Chapter 43
Baekrihyang had no memories.
She didn't even know her own name, so she simply accepted it when Hwi-min called her Baekrihyang.
The only things she could remember, at least, were these.
She had once tried to climb the Tower, and
'I want to see the end of the sword.'
A precious dream she had held until the moment her flesh crumbled away and only her soul remained.
The sword was her sole interest.
That was why she had no choice but to follow Hwi-min.
His sword had already reached an 'end' of its own, so merely watching him from nearby made her happy.
That was why Baekrihyang had followed him, saying she would attend to Hwi-min.
[Why are you taking off someone else's underwear!! Why are you taking it off in front of a man!! How am I supposed to go back!!]
It had been a catastrophe for Hyunseo, whose reunion with Hwi-min had gone completely to hell,
"How foolish. Is a mere breast covering really such a big deal?"
[Hey!!!!!]
"I'm telling you, this is an opportunity you couldn't buy even with a fortune!"
Baekrihyang suppressed Hyunseo's complaints.
Then she turned her gaze forward.
In front of the monsters charging toward them, a single sword was floating in midair.
'He must be holding the sword in a posture like this….'
From that alone, Baekrihyang inferred Hwi-min's posture.
No, she went further and predicted his movements.
It was an attempt to interpret, in her own way, swordsmanship that had reached the realm of the gods.
At least nine times out of ten, she would be right.
Baekrihyang was certain of this, but…
"……Huh?"
'The enemy is almost on top of him, so why is he just standing there?'
Why was that?
Hwi-min's sword made no move.
More precisely, only the sword wasn't moving.
'Well then, shall we try it?'
"Usurpation."
After Hwi-min muttered softly,
Fwoooosh—!!
The pattern engraved on his forearm flashed.
A red glow flared brightly as well.
It was a light invisible not only to Baekrihyang and Hyunseo, but even to the monsters before them.
That was why all Baekrihyang saw was the result, with the process omitted.
-Thud.
"Keh."
The lizard-like monsters charging toward Hwi-min simply collapsed where they stood.
"……Tsk."
'What a cheap trick.'
Baekrihyang narrowed her eyes.
To her, it looked as though the monsters were pulling something underhanded while Hwi-min stood still.
…Of course, that wasn't what happened.
-Crack.
"Got one~."
"……Huh?"
Hwi-min's sword rose over a monster, then came straight down and smashed into its head.
But the monster did not resist.
The most it could manage was to let out a feeble Keh, k-keugh— as its death rattle.
'Did it recognize the difference in level and offer its life, asking to be sent off without pain…? No, those things can't possibly be that intelligent?'
While Baekrihyang stood frozen, unable to understand what was happening.
Thrust, thrust. Thruuust.
The sword stabbed into one monster, then another.
Thanks to that, it took less than ten seconds to subjugate ten monsters.
"What is this…."
[M-mana exhaustion!!]
At the same time, Hyunseo, whose vision was linked to Baekrihyang's, cried out.
Mana exhaustion.
A concussion-like symptom that appears when an Awakener draws on far too much mana.
The monsters' symptoms were exactly that.
Hyunseo knew well because she had experienced it herself.
[But how on earth….]
But there was one thing even she couldn't understand.
Why had mana exhaustion occurred?
After all, didn't exhaustion require them to use mana?
But they hadn't even fought.
No, they didn't even look like the type to use mana while fighting in the first place.
There was no way they should have suffered exhaustion…
-Freeze.
[…That Usurpation thing from earlier is a Stigma!!]
"So that's what it was!!"
Only then did Hyunseo and Baekrihyang realize the truth.
Hwi-min must have just cleared Floor Four.
He had clearly activated the Stigma he obtained there.
Hyunseo was aghast.
[Ranged mana theft? Enough to cause mana exhaustion, at that?! That's impossible!!]
Stigmas weren't all-purpose.
Hyunseo knew very well what a Fourth-tier Stigma could do, having used hers several times after escaping the Tower.
For example, if Hyunseo had created a Stigma like that?
At most, it would only have been able to slightly restore mana during combat.
Unless she imposed some extreme restriction like 'Death upon use,' that was the limit.
Even relatively low-level monsters were no exception.
But Hwi-min was different.
"What is that…."
The monsters standing before him rolled their eyes back.
All their mana was stolen, and they collapsed.
In the end, even their lives were stolen.
They couldn't resist to the very end.
-Gulp.
[The difference in caliber is staggering.]
It absolutely wasn't the same Fourth-tier Stigma.
No, the tier itself might be the same.
But because the person using it was Iron Gangmin, it produced an entirely different result.
Iron Gangmin was that much stronger, on an entirely different level.
An irregular beyond the standard.
…If Hwi-min heard that, he would say, 'Huh? Me?'
"Ooh."
'I guess its performance really is something, being Fifth-tier.'
For starters, it was Fifth-tier.
Thanks to the Golden Rule trait activating, hadn't he received a free one-tier increase?
Naturally, it couldn't be compared to Hyunseo's Fourth-tier Stigma,
'It doesn't even hurt that much.'
The restriction he had placed on the Stigma:
Self-inflicted damage proportional to distance and amount absorbed.
It was an ultra-high-risk restriction that people normally never imposed, but to Hwi-min, it was nothing.
Thanks to the First-Clear reward, achievements, and damage-reduction trait, the damage he actually took was only 2.5 percent.
In other words, Hwi-min could unleash power forty times greater than the self-inflicted damage he received.
With a different dimension in both tier and multiplier, there was no way he could be in the same class as Hyunseo.
'But why does Serin have so much mana…? With that amount, shouldn't her body have burst in the first place? How can a non-Awakener have that much?'
Even he suddenly found his little sister's mana reserves, which had nearly killed her, incomprehensible all over again, but anyway.
'Anyway, I'd better finish this quickly.'
"Usurpation."
After that, Hwi-min leisurely strolled through the Gate.
The monsters attacking from all around collapsed with a plop and offered their necks the moment they reached his vicinity.
Yet the result of this effortless battle…
was incredibly stimulating.
-Ding!
[The trait 'Seed of Transcendence' activates.]
Strength points increase by 1.
Agility points increase by 1…
Mana points…
'Leveling is ridiculously easy with this.'
His stats were rising little by little, but surely.
The common knowledge that leveling up was possible only in the Tower.
The 'Seed of Transcendence' trait was what shattered it.
So Hwi-min couldn't help but be delighted.
He wandered around, sticking his sword into monsters as though picking up dropped coins.
It was so easy and lucrative that he could barely stop smiling.
"Kyaeung…."
Dohwa, nestled in his arms, was the only one who witnessed him getting such a free ride, but…
'My master is the best!'
Dohwa didn't care in the slightest.
Her master was grinning, so she was happy too.
They had agreed to fight together, but she ended up just watching again; still, being able to stay in her master's arms made it twice as nice.
Hwi-min had no idea what she was thinking.
"Hmm…."
'Is the possession about to end soon?'
After wandering around as if taking a stroll for a dozen-odd minutes.
Glance.
Hwi-min's gaze turned behind him.
His eyes fell on Baekrihyang following him with a stiff expression, along with the notification that three minutes remained on the possession.
"Lady Baekrihyang."
"…Y-yes!!"
"The boss should be nearby, so listen carefully. I told you to listen to Hyunseo, didn't I?"
As Hwi-min headed toward the boss's location indicated by Dragon Eyes,
he explained in a gentle voice.
"But what was that just now? You cut it off because your underwear was uncomfortable? Did I tell you to do that?"
"Well, um… I'm sorry. While examining the divine one's sword, I thought it would be a shame to miss anything because I was distracted by my breast covering…."
"That's why I deliberately didn't swing my sword. If I reward you for doing something wrong, it'll teach you bad habits."
He was doing this because of Baekrihyang.
Since she had done something wrong, he hadn't given her what she wanted.
It was something that would make not only Baekrihyang but Hyunseo recoil.
'He showed us something this incredible just to scold her over that…?'
Just hearing his words, it sounded like he was gently admonishing her.
But what had he actually done?
He had annihilated the monsters while walking as though taking a stroll.
He had taken their mana and their lives without even a gesture.
…Were they really any different from the monsters?
The two decided they weren't.
'If Iron Gangmin ever harbored ill intentions, he could bring down even the Cheonghwa Guild single-handedly.'
'By contrast, we wouldn't even be worthy of a single strike from the divine one.'
Their words abruptly dwindled.
They too were powerful enough to lord it over the world, yet before him, they couldn't lift their heads.
To Hwi-min, it looked as though they were reflecting on their actions.
'I've nagged enough, so I should give her some candy.'
"But if you listen well to Hyunseo, I'll give you some, okay?"
-Step.
Hwi-min headed toward the center of the Gate.
Baekrihyang followed him.
A monster as large as a house—the boss monster of this Gate—greeted the two.
-Ding.
[Crimson Lizard King]
Level: 643
Weakness: Mana core at the nape
"Krawwww!!!!!"
Naturally, the boss roared the moment it saw them, but…
Hwi-min moved calmly.
-Swish.
"I'll show you things like this once in a while."
The hand gripping the sword moved toward his hat.
Then he took it off with ease and tossed it beside him.
"Dohwa, stay inside for a moment. Desummon."
"Kyaeng."
Dohwa's body melted into the air.
In contrast, Hwi-min's invisibility wore off, revealing his true appearance to Baekrihyang for the first time.
A mask pulled up to just beneath his eyes.
A hood pulled over his head.
Finally, gloves on his hands.
[Gloves of Twin Shadows (Unique)]
Once every 10 seconds, can transfer the weapon being held
to the opposite hand.
"……?"
'Those gloves… I didn't see them in the safe zone, did I?'
Since the gloves were clearly no ordinary item, the two naturally directed their gazes toward his hands.
This made Hwi-min's movements easy to follow.
"Hup!!"
'Blood Explosion, Spatial Slash!!'
-Whiiiish—!!!
The sword cut through the air at super-high speed.
Thanks to the temporary stat increase bought with self-inflicted damage, it produced a sound almost like thunder.
That alone would have been earth-shattering, but
'Transfer!'
The sword that had definitely been swung downward was suddenly pointing into the air again when they blinked.
This was precisely the effect of a Unique-grade item.
Weapon transfer demanded extreme reflexes and swordsmanship mastery, but brought enormous benefits in return.
Thanks to it, Hwi-min canceled the follow-up motion—the so-called 'after-delay'—and swung the sword again.
Almost simultaneously, before the slash he had just sent flying had even reached its destination.
"Cross Stitch!!"
Cross Stitch.
A finishing move Hwi-min had devised before challenging Floor Four, enhanced by equipment, traits, and Stigmas alike.
Its power was revealed to the world for the first time.
Kwararararak—!!!!!!!
An X-shaped slash tore through the air and surged forward, carving a deep furrow in the ground.
Could the boss withstand it?
Of course not.
-Schlick.
"……Kwa?"
The armor around the Lizard King's body, its tough hide, and its thick bones.
All of it was cut through like tofu.
It was a monster difficult even to damage without targeting its weakness, but no one could withstand such overwhelming destructive power.
There was so much force left even after cutting the boss into four pieces that…
BOOOOOM!!!!!!!
With a sound like a meteor crashing down, it smashed straight through the wall behind it.
The sight of dozens of walls shattering one after another was overwhelmingly spectacular.
"W-what is this…."
"You'll listen well, right?"
"Y-yes, yes!! Of course, if it's an order from the divine one!!!"
As a result, Baekrihyang was thoroughly cowed.
Even after seeing that overwhelming power, she couldn't call it the pinnacle of swordsmanship or anything like that.
"Then mind your manners. I'll show you things like this from time to time."
'I feel like I'm soothing Serin.'
An attack capable of easily bringing down a building was, to him, no different from admonishing his little sister.
Baekrihyang and Hyunseo had no way of knowing that.
* * *
The Gate began to close as soon as the boss fell.
What was the very first thing I did after seeing that?
-Pababak!
"Miss!! What on earth was that tremendous noise just now…."
"……!!?"
'My hat!!!'
Hwang Hee-chan came running over in a panic.
Right away, I picked up my hat and put it on.
It was incredibly embarrassing to crouch down and put on my hat right after trying to look cool, but anyway.
-Whisper.
"Then I'll be going."
As Baekrihyang's possession ended and Hyunseo's hair turned golden again,
I walked away without hesitation.
I'd found Serin a discharge present and raised my level a little, so I should head back.
Those were the only thoughts on my mind, but…
"E-excuse me! Wait a moment!!"
"……Hmm?"
Hyunseo suddenly spoke to me.
Wondering what he wanted, I turned around.
I came face-to-face with Hyunseo.
"E-excuse me! Are you going to Floor Five…?!"
"……."
'That can't be the issue right now, can it?'
Ugh, indecent.