Good and Evil (1)
Randomly acquire one of the opponent's skills.
Unique Skill: Torture Technician acquired.
Randomly plunder one of the opponent's equipment items.
Summoner's Crystal Ring (Rank D) plundered.
Absorb a portion of the opponent's highest stat.
Mana stat absorbed.
The final duel of the captain match ended in victory.
For the beastkin, who had already been through three captain matches, this was the desperately hoped-for outcome. One might expect cheers of joy, but the beastkin was sweating profusely, lips pressed tightly shut.
The woman beside him was no different.
They feared Choi Yun-seok.
“……”
“……”
They were clearly on the same team, yet even making eye contact felt like he might shatter the iron bars, burst in, and slaughter them. Was that feeling pure illusion?
Though three duels had ended, no corpses littered the arena.
The summoned undead had been devoured by holy light and burned away, and the remaining one… had been torn to shreds, scattered in chunks the size of joints, unrecognizable as a body anymore.
And what made it even more terrifying was that the man had been alive until just moments ago.
'As they say, quiet people are the scariest…'
Even amid the man's chilling screams, Yun-seok had impassively sliced off fingers and toes first, then flesh bit by bit. Only when he'd bled out too much and died did Yun-seok dispose of the corpse.
And he'd done it all with just his sword.
Recalling the scene made the beastkin's skin crawl again. Having witnessed only the visible events without knowing the judge's mark or the man's unique skill, his reaction was natural.
Comparing him to that irrational, reckless woman was impossible.
The Yun-seok he'd just seen was madness incarnate.
“…I should hold off climbing the tower for a while. I never want to face that guy in the arena. Right, young lady?”
The beastkin tried to calm his pounding heart by speaking to the woman beside him. Even using the “young lady” title he'd once despised, she showed no reaction.
She'd merely heard his mutter and, upon seeing Yun-seok turn his head this way, instinctively stepped back.
Thud. Thud.
Yun-seok walked toward the waiting room barred by iron bars.
The woman's face drained of color.
Memories of her blunders against Yun-seok flashed before her.
But regret always comes too late, no matter how swift.
Bang!
Yun-seok's sword slammed down on the bars, shaking the entire arena with the recoil.
Not a single scratch marred the iron.
It was protected by something absolute.
But perhaps not thinking that far, the beastkin shouted urgently.
“I-it wasn't me! The one who spoke rudely to you was this woman!”
The beastkin pointed at her.
Instead of bristling, she paled further and forced out an apology.
“S-sorry! I spoke wrongly about you. I take it all back!”
An apology that seemed unlikely from her lips.
Yun-seok tilted his head, face puzzled. Then he realized they had reason to misunderstand.
'I was just testing if I could break the bars…'
Revenge for words? He hadn't even considered it. He wasn't really angry anyway.
As long as no judge's mark appeared, they had no need to fear him.
Just as the beastkin said—unless they met in the arena.
And even if they did, it wouldn't end in such a gruesome death as that man's.
Still, this chance might humble the scatterbrained woman a bit, so Yun-seok spoke.
“Be careful from now on. Words can hurt people too.”
After saying it, it sounded like a public service announcement. And he hardly seemed the type to lecture others, making him feel awkward.
But the woman didn't sense it that way; she nodded frantically.
“Got it. From now on, from now on, I will.”
Her demure attitude clashed so much with their first meeting that Yun-seok smiled behind his mask.
Whether she'd truly mend her ways afterward, no one knew.
But Yun-seok hoped she would.
If they met again someday with a judge's mark above her head or if he witnessed comparable evil firsthand…
He wouldn't be smiling like this.
512,000 AP awarded as reward.
Moving to 7th floor waiting room.
1 Coin awarded as promotion reward.
Thus ended the brief yet interminable captain match.
* * *
7th floor waiting room.
The timer was fixed at 0 again.
Elle had only told him up to the 6th floor trials, but apparently challenges above were optional, not forced.
Back in the waiting room, Yun-seok checked his tablet first.
The total AP reward felt off.
But he wasn't seeing things.
'Why the same reward as the 5th floor?'
1k, 2k, 4k, 8k, 16k… Up to now, even without promotion, AP rewards doubled with each win.
But this time, it matched the 5th floor breakthrough.
What was going on?
'No way it's fixed like this from now on, right?'
If so, the explosive growth per duel would end.
Of course, it wouldn't change much overall.
Downward leveling? His competitors were always those with matching total scores anyway.
Skills and stats just gained more weight at A-rank.
'B-rank potions 380k, A-rank 1.53M…'
If 7th, 8th, 9th floors gave fixed 500k AP rewards, he'd need three straight wins from A-rank onward, saving without spending, to grow.
More variables, but Yun-seok set aside AP worries here.
Theorizing was pointless.
Only climbing higher would reveal truths.
Grumbling wouldn't change rewards; he'd just use AP efficiently as always.
'Check other rewards first.'
Before spending AP properly, Yun-seok checked the stats absorbed via .
This time: Agility, Strength, Mana—three in total.
No rank ups.
He couldn't tell the formula for absorbing from the highest stats.
All already C- or above, so no rank up.
Yun-seok shelved his mild regret.
'Whatever, check equipment.'
Yun-seok opened the drawer under the statue.
Inside lay the gear plundered via from this duel.
Normally he'd search the shop, but since learning appraisal, no need.
Yun-seok removed his old Mercenary Boots (Rank F+) and donned the new ones.
Increased resistance. Did it reduce all downward physical force?
Vague description, but higher rank meant visibly superior base defense over the steel-plated mercenary boots.
'Scrap the rest for profit.'
Yun-seok converted the Mercenary Boots and other loot into durability points via Ironclad Constitution.
No four elements in his skills except random fire on .
Mana +1 was nice, but the below-C-rank limit made it useless.
Durability (D-) rank rises.
truly summoned AP.
Durability hit D-rank without direct investment.
Finally, Yun-seok checked acquired skills.
Spear Mastery (Rank C-). Spirit Affinity (Rank C-).
General skills from Lizardman and Fairy Swordsman.
Decent ranks, but useless for his style.
Yet Yun-seok wasn't disappointed.
He had ways to recycle them.
'Save for synthesis later.'
Then, the rare unique skill acquisition.
Torture Technician (Rank E)
Rank F: All attacks multiply target's pain by 20x.
Rank E: All attacks inflict 'Fear' status abnormality for 10 seconds.
Definitely useful in combat.
But the effects were revolting.
A long-awaited unique skill like this…
One might be disappointed, but Yun-seok felt great satisfaction.
How fitting.
He'd just regretted not inflicting more pain on the judged man, and here was this skill.
It felt like an invisible someone saying: You're not wrong.
Judge those who fear not the gods, become a being of terror.
* * *
Mana (C) rank rises.
Mana (C+) rank rises.
Agility (C-) rank rises.
Agility (C) rank rises.
Agility (C+) rank rises.
Investing 480k AP, he raised Mana and Agility to B-.
All maintenance done.
30k AP left—he'd hold it.
No good synthesis synergies, so postpone.
'One Step Ahead' and 'One-Strike Kill' achievements gave extra LP, but nothing worth buying.
Yun-seok opened the chat room.
Total capacity 987.
5th floor was around 800, so nearly 200 more…
Why?
Why more people higher up?
The answer was simple.
That many were stuck here.
'But participants are way fewer…'
Only 37 active.
The room was dead silent.
Yun-seok had hoped for 7th floor trial info, but closed it.
He could guess where most non-participants were.
The 6th floor plaza was a den of corruption.
What about this one?
Yun-seok hoped it differed.
Depending on their deeds, his tasks would change.