Chapter 177: Living Armor (2)
Isabella carefully examined Jegal So-Young’s body.
“Do you think a demonic beast attacked her?”
Kwon Oh-Jin, who had been momentarily lost in thought, shook his head and snapped back to reality.
Get it together.
His gaze had instinctively drifted toward Isabella, but logically speaking, she couldn’t have killed Jegal So-Young.
She’s been with me this whole time.
No matter how powerful she was, she couldn’t have killed Jeagal So-Young from so far away without Kwon Oh-Jin noticing. Even if she had some method to do so, she had no reason to kill Jegal So-Young.
Killing her out of jealousy... is absurd.
If jealousy was her motive, her first target would’ve been Song Ha-Eun and not Jeagal So-Young.
Kwon Oh-Jin looked at Isaeblla’s cold eyes. The sharp look in her eyes wasn’t that of a ruthless psychopath who had just committed murder, but more like a detective investigating a case.
Even Isabella didn’t expect this.
Kwon Oh-Jin examined Jegal So-Young’s corpse. Her brain fluid had spilled out of her split head. Half of her head was missing as if someone had bitten into an apple.
She was eaten whole.
Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes as he carefully inspected the wound. Jegal So-Young’s wide-open eye was frozen in terror.
“She didn’t even have time to react before she died.”
In the blink of an eye, she had lost her life.
“Then, what about Miss Yoo-Mi, who was with Miss So-Young—”
Kwon Oh-Jin cut Isabella off, “Wait a minute.”
He infused mana into the communication orb. It glowed blue, but no response came.
“You can’t reach them?” Isabella asked.
“Yeah.”
At this point, they had no choice but to move.
“This way.”
“P-Please be careful, Mr. Oh-Jin.”
As he followed the trail of blood, he felt Isabella grab his sleeve. Her face stiffened with worry and anxiety. He gave her a small nod and slowly moved forward.
Bloodstains scattered here and there like breadcrumbs from “Hansel and Gretel” led the way. Halfway through the trail, the bloodstains suddenly disappeared.
“Damn it.”
What the hell? Is it actually a ghost or something?
It felt like he was chasing a phantom.
“This way, Mr. Oh-Jin. I smell blood coming from over there.”
Isabella pointed in another direction.
Kwon Oh-Jin activated the Stigma of Canes Venatici and focused on the scent coming from where she pointed. Even with the Stigma active, he couldn’t smell the blood she had mentioned.
As expected from the Leech Queen.
He couldn’t match her when it came to detecting the scent of blood.
“Let’s check it out,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.
“Alright.”
They headed in the direction Isabella had pointed out and walked cautiously for a long time. The scent of blood gradually grew stronger.
How the hell did she pick up a scent this far away?
Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue quietly as they approached the source of the smell.
“Shit.”
The walls were painted red with blood as if covered in graffiti. Jegal So-Young’s headless body lay limp on the ground. It wasn’t just her body.
Choi Yoo-Mi.
The high-ranking Awakener of Phoenix had also died. Her upper and lower bodies had been severed and scattered like her spilled-out organs. Her lifeless eyes stared emptily into the distance of the alleyway.
“Haa.”
Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes narrowed as he examined the still-warm corpses.Jegal So-Young and Choi Yoo-Mi’s bodies both had something in common.
Their hearts are missing.
All the other organs were present except their hearts.
He inspected their chests. It seemed like a hand had shattered their rib cages and ripped out their hearts whole. Their hearts were nowhere to be seen nearby.
It ate them.
He recalled the sight of Jegal So-Young’s head crushed like a half-eaten apple.
It only ate half of the head, but devoured the heart completely.
For an Awakener, the heart was more than just an organ. The Stigma granted by a Celestial took root there. Even for Kwon Oh-Jin, his own Black Heaven was deeply rooted in his heart.
In other words, it specifically targeted the hearts of Awakeners.
It’s hunting Awakeners for their Stigma’s mana.
Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“Mr. Oh-Jin, there are signs of a fight over here.”
Kwon Oh-Jin checked where she pointed.
A large hole had been made not too long ago on a wall unstained by blood. Below it, a deep footprint was embedded in the ground as if someone had smashed down with a hammer.
Kwon Oh-Jin activated his skill and examined the surrounding traces.
Vega’s Hunting Dog.
A flood of information surged into his head like an incoming wave.
“Ugh.”
Blood, a decapitated corpse, the large hole in the wall, and the deep footprint... With just the small traces left in the alley, the entire sequence of events that had occurred vividly played out in his mind.
Jegal So-Young struck first.
She had fired a mana arrow from outside the enemy’s line of sight, but the demonic beast had dodged the supersonic arrow with ease.
And then Choi Yoo-Mi joined.
She charged forward with such force that the ground caved in as she unsheathed her sword.
The fight had continued for about a minute? No, closer to two minutes.
Traces of the battle could be seen across the wall and ground. Choi Yoo-Mi had unleashed a fierce barrage of sword strikes with Jegal So-Young providing support.
And they lost.
They hadn’t been suddenly ambushed, nor had they let their guard down. They had spotted the demonic beast first and initiated the attack, but were still utterly overpowered.
“Let’s go back,” Kwon Oh-Jin firmly said.
Isabella’s eyes widened. “What about the demonic beast?”
“It’s not something we can handle.”
Of course, they could observe the situation a little longer if Isabella revealed her full strength or if his own body were in peak condition. However, pursuing the demonic beast was too dangerous in their current state.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Isabella nodded. “I understand.”
As they turned to leave, she suddenly seemed to remember something and gently tugged on Kwon Oh-Jin’s sleeve.
“Mr. Oh-Jin, shouldn’t we contact Mr. Woo-Hyuk?”
“Ah, right. Hold on.”
He nodded and took out the communication orb. As he infused it with mana, it began to glow blue. The orb flickered like a broken lightbulb and soon emitted a bright light.
The screen shook violently, and Lee Woo-Hyuk’s ragged breathing echoed through the crystal.
—Huff, huff! O-Oh-Jin?
“What’s going on?”
—Agh!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The screen shook again as Lee Woo-Hyuk wildly swung his sword with an unconscious Oh Hyun-Bin on his back.
Damn it.
Kwon Oh-Jin bit his lip as he watched the situation unfold through the orb.
Did the demonic beast we lost track of earlier go after Lee Woo-Hyuk?
—Bufo! It’s the Bufo faction!
“What?”
What came out of Lee Woo-Hyuk’s mouth was completely unexpected.
—The Bufo faction attacked us!
The Bufo faction, which had recently illegally entered Korea, had attacked Lee Woo-Hyuk.
There’s a connection between the demonic beast in Yonghyeon-dong and the Bufo faction.
Kwon Oh-Jin furrowed his brow, feeling a headache coming on.
“Where are you?”
—Ugh! N-Near the port!
“We’re on our way.”
They had planned to retreat from the demonic beast, but couldn’t just leave with Lee Woo-Hyuk and Oh Hyun-Bin under attack.
“Isabella, let’s head to the port.”
“Yes! I’ll cast a speed-boosting buff!”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“Huh?”
Kwon Oh-Jin pulled her close.
“W-What?!”
“Hold on tight.”
With one arm wrapped around her, he fired his wire shooter toward the rooftop of a nearby building.
Bang!
The wire wrapped around a protruding steel beam, and they shot upward. Traveling by wire was much faster since they didn’t need to carefully track anything.
He used Lightning Steps to push off faster in midair and headed toward the port.
Crackle!
A loud explosion echoed from the dock area with containers stacked high.
Boom! Rumble!
Kwon Oh-Jin flew toward the source.
Dozens of Awakeners from Southeast Asia were attacking Lee Woo-Hyuk, who was still carrying Oh Hyun-Bin on his back.
“Damn it! H-Hurry up and kill that bastard!”
“Finish this before we get spotted!”
Kwon Oh-Jin changed directions in midair with Lightning Steps and soared up high.
Gripping his spear tightly, he condensed his mana.
Lightning Strike.
Crackle!
He plummeted like a meteor, and a blue lightning storm erupted where he landed.
“Arghhh!
”“W-Who the hell is this guy?!”
“Damn it!”
The Awakeners from the Bufo faction were thrown into a chaotic mess at Kwon Oh-Jin’s sudden appearance.
“Oh-Jin!” Lee Woo-Hyuk shouted.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine, but Hyun-Bin...”
On Lee Woo-Hyuk’s back, Oh Hyun-Bin was drenched in cold sweat and raggedly breathing. A gruesome wound stretched across Oh Hyun-Bin’s back.
“I’m sorry. We were ambushed by their executor.”
“Executor?”
“Yes.”
An executor from the Black Star Society had shown up?
Kwon Oh-Jin didn’t know the exact rank of the Bufo faction’s executor. Considering that Cheon Do-Yoon was ranked sixth, it was a miracle that they had survived after being ambushed by someone of equal or possibly greater strength.
“Where is that executor right now?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
“I-I don’t know. He stopped following us after the ambush.”
Did he just leave the clean-up to his subordinates? For someone acting so relaxed, the Awakeners from the Bufo faction look desperate.
“Damn it! What are you doing?! Kill them already!”
“We don’t have time!”
They swarmed Kwon Oh-Jin and Lee Woo-Hyuk like something was chasing them.
“We need to retreat for now,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.
Now that he knew an executor was involved, they didn’t have the leisure to deal with these Bufo faction Awakeners.
Kwon Oh-Jin unleashed lightning bolts at the charging enemies as he moved toward the city.
Crackle!
He began to put some distance between them.
Shhhhhkkk.
That eerie sound echoed again.
Isabella, who had been casting buffs on him, stiffened. “M-Mr. Oh-Jin.”
In the direction they were escaping to, a chilling sound echoed from the path between the port and the city.
Kwon Oh-Jin’s face twisted into a grimace.
Damn it.
A single thought crossed his mind. They were screwed.
Things couldn’t get worse with the Bufo faction Awakeners in front of them and a mysterious demonic beast behind them.
“Shhhk, shhhhk.”
A monster in full black armor emerged with an ominous aura. Blue-black flames flickered menacingly between the joints of the armor.
The demonic beast held a long spear covered in the same blue-black flames, and rapidly closed the distance.
Kwon Oh-Jin swallowed hard and raised his spear.
The black-armored demonic beast charged forward with its blue-flamed spear at a terrifying speed. The distance between them rapidly shrank, and the black-armored demonic beast sped right past Kwon Oh-Jin.
“Huh?”
Kwon Oh-Jin turned his head, completely confused.
Crunch!
“Kugh! Urgh!”
The spear pierced through a Bufo faction Awakener, who had been surrounding them.
“Shhhhhkk!”
The helmet of the black-armored demonic beast split open. Like devouring a skewer, it swallowed the impaled Awakener whole.
The Bufo faction Awakeners screamed, their faces turning deathly pale.
“Ahhh! S-Save me!”
“It's here!”
“Run! Hurry!”
Kwon Oh-Jin stood there dumbfoundedly as he watched the terrified Bufo faction members scrambling to escape.
“What the hell?”