Chapter 23: Unique - (2)
'Gold-grade absorption rate is 30%. Evasion 3, defense 3 inheritance, and even the ability to trigger freezing.'
I imdiately began mana synchronization.
There was no need to hesitate since I had already been recognized as the owner of the artifact.
The manifested food was a chicken burger with a glass of iced cola floating with ice cubes.
It was Sanghyun's favorite fast food combo.
It was a pity there were no thick-cut fries.
I finished the al in one go.
As long as it wasn't mint, cucumber, or bugs—those three keywords—I could manage to eat anything else sohow.
After absorbing, I gained evasion and defense stats, and also acquired the special effect of freezing.
If necessary, I could combine it with a skill or use it separately.
'I'll link this to Full Charge.'
I decided to combine freezing with one of my main skills, Full Charge.
If Demon Bash was a combination of stiffness, delay, and extension, then Full Charge would now incorporate freezing.
This way, I could move and launch a deadly attack while simultaneously triggering a frozen status on the target.
Right after finishing the combination:
『Full Charge』
■ Skill Level: Stage 1 (21.3%)
■ Skill Description: (……omitted.)
Inflicts a 0.5-second frozen status on monsters or players exposed to the attack.
However, the freeze duration and success rate vary depending on the target's skill resistance.
The description for freezing was added.
'It's a bit lacking. Should I use the skill enhancent from the Don’t Touch title here?'
The duration of the freezing effect felt too short.
To reduce Full Charge's cooldown ti as well, I decided to use the skill enhancent obtained from the Don’t Touch title.
[Full Charge’s skill enhancent is being applied. The additional effect included in the title will disappear.]
[The frozen status duration increases from 0.5 seconds to 1.0 second.]
[Full Charge’s cooldown ti decreases to 39% of the original ti.]
'As expected.'
I was impressed.
With the skill enhancent applied, the utility of Full Charge increased dramatically.
Now, I had two status effects: stiffness and freezing.
These were independent effects treated differently.
A monster affected by stiffness couldn't be inflicted with the sa effect within 15 seconds, but freezing could still be applied.
'The ability to consu artifacts... I should have used it this way from the start. I should’ve done this in my previous life too... It's such a waste.'
There was no point dwelling on the past, but I regretted realizing how to use my abilities too late in my previous life.
Still, those regrets and failures were what allowed my rapid growth now.
After enhancing Full Charge, I rejoined the group with lighter steps.
From here on, this was unknown territory for the other three. I spoke first.
"From this point on, it's like a blank slate for our entire team. We’ll need to co up with a new strategy."
"Right. We've exhausted all the preliminary information. There were even sacrifices from the scouting party—this won't be easy."
Kim Miso shrank back from the cold wind blowing from the north, where the boss monster was suspected to be.
Still, everyone seed full of confidence. From the start, they were far stronger than their known levels suggested.
This was a judgnt I made from direct experience up close. Their artifact equipnt was that good.
High-quality artifacts could cover levels by dozens or even hundreds.
"If our strategy is a blank slate, can we try my proposed tactic?"
"Do you have a good idea?"
All three pricked up their ears at my words.
They had already benefited greatly from my strategies before.
Their lingering pride kept them from openly showing envy, but deep down, they had high expectations of , who had led the rapid clear so far.
"Based on what I've seen of this gate’s environnt and flow…"
I started explaining my thoughts as if I had reached a conclusion after deep contemplation.
The hardest part was pretending not to know the future knowledge I had due to regression.
But my teammates accepted my opinions without prejudice, and soon, this beca the first task for our four-person team.
After all, the first clear was always about diving in headfirst, wasn’t it?
They had no fear of failure—they were burning with passion.
Following my instructions, preparations were quickly completed.
I settled on an open plain and looked at the piles of corpses scattered around.
It was a tower built by extracting and stacking the internal organs of previously hunted monsters.
I personally handled the extraction, separation, and gathering.
This pile of entrails was ant to lure the boss monster, Grizzly Big Bear.
So it was important to cover myself in blood and flesh and let the enticing sll seep from my body.
"If we place the juniper wood on top of the entrails and light a fire, that should work, right?"
"That's correct."
"Can you tell us the expected effect?"
"Juniper wood has a sweet scent, but when consud, it causes paralysis."
"So the idea is to make the boss monster eat the entrails mixed with the paralyzing ash from the juniper wood?"
"Sothing like that."
"I’ve never seen this kind of juniper in a dungeon or gate before—and you even know how to use it! Amazing!"
"I'm just a bit of a jack-of-all-trades—knowing a bunch of useless stuff."
I laughed at Kim Miso’s comnt.
The preparations proceeded smoothly.
When Park Taeseok lit the juniper wood with his ignition ability, it burned brightly, cooking the entrails.
Naturally, the sll was unpleasant.
The other three temporarily left the area through a passage Kang Juhee opened.
But for , having experienced all sorts of horrors and even crawling through corpse fields and filth, this was nothing.
Without a change in expression, I casually rubbed the flesh residue from my greatsword onto my body.
Thud-thud. Whoosh. Crackle.
The strong stench spread on the southern wind as the flas roared.
It was strange, luring the boss monster to us instead of hunting it down.
But the three trusted my plan, and for ten minutes, they quietly waited for sothing to happen.
Then—
Uooooooh!
With a mighty roar, the boss monster revealed itself. Just as I rembered, it was the Grizzly Big Bear—or simply, Big Bear.
"Juhee! As soon as the beast locks onto its prey, open a spatial gate toward the bait we've prepared!"
"Got it!"
"Taeseok! Only use your ignition ability when it’s under a status effect—save it otherwise!"
"Understood!"
"Miso! Focus solely on attacking from the rear. I'll handle its movent path, so trust and shoot. Got it?"
"Yes!"
Roles were assigned.
The Big Bear was a straightforward enemy—you had to wear down its health steadily with patience and endurance.
It was the most honest kind of opponent.
For those facing it, though, it was maddening—but that was just the fate of sword-wielding players.
"Might as well grind for so skill fusion while I’m at it!"
Turning that burden into excitent, I grinned and charged toward the Big Bear.
The battle had begun.
Uwaaah!
The Big Bear, standing 2 ters tall at the shoulders and 3 ters long, moved like an armored tank.
The mont I blocked its downward, crushing paw strike with my greatsword—
Puhak!
“Keugh!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Sanghyun’s body flew through the air for a while before rolling across the ground, covered in dirt.
It was a force beyond imagination.
Pushed away by the overwhelming strength, his body collided with the ground without even a chance to brake.
Perhaps because of that, he felt his insides churn painfully, and the tallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
“Kahak, ptoo.”
The phlegm he spat out was clearly tinged with red.
Wohoo! Wohoo!
Big Bear, thinking it had secured an early advantage, spread its shoulders confidently as it looked at Sanghyun.
The provocative attitude, as if saying, “You think soone like you could dare touch ?” stirred
Sanghyun’s emotions.
‘Even if I had no na in my past life, I definitely had venom in . I’ll show you how this ends.’
He imdiately charged at Big Bear.
And just as Big Bear’s front paw strike ca flying in, Sanghyun lowered his body forcefully and unfolded his swordsmanship.
『Demon Bash』
He opened with Demon Bash.
But due to the skill resistance, it didn’t land, and Big Bear smoothly twisted its waist, targeting Sanghyun.
『Full Charge』
Sanghyun prepared a short charge.
Right now, it wasn’t about attacking—he needed a ans of imdiate evasive movent.
Rolling on the ground wasn’t an option given the bad angle.
Whoosh!
The eerie sound of the wind brushed past Sanghyun’s ears.
Swish!
“Wow!”
“Sanghyun just escaped at an unpredictable angle!”
When Sanghyun abruptly cut off his Full Charge skill, making an almost right-angled evasive maneuver, his teammates were shocked.
Since he twisted the angle perfectly to escape, even Big Bear couldn’t properly track
Sanghyun’s position.
Thwack!
Kuwaaah!
In that mont, Kim Miso’s arrow flew in and struck dead center on the back of Big Bear’s neck.
It was difficult to inflict a fatal wound in one shot, but it was effective in breaking Big Bear’s focus.
Swish!
Sanghyun continued with another Full Charge.
Rapid consecutive use would overload his body, but now was not the ti for restraint.
Slash!
Ughaa!
The greatsword attack, powered by Full Charge, struck cleanly at Big Bear’s waist, dealing damage and triggering a freezing effect simultaneously.
“You dumb bear, you’re done for.”
The terrifying aspect of status effect skills was their ability to chain with others of different types.
In other words, before the freeze ended, he could stack another debuff like stiffness.
Normally, players rarely had multiple status-effect skills, so such a phenonon was uncommon.
But Sanghyun was not the typical case.
Fwoosh!
At the perfect mont, Park Taeseok’s Ignite landed on Big Bear’s side, igniting flas.
‘Everyone’s coordination is on point.’
It was extrely satisfying.
Teamplay should flow just like this—how much had he suffered in his past life without it?
Crack. Clink. Ching ching.
Soon, as the freezing effect began to wear off and Big Bear was about to regain freedom—
『Demon Bash』
Sanghyun followed up with another Demon Bash.
This confird the stiffness effect, halting Big Bear’s movents just as it was about to break free.
During the 2.4 seconds of the initial stiffness duration, Sanghyun waited in Full Charge for 2 seconds before thrusting his greatsword.
Splaaash!
Big Bear’s blood sprayed into the air, painting the sky red.
Sanghyun imdiately returned to his original position, ensuring the stiffness effect remained delayed.
While standing still, Big Bear had to endure utter humiliation during that ti.
Four of Kim Miso’s arrows, shot with full power, embedded into his forehead.
On his back, belly, and sides, consecutive bursts of Ignite flared up.
Though rage boiled over from the one-sided slaughter, the real problem was his rapidly dwindling stamina.
Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff sniff.
Right on cue, an appetizing sll reached it.
For Big Bear, who could recover its original strength by devouring and digesting either living or dead bodies, this was an irresistible temptation.
Rooaaar!
At last, Big Bear let out a furious roar, forcibly breaking free from Sanghyun’s stiffness and beginning to charge.
This was a phenonon that occurred when entering a gluttonous state—an imdiate removal of status effects.
Thud thud thud! Thud thud!
“Ti for the feast!”
With Kang Juhee’s shout, pop—a spatial portal opened right in front of Big Bear.
It was like a highway opening up in front of the bait.
Chomp chomp!
Slurp slurp!
Big Bear began devouring the innards of a monster, soaked in a heavy anesthetic effect, with savage greed.
It was akin to a final feast before death.
Reviews
All reviews (0)