Going Beyond III

Bang!—

The ground where his foot landed exploded.

His body that was swept away by the powerful momentum shot forward like a bullet.

"Kiruk? What? Trick? Again?"

Choi Jungchul's expression distorted as he raised his arms, they transformed into a vicious awl and swung at Ohjin.

Ohjin raised his spear at an angle and let the awl slip past him.

KRrrrrrrrrr!—

The attack would have been difficult to deal with a few moments ago, but—

"The one that's using tricks is you."

—for Ohjin, who had used Exceed, he was able to dodge an attack of that level with leisure.

"Die already."

Bam!—

After passing by the awl, he lowered his stance and planted himself close to Choi Jungchul's chest. After stretching out his right hand right next to his solar plexus—

'Lightning Charge.'

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!!—

Humongous lightning incomparable to before struck down onto Choi Jungchul's chest.

"Kieeeeeeek!!!"

Choi Jungchul let out a horrifying shriek as he was flung away.

Ohjin could see that Choi Jungchuls's skin that once had not even a scratch was burnt black.

An exclamation flowed out of his mouth on its own.

"Woah."

'This is crazy.'

When taking nothing but firepower into account, it felt more powerful than when he was blessed.

'Well, I can't maintain this state for long, though.'

Ohjin frowned from the pain that gradually worsened.

An endless amount of pain could be endured, but it was a self-evident fact that maintaining the Exceed state for long would not end with pain alone.

"Let's finish this quickly."

Smirk—

Ohjin ferociously bared his teeth as he smiled.

"Don't? Speak? Non—!"

A spear strike so fast that it was unable to be seen with the eye connected.

"Confirm it yourself."

Currents of blue lightning drove into Choi Jungchul without rest.

Crunch! Crack! Snap!—

"Kiruk! Kieeeeek!!"

One word: Overwhelming.

It was to the point where even that cliche expression was insufficient, Choi Jungchul was miserably toyed with. Ohjin was several steps ahead of Choi Jungchul in terms of skills in the first place. As long as the difference in strength and speed was narrowed, this kind of lopsided result was evident.

On top of that—

"Mr. Ohjin! I've finished taking care of the demon beasts!"

—Park Changhyun, who had finished dealing with the rest of the demon beasts, joined in.

"Don't? Interfere? Me!"

"You dare!"

Park Changhyun, who got close to the violently struggling Choi Jungchul, blocked off his attack with his shield.

Bang!!—

A deafening noise like that of a cannonball exploding rang out.

"Kugh!!"

His arm that was holding onto the shield bounced back from the devastating impact.

"Don't block it head-on, just draw his attention."

"Ah, yes. I-I understand!"

Park Changhyun nodded his head with a puzzled expression.

His face stiffened as he looked down at his numb arm.

'Mr. Ohjin was pushing back that demon beast one-sidedly when it had this amount of strength?'

He looked at Ohjin who was pounding Choi Jungchul in disbelief.

'What… is this?'

Park Changhyun couldn't close his mouth.

He was a 6-Star Awakener of Taurus, a powerful being that was inferior to none when it came down to strength.

—'Enormous strength' that was able to push back even that powerful demon beast.

At that moment, an Awakener that was nothing but a mere '4-Star' was overwhelming the monster that possessed such 'enormous strength'.

"…How?"

Park Changhyun's shoulders shook.

No matter how low you estimated the rank of that demon beast, it was at least 7-Star.

A 4-Star Awakener overwhelming a 7-Star demon beast…

'Not even the Seven Stars were to such an extent.'

He compared Ohjin with the seven Awakeners that were picked as the strongest in the world.

Not even the Seven Stars, who stacked up legendary feats incomparable to other Awakeners, were able to accomplish such a ridiculous feat.

'Mr. Ohjin. You… just who are you?'

He honestly felt that Ohjin, who was overwhelming the demon beast, was more of a monster than Choi Jungchul.

"Kirruuuuk!!"

"Fuu. This is not the time to think these things,"

Raising up his hammer, Park Changhyun shook his head.

Like Ohjin said, he had to help by drawing the demon beast's attention from then on out.

"Hyaaap!"

Bang!—

He charged at Choi Jungchul as he shouted out.

"Kishaaaaat!!!"

Choi Jungchul twisted his body and stubbornly swung his arms around. The black energy that was wrapped around his body soared up explosively.

"Don't? Interrupt? Me!!!"

The bloodshot red eyes of the demon beast focused on Ohjin.

"That bastard? Must? Must? Must!!"

Screaming out, he charged at him.

"The way this curious son of a bitch speaks is really getting on my nerves."

Ohjin avoided his attack lightly and furrowed his brows.

'I'm slowly running out of time.'

There wasn't much time left until Exceed could no longer be maintained.

'One strike.'

It had to be settled with the next strike.

And in order for that…

"Just how much longer are you going to take, Heun."

He turned his head around to the center of the city and observed the black vapor that was gushing out.

As long as that black vapor was connected with Choi Jungchul, killing him with one strike was impossible.

When he was looking at the black vapor with a nervous expression—

Fwooooosh!!!!—

—he could see a massive flame dragon soaring up at the center of the city.

He could feel the powerful waves of heat even from where he stood.

"Pffft!"

Ohjin laughed from the coincidental timing.

"Speak of the devil."

"Kiruk? H-How?"

With his eyes wide open, Choi Jungchul turned his head around.

The Black Star's power that laid dormant at the center of the city…

His connection with that power suddenly cut off.

"Ah, no? No? Noooooo!!"

Choi Jungchul trembled as he took steps back.

The black energy that had gathered around his body started to disperse gradually.

"Well, then."

Smirk—

Ohjin put on a sly smile as he grasped his spear.

"Let's finish this up."

It was time to put a full stop to the sick and tiresome battle.

Bang!—

Raising his left arm, he shot a wire at Choi Jungchul.

Three wires entangled around his body.

"Spft."

After taking in a short breath…

He poured mana into the wire shooter.

Whirrrrrrrr—

With the fierce sound of metal, the wire retracted.

Naturally, no matter how much Choi Jungchul's strength was weakened, it wasn't to the point where he would get dragged by wires.

With that being the case…

'I'll just have to go there myself."

Tatatatatata!!!—

Kicking off his feet, he sprinted.

Leaving his body to the wires that pulled on his left arm, his speed accelerated.

"D-Don't come? Don't come!!"

Choi Jungchul made wings in haste and flew up.

"It's no use."

As he had already been caught by the wires, he couldn't run away.

Gripping tight on his silver spear that had fiercely blazing blue lightning—

"This is the end, you piece of shit."

—he shoved the silver spear into Choi Jungchul's mouth.

Bzzzzzzzzzzt!!!—

"Krrrrrrrrruuek?!"

Currents of blue lightning rode down the silver spear and stormed through Choi Jungchul's insides.

After his body puffed up like a balloon—

Pop!—

—he splattered into pieces and scattered around.

[Releasing the skill 'Exceed'.]

["Exceed Lv1" has increased to "Exceed Lv2"]

["Lightning & Thunder Lv5" has increased to "Lightning & Thunder Lv6"]

"Fuck."

Throb!—

Ohjin frowned deeply inside the raining blood.

'Fuck, this hurts.'

Was it the side effects of entering the Overload state?

With a helpless feeling as strength left him, pain as if blood vessels were being pricked by needles spread across his body.

'I still need to take my reward.'

The level of "Thunder & Lightning" had increased in addition to learning a new skill, but…

That was not the reason he had aimed for Choi Jungchul in the first place.

'Can I absorb it, even if he's in this state?'

It was still worth a shot.

Ohjin used the Black Heaven to absorb the stigma imbued within the pieces of meat that were scattered around.

Naturally, he did it secretly so that other Awakeners wouldn't take notice.

Rumble, rumble—

Black clouds spread out like a net and touched Choi Jungchul's corpse that was split into pieces.

Owoong!—

The stigma engraved on his left chest poured out light as he felt strength flowing into his body.

'Damn, it's possible to absorb it in that state?'

Ohjin laid flat on the ground as he absorbed Choi Jungchul's stigma.

He could feel enormous power rushing through the black clouds.

-Ring!

[The Black Heaven is absorbing the Black Star's power imbued in the star relic!]

"Hah?"

Ohjin's eyes opened wide from the situation he hadn't even thought of.

'Not a stigma, but a star relic?'

In any case, It appeared that he had managed to absorb the black marble that was absorbed inside Choi Jungchul's body.

[The star relic's power has successfully been absorbed!]

[The trait imbued within the star relic 'Transformation' has been added to the Black Heaven's traits!]

'What's 'transformation'?'

Ohjin furrowed his brow as he opened the explanation window.

[Transformation : You can change the shape of your body without constraint using the stigma's mana.]

"Oh, damn. This is good."

There were literally an unlimited amount of ways to utilize the ability to change the body's shape.

'Is this ability how he was able to freely transform his scythe and awl back then?'

Because the stigma of Aquarius didn't have the ability to change the body's shape, it was right to assume it was the power of the star relic.

'Anyways, is this it? I thought it had the ability to turn humans into demon beasts along with controlling them as well.'

'I guess it wasn't able to absorb the star relic's abilities completely.'

In any case, just being able to absorb the star relic's ability in the first place was astounding, even though it was with limitations. If other Awakeners had heard of this, they wouldn't be able to contain their astonishment.

"But… what about the stigma?"

Ohjin's expression twisted.

What he wanted was not the power of the star relic Choi Jungchul was holding onto, but Choi Jungchul's power itself.

When he looked down at the black clouds with severe disappointment…

[The Black Heaven has absorbed the stigma of Aquarius!]

'Yes!'

A bright smile appeared on Ohjin's mouth.

The stigma of Aquarius that displayed the best performance amongst healer-types by far—it was what he wanted in his hands the most after awakening the Black heaven.

"Should I try it out?"

It was great that his body just happened to be in a wreck.

Ohjin placed his right hand over his chest and activated the stigma of Aquarius.

Owoong!—

Something that resembled a blue droplet formed.

As the blue droplet that formed in thin air permeated his body, the pain that tore around his body was slightly relieved.

'The effectiveness right now isn't great.'

It was around a mid-grade potion at best.

'Still, I'll be able to use it well once I train it diligently in the future.'

There wasn't even the need to go out of his way to focus training on the stigma of Aquarius, either. Thanks to the Black Heaven's 'One is All' trait, a portion of the stigma of Lyra's proficiency would be shared automatically.

"Hm?"

Ohjin, who was using the stigma of Aquarius to heal his wounds, suddenly frowned.

Owooooong!!! Crack! Crackle!!—

All of a sudden, the blue droplet that permeated inside his body started to mix with lightning.

'What?'

As he looked at that spectacle with eyes full of questions—

[Confirming the compatibility between the stigma designated as the main stigma and the stigma that is currently activated.]

[The stigma of Lyra and the stigma of Aquarius are resonating!]

[Combination skill "Water Affinity Lv MAX" has been acquired!]

"Huh?"

—a combination skill was created when all he did was use the stigma of Aquarius.

'What the hell?'

With a surprised expression, he opened the explanation window.

[ "Water Affinity Lv MAX" : A skill created from the connection between Lyra's 'Lightning' and Aquarius' 'Water'. You can recover from injuries by absorbing water.]

'You can recover from injuries by absorbing water?'

"The fuck?"

Ohjin's mouth opened wide.

If it enabled you to recover from injuries simply by absorbing water with no restrictions, there was no ability as overpowered as this one.

'Is it perhaps possible to use on other people as well?'

As he read down the message window with eyes full of excitement—

{The effects of "Water Affinity" are only applied to your body.}

"Ah."

—an exclamation full of disappointment flowed out of Ohjin's mouth.

It was unfortunate when he would have been able to solve what troubled him immediately if he was able to use the skill on others.

"…Tch."

Lightly clicking his tongue, he turned the message window off.

'There's no rush.'

Hadn't he got the stigma of Aquarius in his hands anyways?

All he had to do was develop his insufficient ability from then on.

'And once that happens…'

Ohjin clenched his fists tight.

"Ohjinnnn—!!!"

A familiar voice was heard from far away.

Step, step, step, step!!—

Heun, who had approached him as her red hair fluttered, squealed as she looked down at Ohjin collapsed on the ground.

"Kkyaaaaaa!! Our Ohjin became a mess!!!"

"I'm fine."

'Though, to be honest, I'm not fine in the least. Let's say that I'm fine for now.'

"Your face!! Who crushed our little Ohjin's face into this shape!"

"Hm? My face wasn't hurt."

"Ah. Then is this what you look like normally?"

"This bitch?"

'What about my face…'

"Kyahaha! I'm just kidding."

Heun let out a cheerful laugh as her shoulders shook up and down.

Carefully sweeping back Ohjin's hair, she smiled sheepishly.

"…What a relief. You're safe."

A voice that was sunken low.

"Seriously… pushing yourself every day. Do you even know how worried I was?"

Her hand that swept his hair slightly shook,

"Heun."

"Yeah?"

"Let me touch your legs for a sec."

"What?"

Hmpf—

After raising his body up, he fumbled his hands around her right leg.

"Hey!! Gwon Ohjin! W-What are you doing all of a sudden?!"

It felt so soft that it couldn't be differentiated from a real leg due to the high-quality prosthetic leg, but…

'It's still prosthetic at the end of the day.'

Ohjin's eyes shone sharply.

'Don't they say that high-ranked Awakeners of Aquarius are able to regenerate damaged organs and body parts?'

Putting on a slight smile, he removed his hand from her leg.

Stigma of Aquarius or whatever, it was something he could think about at a late date anyways.

'What's important right now is…'

Ohjin looked up at Heun who was in a daze, not knowing what to do.

"Heun."

"Y-Yeah?"

"I'm so fucking tired I think I'm going to die."

Was it because the tension was released after seeing Heun?

A crazy amount of fatigue rushed in at once.

'I don't think I'll last a second longer…'

"I'm sleeping."

"What? You're sleeping? Here?"

"Give me a piggyback ride back to where the car is."

Flop—

He collapsed.

"Hey! Hey!! Gwon Ohjin, you bastard!!"

Her shout gradually became further and further away.

"So why did you touch my leg all of a sudden?!!"

'That's a secret.'