Chapter 181
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Kingdom ? Lv. 1320 King of the Northern Slum (2)
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I've said it time and again, but you need all sorts of plans.
I'd thoroughly investigated the ranker known as the King of the North.
Well, actually, I didn't need to investigate all that deeply.
The guy had no intention of hiding himself.
Slum rule is usually based on fear, and to instill fear, rumors need to spread about how he has some incredible skill or whatever.
The guild masters from the northern hospital district under his command were a big help, too.
Not a single one of them had any loyalty or tried to hide anything.
As if guys like that would last in the slums.
Exiles pushed into the slums might think they've lived diligently in their own way, but none of them are exactly normal.
And I'm not talking about personality here.
I'm talking purely about their abilities as exiles.
Those obsessed with strength don't form groups. Even if they do, they don't become the leader.
Because taking on responsibility pulls them away from pure strength.
The title of Slum King exists in every run, but the ones who hold it are usually guys who've settled into complacency to some degree.
Even if they're rankers, that doesn't change.
They just reached that point because they had a bit of talent.
"Meyer said the guy's ranked 967th. You could probably take him on now, right?"
"That easy?"
"It's not that it's easy. You're just that strong."
"Heehee, really?"
In the Labyrinth, the most important thing is 'skills', then 'innate traits' including race and base stats, and after that comes the 'stats' from the Mind Map.
The three main stats—strength, agility, stamina—that go up after becoming an exile definitely grant significant power.
But they can't exceed the limits of one's race.
No matter how high your strength stat gets as a human, you can't win an arm-wrestling match against an ordinary giant.
Because of racial limits, the efficiency of that boosted strength diminishes over time.
'Innate traits' dramatically alter that efficiency limit, while 'skills' are context-transcending superpowers that override everything.
For example, my [Blood Sovereign] is a [Unique Skill] that requires stacking enough stats and skills just to acquire it.
But even if I were given just [Blood Sovereign] with no other bonuses, I could single-handedly devastate Hard Rock.
That's the realm skills operate in.
"So even Unique Skills aren't always super strong?"
"This 'Unique' means 'one-of-a-kind', not some ultra-rare above Rare. It's strong to a degree, but not unconditionally."
"So if it's a truly unique Unique Skill, then Uncle's the only exile with [Blood Sovereign] in this run?"
"Among exiles, yeah. NPCs can have duplicates."
The little girl toddling along behind us lifted her head.
"Daddy! Can I get a skill too?"
"Limited, but possible. If you rack up feats worthy of it, have superior bloodline, or just innate talent."
"...Do I maybe already have some skill?"
"Probably. We'll check once our goddess's temple is up."
The standard skill randomly given to random NPCs in the Barbarian Clan is [Archmage], a simple yet powerful Unique Skill.
Having it amplifies magical talent.
The Labyrinth's buffs forcibly deepen understanding of magic and boost affinity.
No active effects, but the passives are that much stronger.
In other words, useless if you can manifest those abilities on your own like me.
I'd acquired it long ago to boost my magic understanding.
Back when magic was my only path, I operated as a pure mage early on.
"Time for you to aim for a Unique Skill soon."
"Can you only have one?"
"Nah, duplicates are possible, but after the first, the odds plummet."
"Weird balance."
"The Labyrinth's luck factor is designed to remain a controllable variable. Understand that, and life as an exile gets way easier."
"Controllable variable... So it tries not to be too unreasonable."
"Close enough, though it's mostly just pretending..."
Even with fairness adjustments for luck, it's still luck in the end.
Just the bare minimum safety net to keep you from rage-quitting.
The designer's savvy still holds sway even in reality.
"We can win over there, right?"
Thanks to our goddess's intel, I know the King of the North has started his attack on the slums.
"Low-rank ranker means he's dabbled a bit. Remember that fairy mage? Probably around that level."
The fairy mage couldn't level via [Rifts] but spent a full 1,000 years on that server.
That puts her in ranker territory.
Having [Time Stop] as a skill wasn't coincidence; he knew how to get it, at least roughly.
"At that level, I think we can win now."
Catching an angel exile as a mage is near impossible normally. But I kept quiet.
"Guys who become rankers just from time served sometimes underperform their level. But top rankers create the illusion."
"Fear marketing, huh..."
Marketing? Not quite.
"Exiles always lack info the most. Even with multiples, very few throw their lives away recklessly to gather it."
And without finesse, it's wasted lives.
"Uncle knows everything?"
"Not everything, just what I know."
We arrived at the Pantheon while chatting.
The manager, a leaf fairy girl with rabbit ears, greeted us.
Time Stop via divine authority has a long cooldown.
But it's more perfect, cleaner, and harder to detect.
Obviously, since it's directly from the [God of Time]. No skill [Time Stop], even the most flawless and stealthy, can match divine power.
So naturally, the King of the North didn't notice Remi's Time Stop at first.
A perfect ambush, and he never dreamed the opponent was the God of Time.
Remi sprang into action amid the frozen grayscale landscape.
No room for carelessness.
She could delay his awareness, but he'd figure it out eventually.
The longer the stopped time, the stronger the warning it sends, apparently.
Especially against a monster over level 1,000—a warrior-class ranker famed for toughness.
She couldn't use [Time Stop] again this fight, so maximize damage now.
She approached the angel smashed into the ground and expended golden divinity.
Burning through the basic faith granted upon becoming a believer.
It hurt to waste such potent, hard-to-replenish greater god faith, but...
The gains for her organization and the Chaos Church from rumors of capturing a ranker made it worthwhile.
Her leader, at least, never demanded one-sided sacrifices.
Color returned to the desaturated angel. The shock had canceled [Berserk].
Reason cleared, and the angel grasped the situation.
"Went according to plan?"
"Time Stop right as Berserk ends. Perfect."
Summoning others via divine power—only possible because it was godly.
Remi marveled again at the cheat-level power of greater god authorities.
The veteran angel didn't gawk. She quickly checked her condition.
A ranker's blow was hard to tank even in Berserk. Without angelic durability, she'd be dead.
Injuries were minor, not critical. First, pull herself from the crater.
One sip of Healing Potion.
"Urgh!"
It took serious effort to rip free and stand.
"No time! Hit him now!"
The angel gripped her greatsword.
Several mid-tier derivatives of [Heavy Strike] activated.
Core [Berserk] was on cooldown, but berserkers were strong regardless.
Time Stop's downside: can't check damage dealt.
Her strength was potent, but level 200 had limits.
Low level meant fewer passive stacks and raw power.
'Attack power' bonuses suffered. Could she pierce a heavily armored warrior critically?
Plus, Time Stop's unique environment applies all physical hits at once when time resumes.
Warriors commonly had defense passives absorbing burst damage, which might eat most of it.
Anyway, stack max damage now.
Remi began casting too.
I turned my head.
"What's up?"
The fifteen-ish girl with rabbit ears looked back at me.
Her innocent expression suited her white dress, but Pantheon's manager wasn't a pushover.
Her power put her in the top ranker tier.
Otherwise, the gods wouldn't entrust such a key spot to her.
"Time stopped over there."
The girl, who'd introduced herself as Kirri, tilted her head.
She looked the same direction, tilted again, narrowed her eyes, and said,
"How'd you sense that from here? Liar."
"Sure, whatever."
"Your speech bugs me."
I chuckled and followed Kirri.
Her rabbit ears perked as she led me to the Pantheon's center.
Not just anyone gets in.
A god awaited me, so she was escorting on orders.
Party members waited outside.
Most gods only cared about me.
En route, I pondered the outcome of that [Time Stop] from Remi's direction.
The King of the North was a total coward who never challenged rifts.
No recent sightings of him farming or leveling via rifts.
He'd gotten complacent with his ranker title.
Common in the Labyrinth; guys like that have predictable Mind Maps.
His flaunted skillset, cruel sneaky personality—leads to extremely defensive skills.
Unique Skill: [Beast King].
Performance-wise, similar lineage to the [God of War]'s [Primal Power], but with active offense at the cost of overall inferiority.
Decent, but B-tier at best.
Probably stumbled into it without knowing the clear method.
And he thought: Got an aggressive Unique, so tank everything else.
Perfect for lording over the slums.
Setup's obvious.
Common exile warrior defense skills: [Auto Guard] (anti-assassination, used by Provence), [Guardian] (nullifies lethal damage for 0.1s), [Expanded Armor] (applies armor defense to exposed areas).
High efficiency for acquisition difficulty; must-haves for rankers.
Plus skills naturally pairing with [Beast King] environment post-power/agility minimal Mind Map.
Tricky one: [Revival].
Bound to pop after [Beast King] with that map.
Conditions mirror [Beast King] closely.
One-use, but high chance he hasn't died yet. Might need to kill twice.
Still.
"More than doable."
"You talk to yourself a lot?"
"Sometimes I have to voice it or go nuts."
"Veteran talk. You been through it."
Shared weird empathy as we reached the Pantheon's heart.
A demon with side horns and bat wings waited.
Pure mage race: demon.
Not physical; a projection from his throne. Pantheon-only.
His divinity: deep blue, mysteriously beautiful hue.
God of Magic and Knowledge.
The King of the North was bewildered.
This film-cut sensation felt unfamiliar now.
When'd he last ride a [Rift]?
His [Time Stop] detection had dulled. Too long since facing a user.
He felt the impacts hitting his body.
All his skill shields activated.
And shattered.
Every defense consumed blocking hits during stopped time.
Bared, he saw the greatsword descending on his neck.
The King of the North died once.