Super Shrakhim
"Hey, Null. If that knight scares you, I can swap in a goblin for the match, so just say the word."
-[damage] HP
— Gnooool?! Noooooooool! (What did you say, human?! Nonsense! As if I’d be afraid of some runt like that! Fight a goblin, you say? Ridiculous! I’d rather die fighting that monster cow!)
Null flew into a rage at the sudden provocation.
"What is that fellow babbling about, pray tell?"
Since Null was not under edification, Shrakhim couldn’t understand the monster’s speech.
Blin, translate that for me in a way that’ll really get Shrakhim worked up.
Receiving Ho-yeong’s telepathy, Goblin 10 answered with oily smoothness.
— Gobgob? Gooooob-gobgob. Gop~ (He’s asking why humans nowadays call some wrinkled, half-dead pig a knight. Says the horse carrying such a man must be pitiful, and that it would be happier being eaten by him. Hey, Null, old friend. The captain says that horse was eaten by a hogryphon ages ago, so that plan’s off the table, gob.)
The mockery was godlike. The intelligence buff from being designated a Precursor, combined with the ill will Shrakhim had already been harboring, created a perfect synergy.
"What did you say?!"
The vein on Shrakhim’s forehead throbbed violently.
"You little bastard!"
— Nool?!
Null was startled by the surging aura.
◈ Effect 1 (Passive): When the wearer is in a state of deep rage, aura power rises tremendously. However, once that rage subsides, all aura is spent and recovery speed drops markedly for a period of time. The greater the rage, the greater the power boost and the longer the penalty.
◈ Effect 2 (Active): When used, Effect 1 also triggers for nearby allies who strongly resonate with the wearer’s rage. Cooldown varies depending on the depth of the rage and the number of affected targets.
The current wearer was Shrakhim. Of course, since no one else shared Shrakhim’s rage, there was no need to worry about wasting aura for nothing.
"Go, Shrakhim!"
Knight of Iron Sword caliber, Shrakhim. His initial combat stat had been C (42~47). It wasn’t exactly impressive, more of a middling number than anything else.
But through edification, blooming, and real combat experience, his strength had now grown dramatically to C+ (52~58). On top of that, Ho-yeong’s guidance had brought his aura handling a fair way forward.
All things considered, his current ability stood just a little below Famous Sword level.
"Gwaaaah!"
His power was swelling under the rage effect of the Burning Blood Droplet.
"Oh? This is amazing! His combat stat has jumped by as much as forty-two. Final combat value: 80 to 102. Seriously? He’s stronger than Lilian now! Of course it’s item power, and the buff is temporary, but still."
Watching the status window race by with frantic beeps, Ho-yeong marveled.
"All right, start the match!"
— Nool?!
Null faltered for a split second at the sight of Shrakhim charging toward him with ferocious momentum, but then he immediately dropped into a fighting stance.
Taller and broader than Shrakhim, Null tried to bring both arms down to crush him flat.
"Krahaaaap!"
But Shrakhim lowered his body, drove in under Null’s knees, and pulled the monster’s legs together.
"Oh! Nice tackle!"
Ho-yeong, an enthusiastic mixed martial arts fan, watched with delight.
His grappling stat is higher than his swordsmanship, huh? He’s living up to it. If I teach him martial arts too, he might actually be useful.
Both grappling and swordsmanship were substats under combat.
"You wretch! How dare a monster like you mock me, a knight?"
Seizing both of Null’s legs, Shrakhim rose with a heave and used the momentum to hurl him over the back of his own head.
"A back body drop! That’s insane. How far did he fly?"
— Nooooooooool!
Flung in a glorious arc, Null hit the ground with a wet thud.
"Match over. Shrakhim wins!"
Because his back had touched the ground, Null’s defeat was clear.
"Now say that again, why don’t you!"
But Shrakhim, still possessed by rage, lunged toward Null and swung a fist as if to continue the beating.
"Hey, calm down!"
Ho-yeong rushed in from behind and barely managed to wrench him back.
Huh. Didn’t think he’d get this strong.
Even Ho-yeong, fused with the human weapon known as Joren Tamer, struggled to restrain him.
"Do not stop me! I shall beat this bastard to death today, I say!"
"I said calm down! The match is already over."
Shrakhim kept trying to shake Ho-yeong off, apparently unable to see anything but red.
— Mino! (You, do you not heed our lord’s words!)
Just as Ho-yeong was considering having the minocentaurs hold Shrakhim down, the status window chimed.
Tip: When the Burning Blood Droplet effect is active, it is difficult to calm the wearer by force. Try speaking words that will help the wearer regain reason.
"Think of Sera! What would she say if she saw you like this right now? She’d be terribly disappointed! The ideal man for dwarf women is someone bold and steady!"
Taking a cue from Daliha’s advice, Ho-yeong pulled out the peace offering.
"Ugh. Miss Sera…."
At the name of Sera Rowgan, the dwarf girl he had met in Rainpa, Shrakhim came to his senses.
"My apologies. I was suddenly overcome with rage, and so…."
"It’s fine. It’s not your fault. Come on, let’s take a deep breath. That’s it."
As Shrakhim calmed down, the surging combat stat rapidly began to drop.
"Still… I don’t know why my strength is draining away so fast. Hah, hah."
Having poured out all the aura in his body, Shrakhim was left completely exhausted by the backlash.
His combat stat has fallen to 12~12.5. What the hell happened?
The combat stat was calculated from a combination of factors: strength, agility, aura, weapon skill, martial skill, stamina, and more.
So it’s not just that he can’t use aura anymore; it affects his whole physical performance. The aftereffects are worse than I thought.
He tried feeding him a mandragora horn-leaf cookie, but the stamina recovery effect was negligible.
"Anyway, that was impressive, Shrakhim. I’ll take this back now."
"Come to think of it, what exactly is this bracelet supposed to do?"
"I’ll explain later."
Ho-yeong quickly removed the bracelet and put it back on himself.
— Minoho! (Not bad, human!)
"That was amazing, Sir Shrakhim!"
"Hmm. It does seem like the training with my lord was worth something."
While the onlookers added their own comments on Shrakhim’s performance, Ho-yeong checked something important.
The ownership of Burning Blood Droplet has been reclaimed.
He had wondered whether a cooldown would apply, or whether there might be some restriction preventing use for a while after ownership changed, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
So there’s no cooldown for the passive, Effect 1—only for Effect 2, the wide-area active skill. Well, that makes sense, I suppose. One use of this bracelet leaves you with zero aura and a body in tatters, so there’s no need for an extra cooldown on top of that. I’ll have to be careful when I use it myself. The effect is definitely incredible, but the penalty is just as severe.
In any case, the experiment through Shrakhim had been a success. He’d seen the power of the Burning Blood Droplet firsthand and learned quite a bit about it.
"All right, everyone, take care of Shrakhim for a moment."
It was time to turn his attention to the fallen Null.
"Hey, Null. You awake?"
The monster could barely move, his lower back likely shattered by the impact from the fall.
"Tsk, tsk. You’re in bad shape. Kids, help me out."
— Gnooool! (What are you doing, human!)
Ho-yeong had the minocentaurs turn Null over and apply healing salve.
"All right, let him go now."
— Nool?
Null, his wounds healed, sprang back to his feet.
"You’re wondering why I healed you, aren’t you? Well, if you’re wheezing, you won’t be able to give me proper information. So you don’t need to be that grateful."
Null was utterly bewildered. Ten minutes ago, when they had prepared the ambush, everything had seemed to be going smoothly.
A big wagon. Only two knights riding inside, so just watch those two. The rest were a young human girl and some ape-like thing, so no problem. The ox or horse pulling the wagon was unusually large? But that just meant there’d be more meat, which was even better.
— Gnoool….
But the ox and the horse had turned out to be insane monsters wielding weapons with invisible arms, and the fat knight he’d thought would be easy prey had the strength of an ogre. On top of that, the human standing before him was not only proposing some sort of contest, but had even spared him after his defeat.
"Then let’s have you keep your promise."
Setting all of that aside, the very fact that humans and monsters could communicate was astonishing enough.
"These four here can’t be all of you. There must be more of your band somewhere, right? You said you live in a cave or something. How many of the others are left?"
— Nool…. (I lost, so I’ll tell you.)
Having given up on overthinking it, Null began to speak.
"Hmm. So the group you belong to is small. The hunters were the three dead here, including you. And in the cave, only the weak remain—children, the old, and the females?"
— Nool. Nool, nool! Noooonool. (That’s right. But I can’t tell you where it is! Same with the other bands’ locations. In any case, there won’t be any human raids for the time being.)
"Why are you so certain there won’t be any human raids?"
Summed up, the creature’s claim was this.
The weak and elderly couldn’t go out hunting humans in the first place, so they were irrelevant. As for the other tribes, they’d seen their own hunters annihilated and would keep their heads down for a while.
"You and your family—will you promise to give up hunting humans? If so, I’ll let you live. There’s no point in killing you now anyway. Ah, though missing out on that Madame Stone is a little regretful."
— Nool?!
Null was startled by the unexpected offer.
— Gnooool…. Noolnool! (I get it. If you let me go, you plan to follow me and find our den!)
"Wow, you can reason that far? I knew monsters were smart, but that’s more than I expected. A gifted Null, are you?"
Ho-yeong was surprised in a different way.
"But you don’t need to worry about that. I’m busy right now. I don’t have time to go tramping through deep mountains and caves just to wipe out Nulls. Unless a rare item shows up or something…. In any case, I’ve got no intention of messing with you, so relax. I won’t even notify the nearby relay station."
Null still hadn’t entirely let go of his suspicion, but his hostility had definitely softened.
"But if you still can’t give up hunting humans, then I’ll have no choice but to kill you. In that case, there’d be no need to track down your band and wipe them out on purpose."
— Nool?
"If all the hunters are dead, what are the rest of your family supposed to eat? No, I guess it’d be lucky if they just starved. They might end up as food for other monsters."
— Gnoool….
Null seemed to think there was some truth in Ho-yeong’s words, and hesitated.
— Nool! Nool, nool. Noooooool. (All right! I’ll give up hunting humans. I never actually wanted to do it anyway. It was because I was being led by some strange force.)
"Good thinking. Then let me ask you one more thing. Are there any other monster groups around here that hunt humans? I don’t know whether monsters keep up friendships or not, but still."
Since it cost nothing, Ho-yeong asked.
Event created! Null Hunter #001 is about to provide important information. This is thanks to the mercy shown by your guardian.
Unexpectedly, Null delivered shocking news.
— Nool… Knool. (Yes… trolls.)
"Trolls?!"
According to what the creature had overheard, a band of forest trolls in the area was planning to attack the villages soon.
The hair on Ho-yeong’s neck stood on end; it seemed he and the trolls weren’t exactly on friendly terms.
Refer to the locations marked on the map.
On the map projected by the status window, three red dots appeared. Among them was a place name that caught Ho-yeong’s eye.
Bojedo Village?
The name felt familiar.
That’s it! The place where the trolls appeared when I was traveling from the capital to the territory. That’s where I met Mr. Berneval and Meyril, too. And now trolls are showing up there again? Is this some kind of fixed event that triggers every time I pass through?
He was uneasy at the thought that the quest might repeat itself.
Sub Quest Issued! Defend the villages and relay stations from the troll tribes.
📍 Location: Villages and relay stations in the area
🎁 Reward: Unknown
He had a bad feeling, and as always, it was right.
"Of course it is…."
The previous troll quest ended without the trolls being pursued and exterminated. Trolls reproduce as readily as they regenerate, so if you leave them alive, they will keep coming. Take caution.
"Back then there wasn’t enough time," he muttered. "Now I’m short on troops too, damn it."
Still, Ho-yeong didn’t despair.
"Well, I’ll wrap this up quickly! Back then I was a low-level scrub, but trolls are nothing special to me now."
In fact, he was brimming with confidence.
"With just Mino and Eollugi, we can flatten them."
If the two minocentaurs joined forces, they could overwhelm ten trolls and still have room to spare.
"I can even do air strikes with Vulcher."
He could also use aerial tactics with the hogryphon.
"And if it comes to it, I can just beat them myself."
Not only had Ho-yeong’s own combat strength risen significantly, but Shrakhim was also a welcome addition to his forces.
"If we funnel them in like last time, and Meyril just drops one bolt of lightning, the game’s over."
Meyril’s growth had made her magic trustworthy as well.
"But what the hell is this sound effect?"
Ho-yeong was startled by a strange alert tone he had never heard before.
It had an eerie, urgent variation to it.
Wait, don’t tell me my big mouth is going to slap me with another hard mode modifier.
He tensed, wondering if another variable difficulty had appeared, but thankfully that wasn’t it.
Instead, a meaningful message had arrived.
An unknown event has occurred! There is a chance of encountering a hostile NPC during the sub quest.
—