, spreading wide.

Then, a separate black pillar of energy rose from the city center, coalescing with the dark aura surging from Choi Jong-Cheol.

Rumble!

The Awakeners panicked.

“W-What the hell?”

“W-What is that?!”

The ground shook violently, like an earthquake—no, it wasn’t just shaking.

Crash! Boom!

“I-It’s collapsing!”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Run!”

The earth buckled and cracked like rolling waves, skyscrapers toppling one after another like falling dominoes.

Kwon Oh-Jin watched the city fall apart, petrified.

“... Shit.”

The destruction was most intense in the city center.

If I'd been caught in that, I would’ve been crushed alive with no way out. What the fuck is going on?

What kind of power could possibly destroy an entire city like this?

Amidst the chaos, Choi Jong-Cheol's maniacal laughter pierced the air.

“

Krrk! Kraa! H-Hehehehe!

That’s it! Yes! Yes! Yes!”

The enfolding black energy started to gather toward him.

“I-I-I can... kill him... myself. Right?”

Crack! Crunch!

His body started to swell like a balloon.

“Krrr! Khaaaa!”

The lower half of his body turned into that of a snake, his arms turned into mantis-like claws, and his jaw split into eight jagged sections; he had transformed into a demonic beast.

Kwon Oh-Jin froze, staring at Choi Jong-Cheol—or what once had been him.

“ ... What the hell?”

A human... transformed into a demonic beast?

“Ugh.”

An ominous feeling crawled down his spine, and he gripped his spear tighter. His instincts screamed at him, urging him to kill that monster as soon as possible. If he didn’t, they would all die instead.

“

Huh?

Why? Why? Why do I... look like this?

Krrk?”

“Vega! Just hold on a bit longer!”

However, there was no answer.

“... Vega?”

Kwon Oh-Jin turned toward her.

“... I’m sorry, my child... I can no longer...” she trailed off as she shimmered and dissolved into a silver light that faded away.

Kwon Oh-Jin merely stood aghast. The blessing was gone.