Chapter 23: The Power of Happy Points (2)
Potato.
Potatoes were delicious.
Potatoes were solid.
Potatoes were beautiful.
Therefore, hitting soone with a potato was legal.
Why, you ask?
Because they were delicious, solid, and beautiful.
Smack!
A lump of potato in Kim Jangcheol’s hand struck First Star Lord right in the middle of the forehead. First Star Lord, already reduced to a sliver of health and in the process of becoming a Possession Spirit, flinched with a full-body shudder.
“……!”
In that mont, First Star Lord realized.
‘I……’
Was it the end now?
Unlike the rest of his subordinates, First Star Lord hadn’t completely lost his sanity even as he turned into a Possession Spirit. Thanks to that, he could look at his current situation with cold clarity.
It was over.
There was no way out.
He had taken too much damage and beco a Possession Spirit. And now he had been struck by a potato. The mont it hit, he felt it. The life force imbued within the potato.
His hunger surged.
He craved that life force.
His instincts as a Possession Spirit scread at him.
To charge at that life force right now. To claim that fresh potato. To suck out its life energy. That was the only way—however little—to recover.
But……
‘No.’
First Star Lord shook his head inwardly.
He could instinctively sense it.
He must not give in to the temptation his instincts demanded.
What if he latched onto the potato?
‘Then everything would be over.’
Demon Lord Credos was not a rciful man. Would he ever show compassion to soone who committed treason? No. Never.
‘Did he strike with a potato in the hope I might recover from being a Possession Spirit? No. Absolutely not.’
It was ridiculous.
Therefore, the potato was a trap.
Thinking back, he had already witnessed the truth earlier.
‘My legionnaires……’
He had clearly seen them struck by potatoes in their Possession Spirit state, only to collapse like lifeless plants. That was proof enough—Credos ant to reduce him to the sa state.
‘He wants trapped between life and death, unable to die or live.’
He couldn’t give in.
He had to resist the potato’s temptation.
First Star Lord clenched his teeth and vowed to endure.
But it wasn’t easy.
Just like you’d go to the fridge when hungry.
Just like you’d head for the restroom when in pain.
When life energy was sensed, it was instinctual for a Possession Spirit to desire it.
Their sole instinct.
And therefore, their most overpowering.
Instincts were called instincts because they were hard to suppress.
‘……Ghhhk! Gghhk!’
First Star Lord gathered the last remnants of his sanity to resist his instincts. He tried to reject the temptation. But it wasn’t enough. Against his will, he felt himself being drawn toward the potato. Because it was delicious. Because it was solid. Because it was beautiful.
‘This is…… ridiculous……!’
It couldn’t end like this.
First Star Lord scread inwardly in despair. And at the sa ti, he sighed with grim realization. His rational mind was going to lose. Eventually, he would surrender to the instincts of a Possession Spirit.
‘I……’
Would he have to quietly accept this wretched end? To beco sothing neither living nor dead and be toyed with?
‘……No.’
He hated that.
If anything, he would rather disappear cleanly.
But……
‘Being the only one to disappear…… would be unfair.’
Crack!
First Star Lord ground his teeth.
Then his eyes began to glow.
A harrowing realization of reality.
Followed by a despicable resolve.
‘I won’t…… die alone!’
If he was going to die.
If he was going to be destroyed anyway.
Then he would take everyone here down with him.
With that resolve, First Star Lord snapped his head up.
And then released the final restraint holding back what was within him.
Click.
That was all it took.
“……Ka! Kahaaaack!”
The whites of First Star Lord’s eyes turned red. His pupils vanished. His entire body flushed crimson. It swelled. Like a balloon. Ready to burst at any mont.
“……!”
Kim Jangcheol’s eyes widened. His pupils trembled. His ears flushed red. He flinched. Just like a startled water deer. Like one that realized it was about to be hit by a car.
‘What the hell?’
The sudden shift in First Star Lord’s state, even while in Possession Spirit form.
Kim Jangcheol instantly recognized it.
‘This is… a self-destruction sequence, isn’t it?’
He was sure.
He’d seen it nineteen tis.
When?
In the second boss fight, after dragging First Star Lord out to the edge of the cliff. At the very end of that fight. This exact sequence—First Star Lord’s self-destruction—always occurred.
So Kim Jangcheol was flabbergasted.
‘Why now?’
It didn’t make sense.
Of course it didn’t.
In the second boss fight of Paladin of Blood, First Star Lord didn’t beco a Possession Spirit. On the contrary, before even reaching that state, when pushed to the brink of defeat, he went berserk and attempted to self-destruct.
‘And even then, while self-destructing, he would say this: Even if I blow up now, I’ll survive in a tattered state as a Possession Spirit. And I’ll absorb your life force, you who were torn apart with .’
In short, First Star Lord’s self-destruction wasn’t a ans of dying, but a last-ditch counterattack.
He would beco a Possession Spirit.
The opponent would beco tattered.
And then he’d absorb the opponent’s life force in that state.
Eventually, he would incapacitate his enemy and recover to full strength—a vicious pattern.
‘But now… he’s using that… in Possession Spirit state?’
If that was the case, then self-destructing ant guaranteed annihilation. So Kim Jangcheol had assud it was safe. That this guy would never self-destruct while already a Possession Spirit. If anything, it should’ve been safer.
‘That’s why I purposely… struck fast and hard to turn him into a Possession Spirit right away, so he wouldn’t have ti to self-destruct.’
It was ant to prevent this very thing.
But now he was self-destructing while already a Possession Spirit?
Even Kim Jangcheol hadn’t seen that coming.
‘Has he gone insane?’
This was suicide for everyone.
The mont First Star Lord completed the self-destruction sequence, every mber of the Agricultural Corps present would die.
‘If only this were an open field, like the place where his second boss fight takes place…….’
He wanted to shout at the Agricultural Corps to run.
But even that was impossible here.
‘The mont he explodes, this whole place will collapse. Everyone will be buried alive.’
Run as far as possible using the undressing glitch? Not a chance. With the Agricultural Corps’ glitch speed, it would take forever to put enough distance between them and the explosion—and the collapse that would follow.
‘Then what should I do?’
He racked his brain desperately.
Flung open every drawer of his mory.
The first thing he recalled was how he’d handled this situation in the ga.
‘Right. First Star Lord. That second phase where he tries to self-destruct. At the end of that boss fight, there were two ways to respond to his explosion.’
It ca back to him.
One was to imdiately use a movent skill the mont the self-destruction sequence started, put as much distance as possible until he was out of sight, hide behind a rock, and pour every defensive skill and potion into surviving.
That had actually worked well in his low-level days—it was the standard strategy.
But now…
‘No good. We’re underground. There’s no space to put that much distance between us. And I don’t even have enough potatoes to eat, let alone potions.’
Naturally, that first option was out.
What about the second?
“……”
Kim Jangcheol felt his happiness index plumt.
For a simple reason.
The second option was even less realistic than the first.
‘The second thod… was to shove that bastard into the large magic pulverizer near the boss fight area and grind him to dust……’
The pulverizer’s overwhelming dismantling power!
In front of that thing, the self-destruction sequence didn’t matter.
It was a simple choice—reduce him to powder before he could explode. But that was impossible now. The magic pulverizer was located in an annex of the Demon Lord’s Castle.
There was nothing remotely similar here……
…Wait?
‘Hold on.’
In the midst of following the thread of his thoughts, Kim Jangcheol flinched.
A faint possibility flashed across his mind.
A glimr of hope that maybe—just maybe—it might work.
‘Sothing similar to a magic pulverizer……?’
Of course he didn’t have one now.
But then again, if he thought about it—maybe he did.
No—maybe he could have one.
How?
‘Farming Tool Set… Summon…’
He mumbled it without realizing.
Suddenly, a ssage he’d skimd over earlier ca to mind.
It had said it was a reward from the stat-boosting quest. That it had been newly added to his list of unlockable skills. But at the ti, he hadn’t given it much thought. Just figured it was a farming tool set summon—nothing useful right now.
That’s all he had thought.
“……”
But now that he reconsidered…
If the skill truly summoned a full set of farming tools—tools he knew—
Then maybe… that could be among them…
‘Really, maybe.’
It might be possible.
No—it had to be possible.
This might be the last hope. At the mont, he couldn’t see a better one.
So…
“KahaAAAH!”
Fwoosh!
A rough howl pierced through his thoughts.
He could see First Star Lord’s crimson body gradually darkening. Just like in the second phase of the boss fight from his mories. Thanks to that, he knew—
‘Ti until explosion: about… 2 minutes.’
Once his body turned pitch black, he’d detonate.
It had to be settled before then.
Thump!
His pounding heartbeat slamd against his eardrums.
He opened the system window.
Ding-dong!
[Opening the Happy Point Usage nu.]
[Searching the list of unlockable skills.]
[Skill: Farming Tool Set Summon (Unlock Cost: 100 Happy Points)]
[Current Happy Points: 102]
‘It’s there. It’s really there.’
Farming Tool Set Summon appeared in the skill list.
Exactly as the earlier ssage had said.
Without hesitation, he moved his hand.
He pressed the ‘Unlock’ button next to the skill.
Ding-dong!
[100 Happy Points have been consud.]
[Skill unlocked: Farming Tool Set Summon.]
[Skill: Farming Tool Set Summon (Lv.1)]
[Summons a set of farming tools regardless of location. The summoned tools may be upgraded or modernized depending on the skill’s level.]
[Current Happy Points: 2]
‘……It worked.’
It was his first ti unlocking a skill.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult.
At the sa ti, new information surged into his mind. No—it wasn’t so much information as a sense, a feeling imprinted on his brain. For example, to activate the newly unlocked skill, he had to do… this.
‘Is that all there is to it?’
Boom!
He planted both feet firmly on the ground.
Tensed his core.
Took a deep breath.
And toward the air—
He shouted with all his might.
“Bountiful! Harvest!”
A resounding cry that echoed loudly!
ssages whirled through his mind!
[Activating Skill: Farming Tool Set Summon (Lv.1)!]
That very mont—
Flash!
Far above, in a space with a ceiling dozens of ters high, a bright flash lit up. A rift opened. From it, sothing began to plumt with incredible force.
KWAANG-!
Like a teor streaking down from the sky.
A massive “chair,” bristling with dozens of different farming tools, crashed down as if to impale itself into the ground.
No—it descended.
But Kim Jangcheol didn’t flinch.
Now wasn’t the ti for awe.
Instead, he poured even more focus into scanning the farming tools embedded in the chair. His eyes were searching for that one thing.
But…
‘It’s not there?’
He couldn’t see it.
The chair held hoes, shovels, flails—all kinds of traditional farming tools—but the one tool he desperately needed was nowhere in sight.
‘Damn it…….’
He had done all this, and it still wasn’t enough?
Just as the weight of helplessness began to press down—
Flash—!
“……!”
The space above opened again.
And another mass ca plumting down.
KUUUAAAAHH, KWAANG-!
Sothing huge and distinctly different in silhouette from all the other farming tools landed in front of Kim Jangcheol. With an earth-shaking boom, it crashed into the ground like a falling teor, shattering the stone beneath.
The farming tool Kim Jangcheol had wished for more than anything.
A massive, mindlessly destructive, brutally primitive lump that could pulverize and grind down anything.
A millstone.
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