Chapter 43
Chapter 43
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Fight, Win, Subjugate
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Wow. Haram’s class is insane.”
Demon Slayer. Just the name alone is ridiculously cool.
I’m a Cultist, which sounds like some kind of heretic bastard…
Setting aside the performance for a moment, just the class name and concept alone make Haram the coolest among us.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Name: Han A-ram Level: 10 Class: Demon Slayer ⚡ Strength: 37 💨 Agility: 37 💪 Stamina: 33 ✨ Will: 40 🛡️ Magic Power: 40 🍀 Luck: 24 Skills: Crush the Undead, Demonic Energy Sense, Demonic Energy Condensation, Black Armor Protection, Vitality Increase, Etched Curse, Magic Block, Dark Watcher, Cursed Grace
First, [Demonic Energy Sense] allows her to use the power called 'Demonic Energy', and [Demonic Energy Condensation] is a skill to store that energy in her body. These two form the foundation that replenishes the demonic energy the Demon Slayer consumes. They can be considered essential skills.
In addition, [Dark Watcher] is a skill that allows her to see in dark places, similar to my Altered Vision or Eun-ji’s Peering Gaze, and it seems every job has at least one skill of this type.
‘[Vitality Increase] is, as the name implies, a self-healing technique…’
She can increase her survivability with [Magic Block], which neutralizes projectile-type skills like magic, or [Black Armor Protection], which creates a black armor-like barrier on her skin, making her good to use as a tank.
‘Especially the [Crush the Undead] she got first is really good.’
Crush the Undead is a skill that deals massive damage to undead-type monsters. It’s a high-tier skill that can one-shot almost all the Special Zombies encountered so far.
‘With this, we don’t need to worry about the Warped or the Gnawer; their heads will just pop like a clay pot.’
She must have survived last night with this skill. If she wraps herself in Black Armor Protection and spams Crush the Undead, she could probably kill most Special Zombies.
On top of that, [Etched Curse] is a unique enhancement skill that blocks one of the five senses in exchange for boosting other physical abilities. For example, blocking her sense of smell could increase her strength or reflexes.
She can’t give up her sight in battle, so she’d have to paralyze her smell, taste, or pain sense. Then she could boost her other physical abilities accordingly.
‘Taste is useless in battle anyway. If she has enough magic power, she can enhance her body with almost no penalty… Nice.’
Furthermore, [Cursed Grace] is a unique skill that allows her to become a half-demon as long as her magic power permits. Since it consumes magic in real-time, she probably can’t maintain it for long. It should be considered a last-resort skill.
Haram, like Ha-rin, has quite a few self-enhancement skills.
A job class with a clear concept of handling demonic energy. Seeing that she already has a skill like Magic Block, it seems she might be quite strong against mages or those of that ilk.
If she grows any further, she might really be able to beat down actual demons.
However, since her opponent was the barbarian warrior Ha-rin, she probably got overwhelmed in close combat against the enhanced Ha-rin and ended up taking a beating.
Once she lost her pace, she had no choice but to take hits without being able to counterattack.
Anyway, Haram also leveled up to 10 after killing the murderous bandit with us. She needs to pick a new skill.
“I’ll take [Engulfing Black Flame].”
“Yeah… Do whatever you want.”
While playing with Haram’s butt, I chose Engulfing Black Flame, one of the four options.
This is a skill that consumes magic power to wrap her body or weapons in black flames.
The effect of the flame slows down and weighs down the hit enemy. And of course, it only feels hot to enemies.
‘What about A-reum?’
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Name: Lee A-reum Level: 9 Class: Sword Dancer ⚡ Strength: 38 💨 Agility: 48 💪 Stamina: 31 ✨ Will: 37 🛡️ Magic Power: 34 🍀 Luck: 21 Skills: Light Footsteps, Grace of the Blade, Flowing Movements, One in Each Hand, Perfect Balance, Dance of the Wind, Frenzied Sword Dance, Wheel Slashing Strike
True to a Sword Dancer, all her skills are related to sword arts.
[Light Footsteps] or [Flowing Movements] are skills specialized in evasion. Thanks to these two skills, she was able to handle both Eun-ji and Hwa-yeong at the same time.
On top of that, [Grace of the Blade] improves her hand movements for handling blades, and the combination of [One in Each Hand] and [Perfect Balance] allows her to use dual-wielding like an ambidextrous fighter.
Her agility stat is also quite high for level 9. She really has the potential to be a dancer. She’s the very model of an evasion dealer.
If Haram fights by taking hits and countering, A-reum is a class that dodges everything and goes all out for the kill.
‘[Dance of the Wind], [Frenzied Sword Dance], [Wheel Slashing Strike]…’
If A-reum had been armed with a sword, and especially if she had been dual-wielding…
If she had moved all over the place with Dance of the Wind and mixed Frenzied Sword Dance and Wheel Slashing Strike appropriately… Eun-ji and the enhanced Yeong might have been thoroughly beaten, or if they were really unlucky, they could have suffered serious injuries.
Of course, since I was watching, they wouldn’t have died. But I might have had to see Eun-ji’s face twisted in pain as she struggled to heal her wounds.
Anyway, during the fight with A-reum, Eun-ji’s magic power was quite depleted, and the enhanced Yeong’s level was much lower. It was fortunate that A-reum happened to be holding a strange weapon at that time.
“Hey, why did you use that chain scythe? It doesn’t match your skills at all.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, all your skills are related to sword arts… I was just wondering why you specifically used a chain scythe.”
“Ah. I originally carried two kitchen knives… but the reach was too short, and I almost got bitten a few times. Then a chain scythe dropped, so I picked it up. The big guy insisted on holding the large sword…”
From what I heard, A-reum had switched her weapon to a chain scythe just a few hours before we met. Even so, she handled it with ease, thanks to the Grace of the Blade skill. Since a chain scythe was still considered a type of scythe, it fell within the skill’s effective range.
‘Han Taeyang and Haram would have found it hard to handle a chain scythe, so she picked it up because she was the only one who could use it somewhat.’
By the way, that skill’s judgment is generous. If I attached a cutter knife to a hammer, would it count as a blade? Probably not that generous.
“Eun-ji. You and A-reum need to swap weapons.”
“Short swords and the chain scythe?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
If I hand her two short swords, A-reum will fly like a bird with wings.
And Eun-ji, hiding in the shadows, strangely suits the chain scythe.
It’s like a female ninja. Her body line is slender, and handling shadows fits her perfectly.
Eun-ji even throws shadow shurikens.
Of course, Eun-ji, without Grace of the Blade, couldn’t possibly handle the chain scythe well, so we did a few experiments.
“Like this… wait a moment.”
The method is this.
We use Shadow Weaving to pull out a shadow dagger and attach it to the sickle part of the chain scythe.
Then, we use the Throwing Skill to increase accuracy and further control it with Shadow Psychokinesis.
Theoretically, it’s possible.
“Done.”
Eun-ji put the sickle into the shadow and pulled it out, and a shadow dagger was combined with the originally crude-looking sickle, being pulled up.
“Like this…”
Eun-ji spun the chain a few times and threw it at the target.
Boom!
The shadow throwing weapon attached to the sickle pierced exactly into the wooden board that was the target. Even into the corner of the wooden board. At this point, it’s performing much better than when A-reum used it.
And as soon as it pierced, the wooden board shattered and burst from the strong impact. At the same time, the shadow throwing weapon, its durability gone, broke apart, allowing the sickle to be retrieved.
“Using it like this with the sickle attached, the impact seems to have increased significantly.”
“Wow. Sister, really. Awesome.”
Ha-rin, who was watching from the side, also gave a thumbs up. The skill with which she threw the chain scythe was no joke. I’m satisfied.
“From now on, you are a great ninja. Congratulations, Eun-ji. You have ascended.”
I messed up Eun-ji’s hair vigorously. Then, Eun-ji leaned her head into my rough hands and laughed with a pleasant nasal sound.
“Hehe… But a ninja? I don’t really know about ninjas.”
“It’s fine. Don’t feel burdened by being a ninja, just do what you usually do.”
“Yes!”
I hope Eun-ji levels up harder and gets stronger quickly.
If she becomes a well-developed Shadow Walker, she might be able to annihilate enemies like a ninja who suddenly appears.
Then, a sound cutting through the air was heard.
Swish, swish swish. Swish. Swish swish swish.
“Haa… damn…”
In the meantime, while swinging the two short swords excitedly, A-reum was smiling slightly, cursing as if the feel of the swords wrapping around her hand was too good.
The short swords swinging from her hands moved freely like living baby snakes.
Her strangely smiling face was even scary.
“Uh, then let’s finish picking the skill…”
A-reum, finally coming to her senses, let her sword drop. Maybe because her concentration was broken, she looked a little disappointed.
A-reum learned [Dance of Embers]. While Dance of the Wind is a skill that moves all over the place to freely attack enemies, Dance of Embers is described as showing even fiercer sword pressure as her fatigue accumulates.
And as the sword pressure increases, the hit range increases.
After finishing the skills, we ate the meal the auntie prepared and went up to the roof.
Since a zombie wave might crash down again tonight like yesterday, we, the top forces of the supermarket, planned to take turns standing guard.
Other slaves like Hwang Su-min or Ha Jin-seong would stand in pairs, and among our five, one would take turns keeping watch.
First, I decided to take the first watch. I’ll wake Ha-rin up after two hours, then Haram, A-reum, Eun-ji in that order.
After setting the order, the four women immediately fell asleep. They had a very full day.
“Haam.”
I’m really tired. Still, the view is good, so it’s bearable.
Because many people died and the world became a bit darker, the night sky stars are clearly visible.
“Huh? Hey. What were you doing, coming now?”
“Hehehe. Hehehe.”
Then, Kang Hwa-yeong, who had come up to the roof with a bright face, approached me.
“Were you sucking blood until now?”
“Yeah! I’m full!”
“Ha… Did you kill that bastard?”
“No… I didn’t kill him, he’s still alive.”
She must have sipped him bit by bit, adjusting so he wouldn’t die.
I hope the kid can survive tomorrow. So I can keep using him as a blood bag.
“Hey, what about your skills?”
“Huh? Don’t you know? They just seem to have been picked automatically?”
Hwa-yeong, who had eaten plenty of blood and was full, kept smiling.
She answered every question properly and didn’t clamor for blood, which was good.
“Let me see…”
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Name: Kang Hwa-yeong Level: 8 Class: Carnage Vampire ⚡ Strength: 44 💨 Agility: 46 💪 Stamina: 47 ✨ Will: 14 🛡️ Magic Power: 50 🍀 Luck: 42 Skills: Crimson Claw, Bloodsucking Recovery, Blood Flow Acceleration, Predator’s Vision, Blood Ejection, Blood Manipulation, Falling Blood, Bloodstain Explosion
“Ha…”
Not only did she rise to level 8 in just one day, but her stats also skyrocketed.
‘Excluding Will, she’s going up by 4 for every level. But Will only goes up by 1 per level.’
She probably has the best stats among those of the same level, but her Will is only 14. I thought Will was related to magic power recovery, but with it being this low…
‘Still, she recovers some magic power by sucking blood. As long as there’s a place to draw blood from, she can keep fighting in battle.’
It’s a class that can keep fighting as long as the target isn’t undead. An infinite cycle structure of drawing blood, drinking it to recover, and killing again to draw more blood.
‘Other skills…’
Hwa-yeong only had one choice, so skill selection was meaningless. She just learned all of them roughly. I checked the newly added skills.
[Predator’s Vision] was a strange skill that only found humans. It’s similar to Ha-rin’s Heartbeat Tracking, but the difference is that the target is only humans.
Also, [Blood Ejection] was a crazy skill that pulls blood out of a captured target, and [Blood Manipulation] was a skill to control the drawn-out blood.
“[Falling Blood]…”
This is a skill that sprays the drawn blood into the air like rain. It scatters blood over a wide area. Just looking at this skill alone, you’d wonder what it’s for. However, its true value comes from the next skill, [Bloodstain Explosion].
“It detonates the blood you’ve manipulated and embedded…”
With the Falling Blood skill, you can scatter blood over a wide area and then cause a massive explosion.
‘Of course, the skills consume a lot of magic power, and we don’t know how big the explosion is, but still, it’s awesome. With this, she can do some mass slaughter.’
If she catches one person, draws all their blood, scatters it, and then detonates it, the zombie bastards would just get torn apart. However, if allies are within the range, they’d get blown up together.
“I’ve checked everything. It’s awesome.”
“Really? Hehe. Can I go to sleep now?”
“You’re not going to stand guard? You’re just going to sleep right away because you’re full?”
“Yeah… If I stay awake, I keep getting hungry…”
“Never mind. Just sleep.”
Hwa-yeong, after a rough greeting, lay down right on the roof floor.
‘Doesn’t she feel cold…?’
Either she’s a vampire and doesn’t feel the cold, or she’s crazy.
As soon as she lay down, she fell asleep snoring. It’s just amazing.
It’s still early February, so the weather hasn’t warmed up, and the early morning air is cold.
I brought a blanket and covered her with it. Who knows when I’ll use her, but she shouldn’t get sick.
“Hmm…”
For the remaining time, I walked around the roof and checked the surroundings of the supermarket. I waited like that until after midnight.
And as soon as it became 12 o’clock and the date changed to Tuesday, changes occurred all over the streets.
Chwahahak!!!
Kyaaaaaa!!!!
Zombies that had turned into Special Zombies everywhere started to run wild again like last night, screaming.
“Ha… Crazy bastards…”
Several of them were running toward the supermarket.
At least it wasn’t as insane as yesterday. I wore the earrings of the Great Sorcerer that Eun-ji gave me before sleeping and used a skill.
Woooo!!!!
“It’s noisy. Everyone’s sleeping.”
I shot tentacles from a distance and summoned oral cavities to kill the zombies.
In the meantime, the Black Wheel sent a signal as if reporting that it had started combat.
I don’t know the detailed situation, just a fragment of the feeling that it was fighting something.
I wanted to check with it mainly about living human Awakened, so I don’t care how the fight with the zombies goes.
No matter how much lower the Black Wheel is in rank than the Abyssal Patriarch, it’s still a monster fished out from the Abyss, so it won’t die easily to a named zombie.
The battle with the Special Zombies flowed with no particular tension, unlike the first day.
And with a slightly relaxed atmosphere, that night passed.
*****
Sasasasak...
“Didn’t you hear something?”
Kim Ye-won, the Saintess, felt a sense of ominousness and asked while looking around.
“A sound? What sound?”
“Uh… Something… Something like an insect crawling.”
“An insect? Isn’t it just the sound of flies buzzing around a corpse?”
“I didn’t hear any other sound.”
“Really? Did you hear it wrong…”
No. Kim Ye-won heard it clearly.
She thought to herself.
Something is following us, waiting for us to let our guard down.
The intuition she, favored by God, possessed was sometimes almost as accurate as a premonition.
However, no one else here heard the sound. Arguing further would only increase anxiety, so Kim Ye-won silently recited a prayer.
So she could use her skill at any time.
“You. You felt something.”
“Yes, it feels like something is targeting us. Probably.”
Knight Lee Han-seok trusted Kim Ye-won’s intuition. He had been helped a few times thanks to her intuition.
“Hmm… As we get closer to the supermarket. I feel strangely uneasy.”
“Leader. Isn’t that just menopause?”
“Hey! You. Don’t you feel it?”
“Hmm… Well… Now that you mention it, I feel something… strangely repulsed by getting close to that supermarket.”
Meanwhile, Priest Park Ki-hoon and Monk Kang Chan-seok, walking in the front, felt a strange sense of ominousness and disgust as they got closer to the supermarket.
And it was the same for the others. The eight players of the Sun God faction felt a strange atmosphere as they got closer to the supermarket.
“So there really is something there.”
“Seriously…”
Excluding the special jobs of the Sun God faction, Kim Ye-won, Lee Han-seok, Park Ki-hoon, and Kang Chan-seok, the remaining four. The Believer class, the general jobs of the Sun God faction, also felt something.
“Hmm…”
“It seems a truly great evil is waiting for us.”
Everyone nodded at Park Ki-hoon’s words.
And
Sasasak.
A faint tremor. A vibration in the air. The sound of an insect crawling.
Kim Ye-won, who had been on high alert, reacted sharply.
However, by the time she turned her head sharply, it was already too late.
“Euk… Eeok… Uuk…”
Gulok... gulok... gulok...
A male Believer class was being held by a giant black insect and something was being injected into his mouth.
“Uh… Uh… What is that…”
She had thought it was just a Special Zombie or a named individual following them.
However, the creature she witnessed with her own eyes was a monster completely different from zombies.
Her body wouldn’t move. The moment she saw the monster, her body froze from the mental shock.
“Damn it!!!!”
The first one to react among them was Lee Han-seok.
Lee Han-seok immediately ran and thrust his sword.
Seeing it, he realized it was a hard chitinous substance that wouldn’t be easily cut, so he ignited his Holy Fire to increase penetration and thrust in.
He judged the Believer class male held by the creature as already dead, so he planned to stab and kill him together without hesitation.
Pudududuk!
Puk...!
However, the Black Wheel flapped its wings and flew up to avoid Lee Han-seok’s attack as he approached.
Lee Han-seok’s sword stabbed only into the heart of the man who was being injected with eggs by the wheel.
As if waiting for it, the man’s stomach burst open, and dozens of black wheels crawled out.
“Damn it!!! Lee Han-seok! Retreat!!!”
“God!!! Bestow upon us the protection of Order!!!”
Immediately, Kang Chan-seok and the other Believers brushed off the wheels clinging to Lee Han-seok’s body, and Park Ki-hoon deployed a Holy Barrier, letting the team members inside.
Lee Han-seok grabbed the insects crawling up his arms, tearing his clothes and trying to chew his flesh, burned them with Holy Fire, and quickly retreated into the barrier.
“Damn… What the hell is that?”
The Black Wheel, which was the size of a person, hid somewhere in a collapsed building and disappeared.
Sasasak. Sasasasak. Sasasasasasak.
Only the ominous footsteps of the insect echoed in the void.
“It’s driving me crazy from the start…”
Kang Chan-seok clicked his tongue at the bastards trying to break the barrier. He stacked body enhancements and stepped out of the barrier to crush the approaching insects.
The insects couldn’t penetrate Kang Chan-seok’s hardened skin and were helplessly crushed, turning into a handful of black smoke.
Then, one of the Believers pointed at a building with his finger.
“Huh? Th-that over there…”
“Damn it…”
A swarm of insects is crawling over. A swarm of insects that have multiplied using zombies as hosts.
Countless Black Cockroaches.
It’s a disgusting sight. The sight of hand-sized insects swarming and crawling together is enough to give a mental shock.
However, those gathered here are those subservient to the Sun God.
They are people with strong minds who will not easily succumb to the evil beings that held sway in the darkness.
“O light. Shine upon us.”
Saintess Kim Ye-won raised her mace high.
As her short incantation ended, a ray of divine light pierced through the clouds and shone on her mace.
“Hah...!!!!”
She, engulfed in ecstasy, leaped out of the barrier.
She flew towards the approaching Black Tide and swung her mace.
Every time the light-drenched mace swung, insects died as if the Red Sea was splitting apart.
The holy light drove away the filth of the Abyss.
“I, swear, to burn myself and become a beacon of hope.”
Lee Han-seok, standing beside her, used his skill while swearing his oath to the Goddess of Hope who had taken him in.
Then, Holy Fire bloomed on his body, gradually growing the flames.
“Hoo…”
Emitting a hot heat, he opened his eyes halfway.
He used [Heresy Tracking] to detect the Black Wheel lurking inside the building.
He was aiming only for that one creature.
Thinking only of beheading the neck of the giant monster that is the origin of this flesh-eating swarm, he charged forward, aiming only for it.
He ignored the monster’s offspring attacking him or whatever.
“This crazy bastard! He’s going off on his own again!”
Kang Chan-seok, who immediately followed beside him, cleared the way with a curse. When two level 15 Awakened joined forces, a path was quickly made.
“……God wills it!!!”
And finally, after a long incantation, Park Ki-hoon activated a wide-area buff.
The physical abilities of the party members were raised to the extreme.
It was a mixture of three buffs.
Sssssssak!!!!
The Wheel was injecting decay fluid into the zombies while laying eggs with its tail.
Lee Han-seok rushed behind the creature. He swung his sword at the monster without hesitation.
Now that his body was enhanced, he could penetrate that monster’s carapace and take its life.
“Die.”
Chwahak!!!
The Black Wheel’s body was split in half, and its summoning was released.
The Black Wheel turned into black smoke and disappeared.
·
·
·
“Oh. It’s already here…”
Jang Jo-jun, who was sleeping, opened his eyes.
He heard the dying scream of the Black Wheel.
The Wheel had warned that the light had come.
“Wake up! Everyone, wake up quickly!”
Jang Jo-jun woke up the sleeping ones immediately.
“The converts of the Sun God…”
And he became angry.
At the evil ones who had invaded his home.