The Madness of Chaos Residue
The possibility of earning the hatred of an evil god went thump thump thump in my head. 'What the hell, how is it so fast?!' Its insane speed was easily eighty percent of my top movement skill output. And it was just running? This was ridiculous.
'Still, I managed to land one mark.' A single Flame Mark now sat on the creature's shoulder. It looked like the spines I'd thrust out from my back during its attack had stacked the effect. It was one of the new abilities I'd gained from my recent class change, and I was glad to see it had a meaningful impact so quickly.
I shot high into the air to avoid the beast. There was no reason to fight a monster like this on the ground. Gooooooo─ Once I'd risen to a decent height, I began condensing a fireball in my left hand and dropping bombs on the creature's head.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang─!
But hitting the monster with bombs thrown from such a high position was difficult. The same would probably go for fireballs, which traveled even slower than the bombs. 'I need to get closer... but if I do, I'll get shredded.'
The creature easily dodged the bomb attacks, then stared up at me blankly before suddenly bending its knees deeply. Kuguguguguk─ Its thighs swelled up as if they were about to burst. I watched in disbelief as the monster leaped over a hundred meters in a single bound with its absurd physical ability.
'You crazy bastard!' Hooooong─! Thankfully, I had already used High-Speed Flight to move from my original position. I clutched my chest as its blade-like claws whistled past me. 'If that hits me, I'm dead instantly.'
Luckily, it didn't seem to have the ability to fly. It fell back to the ground while I rose even higher. Only then did it stop staring at me and sprint back toward the village.
Whether because of me or not, the greatly agitated Chaos Residue had entered a frenzied state and began tearing the soldiers apart. I continued using skills while flying to distract it, but...
'I can't hit it. Not unless I close the distance more.'
In a way, this was the biggest weakness of long-range attacks. Physical enhancement-type hunters grew faster as they leveled up, but while the power of long-range skills increased, the projectile speed didn't scale proportionally with that growth. If I had a skill with a Guaranteed Hit effect, things would be different, but such abilities were extremely rare. That was why binding-type hunters were so highly valued. And my own Flame Chains still lacked the power to properly restrain something like this, just as I'd experienced before.
'This is such a buzzkill right after my class change. I already know my limits, you know?' I grumbled at the system in protest, then decided to give it one last try during the remaining time.
'Hoo─' I gathered every bit of mana I could into my legs, then combined it with High-Speed Flight to forcefully push against the air.
Paaaang──!
Sseeeeeeeeek──!
The speed was so extreme it felt like the sound was lagging behind. This was the maximum I could output. The creature, momentarily distracted by the soldiers, didn't even notice me closing in this time. I landed on the horn protruding from its neck, clung on tightly, and began stabbing with my greatsword infused with Flame Slash.
Puuuk─!
Penetration. I didn't forget to feed it the fireball I'd been condensing in the air for a long time either.
Peopeopeopeopeong─!
The fireball synergized with the combat form of my Flame Armor, and massive flames dyed the entire space around us a vivid crimson.
"Kwoooooooor!!"
'Good. At least it can feel pain.' Feeling pain caused its muscles to contract severely and restricted its movements. The way it flailed about trying to put out the fire showed it also possessed survival instincts. It wasn't some emotionless, tearless monster beyond comprehension, so I felt a bit of my fear lift.
Puk puk puk puk puk─! I wanted to leave as many Flame Marks as possible, so I focused solely on stabbing. Bulge─
'Huh?!' I'd thought I was safe behind its horn, in its blind spot, and wouldn't be attacked easily. But suddenly, long feeler-like things sprouted from its body like a snail's antennae and instantly wrapped around my limbs.
'Ah! Seriously, what kind of freak is this?!' Compared to this thing, the 'Fang' from before was child's play. In the end, I was caught in its grasp and mercilessly crushed.
Pasasak─
Crack─
─ Krrrrrr!
It laughed with a sinister grin as it crushed me at will. Even as the flames I'd created spread from its hand up its arm, it didn't seem to care. A chill ran down my spine.
HP: 11 / 349
'You're laughing?! Eat this!' But the stacked Flame Marks had already far exceeded five.
Flame Explosion
With the explosion, black flames ignited across the creature's body and surged violently into the sky. 'Die! Die! Quest clear in one shot!' The monster that took my strongest ultimate skill slowly turned to ash starting from the hand gripping me, then two-thirds of its massive torso was blown away. Especially from the center of its body—the origin of the flames—all the way to its head was cleanly erased. Anyone would have thought it was an instant kill.
'Got it!' Kujijijik─
"Clack?!"
But after a brief delay, the body that should have been annihilated began to slowly regenerate, wriggling back to its original form.
'What kind of insane monster is this?!' Kwajik──!
And that was my last memory of this class advancement quest attempt.
*
"Clack clack!!"
'Ugh! Seriously!' I woke up lying on the ground and couldn't help but feel furious. The fact that I hadn't wanted to take the challenge was already in the past, but regeneration? 'I definitely erased its core. Does it have a separate nucleus like I do?' Or perhaps it was a lifeform with a completely different structure from anything I could imagine.
'If it doesn't have a vital point like a nucleus... then I'd have to completely annihilate its body in a single attack, or reduce its maximum health with Flame Explosion to kill it.' It was far more troublesome than I'd expected. The biggest problem was that its physical abilities were overwhelmingly superior to mine, making it extremely difficult to land skills. I'd need to either grow my binding abilities, expand the range of Flame Explosion, or obtain a Provocation skill to distract it.
'Hmm... this is a real headache.'
I staggered forward aimlessly, lost in thought. Then a sudden question occurred to me, and I asked the system.
'Hey! You proceeded with the quest on your own! Shouldn't there be some kind of reward?!'
It was a perfectly reasonable request. For whatever reason, the system arbitrarily overriding my choices was truly outrageous.
'If I kill that Chaos Residue or whatever, there should be some kind of─'
Before I could even finish, a message appeared. As if to say, I get it, so shut up.
Defeating a 'Chaos Residue' from another dimension through the channel grants one reward and one positive effect.
'Ooh! Two things?!' I'd only asked on a whim, but it seemed the rewards had already been prepared.
One of the rewards is the restoration of Trait [100].
'Hmm...? Does that mean it'll restore my 94 remaining lives?!'
Currently, among the source abilities possessed by Infernal Boneblade Pyromancer Ilwol, the possibility related to death is extremely low. Therefore, only one life can be restored.
'Whoa! It's real?!' Without realizing it, I hunched forward and clenched my fist tightly. I still had 94 lives left, but since they'd become fuel for Madness Exploding Bullet, the more lives the better.
However, the maximum number of lives that can be restored cannot exceed 100.
'Hmm─ well, since the trait is literally called [100], I can understand that. Anyway, it's all good!' Then another question arose.
'Then if I raise my possibility regarding death, will the reward increase to two or even three?'
The concept of possibility is variable, so I cannot say for certain. However, the likelihood would certainly increase.
'Ooh, nice, nice. Then what's the other reward?'
Most of the other dimensions connected through the channel are worlds already devoured by evil gods. This will lower the evil god's control and raise your fame.
'...... Wait a second. Something feels off.' I stroked my chin for a moment, lost in thought, then asked again.
'That thing about lowering the evil god's control... does that mean the evil god will find out about it too?'
The probability is high.
'Then... won't that evil god end up hating me?'
......
'Hey! How is that a good thing?! I could end up getting killed over this!' My temper flared and I raised my voice, but then another question came to mind.
'But why is lowering the evil god's control in that world considered a positive effect? It has nothing to do with our world, right? Just so you know, I have zero interest in getting involved with lifeforms from other dimensions. Dealing with this one is already overwhelming enough.'
The power of evil gods originates from the dark emotions of mana-bearing lifeforms. Lowering their control means weakening that power. It is not unrelated to your goals.
'?!' It felt like I'd been hit in the head with a hammer. So that's how it was. It wasn't unrelated to our world after all.
'Then the place I went to must be a dimension that suffered from the Blue Eye or the Seven-Headed Dragon.' But after that, the system gave no further answers.
Step─ step─
Even while walking deep in thought, I didn't forget to spread my senses to their maximum and scan the surroundings. As I walked in a slightly calmer state, I discovered something.
'Oh? There they are.'
I ran straight over. There lay the corpses of Ju Ye-seul and Nam Yong-seok, abandoned and alone. A short distance away, the ground was soaked with a pool of blood—probably where other monsters had been.
'Whether monster or human, it seems all living things are drawn to this area. I won't need to gather them myself.' Since there was nothing I could do right now, I nodded and continued on my way.
'Is the flow of time different?' The time that had passed during the quest challenge didn't seem to be reflected in reality. My re-summon time had been reduced to three hours with this class change, but nearly two hours still remained until then.
I gradually recovered my mentality and soon began exploring the area using Lightning Step. Before long, I discovered something else.
'This is a bit random. Why is there a tree here...'
A single tiny tree, barely reaching my knee, stood there all by itself. Unfortunately, its sparse leaves suggested the tree wasn't in very good condition.
'What the hell is this, really?' I cautiously approached and reached out to touch the tree. And then─
(...... Hello?)
"Clackclackclackclackclack!!"
'Jeez, you scared me!' The tree had suddenly greeted me.