Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: Ambush at the Lodge
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The procedure was complete.
It had cost 500,000 points. It was bound to be even more effective than the previous one engraved for 200,000 points.
Right after it finished, there was a bit of fatigue, but at the same time, it felt like his body's capacity had expanded.
'To think the other stats would rise too.'
It had boosted his stamina into focus.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Strength, agility, magic power—they had all gone up a little across the board.
They said you could become a god if you had enough points.
The words suddenly felt real.
He shared a meal with Jinwoon, had some tea, and exchanged goodbyes.
On the way back after the procedure.
Soo-hyuk checked the Kit messages that had piled up over the past few days.
Most of the messages were from Pak Soo-hyuk. Soo-hyuk chuckled at the ones sent at daily intervals.
He pushed the promise far into the future. Gold was something he could hit tomorrow with good team luck, but then he'd have to drop back to the 4th floor again.
As he checked the remaining messages, Soo-hyuk's expression turned puzzled.
He'd naturally assumed there would be one from Unhyang.
Instead, it was from Cheongryang.
What was this about?
'Something up?'
Cheongryang, not Unhyang, was looking for him. There didn't seem to be any major issue worth worrying about, but it left a strange lump in his throat.
"Of course I'm where Soo-hyuk is, but why of all times..."
"How long will it take?"
"Got it. I'll wait."
Her reaction had seemed unwelcome about being somewhere in the Murim world.
Soo-hyuk wasn't oblivious. He knew she found the Murim world uncomfortable.
Still, he figured nothing serious had happened.
She was strong, after all.
He replied, but no response came back.
It was late, after all.
She might be asleep by now.
Step.
The lodge where Unhyang and Cheongryang were staying came into view.
Bzzz.
That's when Kit vibrated.
A call from Cheongryang.
She must have checked the text right as he arrived at the lodge.
"No need to pick up..."
Clunk.
He sensed the odd atmosphere right then.
The lodge was too quiet. Unnaturally so.
The front gate was wide open, and a few shallow footprints were visible.
Traces of trained martial artists.
Step.
His pace quickened.
As he stepped inside, he answered Cheongryang's call.
And at that moment.
"...What the hell is this?"
Soo-hyuk gripped Kit tightly in his hand and spotted Cheongryang crawling on the floor.
Crackle, crackle.
Jaunyeop stared at the man who had appeared in the middle of the battlefield amid the swirling yellow lightning.
"Lee Soo-hyuk..."
His face was hidden by a mask, making his expression unreadable. Jaunyeop couldn't guess what thoughts had driven him here.
Just a streamer and manager relationship, at best.
It lacked plausibility that he'd come this far to oppose the Murim forces.
"What's your business here?"
The opponent was a Player and a streamer.
One with a considerable viewer count, at that.
Jaunyeop had no interest in the streamer profession, but he knew the influence they wielded.
"You wouldn't come here to fight us, would you—"
Crackle.
Before the answer came, Soo-hyuk moved.
Not toward Jaunyeop, but the other martial artists.
"Wait—"
"Uncle Master."
Jaunyeop, about to pursue Soo-hyuk, halted.
He'd forgotten in the sudden situation.
Who he was fighting right now.
"Touch that guy and you're really dead."
Slash!
His back was sliced open long.
Thanks to reflexively moving forward, he avoided being bisected, but it was still a fatal wound.
"Kuh—."
Jaunyeop quickly widened the distance and refocused on Unhyang.
It was a mistake.
Distracted by Soo-hyuk's sudden appearance, he'd let the real opponent slip.
Facing Unhyang again, Jaunyeop felt something different from before.
'She's changed.'
Just moments ago, Unhyang had looked precarious.
Not just from her wounds.
The more her injuries mounted and the more cornered she got, the sharper and fiercer her aura grew.
But now, with Lee Soo-hyuk on the battlefield.
She looked calm, just like at the start.
'Does she trust that guy?'
Streamer Lee Soo-hyuk.
He wasn't one to follow lower-tier news, but the name had vaguely reached his ears.
A Player climbing the tower at breakneck speed, making a name for himself.
Moreover, he shared the same name as a legendary figure among Players from long ago.
But.
'He jumped in too soon.'
No matter how talented, a Player just reaching the 6th floor.
'This stage...'
Was still too much for him against Shinryeon Castle's elites.
Trees slashed as if their teeth had been knocked out, and the terrain altered by Jaunyeop's waves of thunder had turned the area into an irregular forest.
Shinryeon Castle's martial artists fought Unhyang using that forest as their stage. A frontal assault was impossible, so it was the natural choice.
Crackle, crackle.
Yellow light flickered through the dark, complex bamboo forest.
Won-gok, a Shinryeon Castle martial artist, glared at the intruder who had burst into the battlefield.
'Lee Soo-hyuk, huh.'
He was the one who had infiltrated the lodge and held a knife to Cheongryang's throat.
A ranker from Shinryeon Castle, skilled in stealth arts.
That was Won-gok.
'A waste of talent with that judgment.'
Lee Soo-hyuk's talent was flawless. Though hard to say aloud, even Hawk's Eye had once called him a Player with greater potential than prime Lee Soo-hyuk.
And as if proving it, Soo-hyuk was sprinting up the tower at an insane pace.
He was surely destined to become a ranker soon.
But so what?
'He's dying here.'
He didn't seem to be streaming.
Won-gok had checked his channel just in case, but as expected, it was off.
No issue then.
Eight Shinryeon Castle martial artists remained alive.
And among them, including himself, four were rankers.
An overwhelming force.
Crackle, crackle.
Lightning crackled from Soo-hyuk's body as he eyed the Shinryeon Castle martial artists.
Good presence, but that's all it was.
"Process him quickly and secure the target."
At Won-gok's words, the martial artists moved.
And then.
Boom!
Lightning struck from the sky onto Soo-hyuk's head.
Remnants of black-tinged electricity were visible. Any Player who'd seen even one of his streams would recognize it.
Lee Soo-hyuk's unique skill that dramatically boosted the user's stats.
The technique he thought he'd never see again was unfolding before his eyes.
'Can't take him lightly.'
The other Shinryeon Castle martial artists exchanged glances, sharing the thought.
No matter that he wasn't a ranker yet, the opponent was Lee Soo-hyuk.
The second wielder of lightning in 20 years.
With Master of Lightning activated, complacency was dangerous.
"No losses against a guy like that. Form a包围 net and finish him surely—"
Flash!
The martial artist's body split as he spoke.
Crack. A single black line from Soo-hyuk's sword tip had diagonally severed him from head to groin.
Boom!
The thunderclap followed a beat later.
Sound was slower than light, naturally.
But even so, not seeing the sword swing at all was bizarre.
"That crazy bastard—."
One down in an instant.
He'd just said not even one casualty was acceptable, and already one was gone.
Crackle.
Soo-hyuk plunged into the midst of the remaining seven.
Boom!
By the time the sound hit, another comrade was caught in the lightning.
His movements, the sword's trajectory.
None visible.
Complacency?
He wasn't even worth considering that.
For a split second, Won-gok saw Jaunyeop overlap with Soo-hyuk in his eyes.
One of the rare high rankers in Shinryeon Castle, no less.
"Pin him so he can't use skills!"
With that shout, five martial artists lunged at Soo-hyuk.
Clang!
Grind.
The martial artists coordinated seamlessly. They trained daily with blades, syncing perfectly.
Meanwhile, the opponent was a greenhorn fresh on the 6th floor.
Boom!
This fight should have been no contest.
The exact opposite of now.
Clang.
"Gah—."
A mana-wrapped sword shattered to pieces, and a comrade charred black collapsed.
Now, four left besides himself.
As he watched another neck severed, Won-gok activated his stealth art.
'This won't do.'
Wrong approach.
Not a quick frontal suppression.
Play to his strengths, strike from behind surely.
'Starting Point of Night'
Presence concealed
Shhh.
As the skill activated, his presence vanished.
His body seemed detached from the world—footsteps, breathing, heartbeat all silenced.
The combination of Murim's stealth art and the skill.
That was why Won-gok was a pillar of Shinryeon Castle.
'Strike the vitals cleanly in one go.'
Lee Soo-hyuk was clashing with the other martial artists.
They were gradually being pushed back, but if he created an opening like this, the outcome was obvious.
'Neck? No, heart?'
Melting into the night's darkness, he slowly approached Soo-hyuk's back, eyeing the vitals.
Which one?
As Won-gok's eyes followed Soo-hyuk's movements, they lit up.
'Neck.'
The moment he decided.
Pop.
Won-gok's dagger thrust toward Soo-hyuk's neck.
But.
"Guys like you really lack creativity."
Crack.
Soo-hyuk spun and grabbed Won-gok's hand holding the dagger.
"Why always go for the back?"
"Uh...?"
"There was this guy back in the day who kept hiding and jumpscaring me."
That was Ye-ryeong's bad habit.
Peerless in stealth arts, she often pranked Soo-hyuk and the others with it.
Some never caught on till the end, but at some point, Soo-hyuk started noticing her hiding spots.
Boom!
The swung sword fell with a thunderclap.
"How... 6th floor...?"
Won-gok's body split in half, tracing a red line.
How?
Soo-hyuk looked at Won-gok's corpse and answered his pathetic last words.
"Scrubs who know nothing always harp on the floor number."
6th floor.
That was his current position, sure.
But a Player's reached height wasn't the sole measure of strength.
If it were, Soo-hyuk would have focused solely on climbing the tower, skipping trials.
Gathering points before trials, getting procedures, arming up.
Even when he could advance, he twisted the trials to amp the difficulty.
Enduring that hassle for one reason.
"What matters isn't how many floors you've reached, but how you reached them."