Chapter 41. All In
Experience Share Activated: Absorbing all 410 Domination EXP.
Domination level up.
Attribute Domination: Lv.6 → Lv.8
Mirror Learning effect greatly improved.
Special Effect – Comparative Analysis: While using Mirror Learning, your dominated subordinate acquires the optimal growth method for themselves by analyzing your battles.
Acquired 'Stat Distribution' skill.
Stat Distribution: Distribute stats gained by the dominator to dominated subordinates.
Acquired 'Skill Rank Up' skill.
Skill Rank Up: Invest Domination EXP to grow skills possessed by dominated subordinates.
Domination EXP acquisition efficiency increased.
Trial as Ruler
- Max out all porter skills. (Attribute Disruption 10/10, Attribute Insight 5/10, Dissection Swordsmanship 3/10)
Reward: ???
A flood of satisfying rewards poured in at a glance. Jeonghyeon scanned through the guidance windows one by one, muttering to himself.
"Good choice."
At the very least, the Demon King had commanded nearly 700 demonic beasts directly under him—from the Six Great Sins to the Twelve Apostles and the 666 Demonic Beasts.
Jeonghyeon didn't have 600 yet, but he still needed to dominate at least a dozen hunters or more. It wasn't feasible to invest everything into just one dominated subordinate like Philip right now.
I couldn't focus solely on Philip anyway. This worked out perfectly.
For now, it seemed Jeonghyeon's judgment to grow himself quickly first and then lead Philip afterward was the right call.
Let's make this one a success. Though I'm not sure if the current you can pull it off.
Jeonghyeon recalled the lich's words from earlier as he looked at the Attribute Disruption and Attribute Insight skills he'd neglected for a while.
I let my guard down without realizing it and stopped pushing my own growth.
He decided to max out the attribute skills and Dissection Swordsmanship first. Then he'd raise his Domination level while assessing the situation.
"I'll take the lead. Let's level up fast for a while."
"Ah... so I'll just watch?"
"What're you talking about? Support me properly. We're syncing up."
With those words, Jeonghyeon kicked off the ground and shot forward. Philip, thrilled at the thought of finally syncing with Jeonghyeon, grinned uncontrollably and followed right behind.
And so began the bizarre high-speed battle between the lead porter and his supporting hunter.
"Hup!"
Jeonghyeon's Dissection Swordsmanship was a special skill tailored for porters—to swiftly butcher enemies and harvest their mana stones intact.
As the world's only porter class, he had to train it himself.
Mirror Learning!
With plenty of mana left after not using it up to the 10th floor, Jeonghyeon activated Mirror Learning and wove through the monsters like a storm, slicing them down.
Kuwaaah!
From the 11th floor on, the difficulty scaled to the hunter's level. Philip was now strong enough that even calling him B-rank felt inadequate, so the monsters here were on a whole different plane from those barely scraping by on the 11th.
A massive bear-like form with two pairs of front paws—the Crawly Bear—glared at Jeonghyeon with its four eyes and charged.
"Remember this, Philip! The common traits of beast-type monsters!"
Jeonghyeon darted straight into the Crawly Bear's guard and plunged his blade deep into the leg joint at its lower abdomen.
Puuk-!
Its hide was tough, but with senses as sharp as an Aura Blade, Jeonghyeon targeted the gaps between muscle fibers precisely, slicing in like a butcher carving prime meat.
A crunch echoed as the blade wedged between cartilage.
"Hup!"
Sschwick-! The blade emerged from its groin, spraying blood.
Kuaaaah!!
He hadn't severed the entire leg—just one joint—yet the Crawly Bear's body tilted dramatically toward the cut side.
"First: Their joint structures are the same as regular animals."
In that instant, Jeonghyeon circulated mana throughout his body. It was a mana control technique he'd learned from the Ran tribe—a rare combat race dwelling at the far eastern edge of Afraksas during his Sword Master days.
"Hup!"
He swung his harvesting knife at several times his normal speed, explosive and ferocious.
The blade stabbed into the opposite hip, surged upward through the armpit, and severed the shoulder joint in a flash. Spinning a full rotation, Jeonghyeon sliced the other shoulder joint just as quickly.
Faster!
Pouring in even more mana, in that split-second eternity, Jeonghyeon reverse-gripped the knife and thrust it deep into the heart. He carved a circle to extract it, and a mana stone identical to a heart burst out with a gush of blood.
"Hoo!"
As the massive Crawly Bear carcass fell toward him upon mana release, Jeonghyeon raised his reverse-gripped blade upward.
Gripping the handle's end with his free hand, he used the weight's momentum to impale the falling beast's cervical vertebrae precisely on his upright blade.
Or more accurately, the Crawly Bear impaled itself on his planted knife.
Puuk-!
"Kuheok...!"
"And second."
Jeonghyeon yanked the blade free and slipped away before the body fully collapsed. The Crawly Bear slammed into the ground with a thud.
"Their weak points are the same as regular animals."
Attribute Insight.
He used it on the near-dead corpse.
Jeonghyeon already knew more about the Crawly Bear than it knew about itself, so no special intel popped up...
Just EXP grinding.
Stowing the fallen mana stone in his inventory, Jeonghyeon turned to Philip with a deadpan expression, as if it were child's play.
"Got it?"
Philip stared at the Crawly Bear reduced to mush with all its limbs shattered at the joints.
"Yeah, targeting the joints uses way less strength and makes it easy!"
Pretty quick on the uptake.
The improved Mirror Learning effect seemed real.
As Philip eagerly boasted to the satisfied Jeonghyeon like a kid showing off his fight, he glimpsed a massive wave surging from behind Jeonghyeon.
"W-wait a sec. But if that many come...?"
Jeonghyeon followed Philip's pointing finger and saw monsters pouring in like a tsunami.
"Fucking annoying, that's what."
Kieeeek!
Kuwaaaah!
From human-sized bats to two-headed mad dogs, swarms of insect monsters moving as one entity numbering in the hundreds, to venom-dripping fangs on serpents.
A veritable monster buffet.
"Well, in times like this, just smash 'em all with a double-hit AoE and call it a day."
Jeonghyeon flicked the blood off his blade and faced the oncoming horde.
"For now, watch closely. I'll fight at your level."
With that, he charged the monsters.
Attribute Insight. Attribute Insight. Attribute Insight.
Using it on each one to grind EXP, Jeonghyeon faced them individually instead of mowing them down at once.
Watch carefully! Don't miss a thing!
First, the nearest human-sized bat monster. A simple Vampire Bat—mind the claws and fangs, and you're good.
Dissection Swordsmanship was elegant and swift for butchering foes, backed by spins. Jeonghyeon constantly shifted his center of gravity for instant rotation, then spun massively as the bat closed in.
Using his waist's torque, he slashed upward from below in a massive arc.
Sschwick-!
Even as the bat bisected, he angled the torso slice sideways to preserve the mana stone, which safely dropped to the floor.
"Hup!"
No respite—he faced the next: a two-headed mad dog.
These variant breeds are easy.
Multi-head types like Twin Head Ogres or these dogs shared vision between heads.
Meaning, sever one head and their synced sight goes haywire.
No need to decapitate—Jeonghyeon just slashed one eye.
Pfshh! Fluids burst from the socket, and the dog yelped, rolling on the ground.
Finish before it adapts.
No matter how tough, it was still a dog at heart. He sliced lengthwise, extracted the stone. No need for a killing blow— it'd bleed out in seconds.
Jeonghyeon's training wasn't just for Attribute Insight—it was mainly to level Dissection Swordsmanship, so he butchered flawlessly, claiming every mana stone without waste.
Unless it was a boss or special form, stones were in the chest or gut—slice carefully around the torso, done.
Leg to arm, arm to head, head to body. One monster to the next. Jeonghyeon flowed through them like rippling water, swinging ceaselessly.
Skin parting silently, blood spraying in hush. To Philip's ears, with monster cries nullified, only the soft thuds of mana stones hitting the floor.
Perfect strikes without a single bone clash.
It was like watching a master butcher deboning beef.
...If he cuts that well, he'd slice meat perfectly too, right?
As Philip struggled to keep up with the battle's rhythm and drifted into idle thoughts—
"I can hear everything, you bastard! Learn properly!"
Philip couldn't read Jeonghyeon's full mind, but Jeonghyeon saw Philip's stray thoughts crystal clear.
"Y-yes, sir!"
Damn, that'd taste good. Meat sliced that perfectly... no waste on the loin either.
Answering then immediately thinking of meat again.
Is this guy nuts? But yeah, it'd taste amazing.
Jeonghyeon almost snapped, but hunger hit him too, sparking his own stray thoughts.
Sschwick-!
Watching monsters part flawlessly, saliva pooled unwittingly. Teaching wasn't just barking orders, huh.
Weaving through nearly a hundred monsters, Jeonghyeon finally caved and proposed a bet to Philip.
"Hey, Philip! How about this?"
Shuuuk-! Sschwick!
"Watch closely, and if you follow properly on the next floor..."
Puuk-! Kwajik!
Finally, with monster corpses piled into a mountain and mana stones scattered pristine amid the bloodbath, Jeonghyeon stabbed his bloodied harvesting knife into the heap and declared:
"I'll treat you to the highest-grade, perfectly sliced and grilled beef."
Philip's enthusiasm ignited.
"Sounds goooood!!!"