Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Off to Steal Again Today
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It felt just like that.
A sensation like looking at himself from a few seconds ago.
The scene unfolding right now was exactly that.
Hand gestures.
Footwork.
Movement path.
Even the trajectory of the blade's swing.
Everything was being perfectly reproduced.
A black silhouette that looked exactly like himself.
His shadow, to be precise.
Kuooooh!
A thunderous roar.
Whether enraged by its wounds or not, the giant brown bear charged with even greater ferocity.
Only then did Luke snap out of it. He hurriedly climbed a nearby tree and reviewed the situation.
'Was that...?'
Shadow's Grudge.
It was the only equipment he was currently wearing that fit.
There was no other way his shadow would suddenly leap out like that.
'Like some kind of Shadow Boxer.'
Just as the equipment description stated, the attack had gone off twice in succession.
Through his own shadow, no less.
'It said a certain probability, but it triggered right from the start... Doesn't that mean the proc rate is secretly pretty high?'
It could be.
But it was too early to be certain.
'Let's test it a bit more for now.'
And conveniently, there was a giant brown bear right in front of him with absurdly tenacious vitality.
It was the perfect test subject for Shadow's Grudge.
'Just gotta stay alert.'
With that, Luke launched himself forward.
"Kuooooh!"
At the same time, the tree he'd been on toppled in the opposite direction.
A little longer, and he would've gone down with it.
Shoooosh!
Luke swiftly rolled across the ground and dove toward the bear.
Pshuk!
Once.
Puk!
Twice.
Pupupuk!
Dozens of times in rapid succession.
He inflicted wounds at a speed the bear's eyes couldn't even track.
And in the process, lightning manifested.
But the brown bear, with its high lightning resistance, endured the elemental damage from Braincleaver.
'Tch, this is why mobs are such a pain.'
They often came with all sorts of resistances based on their innate habits or traits.
Their physical and magical defenses were pretty high by nature, too.
'Right now, more than Braincleaver...'
Shadow's Grudge was proving far more helpful.
As evidence, the shadow had emerged roughly once every five attacks so far.
He kept experimenting, and it continued the same way afterward.
About one in five times.
In other words, around a 20% chance.
Luke couldn't help but be astonished at the unexpectedly high rate.
'Not confirmed yet, but still...'
This was an incredibly high proc rate.
"Kuh... Kuooooh..."
Meanwhile, the giant brown bear was still clinging to life.
Despite severe bleeding from countless gashes, it stubbornly stood its ground.
A testament to its immense health and defense.
Plus, the 100% bonus human damage wasn't triggering right now.
Against monsters, his firepower was bound to fall short.
'But if I actively leverage Shadow's Grudge...?'
For example, the bleeding on the bear right now.
If he could keep stacking DoT effects like that, couldn't he melt its HP regardless of defense?
He still had some of the poison absorbed from the poison user earlier.
Common poison applied to Braincleaver!
Poison effect added to Braincleaver!
Poison damage added to Braincleaver!
'Until now, I'd only apply it to disposable throwing daggers...'
But he could enchant his main weapon directly like this.
The poison's duration wasn't too short, either.
If he landed hits before it wore off, he could stack the poison effect multiple times.
Luke made that judgment and accelerated his movements.
Moving with singular focus on landing his blade.
Quickly.
Precisely.
Without gaps.
Filling the air with attacks.
Giant brown bear poisoned!
First stack.
Giant brown bear poisoned!
Poison stacked!
Poison damage doubled every second!
Second stack.
Giant brown bear poisoned!
Poison stacked!
Poison stacked!
......
He relentlessly hammered away from all sides until the poison enchantment wore off.
'Shadow Step makes it even easier to keep my balance.'
Meaning he could handle even the most awkward, hard-to-maintain poses.
His attack styles and patterns became even more varied as a result.
And with Shadow's Grudge proccing on top, that onslaught doubled in intensity.
Puk!
Puk!
Every fifth attack became two strikes.
Was he swinging in a trance like that?
Sometime during the frenzy, the common poison enchantment on Braincleaver had faded.
'Good, one more time...'
Luke tried to re-enchant with the poison essence.
But then.
Thud!
Before he could, the brown bear collapsed first.
In the end, it couldn't withstand the stacked poison damage and died.
"......"
Back in his human-slaying days, reminiscent of the Grim Reaper.
He'd shown superhuman prowess in PK, living up to his title.
But against monsters, he'd always been comparatively underwhelming.
Especially non-humanoids. Yet what was this scene?
Not even Worst Criminal in History had triggered, and he'd taken down the giant brown bear with ridiculous ease.
'Won't work on poison-resistant ones, but...'
Everything else could be handled this way.
Realizing that, Luke stood blankly before the bear's corpse, staring at his gloves.
'This thing.'
Shadow's Grudge.
The ability confirmed in this fight was nothing short of...
'Straight-up broken, isn't it?'
After that, wild animals kept emerging.
Starting with the giant brown bear, then giant wolves, giant deer, giant lynxes, giant boars, and so on.
Mostly oversized wildlife, double the normal size.
'No really tough ones yet, but...'
Slash!
So far, he'd been handling them with plenty of room to spare.
'I can really feel it.'
Shadow's Grudge.
How utterly broken this gear was.
He was already feeling it against monsters.
'If it's this good on mobs, how much better against players or NPCs?'
He might even dominate harder than in his prime.
'Who knew such a busted rare item existed? Good thing I joined the war.'
Luke thought that to himself as he pulled out his water flask.
Gulp gulp!
After all that hiking, his stamina was pretty drained.
'Maybe rest here a bit.'
The sun hadn't even set yet.
Luke quenched his thirst and sat on a nearby rock.
At that moment.
"Hah... hah..."
He spotted the tanuki spirit approaching, panting heavily.
'This guy's worn out too.'
It looked as parched as he felt.
But there was no river nearby.
Luke reluctantly poured some water into the flask's cap and set it down nearby.
"Here, drink up."
"......"
"I'm not gonna do anything, so relax and drink, man."
Its hesitation was brief.
Soon, it approached the cap and lapped at the water inside.
Must've been really thirsty.
Luke watched the spirit guzzle it down.
"Don't you have anywhere to go? I saved you and all, but is it okay to keep following me like this?"
"......"
"What, no family or anything?"
Flinch!
Its head drooped.
Maybe it lost family along the way.
The tanuki spirit's mood sobered instantly.
'Did that warlock kill them too?'
Possible.
"You've had it rough, huh."
He naturally extended his hand.
"......!"
The spirit panicked.
'Oops.'
Only then did Luke realize what he was doing.
But.
'Huh?'
For some reason, it didn't fully recoil this time.
Smooth.
He could stroke its fluffy fur directly.
So soft.
And comforting, too.
Tremble tremble!
It was still shaking a bit, though.
Still, the little guy had mustered some courage.
'Kinda cute.'
Just a little.
"......Ko."
"Huh?"
"......Poco."
"Poco?"
And then.
The spirit made its first vocalization.
Poco.
If he wasn't hearing things, that's what it said.
'Is that how tanuki spirits sound?'
No idea.
He'd never heard one before.
Never looked up a video, either.
"Anyway, that's wild."
"Po, poco."
"No clue what you're saying, but."
"Poco!"
"Oh? Raising your voice, huh? So you understand people after all?"
"Pocopo."
Once it started vocalizing, it kept chattering away.
Luke chuckled and petted its fur every which way.
'How does it fit all those items in there, anyway? Doesn't feel like anything's inside when I touch it.'
Even more mysterious up close.
"So, what should I call you?"
"Po, poco."
"Tanuki or spirit feels off. Hmm!"
Luke pondered.
But no good names came to mind.
So he went with something easy.
"Okay, you're Poco from now on."
"Poco?"
"Yeah, Poco. From your cry."
"Po, poco!"
"Oh, you like it?"
"Poco!"
"Yeah, yeah."
It thrashed as if vehemently refusing, but oblivious Luke just grinned and petted its head more.
'Status window?'
Thanks to the affinity boost?
It was affecting things like back in Starting Village.
Poco.
He could now view the spirit creature's status like a summoned beast.
'I never tamed it or anything... Did it open up to me this time?'
Likely.
'Check achievements later.'
Luke checked Poco's status first.
His jaw dropped.
Poco's status window, which he'd never seen before.
He'd somewhat expected the grade and abilities.
But not the stats.
Mana 147. Luck 104.
'L-Level 2 has these stats?'
He was beyond shocked. It was jaw-dropping.