Ancient Constellation IX

'I completed the quest?"

Ohjin's eyes opened wide as he looked at the blue message that appeared in front of his eyes.

All he did was absorb the starstones of demon beasts in order to refill his depleted mana, but he had ended up completing the quest he hadn't even thought of.

'I thought the completion rate wouldn't rise due to their low quality.'

There was a shocking number of demon beasts, but each and every one of them was just around the 4~5-Star rank.

Of course, that didn't mean that they were weak. The reason he thought it wouldn't complete the quest was that he had failed to complete the quest before using the starstones of Murlocs, which were at the same rank.

'Quality adjustment…'

He had thought of the possibility of the Black Heaven and Black Stars being linked in some kind of way a couple of times before.

'Let's think about this later.'

Ohjin stopped his thoughts before they dug deeper and fixed his eyes on the blue message.

[Completion Rate 100%. ]

With the message that he would obtain a random Ancient Constellation, lines of text quickly moved around in the blue message box.

-Ring!

[You have obtained 'Stigma of Clepsydra' as the quest's reward.]

'Clepsydra?'

It was the first time Ohjin had heard of that constellation.

'Well, it's probably a given to have never heard of it.'

Ancient Constellations were constellations that existed before the world had met its end due to the Black Heaven in the far-away past.

There was no way a constellation he was familiar with would have appeared.

'I wonder what kind of ability it'll have.'

Ohjin activated the stigma of Clepsydra with eyes full of expectation.

The stigma blazed up brightly as blue rays of light covered the area.

And then—

"—What?"

—the world… stopped.

—The scattering ashes and smoke.

—The thick blood dripping down to the ground.

—The maggots gathered around crushed flesh.

Everything…

It stopped like the pause button was pressed on a video.

'What's… going on?'

Ohjin opened his eyes wide inside the frozen world.

He tried to move his arm, but not even that would move properly.

"Wwwwwwhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat."

At that moment, a voice that seemed to be replaying in slow motion was heard.

As he looked at where the voice was coming from, he saw that Park Gunwoo was standing still with widened eyes.

'No.'

To be more accurate, he wasn't completely 'still'.

It was extremely slow, but he was moving little by little.

'Ah, so it's something like that.'

Ohjin was then able to understand what kind of ability the stigma of Clepsydra possessed.

'It's making time feel like it's going slow.'

In other words, it was an ability that made everything look like a slow-motion video, excluding his own 'cognition'.

'Holy shit.'

Ohjin was shocked by the outrageously overpowered ability.

Making everything slow, excluding his own cognition?

Then while others thought for a minute, could he think for an hour or even days?

"—have you done!!!"

Then Park Gunwoo's voice returned back to normal.

The frozen world started to move once again.

'So it's not to that extent yet.'

Ohjin clicked his tongue in shame.

He was currently able to slow down his perception of time for around five real-time seconds.

'So I can roughly make five seconds feel like twenty-five seconds.'

His perception of time was about five times slower.

-Ring!

[You can use the 'Stigma of Clepsydra' up to three times a day. The number of limited uses and effects may change according to the stigma's proficiency.]

Three limited uses…

'It's the best stigma to use in danger.'

The slowed perception of time could apply as a variable in a fight.

—A variable so decisive that it could completely turn a disadvantageous situation around.

"You… did you receive the Star of the Weaver Girl's blessing?"

Park Gunwoo looked at him with an extremely nervous expression.

Being that anxious was only natural, as Ohjin's faint mana that looked like it'd extinguish at any moment had suddenly risen up explosively.

"I told you, didn't I? I don't need my goddess to lend a hand."

"Then just where did you get that enormous amount of mana from…?"

"I dunno."

He couldn't chatter about the Black Heaven. Ohjin shrugged his shoulders and fixed his grip on the spear.

"…Kugh."

Park Gunwoo chewed his lips, and soon, his eyes shone fiercely.

"I don't know what you did to replenish your mana—"

Flutter!—

The black feathers that covered his body rose up and wrapped around his spear.

Mana concentrated at the tip of the blade.

"—but the fact you will die here on this spot doesn't change."

He kicked off towards Ohjin.

Ferocious bursts of wind surged as the tip of the spear containing frightening power aimed at Ohjin in a blink of an eye.

'Clepsydra.'

Once more…

The world stopped.

Fwooong!—

He easily avoided Park Gunwoo's spear that contained all of his power.

Ohjin's movements were also restricted inside the slowed time, but it wasn't hard to avoid the attack when he could take time to observe where the spear was aimed and how close it was.

"Wh-What!"

Was it because Park Gunwoo couldn't imagine that he would avoid the attack that easily? His eyes filled with astonishment as he turned around to face him.

"Kugh!"

He quickly swung his spear once again—

Fwooong! Fwoong!—

—but there was no way Ohjin wouldn't be able to avoid it when he could see the attacks so slowly that he could yawn.

"Goddammit!! J-Just why?!"

Park Gunwoo anxiously thrusted his spear as his attacks stopped working all of a sudden.

Claang!—

Ohjin deflected the spear upwards and then kicked his stomach.

"Kugk!"

Thunk!—

Park Gunwoo was sent flying back with a dull sound.

'Lightning Feather.'

Ttutututu!!—

Feathers made of lightning shot towards Park Gunwoo, who had collapsed on the ground.

"Eek!"

He urgently rolled on the ground and avoided the feathers of lightning.

Rolling on the ground to avoid an attack… an act recognized as the most embarrassing thing a martial artist could do.

It was a method that couldn't be more disgraceful for one who had pride as a martial artist, but he had no choice, as it was in order to live.

"Yeah, after your preaching of the spear, this is what it comes to in the end."

Ohjin rushed to where Park Gunwoo was rolling on the ground.

Getting high into the air by using the shaft of his spear like he was pole vaulting, he struck down, his spear like lightning.

"Seriously, try fighting me properly."

The commonplace customs and laws in Murims were nothing but a delusion.

You would roll on the ground to avoid a blade and crawl in order to avoid a spear.

—Real fights were that ugly and disgraceful.

"You don't need bravado or vanity."

Doing everything it took in order to win…

The method and means didn't matter.

That was how he had lived.

And that was how he was living.

"If you want to kill me, put everything you have on the line."

Ohjin smirked and struck his spear down at Park Gunwoo.

Booooooom!!—

"Huff! Huff!"

After Park Gunwoo desperately rolled on the ground to narrowly avoid the attack, he crawled on the ground to create distance.

"D-Damn it!"

Park Gunwoo got back on his feet with a distorted expression. His pride had been hurt.

He had displayed such a pathetic appearance even after receiving the blessing of a Black Star.

"…I'll kill you."

The humiliation and insult that a martial artist couldn't wash off…

Park Gunwoo chewed his lip and grasped his spear.

He stared at Ohjin with eyes containing killing intent.

"I will make sure to kill you!!!"

He roared out and charged at Ohjin.

"Tch, tch. You really aren't getting what I'm saying."

Well, there weren't many things in the world that could be solved with words.

No one would lend their ears to what others said.

—They viewed things as they wanted.

—They heard things as they wanted.

—They simply made an effort to live inside their own little bubble.

'Clepsydra.'

For the last time…

The world stopped.

Ohjin calmly looked at where the tip of Park Gunwoo's spear was heading inside the world where time flowed slowly.

'Right chest.'

After confirming the direction, he started counting down in his head.

'Three.'

Crouching his body, he slipped away and created distance.

'Two.'

Slowly raising his left arm, he aimed it at the spear's blade.

And then…

'Now!'

Bang!!—

Ohjin's eyes shone as he shot the wire shooter at the spear's blade.

The weight attached to the end of the wire clashed with the spear, causing it to go off course.

Precisely hitting a spear that was thrusted by an 8-Star Awakener with all of their strength was harder than using a gun and hitting the wing of a fly buzzing around—

Clang!!—

—but with the stigma of Clepsydra, he could do such a stunt without much difficulty.

"H-Huh?"

Before Park Gunwoo was able to readjust his spear—

'Back to the stigma of Lyra.'

—Ohjin grasped his spear with his right hand and smoothly changed his stigma.

The slowed time returned back to normal as blue lightning threateningly blazed up.

"The one dying here isn't me—"

Sticking the spear's shaft to his flank, he slid back his right foot.

Twisting his body while using his left leg as a pivot, he swung his spear at Park Gunwoo's completely exposed flank.

"—but you, dumbass."

Pshk!!—

The perfect counterattack dug deep, starting from Park Gunwoo's flank and up to his neck.

"Kugk! Kuk! Kru!"

Blood gushed out of his mouth as his body shivered.

"Hmpf!"

Ohiin twisted out the spear that pierced through Park Gunwoo's body

He could see that the light in his eye with a sword scar engraved on it was slowly darkening.

"Phew."

Catching his slightly ragged breathing, he smirked.

He reminisced on the sensation of when the world came to a halt.

'This is better than I imagined.'

Ohjin had been looking forward to the Ancient Constellation quite a lot from the start, but it was honestly greater than he expected.

'Well, the three times restriction is a bit of a shame.'

Still, when taking into account its potential in the future, as it would change according to its proficiency, it was an incredible harvest.

"Alright."

Ohjin approached Park Gunwoo's corpse with a satisfied smile.

As he had won the battle, it was time to take his reward.

'Black Heaven.'

Black clouds covered Park Gunwoo's body.

"Indeed, the quantity of mana in an 8-Star Awakener is different."

An enormous amount of mana flowed into his body through the Black Heaven.

He wouldn't have been that happy in the past, as he already had an overflowing amount of mana, but in the present, his lips couldn't help but curve into a smile, as he had started to lack mana with the increase of skills that drained mana like Exceed and Lightning Flames.

-Zzt.

"…Hm?"

In the middle of absorbing mana, the scene changed with a familiar sensation.

'Is it Transmission?'

Ohjin's eyes shone keenly as he focused his mind on the memories that flowed into his head.