Encounter with the Wall of Lamentation
The iron carp hunt continued.
- Another one comes forth, partner.
“Okay.”
The iron carp charged straight at me. I eroded the nearby water using Blessing of Greed.
The carapace durability has been reduced by 28%.
The impact was noticeably weaker. A dark red line spread through the blue water, wrapping around the iron carp’s entire body.
- To think you would use that unpleasant one’s blessing in such a way.
Nyx sounded impressed. I had eroded the surrounding water with Blessing of Greed, infused it with mana, and turned it into a cushion. It couldn’t completely nullify the carp’s charge, but it deflected a large portion of the force that would have struck my body.
Anything can be useful if you know how to use it.
I crushed the iron carp clutched against my chest. Catching them was the hard part. Once you got close, hunting them was—
A piece of cake.
Crack!
When I pressed down on its scales with Brute Force, a gruesome sound rang out. The iron carp thrashed wildly, flopped for a moment, then drooped its fins lifelessly.
The last one was hunted safely too.
I activated Devour on the corpse still held in my arms.
Iron Carp Essence devoured: 100%
One species’ essence has been perfectly absorbed.
Stamina +3
Endurance +3
New skill — Iron Scale has been added.
Iron Scale
Grade: ★
Category: Active
Covers the body in iron scales for defense.
Consumes a small amount of mana.
Tsk. I clicked my tongue.
- A dud.
“Goddess, where did you even learn that word?”
Still, as I had told her before, there wasn’t a single essence that went to waste.
The Iron Carp essence resonates with ‘Thorny Carapace.’
The carapace’s defense has increased.
As expected. Since they were of a similar type, the abilities merged. If anything, mana consumption had risen slightly, but thanks to Dragon Heart it wasn’t anything to worry about.
- Your abilities continue to evolve without end, my partner.
Well, something like that. Since speaking underwater was impossible, I swallowed the reply and rose to the surface of the lake.
“Yu Jinho! You’re truly incredible!”
Oh Jiwon cheered. The way he addressed me had subtly shifted from simply “Player” to a respectful honorific.
“Why are you still here?”
“Pardon?”
“Keep standing around and Park Jongwon will catch up to you.”
I answered grumpily. It was nice to be looked at with admiration, but after all the thrashing I had done in the water, I was exhausted.
“Ah! You’re right. This isn’t the time to be standing idle.”
Oh Jiwon kicked off the ground.
“You said you had something for me.”
“I did. Here it is.”
I didn’t forget to accept the spare clothes. Oh Jiwon hurried away from the lakeside.
- You are heartless, my partner.
“What is?”
- From what this goddess observes, that fellow seems to wish to earn your favor.
“He’s not a child. I don’t have time to pay attention to every single person.”
I answered while pulling on the clothes. You couldn’t defeat the Old Gods by joining hands with half-baked players. They needed to be at least future High Ranker level.
“For example…”
I scanned the lakeside without any particular thought. At that moment, my eyes happened to meet another player’s.
“Why is she here!”
The words burst out reflexively. At the end of my gaze stood a short-haired woman.
- You mean that woman?
“Goddess, wait a moment.”
I replied, voice laced with bewilderment. The short-haired woman looked steeped in fatigue. It was a face I remembered. If my pre-regression memories were correct…
The Wall of Lamentation?
The woman whose eyes had met mine—Lee Jiyoung—was a player who would become famous as one of Korea’s High Rankers in the distant future.
Wait. Why are you appearing here?
- Contractor, are you acquainted with that woman?
“Probably.”
I answered in a sour tone. It was our first meeting in this life, but based on the previous timeline we were quite familiar. I had never dreamed she would be a player in the same round as me.
- Hoo, I wonder what sort of connection you share with her…
“Wait a moment.”
I cut Nyx off mid-sentence and fell into thought. Lee Jiyoung, the future High Ranker. Since I had fought alongside her during the age of destruction, I knew exactly what her ability was.
If it’s Lee Jiyoung’s ability, hunting fish will become much easier.
The iron carp I had trusted had essentially betrayed me. The tyrant catfish had an even higher hunting difficulty. I had no idea how much I would have to struggle, but if Lee Jiyoung lent her strength, hunting the tyrant catfish would become far simpler.
Come to think of it, Lee Jiyoung was also famous as a player who had discovered the true value of her unique ability late—just like me. Her unique ability had a high application difficulty. However, if handled properly, it could be used for both offense and defense.
If I taught her the proper way to utilize her unique ability…
She would become a High Ranker much faster.
Wasn’t this what people called killing two birds with one stone? Hehehe.
A laugh slipped out at the brilliant idea that had suddenly occurred to me.
- Do not laugh in such a sinister manner. Your luck will flee.
“Just watch quietly, Goddess.”
- What exactly are you thinking?
“I have my plans.”
Leaving Nyx’s grumbling behind, I walked toward where Lee Jiyoung stood.
“Ah, are you perhaps Player Yu Jinho?”
“It’s an honor to be recognized.”
“How could I not recognize you? I’ve heard plenty of stories.”
Lee Jiyoung’s eyes moved up and down, appraising me.
“Though it’s a little different from the rumors.”
“What rumors?”
“The one about the pervert who walks around in torn clothes.”
I ground my teeth. The next time I met that bastard Park Jongwon, a potion wasn’t going to cut it.
“But why has the most successful player of this round come all the way out here?”
“Let’s do a job together.”
Lee Jiyoung’s expression stiffened slightly. Open wariness surfaced on her face. Had my suggestion been too abrupt?
“You have a barrier-type unique ability, don’t you?”
“How do you know about my ability…?”
“I happened to see it while hunting.”
I answered casually. It wasn’t a lie. Before the regression, I had teamed up with Lee Jiyoung for hunts.
“Then you should already know. My ability isn’t very helpful in hunting.”
Lee Jiyoung replied in a dejected voice. An ability specialized in barriers. Yet she couldn’t step forward to tank either. To fulfill a tank role, you needed skills that could draw monster attention. Simply possessing high defense wasn’t enough to hold aggro from monsters heading toward the rear. This was also why Lee Jiyoung’s early growth had been so slow. She had zero offensive skills.
Some people said she could simply buy attack skill books with money, but—
Due to her unique ability penalty, she can’t learn emission-type skills.
That was why Lee Jiyoung had wandered the lower floors of the Tower for years.
“Just consider yourself tricked and team up with me. There’s nothing for you to lose, right?”
I thrust out my right hand. It was the gesture players used to form a party.
Lee Jiyoung stared at my hand with puzzled eyes, then finally—
“Don’t blame me if you regret it later.”
She shook my hand as if she had no choice.
⊳ New Party Member: Lee Jiyoung
⊳ Do you agree?
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Our voices overlapped.
I headed toward a nearby tree with Lee Jiyoung in tow. A tree roughly ten meters tall. This should be sufficient for a test.
“Try setting up a barrier.”
“Alright.”
Lee Jiyoung obediently activated her barrier.
Ziiing!
A prism formed in the air. The hexagonal prism scattered brilliant light as if coated in rainbow hues. When I placed my hand on it—
Clang! The vibrations surrounding the prism emitted a powerful repulsive force and shoved me back.
“Ah, sorry. My barrier pushes everything away regardless of friend or foe.”
“It’s fine.”
What was there to apologize for? It was simply pleasant because it matched my memories from before the regression perfectly. The ability to freely fix a barrier around the user or within a certain range.
Its unique ability name was Vibration Barrier, right?
Vibration Barrier. The barrier Lee Jiyoung deployed emitted minute vibrations at regular intervals, and those waves reinforced the barrier’s durability. Of course, if that were all her ability had to offer, she would never have earned the title Wall of Lamentation.
At first glance it seemed specialized for defense, but…
The true way to use Vibration Barrier isn’t defense.
The barrier operated by generating minute vibrations that pushed attacks away. Lee Jiyoung had taken it one step further—deploying barriers in front of and behind an enemy to crush them. Anything caught between the barriers would cause the vibrations to amplify exponentially. The tremendous friction energy produced as a result meant any being trapped inside couldn’t withstand the infinitely increasing vibrations and would be disassembled at the atomic level.
“You can fix the coordinates and deploy that barrier in mid-air as well, correct?”
A light of suspicion swirled in Lee Jiyoung’s eyes. The look that asked how I could possibly know that.
- This goddess is quite curious as well. It appears that woman is seeing you for the first time.
Ahem. Goddess, please stay quiet for now. I’ll explain everything later… though I probably won’t need to.
When I simply stared at her without answering, Lee Jiyoung let out a deep sigh and spoke.
“It consumes twice the mana, though.”
“Then could you try deploying the barrier so it wraps around the front and back of that tree?”
“If you insist.”
With a reluctant expression, Lee Jiyoung activated the barrier.
Ziiing! Zing!
Vibration barriers spread in front of and behind the tree. The moment they appeared, the tree caught between them began to tremble violently.
“Ugh, what is this repulsive force?!”
“Miss Lee Jiyoung, don’t release it. Hold on.”
The amplified vibrations shook the tree’s surface, and within seconds it shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Thud! The tree, having lost its base, toppled to the left.
“Haak… hak…”
Lee Jiyoung sat down, breathing harshly. Maintaining the barrier’s form must have been incredibly taxing. Controlling the chain reaction wasn’t easy. Had it not been for Lee Jiyoung’s innate talent, she would have been crushed by the repulsive force between the two barriers and failed.
- Did you know this would happen?
I answered with a nod.
- Truly remarkable! To amplify vibrations and shatter an object to pieces!
Nyx kept exclaiming in admiration. This was the method to maximize the efficiency of Lee Jiyoung’s unique ability, Vibration Barrier.
“What did I just witness?!”
“Your barrier isn’t something that can only be used for defense.”
“W-wow…”
Lee Jiyoung looked utterly dazed. Even though I had casually switched to informal speech, she didn’t seem to mind at all. Well, after being shown a brand-new application for her barrier, informal speech was hardly worth caring about.
Lee Jiyoung stood up with difficulty, still breathing hard.
“Want to rest a little longer?”
“No. How could I possibly rest comfortably in front of my master!”
Huh? Since when did I become your master?
Strange. The Lee Jiyoung in my memories had been extremely cold and pessimistic. Yet the woman before me seemed like an energetic new recruit full of vitality.
This much should be usable.
Hunting the tyrant catfish. Utilizing Lee Jiyoung’s barrier ability would let me gather essences far more easily than with the iron carp. Hehe.
I suppressed the laughter rising in my throat and simply lifted the corners of my mouth.
- You’re laughing sinisterly again.
Nyx’s lamenting voice echoed in my ear.