I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 85

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85. Ghost’s End. My Beginning.

“Whew…..”

40 minutes had passed since my fight with Ghost began.

Calling forth different egos, he continued to attack.

There were roughly 15 corpses sprawled over the floor.

All of them were corpses of Ghost, each wearing their golden armor.

In a single body, there are many sides of oneself that make up the mind.

In this case, however, each time his life expired, a new body would be created, carrying a different Ghost.

It was difficult to understand exactly what Ghost’s ability did.

I felt as though his name ‘Ghost’ wasn’t just for show.

However, he didn’t have much power behind his attacks.

It was just that the prolonged fight was wearing me down.

I used Heal between fights, but it was only a C ranking recovery magic.

My stamina and strength stats were increased so much that Heal wasn’t affecting me much.

Strength and stamina both raised the ability to stay in combat longer.

In theory, it would make sense for me to continue fighting without any signs of weariness.

However, my attacks were that much stronger, and so it consumed that much more stamina.

I thought to myself that I needed to learn at least a single good recovery skill.

He continued to pull out many egos.

He seemed to have collected many different classes, from summoner to magician, warrior, and many more.

It was amusing when he pulled out things that weren’t human.

Lifeforms that didn’t exist in this world. Monsters from another world.

Even some of the hidden bosses in some of the dungeons.

However, against me, who has gone through countless dungeons, it was nowhere enough.

“Urgh!”

“I think this is getting pretty tiresome.”

Only 10 minutes remained before the dungeon closed.

It happened when I defeated roughly the hundredth one, which was a ghastly form.

As the pathetic display of a fight continued, my anxiety continued to dissipate.

It was then.

“KUWWECCCKKK!”

The new form that Ghost took began to puke nonstop.

“Did you absorb someone who is an alcoholic…. What the?”

Looking towards him as he made that puking noise, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

He was puking out all the souls of those that he had absorbed.

However, I couldn’t see additional bodies of Ghost.

Instead, I saw a massive amount of souls, from children to the elderly.

They gave off a soft green glow, piling enough to make a small mound in front of Ghost.

Each form were clearly defined.

After leaving Ghost, they seemed to be free at first. However, there weren’t any life in their eyes, each lacking pupils.

Almost like in the movies where the characters lose their souls to a spell from a warlock.

‘If I deal with that many, the dungeon dissipate. If that’s the case….”

-CRASH!

-BOOM!

Staring with Meteor, I used every magic attack skill I had on him.

However, only massive shock waves rang throughout the dungeon instead.

I wasn’t able to deal any damage.

Almost like ghosts, all the attacks had gone through.

It was possible that unless the souls had flesh, I couldn’t attack them.

Ghost, who stood behind them, used his staff to block all the magic attacks.

He remained silent.

Too busy puking out more souls, I suppose.

His continuous puking finally stopped.

Then I began to hear horrific screaming.

“AAAHH! KILL ME!”

“I WANT TO DIE! Please…”

“L…Let me go. I CAN’T HANDLE IT ANYMORE!”

Repeatedly grasping his hand into a fist and then stretching it flat, he took a deep breath.

Silencing their screams, he spoke.

“It’s been quite a while since I felt the warmth of flesh…. It’s almost awkward….”

“Are you the original body…. Park Joon Sik?”

It seemed that his original body had finally appeared.

However, before entering the dungeon, Ho Jin wasn’t able to recognize Ghost right away.

Did that mean that the ego he put on then wasn’t himself?

He really was confusing.

“Hmm…. Park Joon Sik. At this point, I’m not even sure if that name is really mine.”

“….”

“All the egos in my body believe that they are the rightful owner of my body. Well, since I am able to control all the souls that I’ve absorbed so far, I guess you could call this body the original.”

“You’re rather difficult. Disgusting and annoying. No matter who you may be, it’s time to end this.”

“Do you have the confidence to take on every soul that I’ve absorbed?”

“Even if you absorbed for another 10 years, or even 100 years, I can crush you whenever.”

“Then let’s begin! KUHAHAH!”

Finishing his words, Ghost stretched out his arms and the mountain of souls flew towards him.

Those that screamed and howled with lifeless eyes now formed around Ghost.

They were absorbed through his arms and legs, as well as his torso.

With each soul he absorbed, Ghost’s golden armor was being covered by a barrier, growing thicker by the second.

The fights up to now have been 1v1, but now it was going to be one against many.

‘10 minutes left….. I’ll take care of this quickly and head to the Unknown Dungeon.’

-CRACK!

I was lost in thought for only a brief moment.

With a speed that was near impossible to follow, he appeared before me.

Not only that, but his short sword smashed my shield into pieces.

All of it happened in a split second.

“Shit!”

-CLING! CLANG!

Fierce attacks followed, barely deflected by my sword.

As if amused by the current situation, he was shouting excitedly, even during his attacks.

“This is a good thrill. You wouldn’t be afraid of a single grasshopper. But… what if they came in a swarm? You’ll taste a famine unlike any other! Ki-ya!”

-SLICE!

“Crap!”

Attacks unlike before came at me.

Electronic Shock and True One Strike were used at the same time.

Magic of the highest rank from the magician class and a skill beyond ranking from the warrior class were used simultaneously.

Right now, Ghost couldn’t be called human!

Like me, he was using skills from various different classes freely as he wished.

It felt as though he had gathered all the stats of those he had absorbed to create this completed form.

He was pouring out skills as if his mana was unlimited.

“Die! Die! Die! KUHAHA!”

“Damn it.”

It was a one sided fight.

Thanks to the stats I absorbed, I was only able to avoid the attacks with vastly increased speed.

The attack was so fierce that I couldn’t even think about counterattacking.

From Ghost’s view, the best defense was a good attack.

-SLICE!

-CRASH!

With the ease of casting Frost Orb, he poured out skills beyond ranking.

At this rate, I would meet a bad end.

Frothing at the mouth, Ghost spoke.

“I’ve invested a huge amount for your ability. Breaking down the tower that I’ve raised, I’ll use you to raise a new tower! Now, hurry! Kneel before me, and offer me your ability!”

“You’re insane… You’ll die today. I’ll rip you apart!”

I used all the shields I had to cover my body.

As I received all the attacks, I began my furry of slices at him with my Formless Sword Aura.

The duration of my shields were 5 minutes long.

It wouldn’t be far off from the time left before the dungeon closed.

Things wouldn’t end just by avoiding.

Power against power.

I planned to go all out against him in the last 5 minutes.

“KUWAAA!”

Pulling out all the strength I had, I continued to attack him.

However, he ignored the the damage he took from the Formless Sword Aura and continued to attack.

It was then.

“KURRUHH.”

“It’s done!”

“KUHAA! KUHAHA! DIE!”

The Fear.

It was definitely the howling that signaled the activation of Wild Beast.

In a single moment, it was as if all the blood in my vessels were replaced by magma, burning up my body.

At the same time, strength was overflowing to the point where I could no longer control it.

It was almost as if endorphin like hormones were filling my body like a waterfall.

“ORAAAAAA!”

“KU…. KUAH!”

I definitely had my eyes open, but I couldn’t see anything.

The white of the dungeon disappeared from view, and the outline of his body filled my field of view.

1 minute. In the next 1 minute duration of Wild Beast, I had to snuff out Ghost’s life completely.

“KUWAAAA!”

“KUHUCK! KUWUHH!”

I heard the scream of Ghost, as well the screams of those that surrounded him, emitting a piercing scream.

The wild unrestrained flurry of attacks continued at Ghost.

Just like that, the 1 minute duration of Wild Beast ended, and I regained consciousness.

There wasn’t anyone standing before me.

However, my sword aura didn’t know how to stop, continuing to swing at nothing but thin air.

As my burning body calmed itself, exhaustion caught up.

Stopping my attack, I regained control of my breathing.

“Huff…. Huff…”

Looking down, I saw that Ghost had become a pool of bloody paste.

I cleaned off the blood and fat that caked it, then bent down to pick up the staff.

Using my Eye of Insight, I attempted to check it.

A sigh of relief came out, along with some muttering monologue.

“Finally… it’s over….”

The information on the staff came up clearly.

Thus, it meant that Ghost was dead.

This was a rare weapon that could not have its information revealed until the owner perishes.

If the information on the weapon was revealed, it meant that the owner’s life expired.

However, since I had used up an insane amount of stamina, I couldn’t process the information.

On top of that, I didn’t have the luxury to do so.

Less than 1 minute remained before the dungeon expired, after all.

I immediately took off my Mana Shield, and then used Dual Casting’s third hand to cast Heal.

Heal had a low rate of recovery, but with three castings at the same time, I felt that the recovery speed was faster than I expected it to be.

I will head to the Unknown Dungeon.

On one hand, Jong Ho and Ho Jin would be waiting outside, worrying for me.

Also, I was worried about my mother back home.

However, a chance to grow as quickly as this would probably be difficult to come across again.

After all, it was the entrance to the Unknown Dungeon, which would only form with the sacrifice of many lives.

The two radical faction leaders that I’ve experienced firsthand both became stronger by going through this place.

They also had obtained their artifacts here.

Danger would come for me again.

My decision wasn’t wrong.

According to Ghost, he said that it would take a day to clear this place.

Since I could pour out incredibly powerful skills without limits, it probably wasn’t an exaggeration.

“A single day… It could be treated as being selfish, but this is a path I take for everyone’s sake. Here I go.”

My hesitation was brief.

I took the steps toward it.

The gate that took me in vibrated intensely as it pulled me in.

****

As soon as I entered the Unknown Dungeon, I noticed how damp it was.

It was a swamp that went up to my knees, reeking of a foul scent.

However, I was met with familiar faces that helped me forget this nasty feeling.

Monsters as far as I could see were present, and I could not see an end to them.

Experience? I didn’t need something like that.

I was in a state where I had consumed more stats than it could ever be compared to leveling.

Covering my body with Mana Shield, I walked towards them.

“Time for some fun, properly this time.”


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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 84

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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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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 83

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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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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 82

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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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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 81

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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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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 80

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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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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 79

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79. Gain and Loss

“This can’t be!”

When I held the sword in my hand, my stats were increased by a ton.

A massive increase in strength. Most weapons were all about the strength stat.

On staffs, the mana stat would be attached to it.

However, this weapon here even had a special effect attached to it.

The sword had a bonus, and it was as following.

-Butcher’s Sword-

* Strength +2200

* 15% of overall strength increase

* Two handed

* Obtain 5% of stats from defeated foes

“… This is insane, but what’s up with the special effect…?”

The increase in strength from the Butcher’s Sword was insane.

It was as if I was holding onto 4 Banwol Jincheons.

Of course, I couldn’t gain additional stats even if I was holding onto more than two Banwol Jincheons in the first place.

The shape was small and short, and there wasn’t much weight to it.

‘To think that this is a two handed sword…’

It made me a little bit doubtful.

It was because most two handed weapons were giant, like the bastard swords or a claymore.

However, this weapon was barely the size of a traditional Yuggag-do. 1

Well, it would be wrong to determine everything by its size.

It would be probably a lot more comfortable than having to use both hands for the Banwol Jincheons.

The one thing I was doubtful was the special effect attached to it.

‘5% worth of stats from defeated foes.’

Since monsters did not have stats, this meant that the sword could only benefit from killing people.

The bonus stats could only be obtained by taking down other Awakened.

It really did its name justice.

In theory, taking down someone with 500 strength meant that I would gain 25 strength.

In retrospect, this was an amazing ability.

Tanks, magicians, assassins, warriors, healers.

The stats they invested in were all different from each other.

Magicians and healers, who mostly raised the mana stat, would have not much strength or stamina stats.

However, by absorbing the stats of warriors, whom mostly raise strength, stamina, and dexterity, I would be easily able to gain stats that would normally be difficult with leveling.

“This effect is a bit concerning.. but there are people out there that deserve having their stats stolen.”

The man who muttered to himself came to mind.

My guess was that he was probably Ghost.

Roaming around near me, he was most likely going be an annoyance soon.

Not only him, but his subordinates as well.

All of them would become my stats, flesh and blood for my growth.

You’re saying that I’ve become cruel after killing all of Noblesse and Joker?

That I’m treating human lives like ants?

No. Not at all.

Even a tame dog would growl at someone who tried to steal their food.

And in this case, it would be a dog vendor trying to put a collar on me.

It couldn’t be helped that I would be bearing my fangs and bite with all my might.

I calmed myself from the anger I felt when I thought about them, and turned my attention to the drops.

I had finished up to checking the armor and sword.

I was sure that these were some amazing goods.

Out of all the Awakened currently, there’s probably none that would wearing things like these.

Other than Awakeneds like Joker, the leaders of the radical faction.

The only thing left to check was the accessories.

The ring, necklace, and the bracelets were dropped neatly next to each other.

The accessories I was wearing consisted only of the skull ring that raised my strength by 20 and the Louver’s set.

However, the effect from the Louver’s set was useful in both combat and hunting.

The skull ring, on the other hand, I just couldn’t toss away because I had paid it with my own money to purchase it.

Out of all the artifacts I had, you could say that this was the one with the worst stats.

First, I checked the bracelet.

Rather than a bracelet, it was more akin to a wristguard.

You could say that it was a wristguard of 10cm or so that covered my arms fully?

The Eye of Insight informed me that it was something that raised my mana stat.

“Yep. Trash. Next.”

I tossed it immediately into the pile of bloodstones.

Out of all the stats it could increase, why did it have to raise the mana stat.

This wasn’t the first time either.

The equipment I’ve obtained from my constant hunting only raised the mana stat.

It would be odd to say that a person with the insane ability of possessing infinite mana is unlucky, but when it came to equipment, I really was.

My disappointment was brief. The necklace that dropped seemed pretty good.

It was the Necklace of Searching.

If I thought of someone I knew and used the necklace, it would reveal the location of the target.

However, if the target was inside of a dungeon or a portal, it wouldn’t be able to find them.

It was a one time use item, but I thought it wasn’t a bad gain.

The last thing I checked was the ring.

I was hoping that it would be something to replace my skull ring.

However, just by looking at the shape, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be helpful for increasing my offensive capabilities.

If it wasn’t enough that the entire armor was red, now I had this flower ring.

I wasn’t sure of what flower it resembled, but it was the shape of a flower bud.

I checked the ring’s stat.

-Trade with the Reaper-

* Blooms when the wearer’s life expires.

* Obtain a new life.

* Limited to one time use per person.

“Jackpot.”

The sword and now the ring. It was a constant homerun.

Looking at the effect, one could say that it was a ring with the ability to resurrect.

The explanation said that it gave new life to one whose life had expired.

However, it could only be used once per person.

Well, even with this, it was plenty enough.

Regarding rings and bracelets, you could equip up to two.

That meant that even if you equipped everything you could get your hands on, only the effect from the first two equipped would be active.

I put the Trade with the Reaper ring in my pocket, and equipped the skull ring once more.

The owner for this ring wouldn’t be me, but my mother.

Even if she was being protected by Proof of Pledge skill, I saw firsthand of the offensive capabilities the radical faction possessed.

It wasn’t as if the equipment had a requirement to wear.

On top of that, mother was receiving the same stats as I, so she could definitely wear it, and it would show its ability at the worst situation possible.

“Whenever I meet a mimic, my bag overflows.”

The armor and the sword. And the countless bloodstones that poured out.

On top of that, Essences of Transcendence and Awakened essences.

I gathered up all the loot dropped from the level 34 mimic and left the dungeon.

****

Dark Lady, who heard that Joker was dead from Ghost, was in a state of half belief and half doubt.

The one with the strongest offensive capability in the radical faction was Joker.

On top of that, he was a man that never lost in a 1v1.

Raising one of her eyebrows, Dark Lady asked.

“Joker was defeated?”

“I’m sure of it. The Awakened association building in Yangpyeong. They fought in that abandoned building.”

“How would you know… Whatever, who are they?”

“Pfft. Not sure who it for sure yet. But one thing. I keep seeing this childlike boy.”

“A boy? Are you talking about a single person?”

“Yep. Oddly enough, there’s none I can see other than him.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. You’re saying that Joker was done in by a single boy? Is this the best of what your ability can do? If it’s an ability like that, you shouldn’t be here. It would be better if you left to start a fortune telling business. But if you keep saying nonsense like this, you’d be out of business very quickly.”

“Pfft! Dark Lady. Do you remember? Of the one that Joker had his eye on.”

“The one that took out the entire funding guild by himself?”

“Yes, yes! Joker had reported to Zekill that he cleanly eliminated him. From what I heard, he said something about infinite mana. I think he’s alive. What do you think? Isn’t this funny?”

“He, who had butchered the guild, killed Joker as well? Joker, who is the strongest in 1v1, by himself?”

“Oh! Oh! That’s correct!”

Dark Lady went into deep thought.

The inside of her head became complicated.

What made her fall into disarray was the death of Joker.

She thought that there was a tiny 1% chance of his death being true.

If he did die, she thought it would be subjugation at the hands of a very powerful group.

But Ghost was saying that he was defeated by a single person.

Joker, who had brute strength that Dark Lady couldn’t even face against.

Ghost looked at her furrowed face and spoke.

“What are you going to do?”

“…..”

“Are you going to report to Zekill? Or should we take care of it ourselves?”

“Us?”

“Of course us! There’s only two leaders left now.”

“I don’t think your fortune telling ability helps at all in combat. I’m going to report to Zekill right away. And I’ll only follow his orders.”

“You’re no fun.”

Ghost spoke while looking like a disappointed child.

Then, almost as if becoming a different person, Ghost spoke.

“I could… kill him….”

“What?”

“I could kill that kid.”

“You’re crazy. He even defeated Joker. He’s definitely stronger than what you could handle. I hope that you won’t do anything on your own, Ghost. If you died as well, it would be a huge disruption to the grand plan…”

“Hehe… I’ll kill him! I can take it!”

For a moment, he had let his sanity go.

Condensed mana began to crackle around him.

It was as if he didn’t know how to use it, but it was easy to tell just by looking how powerful the gathered mana was.

“Calm down, Ghost.”

Without realizing, Dark Lady was using her defensive skill.

After all, he was giving off that much of a killing intent.

Dark Lady was feeling fear akin to looking at a time bomb that she didn’t know when it would go off.

After the storm of mana he let out left, Ghost was calming down from his excitement, and his eyes were regaining their pupils.

She thought that the aberrant behavior was over, but then Ghost’s form began to shift madly, announcing another start to it.

From child to an ancient elder.

His form shifted from monsters to animals, demons to ghosts, filling up Dark Lady’s entire field of view.

The killing intent and fear felt was enough to call it a terrifying nightmare.

How much time has passed?

The killing intent that filled the air dissipated, and Ghost regained control of himself.

“Ha…. Ha….”

“….”

“Two days. Just two days is enough.”

“…..”

“Until then, it’s a secret! Okay?”

After saying that, Ghost went outside.

Dark Lady was still pressured from that unknown power.

With ragged breaths, she was shaking.

“M… Monster. He’s not human.”

She had been pushed back by Joker during the fight, but she still possessed more strength than what most Awakeneds could imagine.

But she, despite being that strong, felt this much fear.

This entire time, she was doubting Ghost’s ability.

After all, the man was questionable to the point as to wonder how he obtained the position of leader.

But in that short amount of time, she saw it clearly.

Someone that she couldn’t approach with her strength.

That he was an existence that didn’t exist in this world.

****

“Whew. I let my mind wander again. If I think about him, I get excited like this.”

Ghost had returned back to his home base in Gangwon-do.

He commanded all the underlings beneath him to gather in one spot.

Ghost never cared about his underlings.

He never commanded them or even had them work on the project, not even once.

However, with his first command, everyone had gathered with confused looks of disbelief.

In the place where everyone had gathered up, Ghost opened his mouth.

“Wow. There were that many of you? Everyone, do you wanna go hunting with me?”


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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 78

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78. A Familiar Face

“We’ve received word that all four portal explosions in Yangpyeong have been suppressed. Here we have the vice head researcher of Korea’s Awakened association, Mr. Hwang Inung. Vice department head, if you will.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you. I am Hwang Inung.”

“Four portals exploded at the same time.”

“Yes.”

“But you say that the portals were suppressed faster than before? Even though there were four different places the portals exploded in.”

“Yes. We were able to stop them before any damage could be done with swift and accurate deployments, just like we prepared and practiced beforehand.”

“Yes. Thank you for all your hard work. But the continuous explosions occurring in Korea. What do you think is the reason behind them all?”

“We are still searching for the reason behind it. The global Awakened association is assisting us as well.”

“It’s been nearly one month since the first level 29 portal has exploded, but you’re telling us that the reason still hasn’t been discovered yet?”

“There are rumors going around that the portal explosions are artificial. What do you think about these accusations?”

“Yes. I have talked about that possibility through discussions. But I can say for sure that the chance of that being true is 0%.”

“Is that so. Is there any guesses as to why this is only occurring in Korea?”

“We’ll let the public know once the investigation is thoroughly completed.”

Jong Ho, Ho Jin, and I were focusing on the TV.

We felt anger rise in us after listening to such nonsense being said over the TV.

Ho Jin, who knew Hwang Inung, spoke up.

“Look at him, turning a blind eye till the very end. He’s probably doing exactly as the association president Choi Man Seo is telling him to do. Dirty rat…”

“Out of the 4, I suppressed 2 of them. And I guess they’re going to avoid the topic of the radical faction until the very end.”

“They were always like this. They take all the credit for themselves, and if anything goes wrong, they’re too busy pushing the blame elsewhere.”

“Glad that the level 34 dungeon and I weren’t discovered at least.”

“Hey. Min-Cheol. Don’t you think that it would be better to go to the level 34 dungeon in Yangpyeong for awhile? Even though they’re giving false reports like that, the Awakened who were deployed then would know the truth of how the two level 29 portals were taken care of in less than half an hour.”

“Of course. That’s why I asked you to find any other level 34 dungeons.”

“Ho Jin hyung-nim. About the other portal location I asked about. How did it go?”

“Hoho. I found one ahead of time. But the one downside is that it’s quite far away…”

“It’s okay. I’ll be using Warp anyways.”

“Ah. Of course. It’s around Paju DMZ.”

“Wow…. It’s quite far away. Please let me know of the exact location later.”

“Yes. Will do.”

“Where does hyung and mister hunt nowadays?”

“Where? The level 18 dungeon.”

“Yep.”

“Then should I put Healing Denial and Lower Resist in the ring as well?”

“Why? I don’t think we’ll need it? They melt with just one Meteor.”

“Ah… I guess… I did learn those two skills to clear that dungeon.”

“Ho ho. Thanks to Mr. Min-Cheol, we’re able to level up at an insane rate.”

“We’re only using our mana for defensive skills while swapping the ring between us. Since our mana recovers to full each time we level up, we’re able to continue hunting nonstop.”

“Good to hear. If you’re lucky, you can get the Louver set and Banwol Jincheon as well.”

“That’s right. I’m already level 150. Ho Jin hyung-nim is 147 or 148, I think.”

“It’s 148. I have to guard the house during weekends…”

“At the rate we’re going, it won’t be long before the three of us go out to beat up the radical faction.”

“Ho ho. That’s for another time. What happened to the man you met at the level 25 dungeon?”

“I haven’t been able to see him since.”

“Hm… There’s a high chance that the man you spoke of is Ghost.”

“I think so too. But you said that there’s no information regarding Ghost.”

“Yes. There’s no information at all, not even about his class or abilities.”

“If it comes down to it, it could be a tough fight.”

“Yes. I’ll try to find out more about it regarding that matter, so it would be wise to avoid him for now.”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

“That was a good dinner. I’ll say my farewells to your mother and get going.”

“You’re going already?”

“Yes. Looks like I’ll have to go as well.”

****

[In the hunter break room located in the association headquarters…]

General Yoon Jong-sun and Lee Sang-Ho, even Shingeon who had participated in the portal explosion suppression were gathered.

The topic of the conversation was about who had stopped the level 29 portal explosion.

Lee Sang-Ho spoke first.

“Gramps. I think that a single person did this.”

“You’re saying that a single person stopped two level 29 portals? Sang-Ho…”

“Yep. There’s no evidence, and he or she left nothing that indicates any motives. If many people were involved, it would be difficult to accomplish that. Unless it’s an organization with perfect teamwork, of course.”

“Hm…”

“My intuition says that it’s a single person for sure. We’re call him A for convenience. Hye-won and Geon, go find out about this A.”

To Sang-Ho’s words, Shingeon’s brows furrowed as he spoke.

“Hey. Where are you telling us to go find out? There’s no evidence or any leads. We need at least a motive before we could move, you know? Are you telling us to grab random strangers to question?”

General Yoon Jong-sun became engrossed in deep thought.

Almost to the point where he could no longer hear the conversation between Lee Sang-Ho and Shingeon.

Then he spoke to himself.

“A single person who could have enough combat capabilities to defend against two portal explosions…”

The existence of Min-Cheol instantly came to mind.

Unlike his young looks, he was clearing a dungeon by himself with incredible strength.

But he was clearing the level 18 dungeon back then.

It was hard to believe that he was able to obtain such power in that short amount of time, enough to clear two level 29 portals so quickly.

“Hm.. There’s a limit to things….”

“What are you saying to yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s keep up surveillance for now. If we didn’t have the help of A during this explosion crisis, it could’ve been a very difficult fight. Thus, A is currently a double-sided blade.”

“….”

“If A joins our side, it would be an incredible gain. But if A joins the radical faction…”

“No matter what, we have to get him first. Unless it’s a serious mission or duty, everyone focus on A.”

****

It’s been a week since I had headed for the level 34 dungeon in Paju that Ho Jin spoke of.

The location was the only thing different, as the monsters inside were the same.

The defective essences haven’t dropped yet.

It was the same with the artifacts as well.

“Unlike my expectations, they aren’t dropping at all.”

-CRASH!

The shock wave of Meteor they were returning back to me filled the entire dungeon.

While I was obtaining the drops after taking care of all the monsters, the exit that should have appeared in the center of the dungeon did not appear.

“Did a hidden boss appear?”

No.

If a hidden boss had appeared, an incredible Howling skill should have covered the field.

Turning on Eye of Insight, I looked around the dungeon to no avail.

“Oh yes! A mimic!”

I threw down the duffel bag and moved to the center of the dungeon.

Mimics could not be detected, not even by the Eye of Insight, and would only appeared after an attack hits him.

Almost as if painting the white dungeon floor, a sea of flames were formed with Meteors.

From one spot to the furthest range of the skill, a third of the dungeon was covered in flames.

Just as I was about to change my position.

-clatter

“Bingo!”

In my sights, a red dot appeared where the mimic was.

I was sure it was the mimic.

I immediately ran towards it and cast Bind.

A stone golem’s hand broke through the ground and grabbed it tightly.

It couldn’t move anywhere.

Pulling up my sleeves, I began to punch at it.

The mimic was different from the previous mimic I caught with Jong Ho though.

There was nothing different on the outside, but despite punching twice the amount as before, it still wasn’t opening.

Since it was from a level 34 dungeon, it was a lot stronger?

Just like that, the punching continued for awhile.

-rattle rattle

-click

“Whew… It’s very tenacious.”

The chest that was shut tight finally opened.

Almost as if exploding, it began to spew out items everywhere.

In comparison with the previous one, there were a lot more items.

Since there was a lot of time left before the end of the dungeon, I decided to check the drops from here.

I didn’t even look at the countless A ranking bloodstones.

The only thing I was looking at was the defective essences and the artifacts.

First, I moved the giant armor and the weapon to one corner.

Then I began to sort out the defective essences.

The Eye of Insight revealed to me that its real name was Essence of Transcendence.

Looking at the description, it allowed skills that were maxed level to transcend beyond.

I had obtained a total of three of them, as well as 3 Awakened Essences.

“Mana Shield? Meteor? Or perhaps Iceberg? Or should I choose Formless Sword Aura?”

Just by holding onto them, I was getting excited.

These skills already were displaying incredible amounts of attack power.

I couldn’t even guess how powerful they would become if they transcended.

My thoughts didn’t stay on that for long though.

I turned towards the sword and armor.

It didn’t feel like it would be better than what I obtained after killing Joker.

It was an armor that would reduce damage taken by 40%, as well as raising 300 points of every stat.

If something that was stronger than that existed, that would be akin to cheating.

The first thing I checked was the armor.

Unfortunately, it was an embarrassing color of red.

On the chest, there was a symbol that I did not understand.

I used Eye of Insight to check the armor.

-Thirst of Blood-

Strength +0

Mana +0

Dexterity +0

Stamina +0

*Stats can be distributed by defeating monsters.

*1 stat point for every 100 monsters.

“It sounds like something good, even though it’s weak right now…”

It wasn’t good enough to swap out with the armor I had currently.

However, I thought it would be a good fit for Jong Ho or Ho Jin, since they’re focusing on hunting right now.

In dungeons where tons of monsters appeared, it would become their stats.

They both were becoming a powerful force to reckon with now.

It was only right to get them equipment befitting of their strength.

The next thing I checked was the sword.

It was very inconvenient to have Banwol Jincheon returned to me every time something went down.

Holding the sword in my hand, all I could tell that it was a simple clean sword.

On top of that, it was incredibly small compared to Banwol Jinceon.

Frankly, it looked similar to Heugdo that I obtained from the blacksmith beforehand.

Checking the ability of the sword, I couldn’t help but swear.

“Holy shit! Is this possible?”


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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 77

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77. Falling Into Confusion

I had hoped it wasn’t, but it was the same situation as when the level 29 portal exploded.

My cellphone was constantly ringing.

Even without checking the contents, I knew that it would be text messages regarding evacuation and asking for reinforcements.

However, I thought I should at least check the portal’s level and the location of it.

If it was occurring near my mother, I had to move.

“Ugh….”

Since my eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the abandoned mine shaft, I squinted due to the bright light of the smartphone screen.

However, that was only the beginning of my sour mood.

After confirming the information in the text, my face scrunched up further.

  • Current Time 20:00
  1. Around Yangpyeong-gun Yongmun mountain level 29 portal explosion.
  2. Around Yangpyeong-gun Sori mountain level 29, 31 portal explosion.
  3. Around Yangpyeong-gun Jungwon mountain  level 30 portal explosion.

* Any civilians living near, please evacuate to the nearest Awakened association building.

* Any Awakened nearby, please assemble to the designated location.

“Portal explosions in 4 places simultaneously? This is definitely unnatural. The radical faction… Are they finally making their move?”

The location of the level 34 dungeon I was at was the Jungmun mountain.

Since the tremor I felt was intense, the level 29 portal that was reported was probably nearby.

I immediately turned on the map application, and entered in the coordinates sent by the association in the GPS.

As I had predicted, it wasn’t far off.

Number 1 and 3. Using the Titan Boots and Blink, the distance would only take 10~20 minutes to cover.

It wouldn’t take long before the Awakened from the association and from the guilds would be arriving here in droves.

They probably were using drones already to do surveillance on the movement of the monsters.

The level 34 dungeon that Ho Jin informed me of was already known by the association.

After all, Ho Jin had learned of it by looking at their files.

They probably had left it alone because humankind wasn’t strong enough to conquer it, praying that it wouldn’t explode.

Unluckily, this location was near the explosion.

If it was found out that the entrance to the abandoned mine shaft had been opened, things would get annoying for sure.

“Whew….”

I sunk deep in thought for a brief moment.

Even if 1 or 2 portals exploded, they wouldn’t have much difficulty stopping it like before.

Despite the levels, it was in the range that humankind could stop.

However, the explosions had occurred in 4 different places at once.

On top of that, 3 of the portals needed Awakened magicians.

In a situation where they had to pool together manpower to reduce the casualties, they had to split.

“I’ll be moving quickly.”

I decided to suppress the portal explosion near me.

Was it because many casualties would occur for the association and guild?

Was it because it would be a huge threat to humankind?

No. I did feel something, but these reasons weren’t enough to move me.

I just wanted to break down the the tower the radical faction had raised with all their hard work, to show how pointless it was.

The radical faction. The project they’re so proud of.

Also I couldn’t stand any insects getting in the way of my premium dungeon I’m enjoying so much.

With condensed flame in my hand, I welded the metal entrance to the abandoned mine shaft cleanly and headed for the portal.

****

Hiding my form, I arrived near the portal that was in the process of exploding.

The purple light from the portal came into view.

I didn’t just rush in there, but instead used the rocks nearby as platforms to jump up into the air.

Before leaping, I picked up a stone out of the pile in my hand.

-WOOSH!

An intense sound of wind and friction against the air filled my ears.

I was able to see a bird’s eye view by jumping up into the sky and looking below.

Before arriving at the center, I used Eye of Insight to scan the portal and the surrounding area.

4 drones came into view, flying nearby the portal while recording footage.

I was also able to see a few gargoyles roaming about near the portal.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem as though any Awakened had arrived yet.

-Crack!

I broke apart the stone in my hand into a few pieces, then held them in each of my hands.

As my body fell downwards, I threw the stones towards the drones.

I needed them gone before I could topple the tower they raised with all that effort.

-Woosh!

-BOOM!

Even without holding any weapons, my strength was nearly 700.

The stones I threw flew like bullets, smashing through the drones.

The wind resistance didn’t impede me at all.

I just threw them towards the red dots, right on the mark.

Hit dead center, the drones fell to the ground, headless.

“Got rid of the spectators… Time to start with the few impatient ones that got out first.”

I’ve used skills only a few times outside of dungeons and battlegrounds.

Other than the time I first Awakened or to torture Jin, there had been none.

There was no reason to use Meteor and Iceberg to grab unwanted attention.

Even if the defenders haven’t arrived yet, the shock wave would alert them.

In both my hands, I condensed many A ranking Explosion and Holy Shock spells.

Taking my aim, I fired each shot into their chests.

“KURURU!”

“KWUAAH!”

Intense flames that would not extinguish burned at their chests, and each of them were howling Fear spells.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem as though there were any ranged mage gargoyles.

Flapping their bat-like wings, they swarmed towards me to attack.

Noticing how the Mana Shield shook quite a lot, it seemed that their attacks were quite powerful.

The moment they perfectly gathered around me as the center…

The area around me was bathed in a red glow.

Flames falling like a leaf in autumn, the main character behind it was Fire Shock.

Without any discernible pattern, the flames were enough to bathe their bodies.

On top of that…

It wasn’t enough that their bodies were burning away at the flames, holes began to form on their bodies.

It was the power of the level 200 Gravity Laser, as wide as an adult’s arm.

And since I decreased the area of effect, more beams of light were able to focus on them.

“KUWWEHHH!”

“KWUACK!”

“Definitely lasted longer than the lizardmen.”

They were cleanly obliterated.

Looking around, the area was lit ablaze due to the 15m of Fire Shock.

It seemed fierce enough to burn the entire mountainside.

Using Glacial Field to douse the flames, I looked at the portal.

The portal still shook, looking normal as usual despite letting monsters out at any given moment.

Instead of waiting for them, I decided to enter.

While I wait for this portal that could explode whenever, others could arrive.

If they wouldn’t come out, then I had to go in to kill them.

I heard recently from Ho Jin that they had used this method for defending against the level 25 portal explosion, so I didn’t hesitate in the slightest before walking towards the portal.

****

“Does that make any sense?”

“It’s the truth. Even leader Shingeon has confirmed it as well.”

“So you’re saying that 4 recording type drones all exploded suddenly.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“And the portal was cleanly turned into a dungeon by the time of arrival.”

“Yes.”

“You little shit! Won’t you get it together? Do you think this is a level 1 or 2 portal? It’s a level 29 portal. A level 29!”

“…..”

“But you’re saying that it was perfectly cleared before the arrival of any defensive units? 20 minutes after the drones exploded to boot?”

“If you look at the field data here….”

“Give it to me! Shingeon, you delusional bastard!”

The man received the photos of the scene from the reporter.

The reporter was one of the squad members led by Shingeon that had been deployed to the scene of the level 29 portal explosion.

The man was very upset after hearing such a bogus report, but after looking at the picture, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

“….Th- This….”

The man’s name was Lee Sang-Ho.

He was one of the 3 reinforcements sent for Yoon Jong-sun at the battle by the seaside before.

Underneath commander Yoon Jong-sun was Lee Sang-Ho, Kim Hye-won 1 and Shingeon.

The four of them were the magician representatives of the association.

The magician battalion that Lee Sang-Ho was leading was currently taking care of the monsters nearby the level 29 portal at Sori mountain in preparation to enter.

Shingeon had already headed for the level 29 portal by Yongmun mountain, which had already become a dungeon.

Yoon Jong-sun and Kim Hye-won had headed to Jungwon mountain to stop the strongest portal of them all, the level 30 one.

Calming down, he asked the reporter.

“What are the chances that the explosion detector made an error?”

“That’s not the case. Looking at the debris in the area, we were able to recover one of the machine’s memory. We were able to confirm that gargoyles were pouring out of the portal.”

“Damn… This is crazy. You can’t confirm who it was?”

“Yes… No evidence was found nearby, and since the portal has already become a dungeon, we’d only sustain casualties by entering it now.”

It was then.

“Cool! Guy! There are many, but I will be~”

Sang-Ho’s phone began to ring.

The caller’s identity was Kim Hye-won.

Right now, she and Yoon Jong-sun should be locked in a fierce battle right now.

However, a phone call was being made from her.

‘Did she not arrive there yet?’ He thought so as he took the call.

“What, did you not arrive there yet?”

“No, we arrived.”

“Are you prepping beforehand? You need to focus on the fight.”

“That’s…”

“What is it? Tell me.”

“Did you receive the report from Shingeon?”

“Yeah. I just received it. I’m not sure what kind of crazies went all out, but they cleanly…”

“… It’s the same here.”

“What? What’s the sa-… Shit. What?”

“The level 30 portal also became a dungeon.”

“Holy shit! What’s going on!”

“For now, the commander left me here to wrap things up and is headed your way.”

“Was cleared 20 minutes after the drones exploded, the same as here? Any evidence? Any evidence at all?”

“Other than mudmen corpses lying around instead of gargoyles, the situation is the same.”

“Ha… This is ridiculous.”

Sang-Ho was blankly staring at the portal in front of him.

He couldn’t even begin to guess what group pulled off something like this.

Perhaps he should be thankful to these people.

To a certain degree, Sang-Ho felt that way.

However, this was a portal level that could be barely blocked with the deployment of an entire battalion.

If that many people had moved, at least a little bit of evidence should have remained, but…

“This was done by one person….”

Biting his lip, Sang-Ho let out a bit of monologue.

At that moment, one of the battalion members yelled.

“Leader! The nearby area has been cleared. Let’s enter!”

“Good work. I’ll take the lead.”


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I Never Run Out of Mana Chapter 76

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76. Ghost Is Moving (2)

It’s been 3 days since I’ve headed to the level 25 dungeon.

I had Ho Jin return me one of the Banwol Jincheons and was holding onto it tightly.

It was because Jong Ho and Ho Jin were going to use Balrok ring to hunt, so they wouldn’t need the extra strength stat.

I felt that I had to get a sword to replace this soon.

This wasn’t the first time I gave and then took this back. Despite owning it, I kind of felt bad.

In the taxi that goes to the dungeon for the first time of the day, I could see a few familiar low level dungeons passing by.

The entrance to the dungeon was far emptier than usual.

It’s probably because a lot of schools were starting up again after the break.

Most of the Awakened were high schoolers, so dungeons below level 10 were always filled with Awakened my age.

There were a few that Awakened in their later years, but most would be forced to go to school without a choice.

Thinking about that, a feeling of superiority took over for a brief moment.

It’s been three days, but this Unknown Dungeon’s gate did not appear.

The Lich King dungeon and Door to Hell had opened after nearly two weeks, so it was too early to determine if this is the wrong method.

I was clearing this for the Unknown Dungeon, but the experience I was earning here couldn’t satisfy me.

After all, I had tasted 2 million experience every two kills in the level 34 dungeon.

It’s reasonable that I wouldn’t feel any excitement from the experience I’m earning now.

Another factor would be how much I’ve leveled up in a short time, and the experience required to level up increased to match that.

Out of theories for the formation of the gate I discussed with Jong Ho, I was hoping that the second theory of the Unknown Dungeon having a low chance to appear to be correct.

If the last theory of sacrificing a certain number of lives was true…

To have that many people enter the dungeon?

You could only get so far by promising to run people through the dungeon while hiding your identity.

But in the first place, how could I kill those innocent people.

On the other hand, I was stuck thinking how good it would have been if the battleground where I took out the Noblesse guild was a dungeon instead.

I had the all-purpose ID from Ho Jin and Mass Stealth Jutsu that made me invisible to all.

The association and the Awakened entering the level 25 dungeon would never know of my existence.

“Is today another swing and miss.”

Originally, I had only planned on investing 3 days to find the Unknown Dungeon.

But now, I had changed my mind.

By leveling up, I could become stronger by obtaining 5 stat points every level.

But if I grew a lot more than my current self, the time it would take to obtain those stats via level up would take longer.

On the other hand, say that I’ve obtained an amazing artifact.

For example, the Asura Twin Blades that Joker had.

It’s a weapon that gives you 200 more strength and dexterity points than Banwol Jincheon.

It was this strong, even though it was the lowest quality that could drop.

I would be able to obtain 80 levels’ worth of stats in one go.

The Unknown Dungeon was the answer for me.

It happened when I was about to head home after hunting.

A lone man was roaming about in front of the dungeon.

It wasn’t just today.

For several days, it appeared as though he was searching the area from the same spot repeatedly.

It didn’t seem as though he was looking for a party or was trying to hunt.

It wasn’t enough for me to become wary of him, but I also couldn’t just ignore his strange demeanor.

It happened while I was stealthed, passing him by.

I could hear his mumbling.

The spell Silent absorbed all the sound I made, but sounds from outside came just the same.

I couldn’t see his face due to the helmet he was wearing, but I could definitely make out the words he was saying.

“He’s…. here…. Little… boy…..”

His pupils were shaking like a leaf.

The movement of his body was awkward, almost as if he was uncomfortable.

I thought he had a disability of some kind, and tried to pass him with some form of consideration for him.

However, the words I heard next made me hesitate.

“Joker… dead… Little… boy…. Killed… him… Kuhaha!”

“Shit!”

I swore without realizing.

The man just mentioned Joker.

Perhaps it was me overreacting because I was too conscious of Joker.

But if you put together what he said, he said that Joker died due to a little boy.

It’s too much to be just a coincidence.

‘Is he from the radical faction? There shouldn’t be anyone who knows my identity other than Joker…’

I decided to inspect him some more.

It was to determine if he was just insane, or he was trying to find me after finding out my identity.

I was absolutely sure that he couldn’t see me.

He continued his monologue for a very long time.

All he said was what I’ve heard before, completely repeating himself.

Just like that, an hour had passed.

Nothing stranger occurred, so I thought I was being too sensitive and was about to leave.

Suddenly, he took in a deep breath and was violently shaking.

His eyes became focused, and his body steadied itself.

It was almost as if very talented actor had finished acting for the cameras.

Sniffling, the man spoke.

“Wow! It’s cold. I can definitely feel it… Strange?”

While saying that, his eyes met mine.

It was then!

“Pfft! Found you. Don’t stay hiding like that and come out!”

‘What? There’s nothing behind me. Was that for me? There’s no way I could be seen!’

I hurriedly check the location of where I left the Warp opened.

On top of that, I focused so that I wouldn’t miss any of his movements.

While looking at me, he continued to speak.

“Pfft! In the movies, if I say something like this, they come out. Guess I wasted my time.”

After making me worry like that, he looked around for the last time and went through the Warp.

I was sure that he was from the radical faction.

They say that a sad feeling regarding predictions are never wrong.

It looked as though he was urgently searching for me.

On top of that, the ability he carried didn’t seem to a joke.

Without any information, he was able to find out about Joker’s death and my location.

‘Damn it. I thought it finally became quiet….’

****

“Sir Zekill! All preparations have been made.”

“Good work, Dark Lady. I’ve heard that you’ve prepared 4 portals in total.”

“Yes, that’s correct. Two places for level 29, one level 30, and one level 31. This is how it’s been prepared.”

“Good… An hour after 20:00, blow them all up at the same time.”

“Yes!”

“Also, use association president Choi Man Seo to find the location of portals near level 40 and start operations there.”

“…..”

“Are you perhaps worried, Dark Lady?”

“N.. No, sir Zekill.”

“Our first goal is to get this nation expelled from the world wide organization for Awakened. The monsters from the explosions will be only a problem to take care of after. The damage that the association will take from trying to stop that will be a plus for us.”

“Yes. Understood. I’ll summon Choi Man Seo so that it can be prepared as soon as possible.”

“Good….”

Zekill took a sip of his tea.

He had a satisfied expression on his face, perhaps because he heard what he wanted to hear.

After that, he spoke to Ghost, who was seated next to Dark Lady.

“Ghost….”

“Yes.”

“I heard that you went to the level 25 dungeon location in Seodaemun. Is it true?”

“Hm… How did you find out? That’s right. I went.”

“What’s the reasoning. The reason for why you’ve been there for a couple days. Perhaps, it has to do with Joker….”

“Hey… Why would Joker be at the level 25 dungeon. I sensed someone with a decent ability, so I was thinking about recruiting him.”

“The current state isn’t like usual. You probably know already. Assist with Dark Lady’s project.”

“Yes.”

Almost like a child being lectured by their teacher, Ghost replied with a sad expression.

He was a man who couldn’t be figured out.

Drinking his tea once more, Zekill spoke with a serious expression.

“Joker…. No news of Joker yet?”

“Yes….”

“Guess the Unknown Dungeon is pretty fun? I can’t get a hold of him at all.”

Dark Lady was barely restraining herself at how Ghost was addressing her boss.

Ghost was addressing the overboss Zekill, the one she followed, in a way that was no way proper.

Dark Lady sharply glared at Ghost.

Figuring out the meaning behind her glare, he made a goofy face and nodded his head.

“Ghost. Do you also not sense Joker’s location?”

“Yes. It’s so silent, it makes me wonder if he’s really dead or not. It could be that he’s hiding from us on purpose too.”

“Insolence! Damn Joker… How goes with managing the group Joker used to lead?”

“Currently, the sub leader who has a secondary class is leading in his stead.”

“If he does not show up until the next portal explosion I’ve ordered, bring him here. It won’t be long until we get into business, so we can’t have him sit at the rank of temporary boss forever.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“Will you go?”

“I look forward to the chaos that will be arriving soon.”

Finishing his words, his form was hidden from view.

Dark Lady, who was left in the house office, asked.

“The words you’ve said last time to me. Is it true?”

“What? About eating together if you come to Gangwon? Of course! When? When will you come?”

Dark Lady quietly took out one of her weapons, a short sword.

After that, she asked the same question again.

Sensing the serious mood, Ghost spoke.

“Hm… Guess I can’t get out of this willy nilly.”

“…..”

“Joker is dead.”

****

Perhaps a bad omen or a good one, the man that searched for me in front of the dungeon could not be seen anymore.

Like a bug that enters one’s room and then disappears, the anxiety felt was far greater than relief.

It was because I wouldn’t know when it would pop out to surprise me.

After that, I continued to run the level 25 dungeon for two days, but the gate did not open.

If I didn’t know his identity, it may have been different. However, I could not waste any more time.

I temporarily put aside finding the Unknown Dungeon, and instead focused on my secondary plan, which was to obtain as much as benefit as I could from the level 34 dungeon.

It was for the defective essences and possible artifacts that could drop.

If there was one thing that worried me, it was that the man from before would suddenly come visit me out of nowhere again.

Just like how he appeared at the level 25 dungeon, he might do the same at the level 34 one.

If that happens, I’ll have to end him.

There’s no way that this could turn out well.

If I had definitive proof that he was from the radical faction when we first met, I would’ve ended him right then and there.

However, I only had a hunch right now.

I asked Ho Jin to find me another location with a level 34 dungeon since it could be dangerous to stay in the same spot.

Pushing aside pointless thoughts, I tried to head to the dungeon when it happened.

-crack. CRAACK!

“What the? Is this an earthquake?”

Even inside the abandoned mineshaft, the shaking was intense.

I thought of it as one of the recently common earthquakes, and continued to move once more.

-KURUHONG!

I was thinking, no, hoping that the rumbling was an earthquake.

However, it didn’t take long for me realize that it wasn’t one.

The sound I just heard now was Monster Fear.

Since this was a place that people didn’t live in, one could guess that it was the sound of wild animals, but I was sure that this was the howling of a monster.

“Did another portal explode?”


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