Author: Xerenity

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84. Ghost’s Ability

“Woah, woah. Don’t get so worked up now.”

I dashed towards Ghost.

My body felt very different from before.

It was to be expected, as I had stolen stats from hundreds of radical faction members.

It couldn’t be compared to the 5 points one would get from a level up.

The change was enough for me to confirm without a doubt.

The distance between us was only 10m.

Ghost stood there, relaxing about with a nonchalant smile on his face.

It was then.

Raising his hand 90 degrees from his side, he pointed behind me.

And then he spoke.

“That.”

“…..”

“What will you do?”

Ghost asked as he pointed behind me.

Naturally, I looked towards where he pointed.

I was aware that it could be a trick, so I casted the most powerful defensive skills of a paladin class, Iron Skin and Holy Block.

Turning around, I saw something important that I had forgotten about.

“That….. That is…”

“Kuku. Do you know about it? What that is?”

“……”

There stood the portal leading to the Unknown Dungeon.

It really took a certain numbers of sacrifices to form.

The portal in the level 25 dungeon did not form no matter how many times I ran through it.

Since all the monsters in the dungeon were taken out, the exit portal had also appeared.

Noticing that I had lost my focus to the portal, Ghost laughed as he spoke.

“Oh… It looks like you know. Did Joker tell you about it before he died?”

“……”

“Is that not so? Do you know why I brought all my subordinates in here?”

“It couldn’t be….”

“Kuku. That’s right.”

His bright smile instantly crumpled.

“I was in there for 5 years. Would it be more accurate to say I was trapped in there? The living hell I went through… Even now, if I think about it, my entire body shudders.”

“The reason why you brought them all here… It was for everyone to die so that you can head in there?”

“Correct. After I feast on your ability, it won’t be 5 years. I could take down that place in a single day and leave.”

“Feasting on my ability? You’ve been saying things like how tasty my ability looks or about feasting on it. What really is your identity?”

“Are you curious? Hehe. You’ll soon know.”

“Ah. That’s that. Do you know why you were stuck in there for 5 years?”

“Hm… That’s because I didn’t prepare at al-”

“Wrong. That’s because you were weak. It’s the same even now!”

Since I was already near him, it was only a matter of time before I got to Ghost.

However, Meteor wouldn’t work against him.

The staff that he held easily consumed the transcended Meteor almost as if mocking me.

I also didn’t have any information regarding the weapon he was holding onto.

It was possible that he could only block attacks that were fire type based.

Another possibility was that he would consume the attack and send it back to me.

Well, it shouldn’t be a problem since I do not have any attack skills that were beyond ranking.

Swinging my Butcher’s Sword, I casted Iceberg at the same time.

I was hoping that his staff could only block fire type attacks.

“Shit…..”

I couldn’t help but swear.

It wasn’t because my attack failed.

Contrary to my expectations, the sword that I swung that was enchanted with the Formless Sword Aura hit directly on his wrist.

I was planning to cut off his right arm that was holding onto the staff and pour down Meteor like crazy.

Was it the power of all the stats that Butcher’s Sword absorbed?

From the hand that was cut off, blood poured out like fountains.

‘How much did my strength stat increase by….’

“Ah….. AHHHH! How could you!”

Grabbing on to the wrist that had been cut, it was as if he was throwing a complaining fit.

On top for that, he quickly put on the helm that he took off before.

Acting like this despite receiving an attack that would greatly affect the battle, I was sure that he wasn’t sane at all.

Now he shouldn’t be able to predict the next Formless Sword Aura.

I wasn’t sure how many points had been added, but an incredible amount of strength stat was added.

If I was able to also proc Wild Beast as well, he would perish without as so much as a squeak.

As he backed off, I moved closer while speaking.

“You sure are energetic, even until death.”

“Ow, ow! It hurts!”

“Joker must have been something else. After meeting him, you don’t feel like much of a challenge.”

“Kuku. It’s all messed up. Guess I’ll use it a bit more before I throw it away.”

“What?”

“KUYAAAAAA!”

Making a strange noise, he charged towards me.

The short sword in his left hand changed to a giant sword in an instant.

In an instant, he appeared behind me.

Almost as if hesitating for a moment, he stretched out his arm and swung the sword.

It must be the True One Strike.

It was a single powerful enchanted attack that was beyond ranking.

If there was one difference, it was that One Strike only had a 3m range, but True One Strike had nearly 10 times the range and damage of the attack.

“If that was your final attack, you chose the wrong opponent!”

-CLANG!

-SLICE!

-thud

The greatsword was equivalent in size with a male body.

But the Butcher’s Sword easily blocked it.

Instead of just relying on skills, it was time to show off my physical strength that had been greatly increased from before.

Nearly a hundred Sword Auras went towards him.

The aura stopped before Wild Beast could even proc.

His entire body was torn apart as he collapsed, already dead.

As I said before, Joker must’ve been quite powerful.

Ghost was also a leader of the radical faction, but to be so easily defeated like this.

His golden armor was already torn apart to the point where it was beyond recognition.

“Guess it wasn’t that good of an armor.”

I immediately looked towards the staff instead.

It definitely had an incredible ability.

As I was trying to pick up the staff…

“Hup!”

It was heavy enough to make me let a short grunt.

No matter how much strength I put into it, I wasn’t able to lift it up.

This didn’t make any sense.

My strength wasn’t enough?

No way.

Perhaps it needed mana, since it was a staff after all.

But that made even less sense.

I had infinite mana.

If it’s a weapon that requires a certain amount of mana to use, there wouldn’t be any weapons in the world that I couldn’t lift.

I tried to check it with the Eye of Insight, but I couldn’t.

Nothing like this happened before.

Then I heard a noise that was enough to get my ears ringing.

“Until the owner dies, no one can obtain it.”

“Huh!”

-CRASH!

Out of reflex, I slammed Meteor down.

Ghost was definitely standing there.

However, his corpse was definitely behind me.

In the same clothes he wore before, he was standing right next to me.

According to him, weapons that were bound to an Awakened could not be checked, even with the Eye of Insight.

Looking at my shocked face, Ghost spoke.

“It’s kind of sad to think that it would end that quickly. Now we really start.”

“H…How.”

“The one you killed just now? Hm. He’s the one with the greatest presence, even if his skills are worthless.”

“Presence?”

“Many presences exist in Ghost’s body. We all coexist in that single place. However, it would be probably difficult to see the others, because you’re going to die by my hands.”

His speech and the mood had changed from before.

Thinking about what the previous one said regarding these forms and abilities, it seemed that Ghost was able to absorb the ability and personalities of others.

Then the answer was clear.

I’ll repeatedly kill him until there were no more presences left in his body.

“Tens or hundreds, I’ll kill them all. I hope that all the pain you feel will be sent to all the others as well….”

“KUWAAA!”

With a single movement from his hand, an intense Howling was heard.

It was a summoned being.

Checking with my Eye of Insight, I found out it was a S+ ranking King Suwoo.

“You have quite the powerful summoned being. But I also have my own as well.”

“KUWUHHHHH!”

With a cast, three giant Avatars spawned.

Electric type, fire type, and frost type were summoned.

Even if the skill was an S+ ranking skill, there were three level 200 Avatars.

Their combat prowess could not reach mine.

My side definitely has the advantage.

“Go. Butcher them.”

“KUWUHHHHHH!”

Summoned beings that were known for their huge size fought amongst each other.

Their blood and Fear filled the air.

I only looked at them for a brief moment, as I turned my attention towards Ghost.

If he was a summoner, without a summoned being, he wouldn’t be that strong.

Your overconfident attitude, I will see to it that it crumbles before my eyes.

“I’ll cut you apart as well!”

****

“Hyung-nim. Do you think something happened?”

“Hey! Don’t say that, even as a joke.”

“Ha…. I think I’m going to go crazy with worry.”

Jong Ho and Ho Jin were waiting outside the level 34 dungeon, sick with worry.

Min-Cheol told them to go home, but how could they.

Ghost and his subordinates had hidden themselves in the dungeon.

Just like that, 20 minutes had passed as they stamped their feet with anxiety, unable to enter the dungeon as they stood near it and only being able to wait.

Even if they entered the dungeon now, they would enter a different instance.

The picture in the smartphone that Min-Cheol looked at before entering definitely had his house in it.

It was definitely a dirty trick to make sure that a fight couldn’t be avoided.

However, Min-Cheol said to not enter even until the very end.

It was because he thought that the two of them wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Min-Cheol believed that if his opponent was strong enough to operate on his own, he was definitely at least the right arm of the Overboss.

Since they couldn’t ignore Min-Cheol’s words that were full of confidence, the two of the were standing guard here.

Jong Ho hated himself for not being able to do anything in this situation.

First Noblesse, then Joker, and now Ghost.

Despite growing a lot stronger, he was far too weak to fight against them.

The first meeting between Jong Ho and Min-Cheol wasn’t that great.

A child had appeared in front of him, requesting to board his vehicle when he was hurrying to move so that he could receive some of the rewards for defending against the portal explosion.

Even now, he found himself laughing when he thinks back to that time.

He couldn’t even think of what would’ve happened if he had pushed Min-Cheol aside instead.

Thinking about his own personality, it wouldn’t have been far fetched to say that he might have.

Half a year had passed since that meeting.

All sorts of incidents kept occurring, and Jong Ho was right there by his side.

However, he was feeling feeling a different kind of anxiety this time.

For some reason, he didn’t feel good about today.

He definitely knew firsthand about how strong Min-Cheol was.

On top of that, he also knew just how much experience Min-Cheol had obtained.

However, now, in this situation…

“How… How long has it been?”

“…..”

“Haha. Maybe I mistook the time of entry, hyung-nim.”

“It’s been over an hour.”

“Hey. There’s no way. Are you sure that you didn’t misread it?”

“…..”

“Well shit! This doesn’t make any sense!”

Just like that, one hour had passed since Min-Cheol had entered the dungeon.

Thinking about the time limit regarding dungeon entry, at least one of them should have exited.

Or perhaps, both had perished in there.

The outside of the dungeon that the two were guarding was eerily quiet.

“What is this! Why isn’t he coming out!”

---

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83. Thank You for the Meal (2)

The attacks of the assassins that aimed to get the first strike were blocked by my Mana Shield.

Since they were high levels with great skill, the shield shook a lot.

However, the shield would not be broken unless a skill beyond rank was used.

Even if they did, my other shields would block it, and the Mana Shield itself had a 30% chance to block it as well.

“Oraaaa!”

They were divided into 8 squads.

One of them who hid their form reappeared with a yell.

Casting enchant to power up his assassination weapon, he threw it at me.

It was an attack from one of the leaders of the squadrons.

On top of that, those around him were pouring all their buff skills onto him.

“Focus on buffing our squad leader!”

“Here. Take this!”

The throwing weapon left his hand, flying with deadly intent.

The attack was buffed by several classes, raising the damage and attack speed.

The speed and power was confirmed by the shockwave it gave off as it flew.

-SLICE

The attack flew true towards me.

However, such a pathetic attack only became fodder for my Mana Shield.

Despite the attack being a failure, the owner of the weapon continued to mix in Teleport and stealth skills to launch rapid attacks in succession.

However, against someone like me with an ultimate ability, he easily lost his life.

“KUWUHUCK!”

I wouldn’t allow any more attacks.

Measuring up his power and sensibility, he appeared to be quite weaker than Jin.

I guess it was unfair of me to compare him to someone who worked directly underneath Joker.

I grabbed him by his neck.

Looking directly into his eyes, I spoke.

“The tom foolery stops here.”

“KUH…KUHHUCK!”

His neck was twisted due to the incredible amount of force I held him with, and his face was a mess with all the tears and snot that covered it.

Flailing about, it seemed that he couldn’t breathe properly.

Struggling with his entire body, he suddenly looked up.

Almost as if seeing something that he shouldn’t have, his eyes that were bloodshot due to the vessels popping only great bigger.

Only then did he stop resisting, almost as if giving up on everything.

His breathing didn’t stop, but he had accepted the tragedy that was about to unfold.

That was right.

The upper portion of the dungeon was filled by 6 flaming meteors.

They were witnessing meteors covered in dark flames, something they’ve never seen or heard of before.

The amount, light, and size was enough to make them cower in fear.

Upon seeing this spectacle, the other squadron leaders began to shout urgently.

“De-Defensive formation!”

“Block it! Block!”

Following their orders, each member began to cast their skills.

Out of the bunch, the skill that caught my eye was from a shaman class, who used the skill call Cube.

It spawned room big enough to fit everyone in his squad, causing his squadron to be hidden from sight.

“Hide and seek, huh…. Then a crazy ‘it’ will find you.”

It was amusing to see the spectacle before me through the Eye of Insight.

They had gathered into a small room, each casting their own defensive skills.

The location was hidden, far away from where the other radical faction members were.

A 50 member squadron had used all their defensive skill, so they must’ve thought the Cube was a safe haven.

But those thoughts would change very soon.

“I wonder if that could block a transcended Meteor?”

I spread the grouped 6 meteors apart.

Each one landed exactly where I wanted them to.

-CRASH!

-BOOM!

“Ku… Kuuck!”

Its power was something else.

The Cube that was far away ceased to exist without a trace.

Not even their corpses could be found.

I only had used a third of the meteors, but to think that it would do this much.

In the previous fight with Noblesse, I had used a level 40 Meteor Call.

However, they gathered in a defensive formation and successfully blocked it.

I guess the difference now is that in the past, the skill required casting time and had a cooldown, so continuous follow up attacks couldn’t be done.

However, the transcended Meteor’s destructive force couldn’t even be compared to its predecessor.

Forget about preparing to defend, they couldn’t even utter a squeak.

It wasn’t just the Cube area that suffered like so.

“KUHAACK!”

“KUU… KUAAA!”

Once near 400 strong, now only about 50 remained at the most.

Even those that survived were coughing up blood, holding onto their bodies with what few limbs they had left.

The man that I held in my grip had long since perished, hanging limply.

The temperature of the dungeon was enough to cook the flesh of the average civilian.

The scent of blood only grew thicker with the heat.

I was locating their position for a follow up attack.

The expression that Ghost had on, however, was not pleasant for me.

Roughly 60 were still guarding him.

In between them, I could see Ghost smiling.

He had lost hundreds of his followers in less than a minute.

Perhaps even excited at this scene, his body began to shake.

“Disgusting pervert.”

I couldn’t help but comment.

I quickly decimated those that were left in one swoop.

After all, I didn’t have any time to waste on them.

While I was catching my breath, Butcher’s Sword began to slightly vibrate.

‘Stats!’

They had vanished without a trace.

All of them should be at least level 300 Awakeneds.

No. They were probably far higher in terms of levels.

I was able to steal 5% worth of stats from all of them.

The amount should be tremendous.

A level 300 Awakened roughly had 1500 points of stats.

5% of that would be 75.

I would be gaining stats worth 15 level ups.

On top of that, I had taken out 400 or so.

‘75 times 400 would be…. 3… 30,000?’

I was already achieving cheat like growth from my limitless mana.

But the amount of stats this crazy sword absorbed could be considered even more cheat like.

However, out of the stats I gained, some belonged in the mana stats, and those were useless to me.

Strength: 100

Mana: 100

Dexterity: 50

Stamina: 50

If we take into account that some had the stats such as this, the stats I would be able to gain per sacrifice would be something like this.

Strength: 5

Mana: 5

Dexterity: 2.5

Stamina: 2.5

I would be like so.

I wasn’t sure how many points I would receive if I took out the mana stats from the healers and magician classes, but it would still be a crazy amount of growth.

Excited, I was about to check the stats on my sword.

“Beautiful. Your ability is incredible!”

Ghost put on a playful childish look as he trotted towards me, clapping his hands together.

Those that guarded him followed behind him.

It wouldn’t be long before they’d lose their lives to the black flames.

Were they coming to attack me without giving me any time?

I checked the cooldown of my shields quickly.

The grip on my sword tightened a little further.

Ghost spoke.

“Level 200 Meteor? You’re able to create 3 per cast? Wow. Your ability is… really tasty looking…”

“You’re crazy.”

“To annihilate 400 opponents instantly.”

“They were your subordinates. I heard that you went through something similar 15 years ago.”

“Kyaha! That’s right. Was it like that? But.. that’s because they were weak? Because. They. Were. Weak.”

“…..”

“If I think about it now, it’s embarrassing how I was with them, even for a moment.”

“I don’t want to hear it. Are you going to fight together? Or should I start sending off your subordinates first?”

“Hm… But I want to see more though? That tasty looking ability, I mean.”

“As you wish.”

He looked towards his guardians behind him and spoke.

“You lot can’t die in one hit! Alright?”

“…Yes, leader!”

“We’ll take care of it.”

“Kuhuhu. That’s right! Give me the best show… Now. Go, quickly!”

“Yes!”

They quickly charged in.

Each keeping a certain distance from me, they had surrounded me.

‘Not planning to die in one hit by not grouping up?’

That wasn’t a problem for me at all.

Cooldown? Cast time? That didn’t exist for me.

It was just that I’d have to fire in several directions.

If it came down to skill control, I was confident due to casting more than anyone else.

Flaming meteors flew down from above.

Not towards those surrounding me, but towards Ghost.

However.

“Hm? This is against the rules.”

‘What! This is impossible.’

The Meteor Call that I cast towards him had disappeared without a trace.

The speed of my attack doesn’t even give time for defensive measures.

However, that staff held in his hand had sucked in all the meteors.

Not only did his class and ability stay hidden, but a weapon that absorbs even Meteor.

I didn’t expect it to be an easy fight, but now I was thinking that it was going to be difficult.

“How dare you! Protect our leader!”

“No, no. Don’t worry about me and continue to fight. I’m really looking forward to this.”

“Yes?… Yes!”

-SLICE! STAB! SWISH!

The confusion that Ghost caused only lasted a moment.

They began to pour their attacks at me.

A man with a spear and axe came towards me.

Spinning his body rapidly, he neared me.

“Whirlwind?”

No.

My shield was being slice apart.

It was definitely a skill beyond ranking.

Mana Shield wasn’t able to activate, but instead Reflect Shield was being cut down while retaliating.

The skill effect looked just like Whirlwind.

‘Guess they’re not his personal guards for nothing.’

I wasn’t able to let my guard down even for a moment.

When I was about to cleave his head off with my sword, a Phoenix flew towards me with great speed from above.

It was a ranged skill used by the ranger class, allowing hits on not just ground targets, but aerial targets as well.

It was an A ranking attack skill, so all it amounted towards me was a red crow.

However, I wasn’t sure what ability it may have.

It didn’t make sense, but it’s important to be always prepared.

Since my offensive capability was thousands of times greater than theirs, there was no need to overdo it.

‘An attack that is more defense oriented.’

-CRACK!

The fire bird that flew towards its mark was obliterated.

When they all tried to attack at the same time, I used Glacial Field to spawn a frozen area on the ground.

While their movements slowed, I cast Meteor Call.

-CRASH!

Instantly approaching them, I landed Formless Sword Aura directly on them.

Without being able to do anything at all, they perished.

“KU… KUUH! Leader!”

“Tsk.”

Looking at them, Ghost complained.

“Hey! I told you not to die in one hit. I wanted to see his physical attack skills too…..”

“I’ll show it to you personally. Oraaa!”

---

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82. Thank You for the Meal

“Kuhahaha!”

The owner of the laughter was Ghost.

I knew that he had the ability to locate my whereabouts, to think that it was this accurate.

He was waiting for me, not far from the entrance of the dungeon.

In a split second, a large group of people in black masks and covers formed up behind him.

There seemed to be a lot gathered.

At least 400 were present.

My guess was that he mobilized his lackeys with him.

My guard was down because I had just left the dungeon and was speaking with Jong Ho and Ho Jin.

However, to think that I wasn’t able to sense this many people moving in…

Even if I didn’t use Eye of Insight, I could still pick up the faintest of noise due to being an Awakened.

It appeared that those gathered here had quite the physical capability.

Jong Ho and Ho Jin were tense due to their appearance.

After a moment of hesitation, Ho Jin asked.

“…..”

“Is it him? The man that roamed in front of the level 25 dungeon before?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Who is this, hyung-nim? Is it perhaps the person named Ghost? Ghast? Or something like that?”

“I have a feeling that it is…”

This situation didn’t look good.

I decided that it was wiser to avoid rather than fighting them.

If I used Mass Stealth Jutsu that none can detect…

Attack or receiving damage undoes the stealth.

I would be safe due to my Mana Shield, but it wouldn’t take long for Jong Ho and Ho Jin to be discovered.

They would be invisible, but with everyone firing off their skills, they were bound to be hit.

Casting Silent to block off sound, I turned towards the two of them to talk.

“Hyung-nim. Mister. Are you able to use Warp?”

“Yep.”

“Yes. I am able to use it as well.”

“Then escape first.”

“What? What about you? What are you going to do?”

“…..”

“I have a lot of time left before my Warp cooldown finishes.”

“Then you’re saying that you’re going to die here?”

“I can escape by using stealth. The two of you should leave first.”

“It’s true that the combat capabilities we two can provide isn’t of any use in this fight. However…”

“Yeah! If we wanna survive, we gotta survive together.”

“Why are you two being like this? Who said I was going to die? I can buy enough time for you two to use Warp, so go escape first.”

It was then.

“Kuhaha!”

Ghost was laughing once more.

It could only mean that he was listening to our conversation.

I didn’t stare at him with disbelief for long.

Ghost spoke.

“Isn’t it quite the wonderful friendship? Warp… Stealth isn’t bad either. But I think you’ll have to bring down your voice a notch.”

Did he find out by reading our lips?

No. I turned around when I spoke, so it was impossible.

I was sure that he heard our conversation.

Dispelling Silent, I talked to him.

“Didn’t know you had a hobby of eavesdropping on conversations.”

“Pfft. What a funny combination.”

“What?”

“To think that I’d meet an old friend at a place like this.”

“What are you saying?”

“Kim Ho Jin.”

What? The name Ho Jin has never come up in our conversations until now.

But he wasn’t just mentioning the name Ho Jin. He was calling him a friend.

The golden helmet made it impossible to see Ghost’s face.

At his words, the flabbergasted Ho Jin asked.

“Who are you!”

Instead of answering, Ghost raised his hand and took off his helmet.

“Huh? Y.. You are!”

Ho Jin was frightened, enough to step back in fear.

It was almost like he saw a dead person coming back to life.

To his reaction, Jong Ho asked urgently.

“Hyung-nim, who is it? Who could it be that you’re that surprised?”

“Park… Park Joon Sik…”

“Huh? Who is that?”

It was definitely a name that I heard of before.

Words flowed out naturally from my mouth.

“Park Joon Sik? The commander who went into the level 25 Unknown Dungeon?”

“Yes… That’s correct.”

“Whew. Look at this. We couldn’t tell if you were alive or not, but you were here playing commander?”

Park Joon Sik.

Fifteen years ago, when the level 25 portal exploded, he was the commander of the association hunters that was deployed to defend against the explosion.

Just as Ho Jin said before, he was the one who entered the new portal instead going through the exit after all the monsters were defeated.

Fifteen years later, the man who couldn’t even be confirmed dead or alive was appearing before us with his head held high as one of the leaders of the radical faction.

“It’s funny how fate works. To think that you’d be involved in this situation with the kiddo.”

“H… How… How are you here?”

“Ah. I died that day. No. I thought I was dead.”

“….”

“The moment I declined the exit and entered that place, I was already a dead man walking.”

Ghost started to speak of what happened that day.

The exit opened up after all the monsters died.

A door to another dimension had appeared, but none had any interest towards it.

The fight took many hours and hundreds of their comrades perished.

No one had the strength or desire to press forward.

After he, the commander, had everyone evacuate, it happened.

His body moved towards the other portal without his will.

On top of that, he heard someone’s voice.

No matter how much he struggled and yelled, he couldn’t resist this strange pull.

Almost as if he was a doll on a string, he was dragged in.

Ghost had faced off with monsters that he could never hope to beat with his strength.

But despite his body being ripped parted and shredded, the flame of his life refused to be extinguished.

When he regained consciousness, all his wounds were treated and his mana had recovered fully.

However, the pain equivalent to the injury he sustained was still there.

Every day, the pain built up and stayed until the day he escaped the dungeon.

It was a place where he couldn’t even decide his own death.

His mind was being consumed by the pain he couldn’t even describe.

He didn’t feel hunger or thirst.

He was alive in that place for 5 years, yet there was no difference from being dead.

Ghost finished speaking and gave a pained smirk.

“Guess I babbled on too long. Ho Jin. Has the world changed?”

“Don’t you feel any shame! You were the commander! Now you’re a leader of the radical faction.”

“Ahaha! That’s all in the past. I’ll give my strength to him so that can change the world. To do that, we need that kid’s ability.”

“….”

Without a single word, I was listening in on the conversation between Ho Jin and Ghost.

Looking at me, Ghost spoke.

“Warp, Mass Stealth Jutsu. Now, just try escaping here.”

“…..”

“But before you do, do you have time to look at a funny photo?”

“What are you….”

Ghost tossed a smartphone towards me.

Catching that, I stared at him.

Ghost had a villainous look as he raised his chin, giving a gesture for me to check the phone.

Turning my view from Ghost, I looked towards the home screen on the smartphone.

Looking at that, killing intent surrounded me as I poured out swears.

“You.. piece of shit!”

“Kyahaha! I didn’t expect this much of a reaction. Kyahaha!”

The picture that I confirmed was of my house.

The house that my mother would be at.

He had sent someone there.

I wasn’t sure how much of a combat capability the person he sent had.

However, my Proof of Oath was protecting her, so most attacks wouldn’t work in the slightest.

It was as if my defensive ability was copied onto her.

On top of that, she was wearing the ring of revival.

Calming down, I stared at him as I spoke.

“Don’t even lay a finger on her.”

“Oho. How scary.”

“It’s too late to regret. How dare scums such as yourselves dare….”

“Mass Stealth Jutsu? Not using it?”

“The thing you want is my power, right? You’re telling me to join you?”

“Ding. You got one part wrong.”

“….”

“We do need your power. But do you know… we don’t need you on our side to get it?”

“What?”

It was then.

One of the people standing behind him hurriedly came forward.

He then put the phone on Ghost’s ear.

With a smirk, Ghost answered the call.

“Ho Geun. Listen well. This is a command I’m giving you as the leader.”

“Yes!”

“One hour. Exactly one hour from now, if I do not call you, commit suicide.”

“…. Yes. Understood.”

The person holding the phone to his ear backed off, and Ghost continued to speak.

“I dislike fights where people hold back. You heard what I said, right? If you kill everyone and survive… Your mother will be safe.”

“You crazy piece of shit.”

“Kuha! Glad you have the urge to fight now.”

I quietly turned my body towards the level 34 dungeon.

Since I had cleared it first, the dungeon wasn’t different from a hunting ground.

No IDs were needed, as I just needed to move my feet to enter.

“You’re not gonna fight here, right?”

As if Ghost and his subordinates understood, they hastily moved towards the dungeon.

My eyes met with Jong Ho and Ho Jin.

Trying not to put on an awkward smile, I spoke.

“Don’t touch them. If I lose, their lives will be taken anyways.”

“Of course. Doesn’t matter to me. Let us hurry to the dungeon.”

****

After entering the dungeon, hundreds of his subordinates followed Ghost’s orders to take down the monsters.

These monsters were from the level 34 dungeon.

However, these subordinates executed perfect attack and defensive capabilities.

Quickly understanding that they reflected attacks, all the monsters were taken down in a flash.

“4 minutes and 55 seconds. It’s been exactly 5 minutes since I ended the call. There’s still a lot of time.”

“It looked like your subordinates had a lot of potential. I feel sorry for them, suffering so much from having a leader like you.”

“Kyaha! Show me! I’ll witness your strength!”

Ghost immediately moved far back.

Then he raised his hand, pointing straight at me.

As soon as the motion was made, the 8 squadrons of the radical faction spread out and gathered in formation.

Jong Ho and Ho Jin are probably guarding the dungeon from the outside.

I told them to return home using Warp, but they’re not the type of people to listen to me.

Since I had no information regarding Ghost, this was a huge risk for me.

However, this might be a favorable situation for me.

If everyone had come at me at once, it would have been a difficult battle.

But If I took care of his underlings first?

All the stats they have…

The stats of hundreds of powerful Awakened would be prey to fill up the belly of the beast, my Butcher’s Sword.

Keeping me at the center, they had completely surrounded me.

In the front were tankers. The backline had magician classes.

On top of that, assassins and warrior classes left the formation, looking for a blind spot.

In a blink of an eye, they came in close.

“ORAAAA!”

All of them were busy stabbing away at me with their weapons.

Such weak pathetic attacks.

Giving a halfhearted laughter, I calmly spoke.

“Haha. Thank you for the meal.”

---

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81. Those Who Can Succeed Will Succeed, No Matter What They May Attempt

In the level 28 dungeon.

It’s been a long time since I’ve entered this place, but since I’ve grinded this dungeon to the point of becoming tired of it, there wasn’t any reason to be excited.

The only thing I was looking forward was the power of the transcended skill being showcased on the lizardmen.

I quickly ran to the center of the dungeon as fast as possible.

Around me, I could hear their sounds.

“KURURU!”

“KEREK!”

Following the path I took, hundreds of lizardmen showed up.

If it was for hunting, I would have ran all the way to the end of the dungeon to gather up all the monsters, so I could clear the dungeon as fast as possible.

However, I was here to test out the skill’s power, so I only gathered roughly 1/3rds of the lizardmen instead.

Then I proceeded to use my main skill, Meteor.

Before the ascension, only one meteor would exist above my head.

However, now there were three meteors when I looked above.

Taking in the sights, I couldn’t help but grin.

The meteor was giving off intense black flames eagerly, almost as if asking me to hurry up and choose the target it was going to destroy.

If that’s the case, I should definitely grant that wish.

Massive meteors struck the exact location I aimed towards.

Not one, but three.

I didn’t aim them all in one place, but instead spread it out amongst the condensed groups of lizardmen in three different places.

It didn’t seem to me that only the number of meteors increased.

I could feel the change in its destructive force.

My Mana Shield had never shaken this much before when I put such a huge distance between me and the monsters like now.

No matter how many Meteors I’ve spammed before, the flames and the shockwave never reached me.

The blast felt like it was enough to tear the earth in half.

Its destructive force consumed every bit of flesh and blood of the lizardmen.

After seeing the ruined dungeon, I was speechless.

Such destructive force with just one cast of a skill…

“Ha…. Is this… the power behind Transcendence…?”

I wasn’t concerned about the bloodstones in front of me in the slightest.

I could only keep exclaiming how insane this was.

Just like that, I stood there until the flames from Meteor Call burnt itself out.

Recovering from the shock of awe, I wanted to confirm the effect of Wild Beast on the Formless Sword Aura.

When I took a step further into the dungeon, a single lizardman popped out.

Since physical attacks didn’t work, he should receive zero damage from this.

One was enough, since I just wanted to see the effect of the skill.

-slice!

“KURAL!”

Butcher’s Sword cut directly through his body.

As expected, he didn’t take any damage, continuing to swing his halberd at me.

I didn’t stop there however, and continued to swing my sword that was covered in Formless Sword Aura until the Wild Beast skill activated.

“KURUHHH!”

“What’s that noise?”

There were no monsters that roared the Fear skill like that in this dungeon.

However, I definitely heard someone’s or something’s howl.

My inquiry didn’t last long.

As I heard the Fear skill, I could see that my body was glowing red.

On top of that, the speed at which the sword aura swung was increased to the point where it couldn’t be compared to the previous one.

That wasn’t the only thing that was surprising.

Lizardmen had 100% physical damage resistance.

As I said before, I couldn’t deal any damage to them using Formless Sword Aura.

But if that’s the case, the lizardman should still be in front of me.

Instead, where the lizardman was supposed to be, a red mist took his place.

This had occurred only in a span of seconds.

My body cooled roughly 1 min after the activation.

Wild Beast allowed me to obtain massive amounts of attack speed and power for a brief amount of time.

It seemed that Wild Beast empowered the 100% physical damage Formless Sword Aura to do magical attacks as well.

If I was able to activate Wild Beast with Formless Sword Aura during a 1v1…

They would only leave a bloody trail of mist, just like what happened to this lizardman.

****

After defeating all the monsters in the dungeon, I headed outside.

The transcended skills I tested were strong beyond my expectations.

No one but me could transcend their skills.

Even those lucky enough to obtain Essence of Transcendence, they would think of it as a defective item, using it like a decoration at best.

One could not raise his or her skill level to 200 when an individual’s mana usage was limited.

I didn’t have a method to test out the transcended Mana Shield.

After confirming the strength of these two skills, I headed home.

Following my daily routine, I stored my armor on one side of the room.

Then I proceeded to put the sword next to the drawer, and headed to the washroom to shower.

However, while I was taking a shower, I kept hearing odd noises.

Almost like the sound of sparks flying during friction between metal.

I was able to focus on the sound because of having incredible physical abilities from my stats and being an Awakened.

I felt as though the source of the sound was from my room.

It happened the moment I ended my shower faster than normal and opened the door to my room.

“…..”

The sight in front of me was more confusing rather than amazing, since I couldn’t understand it.

The Butcher’s Sword that I obtained and brought home had sparks flying out of it.

Was it due to the special ability the sword had?

That probably wasn’t it. The ability was to steal 5% of the butchered target.

The catch was that it only worked on humans. Awakened only, to be exact.

“How could this be hap…. Oh?”

It came to me as I looked at the dresser, wondering if it would catch on fire.

“Ah ha!”

I found out the reason why Butcher’s Sword was letting out sparks.

It was due to the blades that I obtained from slaying Joker, Asura’s Twin Blades.

No one could use these blades other than the one who obtained it.

So despite being a weapon with massive attack power, it was completely useless to me.

Perhaps if I used the side with the odd jagged claw as a kitchen knife, it might be useful.

The scene in front of me, however, was that the twin blades shoved in the corner was being evaporated into energy and seeping into the Butcher’s Sword.

I definitely confirmed it with my eyes, but I still couldn’t understand why.

Why did this happen?

Maybe it had a hidden ability to absorb the stats of all weapons?

To confirm that, I brought out a M/F ranking sword that I got from Jong Ho earlier on.

Then I proceeded to put it next to the Butcher’s Sword.

I was really hoping that it would absorb this as well.

However, there was no change to the sword.

While that was happening, the twin swords were completely absorbed, and now jagged teeth similar to that of a shark appeared on the backbone of the sword.

This was just a speculation, but the weapon it absorbed was from the Unknown Dungeon.

Perhaps weapons that lost their owners would be absorbed by other powerful weapons in order to find new masters.

I immediately used Eye of Insight on the sword.

I was extremely curious as to how much stat it had gained.

-Butcher’s Sword-

*Strength +2200+350

*Dexterity +150

*15% increased strength

*Two handed sword

*Absorbs 5% worth of stats from fallen foes

“Is it a trend for high level weapons to steal stats?”

It wasn’t a stretch to wonder so.

It had more than half the stats that Asura’s Twin Blades had added onto itself.

The addition effect of % increase for strength and dexterity wasn’t added, but to obtain 500 points of stats wasn’t anything less than a steal.

That amount of gain in stats could only be obtained via 100 level ups.

I had shoved it in the corner of the room because it was difficult to get rid of it, but to think that it would become such a boon to me.

Moments like this only confirmed the old saying that ‘those who can succeed will succeed, no matter what they may attempt.’

“How can I sleep peacefully if things turn out like this!”

****

The next day.

Lee Ho Geun had the entire force assemble in the lobby once more.

Today was the day.

This was the first time Ghost had made the call for emergency deployment.

They were worried that a nonsensical situation like yesterday would occur again.

However, almost as if to make fun that worry, it didn’t take long for Ghost to appear.

On top of that, he was completely different from his usual looks.

A staff and a short sword was in each hand.

Armor that glowed golden covered his body.

Until now, no one had seen him equip for battle before.

Ghost had always worn stretched out T-shirts or baggy clothes in general.

His armor was always in his office.

That wasn’t all there was to it though.

His expression and even the way he walked was that of a different person.

Ghost stopped walking, and spoke with a serious expression.

“Is everyone gathered?”

To his question, vice leader Lee Ho Geun gave his report.

“Yes! All 481. We have finished gathering everyone.”

“Good.”

He looked towards the 8 different squadrons of radical faction members.

Due to his fierce expression, none could even swallow their spit, continuing to stand at attention.

The brief silence was broken by him continuing on.

“We are taking this path to Paju.”

“Yes! Leader!”

“Yes! Leader!”

The lobby was filled with the sound of hundreds of radical faction members sounding off.

The scene was similar to that of soldiers receiving their orders for deployment.

When the ringing of sound had stopped, he spoke.

“The opponent is a single person. But you cannot underestimate him due to that. I hope you can understand that well, seeing how I’m mobilizing everyone, nearing 500 members.”

“….”

“Please give us your orders, leader!”

“Current time is 13:00. 2nd meetup location is Paju. Assemble at 20:00. Do not use Warp. During the next 7 hours, each squad is to arrive there without drawing attention. We stake out the 2nd location from 1km away. Dismissed.”

Giving a short, simple, and clear order, Ghost left the building.

Each squadron leader also moved out in sync.

Just like that, a mission that was their first and what could be their last began.

****

It’s been a while since I visited the level 34 dungeon located in Paju with Jong Ho and Ho Jin.

It was to show them the transcended skills and to put them in the Balrok ring.

They said that they were already going through the level 23 hunting grounds to defeat ghouls.

Only 3 weeks ago, these guys were hunting at the level 13 dungeon in a 6 man group.

It was almost enough to wonder if this is what people meant when they mentioned about turning around their life.

I hunted for two hours with them after they had visited me at 6pm.

I didn’t mind at all, but I had to drag these two along, who kept saying that they felt bad and wanted to go home.

In between the runs, I kept charging up the ring.

“Hyung-nims. The rings are done charging. You can use without worry.”

“Hm… It would be great if shields could be put in there too. What a shame.”

“I know right. I don’t know why only attack skills can be put in.”

Even while the two complained about the ring, they had smiles on their faces.

“Ah! From now on, you must use defensive skills when you use Meteor.”

“Oh, I got it. When we saw it before, we could tell it wasn’t something to joke about.”

“Thank you for doing this every time for us, Mr. Min-Cheol.”

“No need to thank me. You two should get going. I’ll see you two out up to here.”

It happened when I was trying to escort them out from the dungeon entrance.

-shrrrkk

“C… Crazy. What is this!”

“KUHAAA!”

---

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80. Ghost is Moving

“Why are you all so surprised? Let’s go hunting.”

“….”

“….”

From Ghost’s declaration, everyone began to murmur amongst themselves.

Out of nowhere, to suddenly go hunting…

Everyone was busy looking at one another for answers.

None could open their mouths to reply, however.

It’s to be expected, since the one that spoke up was Ghost, the leader of this place.

Everyone here also knew nothing of Ghost.

If they spoke hastily without thinking, they could end up forfeiting their life.

Underneath each of the radical faction leader were 8 squadrons.

Each squadron were made up of classes that maximized combat potential.

No squadron was stronger or weaker than the rest.

50 members made up each team, with a leader and a vice leader for the group.

So out of each group, the two were the best of the bunch.

Not included in these groups were 30 others.

Guardians.

These worked directly under the leaders of the radical faction.

When Joker left to fight Min-Cheol, they tried to come with, but Joker declined.

Unless their leader was meeting with the overboss Zekill, it was rare for them to leave the side of their leader.

But this wasn’t the case for Ghost.

Totaling up all this, roughly 500 members were underneath each of the radical faction leaders.

You could say that the numbers weren’t that great.

However, only 500 or so Awaken each year.

Out of those, 40% do not live past the first 5 years and end up disappearing.

Sometimes due to getting a class that doesn’t earn money, dying to monsters, or even being killed by someone else.

Considering that, the numbers definitely weren’t small.

Of course, not everyone was of Korean descent.

Since they had chosen the headquarters of the radical faction as Korea, the number of outsourced members wasn’t small.

It was then.

“We only move at your command, leader.”

The one who broke the silence was the vice leader Lee Ho Geun.

He worked underneath Ghost, the leader known for not carrying out his duty. He could even be called the true leader of the group, since he took over all the duties that Ghost didn’t do.

He didn’t possess a lot of offensive capabilities due to being a tank class, but he had great leadership.

That was probably why he was able to hold together this group that had no leader.

“Ah… Right. Ho Geun. Let’s go hunting with me, you and I. Bring along everyone here too.”

“Do you mean everyone?”

“Yes. How many do we have in total? One. Two. Three.”

“Exactly 481, leader.”

“There were that many of you? Whew. That’s good.”

“Then I’ll have them prepare at once.”

“Yep!”

Finishing up what he wanted to say, Ghost had the happiest look in the world on his face, whistling excitedly as he headed back into his office room.

He had been quiet all this time, but this was definitely an order from the leader to mobilize.

Receiving the order, Ho Geun worked steadily to form ranks.

“You’ve heard him. Leader has given the order to mobilize. Each squadron leader, to the front.”

Responding to his words, 8 squadron leaders came forward.

There was no hesitation found, unlike with the scene with Ghost.

Looking towards He Geun, they waited for his next command.

He continued.

“This is the first time this happened. It’s late, but this probably means that he has plans to lead us. Does everyone understand what this means?”

“Yes!”

“Yes.”

“Since this an unprecedented event, there are probably some that do not know how to handle themselves. Each squadron leader, check everyone without missing a single one. Meet your leader’s expectations!”

“Understood.”

“Yes!”

Each squadron leader quickly returned to their squadron.

Then they began to explain on what to do during an emergency deployment such as this.

1. Removing all evidence of themselves in the the faction’s building.
2. Destroy Awakened IDs in front of the squadron leader.
3. Face and any other distinguishable features are to be hidden.
4. No matter what happens, save enough mana to cast at least one spell.

It was all the sake of making sure that information does not leak out.

In case they do perish during the mission, it was to make sure that their IDs as well as anything that could identify them wouldn’t be left.

Number 4 was probably for the same reason.

It was to leave enough mana to suicide in case the worst case scenario occurred.

And just like that, 30 minutes after the call to mobilize had been made, all forces had finished preparing and had gathered.

However, Ghost didn’t appear despite much time passing.

Just like that, an hour had passed.

Ghost appeared, with both his hands in his pockets.

Talking to himself, he scratched his head after looking at his group, geared to the teeth.

“Are you all going somewhere? Why is everyone dressed in such a scary fashion?”

“…..”

Surprised by Ghost’s sudden change of attitude, Lee Ho Geun spoke.

“Leader. You made the call to deploy just recently.”

“I did?”

Ghost murmured to himself for awhile.

It was almost as if he was asking someone else.

“Ah… That’s right!”

“All 481 members are ready.”

“Hmm… But…. Why are you readied now when we’ll be going tomorrow?”

“Th.. That’s…”

“Hm?”

“It’s nothing. Then we’ll be prepared tomorrow, at this time.”

Everyone was thinking of how ridiculous this whole nonsensical ordeal was.

Of course, no one was foolish enough to risk their life by expressing it on the outside.

Just like that, Ghost’s form disappeared, and sighs from nearly 500 members came out at once.

The worries and anxiety for tomorrow’s battle came out too.

****

With spring in my steps, I stepped into Warp.

3 Essences of Transcendence, Butcher’s Sword, and a ring for resurrection.

It was enough to make me wonder if there was any hunting sessions more perfect than this.

I teleported to the empty office of the midget.

Tossing the duffel bag filled with bloodstones, I put the Essences of Transcendence on the table.

I couldn’t help but smile after looking at the rainbow colored essences.

On the other hand, I began to worry over which skills to transcend.

“Looks like I’ll definitely have to use one for Meteor. Perhaps Mana Shield? Can it become a cheat-like skill more than it already is? Hm…”

Firstly, since I used it the most and it did a massive amount of damage to a wide area, I decided to transcend Meteor Call.

To be short, it was my main skill.

I was hoping to increase the amount of damage dealt by the area of effect. Putting the essence on my chest, it began to glow.

Making the sound of a gentle breeze whisking by, the essence disappeared.

*Meteor Call Lv. ** 1 [0%]

(Summons many powerful meteors)

The skill level had changed to two stars.

I was very curious as to the power of the transcended Meteor Call was.

I wanted to cast it right away, but if I did so, everything here would be destroyed without even a trace of dust left.

“How can I wait until tomorrow for this?”

Like finding a 10 dollar bill inside the pocket of a winter coat, I couldn’t hide my excitement.

Before heading in today, it seemed that I had to enter a dungeon nearby.

With this kind of feeling, it felt as though I wouldn’t be able to sleep well.

Look at how the description has the word ‘many’ in it.

What a beautiful word.

No medicinal water could stop my rapidly beating heart right now.

Shaking my feet, I looked towards the other two essences still left.

When I first took down the mimic, I thought to transcend Meteor, Iceberg, and Formless Sword Aura, which were all attack skills.

However, a thought came to mind. I was very curious as to what would happen if Mana Shield if it transcended.

When I had thought that level 200 was the end, it had put an incredible bonus effect on Eye of Insight.

There was no reason as to why it couldn’t do the same for Mana Shield.

However, if all it did was to decrease the amount of mana drained or damage received, it would be a massive loss.

For someone with infinite mana like me, it would be the worst case scenario.

Even more so when the essence had an incredibly low rate of dropping.

I also didn’t know how many more essences or mimics I would come across from now on.

Holding my head, it didn’t take long for me to make my decision.

“I’ve lost count on how many times Mana Shield saved my life. Let’s go with this.”

*Mana Shield Lv. ** 1 [0%]

(Mana is expended to match the amount of damage you take)

(If it is a skill beyond ranking, the chance to block becomes 30%. After level 200, the chance to block increases by 2% per every 10 levels)

I did it.

No. My Mana Shield did it.

I would have been happy with just not having the terrible result of having the mana cost being reduced.

Instead, I had obtained a chance to defend against skills beyond ranking.

If it reached the max level of 300, the chance would increase to 50%.

Percentage wise, it would block five of the ten attack skills beyond ranking.

Max level? No. It could be that 300 wasn’t the max level.

And if I used this skill with the other shields, Mana Shield would absorb the damage first.

All the other shields were like this so far.

Since I kept this shield up all the time, the leveling should be done very quickly.

All I had to do was to go in any dungeon and lay down while having the Mana Shield on.

It wouldn’t even count as work for me.

It was almost like an early Christmas present.

Multiple Meteor and transcended Mana Shield.

With this much, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that I held enough power to match all the rankers of an entire nation.

“This would drive people crazier and crazier. I think it’s enough to say that I could beat a level 40 boss with an F ranking Frost Orb?”

The next skill to transcend was the Formless Sword Aura.

This was a S ranking physical attack skill, and it really shined in 1v1s.

Damage was important and all, but the scarier thing about this attack was that you could not predict it.

I had high expectations regarding how this skill would evolve.

*Formless Sword Aura Lv. ** 1 [0%]

(Target that has been struck by Formless Sword Aura cannot predict the next sword aura)

(Uses Wild Beast. 300 second cooldown)

“Wild Beast?”

The explanation for Formless Swordless Aura was a bit poorly done.

Unless I used this Wild Beast ability myself, there was no way what the ability would do.

And on top of that, it had cooldowns stuck to it, which was my least favorite of all.

It was 5 minutes long to boot.

However, none of the three transcended skills have disappointed me so far.

I had a feeling that this Wild Beast skill was something amazing.

I grabbed the blood stones that were left spread all over, almost as if abandoned, and the brand new Butcher’s Sword in my hands.

I was planning to immediately cash in the stones and head for the hunting grounds.

But if I went to a low level dungeon, the monsters would melt away before I would even be able to experience the power of the empowered skills.

I didn’t have time to return back to Yangpyeong or Paju.

There was a ton of time left before Warp’s cooldown finished.

Sniffling a bit and planning to eat gyoza, I headed for the level 28 dungeon.

It was a dungeon that only the top 1% could reach, but to me, it felt barely good enough to test out my skills.

****

I had arrived at the level 28 dungeon.

-beep

I used the master ID card from Ho Jin.

The same anxiety and excitement I had when I first entered a level 1 dungeon after becoming Awakened was taking over me.

“Shall I go now?”

---

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