abcnovels
Chapter 142: Star-forsaken Land (4)
Chapter 142: Star-forsaken Land (4)
Chapter 142: Star-forsaken Land (4)
“Koshiroooo!!!”
An explosive sound swept the area.
“Yes! Oyabun!!”
“Koshirooooooo!!”
“Yes!! Oyabuuuuuuuun!!”
“Koshiroooooooooo!!!”
“Oyabuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!!!”
‘What the hell are these guys doing?’
“Good! It seems that your voice is full of energy thanks to getting some rest!”
“It’s all thanks to Oyabun!” answered Koshiro as he stood at attention.
“Kuhaha! Have you finished your preparations?”
“Of course, Oyabun! I have gathered up the family and surrounded the asylum so that the bastards aren’t able to escape!!”
“As expected of one of our leaders!”
Slap!—
Koshiro’s body was sent flying like a cannon as Sakaki slapped his back.
The strength contained in his slap was so strong that the nearby wall Koshiro crashed into started to crack and collapse.
Ha-eun chuckled forcefully as she looked down at Koshiro, who was flinching, buried under the collapsed wall.
The scene was like a poor comedy skit.
“Is he dead?”
“I think so.”
‘Putting that aside, I didn’t know Koshiro was a leader.’
Bang!—
Koshiro, who was buried under the wall, suddenly lifted his body up. His clothes were a little torn and covered with dust, but surprisingly, there were no injuries that could be seen.
“Would a man be able to use that if he got sent back that easily?!”
“I’m sorry, Oyabun!”
“It’s all in the waist! I always say this, but Koshiro, you lack strength in your waist! Will you be able to protect your younger sister like that?”
“I will tighten my muscles from now on!”
“Kuhaha! Yeah! That’s how you also meet a good woman! I heard that your younger sister just so happens to be scolding you to get married!”
“Haha…”
Sakaki laughed broadly as he patted Koshiro’s shoulder.
Although Sakaki had the kind of personality where he stood on intimate terms with his subordinates, Koshiro was the only one he acted that close to.
Rather than a relationship between a boss and subordinate, it felt more like they were uncle and nephew.
“How did you two end up meeting?”
“I’ve been with this bastard for quite some time. This little guy came looking for me when I formed the vigilante group and fought the monsters. Do you know what this kid said to me back then?”
“O-Oyabun! Talking about back then is…”
Koshiro stammered with a panicked expression.
Sakaki smirked and placed his hand on Koshiro’s shoulder.
“This little kid that wasn’t even an Awakener suddenly became a man and bowed down on his knees in front of the vigilante group’s base for days, saying he wanted to protect his little sister.”
“Oyabun!”
“Hahaha! Just thinking of back then still makes me laugh!”
Koshiro’s face heated up and turned red.
Ohjin looked at Koshiro like he was interesting and continued.
“Then did Koshiro volunteer in the vigilante group when he wasn’t even an Awakener?”
Even if Japan was short on Awakeners, dragging an unawakened to fights with monsters would be difficult since attacks that didn’t contain the power of stigmas were nearly completely ineffective against monsters.
“That’s right. No matter how many times I told him we couldn’t take in an unawakened and rejected him, he stubbornly told us to accept him.”
Sakaki patted Koshiro’s back with a pleased expression.
“Well, it seemed that even the heavens couldn’t break his persistence, as he awakened as an Awakener of Scutum not too long after.”
“Uhhh, please stop, Oyabun.”
Koshiro shook his head with a pleading expression.
‘Scutum…’
It was the stigma known for being second to none when it came to defense.
There was a reason he was completely intact after crashing into the wall so hard that it collapsed.
“Well then! Let’s go catch those Black Star Organization bastards now that the preparations have been completed!”
Sakaki took the lead and walked forward.
With Koshiro at the front, the members of Kuroushi walked behind him.
“Let’s go, Ohjin.”
“Yeah.”
Ohjin and Ha-eun followed the members of Kuroushi and headed to the asylum where the Black Star Organization was said to be hiding.
Ohjin activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs and observed the area around the asylum.
Forget about patrolling, not even a single sentry could be seen.
‘Hm?’
Was their information wrong by any chance?
As Ohjin started to wonder if that was the case, coincidentally, around fifty people walked out from the asylum.
They weren’t wearing suspicious black robes like the Noctua faction, but it wasn’t hard to guess their identities by how they flooded out of an abandoned asylum like that.
“Who the hell are those bastards?”
The woman who had piercings on her lip, nose, and even eyebrow, looked at the members of Kuroushi that had surrounded the abandoned asylum and furrowed her brow.
“M-Ms. Miki, aren’t they the Kuroushi clan?”
“What?”
The eyes of the woman called Miki widened.
“It is Sakaki Ryo.”
The man with a handsome appearance next to Miki roughly gnawed his lips.
“How did those bastards…!”
Miki stared at the members of Kuroushi like she couldn’t understand and soon shouted to the Black Star Organization members that looked to be their subordinates.
“What are you bastards spacing out for! Hurry up and prepare for combat!”
“Y-Yes!”
The Awakeners that’d come out of the asylum heeded Miki’s orders and urgently took their weapons out.
Despite looking like a disorderly crowd, the black mana emitted from them was strong enough for the whole asylum to slightly shake.
They were, without a doubt, Awakeners of Hippocampus.
“Boys! Are you ready?”
“Yes, Oyabun!!”
Bang!—
Roughly launching himself forward, he took out his katana from the sheath on his back.
Although it was a katana, it wasn’t in a thin and agile shape like normal katanas, and instead large with a thick blade that made one curious if it was even possible to swing it.
“What did I say a man is?”
Following Sakaki’s command, the clan members of Kuroushi took out their weapons.
“The ones who protect their family!”
“The ones who protect their people!”
“They are the ones who die while fighting to protect their country!”
“That’s right!!”
‘What the hell are they on about this time?’
“Ohjin, do you think these guys overdosed on drugs or failed to take the drugs they were supposed to take?”
“Since I never heard of drugs with those kinds of side effects, I’d have to say the latter.”
“Right?”
It seemed that Ohjin and Ha-eun weren’t the only ones who thought that way, as even Miki, who was looking at Sakaki with an extremely nervous expression, laughed like they were ridiculous.
* * *
* * *
“Let’s go, boyssssssss!!!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
The members of Kuroushi roared and rushed forward.
“Hyaaaaaaa!!!”
Sakaki, who’d taken the lead, swung his massive katana horizontally.
An intangible shock wave followed the sword strike and struck the members of the Black Star Organization.
“Kugh!!”
“Uaaaaaah!!”
The Black Star Organization members were sent flying back like skipping stones after getting hit by the powerful shockwave that caused strong gusts of wind to arise as an aftermath,
“Sakaki Ryo! Focus your attacks on Sakaki Ryo!!”
One of the Black Star Organization members opened their hand and placed it on the ground; the stigma of Hippocampus engraved on his left started to blaze up with black light.
Splash!—
Large streams of water started to spread out like a net from where his hand touched the ground. The strands of water became thick mud by mixing with the dirt and wrapped around Sakaki’s body.
“You dare!”
Sakaki violently twisted his body and escaped the mud that encompassed him.
“Soar up!!!”
While Sakaki was getting the mud off of him, five members of the Black Star Organization recited a chant as they aimed their weapons at him.
Splosh!!—
Massive streams of water shot at Sakaki like water spouting from a firehose.
“Oyabun!”
Koroshi stood in front of Sakaki and crossed his arms, and a blue shield of around three meters was created and reflected the fierce streams of water.
“Ugk!”
“Kugh! Kuk!”
The members of the Black Star Organizations who were swept away by their own attack floundered as they rolled on the ground.
“Don’t do such useless things, Koshiro!”
Sakaki yelled at Koshiro, who blocked the water cannons, and looked around at his members, who were in the middle of combat.
The number of Black Star Organization members was much smaller, but the Kuroushi clan members weren’t able to approach them easily, as they poured out attacks that drained mana in succession like they had chugged down potions.
“Help out that side!”
“B-But…”
“A man does not argue!”
“Ugh…”
After hesitating for a moment, Koshiro headed to where the other members were fighting.
Splash!!—
Rough streams of water struck Sakaki’s body once Koshiro got out of the way.
“Kugh!”
The heavy pressure that felt like he was getting hit by hammers instead of streams of water caused his body to ache all over.
“Do you think—”
Crunch! Crunch!—
The muscles all over Sakaki’s body expanded as the Yukata he was wearing stretched like it was about to explode, and the eight flicks engraved next to his left chest poured out radiant light.
“—that a mere attack like this can stop a man?!?!”
Sakaki took on the rough streams of water with his body and wildly charged at the Black Star Organization members.
“Th-That crazy bastard!”
“Block him! I said block him!”
“Ms. Mika! He is too powerful!”
Boom!!—
The Black Star Organization members who were urgently calling someone were struck by Sakaki’s body and sent flying far away.
Despite only getting hit by a human, their bodies were in miserable shape as if they had gotten struck by a dump truck.
“Kuhaha!! I was wondering why the Seahorse bastards were acting so arrogant, but I guess they were nothing much!”
Sakaki laughed out loud and swept away the Awakeners of Hippocampus like a wolf in the middle of a flock of sheep.
“M-Mika. I don’t think we’ll be able to face him.”
“Damn it! Are we unable to contact Sir Sosoke?!”
“He’s not picking up!”
The handsome man shook the communication marble with a nervous expression.
“Goddammit… why is that crazy Taurus bastard here…!”
After grinding her teeth hysterically because of the question that wouldn’t be solved, Mika looked around.
She could see a man and woman pair slightly outside of her sight who were observing the battle taking place.
“Shiranui, you see those people, right?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Those bastards aren’t from the Kuroush clani.”
“Then where are they from?”
“I don’t know.”
Mika’s eyes narrowed.
They were with the Kuroushi clan despite not being members of their group…
That fact was important.
‘Since those bastards are so thorough and obsessed with upholding duty and whatnot…’
If those people were the ‘providers’ of the information that was given to Sakaki, it was certain that, with Sakaki’s personality, he would try to protect the people who’d helped him at all costs.
“Let’s take those bastards as hostages.”
“Okay.”
Shiranui turned around and exchanged glances with Mika.
“I’ll take care of the woman. Miki, I’ll leave the man to you.”
“Bastard, there’s no way you got excited from looking at that woman in this situation, right?”
Miki shot a sharp glance at Shiranui.
Even though she knew that it wasn’t the time to argue over things like that, she had ended up saying those words subconsciously, as the looks of the girl with the eyepatch were so beautiful that even Mika had ended up exclaiming on her own.
“Is this the time for that?”
“Groan. Alright.”
Miki and Shiranui took off simultaneously.
Splash! Splash!—
Puddles of water appeared under their extended feet and explosively accelerated their bodies.
“Ah…!”
Sakaki chased after Miki and Shiranui with a panicked expression—
“Woah, woah. Calm down there, mister Taurus.”
—but Mika, who’d arrived next to Ohjin in an instant pulled him in close from behind, pushed a sharp blade made of water near his neck as she glared at Sakaki.
Sakaki, who was urgently rushing towards them, suddenly stopped.
“Hmm. It appears that I was spot on.”
Judging from Sakaki’s expression full of panic, she started to think that taking them as hostages was an outstanding choice.
“This bastard’s head gets cut off the moment you take a single step from that spot.”
“Kugh!”
Sakaki clenched his fists as he groaned.
“Fufu. Good, good. Stay obedient~ just like that.”
“…”
Ohjin looked back with a nonchalant expression at the woman who was aiming a knife at his neck while hugging him from behind.
“What, are you so scared that you can’t speak?”
Miki’s lips tilted up as she looked at Ohjin.
“You’re quite cute now that I’m seeing you up close.”
“You’re my type,” she mumbled as she stuck out her long tongue while the skull piercing in the middle of it shone.
“You won’t get hurt if you do what this big sis says, so stay obedient, alright?”
Miki laughed seductively as she licked Ohjin’s cheek with her tongue.