Chapter 78 [You Can Use the Skill of Myocheon Mahwi.]
“Uwaaaaaah!!!!”
I clenched my fist around the ring wrapped in spider silk and charged at the queen.
Effect of Bideom's Scale activated!
From now on, a portion of your vitality can be converted to mana.
Up to a maximum of 80% of your vitality can be converted to mana at a 1:1 ratio.
Vitality Arts Lv1 effect activated!
The amount of vitality converted to mana is reduced.
Vitality Arts Lv1 proficiency has increased.
Mana Veins Lv1 effect activated!
Mana flows through your bloodstream. Using mana stored in Mana Veins.
Mana Veins Lv1 proficiency has increased.
Starting with Bideom's Scale, activating Vitality Arts and Mana Veins caused my mana to surge beyond its limits in an instant.
“Hah, hah……!!!”
My breath caught in my throat from the depleting vitality, my body going numb, but I squeezed out every last bit of vitality, channeling the converted mana into Myocheon Mahwi.
Poisonous Aura of the Spider Fiend activated!
Shrrrrk……!!
Spider silk poured from the ring, binding the spider queen's legs and arms. The silk from Myocheon Mahwi carried a vicious poison that began melting even the queen's tough carapace.
[Kuh……!! Kraaaaaah!!!!]
The queen screamed and thrashed, but the more she struggled, the deeper the silk burrowed into her body.
“Phlia!”
I yanked hard on the hand with the ring, holding the rampaging queen in place, and hurled the sleep powder vial I had at her.
Clang-!!
She tossed the two daggers she held—one toward me, the other toward the queen's back where the third eye was.
Fwoooosh……!!
Phlia (NPC) uses Dark Step Lv3!
Her body turned to smoke with a pop! and teleported to the position of the dagger she'd just thrown at me.
Shrrk! Thud!
Phlia kicked off the ground, grabbed the handle of the incoming dagger, leaped over my shoulder. As she brushed past, her other hand overlapped mine, taking the vial, then she twisted in midair to face forward.
Another Dark Step followed. Her body scattered like smoke again, this time relocating to the dagger on the queen's back.
[Interesting. There was once a guy who pulled off a similar trick in the past…… Could that woman be a descendant of Nox?]
Black Eye muttered, intrigued by her abilities.
Shrrrrk---!!
She scattered the three daggers strapped to her back in all directions. With pops! pops! boom!, she zigzagged through the air to their positions, landing on the queen's back in an instant.
Nox……? You mean the Lord of Darkness?
[That's right. Looks like you know of him.]
Damn……
I couldn't hide my shock at Black Eye's words.
Fifty years ago, she had set an unbelievable record for mass slaughter, becoming a legendary assassin. I'd only seen her name in ancient texts and wasn't even sure if she was real.
Do you know her?
[Of course. We clashed just once, but she left an impression. She was the trickiest assassin I ever faced.]
Is she…… still alive?
[Her? Better to call her 'she.' Who knows if she's alive. She came to me only once. Never showed up again, so she probably sensed the gap between us and gave up.]
Black Eye spoke casually, but if Phlia was a blood descendant of the legendary Nox from ancient texts, that was huge.
She's no mere Rare-grade NPC—her skills and stats rival Heroic-grade. And it was weird that Heroic-grade Red Sickle follows her.
Aishira was Rare-grade but exceptional from years of experience. Phlia was far younger yet matched her level, so her talent couldn't be dismissed.
The common wisdom was that an NPC's grade reflected innate talent and potential.
No way……
But there was one exception to that absolute rule. Just as players boosted stats with skills or traits, NPCs could rise in grade by acquiring special abilities.
Phlia's potential isn't Heroic, but if she truly carries Nox's blood, she might awaken postnatally.
That thought made me feel I absolutely couldn't let her slip away.
If she's really Nox's heir, then the hilt in the Iron Kingdom's treasury that never found its owner might finally shine—not like in my dreams.
I watched her and thought that.
“Plus, Nox's secret arts.”
As the Iron Kingdom's king in my starting life, I'd sided with the duchy and never recruited her. So I remembered the weapons gathering dust in the treasury, ownerless.
One more task just got added.
Finding owners for those dormant weapons in the treasury would be key groundwork for the world I'd build, thanks to Phlia.
Kirrik……! Kiririk……!
The queen's massive third eye darted around in confusion.
“Hyaahhh!!”
As if mocking its frantic movements, Phlia jammed the vial into the giant eyeball with all her strength.
Splurt!!
Shwaaaaah……!!!
The vial shattered, sleep powder and glass shards embedding in the queen's eye.
[Kaaak! Kaaaaak!!]
The queen writhed in agony, screaming.
“Ngh?!”
Phlia caught a falling dagger midair to stab into the queen's carapace and hold on.
[My children……!! Vengeance with poisoned blood……!!]
Crack! The queen's body split open with a tearing sound, revealing red flesh.
“Kim Do-hyun! Dungeon boss monsters go berserk below a certain HP threshold! Take it down before then!”
Rerto Karen shouted upon seeing that. Despite being torn by corpse spiders and his armor corroded to rags, he'd held aggro perfectly, not letting a single one escape.
A top player indeed—masterfully burning vitality to maintain HP on a razor's edge.
“Don't worry.”
I yanked the spider silk from Myocheon Mahwi with both hands.
Craaaack……!!
As the sleep powder covered the third eye, the queen's movements slowed noticeably. As it finally closed, her hardened carapace softened to normal.
Then Myocheon Mahwi's poisonous silk dug into her legs.
Twang---!!!!
The taut silk shattered the queen's sturdy legs, severing them instantly.
[Kek……!! Kaaaaak……!!]
The queen screamed, but with the third eye covered in powder, she seemed delirious, mixing cries with faint groans.
[Vicious poison. How ridiculous—done in by her own venom…….]
Black Eye sneered at the sight.
“Hyaap!!!”
I stepped onto the immobile queen's back, yanking out the chakram embedded in my shoulder.
Sching……!!!
Red Sickle gripped the two chakrams together.
Red Sickle (NPC) infuses vitality into the chakrams.
Five Color Ring Lv20 used!
Attribute Ring – Fire Chariot activated!
Wind on one side of the stacked chakram blades merged with flame on the other, forming a massive fiery wheel above his head.
Fwoosh……!
A fierce energy emanated from the flickering flame ring.
Kagak---!! Kagagang-!!!
He twisted his palms, erecting the chakram blades vertically like saw teeth, slicing into the queen's head.
[Kraaaaaaaa!!!]
The staggering queen from the sleep powder screamed.
She flailed wildly, but only her severed legs twitched grotesquely, bound by Myocheon Mahwi's silk.
“Now!!”
Red Sickle poured everything into the chakrams and yelled to me.
Dark poison gas began spewing from the queen's shredded body.
“Everyone, evade!”
At my command, Red Sickle and Phlia leaped away from the queen. I plunged straight into the poison cloud.
Supreme Ice Defense Art – Nute
Tssshhhh……!!
Recovering the silk from Myocheon Mahwi restored some vitality, enough to cast Nute. The layered ice blocked the poison from the queen's innards, boiling on contact.
The queen's poison aura shatters layers of Nute.
Like cracking glass, each step shattered a layer, sending snowflakes scattering around me.
How's it looking?
[The broken ice flakes and poison smoke should obscure you.]
Good.
I glanced back, but steam-like smoke hid Rerto Karen. Even without it, holding the spider swarm kept his eyes forward.
One, two, three……
Counting shattering Nute layers, I watched vitality recover, closing in on the queen slowly.
Having drained all mana from Mana Veins, I couldn't pull more. The 100 mana for Nute had cost vitality; rushing would prevent recovery.
I narrowed the gap like measured breathing.
True Chilya 4th Sword
As the final ice barrier shattered and vitality peaked, I slashed without hesitation.
Kwagagang--!!
The queen's upper body, half-severed by chakrams, was done, but the third eye lingered inside the carapace. Sword aura roared, grinding it apart.
Kwaaaang……!!!
A vortex swirled in the mist amid her screams, the massive eyeball bursting, splattering viscous fluid everywhere.
“Hah, hah……”
Only after the shuddering queen became a corpse did the poison subside.
“……Got her.”
I severed her head and collapsed.
Spider Queen defeated.
Spider Lord's Tomb cleared.
Feat Points +100
“We, we did it! No way, we took down the Spider Queen……!!”
Phlia clenched her fists, yelling at the queen turning to ash.
Several drop crates appeared around us.
“Kim Do-hyun.”
With the boss dead, the spider swarm from the egg pile collapsed, powerless. Rerto Karen approached in his ragged state.
“Now I get it. What the Memory Keeper buff you got is.”
I frowned slightly at his words.
“Spouting boring crap before we even open the crates. Come on, aren't you curious what's inside?”
But ignoring my jab, Rerto Karen stared seriously, like it was crucial.
“Battle mages have better stamina than regular mages. You must have gotten physical buffs from the Memory Keeper title.”
“Hah?”
I feigned surprise at Rerto's words.
“Plus, Nute isn't exclusive to Dimension World 1. Ice magic exists everywhere. If I'm right, your first job change was mage, and Memory Keeper compensates for physical stats. That's why you look like a swordsman now.”
“Not bad.”
I smirked at Rerto Karen. He looked smug, as expected.
“If you're gonna spout nonsense, let's split the drops. If you wanna reach Pharhum's Tomb faster. I got Myocheon Mahwi, so the rest go to you three first dibs.”
I brushed it off, picking up a remaining crate.
He completely missed the mark.
But I didn't elaborate.
Mission accomplished.
If the guy leading one of the Eight Clans misjudged me like that, locking in his view of my abilities, it was a welcome misunderstanding.
Open the looting crate?
Click-
Thanks to that, I opened the Spider Queen's crate lightheartedly.
Shwaaak-!
With a sound effect, light poured from the crate and faded.
“……Huh?”
Then. Inside were three drop items.
Why is this……
The mage-use Poison Cloud Stiletto and speed-boosting boots were both Heroic-grade gems. But what caught my eye was barely Normal-grade.
Item grade meant nothing here.
[Riddle Note]
'Escape from here?'
This was material for a quest that shouldn't start yet.