Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Mid-Check
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Eun Jua and Choi Hanpoong joined the conversation as well.
"Honestly, I was shocked too."
"If the correct answer is one survivor, doesn't that mean everyone else died? Could that one person have killed all the rest?"
Dokgo Hyun nodded.
"Yes. Just as you said, Mr. Choi Hanpoong. Lee Hyunjun killed all the other players except himself. Like O Su-hyung mentioned, I predicted it beforehand."
"How did you figure that out, Dokgo Hyun?"
"Haven't you already seen him kill his own team members?"
"Oh, right. That Lee Hyunjun guy wiped out all nine of his teammates."
"The moment I saw that, I was certain. If he got the chance, he'd kill everyone else too—even his allies. And he'd do it aggressively, leaving no survivors except himself."
Everyone nodded in understanding at Dokgo Hyun's explanation.
"The real issue is what comes next. Team battles by group will likely continue through the preliminaries, at least until the end of Phase 1... Even setting aside that standout Lee Hyunjun, there are plenty of other problems."
Kim Min-kyung, with her bizarre [Mother of Parasites] skill, was a headache on her own.
She'd been overshadowed by Lee Hyunjun, but someone with the ability to infect others with parasites was surely growing her power diligently.
On top of that, Kang Seo-rim, who sprayed submachine gun fire, was another concern.
'And beyond them, there are probably more hidden powerhouses who haven't revealed their strengths yet.'
"To deal with these threats, we need to pool our strength. Since it came up, it's time I revealed my skill. Mine is the transfer manifestation type [Time Distortion]."
Everyone was startled when he suddenly disclosed his skill.
"It lets me make myself or objects move extremely fast or slow. I mainly use it to slow enemy attacks or speed up my own movements."
Dokgo Hyun had debated whether to reveal his skill before tackling Mission 5.
But during Mission 5, he'd observed enough to confirm that the players in Group 41 weren't duplicitous types.
'Of course, I can't tell even them about rare specials like my ultimate [3-Minute Regression] or [Object Restoration].'
"Now, it's your turn to share your skills."
Perhaps because Dokgo Hyun went first, the others opened up too.
"Ahem. Mine's the body mutation type [Palm Reinforcement]."
Choi Hanpoong explained.
The [Palm Reinforcement] skill only strengthened the palms, with various specials like [Palm Enlargement], [Palm Bulletproofing], and [Thunderous Clap].
"I mainly enlarge my palms and mix in bulletproofing to survive. If some bastard gets rowdy, I shove 'em away hard."
After his explanation, Choi Hanpoong actually enlarged one palm with [Palm Reinforcement].
"Hup."
He then did handstand push-ups using just his index and middle fingers.
'Not bad.'
Dokgo Hyun had thought [Palm Reinforcement] was some silly skill that just enlarged the hands, but it strengthened even the fingertips.
Those two fingers could probably snap a person's wrist or ankle.
"Hm. Simple, versatile... a solid skill all around."
"Heh heh! Right? Maybe from all the clapping I do, I ended up with this."
"What about you, Jua noona? What's your skill?"
"Mine's kinda lame..."
Eun Jua hesitated before speaking.
"It's the tool creation type [Silver Thread Creation]..."
"Silver thread?"
"Yeah..."
Eun Jua focused her mana at her fingertips.
Sss...
A shimmering silver thread flowed out.
She could generate it to any length and snap it off.
Eun Jua created pieces about a meter long—one for each person—with the thickness of regular knitting yarn.
"Hooh."
"This..."
"Pretty tough, huh? Doesn't break easy."
It wasn't ordinary thread; as silver thread, it had impressive durability.
'Stronger than regular cord, but weaker than wire.'
"I can adjust the length and thickness. What I just made was the 'thinnest' version."
Eun Jua focused mana at her fingertips again.
"This is the 'thickest'."
Thud.
The silver cord she made was as thick as tteok from a rice cake shop.
It felt heavy too, limited to about 50cm in length.
"Whoa! You could swing this like a weapon!"
Choi Hanpoong swung the thick silver thread through the air, producing a whoosh.
Dokgo Hyun saw new potential in Eun Jua's skill.
"Can you make complex shapes or thicknesses? Like a thick hook at the end and thin fishing line for the rest."
"Maybe, but it'd consume a lot of mana."
"Got it. Oh, one more thing. When making it as thin as possible, can you generate it from afar? Like Spider-Man shooting web."
"Not sure..."
Eun Jua tried it as Dokgo Hyun suggested, a bit uncertainly.
She focused mana at her fingertips and shot the thread out.
Whoosh!
"...It works?"
Even Eun Jua was surprised.
"Definitely a good skill."
Dokgo Hyun turned to Kang O Su.
"Well, you've already seen mine. Beast summon type [Clone Summon]."
Flash!
Kang O Su had multiplied into ten bodies before they knew it.
They swapped positions a few times, making it impossible to tell which was real.
"We still have some time left. Wanna spar?"
Kang O Su suggested to Dokgo Hyun.
"You sure? Mana drain..."
"It's fine. Let's do a 10-second touch game. First to tap the opponent's upper body with a palm wins. Hitting a clone's head counts as your win. Sound good?"
"That favors me, doesn't it?"
"Heh. Does it?"
"Fun. Let's do it."
There was no reason to refuse a friendly spar for gauging skills.
"Instead of just doing it plain, let's wager something."
"Money?"
"Coins. 500."
"Heh heh. Deal."
Dokgo Hyun asked Choi Hanpoong to referee.
"Ready, go!"
Tat!
Dokgo Hyun lightly activated [Instant Acceleration] and reached for the nearest clone.
'Slow!'
At that moment.
Whoosh!
The clone vanished.
Two others targeted Dokgo Hyun's head from behind.
Tat!
Dokgo Hyun had anticipated it and dodged with another [Instant Acceleration].
'As expected.'
Summoning clones cost mana, but dismissing them was quick and easy.
"Surround complete."
All nine Kang O Sus spoke in unison.
Dokgo Hyun was cornered in one part of the studio.
"Here we go!"
The nine charged at him simultaneously.
"[Instant Deceleration]."
Dokgo Hyun applied [Instant Deceleration] to the legs of several charging clones, tripping them.
Crash!
As they rushed together, a few stumbling caused a tangle of legs and a pile-up.
Dokgo Hyun moved to tap one clone's back...
"Ten seconds up! Draw!"
Choi Hanpoong called quickly.
"Ah, guess piling into the corner doesn't work."
Kang O Su deactivated his skill, disappointed.
With Dokgo Hyun cornered, nine charging at once meant tight spacing.
A slight tangle was enough to topple them all.
"Does controlling more clones reduce precision or coordination?"
"Not really."
[Clone Summon] let clones act autonomously by default.
Commands were possible, but fine control wasn't, regardless of number.
"I lose, Dokgo Hyun. Take the coins."
"Hm? It was a draw."
"Practically my loss. You know it."
"Haha. Just a spar."
"Fine, then instead of the coins, I'll tell you the full truth and limits of my skill. Deal?"
"Sounds better."
Kang O Su took a deep breath.
"If a clone that looks like me dies, I take damage too."
"Ah, so that's the penalty."
"And one more secret."
"Clones can transform into other appearances, not just yours?"
"Huh? You caught that?"
"From what you just said."
"I see. Anyway, I can make clones of anyone whose name and face I know and have touched once. Special [Clone Transformation] skill."
This was an incredible ability.
Making multiple self-clones was strong enough, but touching an enemy let him clone them too.
"Any player, if you know the name, face, and have touched them once?"
"Not stronger ones than me. Force it, and the clone dispels."
"Got it."
So, he couldn't clone Dokgo Hyun or Lee Hyunjun with [Clone Transformation].
"But for mission monsters, no issues. In the tutorial, there was an escape mission from a huge monster—I cloned it easily. It vanished post-mission, though."
Minor drawbacks, but vast potential in Dokgo Hyun's eyes.
"If you damage or kill a clone in an enemy player's or monster's form, does the original take damage?"
"No. That's the difference from my own form clones."
"Right."
"But killing enemy-form clones gives coins."
Kang O Su had made a clone of a player trying to kill him in the tutorial, killed it hoping to hurt the original—but only got 100 coins, no damage to the real one.
"Once you kill an enemy-form clone, you can't remake it. Existing ones remain, though. And killing them still gives 100 coins."
"You've tested a lot."
"Yeah. More tests, more minor limits."
"No, even accounting for that, it's amazing."
Dokgo Hyun envisioned various uses, filing them away mentally.
"Anyway, let's spend these 500 coins on stats."
Dokgo Hyun boosted Strength and Speed a bit more.
That's when the question mark-headed Supervisor reappeared.
"Ah, everyone. Sorry for the wait. The others are done too. You'll be sent back to your original spots."
Flash!
Those who cleared Mission 5-A returned to the gym.
The first thing they noticed was how vast it felt.
-Current Survivors: 145
Of the 34 groups that chose A, 144 survived.
Many died from rule violations or group leader mistakes.
Groups once full of ten now had empty spots.
Of the 61 who chose B, only 1 survived.
Total survivors: 145.
"What?!"
"No way—everyone who picked B died except one?!"
"This can't be."
The sole survivor of 5-B, Lee Hyunjun, indifferently scanned the others.
"Yeah. I killed the rest."
Everyone was shocked.
They already knew from the final 5-B quiz, but hearing it from him hit hard.
Only Dokgo Hyun coolly calculated in his head.
'He turned the others into 6,000 coins. Quite the haul. Small compared to the 90,000 from my pre-regression runs, but still huge.'
Overwhelming first place.
Yet Dokgo Hyun felt no impatience.
'If my prediction's right, I have plenty of time to catch up.'