Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Strong Luck
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Amidst the swirling fire, dust, ash, and smoke, a shadow shot up with a cry like a beast’s roar.
The figure, stumbling in mid-air before crashing to the ground, let out a choked gasp and slammed a fist into the earth.
*CRASH!*
Rage, confusion, doubt.
Overwhelmed by a torrent of emotions, the fiend roared once more.
“Uwaaaaaah—!”
The intense howl sent the flames and smoke scattering in all directions, like clouds startled by a typhoon.
Lee Si-woo was genuinely surprised by the sheer mana infused in the sound waves that made his skin tingle.
‘Captain-level… or was it a director from Labyrinth? He’s just as powerful as I expected. Aside from Rios, his mana is deeper than anyone I’ve ever seen.’
Even including the Knight Captain who had faced the Gigant, this man was clearly superior.
His power was befitting a high-ranking executive of the three major clubs active in Chapter 7.
“Was it you?”
His vocal cords seemed damaged; his voice was grating and coarse, like a scratched iron plate. In response, Lee Si-woo silently raised the Spear of Spinosus and aimed it at the man.
Taking Si-woo’s gesture as an admission, the fiend ground his teeth.
Perhaps it was because his face, scorched and scarred with burns, was so disfigured that judging its beauty or ugliness was meaningless.
The fiend looked less like a human and more like a monster.
“I’ll kill you.”
The inventory ring on the fiend’s hand glowed, and a suit materialized from it.
Most suits were often modeled after ferocious beasts, but at higher ranks, especially Rank 6, the types became more diverse.
Yes, the fiend’s monster-type suit. Like a griffin.
*Shhhk.*
The fiend’s body was enveloped in a suit adorned with brown, feathery tassels.
A helmet modeled after a griffin’s head, the wings of an eagle.
And on the back of each fist, the golden glint of a sharp claw shone menacingly.
The fiend, now equipped with the Rank 6 suit, Griffin, blurred into an afterimage and reappeared right next to Si-woo.
‘Fast.’
Si-woo’s body reacted faster than his thoughts, but it was miserably slow compared to the fiend’s fist.
*Whoosh!*
And yet, for some reason…
As Si-woo ducked to the side, the fiend’s attack missed completely.
Seeing his claw narrowly graze past Si-woo’s face, the fiend let out a low groan.
“What? He’s so slow… why did I miss?”
He followed up with another attack.
But once again, the strike met only empty air.
It was like watching a boxer with a faulty nervous system throw punches.
The fiend’s physical abilities far surpassed Si-woo’s.
It was only natural.
It would be absurd for Si-woo to even compare himself to the fiend, who possessed the physical prowess of a captain-level fighter on top of a Rank 6 suit.
‘This is… something’s wrong. He’s so slow, unbelievably slow, so why can’t my attacks hit him?’
Once, twice, three times.
When a dozen of his attacks missed, as if his senses had completely broken down, the fiend swallowed dryly, a chilling sensation creeping up his spine.
It felt as if some foreign substance had lodged itself between his perception and his nervous system.
Only then did the fiend realize he had fallen for some kind of trick orchestrated by Si-woo.
“You! What did you do to me?!”
A faint smile touched Si-woo’s lips as he replied.
“I haven’t done anything to you, specifically.”
Si-woo smoothly rotated his waist and thrust the tip of his spear into the fiend’s eye socket.
Attacking anywhere else would likely be blocked by the suit’s defense, so he had aimed for a vital spot.
*Squish!*
Normally, a clean strike like this, albeit a sluggish one, would never have landed. Yet the spearhead accurately pierced the fiend’s eye.
Savoring the satisfying feedback, Si-woo muttered.
“It’s just that… my luck is absurdly good.”
Before the operation had even begun, Si-woo had activated ‘Medium Luck’ with the Dagger of Fortuna and healed his wounds with a potion.
And the power of Medium Luck was astounding.
It was effective enough to let him dodge a dozen attacks from such a powerful opponent.
Of course, that didn’t mean it was without its flaws.
“Kugh, my eye… damn it! You son of a bitch—!”
*CRACK!*
Struck in the chest by the enraged fiend’s kick, Si-woo shot through the air like a baseball hit by a bat.
*CRASH!*
He slammed into a nearby building, then fell to the ground, spitting blood.
‘Damn it, so it’s not all wins. There are losses, too, huh?’
Just as luck couldn’t be infinite, even a cheat-like ability such as Medium Luck had its limits.
If Si-woo’s normal luck was like winning a scratch-off ticket once in ten tries, Medium Luck made it so he would win nine times out of ten.
Conversely, that meant an attack would still land one time out of ten.
And paradoxically, such was the mystery of luck that if he were unlucky, he could get hit twice out of ten.
‘In the end, unless it’s Strong Luck, this isn’t an all-powerful ability. Well… not that it matters now.’
As Si-woo recovered and got to his feet, he saw the fiend thrashing about, clutching his face.
An ivory thorn had already begun to sprout from his eye, and it grew more violently the more mana and stamina he consumed.
“Kugh… what did you do to me? Where are you? You bastard… where are you—!”
Watching the thorn grow to the size of a horn, Si-woo spoke.
“I’m right here.”
The fiend whipped his head toward the sound of Si-woo’s voice and charged like a bulldozer.
His appearance, with the white thorn protruding from his left eye, was quite menacing, but Si-woo turned without a second thought and began to flee.
“You bastard! Where do you think you’re going! Come here! I said, come here!”
However, Si-woo paid him no mind and slipped through the window of an empty building.
Enraged by the sight of Si-woo’s taunting retreat, the fiend lost all reason and gave chase, only to be blocked by a swarm of white monsters drawn by his deafening roars.
In truth, the moment he had allowed Si-woo to wound him, the fight was already over.
The thorns of Spinosus grew by feeding on an enemy’s stamina and mana, and they would never disappear until their owner willed it.
That was why one should never allow even a scratch from the wielder of the Spear of Spinosus.
To be wounded was to open the very gates to the underworld.
***
Three hours later, Si-woo returned to where Luktator was and tossed him a suit watch he had taken from his inventory.
“A gift for you, old man.”
Luktator caught the suit watch, his eye twitching.
He had a pretty good idea whose suit it was.
“Is this the suit of a Labyrinth executive?”
“Yes. It’s a Griffin suit, Rank 6. It should be quite useful.”
Luktator toyed with the suit watch, intrigued.
“Hmm, a suit from an executive-level fighter. I suppose you could call this a near end-game item.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been to Chapter 7 yet, but I think calling it end-game is a bit of a stretch. It’s not a Rank 7 suit, after all.”
“Ah, right, it’s not Rank 7. Tsk, still, for a so-called executive, his gear is pretty shabby… a bit disappointing.”
He had no idea what he was talking about.
Even in Chapter 7, Rank 6 suits were rare.
The drop rate for high-rank suits was abysmally low, like trying to pluck a star from the sky.
That was why the only famous Rank 7 suits in Chapter 7 were the elemental suits possessed exclusively by the masters of the three major clubs.
“Well, it’s still from an executive of a major club, so it can’t be cheap.”
“What about you? Wouldn’t it be better if you equipped it?”
“No. I think I’d rather buy one from the shop. As you can see… it’s too plain.”
“…So you give the plain one to me and keep the good one for yourself?”
“So? You don’t want it? Should I give it to Plenitas?”
At Si-woo’s subtle prodding, Luktator flinched, then grinned and snatched the suit.
“Don’t say such hurtful things. One doesn’t refuse such a precious gift. So? Did you earn enough points to be satisfied?”
Si-woo took a communication pill and contacted Kinis with his newfound ability.
“Kinis. How many points do I have right now?”
Kinis replied to Si-woo’s question.
-You have accumulated 43 million points.
It was more than he had expected, but the amount also left him feeling a bit disappointed. Si-woo licked his lips and asked.
“What was the price of the most expensive Rank 6 suit?”
-Exactly fifty million points.
“So I’m short by 7 million… that’s a shame.”
-May I make a suggestion?
“A suggestion? What kind of suggestion?”
-I will add a lottery system to the catalog.
“A lottery?”
-It’s a random draw where you can pull an item for one million points per attempt. If you’re unlucky, you’ll get trash, but if luck is on your side, you could obtain a great item. With your current points… you can make a total of 43 pulls. However, there is one condition. You are forbidden from using the Dagger of Fortuna. That would be cheating.
At Kinis’s firm words, Si-woo fell silent, like a cat who had gotten the cream.
His wavering eyes revealed that he had been excited at the prospect of using the Dagger of Fortuna.
As if reading his thoughts perfectly, Kinis continued.
-Will you take on the challenge? Or will you compromise and purchase a decent item?
Her words were filled with a nuance that subtly urged him to take the challenge. Si-woo hesitated.
In truth, he didn’t like leaving things up to chance.
Especially when it came to items.
‘If I’m lucky, I might get a Royal-grade item. But if I’m not, I could waste all my points and gain nothing. Especially for me right now, when a mediocre item is useless.’
Si-woo would not be satisfied with anything less than a Rank 6 suit or higher.
He couldn’t gauge how dangerous Chapter 7 would be.
‘So, the wise choice is to compromise and buy a Rank 6 suit.’
Having made his decision, Si-woo opened his mouth.
“No. I think I’ll pass—”
As he spoke, a question mark suddenly popped into his mind.
‘Wait a minute. Why now, at this specific moment, would Kinis make such an offer? Why didn’t she tell me about this sooner? And why reveal the condition that I can’t use the Dagger of Fortuna? Kinis knows my personality; she must have anticipated what choice I would make.’
Kinis would have surely predicted the choice he, who resembled his ancestor demon, would make.
The fact that she still made the offer bothered him.
Just then, Si-woo recalled his own status.
[Lee Si-woo] ★★★★★★★★☆
Race: Human
Talents: Robustness, Combat, Agility, Dexterity, Charm, Iron Stamina, Strong Luck, Survivor.
Recalling the ‘Strong Luck’ part of his talents, Si-woo’s eyes flashed.
‘Strong Luck… right. Even without the Dagger of Fortuna, I have the Strong Luck talent. The dagger amplified my luck, which is how I was able to dodge the executive’s attacks and earn an absurd amount of points. That’s how I got such good results.’
A smirk twisted Si-woo’s lips as he changed his words.
“That lottery. I’ll do it. All 43 pulls.”
As Si-woo made his decision, Kinis’s faint laughter echoed from beyond the communicator.
-Hehe, excellent. Please come to the shop. We will proceed with the draw immediately.
From this incident, Si-woo got the strong feeling that Kinis was secretly helping him.
It was as if he had become a player favored by the game master.
Perhaps thanks to that?
When Si-woo went to the shop, on his 37th pull, he drew a Royal-grade item.
A Rank 7 suit. The Dragon.
And the suit wasn’t his only gain.
Four top-grade potions, one Rank 6 bow, one Rank 6 gun, two Rank 6 suits, and more.
He had reaped every possible benefit.
Feeling so full he could burst, Si-woo returned to Luktator and said.
“Old man. Let’s go. It’s time to head to Chapter 7.”
It had been an eventful journey, but the time had finally come.
Yes, it was time to clear the final chapter and see the ending.