Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Even Without System Buffs, We're Strong?
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“What’s with all the fuss? In terms of effect, it’s about on par with Onbiroad’s magic armor.”
Geon-woo spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if telling Paeng to calm down.
But that only made Paeng bristle even more.
“Magic armor? What magic armor has defensive power this strong? It blocks not just physical impacts, but mana and mental energy too. Where do you find something like that?”
“High-grade or top-grade magic armor has effects like that.”
“Hey! You think that shit’s easy to get? Whether it’s a nation or an organization, you’ve gotta rack up massive achievements just to get your hands on one.”
Paeng shot back in disbelief.
Then, cautiously, she awakened Yultren’s armor.
Shhhhh!
The armor, bound to her soul, manifested at Paeng’s will in an instant.
It took barely a second for the armor to fully form in response to her intent.
But then.
“Wh-what?!”
Paeng jolted in shock at the sight of the armor enveloping her body.
“Tch.”
Geon-woo clicked his tongue at her reaction.
It was because all of Paeng’s lies up until now had been exposed.
Yultren’s armor wrapped around Paeng’s body, taking its optimal form.
And that optimal form had no choice but to mirror the physical shape stored in Paeng’s soul memory.
“Ah, crap.”
Paeng scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
The armor was perfect, right down to the face guard. The problem was its unmistakably feminine curves—the prominent chest, slender waist, and firm, bouncy hips.
She’d insisted she was a guy all this time, but she couldn’t keep that up in this situation.
“Busted, huh?”
Paeng looked at Geon-woo without hiding her feminine voice.
“You figured I already knew, right?”
“When you put me in that stone coffin?”
“Nah, from the first time we met as part of Onbiroad’s 1st Expedition Team.”
“From the very first sight?”
“Call it a hunch. Knew it the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“I told you it wasn’t me.”
“You did.”
“And yet?”
“I said hunch, but it was damn near certainty. Like instinct.”
“Fair enough, you’d pick up on that. But when you put me in the coffin…”
“Didn’t check.”
“You took off the necklace.”
“...”
“See?”
“I said it wasn’t checking! Just blocking the tracking.”
“Anyway! So, what’d you think?”
“Of what?”
“My face!”
“What about your face?”
“Sigh, never mind. Honestly, it doesn’t change anything now that you know I’m a girl. At least not for you.”
“Yeah. I’ve known for a while.”
“...”
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything!”
“Right.”
= My liege, Paeng called you a ‘fat ass.’
‘No need to translate that crap!’
= Understood, my liege.
“Anyway, thanks for this. Being soul-bound means I can summon it anywhere. That’s handy.”
“You know it has limits, right? Once the charged energy runs out, that’s it.”
“It recharges itself, so no big deal. And I’m not the type who takes hits anyway.”
“True. Anyway, you can summon it thin under your clothes normally, so give it a good test run.”
With that, Geon-woo pulled out the soul-preserved orb of Kamarro from his waist.
“What’re you doing?”
Paeng reverse-summoned Yultren’s armor, then summoned it inside her robe to wear it, and asked upon seeing that.
“Gotta deal with the remaining demons and Cheon Su-wan’s crew.”
“You’re killing the demons, obviously?”
“Yep.”
“What about Cheon Su-wan’s group?”
Geon-woo met Paeng’s question with an emotionless gaze.
“What would you prefer?”
“I’d kill all three, obviously.”
It was a natural reaction after what they’d done to her.
Mercenary, spy, fixer, killer, cleaner.
Whatever the label, you don’t get respect in this world if you don’t pay back what’s owed in full.
“You wanna kill ‘em, but you’re asking me what to do?”
“You’re the one holding the reins on this Easter egg run.”
“If I said to spare Cheon Su-wan, Ivan, and Tucker?”
“Then we bide our time for another shot.”
Paeng acknowledged Geon-woo as the leader in conquering this Easter egg.
That’s why she was saying she’d follow his decision.
“Alright, then let’s do some ‘yi-i-je-i’ first.”
Geon-woo had already decided Cheon Su-wan and the others’ fate the moment Paeng suggested tackling the Easter egg.
They were rivals competing for the treasure, after all.
That made them enemies, and mercenaries didn’t give enemies any quarter.
“Yi-i-je-i?”
“Let barbarians catch barbarians. In other words, make the enemies fight each other.”
“The demons against Cheon Su-wan’s gang?”
“Exactly.”
Geon-woo gave the order to Kamarro, altering the ruin’s structure.
He created a path to bring the demons and Cheon Su-wan’s group together.
* * *
Puke! Pafak!
“Fuck.”
“I win, human!”
“What the hell are you saying, you bug?”
“But you humans come back to life, right? Unlike you, my kin who die here stay dead.”
“Disgusting fuck. What’re you yapping about? Just die!”
Cheon Su-wan bellowed.
His sword was currently stabbed into the demon leader’s shoulder, while the demon leader’s hand had pierced Cheon Su-wan’s chest and crushed his heart.
Cheon Su-wan, Ivan, and Tucker had ganged up on one demon leader, but all they managed was a stab to the shoulder.
Not that it was surprising. This place sealed Onbiroad’s system abilities.
In the end, Cheon Su-wan’s group had no choice but to fight using the original tools of Onbiroad’s natives.
They’d whittled down the creatures plenty with magic scrolls and items, but once those consumables ran out, the tide turned fast.
Without combat supplies, it became a one-sided slaughter.
User avatars left with only pure human physical prowess couldn’t compete with demons.
Maybe the fact that Cheon Su-wan’s group had one-shot Ballam’s lord was a miracle.
Crunch!
“Pathetic worm. Even with your group attack, I’ll praise you for landing a blade in my body.”
“Gahk!”
“Killing you in one blow is your reward!”
Thud!
Ballam’s lord—the Onbiroad expedition commander and seal bearer—yanked his hand from Cheon Su-wan’s chest, grabbed his neck, and snapped it in one motion.
Cheon Su-wan’s avatar seemed to hold on for a moment, but soon went limp. The lord tossed the corpse to the floor.
“My lord, all cleared.”
“Casualties?”
“Six creatures and…”
“One knight down, right?”
“My apologies. The fool got careless…”
“That shouldn’t happen. He did his best; he was just unlucky.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
The knight captain expressed gratitude for the generous assessment of the fallen knight.
Dying to enemies who couldn’t even properly access the dimensional balance system.
A shameful end for a knight.
Yet the lord calling it bad luck meant he wouldn’t dishonor the dead knight.
“Check for usable loot and let’s move. We’re the only ones left in this ruin now, so take it slow and find the core room—”
“Only you guys? In your dreams!”
The lord’s words cut off at Geon-woo’s sudden voice.
“Hmm?”
Ballam’s lord grimaced at the sight of Geon-woo’s group emerging from a wall that had shown no trace of an opening.
“Urk! What’s with that face…”
Geon-woo dry-heaved at the wriggling that evoked a giant maggot.
“You’re the one. The Earthling who dealt heavy blows to several expedition races.”
Even with Geon-woo’s taunt, the lord stayed composed.
From the fact that Geon-woo spoke a language he understood, he immediately guessed his identity.
“Heard it from the Lerazie folk?”
Geon-woo surmised the lord recognized him thanks to the Lerazie race.
“Fool. Look around. See what your kin achieved against us.”
Ballam’s lord assumed Geon-woo had stumbled into them by chance.
That’s why he felt no worry even seeing Geon-woo, Paeng, and the jiangshi.
The overconfidence came from effortlessly wiping out Cheon Su-wan’s much larger group.
“You think we’re on their level? You’ll regret that. Hahaha.”
“Wild. Demons who can talk sense.”
Paeng couldn’t hide her surprise at Geon-woo conversing with the lord.
“Things happened.”
Geon-woo’s curt, half-assed reply showed no intent to elaborate.
But Paeng didn’t react much to his attitude.
Not like it was the first time.
“You’d have reason to worry out there. But here, the system’s tuning power doesn’t apply. You think your kin fell that easily by coincidence?”
Ballam’s lord smirked lazily, as if the fight was already won.
Earthlings without system power had been so frail.
Even with Onbiroad native tools, they were no match.
Why would this Earthling before him be any different?
That’s what Ballam’s lord thought.
“Hahaha. Yeah? Well, talk’s pointless between us anyway. Guess I’ll just make you a jiangshi spirit and read your memories.”
= My liege, that thing’s too grotesque-looking.
‘We’re extracting it as a jiangshi spirit anyway and ditching the body.’
= Oh, right.
‘Bored? Wanna rampage this time?’
= No, my liege. I’ll save myself for the final trump card.
Ilryeong glanced at Paeng as she replied to Geon-woo’s suggestion.
Meaning she wouldn’t reveal her presence to Paeng.
‘Alright. Do that.’
Geon-woo agreed it made sense.
Then he looked at Paeng.
“Wanna test that armor’s performance? You’re decent in close combat.”
“Decent? You ignoring my skills?”
“Weapons from those dead guys are scattered around, so grab what you want. Here we go.”
Ignoring Paeng’s irritation, Geon-woo issued attack orders to the jiangshi via intent.
They responded immediately.
Peeing! Fwoosh!
Gungryeong’s arrows flew, and Sulryeong’s flame spells erupted within the demon ranks.
Puk!
“Urk! Lerazie?!”
The targeted lord twisted urgently, avoiding an arrow to the vitals.
The heart-shot meant for him embedded in his upper arm instead.
Even then, he recognized the Lerazie race’s signature swift arrow and showed shock.
“Dodge! Sticky flames!”
“Why do the Poras bastards’ magic show up here?!”
The flame-struck demons panicked, realizing the attack matched the Poras race’s specialty.
But Gungryeong and Sulryeong’s assaults were just the opener.
Amryeong’s blink exploded next, severing one demon knight’s head.
Shh! Slash!
“Instant... teleport?!”
“That one has phasing ability!”
Add Gongryeong’s illusion.
“Gah! P-poison?!”
“G-get away! It’s poison!”
“Poison that works on our kin?!”
Dokryeong burrowed in spewing venom, followed by the four elite jiangshi’s ferocious charge.
Kakakak! Kagang! Tsurit!
“What the hell? No magic armor there, but the sword won’t penetrate?!”
“Gahk!”
“Kuaaak!”
“Damn it! Attacks aren’t landing!”
The magic armor on the jiangshi boasted excellent performance too.
But for them, it served more as camouflage to hide their nature than pure defense.
Sure, the defense was top-notch, but demon strikes occasionally pierced it.
Yet attacks piercing the armor couldn’t even scratch the jiangshi skin.
That reversal threw the demons into disarray.
“What... what is this?”
Ballam’s lord couldn’t hide his panic as events unfolded utterly unlike his expectations.
“You and me, let’s play. You’re the boss, right?”
“What?”
“Figures, can’t talk sense with you either. Tch.”
“Grr, lowly thing dares!”
Before the lord stood Paeng, fully armed in Yultren’s armor, sword leveled.
“Ugh, gross. Die!”
Paeng charged, her disgust for the Ballam race plain.
“You dare!”
The lord roared in fury and counterattacked.
“Man, it’d be nice if that one had some decent skills.”
Geon-woo remarked, watching Paeng fight Ballam’s lord.
= Yeah. Oh, how about that demon over there? Could make a good Seomryeong.
Ilryeong pointed to one demon fiercely attacking a jiangshi beside Geon-woo.
‘The one chaining attacks?’
= Yes. Landing over ten hits in a split second.
‘Speed’s great, but power’s the same. Disappointing it can’t pierce elite jiangshi armor properly.’
= Is it?
‘Hmm, that one looks sturdy.’
= Do the jiangshi need to be tougher at this level? Regeneration aside.
‘True, fair point. Then... only the one Paeng’s fighting left? Wonder what skills it’s hiding.’
= As the leader, worth some expectations, right?
While the jiangshi and Paeng pressed the demons, Geon-woo and Ilryeong leisurely scouted jiangshi spirit candidates like window-shopping.
That’s how one-sided the battle had become.