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Chapter 123: Dragon’s Resting Ground (6)
Chapter 123: Dragon’s Resting Ground (6)
Chapter 123: Dragon’s Resting Ground (6)
“What…?”
His eyes, full of astonishment, looked at Ohjin.
“You are the husband of the Queen of Leeches?”
“That’s right.”
Cheon Doyoon’s expression stiffened.
A certain bit information he had heard from his son not too long ago crossed his mind.
-The Queen of Leeches is showing interest in the Lightning Wolf.
He couldn’t imagine that her interest in him wasn’t as a ‘prey’ but as a ‘man’.
‘That crazy woman…?’
Cheon Doyoon sharply exclaimed at Ohjin.
—Unwavering eyes, steady breathing, and calm lips shaped straight.
Cheon Doyoon’s face roughly and violently distorted.
‘He’s not lying.’
Cheon Doyoon was called the ‘King’ and commanded thousands of subordinates. He had exceptionally sharp eyes that could distinguish if one was lying or not from just their expression and body language.
His intuition that was built up through a long time told him:
The young man in front of you is telling you the truth without the slightest bit of lies.
‘It was impossible for him to be lying from the start since the Lightning Wolf knows Isabella’s identity.’
The fact that Isabella was hiding her identity more thoroughly than anyone else was well-known within the Black Star Organization. Nothing other than them being in a close relationship could come to mind since he knew her identity.
“Holholhol! Being the mate of that bloodthirsty witch… I really do pity you.”
“Pity? Do you know how well Isabella takes care of me?”
Her taking good care of him was the truth.
“Holholhol! How long do you think that’ll last? The moment the witch loses interest, you’ll just become one of her meals.”
“You’ve been talking quite a lot. So are you going to kill me or not?”
“…”
Cheon Doyoon’s expression hardened.
If the Lightning Wolf was the husband of the Queen of Leeches like he said, he couldn’t carelessly lay his hands on him.
“Holholhol. You’ll die once the witch loses interest anyways, so there’ll be no need for me to kill you myself.”
“You sure do ramble a lot for a bastard who got cold feet.”
“…”
“Well, whatever. So is that the Dragon’s Heart?”
Ohjin looked at the blue sphere grasped in Cheon Doyoon’s hand.
It was translucent and shone like looking at a massive blue diamond. He could feel an enormous amount of mana prickling his skin from the sphere that was around the size of an apple.
‘It’s extremely small for something called the Dragon’s Heart.’
The size of the heart was small enough to call it the Dragon’s Snot. Naturally, only its size was small—the amount of mana itself was abundant enough to call it a ‘heart’.
“Are you interested in the Dragon’s Heart?”
“Would I have come to the dungeon if I wasn’t?”
“Holholhol! That does make sense. However… I cannot hand over the Dragon’s Heart to you.”
Cheon Doyoon’s eyes glimmered with greed while stroking the blue jewel in his hand.
“Alright. You can have it.”
After nodding his head, Ohjin turned around without hesitation.
“…?”
Cheon Doyoon was surprised because of Ohjin’s attitude which was too nonchalant; it felt suspicious rather than easy-going.
“Didn’t you come to the dungeon for the Dragon’s Heart?”
“I did.”
“But you’re giving up without any regrets?”
“Why? Were you going to break a bit of it for me if I didn’t give up?”
Ohjin chuckled.
Being unable to obtain the Dragon’s Heart after getting that far was definitely unfortunate, but it didn’t mean he could forcefully take the Dragon’s heart out of Cheon Doyoon’s hands.
‘Even if I abuse Isabella’s existence, he won’t hand over the Dragon’s Heart as long as he doesn’t have a loose screw.’
Obtaining the Dragon’s Heart had already failed from the moment Cheon Doyoon arrived first. Simply being able to save his life by using Isabella was a relief and something he had to be thankful for.
‘It is a shame, but giving up here is the right move.’
He couldn’t fight Cheon Doyoon when he didn’t have Vega and one of his arms wouldn’t move.
“Holholhol. It seems that you’re still smart enough to know your place.”
Cheon Doyoon stroked his beard and smiled with satisfaction.
After putting the precious Dragon’s Heart into his pocket, he turned around.
“Go and convey this to the Queen of Leeches.”
He glared at Ohjin with cold eyes.
“—If you keep acting against the will of the Black Stars, you’ll get shredded to pieces by ‘that’ person.”
“…”
‘Does that mean there’s someone controlling Cheon Doyoon from behind the scenes?’
Flutter!—
Cheon Doyoon’s body turned into black feathers and disappeared.
-Ring!
[The clear condition for the ‘Dragon’s Resting Ground’ has been met!]
[A reward will be given to the Awakener who has met the clear condition!]
[The dungeon’s entrance will close after 72 hours.]
A blue message appeared in front of his eyes.
Needless to say, as it wasn’t Ohjin but Cheon Doyoon who met the clear condition, he wasn’t granted a reward.
“72 hours…”
There was a lot of time left until the gate closed. Ohjin leaned on the cave’s wall made of blue crystals and became lost in thought.
* * *
* * *
‘Indeed. There’s definitely a connection between the Pseudo Star Cult and the Black Star Organization.’
According to the information obtained from Lee Shinhyuk’s memories, the group looking for the star relic hidden in Mt. Baekdu was the ‘Pseudo Star Cult’. However, the group he ran into inside the dungeon wasn’t the Pseudo Star Cult, but the Black Organization.
The two groups had too many similarities to think that the future changing was all that happened.
‘Let’s say the Black Star Organization changes their name to the Pseudo Star Cult in the future…’
The time frame that the incident occurred in the present and the world of the 1st Round in Lee Shinyuk’s memories didn’t coincide.
‘They’re looking for the star relic before they even changed their name.’
There was no way to find out when they decided to change their name from the Black Star Organization to the Pseudo Star Cult, but at least in the present, they were operating under the name ‘Black Star Organization’.
‘When did things start to go off course?’
There were a lot of possibilities he could think of.
‘Yujin and Arshad Khan’s death… Killing Cheon Woosung, who would’ve been alive for at least two more years.’..
Absorbing the star relic that was supposed to be obtained by the Black Star Organization and eliminating the monster dormant under Seoul Station…
Once he laid out each action he took until then, the number of possibilities was uncountable with the butterfly effects and influence he had on the future.
‘Then does that mean I can’t completely trust Lee Shinhyuk’s memories now?’
With the future turning its course, it wouldn’t be strange if an incident completely different from Lee Shinhyuk’s memories of the 1st Round happened.
‘Although I’ll be able to grasp the situation…’
He couldn’t act like it was certain information like before.
“Fuu.”
Ohjin predicted that such a predicament would come after killing Lee Shinhyuk and taking his place as a Regressor, but now that the time had actually come, he felt like he was lost and without a map.
There was a chance he would have to act as a Regressor with nothing but his own strength from then on.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
If there was going to be no difference from the 1st Round, there was no reason for the ‘Heaven-defying Star’ to exist in the first place.
‘Let’s start by going to check if Ha-eun is safe.’
He had confirmed Vega catching Ha-eun mid-fall—she shouldn’t have been injured that badly.
“Then…”
Ohjin pushed his back off of the wall.
Crawl—
“Hm?”
Without him even realizing, black clouds emerged from his back and stuck to the cave’s wall. Black clouds connected Ohjin’s back to the wall like it was stretched melted cheese.
‘What?’
It was Ohjin’s first time seeing the Black Heaven’s clouds going out of his body on their own.
Ohjin turned around and slowly extended his hand out to the wall made of blue crystals.
Rumble!—
The Black Heaven’s clouds came out of his hand and stuck to the wall.
—That’s right.
As if they had discovered an appetizing prey…
Greedily…
Ravenously…
They stuck tight to the blue crystal and wiggled as if licking the wall.
“This is…”
Ohjin’s eyes narrowed.
The message that flashed by his eyes crossed his mind.
—Stories say dragons confine their heart in mana and turn it into a crystal at the densest area of a dragon vein before they return to nature.
“The densest area of a dragon vein…”
Ohjin tilted his head up and looked around.
—A massive cavity that was hundreds of meters wide.
—The blue crystals that stuck to the wall without a gap.
‘Wait…’
Ohjin’s eyes widened.
With his hands on the wall, he focused his mind.
Rumbleeee!!—
Like spilling black ink on white paper, the Black Heaven’s clouds started to cover the wall covered in blue crystals. The clouds that spread out wide started to absorb the mana contained inside the crystals.
“Holy crap.”
Ohjin’s mouth gaped.
Even if it was the Black Heaven, he didn’t think it would be able to absorb the dragon vein itself.
R-R-R-R-RUMBLEEEE!!!!—
Like a collapsing dam…
Like the built-up water of a river pouring down…
A frightening amount of mana flowed into his body.
“Kugh!”
Ohjin groaned out of pain.
The expression ‘too much’ wasn’t enough to explain the problem.
‘Damn it…!’
It was on a different league compared to when he absorbed the mana of the apprehended Black Star Organization members. A monstrous amount of mana rode through the Black Heaven and flowed into his body.
Perhaps… even more mana than what was inside the ‘Dragon’s Heart’ Cheon Doyoon took away.
‘Stop! S-Stop entering my body…!’
Ohjin chewed his lips and barely held onto his gradually fading consciousness.
As if blowing air into a balloon at its limit, the mana churning inside his body felt like it was about to explode. Little by little, he pushed the mana outside of his body.
“That much… can’t be absorbed!!!!!”
“Arghhhhhhhh!!!!”
He desperately tried to withdraw the Black Heaven, but the clouds continued feasting on the dragon vein like a starving beast chewing up raw meat.
“Calm… down. You fucks…!”
Ohjin ground his teeth while glaring at the Black Heaven’s clouds.
As if they could actually understand his words, the speed of the absorption slowed down very slightly.
‘Now!’
Ohjin’s eyes shone.
“Uaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
He roared out and withdrew the Black Heaven that was absorbing mana from the dragon vein back into his body.
Rumbleeeeeee!!—
The Black Heaven sucked out as much mana of the dragon vein as it could and returned to Ohjin’s body.
-Ring!
[You have achieved part of the conditions required for ‘Heaven Unfolding’!]
[????????? ??? ???v???, ?????? ?????????]
With the message that a part of the conditions was met, ineligible letters started to twist and distort.
Bzzzz—
The letters were spread out as if there was a static malfunction, and they gradually started to find their original places like they were puzzle pieces.
[????? ??? ?? ???????v??v ???v ???? ??v ?v????v????v]
The letters formed a single sentence, though he was still unable to read what it meant.
‘The letters… they changed.’
Ohjin narrowed his eyes and stared at the unidentifiable message.
Before he was able to think deeper about the meaning behind the sentence—
-Ring!
[You have successfully absorbed the mana of the ‘Dragon Vein’.]
[Warning!]
[The amount of mana you have absorbed is too immense!]
[The dragon vein’s mana will be limited according to the Black Heaven’s awakening stage.]
After informing him that the dragon vein’s mana would be limited, the mana churning inside his body was sucked somewhere else and disappeared.
“Huff! Huff!”
Ohjin clutched his left chest and breathed out rough breaths.
“Fuck…”
He looked around with a bewildered expression.
As if a light switch was flipped off, the blue crystals that covered the massive cavity weren’t shining any longer.
“I… actually devoured the dragon vein whole.”
Ohjin looked down at his body in disbelief.
* * *
[The clear condition for the ‘Dragon’s Resting Ground’ has been met!]
[A reward will be given to the Awakener who has met the clear condition!]
[The dungeon’s entrance will close after 72 hours.]
“Hmm.”
While looking at the message in front of her eyes, the blond-haired woman crossed her arms with an uninterested expression.
“Indeed, it’s as I thought.”
Isabella picked up a round tablet that was on the dungeon’s ground.
The shape of a snake was engraved on the palm-sized medallion.
“So the one controlling the Owls from behind… was that person.”
She stared at the tablet in her hand with killing intent glimmering in her eyes.