Chapter 142
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It wasn’t because I utilized some especially powerful runes.
Some of the attribute runes I have take time to array magic, and in a fight like this against multiple enemies, something like [Explosive Sword Aura] isn’t suitable and would actually interfere with rear support.
I just utilized the sword technique runes [Wave Sword Technique] and [Water Sword Technique], as well as some other auxiliary physical enhancement runes.
Kuu, uhh…
But still, they were writhing in pain after just a few sword strikes.
I was momentarily surprised, but I didn’t miss this opportunity.
The Red Cyclops has extremely high strength and endurance, but is slow moving and weak to magic attacks.
Now that the tide had suddenly turned in my favor, I needed to press the attack even more.
‘Art of Weapon Exchange.’
I put away [Sword of Penitent] and took out [Claw Short Sword].
It was a crafted tool given to me by Choi Yoo-min a few days ago.
I wanted to use the short sword to change up my combat style.
A longsword is better when charging into a battlefield, but a short sword is better for close-quarters combat inside.
With my steadily growing [Plum Blossom Sword Technique] now at Level 5, and [Agile Agility] now up to Level 8, I could wage an effective battle amidst multiple monsters if I utilized both runes simultaneously.
Kuu, uhh—!!
Kuuu—!!
“Kik…?!”
And as expected, it completely failed.
The Red Cyclops that were writhing in pain just a moment ago quickly regained their vigor and deflected my attacks.
The [Plum Blossom Sword Technique] I unfolded with the [Claw Short Sword] didn’t even leave a scratch on them.
Their original strong points – durability and defense.
They were showing me once again that rock-solid appearance.
‘Damn. What is this?’
The attacks that seemed overly effective earlier now had no effect at all.
Instead, the enraged monsters swung their huge clubs at me.
I quickly moved my body to dodge those attacks.
Kuu, uhh—!!
Kwaaang!!
With their tremendous strength, the ground sank in an instant wherever their clubs smashed down.
Huge craters were gouged into the earth from the Red Cyclops’ clubbing.
And from within those craters, an unidentifiable smoke seeped out, oxidizing the surroundings.
Seeing that, I immediately realized.
‘They’re not just dumb brutes with lots of strength.’
Like the [Corrosive Powder] I’ve experienced before, or the ‘corrosion’ curse I can utilize with my [Simple Curse] rune, the Red Cyclops’ clubs also contained some special power to corrode objects.
I didn’t know if this was simply an effect of the clubs themselves or the power of a rune the Red Cyclops possessed, but…
In any case, it seemed I shouldn’t take those attacks head-on.
“Park Jin-woo, be careful of the clubs!”
“I know!”
Fortunately, Park Jin-woo also noticed the anomaly and was avoiding direct contact between weapons.
With the experience he had accumulated by now, he had the ability to flexibly deal with variables like these.
Hwa-rook – Hwa-rulrul!
Kuu, uh…?
And then, the moment the Red Cyclops retrieved their clubs and tried to approach again.
Hot air enveloped the surroundings right on time.
The vicinity was covered in flames, and several fireballs filled with magical energy shot in and assaulted the Red Cyclops.
There were two.
Two Red Cyclops were hit directly by the fireballs and instantly incapacitated.
I looked back and saw Kang Juyeon holding a staff.
‘Nice, Juyeon.’
It was the rear support I had been waiting for.
Somehow, Yoon Ji-ah seemed to be providing fire support on Park Jin-woo’s side, while Kang Juyeon was helping me out.
Thanks to that, the battle dynamics became much more favorable.
I took out [Sword of Penitent] again with my weapon swap technique.
In a 5:1 battle formation, I wielded the short sword to effectively conduct close-quarters combat by capitalizing on its light weight and fast speed.
But now that Juyeon’s support had brought it down to 3:1, I felt the longsword would be better in terms of attacking power.
Also…
‘It didn’t work with the Claw Short Sword, but did with Sword of Penitent.’
When I first entered wielding [Sword of Penitent], the attacks worked, but when I switched to [Claw Short Sword] for close-quarters combat, they had no effect whatsoever.
And now that the battle had resumed…
I vaguely understood why the earlier attacks worked.
<Item Information>
Name: Sword of Penitent
…
…
Special Effects:
: Against cursed monster forms, it can exert 50% increased performance. The higher the wielder’s recovery stat, the greater the sword’s power.
[Sword of Penitent] special effect.
Its performance explosively increases when fighting cursed monster forms.
For monsters weak against divinity, [Sword of Penitent] was the worst matchup.
‘And there’s the rune effects.’
<Rune Information>
Name: Descendant of the Barbarian King
…
…
Special Effects:
: The laws of the beast that wants to conquer its pack are constantly applied. When fighting alone against three or more enemies, certain stats (Strength, Speed, Toughness) increase by 20% (Lv.4). When combat ends or conditions are no longer met, stats immediately go back to normal.
My stats explosively increase when fighting multiple enemies.
With the stat difference caused by [Descendant of the Barbarian King]’s special effect, the [Oppression] special effect is triggered.
It was a temporary stat pumping combo I had experienced once before at the ‘Stained Rock Pile’.
With these effects and the intimidation of the weapon combined, there’s no way the Red Cyclops, who were at most B-grade monsters, could withstand it.
The Red Cyclop’s overwhelming endurance and defense stats.
I had pierced through that with just my physical attacks.
“Hmph…!!”
Confidently grasping that, I brandished my sword.
Once the number of opponents dropped below 3, the ‘the Law of the Beast’ effect would stop applying, so I had to take them all out in this one attack.
Thanks to the pumped up stats…
Attacks much faster and more intense than usual.
I also utilized the [Explosive Sword Aura] rune I had been saving up.
It was the maximum attack I could do without using a skill.
Kwa, kwaaang-!!
Kwakagaga-!!
Kuu, uh…?!
Without pause, I mowed down the monsters, and explosive sounds that seemed to split my ears rang out in time.
From the feeling at the tip of my sword and the Red Cyclop’ screams, I could tell these attacks were properly getting through.
It was a much more sophisticated attack than when I first entered.
Kuu, kuuuh….
The bulky Red Cyclop bodies lifelessly collapsed.
Two by Juyeon’s magic attacks, and the remaining three just now by my attacks.
Of the total 5 Red Cyclops I was facing, they had all been hunted down.
After the battle started.
This result happened in less than 5 minutes.
“You’re already done? Damn. The world is unfair.”
Park Jin-woo, who had been struggling next to me, shouted when he saw the result on our side.
The progress on his side was also decent.
Two Red Cyclops taken down by Yoon Ji-ah’s magic attacks, and Park Jin-woo facing off against the remaining two.
Park Jin-woo could probably hunt those last two Red Cyclops alone if he went all out, but he seemed to be conserving his strength for the exploration and battles ahead.
“Don’t go overboard while fighting.”
“One hit from them sends you to the afterlife, and you call this overboard?”
“Then don’t get hit.”
“Easy to say”
As I teased the grumbling Park Jin-woo, I jumped in and finished off the Red Cyclops.
We were already at 7 kills out of the starting 9.
Taking down the last 2 with our combined might was no trouble at all.
Kuu, kuuuh….
With all the Red Cyclops down, the battle smoothly ended.
Pushing back the flood of info windows that appeared before my eyes for the moment.
I first went to Akiba.
From how things looked, she also seemed to have finished [Magic Tracking] during the rather short time.
“Ms. Akiba.”
“Ah, Jae-hyun.”
“Did you find anything?”
Akiba slowly shook her head at my question.
“Nothing in the initial area. There were several mixed magical phenomena that briefly confused me, but at least I don’t see any magical convergence points that could cause dimensional distortions.”
“I see.”
It doesn’t look like there are any ‘unauthorized warp gates’ as I felt.
That’s what Akiba was saying.
It was regrettable, but I couldn’t expect to hit a home run on the first try.
The search was still in the initial stages.
“Then let’s just collect the magic stones and get moving.”
“Understood.”
And so, after briefly checking our equipment, we started gathering our things and moving forward again.
As we did so, Park Jin-woo came up beside me and nudged me with his elbow.
“Yo, yo.”
“What now?”
“Why don’t you just go out with Juyeon?”
“Huh?”
What’s this punk on about all of a sudden?
When I turned my head, Park Jin-woo shrugged and said.
“I mean, with just the two of you, you can handle everything anyway. Honestly, our current party composition isn’t very efficient.”
“What’s that supposed to….”
I was about to retort immediately, but paused for a moment.
Then I pondered it carefully.
The time we could stay in Japan wasn’t long.
3 days total, including today and the weekend.
It was unrealistic to investigate all 11 suspicious points in that time.
We could return to search next week, but we would have to coordinate with the <Judgement of Fire>, and who knows how the criminals might move in the meantime.
It was imperative we finish all the searches this weekend for there to be a possibility.
“….”
In this situation, dispersing the party to investigate wasn’t an option, but a near necessity.
Splitting into Team A and Team B from the start with 10 people was also to efficiently comb the dungeon interior.
And if it was possible in terms of manpower…
Further splitting the party was no problem.
As evidenced by the recent battle, Juyeon and I alone could handle the average monsters.
With [Sword of Penitent], I had nothing to fear against these monsters.
I looked at Park Jin-woo with newfound eyes.
“What are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you really Park Jin-woo?”
“Oh… what nonsense is this again.”
It was advice unbecoming of Park Jin-woo that I hadn’t heard in a really long time.
Tl/n: Happy year guys.. sorry about the late post, been a little busy. Also, I have some sad news, suppport for this novel and the site in general has basically died down, so ill mostly be reducing the chs per week starting next week and that is untill the chapters have reached a certain point… To which if it reaches that point. Ill be droping this novel.
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