Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.
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"I'll be your opponent."
One of the enemy team's killers stepped up in front of Ju Gonghyeok.
An exotic katar gleamed on the arm of the hooded man.
"My name is..."
Crunch.
"Yeah. Edgar Ballack."
Without any warning, the killer's jaw shattered.
Ju Gonghyeok's steel-knuckled fist was embedded in Ballack's lower jaw.
Screeech!
Ballack's avatar, the giant bird Simurgh, let out a tearing cry as it swooped in.
He slightly dodged the giant bird's beak aiming for his head and naturally wrapped his arm around Simurgh's neck.
With a powerful headlock, he smashed his fist into Simurgh's face as hard as he could.
Thud! Crunch! Crack!
Screech!
The proud beak snapped.
The once eagle-like majestic face was now unrecognizable as any animal.
"Hyaah maa!"
Edgar Ballack (age 33 at death), forever robbed of clear speech, swung his katar.
Ju Gonghyeok extended the hand that had been crushing the bird's head.
Ape God Flow Jujutsu: One-Handed Blade Grab
[An astonishing technique! Skill proficiency +1!]
[Due to excessive physical strain, strength -5 points for 3 hours...]
"Geh?"
Ballack couldn't believe his eyes. Even a child swinging a kitchen knife would make grabbing the blade insane. And his own agility was 239 [D], strength 181 [E].
Even a hunter with all stats at C-rank wouldn't dare toy with a blade like that without risking severed fingers.
Yet the sharp katar was perfectly wedged between Ju Gonghyeok's thumb and steel knuckles.
"What're you staring at? Chya."
Splat! Splatter.
A solid left hook slammed into the dumbfounded Ballack's jaw.
Along with the white teeth scattered on the floor, Ballack's consciousness flew away completely.
"For the second one, I smashed their whole body to bits and skinned them from the neck up, right?"
Ju Gonghyeok pondered as he looked at the blood-spewing, collapsed Ballack.
'Blunt weapons are broken or tossed.'
His gaze shifted to his two steel-knuckled fists.
"There's that saying about gumming it if there are no teeth..."
Crunch— Crunch—
[Enemy team second opponent 'Edgar Ballack' has died.]
[Purple coin 299 acquired, 'Yunnori's Katar' acquired.]
"Mask, you bastard. You've killed quite a few..."
Slice.
Crunch.
"The third one's easier since I just dismembered them."
"Aa—ah! A! Aaah—!"
"Keeping you alive while cutting ten times more is tough, but I'll give it a shot, bro."
[Enemy team third opponent 'Zhang Fengjie' has died.]
[Purple coin 385 acquired, 'Rebar Greaves' acquired.]
"Wait, you're kinda weird..."
"Yeah, got it."
Crack.
[Enemy team fourth opponent...]
"G-Great one..."
"Yeah. Die."
Crunch!
[Enemy team...]
...
......
"Haha, hey there, friend. Our bad."
The ninth killer standing in the arena, his bald head gleaming with cold sweat.
"Come on, I won't fight. Just kill me like a friend."
He set his massive saw on the floor and slowly backed away.
"Yeah, that's it. Just kill me. Please."
Seventeen spears encircled the arena.
The pristine white square floor was already soaked with blood from seventeen corpses.
"Yeah. Got it. Come here."
Ju Gonghyeok beckoned the bald killer over with a crooked finger.
But the obsidian sword in his hand dropped his trustworthiness below devil levels.
"Friend, I'll even give you my avatar. Take it, take it."
"Don't need that junk food. My kid's picky, even turns down S-ranks."
"H-Haha. Picky eater, huh."
The bald killer knew it too.
The monster before him wasn't something you could reason with.
Ju Gonghyeok approached with the obsidian sword.
"Then just stand there. I'll come to you."
"Friend, calm down a sec."
The bald killer's eyes subtly flicked to Ju Gonghyeok's feet.
One reason he'd awkwardly stalled for time.
He was waiting for Ju Gonghyeok to step on the spear's 'shadow.'
"Die, you filthy fuck!"
Confirming the step, the man summoned his shadow avatar 'Grsondae (B-)' with all his might.
The shadows of spears and corpses connected, spreading a net of shadows across the arena.
The bald killer's trump card, and at the same moment...
Light filled the arena.
"Ignite."
[Explosion magic Ignite (E) activated.]
[The angelic order of Sephirot's 1st hierarchy, Malkhut, empowers the flames. The skill rank rises due to the holy flames.]
[Ignite activated with Sephirot open rises to rank (C-).]
Boom!
Flames leaped onto the intangible shadows.
The burning shadow clumps writhed like living insects.
"Gaaahhh!"
The bald man's hands charred to lumps and crumbled away.
It was only natural, detonated right beneath him.
Watching the man thrash engulfed in flames, Ju Gonghyeok yawned.
"Ninth."
The obsidian sword, sated on blood today, gleamed ominously.
[Enemy team ninth opponent... died.]
The enemy team's final leader stepped up.
The enemy team of solid killers with average stats in the 200s.
As their 'leader,' his stats were in the high 200s.
Some even hit 300, C-rank. His avatar was an unmatchable A-rank.
But the enemy leader had learned clearly from the sacrifice of the other nine.
'Stats, avatar—anything against that bastard means death.'
Ju Gonghyeok's stats had risen laughably beyond the leader's after nine victories and nine blessings.
"You're the last one."
Ju Gonghyeok sheathed his obsidian sword as he spoke.
"Truth is, the guy who swung this obsidian thing killed nine of ours. So however I kill you..."
"Heh heh heh, hee hee hee hee!"
The last killer cackled madly as he drew a short sword.
Unmistakably an A-rank weapon, the sword of red mist.
Stab.
He began stabbing himself wildly with the magic sword.
"Hee hya ha ha ha ha!"
Mad laughter accompanied the self-mutilation.
Ju Gonghyeok picked his nose.
'Doing that trick again.'
It looked like he was offering blood to summon a demon or sacrificing his life for immense power.
But Ju Gonghyeok knew it was just a worthless cheat.
Squelch. Squelch.
His wrists severed along with thigh flesh.
The man kicked the rolling magic sword and his own wrist.
"Hee heh heh heh heh."
He looked completely insane, but the killer's mind was ice-cold.
'That's the third kick including this one.'
He was counting how many times his severed wrists hit the floor.
The moment the kicked wrist landed was slow-motion in his eyes.
The leader, without doubt, mixed a word into his mad laughter.
"Hee ha ha, surren..."
Before he could finish, sharp barbs jammed into his wide-open mouth.
The sharp iron needles called iron punishment.
Ju Gonghyeok stuffed the barbs into the killer leader's mouth.
"Glurk, grulk!"
Surrender, surrender—no matter how he mumbled, only iron and blood filled his mouth.
"Wanna hear what you said to me back then?"
Ju Gonghyeok calmly brought his face right up to the leader's nose.
Blood spraying from the leader's mouth added red streaks to the jet-black hound mask.
"'Seventh commandment of the murderer's decalogue: Stab them to death and laugh.'"
"Urgh ergh er..."
"But why aren't you laughing now?"
No way out. No escape.
Pure tears flowed from the leader's eyes as he faced his fate.
[All members of the Red Team have died.]
[You returned the same weapon and method to the enemy who brutally killed your allies.]
[An astonishing achievement! 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' accomplished. Achievement rate 731%!]
[As achievement reward: 8 indigo coins and skill coin 'Counterattack' granted!]
[Your thirst for vengeance is truly astonishing! All fear your revenge!]
[An astonishing achievement! 'Repay favors twice over, enemies tenfold' accomplished. Achievement rate 899%!]
[As achievement reward: 10 indigo coins and title 「Vengeful Demon」 granted!]
[When equipped with title 「Vengeful Demon」, dark faction avatar power greatly increases. Low-resistance demon contractors feel inexplicable dread toward you.]
[You single-handedly overcame the absolute disadvantage where all allies died and it was 1:10!]
[Legendary achievement! 'Impossible Comeback!' accomplished! Achievement rate 1,002%!!!]
[As legendary achievement reward: 1 blue coin, 20 indigo coins, one-time use skill coin 'Last-Second Miracle Comeback!' granted!]
['Last-Second Miracle Comeback!' inflicts powerful curses on boss monsters the greater the rank gap. Overturn despair and conquer overwhelming bosses!]
[New skills 'Torture (C+)' and 'Art of Murder (B)' created!]
[Your demonic acts have become an unforgettable horrific experience for all hunters on floor 2.]
[New flaw 'Infamy Behind the Mask (-E)' created.]
Rumble.
Stairs rose from the arena to where the hunters waited.
From the blood pit of nineteen spears and nineteen meat chunks, only Ju Gonghyeok ascended those stairs.
Everything Ju Gonghyeok did had purpose.
The insanely high achievement rates and rewards.
Possible only because he'd teamed with the weakest nine.
For Ju Gonghyeok to kill all ten alone, none of his teammates could kill any enemies.
The reason he'd clapped for the leopard-masked man with the obsidian sword—the most vicious one—was simple.
If the leopard mask retreated, he couldn't kill all ten, and achievement rates would plummet.
All ten enemies intact. Their vanguard must slaughter all nine of our team. The crueler, the better.
A finicky condition, fulfilled by deliberate teammate selection.
"This ain't right, this can't be."
"Uwaaaagh! Cough, cough."
The twenty hunters in the first match.
Only one returned alive among them.
The remaining nineteen were groomed over hours.
Adorned high as the killers' entertainment and artwork.
"I don't wanna fight. I hate fights like this!"
Hunters always brush close to death.
More sensitive to its terror than anyone, they stubbornly seek safety.
Before their eyes unfolded horrors worse than death.
Soon, they'd plunge into that hell themselves.
They saw their faces overlay on the gruesome corpses strung up, entrails around necks.
"You've seen the demo match, so let's pick up the pace. From now on, ten teams compete at once."
The demon continued impassively.
Pointing, the floor sank, creating nine more arenas.
"Unlike floor 1, winners here get fully healed as long as they're alive. Angel Nariel, heal the sole survivor."
"..."
"Oh dear. Angel Nariel seems to say there's no need since there's no injury. Right?"
"......"
Nariel remained silent, face unseen.
"Hngghk."
"I won't die. I won't die. I won't die..."
Sobs, psychotic mutters, rigid silence.
Reactions varied, but one fact was clear.
The recent slaughter had cornered them all.
Ju Gonghyeok ignored every hunter and plopped in a corner.
Hunters recoiled from him in terrified faces.
Blood dripped from the mask's carved hound fangs, the hood filthy with gore and indescribable remnants.
His hood fully crimson-black, yet the patches of original gray evoked more horror.
"Hoo~"
Ju Gonghyeok sighed and lay back.
The damn dark sky filled his view.
Blood droplets on the mask trickled through cracks, wetting his dry lips.
Slashing wildly released adrenaline or endorphins, feeling good. But when the brain high faded, deeper emptiness hit.
Excitement gone, muscle aches and sticky blood soaked him.
'Dry with Malkhut?'
He considered holy flames to dry his clothes but stopped.
Wet felt physiologically gross.
But sitting covered in guts and blood after a spree oddly calmed the mind.
Like staring blankly out a window on a rainy day.
He lay there, blankly skyward.
Sodden as wet laundry, utterly defenseless, yet no one dared approach.
Harboring neither malice nor goodwill became too fearsome; Ju Gonghyeok isolated from the hunters.
"Ah. Everything's a hassle."
Slaughter aside, fighting was fun.
Slicing flesh, spurting blood, tearing screams stabbed thrillingly into the brain.
Feeling your own flesh tear or bones grind to powder was electric too.
Murder, slaughter, hunting gave real sense of living, fulfillment.
'But killing the same humans over and over builds stress and sadism without noticing.'
Regardless of like or dislike.
Killing them repeatedly, hearing the same lines hale and hearty—it flaws sensing human dignity.
Life's thrills needed change, games.
In fighting games, it became obsessing over perfect combos without a hit.
In FPS, self-imposed challenges like headshotting all foes fastest.
Babel's system occasionally humored such hobbies.
Risking needless danger, killing more brutally, Ju Gonghyeok chased stimuli in given bounds.
He wanted to quit these silly self-games too.
But to him, this was a forced game until world-saving.
Whispers echoed in his soul's corner: die and die, can't escape.
Hours later?
Blood in his mouth crusted hard, hood's dampness fading.
Roooar—!
Hunters' cheers rang in his ears.
＊ ＊ ＊
Matches dragged boringly.
"Hey, pause. Killing me gives jack, like 5% coins. Don't overdo and get hurt. I surrender."
Slightly stronger foes? Tap floor thrice, yell surrender.
Failure meant severed hand, then death.
They hurled abuse at retreating comrades.
Not fighting upfront meant survivors fought more.
Most one-sided, barely matches.
But one-sidedness birthed odd results.
Ju Gonghyeok's match: 1/20 survived.
Later ones: nearly 15 survived each.
Hunters whispered, eyeing each other.
'Killing most isn't all to achievements?'
'Angels probably got decent feats too.'
Finally, the two team leaders shook hands.
'In truth, this mission has a way for everyone to survive.'
[Blue Team: All 10 survived.]
[Red Team: All 10 survived.]
[Result: 5 wins 5 losses tie, all by surrender.]
[Match 13 declared a draw.]
[An astonishing achievement 'All Survive Draw!' accomplished. Rate 489%!]
[Reward: 5 indigo coins each and...]
[To negotiation leader 'Yulia': 1 blue coin.]
Roooar—!
Hunters cheered the miracle.
Major achievement; Nariel descended teary-eyed.
[Hidden quest 'Every mission has a solution! (2F)' accomplished.]
[Title 'Savior of Floor 2' granted. Worn on 2F: all stats +25%.]
Your way was right. Angels acknowledged it.
Amid cheers, 'Savior of Floor 2' ascended stairs.
Then thud thud, walked to Ju Gonghyeok.
"You're X, right?"
She halted fearlessly, peering down at his mask, and spoke.
"Heard from Maria. About what you did on floor 1."
Their gazes met.
"You're wrong."
Ju Gonghyeok silently raised both hands skyward.
Clap.
Hands collided with sound.
Clap clap clap.
"Bravo."
It was applause.
The most vicious killer praising the greatest savior.
Yulia, who'd glared sharply, scowled and turned away.
Subsequent matches were tediously boring.
All conspired for 'draw achievements,' surrendering by agreement.
Some broke deals, dooming foes, or refused talk—but most agreed to draws.
Most shunned life-or-death gambles.
Clap clap clap clap.
Ju Gonghyeok's applause continued through draws.
When all ended, Nariel descended before him.
Indescribable emotion on angel Nariel's face.
[Special quest 'Example' succeeded.]
[Demon's karma calculator yields results.]
[Ju Gonghyeok resolved to show the most horrific match first. Affected hunters would fear duels, trend toward draws, it claims.]
[Karma calculator computes influence.]
[Established draws: 33 total. Ju Gonghyeok's brutal murder play influenced ~69%.]
[~22 draws judged from his influence.]
[Special quest rate 220%.]
[Promised reward: 1 blue coin, 10 indigo coins, 'Bonus Dungeon Key'.]
[Extra rate bonus: 1 blue coin, 10 indigo coins.]
Clap— clap— clap—
"Bravo. Bravo. Bravo."
Everything.
Went as planned.
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