Heavy Rain IV

"D-Damn it!"

The Owl holding the scythe swung his arms, causing the scythe to move through the air like a snake.

"Overwhelm him with strength!!" shouted out the one with the sword.

The inevitable and absolute difference in strength that existed between the 4-Star and 6-Star rank…

Attacks holding that advantage surged down on Ohjin.

"Die, you bastard!!"

Flutter!!—

Black feathers wrapped around the scythe, causing it to expand to five meters in an instant.

The scythe covered with black mana struck down like a guillotine.

Bang! Bang! Bang!—

Ohjin reached his right arm towards the scythe and shot three lines of wire around it.

"Fuu."

He took in a light breath and slammed his spear shaft onto the ground. Using the shaft, he vaulted high into the sky.

"H-Huh?"

After flying 20 meters high in an instant, Ohjin surged mana through the wire shooter.

Whirrrrr!!—

The wire started to pull in tight.

With the silver spear in his hands…

He fell.

"You little rat! Are you running because you can't face our strength?!"

Then, the Owl holding the sword flew up.

On his back were a pair of fiercely flapping wings made of black feathers.

The Owl rushed towards Ohjin in an attempt to strike him down while he was falling.

Twirl—

As if he had expected it, Ohjin suddenly twisted his body.

With his palms spread out wide, he concentrated his mana.

"Whether I can be your opponent in strength or not—"

Tens, hundreds of feathers made of blue lightning spun in a vortex over his palm.

'Lightning Charge.'

Swept away by the explosion created at his palm, the feathers shot out like bullets.

"—say it after experiencing it yourself."

Ttutututututu—

As if a claymore had exploded, hundreds of feathers struck down at the Owls simultaneously.

"Hyup!"

The startled Owl urgently swung his sword.

Black feathers followed the path of his sword and blocked the feathers of lightning.

Or at least, they tried to block the lightning.

"Shit, what's this strength…!"

The Owl was shocked by the destructive strength.

The feathers of lightning tore apart the black feathers as they shot forward.

He tried to block it with his sword in haste, but…

It was already too late.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt!!—

"Aaahhhhhhh!!!"

A terrifying scream exploded out.

Even while his entire body was burning black, the Owl's eyes were wide open in disbelief.

"No… way."

He spoke in a tone clouded with despair.

It wasn't that he had let his guard down, and it wasn't that he hadn't fought with all his might either.

He had used all of his strength to block the lightning feathers.

'This is… the strength of a 4-Star?'

He could understand falling behind in terms of technique.

He could accept falling behind in terms of resources.

However, just how… was he being overwhelmed, even in a clash of nothing but 'strength'?

'Just… what is that bastard.'

With his question unanswered, his consciousness flickered black.

"Fuu."

Ohjin spat out a breath that had become a little ragged.

The mana circuits across his body heated up because he had poured out so much mana at once.

'Still, it's become a lot sturdier than before.'

After using Exceed, like how muscles became sturdier once torn, the circuits which his mana flowed through felt tougher.

["Lightning Shot Lv1"has been acquired.]

["Lightning&Thunder Lv6"influences the proficiency of the skill "Lightning Shot Lv1".]

["Lightning Shot Lv1"has increased to "Lightning Shot Lv3"!]

During the short duration of his thoughts, blue message windows appeared in front of his eyes.

The contents were interesting, but—

'Later.'

—there was still one Owl remaining.

"H-Hick!"

The Owl with the scythe stared down at the burnt black corpse of his partner, who had died in one blow, and started having hiccups.

"Y-You scamming piece of shit!!!"

"Huh?"

'What the fuck.'

'How did he know that I'm a scammer?'

"You aren't at the 4-Star rank!!" he shouted out, completely believing that he had been deceived.

"…I was wondering what you were on about."

Smirk—

A forced chuckle flowed out of Ohjin's mouth.

He nodded his head with a relaxed expression.

"Did you find that out now?"

"As expected!"

The Owl took steps back with his face painted pale white.

'Well, though it's a lie…'

It was just as the world believed it to be.

He was still in the 4-Star rank.

"Well then, shall we start to finish things up?"

Ohjin's mouth twisted as he approached the final remaining Khan's Owl.

"D-Damn it!"

The Owl urgently turned around in order to run away, however—

"Old man~ have you forgotten about this?"

—Ohjin held up the wire shooter that was connected to the wires still wrapped around the scythe.

The wires firmly prevented the Owl from escaping.

"Argh!"

Although he tried to let go of the scythe in great haste—

Bzzzzzzzzzt!!—

"Aahhhhh!!"

—currents of lightning coursed through the Owl faster than he could act.

With a gruesome scream, the Owl collapsed.

Pshk—

After stabbing them with his spear to make sure it was finished, he turned his head around to Jang Sukho, who was looking in his direction with his mouth opened wide.

"Y-You, just…"

He slurred the end of his sentence as he glugged like a goldfish.

His expression was as if he had seen a ghost.

"What are you spacing out for?"

Tapping Jang Sukho's shoulders, he gestured towards the warehouse with his chin.

"Aren't you going to go save your son?"

"…Ah!"

Letting out a short exclamation, Jang Sukho rushed towards the warehouse.

"Let's see…"

There was something Ohjin needed to do before he chased after him.

He approached the corpses of the three Owls.

'It's a stigma I've already absorbed, but…'

There was still the need to absorb the mana contained within the stigmas.

'Black Heaven.'

Rumble, Rumble—

The Black Clouds that spread out from the tip of his fingers crawled across the ground and covered the stigmas engraved on top of the Owls' left chests.

-Ring!

[You possess high proficiency in the corresponding stigma.]

[Absorbing additional mana from the stigma.]

Was it because he had obtained a new skill when utilizing Lightning Feathers? He could feel the thick mana held within the stigma of the Owl Nebula flowing into his body.

"Haa."

An exhilarating sensation of mana surged up inside the body.

Like submerging one's body at a steaming bathhouse, a cozy shiver spread through his pores.

'I guess a 6-Star is still a 6-Star, even if they're second-rate.'

The amount of mana flowing in was considerable.

"Nice."

Smiling in satisfaction, he chased after Jang Sukho, who had already entered the storage.

Creak—

Unlike the rather normal outer appearance, the interior was so rusty that you could tell it was abandoned with just a glance.

"Hyunwoo!! Hyunwoooo!!!"

He could see Jang Sukho shouting out his son's name as he ran around the warehouse.

"He's probably in the basement."

The child inside the photo sent to Jang Sukho had been imprisoned inside a basement.

"Alright!"

Jang Sukho nodded his head as he looked for the entrance that led to the basement.

Thanks to the fact the interior was so desolate, it wasn't all that difficult to find the entrance.

"Hmm."

As they entered the basement, mazelike corridors and rooms one after another could be seen.

Looking at the map next to the stairs, it seemed that it would take quite an amount of time since there were three basement floors.

"I think it'd be best to split up.""Alright! Then I'll search from the lowest floor and climb up!"

Was it that he thought there was the highest possibility of his son being hidden on the lowest floor? Jang Sukho shouted that he would search from there as he went down the stairs.

'I should start by searching the first floor.'

Creak—

One by one, he opened the room doors.

Most of them were completely empty or just had crude tools lying around.

'Where did they lock him up?'

He even activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs, but there was no smell of humans—excluding Jang Sukho.

By chance, was it that they hid hostages in another area?

It was a deduction that had sufficient possibility since they had 'purposely' unleashed Jang Sukho.

'Still, let's take a thorough look around for now.'

Calmy, one by one, he opened the doors.

"Hm?"

When he was opening doors in search of Jang Sukho's son, he found a room with a rusty box in the corner of the room.

The box was approximately three meters across.

"..."

For an unknown reason, he felt an unpleasant feeling akin to bugs crawling on top of his skin.

Step, step—

He walked towards the rusty box.

Crunk!—

After pulling off the lock with his strength alone, he slowly opened the box.

Filling the inside of the box were—

"…Ah."

—bone-white ashes.

"..."

He slowly closed his eyes.

In honesty…

He had experienced a gut feeling ever since he had received the picture of Jang Sukho's son.

-Why a picture of all things?

Letting him have a phone call with his son would allow them to be able to pressure him with even more certainty.

When even just sending a video would be more effective…

Why were they using crude photos with blurry shots that were hard to distinguish as bait?

"…Fuck."

That's right.

He had known it from the start.

Despite pretending he didn't…

Despite hoping it was just an unfounded worry…

Despite wanting to believe that it wasn't true…

Eventually, the sticky, ominous feeling that ran down his spine revealed the white ashes inside the rusty box.

'Why… did they kill them?'

Why, when it would be much more efficient to leave them alive?

Why, when it would allow them to force others to follow the Black Star Organization more effectively?

Why? Why? Why?

The questions kept creating more and formed an endless chain.

It was hard to figure it out when there were too many answers he could deduct.

Had they neglected taking care of them, did the hostages attempt to commit suicide?.

'And if even that isn't it…'

They could have just been 'broken' to the extent they could not live any longer.

"..."

For a moment, he recalled the face of the orphanage director, the man who had swung his fists without restraint at young children.

There were many reasons for violence, but there was always one emotion contained within that man's heart in those moments.

Pleasure.

The extremely pure and clear emotion such people experienced when stepping on the weak.

Creak—

Ohjin closed the lid of the rusty box.

He stood up and headed back outside.

"Huff, huff!"

He found Jang Sukho gasping for breath while coming up the stairs.

"I've looked everywhere down there, but he wasn't there!"

Of course he wasn't.

"I think they hid him on the first floor!"

That wasn't it.

"Fuu… I was wondering why this was the only floor with a lot of rooms. So he was here."

That wasn't it.

"Hyunwoo!! Hyunwoo!! Answer me! Hyunwoo!!"

That. Wasn't. It.

His son had already…

"I've already looked around here."

"I-Is that so? Then Hyunwoo—"

"He isn't here."

It hurt as if a sharp thorn was stabbing his tongue.

"—There is no one on this floor," he answered as if squeezing it out, clenching his fists to the point where his veins were popping.

"Ah…"

Jang Sukho's expression was colored in deep disappointment.

"It seems that they took Hyunwoo to another location."

"That's highly likely."

"Haa. Then what should I do now…?"

When Jang Sukho dropped his shoulders and he let out a deep sigh—

Step—

A quiet footstep rang out in his ears.

"...!"

Ohjin quickly grabbed Jang Sukho, opened the door to a random room, and slipped inside.

"What's g— uub!"

He covered Jang Sukho's mouth.

Raising his index finger, he placed it by his lips.

Inside the silence where even the sound of breaths echoed like thunder—

Someone opened their mouth with a low voice.

"…Someone has broken into the factory."

That sticky and ominous feeling…

Ran down his spine once again.