S-Rank (3)
Everything that could be done in the waiting room was finished. On a whim, he checked the recently achieved accomplishments as well.
'Master', a superior version of 'One Step Above', along with 'Demon King' and 'Hidden Dragon'. With three accomplishments unlocked, his LP, which had dropped to 850, recovered to 2,200.
"……."
Yun-seok, reading through the achievement conditions one by one with growing interest, fixed his gaze on one point.
The accomplishment 'Hidden Dragon'. For reference, this had been fulfilled right after his duel with the beastkin assassin…….
Honestly, he couldn't quite wrap his head around it.
SS-rank now?
He had known for a while that there was such a thing as self-assessment. During the Wish Auction, he'd heard that Cheonma received SSS-rank and the Steel King SS-rank.
Back then, he'd just thought, My road is still long.
Well, since no accomplishments related to 'self-assessment' had popped up afterward, his interest had naturally faded from the topic.
Still, he had wondered about it occasionally. If that assessment was still being updated in real-time, surely it had risen a lot since then, right?
But…….
The Tower judges me as only this much?
His guess was half-right. The assessment was still ongoing, but his rank had only climbed to match the Steel King's SS-rank upon reaching the 17th floor.
And Yun-seok wasn't dull enough to miss what that implied.
There are still way more monsters above me that I need to surpass…….
It was a reasonable suspicion. The world was vast, with four dimensions gathered together. It would be an overreach to assume only one or two people had SS-rank self-assessments—or SSS-rank like Cheonma.
Unbidden, the corners of his mouth curled up.
This is fun.
He sometimes felt it was too much, even boring at times. The fierce, desperate battles of the early floors felt like a lie now; after the 10th floor, he'd had no real opponents.
But now he realized it was just that he hadn't met any proper ones yet.
Was that why? For the first time in ages, a part of his mind stirred, vitality surging with eager motivation.
Let's climb higher.
Nothing had changed. He would keep pushing upward with relentless effort.
But if the process felt a bit more enjoyable now…… was that a sign something was broken in him as a human?
Maybe. But it didn't matter.
His gut told him the ones he'd meet ahead would be just like him.
Prepare yourselves. The duel will begin shortly.
The intense heat of the sun beating down. But his body no longer felt the sweltering warmth or the stinging pain in his eyes.
And probably the same went for his opponent.
Countdown commencing.
Did they really need to do this anymore? Even so, Yun-seok's eyes habitually turned to his opponent during the allotted three seconds.
3.
His 17th-floor opponent was also a reproduced challenger. Geom-ma Jeong Dae-un had said everyone up to the 19th was like that, but this time there was no doubt.
Because…….
2.
……this opponent was the leader of 'Ilwol', one of the six major powers in the united plaza, a clan made entirely of Murim folk.
Geom-ma Jeong Dae-un himself.
1.
What an absurd coincidence, he thought…….
Well, as you climbed higher, the number of challengers dwindled, so the odds were better than winning the lottery jackpot.
START!
The moment the duel began, Geom-ma Jeong Dae-un's eyes flashed, and his figure vanished.
A movement so swift even Yun-seok nearly lost sight of him for an instant.
Without panic, Yun-seok spread his Heaven Breaking Divine Art qi widely, immediately pinpointing the opponent's position.
Behind me.
No whistle of air. As Yun-seok slightly twisted his neck aside, a black blade pierced through that path.
Clink.
Yun-seok's hand rested on his sword hilt.
Did he sense danger on instinct? The Geom-ma, about to follow up, stepped on empty air as if nothing was there and leaped back, creating distance.
He murmured briefly.
"Black qi, huh. A foreboding fellow in many ways."
Yun-seok smirked. For someone calling it foreboding, he was grinning ear to ear, clearly enjoying himself.
"It's been a while since I met a fun opponent."
No need to say the feeling was mutual.
Yun-seok drew both swords fully.
And locked eyes with the Geom-ma.
"……."
Truth be told, there was no need to fight. If he just showed the Cheonma Sword, like back at the plaza, he'd drop to his knees in obeisance right away.
Then, explain that he was a reproduced being, and he'd understand soon enough, doing whatever Yun-seok asked.
He had the brains for it.
But…….
Where was the fun in that?
Vmmm!
Yun-seok infused his swords with Heaven Breaking Divine Art qi. Thanks to the newly acquired Dark Knight, the sword qi took on an inky black hue like ink.
He didn't love the color, but he couldn't deny it was stronger than before.
Tat.
Soon, Yun-seok's toes dug into the ground.
Not sealed mana for training—this was full power.
Kaboooom—!
His body shot forward like a jet, ferocious momentum.
A normal person couldn't even track the afterimage at this range, but…….
The Geom-ma wasn't normal.
Swish.
His eyes precisely followed Yun-seok's sword.
He'd tracked the movement without missing a beat, and had the ability to dodge.
But his choice was to smoothly raise his sword upward.
To clash head-on with Yun-seok.
"……."
Come to think of it, he'd been curious. Geom-ma Jeong Dae-un, leader of the six powers 'Ilwol' clan, whom even Cheonma acknowledged to some extent—what was his true skill like?
Regrettably, back then after using Cheonma's Supremacy, he'd suddenly knelt calling him young sect leader, so he hadn't gotten a proper look.
Still, Yun-seok remembered clearly.
The man who took a red tsunami barehanded and ended with mere light wounds.
Of course, that was when Yun-seok had just reached the 12th floor, without Heaven Breaking Divine Art.
Well, this Geom-ma was only at the 17th floor too, so not as strong as back then.
Whirrl. Whoosh!
Just before their swords met, the sword qi cloaking them collided first, intertwining softly.
Very softly.
He's going to deflect it?
In that split-second clash, Yun-seok read his intent.
So he poured even more qi into his blade.
Hummm!
Yielding Metal and Shattering Stone.
Softness could overcome hardness, but only when levels matched.
Sword qi output stemmed from mana stats.
And Yun-seok was confident. On the same floor, no one surpassed him in mana.
"……!"
As expected, the Geom-ma's expression shifted.
But Yun-seok sensed his turmoil not from the face, but the sword qi around his blade.
It wouldn't deflect sideways. Not even a twitch.
Hard to believe at first, surely.
After all, martial arts had matchups. Hardness beat softness only with a few advantages.
Yet even deviating the trajectory slightly was impossible?
For him, Geom-ma Jeong Dae-un?
"Force Pull Mountain!"
With the Geom-ma's shout, Yun-seok's thrusting sword slowly veered sideways.
Force Pull Mountain. A common shop skill that temporarily boosted strength.
Didn't know what traits it gained on rank-up, but the core effect remained.
Pushed back in mana, so filling with raw strength?
Simple, but effective.
Yun-seok's charging sword, like a dump truck, slowly shifted aside.
And…….
Slash!
Exactly one inch.
No more, no less—the blade grazed past the Geom-ma's cheek.
Seeing the arena wall gouged like tofu, doubt flickered in the Geom-ma's eyes, but he focused on the moment.
Wise choice.
"Blade of Ruin."
A blood-red afterimage trailed the Geom-ma's blade like blood.
Unique skill? Authority? First time hearing the command, so likely one or the other.
One thing was clear: he was coming in earnest now.
Whoosh!
Yun-seok's instincts screamed: even he couldn't ignore a hit from that.
And it wasn't over.
"Hell’s Dark Path."
Like a total eclipse, the sun was shrouded in black, and the blue sky turned bloody crimson.
Drip.
Drip drip.
Unknown black liquid rained from the sky.
All healing effects are nullified.
Allowing an attack from the Evil Buddha will cause a random stat to drop by one rank.
All terrain penalties reduced by 50%.
Environmental Adaptation activating was secondary.
Yun-seok tilted his head in curiosity.
Evil Buddha? With such terrifying penalties—what did it mean?
He learned soon enough.
Ting!
A bell tolled from somewhere.
A crescent blade emerged from empty space, targeting Yun-seok.
Getting hit by that drops a stat?
Pretty good ability, then. Ten hits and stats would plummet horrifically.
Well, just don't get hit.
Slash!
Beyond dodging, Yun-seok instinctively slashed the demonic arm protruding from empty space.
Then…….
"Grrooooaaarrr……!"
A horrific scream he'd never heard before echoed, and the entire arena shook.
What the hell was that? Killing the Evil Buddha dispel the field effect too?
That'd be too easy…….
As Yun-seok pondered how to rate this technique.
Geom-ma Jeong Dae-un's eyes trembled violently.
He slashed the Evil Buddha……?
The Evil Buddha of Hell’s Dark Path, granted by his contracted manager's authority, was a spiritual entity.
Even touching that crescent blade only debuffed stats—no wounds.
And the same for the Evil Buddha. Challenger attacks didn't work.
That was the terror of Hell’s Dark Path.
But what was this? He'd never heard an Evil Buddha scream.
Come to think of it, earlier too…….
The Geom-ma recalled Yun-seok shattering the arena wall.
This protected arena never broke, no matter what.
Some ability related to that, I suppose.
He shrugged it off. The Tower of Heaven was full of bizarre things; this wasn't unusual.
Besides, now wasn't the time to dwell on trivia.
"Grrooooaaarrr……!"
At this rate, the Evil Buddha would really die.
Like the first hit earlier, one thing was certain: this opponent was the strongest he'd faced yet.
He'd probably have to risk his life, dancing on the edge of death.
But he wasn't afraid.
Even if the Reaper pressed a scythe to his throat, he'd laugh as if it were natural and drive his sword into its brow.
As always, that's how it'd end.
The title 'Sword Demon' wasn't a joke.
"Mingwang Body."
A reddish-green haze rippled from the Geom-ma's body.
Yun-seok, waiting for another Evil Buddha, belatedly turned his attention to him.
Setting aside if that was normal, the bell tolls seemed noticeably more frequent now.
"Ten minutes. I'll kill you in ten minutes."
That ferociously composed aura felt ominous even to Yun-seok.
But Yun-seok smiled.
"……."
A brilliant way to exploit this Hell’s Dark Path and its Evil Buddhas had just come to mind.