Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Episode 23.
The Truth.
It was a battle at a severe disadvantage due to elemental matchups.
“You can’t even touch a single hair on my head!”
The Paladin, who had deflected Gunter’s full-power sword swing with his bare hands, roared.
Kagagak-
The sword slid, sparks flying.
Gunter’s sunken eyes turned to the Paladin’s skin, discolored to a ashen gray.
Skin that neither tanned nor burned… his entire body was hardened like iron.
‘As expected, the Order of Abundance.’
Magic Power level 7.
For him, who couldn’t muster ‘Aura,’ the Order of Abundance, specializing in defense, was a terrible matchup.
Sensing his gaze, the Paladin sneered.
“This is the difference between those blessed by God and those who are not.”
“Hmm, I guess God forgot to bless your friend. He was as soft as ham.”
“…You insolent piece of trash.”
A black radiance boiled up from the Paladin’s sword once more.
Hooong-
But the sword’s target was not Gunter.
The Paladin inexplicably plunged his sword into the wall.
Chijik-
Surprisingly, the stone wall immediately corroded and melted away.
Kaddeudeuk-!
The corroded energy flowed directly into the Paladin’s body.
His skin took on a deeper shade of gray.
The Paladin’s physical strength doubled.
Power of Gluttony.
A power that absorbs the properties of what is consumed to strengthen the body.
It was a power granted to members of the Order of Abundance by ‘Jan Daet.’
“Try and face me now!”
The Paladin charged.
“By the blessing of ‘Jan Daet’!”
Kwang-!
Gunter narrowly dodged the incoming fist by turning his head.
The Paladin’s fist, which had punched a large hole in the wall, struck.
But he let out a monstrous roar as if feeling no pain, continuing his barrage of attacks.
One hand held a sword, the other a spiked iron gauntlet.
As if his body itself were a weapon, he attacked Gunter, alternating between sword and fist.
Kwang-!
One hit would mean instant death.
Gunter’s eyes widened, focusing solely on evasion.
A fist like a sledgehammer grazed his head by a hair’s breadth.
Kwang-!
[The Addict Saintess and the Red Street Pillar embrace each other and scream!]
If not for the Pillar Servant’s Stigma, which had boosted his Agility by 7.
If not for the Saintess’s Doping, which maximized his stats.
He would have long since become a smear pressed against the wall.
Kagagak-!
Of course, Gunter did counterattack.
But each blow bounced off, unable to pierce the enemy’s skin.
The Paladin’s triumphant smile grew wider.
A growing certainty flickered in his eyes.
‘Your attacks can’t break through my defense.’
His movements became larger and bolder.
The precise flurry of attacks from the beginning transformed into bold, sequential blows aimed at a single target.
So, Gunter deliberately flailed and twisted his body.
Seemingly desperate movements, barely evading.
But his eyes held not a trace of panic.
‘I anticipated this.’
The confrontation with the Paladin was a planned sequence from his previous life.
If he hadn’t been confident of victory, he wouldn’t have charged into this warehouse in the first place.
[The Addict Saintess announces that the duration of Overdose is running out!]
‘There is a way.’
Of course, he had no intention of using Karma just because the situation was unfavorable.
He had a separate purpose in mind for that.
What Gunter was aiming for was precisely—
‘Combat Gimmick.’
<Forgotten God> could be called a collection of gimmicks.
The developers wanted players to find their own solutions, not predetermined answers.
Combat was no exception.
Among them, there was a famous gimmick that anyone would have tried at least once—
Known as Zero Point Strike.
It was a gimmick where damage amplified with repeated strikes to the same point, feeling somewhat common.
However, the players who actually succeeded in executing it were extremely few.
From a monitor perspective, the hit registration only occurred if you struck the exact same location with pixel-level precision.
Of course, the risk was high, but the reward was equally great.
The higher the difficulty, the greater the utility.
30%, 50%, 100%, 300%… even higher.
As the number of hits accumulated, the damage amplified exponentially.
Ultra-precise aim.
Frame-perfect input.
A skill demanding perfect concentration.
It would be impossible to land that gimmick in reality, especially against a violently moving opponent, when it was difficult even in front of a monitor.
…That is, if he didn’t have ‘Overlord’s Eye.’
‘Now!’
Gunter, who had only been evading until now, suddenly unleashed a large, heavy blow towards the Paladin’s neck.
The momentum was such that it made the Paladin, who had been attacking in a frenzy, flinch.
But….
Kang-!
It was deflected, as expected.
“Useless!”
The Paladin, not missing the opening, rushed forward like a mad dog.
The Paladin’s sword descended like lightning towards Gunter’s exposed side.
“It’s over!”
As if intending to end everything with this single blow, he put his entire body weight into the attack.
…This was the very moment Gunter had been waiting for.
Kaddeuk-
A small ampoule hidden between his teeth shattered.
The liquid that flowed over his tongue pricked his brain with a pungent smell.
[Special Emergency Ampoule - Type X from the Addict Saintess consumed!]
[All currently active drug effects are temporarily amplified]
[Upon cessation, severe physical damage and combat incapacitation may occur]
Even as his jaw spasmed uncontrollably, Gunter smiled.
[Overlord’s Eye Lv.1 is activated]
Uoouoong-
The Paladin’s sword, rushing towards him, slowed and split.
Movement, patterns, rhythm.
Everything was imprinted in his mind in a decomposed form.
Unfortunately, due to the enemy’s high defense, a red weak point line did not appear.
But it didn’t matter.
Hwiik-
Gunter used the recoil from his deflected sword to spin his body around.
The Paladin’s decisive blow narrowly missed.
“What!?”
Of course, it wasn’t over.
He spun another half-turn around the axis of rotation and plunged his sword directly towards the Paladin’s nape.
Precisely at the spot where the first blow had landed.
Kang-!
It bounced off again, unable to pierce the skin.
But this time was different.
The Paladin was pushed back just a tiny bit.
“You little rat, where do you think you’re going!”
The subsequent exchange was similar.
Gunter evaded the Paladin’s attacks and landed counter-blows.
But something was different.
Kang!
He converted the rebound force of the deflection into propulsion.
Gunter himself was the axis of rotation.
Using his waist as the pivot, he linked the elasticity of his knees and shoulders in succession—
And then, another rotation.
Kang!
Towards the ‘zero point’ of the nape, the sword wound in precisely.
It was a high-difficulty maneuver, but Knight’s Swordsmanship made it possible.
‘…What is this?’
The Paladin’s gaze began to waver, slowly but noticeably.
Until just a moment ago, he had been clearly dominating.
The enemy’s attacks hadn’t even tickled him, and conversely, he had been making the enemy stagger precariously with each of his blows.
But what was this now?
A strange unease spread through his entire body.
Kang-!
He couldn’t evade or block.
The enemy converted even the rebound force into propulsion,
rotated, altered its trajectory,
and struck the same spot with unbelievable speed.
Kang!
Kang!
Kang!
He hunched his body and raised his arms.
He had inadvertently shifted from offense to defense.
But the attacks always broke through a half-step faster, striking the exact same spot.
…The neck.
‘Wh-what in the world is this!’
An abnormal speed and accuracy that rendered the very concepts of evasion and defense useless.
“You, you….”
Just 3 seconds.
It was enough time for spiderweb-like cracks to form on his ashen skin.
Kkwajik-
Before the astonished Paladin could utter a plea.
Kkwajijik-
His defense crumbled, and red threads signaling a weak point filled Gunter’s vision.
“Ju-just a moment!”
Why were these guys’ patterns always the same?
Gunter snorted.
“Get lost.”
Seugak-
Rhadenbach's Steadfastness, which flew in, smoothly sliced through his flesh.
.
.
.
[Level Up! / Lv.43]
[Strength 34 → 35]
[Swordsmanship proficiency increases]
[Knight’s Swordsmanship level rises to ‘3’]
[Extreme movements are imprinted on the body]
[Agility increases by ‘1’]
[New Skill, ‘Zero Point Strike,’ has been unlocked]
[The Ninety-Nine Overlord Knight King praises your unique swordsmanship with a satisfied expression]
Gunter looked back and forth between the Paladin’s severed head and the incoming messages, then collapsed onto the ground.
“……”
Coincidentally, it was next to Regan’s corpse fragments.
His shoulder with the prosthetic arm.
The smooth surface of the miraculously intact hunk of metal reflected the burning warehouse.
[Overdose Lv.1 duration has ended]
The drug’s efficacy plummeted, and side effects were maximized.
The backlash from his overworked body was a bonus.
[Would you like to check the Debuff (11) list?]
“No….”
[The Addict Saintess scribbles a recipe for special antidote juice]
The muscle pain and lethargy he never wanted to experience again washed over him.
It was so severe that he couldn’t even move his body properly, even though the surroundings were engulfed in flames and on the verge of becoming a barbecue.
Furthermore, thanks to the Paladin who had punched holes everywhere, part of the wall had collapsed, completely blocking the passage with debris.
A situation where he could have easily added another death to his count.
However, Gunter was calm.
Weeeeng-
The sound of a rescuing hand approaching echoed clearly.
Kwaang-!
Crushing the debris, a giant metal arm crashed in.
The Golem Guard carefully lifted the slumped Gunter.
The lens embedded in the center of its head adjusted its focus slowly with a jjik- electronic sound, then gazed intently at the corpses scattered around and at Gunter.
Tuk-
Gunter tapped the Golem’s head and pointed to the magic prosthetic arm lying on the floor.
“That too, please.”
“……”
The Golem retrieved the prosthetic arm and began to move Gunter towards the safe center of the warehouse.
Weeeeng-
Kung-
Outside was as expected.
Bloody organization members lay scattered everywhere, and in front of them stood Golem Guards that had stopped functioning, silently.
Weeeeiing….
The light in the Golem Guard’s lens, which had lowered Gunter, also extinguished.
Silence descended in an instant.
Amidst the crackling flames, a familiar voice chimed in.
“He’s lying down again.”
Gunter waved his hand.
Ryan, carrying twin hammers on his shoulders, approached with a smirk.
“You didn’t pass out this time, though.”
“That’s something to brag about.”
“What about the others?”
Ryan replied, supporting Gunter.
“We’re the only ones alive in here. We just need to get out.”
“That’s a relief… What about Dimona?”
“Dimona?”
Ryan tilted his head.
“Dimona who… Ah, the person you asked me to leave a note for?”
“Never mind, forget it.”
“Huh? What?”
No answer was needed.
Gunter’s gaze drifted to the end of the corridor.
Beyond the red flames and black smoke.
A slender silhouette was quietly watching him.
Golden eyes, curved like a cat’s, blinked slowly.
“……”
Once, twice.
And then it was over.
She disappeared without a trace.
Gunter wasn’t particularly surprised.
‘She’ll contact me soon.’
Not all companion characters joined the party immediately just because they were rescued through an event.
Most required building rapport step by step or meeting specific conditions.
‘…An Arcane Runner would have extremely high rapport requirements.’
Given their job, they had many enemies, and those who coveted their abilities were abundant.
As such, their whereabouts were always handled with extreme caution.
‘Those who don’t trust easily, and don’t belong easily.’
Persuasion and companionship would ultimately require meeting conditions one by one.
Even if his previous life’s rapport carried over, there was still a long way to go.
‘Well, it’s worth it.’
Gunter, looking forward to reuniting with Dimona, headed towards the exit with Ryan.
Actually… there was something he needed to consider before her.
‘Ryan.’
Gunter’s gaze fell on Ryan, who was supporting him as they walked.
The situation had completely changed from a few days ago.
‘An old grudge… he called it.’
The moment to make a choice was approaching.
Would he pretend not to know that his friend was willingly jumping into the fire?
Or—
Would he lead him and enable him to fight properly?
“By the way, these guys were rich.”
“What?”
Ryan held up the jingling pouches from his waist.
The gold coins made a cheerful sound as they clinked together.
“Wanna split it?”
He had raided the warehouse again in the meantime?
Gunter couldn’t help but laugh at his frugality.
“Are you kidding? I set this up, so of course you get half.”
“Whoa?! Look at this thick-skinned guy.”
Tuk, their shoulders brushed lightly.
Without further words, the two walked side-by-side out of the warehouse.
The tightly shut door opened slowly like an automatic door before them, as if it had been waiting.
Act 1, Scene 2.
It was a perfect victory.