Leo's Grand Performance
"Jin-soo, did you hear?"
"Yeah. I heard."
Jin-soo and Shin Sua's expressions hardened.
"On the Tower's 200th Floor, you don't have any connection to the Daehan Guild, do you?"
"That's right."
On Floor 100 and Tower Floor 150, Jin-soo had formed a small tie with the Daehan Guild. On the Tower's 200th Floor, though, all he had done was meet a single scout for the briefest moment. More decisively still, aside from Shin Sua, not one person on the 200th floor knew that Jin-soo and the Blood White Sword Demon were the same man.
"Sahyeol Gate is doing to the Daehan Guild exactly what they did to Changseong Gate. It's probably a scheme to draw you out, Jin-soo."
"Most likely."
It was a childish trick, obvious at a glance.
"What are you going to do?"
"If meeting me is what they want so badly, I suppose I ought to grant the wish."
Sahyeol Gate was arrogant. They were convinced that the moment Jin-soo showed himself, victory would be theirs without question. He intended to shatter that pride completely.
"Wouldn't it be better to call the summons?"
Shin Sua trusted him. Even so, Sahyeol Gate's strength was nothing to take lightly, and for a certain, flawless victory, mobilizing the summons would be the wiser course. There was no need for Jin-soo to step forward himself. The summons alone could annihilate something on the level of Sahyeol Gate with ease.
"I'm only planning to take Leo's help."
The Sahyeol Gate disciples who had poured into the Starting City were among the highest-ranked players on the Tower's 200th Floor. Which means their skill levels and stats will be just as high. This was a golden chance to grow the Skill Predation and Stat Predation he shared through Leo.
If their skills and stats are too high, they might not help at all. Leo's Skill Predation and Stat Predation activated only on skills and stats of 500 or below. Even that has its uses. If the predations failed to take, it meant the target was a powerhouse worth forging into an Army Summon. And on top of that, I can secure a massive haul of points and items.
Jin-soo was no player killer. But he was not merciful enough to spare enemies who nursed a grudge against him, stooped to absurd schemes, and all but begged to be killed.
"Will Leo alone be enough?" Shin Sua asked, worry written across her face.
"If things turn dangerous, I'll immediately resummon every summon except the Dragon Tooth Soldiers."
He had no intention of being reckless. Should some unforeseen variable bring a crisis, he only had to recall the summons he had released into the hunting grounds and call them forth again. There'll be a small loss. That much he could easily afford.
"Then it'll be fine."
At his words, Shin Sua's expression eased, reassured.
I doubt I'll even need to resummon them.
Since arriving on the Tower's 200th Floor, Jin-soo had converted countless specialties from his pre-regression experience into skills. Once those converted skills were forcibly locked at level 2,222, the Blessing started growing faster. And the gains from turning specialties into skills did not end there.
I have two status windows.
No one else in the Tower could perform the conversion twice. Jin-soo could. By swapping between his holy-affinity window and his dark-affinity window as he worked, he obtained two copies of the same skill, so that identical skills existed on both. Maybe because those matching skills were locked at the same level—2,222—the Blessing that had been stagnating finally caught fire.
From the moment he reached the 200th floor, the Blessing's growth had quickened. Every one of his stats had hit 1,622, his skill levels had risen to 1,222, and his constitution had climbed to 722.
When is the level lock on class skills and synthesized skills going to show up? He would have settled for even a Blessing-exclusive skill level increase, but regrettably, that had not come this time either. Until it does, I keep growing the Blessing. Even now his summons were throwing themselves into the hunt, and skill conversions he had yet to finish still remained. Until he reached the 300th floor, he could expect the Blessing to grow on every floor.
"Let's move."
"Okay."
Breakfast finished, Jin-soo and Shin Sua rose. Sahyeol Gate's location had already been confirmed through Kkami.
Inside the Daehan Guild's guild house in the 200th Floor Starting City, it looked as if a bomb had gone off. Without warning, Sahyeol Gate's sect master and his finest elites had come and surrounded the place.
"What the hell did we even do to deserve this bullshit!"
"What do we have to do with the Blood White Sword Demon!"
"Isn't it going too far to lump us in with him just because he spoke Korean?"
"What does the Guild Master say? Are they sending support?"
"Support is difficult for now, they say. He's lodging a strong protest with Sahyeol Gate and asking the major guilds from Earth for help."
They could not wage war against Sahyeol Gate. The Daehan Guild's odds of winning were the same as cracking a boulder with an egg. The gap in strength between them was that overwhelming.
"At this rate, aren't we the only ones who are going to die?"
"If they negotiate after we're dead, that means we died for nothing, doesn't it?"
"They should have attacked Changseong Gate instead. Why us, of all people..."
Players of the Daehan Guild trembled with anxiety.
"Hey—won't the Blood White Sword Demon help us? Last time, with Changseong Gate, he stepped in because they'd pinned his crimes on them."
"Right! We're being treated as his accomplices just because he spoke Korean. So he's definitely coming to save us."
"God, I hope so."
"That's the only way we live through this."
They prayed desperately for the Blood White Sword Demon to appear. They knew Sahyeol Gate's true target was not them, but him.
"But this isn't like last time. He showed himself then because he was confident he could win. Now their sect master has dragged every elite martial artist here. Showing up would be a dog's death, plain as day. You really think he'll appear?"
"Yeah. We're all going to die at the hands of Sahyeol Gate's fiends. We're dead."
"They might just threaten us and leave, right?"
"You think they targeted us just because the Blood White Sword Demon spoke Korean? They did it because we're easy. Because we're easy prey. They'll kill us, boast that they've had their revenge, and settle with the guild leadership at some convenient level. We've been thrown away as a discarded card."
Those sunk in despair far outnumbered those who still clung to hope.
"Damn it. If I'd known it would come to this, I never would have joined the Daehan Guild."
"This is all your fault! Your fault!"
The most violent reactions came from those who, below the 200th floor, had not been skilled enough to belong to the Daehan Guild at all. Swayed by the aggressive recruitment of a guild with little power, players who had belonged to other guilds or operated in parties had, in effect, walked themselves to their own graves.
"You said you were fine with it too!"
"You swore you'd pledge your life in loyalty to the Daehan Guild!"
"You thanked me back then—why are you throwing a fit now!"
"You chose this yourself! Don't blame me!"
The inside of the Daehan Guild was a shambles. Survival rose only if they clenched their teeth and fought to win. Instead, clutching hope and despair at once, the guild's players were splitting apart among themselves.
"Guhk!"
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
KRA-BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
From outside the guild house, explosions great and small rolled in on a surge of fierce mana.
"What was that?"
"What's all the commotion?"
"Isn't that the Blood White Sword Demon showing up to fight Sahyeol Gate?"
"For real? Then we're saved!"
A spark of hope flared inside the guild. The first to see the truth of the disturbance were the archers watching Sahyeol Gate's forces from the roof and the windows.
"Huh?"
"What is that?"
"What in the world is going on?"
Bewildered cries burst one after another from the archers who had witnessed the cause.
"What? Wasn't it the Blood White Sword Demon?"
"Why are you acting like that! Just say it already!"
Pressed by the guild members, the archers opened their mouths with reluctant faces.
"No—it's not the Blood White Sword Demon. Some cat showed up."
"And that cat is wiping out Sahyeol Gate's players all by itself."
"I can't believe it, and I'm seeing it with my own eyes."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Come look for yourselves."
At their words, the Daehan Guild's players crowded to the windows as one. What met their eyes was Sahyeol Gate's elite being swept aside, utterly one-sided, by a black-furred kitten no bigger than a palm.
"Kill that damn kitten right now!"
"Mages, use your area attacks!"
"What the hell are the healers and shamans doing! Use binds or curses!"
"Aaagh! Why are you casting a curse on me!"
"You didn't even land the bind! My feet are stuck!"
"It's too small and too fast—I can't hit it!"
"Nyaaaaang!"
Pap-pap-pap!
Leo was rampaging in spectacular fashion among hundreds of players.
Incredible.
Jin-soo watched in admiration as Leo carved through Sahyeol Gate's ranks. He had sent the kitten in because it was a golden chance to raise the levels of Skill Predation and Stat Predation. Even so, Leo's safety came first, and he had finished every preparation to recall him the instant danger closed in.
I never thought there wouldn't even be a need to recall him.
Leo wove through the players in every direction, toying with them.
"M-my strength is draining!"
"My mana!"
"My legs gave out. I can't even stand."
"Uwaaaaagh!"
"Bwoooom!"
"Guhk! My mana's backlashing!"
Leo sprayed Skill Predation and Stat Predation without restraint, and Sahyeol Gate's elites collapsed at a rapid pace. Healers, mages, and shamans lost strength and stamina, legs trembling as they sank helplessly to the ground. Warriors, assassins, and archers, once their durability and mental stats dropped, destroyed themselves—bodies bursting under the runaway of unstable heretical martial arts, mana lashing back, or minds seized by madness.
Warriors and tanks fared somewhat better. Even they, however, had trained in the same unstable heretical arts. Their mana did not run wild, but once the balance of their stats broke, their fundamentals collapsed and their combat power plummeted.
To think Leo's combat power had risen this far.
He had seen something like it once, when they brought down Sahyeol Gate's branch in the Starting City. The players Leo faced now were, on the whole, of a higher caliber, and far greater in number. Because he's so small, more enemies actually work in his favor.
Leo moved like lightning in a frame no bigger than a palm, and accidents piled up—Sahyeol Gate players casting attacks and curses on their own comrades, or swinging blades into them.
"You little cat bastard!"
Not every player of Sahyeol Gate was being toyed with. A handful of supreme masters lightly slipped Leo's cat punches and answered with strikes lethal enough to chill the blood.
"Nyaaang!"
Thwack!
Smart.
Leo ignored those masters and concentrated on the easy prey scattered all around. Once he slipped into the gaps between their own players, the supreme masters could no longer swing their weapons or loose their skills freely. One mistake, and they might slaughter their own subordinates with their own hands.
"Nya, nya, nya!"
Pap-pap-pap!
Leo ravaged them at his leisure, utterly delighted.
"Hrgh!"
Whoosh!
Unable to endure being toyed with any longer, one of the masters swung a sword that poured out streams of sword qi.
Thwack!
Leo twisted in a flash and vanished among the players.
Shhk!
"Aaaagh!"
The sword, heavy with sword qi, brought disaster—severing the arm of a blameless Sahyeol Gate player.