Chapter 82: Ham Jiyeon - (2)
"Fla Mage? This is my first ti seeing one."
"Wait. Let's stop for a mont. Since this seems to be a safe distance, let's go over what we need to before engaging in battle."
"Safe distance? Is the Fla Mage a type of monster you know, Sanghyun? It does seem like a fire mage."
It was natural that Ham Jiyeon didn't know about the Fla Mage.
It was draped in a black robe, and its face was like a rotting corpse.
One could roughly describe it as a mage that resembled a ghoul—a grotesque appearance.
Normally, when thinking of a mage, one imagines a wise and dignified figure from a fantasy movie.
But not all mages look like that. So have an appearance as if they ca straight from hell.
Whoosh!
Wherever the Fla Mage’s gaze landed, flas ignited. Sanghyun emphasized this point.
"That thing has an ignition ability. The scary part is that it continuously causes combustion on a designated target."
"Continuously?"
"As long as it maintains its concentration, the fire won't stop."
"What if soone continuously maintains a freezing effect on themselves?"
"They wouldn't suffer from combustion, but if even a single other magic attack lands in the anti..."
"They'll die."
"Since ignition is ultimately a status effect, dealing with it is tricky. More than you’d think."
Sanghyun's gaze deepened.
Even in the past, the design of the Fla Mage had been a point of contention among players.
There had been debates about whether it should be classified as a mid-boss monster due to its difficulty.
Of course, since the developers wouldn’t listen, those argunts ended as empty complaints and grumbling.
"……"
He simulated various scenarios in his head.
Imagining himself approaching with just defensive asures, only to be engulfed in flas and perish.
Imagining Ham Jiyeon using her freezing skill on him to approach, only to be torn apart by an out-of-sync magic attack.
Only bad outcos ca to mind.
There was just one possible thod, but speed was the key. And he had only five seconds to execute it.
"Jiyeon."
"Yes?"
"The mont ignition is cast on , can you freeze imdiately? Even to the point of completely encasing in ice."
"I can. How much freezing do you want?"
"Since it’s freezing the outside of my body, not the inside, it doesn’t matter."
"But then you won’t be able to move at all, Sanghyun."
"I have a plan, so trust ."
Sanghyun patted her shoulder.
"Any precautions?"
"Freeze only once. If you do it again, it'll be a headache."
"Understood."
With their final strategy set, the two assud attack positions.
The distance between Sanghyun and the Fla Mage was about 100 ters! Close if close, far if far.
'Its main ability is ignition, so it'll use that first. I'll counter it there and end this imdiately.'
For this plan, there was no second option—no backup plan. That’s why Sanghyun was tense.
If they didn’t have a strategy to break through the Fla Mage’s section, today's gate conquest would end here.
There was no way only one of them would be placed here.
『Acceleration』
He activated acceleration for ten seconds.
Before the effect ended, there would be a decisive outco.
At that mont—
"……!"
As soon as Sanghyun entered the Fla Mage’s detection range, it imdiately stretched out its hand toward him.
Whoosh!
'Damn, that was fast!'
The mont it extended its hand, ignition was triggered.
As if there was a device embedded in Sanghyun’s body that caused ignition.
Crack!
At that mont, Ham Jiyeon imdiately cast freezing.
From the tips of his toes, his body instantly froze—it wasn’t an ordinary ability.
'At this level, it's almost complete freezing. Ham Jiyeon is specialized in freezing. She's stronger than I thought.'
Even with Sanghyun’s high evasion and defense stats, which granted him strong skill resistance, his body froze in an instant.
But just before he was completely encased, his accelerated body moved a few more ters.
By rough estimation, he had covered 50 ters.
Chijijijik.
Smoke rose from Sanghyun’s body.
It was a rare sight created by the clash between the force trying to burn him and the force trying to freeze him.
For now, Ham Jiyeon was still stronger, so the frozen state had not been lifted, but she was gradually being pushed back.
『Recovery』
A calculated move activated!
Sanghyun used Recovery to simultaneously remove both the burning and freezing effects.
//s_win
//win_h ◎ Complete Immunity
◎ For 5 seconds, maintains a state that is immune to all status effects.
//e_win
‘From now on, it’s a real battle against ti.’
He had been given a five-second opportunity.
If the Fla Mage used a different type of magic instead of ignition, it wouldn’t be much of a chance.
But Sanghyun was certain.
There was no way the Fla Mage would not use ignition, which was the very core of his identity.
『Back Step』
『Brave Charge』
Turning around, he used Back Step to move forward 5.75 ters in an instant.
With Back Step at level 4, it had greatly improved from the previous level 1 range of 5 ters.
Mixing in Brave Charge, he closed the distance even further and then sprinted with all his might.
In an instant, the 25-ter gap was narrowed.
The ti remaining before his Complete Immunity was lifted: 3 seconds.
The ti left before his acceleration wore off: 5 seconds.
If he had not possessed acceleration skills, he wouldn’t have even been able to attempt this maneuver.
His superhuman movents, far beyond human limits, painted a breathtaking spectacle.
“To think he’d use Complete Immunity like that… If he has that ability, even I wouldn’t be able to handle him.”
Watching Sanghyun’s skill utilization and resource distribution, Ham Jiyeon was amazed.
Freezing was her main ability.
But if there existed a skill that guaranteed victory in the status effect battle, like rock-paper-scissors, she had no chance.
『Whisper of Darkness』
“Kwaak!”
At that mont, Sanghyun’s surprise attack with Whisper of Darkness struck the Fla Mage off guard.
Success in inducing blindness.
It was the result of the Fla Mage’s preconceived notions.
Not expecting Sanghyun to use a skill similar to magic was his critical mistake.
Whoosh!
Even while blinded, the Fla Mage calmly cast a spell, spraying fire forward.
But Sanghyun had already anticipated such a response—it was too predictable.
『Crushing Airflow』
“Kurgh!”
With precise positioning, the Crushing Airflow fixed the completely blinded Fla Mage in place.
And then.
『Full Charge』
Sanghyun played his prepared card.
He considered using the Crushing Blade, but its high mana consumption made him decide to save it—he couldn’t predict all the variables yet.
‘The distance is perfect.’
The distance he could close with Full Charge matched the ti it would take for the Fla Mage’s blindness to wear off.
He gripped his greatsword tightly.
His determination to finish this in a single strike was imbued deeply into the blade.
The mont the Fla Mage regained his vision—
Slash!
Sanghyun dashed forward and cleanly beheaded the Fla Mage with his greatsword.
The head, severed along with the robe, floated in the air for a mont before falling back to the ground with a dull thud.
His face remained frozen in shock, permanently preserved at the mont of death.
“Wow….”
Even Ham Jiyeon’s mouth hung open.
To be honest, from the beginning, she had no idea how he planned to counter that overwhelming ignition ability.
Wasn’t burning supposed to be one of the most excruciating pains a person could endure?
If caught in ignition for more than a second, suffering burns was inevitable.
Yet Sanghyun completely nullified that possibility and swiftly decapitated the Fla Mage.
The clean execution and outco were beyond Ham Jiyeon’s expectations.
‘I thought he was just a swordsman specialized in inflicting status effects… but he’s also specialized in countering them.’
Excelling in both offense and defense.
That was a trait difficult for any type of player to achieve.
Ham Jiyeon was the sa.
She showed strong defensive abilities, but she had many weaknesses when it ca to aggressive attacks. She felt it herself.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and co!"
Sanghyun shouted loudly to snap Ham Jiyeon out of her daze.
Only then did she co to her senses and ran toward Sanghyun.
Just standing next to Sanghyun made her feel much more reassured.
After that.
Using the sa thod, Sanghyun and Ham Jiyeon advanced while dealing with the Fla Mages.
It seed like the entire path was a section where Fla Mages were placed at regular intervals.
Each of them looked slightly different, but their attack patterns were similar, so they were not difficult to counter.
The total number of Fla Mages they eliminated was ten.
There was also a guaranteed drop whenever one of them died.
It was one high-grade magic stone and an essence of mana. As promised, Sanghyun gave all the magic stones to Ham Jiyeon.
Essence.
A stat crystal that could be safely absorbed without any loss.
Simply inhaling it through the mouth and nose was enough to complete the absorption. It did not cause any pain or discomfort.
Each ti they defeated a Fla Mage, they obtained an essence of mana that increased the mana stat by 7.
They had collected ten of them.
Thanks to the essence, Sanghyun's mana stat increased to 347.
'With this level of stats, isn't my mana similar to that of a level 140 mage player?'
He made a rough estimate.
Aside from players ard with capitalism, an average mage player would have about that much mana.
However, despite being a swordsman, Sanghyun had a mana stat that was nearly on par with a mage.
That ant he had been raising his stats evenly by consuming nurous artifacts along the way.
'Farming 70 mana is insane.'
To raise mana to this level with artifacts, he would need at least two platinum-grade items.
Artifacts that specifically boost mana stats were rare to begin with.
Sanghyun looked ahead at the open space and, for the first ti, sat on a rock to rest.
After passing through the dense area of Fla Mages, they finally reached a spot where they could catch their breath.
Ham Jiyeon sat down right next to him and looked at him with curious eyes.
Since she had also exerted all her strength to assist, sweat was forming on her forehead.
However, as she closed her eyes and focused for a mont, a chill enveloped her forehead, making the sweat disappear.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Fire-based abilities are really tricky. Isn't it strange that a swordsman, who isn't a mage or a buffer, can counter them?"
"That's just a stereotype."
"But stereotypes exist because most cases follow a pattern, right?"
"Why make it complicated? Just think of as an exception."
"Now that you say it, that makes sense."
Ham Jiyeon smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of her head. It was just a matter of acknowledging Sanghyun’s uniqueness.
"Dungeons and gates are always best when tackled first."
Sanghyun was more than satisfied.
In a regular dungeon, no matter how difficult the enemies were, they would never yield such abundant rewards.
Want to obtain essences or artifacts that increase mana by 70?
Then, in dungeons of similar levels, one would have to defeat the boss monster.
However, in this gate, simply defeating these tricky mage monsters yielded ample rewards.
'It has only been two years since the Player Era began. There are still countless privileges for to claim.'
Sanghyun felt happy about that.
The fact that there was still so much left to enjoy.
In the past, as a latecor, all he ever found were the remnants left behind by those who ca before him.
But now, things were different.
Fresh rewards and opportunities were waiting for him in uncharted places.
'Everything I've secured so far is just the beginning!'
Because there was so much more to look forward to, he felt even happier. Of course, he had no intention of letting his guard down.
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