Chapter 41 –  Day 11, 8th Floor Renewal

Glasses and Macho were surprised as they saw me. They were looking at my feet. It wasn’t there. Hip-hop’s boots couldn’t be seen. “Are my feet really the most important thing?”

“…!”

“…!”

I raised my index finger and knocked twice on my temple. “Here. The thing you want is in here. I studied really hard.” Then I walked backwards. Right behind me was one of the entrances to the village. If they didn’t chase after me, then I would disappear into the forest.

It was clearly a lure. I didn’t want to fight against many people at once, so I would defeat them one by one in the forest. They had no choice. Whether I ate Hip-hop or not, they knew that I was strong. It was necessary to eat me in order to gain dominance over each other.

Pak!

Glasses was the first to rush towards me. Macho followed behind him. The two of them couldn’t catch up with me due to my excellent stats, so the distance between us started to widen slightly.

I entered the road leading into the forest and waited at the first curve. I wasn’t thinking about attacking here. It wasn’t only a few steps from the entrance but it didn’t make sense to drag them into the forest to defeat them one by one. I could hear Glasses and Macho step into the forest. The footsteps were a few seconds apart.

“W-What the?” Screams were heard just after the two of them left the village. Yang Su-jin, who was lurking near the entrance to the ruins, struck the remaining people. Their screams were the signal, so I rounded the corner to attack.

Glasses and Macho were looking back towards the village where the turmoil was taking place. Macho was in the rear. Glasses was ahead of him.  

“This…!” Glasses discovered me and raised his guard. A few steps behind, Macho was getting ready to throw the iron ball in his hand. Did he think there was no way to attack him thanks to the on guard Glasses in front of him?

That wasn’t the case. I turned using my right leg. In addition, I thrust forward with the cylinder in my right hand that I had taken out from my inventory. It was just like what Lee Sang-yoon had done a few days ago.

[Moray Spear. Equipment item. Rank D.]

[The total length is 5.5m, but once all the parts are folded, it becomes a thin cylindrical shape that is 25cm. Once a stabbing posture is used, it will receive the force and the folded part will instantly unfold. The instantaneous change in length can surprise an opponent, but it needs more power and accuracy than normal spears.]

[The power will increase in proportion to the user’s strength, posture and timing.]

[If the spear strikes something when the unfolding isn’t complete then the power will decrease.]

There was a sharp sound. The spear flew much faster than when Lee Sang-yoon, the original owner, used it. Once again, C and D rank weapons weren’t that good. But it wasn’t bad. It depended on the user’s skill as well.

Puk.

There was an elastic texture as the pole extended several metres. The spear was reduced to its original size after completely penetrating Macho’s neck.

Chak.

There was a noise as the spear formed a cylinder again.

Buuuong.

The sound of Glasses’ fist was heard at almost the same time. As I leaned back and avoided the fist, I took out a vial with one of my hands. It hit Glasses exactly. I stepped back and waited for him to scream. It was Yang Su-jin’s special mixture that she had used on Hip-hop.

“I don’t know what this is.”

However, I didn’t see any bleeding. Glasses was covered in a full body armour, with the helmet exposing his face similar to a motorcycle helmet. There were no gaps for the potion to flow between.

“Sorry but this won’t work.” Glasses declared.

I heard a moan from behind him. Macho hadn’t died yet. Blood was pouring from his pierced neck, but he was still alive and struggling painfully. If Glasses turned around then he could kill Macho.

He thought about it. I didn’t miss the moment when Glasses’ concentration was shaken for a while and threw a right hook.

Jing!

Along with the sound of hitting iron, Glasses only paused for a moment. However, I was the one who moaned. “Ugh!” I had tried hitting him as an experiment. I was prepared for some injuries, but the hardness was beyond imagination.

[Current Balance: 598/625. Decelerated state – Leg (50%).]

Deceleration? Legs?

At that moment, I felt a sticky texture on my feet. As I turned my head slightly, I could see a black liquid on the ground where I was standing. There were a few broken bottles on the ground. He had secretly dropped them.

“You aren’t the only one with useful potions.” My shoes were only covered with a little bit. My legs moved slowly like I was drunk. I couldn’t avoid Glasses’ next strike. I bent my arm back and a vibration spread through every corner of my body.

Bam!

Glasses didn’t come that quickly. The power contained in his strike couldn’t be seen. But it was solid. Although his fighting skills were worse than mine, it was like his whole body was made of steel.

Bam!Bam!Bam!

I maintained my guard as I continued to block the strikes. Eventually, my upper body bent over from the hits and I feel to my knees.

“Pant… Pant…” Glasses was breathing hard because his stamina was poor. However, the rough breathing soon stopped as he smiled faintly. “Your body is pretty solid.”

He took out a knife from his inventory. His answer wasn’t a hit. He intended to take care of it with one more blow. I managed to raise my hands and blocked the knife with a hand.

Indeed. It was difficult to get past the surface of the armour. It wasn’t simply strength.

I took out another vial from my inventory with my spare hand. It wasn’t a drug that I was throwing this time. It was the old, weak version of the poison I received from the sixth floor.

“What, don’t you have the ability to learn?” Glasses turned his head and easily avoided it.

The vial flew towards Macho was screaming in the back. Glasses immediately looked behind him. Macho had pulled out potions from his inventory and had been drinking them.

“Thanks to that, it’ll be easier for me to finish him off. It’s too bad about the treatment medicines.”

“… You lost.” I stated.

“What?” Glasses asked with confusion. I replied to Glasses’ question with a fist. I kept holding the knife with one hand while my other hands pounded his face.

Jing!

There was a tremendous sound as my fist hit Glasses’ helmet. But the helmet was still fine. Blood burst from my hands.

“What are you doing…”

Jing!

One more hit.

Jing!

Yet again.

Jing!

Another one.

“Puak!” Glasses couldn’t even think of attacking me with his spare arm.

“Well, maybe you can break it someday.” Glasses started babbling.

Jing!

“But are you looking at your health bar? Do you know what is funny? I was doing this earlier but your fists are a lot faster.”

Jing!

“Maybe seven years in the future…”

Jjejeok!

“……!”

Finally. There was a slightly different sound. I swung a fist again.

Jing!

Peeok!

This time, another sound could be heard at the same time. Glasses noticed it as well and frowned. Why, was he starting to feel impatience? But it didn’t matter. His techniques were terrible. One hand was being held so he couldn’t punch effectively.

Jing!

Peeok!

“W-What th…”

“Now.”

Glasses felt something strange. No matter how bad my punches were, the rate of my health decreasing was somewhat slow.

[Current Balance: 248/625. Decelerated state – Leg (50%).]

[Current Balance: 251/625. Decelerated state – Leg (50%).]

“H… Health…”

It was going up with every punch.

Jing!

Jjejeok!

Akka. I was able to tell by the moans that Macho hadn’t died. It was little by little, but my stamina was continuously recovering. Macho was bleeding from the neck. In other words, the damage I dealt him was coming back to me as health due to the Essence of the Leech.

Jing!

Jjejeok!

The vial I threw before? I thought I needed to recover more health so I threw it. Even if he died, I would receive a certain amount of talent. Even if he didn’t die and drank potions, he would be a great source of health. Anyway, Macho was supplying me with health.

Jing!

Jjejejeok!

“Heok…”

At last. The helmet was broken and the face of the stricken Glasses appeared.

“I waited a long time.” I stretched out my fist.

Jjak!

‘Jjak?’ Jjak? The sound wasn’t due to my fist hitting something. It came from my wrist. The sound came from it being cut.

“Hah… Hah…” Glasses smiled with satisfaction as he looked at my wrist.

“Don’t worry.”

I turned my gaze towards his arm. He was still holding the knife firmly. It was a very good move. Now I had lost the function of one of my wrists.

Seuk.

There was no resistance as my wrist was neatly cut off.  A smooth section remained in the place where my hand was.

“What?” Glasses thought I was crazy. His face showed that.

Glasses looked at me.

“When I think about it, this happened on the first floor.” I muttered.

“…!?”

As Glasses made an expression like he didn’t understand, I punched him in the face. I didn’t use the smooth section.

First hit. Second hit. Third hit. On the fourth hit, Glasses stopped breathing.

“Huu.”

As words rose up, I approached Macho who was writhing on the floor. “Thanks again for everything in the meantime.”  He was a great source of health. I raised a fist and finished him off. Similar words popped up. Among the words, there were some that stuck out.

[The monarch of Talia has killed the mayor of Falen.]

[All the territories of the mayor of Falen will return to neutral ground.]

[The main territory of Falen. Ownership of ‘Industrial City – Falen’ has transferred to the monarch of Talia. The coordinates have been registered.]

[Condition: Acquiring control over someone else’s domain. Complete.]

[Condition: Register some residents. Complete.]

[Condition: Conquering a territory. Complete.]

[‘Challenge- Exploring’ has ended.]

[‘Challenge – Conquest’ begins.]

TL Note: I actually felt better a few days ago but being sick has made me fall really behind on my schoolwork. There is still a bit left, so the schedule for the rest of the week will be irregular. Basically, whenever I finish a chapter. The regular schedule will resume starting from next week.