The Assassin Hunter Stops Time (2)
Parabat!
Ha Dojin’s swift dash caught Green Lance off guard.
His left calf throbbed with sharp pain from the earlier injury, yet he pressed on anyway.
“Kiiieeeeeek!”
The creature roared and lunged forward with its spear.
Whoosh!
Ha Dojin rolled sideways, barely dodging the thrust.
His hatred burned hotter. The attack carried a vicious edge unlike anything before.
‘Stay calm.’
Ha Dojin reminded himself.
He had already seen the strike and could have sidestepped it.
Stay calm. Breathe steady.
He took a deep breath and gripped his dagger tighter.
And then…
Swish!
Parababat!
Wooong!
The two fighters clashed in a deadly stalemate.
Just a few steps apart.
Ha Dojin danced like a ghost, his movements so fluid he could reach out and touch Green Lance if he wanted to.
But the low stamina was taking its toll; his breathing grew ragged.
‘If I drag this out, I’m dead.’
It had only been a minute since the test began, yet his thighs and calves already burned.
His body stiffened; even lifting the dagger felt like a chore.
‘End it in one strike.’
The risk was enormous, but there was no other option left.
Ha Dojin steeled himself and charged at Green Lance.
“Kiek?!”
The creature’s eyes widened in shock.
Swipeeeek!
Green Lance thrust the spear straight ahead.
Thud!
Ha Dojin slipped through at the last instant and slammed the spear against his ribs.
If the stupid creature were to lock the spear like that…
‘Definitely…’
“Kiaaaaaaaa!”
Green Lance bellowed in rage and started shaking the spear wildly.
“Kuuuk!”
It looked ready to collapse, but Ha Dojin clenched his teeth and held the grip firm.
Then…
“Kiaaaaaaaa!”
Green Lance gaped its huge mouth and sank its fangs into Ha Dojin’s left shoulder.
Crunch!
“Kuuk!”
The sharp teeth tore through skin, flooding Ha Dojin with agony.
He bit his lips bloody, yet still let out a muffled groan through clenched teeth.
But…
Thud!
Ha Dojin suddenly moved his left arm to pin the creature’s head down harder.
‘Yes… keep biting… keep biting…’
His eyes flashed with cold calculation.
Ha Dojin switched his dagger to his right hand and aimed at the exposed back of Green Lance’s neck.
Since he was biting his left shoulder, that weak spot stood out clearly.
Ha Dojin roared and drove the dagger straight into the nape.
Puuuk!
“Kiaaaaaaaaak!”
Halfway through the neck?
Green Lance thrashed and screamed, but…
Puaaak!
Ha Dojin poured every last ounce of strength into the thrust and buried the dagger to the hilt.
“Huuuuk… huuuk… huuuk…”
Ha Dojin’s breathing turned ragged as he felt the pain in his shoulder.
His vision suddenly blurred; he could barely focus.
But he kept staring at the creature until the end.
Just in case it wasn’t dead and might still move.
Green Lance staggered backward, letting out a wet gurgling sound, then…
Thud.
Finally collapsed onto the ground.
Ha Dojin raised his head.
If the creature had died, the timer should have stopped.
And…
[03:01]
The countdown froze mid-tick.
Three minutes and one second.
That meant the exact moment Green Lance’s life ended was the moment the test had begun…
‘One minute… fifty-nine seconds…’
The goal had simply been to survive within the time limit, yet somehow it ended faster than expected.
But…
“Kuuuk…”
Ha Dojin looked at the timer and collapsed.
He had cleared the test in one minute fifty-nine seconds, yet the price was terrifying.
He had lost too much blood; he might faint any second.
His left shoulder felt shattered.
Ha Dojin trembled violently on the ground.
It had been a single step away.
If he had failed, Ha Dojin would have died right then.
Yet somehow he had still dared to make that reckless move.
The reason was simple.
Shwaaaaa!
Golden light dust began to drift down from the sky and settle over Ha Dojin.
The sacred-looking powder healed his wounds in an instant.
In the Awakening Chamber, no matter what injury you suffered, you would be healed as long as you didn’t die.
“Uum…”
Ha Dojin slowly sat up.
His clothes were in tatters, but every wound was gone.
Swish.
He looked at the fallen Green Lance.
I killed it.
He had actually done it.
Something no one else could have achieved in the next ten years, either.
Ha Dojin collected himself and noticed the swirling aura.
Now… it was time to claim the reward.
“Let’s see what comes out when I check.”
The first thing a new Awakener did after the test was to select their Blessing.
The Blessing was the choice of the gods that decided which support the person would receive in this mad world.
The power of every Awakener depended on which god they answered the call to and which one they chose.
‘If you only survived without any damage, you’d usually get two or three cards.’
‘But if you landed even a little hit, the cards would reach six or seven.’
‘Up until now… the creature that got the most cards was eighteen, wasn’t it?’
He wasn’t sure, but it felt about right.
Ha Dojin breathed steadily and waited for the cards to appear.
And…
Paaaaat!
Strong light flared, and cards began to float in the air.
‘One… two… three…’
Ha Dojin started counting them one by one.
Since it had to finish within three minutes, there should be at least twenty, maybe thirty cards.
But…
“……”
Ha Dojin’s eyes widened as he stared at the sea of cards.
The cards…
“How many are there?”
Two, four, six, eight, ten.
Ten more to the side.
And…
“……9 and… 4 more.”
Total ninety-four.
Ninety-four cards?
Four of them glowed with a distinct golden shine and stood out like stars.
Gray cards were Normal (N).
Blue cards were Rare (R).
Red cards were Super Rare (SR).
Purple cards were Epic (E).
Those were the grades everyone knew.
Theoretically there should be more behind them, but no one had ever seen them.
But now…
Ha Dojin reached out toward the golden card on the far left as if hypnotized.
[Whispers of Sweet Dawn] 『Unique』
“Unique…”
Ha Dojin checked the grade written next to the name on the card.
As expected, it was higher than Epic.
He looked at the illustration.
A holy angel holding a harp, wings spread wide.
“Three pairs of wings… means a healer class god priest.”
But since it carried a harp instead of a sword or shield, it was definitely the healer branch.
And three pairs of wings placed it even higher than the top archangel—the highest tier of angel.
“……Archangel.”
Among them, the supreme healer was Gabriel.
Some healer hunters already received blessings from Gabriel’s lower angels, after all.
“Huu…”
Ha Dojin checked the other golden cards too.
[Devouring Flames of the Earth] 『Unique』
[Shadow of the Quiet Dawn] 『Unique』
[Wanderer of the Abyss] 『Unique』
The symbols differed slightly, but the first was warrior, the second assassin, and the third black-magic.
Four Unique cards.
“……It really is possible.”
If only Epics had come out, how wonderful that would have been.
A thought he had repeated hundreds of times in his past life.
Back then, Ha Dojin had only received Rare blue cards.
Yet he had still raised his strength to rival the top Korean hunters.
Unofficially, of course.
“……”
Ha Dojin hesitated.
Since all four were Unique, the top class of that profession was guaranteed.
But Ha Dojin shook his head.
He had received a blessing from a very common Rare god and still reached Ranker level.
The reason was simple.
Because it suited him.
His gaze fixed on one card.
[Shadow of the Quiet Dawn]
In the assassin class, even Epic cards had never appeared in his past life.
It was that rare and hard to control.
Yet this was Unique.
Why would he refuse?
‘But…’
There was one thing that bothered him: the illustration.
A sea of corpses piled under a blood-red sky.
And standing upon them, a black silhouette.
The problem was the silhouette had two long horns stretching from its temples upward.
‘Horns mean demon…’
And the length of the horns was proportional to the demon’s power.
Yet the demon on the card had horns longer than its own arms.
But why?
“No wings?”
Ha Dojin had no memory of any demon with horns that long.
The longest one he remembered was only the size of a palm.
This one was twice, no, three times longer.
Then it had to be at least an upper-tier demon… or…
“Archdemon.”
It was a level that could be called that, yet the absence of wings was strangely weird.
The number of wings on an angel or demon was also a symbol of power.
“……”
There was a faint hesitation, but…
“I accept the blessing of Shadow of the Quiet Dawn.”
Ha Dojin chose the card without hesitation.
At the same moment, the other cards vanished.
[Weapon Special Effect Applied.]
Because the test was completed with a dagger, the special effect activated.
With that…
Swuaaaaaak!
The golden cards suddenly turned pitch black.
Suaaaaaak.
The letters on the card began to scatter like sand.
[Shadow of the Quiet Dawn] 『???』
“……”
The grade had changed.
Even the question marks…
‘And there’s no record of black cards anywhere…’
It was confusing.
But before the confusion could settle…
Puaaak!
Black smoke erupted from the card and formed a human shape.
And…
“What a fun little guy.”
“!”
The silhouette of the demon vanished, replaced by the creature standing before him.
With those massive horns.
It picked up a spinning card from the side and offered it to Ha Dojin.
[Take this. It’s a gift from me.]
It could actually manifest and speak?
Ha Dojin had never heard of such a special effect… yet he calmly accepted the card.
“Who… are you?”
Ha Dojin asked.
The one who had handed him the card simply smiled faintly and disappeared.
[Received the blessing of ‘Shadow of the Quiet Dawn’.]
[The unique trait of the being that reached the highest from the lowest is granted.]
[Acquired unique Awakening ability ‘Status Window’.]
[Acquired unique Awakening ability ‘Skill Window’.]
[Acquired unique trait ‘Reset’.]
[Acquired unique skill ‘Time Distortion’.]
[All stats increased by 50.]
[Additional agility increased by 30.]
The ringing sounds filled the vision.
At the same time, the black silhouette raised its red eyes and spoke.
[See you again, special one.]
With those words, the figure vanished in smoke.
Ha Dojin was momentarily startled by the sudden change, but…
“Status Window.”
He opened it calmly.
Name: Ha Dojin
Level: 1
Strength: 62 Agility: 89
Vitality: 58 Willpower: 56
Bonus Stats: 0
“……”
This is insane.
Normally an Awakener’s stats rise gradually depending on the blessing grade.
‘When receiving an SR blessing, total stats rise by about 10…’
A person with 10 strength would reach 20.
But Ha Dojin started with all stats already at 50, plus an extra 30 agility.
“When leveling up, five bonus stats are given every time… so…”
By the current standards, his stats were on par with an SR-level Ranker.
“……”
This was unbelievable.
Did he really receive an Unique blessing?
The starting point was completely different anyway.
But the real key was something else.
Namely…
[Unique Trait: Reset.]
Ha Dojin read the explanation.
And at that moment, the face he had kept in perfect poker expression finally cracked.
The reason was simple.
“This is a trait?”
A trait that should not exist… or rather, could not exist.