Park Junggu.
He was a warrior who had piled up considerable combat experience.
Even among the Awakened of Gyeonggi Province, he ranked within the top ten fingers.
He was only still a leader of the Northern Branch because he’d joined a Guild late.
Measured purely by strength, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d become a Guild executive.
He had all kinds of traits gained as he leveled up.
He’d also bought many skills by investing points.
He’d even achieved a personal achievement after countless battles.
Of course—
No matter how much he craved bouts with the strong, he kept to a line.
Among his many skills, he had no intention of using the truly dangerous ones.
But after being provoked by the man opposite him,
He lost his reason and, along with the skills and traits he had stacked,
He poured out everything without holding back.
The abilities he’d restrained for fear the opponent might be badly hurt by their tremendous power—
And yet.
Not a single one landed.
His all-out attacks
didn’t permit even one effective hit.
When he tried to use [Flurry]—the skill whose power and speed increased as the chain continued—
A knife flew in and cut off the chain at the early stage.
He used the powerful area attack that toppled everything with feet on the ground,
[War Stomping]—
The man stepped onto a knife and avoided the shockwave.
Besides those, countless attacks went back and forth.
All were dismantled in similar fashion—so easily it was almost absurd.
Right.
As if...
As if he already knew every skill I could use...
It was impossible for him to actually know all of it.
He had simply seen things once,
then recalled counters for every one of those skills and responded.
You could only call him a genius of battle.
What stoked his anger even more in the midst of this:
in the process of taking Junggu apart,
that man hadn’t shown any astounding ability.
Those knives flying through the air were certainly a threat. But that was all.
When he didn’t know about them, it was a power that could have killed him outright.
Once he knew, he could deal with it well enough.
Other than that, the man didn’t use any special skill,
nor was there anything peculiar in his movement.
As a tremendous powerhouse, he was indeed very fast and very strong.
But that was only that his physical ability was outstanding—pure and simple.
He certainly had monstrous stats.
However—
The true strength of combat classes came not from stats but from technique.
And—
He had not shown even a single powerful skill as a combat class.
Even so,
every skill Junggu possessed was being unraveled.
If someone saw this, they’d believe he wasn’t a combat class at all but a production class without combat skills...
Of course,
a man that ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) strong wouldn’t be that.
If he deliberately didn’t use skills,
it wasn’t because he was a production class without combat skills—no.
“What exactly... were you trying to see with this level.”
“You bastard...!”
It meant the gap between him and that man was so large
he didn’t even need to use other skills on Junggu.
The disparity in ability was already stark,
and the man’s attitude of toying with him instead of facing him sincerely—
Angered by that,
Junggu decided to use his last resort.
“Hoo...”
He raised his axe high
and gathered power.
Then—
Between the gaps of his armor, green tattoo-like patterns began to manifest over Junggu’s body.
“B-Boss!?”
“That is...!”
In the past—
Before the Association had even formed,
there had been a time when a massive group of monsters, moving toward that Inhuman Demon Realm, passed through human territory.
Junggu’s group, right in the middle of that migration route, had to weather an abrupt monster wave.
In that unprecedented situation,
Junggu led all the group’s combat classes and went out to hold the defense.
He didn’t manage to slay every beast,
but thanks to Junggu’s performance, he once prevented the group’s annihilation.
[Achievement - Indomitable Warrior]
[Facing hordes of monsters swarming without end, you fought without retreat and, in the end, succeeded in surviving!]
[A reward is granted to the one who has achieved a great deed.]
What he obtained as a reward
was this:
[Skill - Indomitable Strike]
A skill with a simple structure:
you pour your entire body’s strength
into a single downward strike.
But
its power was anything but ordinary.
At the very least, it wasn’t an attack to use on a human—
that’s what he had always thought.
At least make me see one of your skills...!
Rather than end here being mocked,
he would at least see one of that bastard’s techniques.
Junggu resolved himself.
It was a technique that, as strong as it was, exposed many openings.
But—
True to its name, this [Indomitable Strike] nullifies damage taken during the cast.
Using that effect to take the enemy’s attacks,
then unleashing the accumulated power all at once—a dangerous yet powerful technique.
Naturally, he thought that man
would aim for the gaps he had now.
“Hm?”
Yet the man, as if telling him to do as he pleased,
actually folded his arms and waited for the attack.
Son of a—!
Junggu, his anger flaring at that sight,
brought the gigantic axe down without hesitation.
“Boss, are you out of your mind!?”
Those who recognized the power contained in that attack cried out in shock,
but the man didn’t so much as dodge it.
“...I was wondering when you’d use it.”
Muttering something incomprehensible,
he slipped into Junggu’s embrace.
I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but...!
The axe was still
descending to split the man’s head in two.
Then—
KAANG!
The ten knives that had been flying through the air
shot in and barred the axe’s path.
Pointless!
Of course—
It was a full-strength axe stroke.
Even with ten layers of knives blocking it, the speed only slowed a hair.
Its line still drew straight toward the man’s head.
Sssssk.
In that brief moment where the axe’s momentum slackened,
the man reached out and gripped the axe’s haft.
Seeing that, Junggu thought:
I’ve won!
Grabbing the haft of the axe
meant he couldn’t block the blade and would try to contest strength by seizing the shaft.
And—
Junggu’s class was Barbarian.
This attack was a single blow drawing on everything a Barbarian had!
No matter how strong you are, you can’t beat me in a contest of strength!
Anticipating the opponent’s resistance,
he put even more power into the descending axe—
...SHUK....
“...Huh?”
He felt the power he’d put his all into had nowhere to go,
diffusing uselessly into empty air.
What is this?
Startled, he glanced down—
there was the massive axe he was holding,
a very hard and heavy great axe
crafted by production-class Awakened.
Its haft—
It broke...?
The haft was broken.
How... could—?
The cut surface where the shaft had snapped
was preternaturally smooth.
And—
Though Park Junggu did not see the man who had slipped into his embrace,
in the hand the man thrust through the axe’s haft
there was something like a bead of unknown water.
[Elemental Cuisine]
[You can process ingredients and convert them into specific elements.]
The man lightly rubbed two fingers
over the droplet in his hand.
[Kitchen Chef’s Special Sauce]
[Through a special sauce, you can alter the emotions of those who consume the dish.]
[Special Sauce - Deep Defeat]
He pressed that droplet
toward Junggu, who was armored.
[Force-Feeding]
The droplet that touched the armor didn’t scatter,
but seeped into his body.
Then—
that giant body lost all strength
and crashed helplessly toward the floor.
And—
as he fell,
a voice reached his ear.
“Ten.”
At that voice,
Park Junggu let out a faint, wry smile.
...A rout.
KWOONG!
Acknowledging that he had lost so miserably he hadn’t even been a match,
he blacked out.
****
“...W-what just happened?”
“Who knows, I didn’t catch it right either...”
The man who’d rushed me—
Park Junggu, as if that last strike had drained him of everything,
collapsed hard to the floor.
“One thing’s certain.”
The Awakened of the Northern Branch, watching,
murmured with grave faces.
“The Captain lost.”
“......”
As per Park Junggu’s request,
once the bout to show my ability ended,
crowds of people who’d gathered at the sound of battle—
I could feel their eyes on me almost stinging.
And in response to those looks,
I...
“This man is the strongest warrior in this area, yes?”
“Eh? Ah... yes.”
“Someone the Association counts among its best, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Mm... I see.”
Keeping my face as neutral as possible,
I looked down at the fallen Park Junggu and said:
“...Hrm. So that’s the level.”
“......”
“Well, I get the rough measure. Interesting.”
An offhand remark.
But
there wasn’t a single fool here
who failed to grasp the meaning inside it.
—This guy is your strongest warrior?
—I’ve got a bead on your general level now.
—You’re unimpressive.
Something like that.
Words that could, at a glance, stir anger—
Yet the gathered members only stared at me, faces of disbelief,
unable to muster any retort.
“Then that should conclude the proof of ability this person asked for, yes?”
“Eh? Ah, ahh. Yes...”
“Mm. Personally, it’s a little... no, quite a bit lacking, but there’s no other way to prove it.”
Looking at their flustered faces,
I continued evenly,
“When he wakes up later, let’s hold that meeting you mentioned then.”
“...Yes.”
“Understood.”
Saying only that much,
I turned my body and headed for the quarters Han Iseo had assigned me.
—Captain Park Junggu... this one-sidedly, like that...
Behind me,
I heard the whispers of other survivors.
—It’s not just that he won. Other than floating those knives, there wasn’t a single movement you could even call a skill...
—Did you see? Even at the end, his breathing didn’t hitch once.
—Just how big is the gap...
Voices in a buzz, unable to contain their shock,
as if they simply couldn’t believe it.
And—
leaving those sounds behind as I returned to my quarters,
I thought to myself:
I—I thought I was going to die...!
Seriously.
I thought I was dead.
****
After I got back to my quarters,
the moment I sat on the bed I let out the breath I’d been holding and muttered,
“S-saved.”
I really thought I was going to die.
That man named Park Junggu.
He must have been a warrior who’d piled up a tremendous amount of experience.
The number of skills and traits he used was enormous.
From the middle on, he even seemed to forget it was a bout and came at me like he meant to kill me outright!
Each and every one of them was lethal.
If even a graze landed,
with no proper defensive skill to my name, someone like me could have gone straight to the Lord in an instant.
Some of us don’t have a single combat skill and have to eat every kind of pain. Combat classes are busted, aren’t they?
To be honest—
In pure combat-class specs, I wouldn’t match that man.
Because of differences in gear and Guild skills,
I’d be far behind on stats.
But stripping out gear and Guild skills altogether,
I’d say he was about like our Guild’s squad leaders.
I’m the guy who barely scrapes by against the mid-tier warriors in our unit.
How could I possibly beat a man who could go even with our squad leaders?
In fact,
when we sparred inside the unit,
Gwangil matched me at the level of a mid-tier unit warrior.
“Damn it—good thing I prepped everything...”
But Corporal Jeon Gwangil and I know each other well.
We both roughly knew what the other was capable of,
and more importantly—
We both knew the other had a read on us.
Which is why
even Gwangil, who held back in sparring, used to beat me like a dog.
Thanks to that, my confidence in raw combat power is pretty depleted—
I looked down at my hands and thought:
“...If it’s an initial clash in a prepared state, I might actually be quite strong.”
A first fight where the opponent doesn’t know my abilities.
In that kind of fight,
I might even be able to take down soldiers at the squad-leader level.
Right.
The reason a production class like me could beat that man was...
an information gap.
After Han Iseo’s warning, and the way he kept picking fights with me,
once I became certain he’d challenge me someday,
I checked him with [Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)] whenever I had the chance.
I’m used to it now... but among everything I have, this identification is one of the strongest.
It had originally only worked on cooking ingredients,
but with that limitation gone now,
it’s become power that can observe practically all things in the world.
The opponent doesn’t know about my ability,
but I can instantly discover all of his skills and traits.
And given enough time, I can prepare counters in advance for them.
I don’t have many powerful skills I can use on my side,
but if I know the counters to everything the other side deploys—
and if the opponent doesn’t know that and lays out his techniques one by one?
Then you don’t need so-called powerful skills.
Just by exploiting the openings in techniques I’ve already solved,
I can stab at vital spots.
I never thought I’d lose in the first place.
That’s how big the information gap was.
If I still lost, then that would be a real problem.
“...Even so, I struggled way more than I expected.”
I rose from the bed,
craned my head, and looked out the window.
—Captain... are you all right?
—I’m fine.
—“Fine,” you say...
—They’re all scrapes. Not a single grievous wound.
The man rose, bloodied, his body covered in small cuts.
He let out a bitter smile and murmured:
—The difference in skill was big enough that he could hold back and still fight me like that.
Mm...
To be honest,
I can’t say I didn’t feel a little sorry.
I didn’t like how he kept picking fights,
but I hadn’t wanted to leave him in such a wretched state.
In fact, by the plan at the start,
I could have declared the bout over the moment I first aimed for the back of his head with “assistant chef.”
Even so,
I forced myself to fight through hardship for two reasons.
Because he was far stronger than I thought.
If we clashed again after he realized his techniques had been countered,
I couldn’t guarantee I’d win.
Which is why—
I had to imprint it.
For his sake,
I even sealed [Martial Arts] that could have been mistaken for “skills,”
and I didn’t use the two vampires in my shadow.
There were many moments of danger,
but acting as if there had been no danger at all, I kept up as much composure as possible,
and I imprinted the difference in power on him as much as I could.
Because if I didn’t want him to come at me again,
I had to truly go all-out
—to crush and overwhelm him so thoroughly he wouldn’t even think to challenge me again.
With this one fight,
I needed to make sure it stuck in his head
that I was so strong there was no point in a rematch.
Thanks to that, I ended up struggling more than I thought—
“I guess I should say it roughly went according to plan, so that’s a relief.”
Sitting back down,
I wiped away the cold sweat that belatedly began to flow and thought.
With this,
there wouldn’t be anyone in this group who doubted my ability.
Axes wouldn’t suddenly come flying in to kill me, either.
But—
At least that man... won’t even be able to talk to me properly.
I had carved in him fear of this magnitude.
He’d probably shrink just from seeing me.
It was a pity,
and I felt sorry.
“...Hoo.”
But it couldn’t be helped for my goals.
With a touch of bitterness and apology,
I lay my weary body on the bed.
****
“This man, Park Junggu! I will humbly acknowledge my defeat!”
“......”
Since I’d given him that much defeat,
I’d thought that man would never even speak to me again—
“In times like these, strength is everything! The overwhelming might you showed, sir...!”
“Uh...”
“Truly, it was moving itself!”
“...I... see.”
There was a time
when I thought that, too.
