Chapter 65: Heavy Rain (7)

The sheer intensity of the mana pouring out of Ashad Khan made Kwon Oh-Jin shudder. A chilling shiver ran down his spine.

What the fuck?

Why does this bastard have a second phase?

Despite only being a mid-rank executive, Ashad Khan kept pulling tricks out of his sleeve, making himself a bigger threat.

I don’t have much time,

Kwon Oh-Jin thought.

The pain from using Exceed was growing unbearable, as though consuming him from within. He had already experienced how little he could last in this overloaded state the last time he'd made use of it.

I have to end this as fast as possible.

Biting his lip, he leveled his spear, covered in Lightning Flames, at Ashad Khan.

“Huuup!”

Boom!

The ground beneath him crumpled as if a bomb had detonated. Blue lighting lit up the dark, abandoned warehouse.

“There’s no use,” Ashad Khan declared coldly.

He swung his curved blade slowly once more, but the power within it had risen to an entirely different level. A storm of black feathers surged violently around him, following the trajectory of his blade.

Whoosh!

Tens of thousands of black feathers rained down on Kwon Oh-Jin like a deadly monsoon.

“Agh!”

he yelled, halting his charge. He flung his right arm out to the side and activated his wire shooter.

Bang!

He wasted no time checking if the wires had even anchored on a pole, charging it with mana immediately Yet, it was not enough to escape the sheer range of the wretched storm.

The falling feathers triggered an enormous chain of explosions as Kwon Oh-Jin was jerked to the side by the wire, like a fish on a hook.

He instinctively summoned a wall of lightning to shield himself.

This isn’t fair!

While the blasts were noticeably weaker than before, there were too many of them—far too many.

Boom!

An explosion shattered the lightning barrier and swept Kwon Oh-Jin away.

“Kugh!”

The impact ripped through his skin, exposing raw, bleeding flesh underneath.

“Grrghh!”

Biting his lip, he barely managed to stand back up. He had at least escaped the explosion's core, reducing the damage slightly—but only just.

Ashad Khan, empowered by the blessing of the Black Stars, was overwhelmingly powerful; Kwon Oh-Jin couldn't conjure up a feasible strategy against him.

Suddenly, Ashad Khan's voice sounded behind him. “Still as good at running away, I see.”

Kwon Oh-Jin spun around in an instant, his spear igniting with Lightning Flames as he slashed upward. The weapon severed Ashad Khan from groin to crown, spilling blood and innards.

However, Kwon Oh-Jin didn't let his guard down.

No, there’s no way it’s this easy.

“You’re sharp,” Ashad Khan's voice rang out from behind.

The severed corpse dissolved into black feathers and faded away.

Ashad Khan's blade swung low, aiming for Kwon Oh-Jin’s right thigh.

Swoosh!

Kwon Oh-Jin slammed his spear into the ground to block the strike. The spear clashed with the curved blade wreathed in black light, fiercely driving it back.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With each impact, Kwon Oh-Jin felt like he was being struck by a battering ram.

“Ughh!”

He squeezed out as much mana as he could to produce Lightning Flames over the entire spear.

Shit... the mana consumption is insane!

He recalled the system's earlier warning—he wasn't ready to handle the power of Exceed. The skill devoured mana at a terrifying rate, and its penalties drained him even faster. Maintaining Lightning Flames only added to the strain, despite his massive mana reserve.

Ashad Khan eyed Kwon Oh-Jin with mild surprise. “

Ha

. To think you’d block this too...”

Then, his gaze dropped to Kwon Oh-Jin’s trembling legs, and he smiled. “But how much longer can you last?”

Woong!

Black light erupted like an explosion, overpowering the blue flames around Kwon Oh-Jin's spear, gradually causing them to fade.

“Ughh!”

Kwon Oh-Jin gritted his teeth, forcing himself to endure. He scraped together every last drop of his mana, draining it like water from a broken vessel, and desperately tried to push the curved blade back.

“It’s no use,” Ashad Khan said, his smirk widening as the black light deepened. “No matter how much you struggle...”

Crack!

Fissures snaked across the silver spear like cracks on glass.

“You can’t escape from the time of the owls.”

Crack!

As the spear shattered, its jagged fragments shot into Kwon Oh-Jin’s collarbone, shoulder, abdomen, and thigh—piercing deep into his flesh.

He gasped in despair.

“It’s over,” Ashad Khan declared coldly.

Slash!

His curved blade, shrouded in black light, cut clean through Kwon Oh-Jin's right arm.

Blood gushed violently from the severed limb.

“... You managed to dodge in that state?”

Ashad Khan's eyes widened in astonishment. He had aimed for Kwon Oh-Jin’s neck, but in the brief moment the spear shattered, Kwon Oh-Jin had pulled back. Instead of his head, only his arm had been taken.

“Well... all you've done is delay your death a little longer.”

Kwon Oh-Jin, riddled with spear fragments, clutched his severed right arm. A maimed warrior was as good as dead. The sheer blood loss alone should have sent him into shock; there was no need for a finishing blow.

“It’s over, my ass.”

Ashad Khan's smirk vanished.

Kwon Oh-Jin slowly rose to his feet. “Who said it’s over?”

He clenched his remaining fist tight and vigorously charged forward.

Ashad Khan scoffed, in disbelief. “You’re quite the persistent one.”

... But he’s too slow.

Having already lost near-lethal amounts of blood, Kwon Oh-Jin's movements were sluggish.

Ashad Khan twisted to the left and swung his sword toward Kwon Oh-Jin’s remaining arm.

Slice.

The curved blade split Kwon Oh-Jin’s left arm at the elbow, spilling blood onto the ground. The pain was excruciating—so intense that it might have been better if it were fully hacked off like his right arm.

“You should’ve just stayed still," Ashad Khan said. "If you hadn’t gotten back up, you wouldn’t have been—”

“I told you... it’s not over.”

Kwon Oh-Jin swung his remaining elbow like a club and struck Ashad Khan on the cheek.

Thwack!

“Kugh!”

Ashad Khan staggered back and fell to the ground, taken aback. Before he could react, Kwon Oh-Jin straddled his neck and headbutted his philtrum, like a hammer pounding a nail.

“It’s only—

Thud!

Just—

Thud!

Getting started!

Crunch!

”

Kwon Oh-Jin's forehead split open, blood streaming down his face, yet he didn't stop. “So why—! Do you keep saying—! That it’s over!”

“Aaaah!”

Ashad Khan instinctively slammed his fist into Kwon Oh-Jin's face, shattering his nose.

Crack!

Shards of broken teeth cut into Kwon Oh-Jin's throat, and his crushed cheekbones dug into his eyes. Yet, he didn’t pull back. His forehead crashed down again and again, with every last ounce of strength he had.

“

Kugh!

Y-You crazy bastard!” Ashad Khan roared. He quickly got up and kicked Kwon Oh-Jin in the stomach.

“Argh!”

Kwon Oh-Jin coughed up blood and rolled on the ground.

Ashad Khan grimaced as he wiped his nose with his hand, which came away slick with blood.

“

Agh!

Damn it!”

Even with the blessing active, he had been wounded to this extent by a walking corpse riddled with spear shards and missing an arm.

“It's not over, huh...?”

Ashad Khan strode toward Kwon Oh-Jin and stomped down on his knee.

Crack! Crunch!

“Aaaaahhhh!”

Kwon Oh-Jin's scream tore through the air as his leg twisted grotesquely in the wrong direction.

“Come on! Isn’t this what you wanted? Why are you just lying there like a moron?!”

Ashad Khan pressed his foot down on the ruined knee and twisted his heel as if grinding out a cigarette.

Rip!

Kwon Oh-Jin’s knee bone tore through his flesh.

“Get up and keep fighting!” Ashad Khan shouted.

“Ghhaaahh! Aaaaghhh!”

He continued to trample on Kwon Oh-Jin's limbs, aiming to inflict as much pain as possible.

***

“Haa, haa!”

After a few minutes, Ashad Khan stopped his onslaught. Not even the faintest sound came out of Kwon Oh-Jin's mouth anymore.

“... Tsk!”

Ashad Khan spat out the blood pooling in his mouth.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s unexpected counterattack had shaken him up more than he cared to admit.

Crazy motherfucker.

A chill ran down his spine as he recalled Kwon Oh-Jin slamming his head down like a frenzied beast, screaming wildly. Ashad Khan had faced many opponents over the years, but never a monster this persistent—not even within the Demonic District.

Still...

Calming down his ragged breath, he looked down at Kwon Oh-Jin. The man was in such a mangled state, he barely looked human.

It’s actually over now.

An exhilarating feeling coursed through him without him realizing it.

“

Ha, hahaha!

Finally. Finally!”

Rather than a sense of victory, there was relief that he no longer had to fight that lunatic. He laughed for a while before he suddenly stopped. “How pathetic.”

He sighed and clicked his tongue as he traced the seven strokes engraved beside his Stigma with his fingers.

As a seven-star Awakener, he had barely managed to defeat a four-star Awakener, even with the blessing of a Celestial. What was there to laugh about? If Cheon Do-Yoon found out about this, he would strip him of his title as an executive on the spot. And yet, even knowing that, he couldn't suppress the smile creeping across his face.

At least... it’s over.

Drip, drip.

“Hm?”

A single drop landed on his head, then another. Rain began to seep into the dry earth.

“Come to think of it, there was a typhoon forecasted for today.”

He furrowed his brow as he glanced up at the dark clouds filling the sky.

Not even thirty seconds later, the light drizzle turned into a full-on downpour. Ashad Khan let out a short groan as the rain seeped into his wounds.

Did I push myself too hard?

He lifted his shirt slightly to look at the Stigma of Owl Nebula on his chest. Grotesque, root-like veins bulged unnaturally around it.

“I should get going now.”

He needed to quickly leave this place before the blessing took its toll on him.

... I need to report that the mission was a success.

He thought of the true leader of the Black Star Society—the King's Proxy. Working in the shadows, that man had provided him with the crucial intel on the Valhalla Guild and the Thunder Wolf working together.

I believe he should be at the association right now. I'll need to be careful contacting him.

Sheathing his curved blade at his waist, Ashad Khan slowly turned away and stepped across the dry ground.

“Hm?”

Something felt off.

He reached down toward the ground and sifted through the soil.

“... What the hell? It's dry?”

It was pouring hard as if the sky had ruptured, but how could there be dry soil?

He turned his head to scan the area. It was pouring hard as if the sky had ruptured, yet the ground all around him remained parched. It was as if the rain was being absorbed somewhere.

Then, a familiar voice called out. “Where... do you think... you’re going?”

Ashad Khan spun around, alarmed. His eyes widened as Kwon Oh-Jin slowly rose to his feet.

“W-What the hell? H-How are you...?”

Wobbling, Kwon Oh-Jin got up and stood on his mangled legs. “

Hehehe!

Honestly, this wasn't part of my plan, but...”

Crack! Snap!

The bones piercing through his flesh sank back inside as if nothing had happened. As if someone had hit rewind on a video, his grotesque legs straightened back into place.

“Well, you got some fancy blessing from the Black Stars or whatever, so shouldn’t I get a blessing of my own?”

Bubble, bubble.

Like foam rising to the surface, fresh flesh sprouted where his wounds had been, and his severed arm regrew as though they had never been injured.

Kwon Oh-Jin stretched his arms wide toward the downpour.

“Haaa.”

He closed his eyes, embracing the cold rain as it washed over him.

[The air is saturated with the energy of water.]

[The efficiency of Water Affinity Lv MAX has increased dramatically!]

“Earlier... you said something about it being the time of the owls, right?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked. Beneath the ashen clouds in the sky, his blue eyes blazed fiercely as he grinned from ear to ear. “Well, it’s

my

time now.”