Chapter 25
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Stone Skin and the Sling
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Ah, this is—
“Die!”
A long naginata thrust straight toward me in a straight line.
Even with an axe blade at the tip, making it pretty heavy, Lee Joo-hyuk wielded it as lightly as if it were an ordinary spear. As expected from someone who could take on three thousand foes single-handedly.
‘Sorry, but I can’t afford so much as a scratch here.’
I spun to the side to dodge. Running backward wasn’t an option.
His attack range was about three meters. Standing firm in the middle of the sparring arena like this and swinging his weapon left me with barely two meters of space to evade.
‘If I retreat here, I’ll be backed into a corner right away. I need to dodge sideways as much as possible. Luckily, the naginata’s weight keeps its attack speed from being all that fast. I can handle this.’
He seemed a little surprised by my unfamiliar footwork at first, but honestly, he wasn’t that tough an opponent. After all, I’d pierced through shields several times bigger than that thing.
In fact, as I moved quickly and lobbed darts at key moments, Lee Joo-hyuk floundered and fell back. There was no helping it when trying to block darts with a heavy weapon like a naginata.
Thanks to that, for over five minutes, he couldn’t close in recklessly and had to devote all his focus to fending off my darts. No doubt it was driving him up the wall.
“You little shit...!”
Sure enough, he was starting to lose his cool. A gap should open soon.
‘If I keep this up, I can win without a hitch?’
That’s what I was thinking when suddenly Lee Joo-hyuk gripped the end of the pole and twisted his body with all his might. His muscles writhed grotesquely, and then the naginata came flying at me like a bolt of lightning.
‘You maniac! You can swing a naginata gripping just the tip? What’s your strength stat?’
Grabbing the end extended his reach by about a meter in an instant. And since he charged forward while swinging, even the last meter or so of wiggle room vanished.
By the time I snapped to, the naginata’s axe blade was already sweeping toward my side. If I stayed put, I was done for—chopped in half.
Not only would I take serious damage, but the secret I’d kept hidden tight would come spilling out.
‘Not happening!’
I threw my body backward in a hurry. Bending my knees and arching my back as far as it would go sent my upper body flipping over like Neo in The Matrix.
Whoosh!
No sooner had I lain back than the axe blade whistled over my head. It was so close that some of my hair got sliced off and fluttered into the air.
‘Got it. You’re going all out too, huh?’
As I slid backward, I whipped both arms out fast. Two darts flew out, one aimed at Lee Joo-hyuk’s throat, the other at his pant leg.
“Guh!”
Evidently not expecting a counterattack while I was down, his eyes went wide.
He tried to dodge in a panic, but his agility wasn’t great compared to his strength—his movements were downright sluggish.
“Damn it!”
Judging evasion impossible, he dropped the naginata and raised his arms to shield his face and leg.
‘You madman. Those are your hands, you know?’
At first, I thought he was sacrificing them to block. But just as the dart was about to bury itself in his hand, a change came over his skin.
His normal skin suddenly turned gray, its surface turning rough like stone.
Clang! Clank!
No, it actually became stone. The darts I’d thrown bounced pitifully off his rocky hide. It was the defensive skill ‘Stone Skin.’
‘No way! The darts aren’t penetrating at all?’
Sure, if I threw with everything I had, who knows—but that would just invite suspicion.
‘What now...?’
While I hesitated, Lee Joo-hyuk lowered the hand that had covered his face. A face hard as stone emerged.
This wasn’t poetic license. His face was literally made of stone now.
“You goddamn punk! You forced me to use my skill?!”
A guttural curse burst from Lee Joo-hyuk’s mouth. He seemed seriously pissed about exposing his skill in front of everyone.
Huff! Huff!
His patience at its limit, his breathing grew ragged. Something big was coming.
“Die!”
Finally unable to hold back his rage, Lee Joo-hyuk charged me. Trusting Stone Skin’s power, he barreled forward heedless of any darts.
No options left. Either take the hit or reveal my strength. But I couldn’t pick either.
‘Whew. Was really hoping not to use this... but no choice!’
* * *
‘You bastard! You’re dead now!’
Lee Joo-hyuk charged like he meant to kill. He was seething over having revealed his skill in front of everyone. Might as well make the punk taste a stone fist now that things had come to this.
The guy was cornered now. No room left to dodge or flee. Projectiles wouldn’t help anymore. All he could do was take a beating.
‘Heh heh heh! Time to pay back every hit with interest!’
That’s what he was thinking as he raised his fist—when suddenly the guy leaped out of the sparring arena and yelled:
“Surrender!”
“......What?”
“Surrender. I surrender, Instructor. His attacks aren’t landing at all. No way to fight back. I lose.”
“Hmm. A bit of a letdown, but you’ve got a point. This match goes to trainee Lee Joo-hyuk.”
The instructor clicked his tongue like it was boring and declared Lee Joo-hyuk the winner. The moment Stone Skin came out, he’d already called it.
‘Huh? What the hell...?’
Lee Joo-hyuk’s mind blanked.
‘So I exposed my trump card skill... and ended up not landing a single hit? Just blocking the whole time?’
And he won? Felt like a total loss no matter how you sliced it. Staring dazed at Cha In-hyeok in a stupor, he heard the guy mutter with a smug grin.
“Whew, scary stuff. If we fight again, guess I’ll surrender right away.”
Blatant mockery. An indescribable fury exploded in Lee Joo-hyuk’s chest.
‘This punk’s toying with me?’
The rage triggered the mana crystal embedded in his chest, sending waves of pain that fueled more rage, which turned to killing intent.
‘I’ll kill you. Hobgoblin or no hobgoblin, you’re dead by my hand.’
Thick killing intent oozed from Lee Joo-hyuk’s eyes. His glare alone could kill.
* * *
‘One thing’s for sure—I’ve given him every reason to hate my guts.’
Lee Joo-hyuk’s killing intent surged even stronger. Guess getting pummeled one-sidedly without reply stung.
‘Who asked you to pick a fight with me? And anyway, what’re you gonna do about it? Guy’d be a one-second kill if I got serious...’
Talk like that aside, I was a little spooked, honestly. Look close, and his eyes were half-rolled back.
Reason completely flown out the window. No way he’d back off easy.
‘Sure, he won’t pull anything with the instructor around... but better safe than sorry.’
What made Lee Joo-hyuk a pain was ultimately that Stone Skin skill. Find a way to crack it, and he’d be no big deal.
Stone Skin was a racial skill from the 2-star monster stone golem, massively boosting physical defense. Hunters loved it for survival.
Downsides: agility penalty on use, insane mana drain so it couldn’t last long, and no magic resistance.
‘Safest bet is exploiting the speed gap to keep dodging till his mana runs dry.’
Sadly, that wouldn’t fly in a cramped arena. Shaking a guy charging wildly while ignoring attacks wasn’t simple.
Illusion skill would make dragging it out easy, but I wanted to keep skills under wraps if possible. Once revealed, foes could counter.
‘Just like I’m hunting for a Stone Skin counter right now.’
No stalling? Then overpower and win. But not with current weapons. Needed something bigger and meaner. Like a throwing axe or javelin...
‘Penetrating Stone Skin with palm-sized darts would shock everyone, but doing it with a hefty throwing axe or javelin? Plausible.’
Heavy weapons were made for that purpose. An Awakener’s throw rivaled a ballista or catapult.
Only held back by cash crunch, carry limits, and risk of misses. Nail the throw, though, and nothing beat it for damage.
‘Time to bring up javelins with the assistant instructor. Holding my own against Lee Joo-hyuk proves I can handle throwing weapons in real combat.’
I headed straight to Assistant Instructor Song Hye-rin and recounted today’s feats.
Told her I’d dropped two shield guys and forced Lee Joo-hyuk to blow his skill—she beamed like it was her own win.
“Great! Now everyone else gets the beauty of throwing weapons too, right? You did good!”
“Uh... there’s a problem, though.”
“Stone Skin, huh?”
“Yeah. Guess throwing axes are the only way?”
“Nope. Got something better!”
Song pulled out an oval iron ball about the size of three fingers.
Wondering what it was, she kept drawing out a long leather strap from her belt, set the ball on the wide middle part, and wrapped it loosely. Then she waved me off.
“Step back a sec.”
She started whirling the strap-wrapped ball over her head.
The ominous whirring grew fierce—and then *thwack!* The target stand split clean in half. Insane power.
“Wh-what is this?”
While I gawked at the sudden display, Song struck a cocky pose, tapping her nose with a finger.
“Ahh, this? It’s called a 「sling」. Or stone-slinger, if you like.”
“Heh? This is a sling?! Awesome~!!”
“Hehe. Better reaction than I expected. Want another demo?”
Like a kid showing off a toy, Song kept at it. I hammed it up each time like some otherworld elf who’d never seen cooking: “Amazing!”
‘A sling... why didn’t I think of that?’
I’d played it up extra to hype her, but truth was, I already knew what a sling was.
The weapon David used against Goliath.
It harnessed centrifugal force to hurl stones harder, with skilled slingers hitting 140 km/h.
Awakeners would top that easy.
Pure centrifugal attack meant more power than a hand-throw for less effort.
No ammo worries either—plenty of rocks lying around to sub in.
Sling had perks galore, but drawbacks too.
Lower accuracy than hand-throwing, plus reload time meant gaps between shots.
“Power’s nuts, but seems tricky to learn. So when do we get to javelins...?”
“Don’t sweat it. You’ll learn axe-throwing and javelins too.”
“For real?”
“Yup. Been thinking it’s about time anyway. Gates in four months.”
“Yes!”
“But treat axe-throws and javelins as true last resorts. Can only carry two at most. These iron balls? Stuff fifty-plus in your pockets if you want. Solid power, easy 200-300 meter range. Master it, and it’ll help a ton.”
Sling for long-range or high-defense foes, darts or shuriken mid/close-up. Spears and axes only for desperate kill shots.
‘Sling, huh... tough to master, but sounds like a winner once I do.’
Best part: centrifugal force for massive hits with minimal strain.
Great for me, but goblins learning it? Goldmine.
‘Goblins lack strength but have agility—hit-and-run guerrilla with stones?’
Even bottom-tier 1-stars like goblins would pack a punch.
First, though, I had to master it myself. Couldn’t exactly ask Song to train my goblins.
‘Kinda asking for extra work... but gotta for survival.’
From that day, I started training with the sling, axe-throwing, and javelins.