Chapter 72
ㄴ Death Note Tripitaka : That's right.
“Nice.”
It was good news.
Apparently, I can double-cast not only Death Mark but also the derivative black magic of other instant-death skills I learn in the future.
‘It was really a good thing that I erased two names from the Great Tablet.’
At the very least, it seemed I would now have derivative skills twice as powerful as those of the other Reapers.
I had made enemies of every Reaper in the Reaper realm, but the payoff had certainly been worth it.
In that case, I wanted to learn it right away.
ㅇㅇ(141F)(Author) : What is the derivative black magic of Sight?
The instant-death skill I possessed was [Death Sentence - Sight].
It was currently on cooldown, but I had become curious about its derivative black magic.
Since no one knew the derivative of Slash, we had concluded that I could not learn it.
The Reaper on the 710th floor explained, still looking utterly stunned.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : …It’s called ‘Death Half.’ It cuts the vitality of a target within your field of vision in half.
Death Half.
That seemed to be its name.
Were all the derivatives of instant-death skills part of the Death series?
Just then, someone asked a question.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(238F) : What exactly do you mean by vitality?
ㄴㅇㅇ(710F) : Health, resistance to every attribute, and defense against every type of attack.
“Huh?”
Even I was startled, and then the gallery comments exploded.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : Isn’t that fucking broken?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : It cuts all defenses, all resistances, and health in half???? Death Mark is already insane, but the value on this is completely nuts.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : I’m telling you, the Reaper race is seriously privileged as fuck.
In response to the heated reactions, the Reaper on the 710th floor spoke.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : It doesn’t work on Ghost types that can’t be seen. It also immediately wears off when they leave your field of vision, and it’s vulnerable to stealth types.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(224F) : So it works on everything else, thenㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(461F) : Since there’s no cover in the Tower, it really is fucking broken;;
A succession of questions poured in.
Since I was still a newbie unfamiliar with the mechanics of stats, the gallery users were voicing the questions I had in mind for me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(349F) : If it cuts even dark resistance in half, then there’s nothing resistance can suppress, right? How does that make sense? Death Mark at least requires more stacks when resisted.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Death Mark is a derivative technique of the second-stage instant-death skill Engraving, while Death Half is a derivative technique of the fourth-stage instant-death skill Sight. Naturally, the level is different for a derivative black magic of a fourth-stage instant-death skill. The fact that Newbie possesses the fourth-stage instant-death skill Sight at all is already absurd.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(543F) : Seriously, that’s not the kind of value someone below the 500th floor should have.
But the Reaper on the 710th floor continued, as though that wasn’t the end of it.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : But Newbie can use Death Half with Double Casting…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : Ah, right ㅁㅊ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(650F) : So it wouldn’t cut it in half—it would cut it to a quarter, thenㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : ㅇㅇ;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(432F) : Then shouldn’t it be called Death Quarter instead of Death Half?
Death Quarter.
That was right. Cutting something in half twice reduced it to one-quarter.
It was black magic that only I could use.
Just by looking at a target, I could begin by reducing its health to one-quarter.
I was excited just imagining it.
But I soon calmed myself down.
“…”
It would be foolish to start celebrating already.
Afterward, the Reaper on the 710th floor accurately pointed out what I had been thinking.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : And now that I think about it, I don’t know why I’m so certain either… Newbie might not be able to learn it.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : True. Why are we all assuming Newbie has already learned it?ㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : Newbie hasn’t even heard an explanation of how it works yetㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
That was right.
I still hadn’t heard an explanation of the training method.
At that point, I asked a question.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(141F)(Author) : How do I learn it?
Then the master with the named account replied.
ㄴ Death Note Tripitaka : …I already posted it.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(141F)(Author) : Thank you!
I left the gallery homepage and checked the uploaded post.
[Title: The Training Method for Death Half, the Derivative of Death Sentence—Sight.]
I clicked it to check.
“…”
My brow furrowed immediately.
That was because the contents of the post were shocking from the very first line.
______
Title: The Training Method for Death Half, the Derivative Black Magic of Death Sentence—Sight.
Author: Death Note Tripitaka
You must draw exactly half the blood from your body.
That is because you must cut your own vitality in half.
With the door to death half-open, you must recognize the sensation of life and death crossing paths.
To do so, accurately determining your blood volume is the first step.
…
…
…
…
Taking the sensation of death engraved throughout your body and forcing it onto a target through your Evil Eye.
That is Death Half.
In the case of a Bone Reaper like me—a Reaper in the form of a skeleton—I must break half the bones throughout my body. But you, a Blood Reaper, only need to draw your blood, so yours is relatively easy.
A Reaper must always be on close terms with death.
Through this training, perhaps you will finally come to understand the depth of the words I gave you when we first met.
________
“…”
On the first day I was transported into the Demon King’s Tower.
I clearly remembered what the master with the named account had said.
- Is it fitting for the law of death to fear death?
I had thought it was merely an abstract creed, but it seemed to have a practical side as well.
The training method was just as bluntly and brutally intuitive.
‘Does this mean I have to reduce my own vitality by half first…?’
I pressed refresh.
The comment section was in an uproar.
ㅇㅇ(312F) : This is fucking insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅇㅇ(249F) : No, if you lose 50 percent of your blood, you’ll die, for fuck’s sakeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅇㅇ(351F) : This… is the easy version?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(543F) : If you bleed yourself, you’d definitely feel what it’s like to dieㅋㅋ
Seol Harin : No… Wouldn’t it be a disaster if an intruder showed up while you were doing this??
The reactions were similar to my own thoughts.
I had to draw out half my blood, then focus and train my senses in that hazy, dying state.
If something went wrong, I felt as though I might lose my life during training or suffer lasting aftereffects.
It looked like the most grueling training ever.
The process of ‘drinking tea’ in the Blood Spirit Tea Ceremony seemed gentle by comparison.
Was this what it meant to follow the laws of reality?
Just as possessing two instant-death skills had given me two death authorities but made it impossible for me to enter the Reaper realm, Death Half seemed to have an arduous learning process befitting such an overpowered skill.
ㅇㅇ(461F) : Okay, say I draw out half my blood and it doesn’t work. What then?
ㄴ Death Note Tripitaka : Rest, recover your blood, and repeat until it works.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F) : Legendaryㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : If it doesn’t work, keep going until it does.
But I calmly left a reply.
ㅇㅇ(141F)(Author) : Understood.
As soon as I did, comments filled with concern appeared.
ㄴ Seol Harin : No, Seoyun… It should be fine to learn this later. Isn’t it too dangerous right now?
ㄴ Sword Venerable Jihee : I agree. With a demonic art like this, it would be wiser to attempt it after the body has grown stronger.
ㄴ Death Note Tripitaka : Nonsense! Now is the ideal time! If your body becomes stronger than it is now, only the difficulty of bloodletting will increase!
But the master was explaining that it would actually be easier to do while I was still weak.
‘If crossing between life and death is the training method…’
I didn’t know about life, but when it came to death, a weakling like me should have an easier time crossing over.
I left one final comment.
ㅇㅇ(141F)(Author) : I’ve used up all my fatigue for now, so I’m going to sleep. I’ll try it after I wake up.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(346F) : Is this little bastard seriously not scared at all?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I closed the hologram and lay down inside the tent.
As soon as I closed my eyes, my thoughts began to surface, as expected.
My blood can’t resonate with itself, so I can’t use Blood Drain. I’ll have to draw it out with Blood Command, right?
Where would be the best place to puncture myself and draw blood?
What exactly will the sensation feel like?
What does it mean to contain that sensation in my Evil Eye?
But I didn’t become so troubled that I couldn’t sleep or anything like that.
I fell asleep in an instant.
I’m certain.
This body’s greatest talent is falling asleep easily.
And it was thanks to that talent.
That was how I managed to get enough sleep even though I woke up in the middle of it.
“…”
I shot upright.
Sleep vanished instantly.
Every nerve in my body stood on end.
Starting exactly three seconds ago, an invisible thread had been pulling hard at my mind.
The mana engraved in the spirit blood on the 100th floor sent out violent vibrations.
The alarm that sounded only under one condition was telling me that condition had been met.
The Blood Knight had entered combat.