Chapter 119
Chapter 119
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: New Record (3)
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“To change my way of thinking? What does that mean?”
Theresia’s expression made it clear she had no idea what Yuri was talking about, so he looked up at the sky.
Gauging the time from the sun that had just passed its zenith, Yuri thought.
‘About ten hours left, roughly?’
He’d need to take it easy preparing and head to register his points before sunset.
But...
‘First, I’ve got to do something about this girl staring at me like she’s gonna drill a hole in my face.’
Her gaze was so intense that if she got curious two more times, she really might poke a hole right through him.
Yuri smirked as he met Theresia’s crimson eyes.
“Follow me.”
With that, he started walking.
“...?”
The group stared at each other for a moment before hurrying after him.
Without even glancing back at his pursuers, Yuri spoke.
“I suddenly had this inspiration. Up until now, we’ve been so busy dodging traps once they triggered...”
“...”
“But what if we trigger them while already avoiding them in advance?”
Arin and Boppi’s faces said, *What the hell are you talking about?*
Theresia, who knew exactly what the Mechanism Breakthrough Quest entailed, went rigid.
“That’s... impossible.”
As far as Theresia knew, the traps here were triggered by detecting vibrations in the ground.
From the moment you entered the mechanism, every step forward.
Every single time you took a step, it sensed the vibration and activated the traps installed in that section.
So even if you got ahead of a trap before it triggered, you’d still set off the ones nearby every time you stepped.
Plus, you had to trigger all the traps for them to be scored, making Yuri’s method impossible for a perfect score.
“Impossible, my ass.”
Yuri said that as he stopped in front of a cave.
A red entrance.
It was the 7-Star Cave.
“Hold this for a sec.”
“Snack time?”
Boppi absentmindedly took the pure white treasured sword Yuri handed over.
Having handed off his sword, Yuri looked around.
Then he scurried to one side and picked up a large rock.
With three rocks clutched in each hand, Yuri faced the firmly shut iron door of the 7-Star Cave again, and memories from not long ago flooded back.
* * *
Yuri stood before the 7-Star Mechanism Cave.
His finger hovered just one centimeter above the button to activate the watch.
If he pressed it now, the challenge would begin immediately.
But Yuri couldn’t bring himself to push it, frozen like a statue.
The reason was a nagging unease in his chest.
‘Why am I feeling this?’
To shake off the inexplicable discomfort, Yuri calmly sorted through his thoughts.
‘The framework for 7-Star and 2-Star should be the same at the base.’
Vibrations detected to trigger traps.
The difficulty would differ based on whether they were lethal or non-lethal.
‘If my guess is right, taking first place won’t be hard.’
Yuri was confident he could claim first.
The current leader, Gunter Rider, had set 188 points.
Surpassing that with a monumental record was 100% doable.
‘At least 190 or above.’
This confidence wasn’t like the naive delusions of fools who’d challenged 7-Star and died.
It was calculated, based on dissecting every detail of the 2-Star mechanism day and night.
He knew his current abilities clearly and had weighed them against 7-Star’s difficulty.
Even with that certainty screaming he could score 190 or higher, Yuri still felt unsatisfied.
‘Just? ...Ah!’
That’s when he realized it.
The nagging feeling stemmed from that word, *just*.
“...Just the 190s?”
The dissatisfaction had kept him from pressing the button.
Fortunately, it bought him time for inspiration.
Or maybe his instincts had sensed it and stopped him.
*Drop.*
Yuri heard a faint hallucination, like a droplet falling in his mind.
It was the final drop of pondering into the pool of information he’d built obsessing over this quest.
And then.
*Splash.*
The pool, already brimming to overflow, finally spilled over with that last drop.
*Whoosh.*
Carving a new stream.
In that moment, Yuri felt a rush of euphoria, his stuffy mind clearing refreshingly.
“Aaah...”
Inspiration.
It’s a word for sudden flashes, stimuli, or ideas.
But Yuri saw it differently.
To him, inspiration was the new path revealed only after obsessing over one thing, pondering relentlessly, and analyzing it from every angle.
And now, that very new path lay before him.
‘I see.’
He’d been thinking wrong all this time.
Yuri smiled faintly.
“...This was the real trap.”
Too focused on repeating the Mechanism Breakthrough Quest, he’d fallen into a thinking trap without realizing.
“Why did I assume I had to dodge triggered traps?”
It sounded insane, but that was his entire inspiration.
He turned and gazed at the vast vista below the cliff.
Yohan had erased all traces now, but from his old hideout on the cliff, the view had been like this.
The memory naturally brought up the day Yohan walked on air.
He’d thought it amazing then, but mastering martial body techniques now made him feel its profundity to his bones.
A realm he couldn’t even dream of yet.
But while 100% replication was impossible...
‘With my current aura, I could manage about... 5%.’
And 5% was plenty.
If he could pull off even that much, every trap in 7-Star would be useless.
“I need practice.”
Muttering that, Yuri descended the cliff.
*Click.*
And activated the 2-Star mechanism watch again.
* * *
The plan born from that belated inspiration was a resounding success, as expected.
And now.
For the one girl dying of curiosity, Yuri planned to recreate that triumphant moment.
“Watch closely.”
With those words, he activated his watch.
*Grind!*
The 7-Star Cave’s iron door flew open.
*Whoosh!*
Yuri shot inside like a gust of wind.
Theresia freaked out.
“危险?!”
Her startled cry came too late, a mere yelp.
Her pupils shook as she stared at where Yuri had stood moments ago.
‘Going in without even a weapon!’
Yuri’s sword was right there in Boppi’s hands, who stood dumbstruck.
To Theresia, who knew how deadly it was inside, this was pure madness.
But what could she do?
It was already done.
All she could do now was pray he came out safe.
Meanwhile, inside the cave, Yuri.
His eyes were calm.
Soon, a pig-nose fork appeared ahead.
Left closed, right open.
Identical to 2-Star.
Without hesitation, Yuri veered right, and lightning surged from his body.
Redner Family Secret Martial Body Technique.
Thunder Wings.
*Crackle!*
With Thunder Wings active, Yuri leaped into the air, passing through the right passage.
His speed was so blinding, it looked like a streak of lightning stretching out.
In an instant, past the entrance, Yuri fired Maflow’s spider threads widely backward along his path.
*Thwip.*
They stuck to floor, walls, ceiling.
Everywhere.
At the same time, Yuri quickly assessed his surroundings.
‘That’s the activation point.’
With that thought, strong vibrations rippled through the Maflow spider threads.
Everywhere they touched.
Vibrations from Maflow disrupting air currents.
And because of that...
*Grind.*
The entrance behind him sealed, and traps triggered throughout the space he’d passed.
*Clang!*
*Boom!*
Yuri’s eyes gleamed at the sight.
‘Still bullshit-level even on second look.’
As expected, 7-Star used the same vibration detection as 2-Star.
Just at a horrific difficulty.
Traps that activated with single-minded intent to kill intruders.
Even Yuri thought they looked tough.
‘No wonder people die.’
The dark red stains at the entrance spoke volumes, no deep thought needed.
Beyond this entryway, who knew how many deadly traps awaited.
But none of that mattered to Yuri.
*Whoosh.*
As his airborne form was about to land.
He tossed one of the rocks he’d brought.
His sole met it perfectly, as if waiting.
Redner Family Secret Martial Body Technique.
Cloud Step.
The first ultimate technique of the Redner family, said to let one tread on clouds and sky at mastery.
Thanks to grinding this Mechanism Breakthrough Quest, Yuri’s Cloud Step proficiency had risen.
Enough to mimic about 5% of the miracle Yohan had shown back then.
*Whoosh.*
*Crackle!*
Kicking the pebble, Yuri soared again, lightning-wrapped as he sped forward.
At the same time.
*Shatter!*
*Boom!*
*Thud!*
The Maflow spider threads fired backward vibrated again, setting off a barrage of traps.
The horrific ones that had claimed countless lives until now.
But today, they struck empty air futilely.
And so.
*Tap!*
*Whoosh.*
*Crackle!*
Another pebble kicked, reaching the midpoint.
*Tap!*
The third pebble tossed, and he was halfway through the exit passage.
Then the final fourth pebble.
*Zzzzt.*
Yuri slid smoothly through the now half-open exit.
Behind him, myriad traps were activating, but he’d already passed the iron door.
*Bang!*
Emerging, Yuri immediately hit the watch’s stop button.
“...?!”
Theresia’s eyes bulged as Yuri emerged so soon after entering.
Seeing her, Yuri flicked the remaining pebbles from each hand backward and said.
“Totally possible. If you never touch the ground even once.”
Only because Yuri had mastered Cloud Step.
And because it had reached its current level.
*Pat pat.*
Brushing off the stone dust from his hands, above Yuri’s head.
The single hand on the record-measuring watch at the 7-Star entrance...
Stopped at the fourth notch.
Theresia murmured, entranced.
“...Four seconds.”
The leaderboard wasn’t lying.
He’d really cleared the 7-Star Mechanism Cave in four seconds.
Snapping out of her daze belatedly, she realized something and yelped.
“Wait?! You just went into 7-Star again? But 7-Star only allows one challenge!”
Yet Yuri had casually gone in and out.
To her question, Yuri replied nonchalantly.
“Challenges for record count only once, but going in again after succeeding is fine.”
His tone suggested this wasn’t his first time re-entering.
Theresia gawked at him in disbelief.
‘He... went in again?’
Who even thinks of re-entering that place?
Others made a huge fuss just surviving one try.
But Yuri talked like he’d gone for a stroll.
While Theresia stared blankly at him.
*Slide-click!*
The 7-Star score sheet popped out.
Unlike 2-Star’s, it was black, with high-quality paper.
Seeing Yuri pick it up, Arin and Boppi scurried over.
“That the paper with the score?”
“Yeah.”
“How much?”
“Naturally, full...”
Yuri froze mid-“full points.”
A small mutter escaped instead.
“...Huh?”
“Huh? What?”
“Hungry?”
Not hearing well, Boppi and Arin peeked over his shoulder at the score sheet.
Yuri’s hand trembled.
On the black paper he held, a golden line elegantly formed a single character.
【Fail.】
The brushstroke radiated masterful fury, condensed to the extreme.