157. Butterfly Effect (7)
157. Butterfly Effect (7)
BANG—!
The moment I planted my foot, Im Ga-eul fired off a skill at the Demonized Human.
"Super—Slow!"
My speed had already increased, and now the opponent's speed was slowed on top of it.
My field of vision shifted.
I could see the veins bulging all over Yeon Woo-jin's body, the blood squirming inside them.
Then the process of his muscles swelling up and transforming into a gigantic hand.
It was a split-second event that should have passed in a flash.
But now it was etched sharp and clear in my eyes.
'So that's why Im Ga-eul acted like that.'
I didn't want to agree with her, but I got it.
In my current vision, the bastard might as well have been standing still.
No wonder she felt so omnipotent.
Honestly, if Im Ga-eul had just a little more attack power, she would have been the one insisting on finishing him off herself.
'Still, even if you know that, he's a pretty frustrating enemy if you don't know the strat.'
Slice—
I cut off the bastard's arm as it was starting to swell thickly.
But before it could even fall off, blood clotted like jelly at the severed surface and reconnected it instantly.
The regeneration ability Yeon Woo-jin had originally possessed had been amplified by the Demon's possession.
BOOM—!
Yeon Woo-jin's gigantic hand slammed down, but it only struck the unfortunate floor.
The shockwave that followed sent a light fixture crashing down from the ceiling.
But it wasn't a problem, since the Instructor had already evacuated all the hostages.
She was probably moving them to a safe place by now.
I watched the scene and steadied my gaze.
'The standard way to beat Yeon Woo-jin is to use a Special with a high hit count per attack....'
No matter how stubbornly he regenerated, if you "killed" him about a thousand times or so, he died.
Looked at this way, it seemed like a brutal grind.
But if you had a Special capable of landing over a hundred hits in a single attack, and each hit was enough to one-shot his fragile body,
then he was an incredibly easy opponent you could finish in about ten attacks.
Unfortunately, I was a close-range Damage Dealer specializing in one-on-one fights with high per-hit damage.
'Well, it's not like it'd be hard to kill him a thousand times just by swinging my sword.... But that's not really my style.'
Strats like taking down Yeon Woo-jin with nothing but Swordsmanship Specialization had been discovered ages ago.
No matter what Demon had possessed his body, the Regeneration trait ultimately belonged to that bastard Yeon Woo-jin, so this strat was still going to work.
Creak—
I twisted my ankle at once, spun my body around, and cut the same arm again.
Slice—
Slice—
Three times, for now.
The number of times his right arm had been cut off and reattached.
At that, Yeon Woo-jin, who had been grinding his teeth as he turned to glare at me in fury, suddenly lifted the corners of his mouth.
"Heh-heh-heh...."
A sneer settled on his lips as he spat out laughter.
"This body... a body that does not die. I care little for the rest, but I approve of this one...! With this, I can buy time until I regain my power!"
He arrogantly crossed his arms, practically declaring he wasn't even going to move anymore.
"Cut all you like! I wonder which will come first—you collapsing from exhaustion, or my body fully recovering!!!"
The Demon bastard ran his mouth without knowing a damn thing.
'That works out great for me.'
An enemy that doesn't move?
Honestly, it was so easy it was practically yawn-inducing.
Whoops, I almost pulled the same thing Im Ga-eul did.
Can't do that.
Sofia had her camera pointed this way, filming like crazy right now.
I put my sword back to work.
Since the enemy was just standing still anyway, I worked at it with mechanical duty, like a factory laborer.
Slice— Slice—
This time, twice on the left arm.
Slice-slice-slice-slice—
And four times on the right leg.
Slice—
Once on the left leg.
I severed the bastard's limbs exactly as I remembered.
"I told you it was a waste of time...."
Perhaps he was still displeased by the sensation of his body constantly being hacked apart even if it reattached. He let out a menacing growl.
Hmm.
But could he keep spouting bullshit after taking this?
I stopped in front of him and stared him down.
"Kekeke—. Have you given up? Yes, I have already descended, and this world is beneath my feet—"
Three seconds passed while he was yapping.
Slice—
I sliced Yeon Woo-jin's head clean off.
Then I pivoted my body and sheathed my sword.
Next came the one-hit-kill skill.
【 Quick Draw 】
SWISH—
The instant I drew the blade from its sheath, I slipped past him.
But Yeon Woo-jin's head, floating in midair, still wore an indifferent expression.
He probably figured it would just regenerate again.
Except.
Crunch—
Craaack—
A gruesome noise like bones being pulverized rang out.
His body twisted and warped wildly out of shape, then began to swell up like an inflating balloon.
And the head, which dropped from the air and reconnected to the body, could no longer keep an indifferent expression.
Because even his face had started to expand like a massive balloon.
"Wh-what is this...! What kind of fucking nonsense—!!!"
Click.
The moment I slid Moonlight back into its sheath.
BOOOOOOM—!!!!
With a thunderous explosion, his body burst apart on the spot.
'So that strat really does work here too, huh?'
If it hadn't, I would've had to grind a thousand times to kill him.
Honestly, I don't even know why it works this way either.
It's just, well....
'Fucking bug, that's what.'
That was how I casually finished him off. As I was walking back to Sofia and Im Ga-eul.
Ding—♬
An unexpected chime rang through my head.
'Wh-what...? I didn't even pull up the status window?'
[ You have acquired a Title. ]
'A Title? All of a sudden!?'
My eyes flew open wide as I stared at the translucent message window in front of me.
Titles normally appear when a person's name is on everyone's lips and their fame solidifies into a set term.
By now, I had my own collection of new titles like that.
'Unconscious Flirting Hotspot,' 'Dicc on a Cliff,' 'Homme Fatale,' 'Chef of Destruction,' 'Clueless'... a bunch of utterly incomprehensible titles.
But having the status window bestow a title like this was a different story.
'This is that thing, right? The thing only given to the person who achieves a first-ever feat in the game.'
《 First Achievement Title 》
I had played Velvetsra pretty hardcore, but I'd only ever gotten one of these.
Was it 'Miser,' the title I got for clearing a boss without using any of the items they originally gave you?
There was a reason I'd only ever gotten one.
First Achievement Titles were exclusive. Once one person got it, nobody else could.
And by the time I started the game, wallet-loaded whales had already swept up every single title there was.
For a while, I kept trying different things to get one, but I gave up since I didn't even know the conditions.
It was the kind of thing you could only get by sheer coincidence piled on coincidence, so I had stopped trying....
'And now this suddenly shows up here?'
[ 【 Title — One Who Slayed the Impossible. Demon Slayer 】 ]
These First Achievement Titles were said to be rarer than a star in the sky. But there was a reason I'd been so desperate for one.
That was.
[ { +10% damage against all types of Demonized Humans and Demons. } ]
Because it came with a special stat boost like this!
'Holy shit. That's an absolutely busted trait!'
What was the most fucking annoying thing in the Velvetsra world?
Pfft, do I even need to say it? Demonized Humans and Demons.
Regular Monsters and Boss Monsters are all known quantities, and enough strategies were publicly available for them.
Honestly, if your stats could back it up, a no-death clear wasn't impossible.
But it was more common than you'd think to lose when you ran into a Demonized Human with a bad elemental matchup that popped up out of nowhere.
On top of that, every single Boss that even I had to think twice about attempting a one-try clear on was a Demon.
And in that context, a blanket +10% damage boost against all Demons and Demonized Humans?
I could honestly call this a blessed encounter.
'Don't tell me... I got this just for killing a Demon?'
I had only killed a single massively nerfed Demon that had possessed Yeon Woo-jin.
But the system seemed to have counted that as slaying a Demon.
'Well, I guess I am the first person to kill a Demon at this point in time.'
I nodded and allowed myself a smile of unprecedented satisfaction.
But I was still underestimating that achievement.
Ding—♬
The chime rang out again.
[ Your rank has ascended. The stars turn toward you. ]
This time, a shudder ran through my entire body.
Even though the message window was a familiar one.
'A st-Star Promotion too...!?'
I had coasted on early-game materials to match 4-Star characters,
took Baek Seol-hee's classes, and even downed the Mana-boosting elixir,
and before I knew it, I had become even stronger than Kang Do-hee, who had been a base 5-Star.
But lately, my growth in every stat except Charm had stalled.
The reason was simple: I was still only 1-Star.
No matter how many crazy stunts you pulled as a 1-Star, there was a hard cap on how strong you could get, and by now, I was practically at that limit.
The events in the story that raise your star rank were fixed,
so I thought I had no choice but to be patient and wait until then....
Hummm—
A bright, pure-white halo of light formed above my head.
A brilliance so intense you couldn't stand to keep your eyes open.
And then, it poured down over my body.
WHOOOOSH—
"Jin Yu-ha!"
"Yu-ha hoobae!!!"
Faced with this sudden turn of events, Sofia and Im Ga-eul cried out in panic from behind me.
But I clenched my teeth and forced my eyes wide open.
"Ngh! I-I'm fine! Stay back!!!!"
An irresistible, overwhelming energy was running wild through my entire body.
The energy raced into every single pressure point, delivering excruciating agony.
"AAAAARGH!!!!"
I finally couldn't hold it in and let out a scream.
FSSSSS—
And amid the searing, mind-blanking pain.
CRACK—!
I saw a vision—a single heavy shackle that had been coiled around my soul shattering into pieces.
"...."
"...."
A heavy silence settled inside the basement.
Haaaaaaah—
In the middle of it, I slowly exhaled and opened my eyes.
"Status Window."
────────────────
Name ─ Jin Yu-ha (☆☆)
Gender ─ Male (20)
Stats
Strength ─ 67(+10) Spirit ─ 88(+10 ,+10%)
Mana ─ 69(+10) Endurance ─ 70 (+10)
Speed ─ 72(+10) Charm ─ 100 (+10)
Specialization ─ Swordsmanship S
Title ─ Flower on the Cliff [Cliff Flower (崖花)]
─ Sword Genius [Sword Demon (劍鬼)]
─ Unconscious Flirting Hotspot
─ Dicc on a Cliff
─ Homme Fatale
─ Chef of Destruction
─ Clueless
First Achievement Title ─ One Who Slayed the Impossible: Demon Slayer (魔殺)
{ +10% damage against all types of Demonized Humans and Demons. }
Skills ─ [ One Slash, Two Halves ], [ Quick Draw ], [ Sword Dance ], [ Dark Shadow Step ](new!), [ New Moon (Moonlight Earring equipped) ]
Traits ─ [ Detection ], [ Eye Opening ], [ Intuition ], [ Charisma ](new!)
Exclusive Weapon ─ Moonlight (月光)
Items: Bracelet of Experience (Bound), Ability Boost Ring (Bound)
────────────────
The title I gained from killing a Demon.
Demon Slayer.
Reaching 2-Star had added +10 to all my stats.
And then, my Charm, which unlike everything else had been climbing on its own and was already at 90, finally broke into triple digits, giving rise to a new trait.
'Charisma' — Can impose a sense of pressure on others.
'The butterfly effect.... Its stat bonuses are fucking insane.'
This one completely unexpected event had made me ridiculously stronger.
I stared at the status window with an expression of sheer disbelief.
Truthfully, I still felt dazed and didn't fully understand how any of this had happened.
I closed my eyes tightly and composed my feelings.
Right. For now, I had to finish this operation and get back.
There would be plenty of time to celebrate later.
I turned my head and spoke to my party members, who had been waiting for me.
"Well then, shall we get going now?"
At that.
Thud.
Sofia's face had gone beet-red, and she dropped the camera she was holding.
Im Ga-eul, who up to this point had perfectly maintained her persona, opened her mouth, her eyes dazed and unfocused.
And,
'Instructor?'
Why was she glaring at me with such terrifying eyes...?