The God of Control's One-Coin Clear: Street of Murder (1)

The power surging from the achievements wrapped around Taeyang’s body.

A faint blue energy lingered around his hand.

“So this is mana.”

The energy that had flowed through his body whenever he used Skillization, the electromagnetic force of Transcendental Jin-gak, and the star cluster effect of Starburst High Kick—they were all phenomena born from mana surging violently.

All this time, Taeyang had been using mana indirectly through Skillization without even realizing what it was.

Mana, or magical power.

A non-scientific ability that only existed in fantasy novels and martial arts stories.

Naturally, unlike the other dimensions that served as the setting for Dantalion, Earth had never possessed mana or magical power.

But inside the dimensional labyrinth Dantalion, mana existed.

That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why Dantalion gave the players a small courtesy.

Once they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠collected fifteen achievements, it would awaken their ‘sense’ for mana.

Thanks to that, players could finally handle mana and magical power like the NPCs.

‘But this isn’t really a courtesy at all.’

It simply put them on equal footing with the NPCs who already knew how to wield it.

If you compared it to something, it was like freed Black people jumping into early American capitalist society long after the game had already begun.

At the time of emancipation, Black people had lived as slaves and entered capitalist society without a single penny of capital.

White people, meanwhile, had already converted their labor into capital and built solid foundations.

The result?

Even in modern times, the upper class in America is mostly white, while the lower class is mostly Black.

Of course, there are exceptions.

The situation for players was exactly the same.

The more achievements they collected, the higher their stat numbers rose equally, but because they were clumsy at utilizing magical power, players inevitably fell behind NPCs in combat strength.

Taeyang’s current pace could be considered record-breaking among players.

But the dimensional labyrinth was vast, and there were countless NPCs who were already familiar with magical power and had been strong even before entering the labyrinth according to the setting.

The NPCs currently playing at the top ranks of the labyrinth were likely moving at a similar pace to Taeyang, or even faster.

“Still, I opened my mana sense on the fourth floor. That’s definitely meaningful, right?”

The sooner you obtained it, the faster you could adapt.

Besides, since Taeyang already knew how to use Skillization, the environment was perfect for him to quickly grasp mana manipulation.

‘Adapt as fast as possible. And first things first.’

Taeyang gathered his energy and collected the remaining byproducts.

Besides the seven achievements, there were more rewards from this stage.

The tattered rags draped over the heavenly clothes.

They were the shed skin of Aksharon.

And.

“This is the real prize.”

Taeyang pulled out a single card.

The reward from defeating the giant serpent Aksharon.

A card. And a skill card at that.

The skill’s effect was to gain the regenerative power of the giant serpent Aksharon for three seconds.

It was the same regenerative power that had instantly healed wounds so deep you could see straight through them.

“The cooldown is twenty minutes, but isn’t this basically an extra life?”

The attached options were also excellent.

Toughness +2, Blood Drain +1.

Just the fact that two stat points were invested into Toughness was an incredible boon.

Toughness provided synergy that corrected HP and physical defense every two points.

In other words, simply equipping the Regeneration skill card would trigger the synergy effect.

On top of that, there was the Blood Drain synergy that restored HP in proportion to damage dealt.

Taeyang equipped the Regeneration card into his slot.

At the same time, a system window appeared.

The fourth card slot had been unlocked.

The condition for unlocking the fourth card slot was to fill all three previous slots.

It was practically a freebie.

‘The important part is the remaining card slots.’

The fifth card slot opened when you matched four synergies, while the sixth and seventh required special methods.

‘Well, that’s still a long way off.’

After finishing his preparations, Taeyang walked past Andromalius.

Reinforcement, Healing, Gold doors.

Taeyang entered the Healing door.

* * *

Player Yurik walked quickly through the deserted streets at dawn.

His steps were almost a run as he scanned his surroundings like a hyena.

Various scenes flashed through his vision.

Apartments made of baked brick.

Well-maintained roads, fountains, and carriages parked along the sides.

It looked like a street from medieval or early modern Europe.

Within the street that retained its antique charm, Yurik anxiously read the building number plates.

10-1A.

The next building was 10-2A.

“The escape exit was supposed to be in the 14-3C block…”

The escape exit changed locations as time passed.

The information came from a guy who had cleared the stage a week ago, so it wasn’t very reliable, but it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was Yurik’s last lifeline.

This was the 10-1A block.

His destination was the 14-3C block.

It was still far.

Or was it?

Yurik shook his head violently.

He had been walking absentmindedly for so long that he had lost all sense of direction and distance.

At that moment, the ground beneath Yurik’s feet flipped over along with the bricks and grabbed his ankle.

“Damn it!”

The relentless grip of the desert.

“Where do you think you’re going~ friend.”

A bald man covered in tattoos from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

The reason Yurik was in this situation was because of that bastard.

He was a shaman who could freely manipulate the earth.

Yurik gritted his teeth as he looked at the red light floating above the shaman’s head.

Red light.

It meant the player targeting him.

Fifth floor stage, Street of Murder.

Players had to kill three other players.

At regular intervals, a blue or red light would appear above players’ heads.

The rules of this stage were to run away when a blue light appeared above your head, and to hunt down and kill players with blue lights when a red light appeared above yours.

Resentment flooded Yurik’s face.

“I already killed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all three! Damn it! Why now, at the very end!”

Yurik had killed all three players.

All he had to do now was find the escape exit and get out, but the player targeting him at the last moment was this damn shaman.

The ground tightened violently around his ankle as if it would never let him go.

“Ugh.”

Yurik quickly formed hand seals.

Trauma Wind.

It was a mental disruption spell.

The chances of it working properly were low.

Because he had formed it in a hurry, the precision of the mana arrangement was poor.

Still, it should buy enough time to turn the situation around.

Yurik endured the pain in his ankle and completed the hand seals.

A wind that stirred up bad memories swept over the shaman.

The tattoo-covered shaman staggered.

Now.

Taking advantage of the gap when the sand holding his ankle crumbled, Yurik dashed forward.

His ankle was creaking and clearly something was wrong, but ankle health couldn’t take priority over his life.

“14-3C block… Ah, fuck!”

If he wasted time looking for the escape exit now, he would die.

Yurik ran into a nearby building.

It might be someone’s territory already, but it was less scary than that damn shaman.

“Please be empty. Please!”

Boom!

Whether heaven had heard Yurik’s prayer, there was no sign of anyone inside the building.

Yurik quickly searched the building.

“Recovery items. Bandages. Potions. Anything, please!”

Because he had been caught by the damn shaman’s earth, his ankle was half destroyed.

Once his excitement died down a little, the pain started to set in.

If he had been running around frantically it might have been different, but now that he was aware of the pain, he needed to do something about it.

Yurik dragged his trembling body and searched the building.

That was one of the characteristics of the Street of Murder stage.

Supply items to assist players in combat were randomly scattered inside buildings.

Recovery items like potions that rapidly healed wounds or bandages that alleviated pain when wrapped, as well as equipment like shields and swords.

Of course, some buildings had nothing at all, and in extremely lucky cases, you could even pick up an artifact.

Players had to use these supplies efficiently to survive and kill each other.

“Found it!”

Unfortunately it wasn’t a potion, but a bandage.

But at this point, even a bandage was a blessing.

With trembling hands, Yurik tightly wrapped the bandage around his ankle.

So that the muscles and bones would stay in place.

At the same time, he chanted a spell.

Acetom’s Touch.

A simple healing spell.

It had almost no effect on improving his condition, but it was still better than nothing.

At that moment, the wall of the building Yurik had entered exploded.

“So you were hiding here? Prey.”

“You bald bastard!”

It was the shaman.

Yurik quickly ran up to the second floor, but.

“You dare insult my baldness?”

The staircase on the opposite side was already blocked by earth.

The bald tattooed shaman muttered with a vicious expression.

“I can tolerate being ignored, but I cannot forgive anyone who insults my baldness!”

Yurik desperately looked around.

His eyes landed on a small window.

Yurik threw himself through the window.

Crash!

After rolling once on the ground, Yurik didn’t even bother checking his surroundings and immediately ran into the building across the street.

Blocks. Location.

Such thoughts had already left his mind.

Clunk!

At that moment, a huge light burst from inside the building Yurik had entered.

Clunk!

At the same time, the shaman also entered the building.

“No matter how much you run, the earth will tremble like this. You worm.”

An earth spear shot forward.

From the shaman’s perspective, he had naturally assumed the doll was Yurik and fired at him.

But as a result, the earth spear was aimed directly at Taeyang.

“What the hell is this?”

Taeyang, who had just entered the stage, didn’t even properly read the system window before swiping it away and lifting his leg.

Starburst High Kick.

A cluster of star dust gathered around Taeyang’s foot.

‘It feels different from before. I can sense it.’

The flow of mana wrapping around his foot was clear.

Taeyang instinctively grabbed the mana that was trying to scatter.

It was a simple and crude method of control.

But the difference between not interfering with mana at all and interfering even a little was enormous.

Kwaaaaaang!

The first floor of the apartment was half destroyed.

“Wait… what the hell?”

The destructive power was this different?

The dust rose and then slowly settled.

A system window appeared before Taeyang.