novelraw Chapter 165 : Blood Tower - (1)
Chapter 165 : Blood Tower - (1)
Chapter 165: Blood Tower - (1)
It was starting now.
Of course, since the buff hadn't fully become his yet, Sanghyun calmed his briefly excited heart.
Just like a salary only becomes usable once it enters your bank account.
The reward was the same. It was still a pending reward, not a materialized one.
Right at that moment—
As Sanghyun entered the second debuff zone, a vivid debuff window popped up just like before.
◎ Blood-Bonded Brothers
◎ Every 10 seconds, you evenly steal 10% of your health from all hostile monsters within a 25-meter radius.
All monsters within the radius instantly recover the amount of health stolen from you.
“What a name. Sounds sarcastic from my perspective.”
A nasty debuff had been applied.
Losing 10% of your health every 10 seconds meant steady damage. It was the most fatal type for a swordsman player.
For a swordsman who prioritized endurance based on stamina, losing stamina—
It was no different from a mage having their mana drained.
‘I’ll have to hold out with Blood Draw and push forward quickly.’
Of course, Sanghyun had a plan.
As long as he kept killing monsters and recovering health through Blood Draw, he could manage.
But what about other average players, not Sanghyun? How could they possibly get through this phase?
“No wonder this becomes a graveyard for players.”
There was a reason why the Blood Tower quest was infamous.
It capped the level at 200 and demanded way too much from the players entering.
The average level of swordsman or assassin players equipped with the so-called “Vampiric” health recovery skills?
At least between 300 to over 400.
So when faced with such a demanding debuff, there was no choice but to panic and die.
There was a limit to how much could be solved with potions.
You couldn’t just chug them endlessly. Drinking too many in a short time would only become toxic.
As the debuff took hold, noise erupted from ahead.
Crook crook!
The ones blocking Sanghyun’s path were all monsters with the “Armor” prefix before their names.
Ogre, Kobold, Troll.
They were all hulking creatures, with bulky, muscular frames as if they had bulked up.
‘The longer a fight drags with these types, the worse it is. It’s just a matter of how fast I can turn them into meat chunks.’
He had to win with raw damage.
The fact that they came in defensive forms to begin with meant their purpose was to stall for time.
And the debuff also worked against Sanghyun the longer the fight dragged on.
『Double-Edged Sword』
A trade-off skill that maximized offensive power at the cost of defense.
The moment he used Double-Edged Sword, Sanghyun saw his defense stat plummet.
It was a temporary effect due to the skill, but it felt as if he had just lost his sturdy armor.
Paaat!
With his acceleration skill activated, Sanghyun boldly charged straight into the middle of the armored monsters.
There were roughly around a hundred of them.
About ten of them seemed like commanders, while the rest were just small fry filling the ranks.
‘Best to start taking down the weak ones first and restore as much health as I can with Blood Draw.’
He aimed for the smaller-bodied enemies.
A few seconds had already passed in that short moment. He was about to lose 10% of his health again.
Kuooo!
But as if it had predicted Sanghyun’s move, the Armor Ogre King blocked his path.
The creature crouched down and visibly hardened its exterior.
Its reaction screamed intent to make the most out of the debuff and kill Sanghyun no matter what.
“Think that'll work?”
With a justified sneer, Sanghyun swung the Demon Slayer Sword down on the Armor Ogre King’s forearm.
The Double-Edged Sword, which tripled both basic and skill damage, was no ordinary skill.
For Sanghyun, whose basic attacks and skills were already strong, it was like giving wings to a tiger.
Shaaak!
Kuwaaah!
That hard body!
The Armor Ogre King, who thought its body was invincible and could never be cut, groaned in disbelief.
Its severed arm looked cleanly cut, like meat hanging in a butcher shop.
Kruk?
Had it overestimated its own abilities?
The creature tilted its head in confusion, unable to grasp what had just happened.
“Still feeling confident?”
Shaaak!
With an exasperated look, Sanghyun immediately followed up with the Blade of Ruin and decapitated the Armor Ogre King.
Even without Weak Point Amplification or Whisper of the Sage, the Blade of Ruin under the effect of Double-Edged Sword was destructive enough.
Right then—
Srrrk.
“Damn.”
A wave of weakness washed over his body, and 10% of his health vanished instantly.
The exact 10% that was taken without mercy turned into red essence and scattered among the surrounding monsters.
“That’s disgusting.”
It felt like giving away your hard-earned cash to strangers you didn’t even know. Extremely unpleasant.
“If you took it, then pay it back!”
Regaining his composure, Sanghyun immediately began focusing on the non-tank, small-sized monsters.
Just adding a bit of elemental damage with either freezing or flame skills on his greatsword made handling them easy.
They simply didn’t have the durability to withstand much in the first place.
Of course, the commander monsters darted around trying to block his path.
But each time, Sanghyun dodged nimbly using backsteps, bold dashes, and Full Bash, evading them with ease.
When Sanghyun moved first, the monsters could only hurriedly follow.
Naturally, in this kind of fight, the one who moved held the initiative.
Their numbers rapidly dwindled.
In less than two minutes, the small fry were all gone, leaving only the commander monsters behind, making the 1-versus-100 start feel laughable.
However, even though Sanghyun had won the fight, the outcome wasn’t good.
Due to the debuff, his total health had dropped to just 60% of its maximum.
Despite constantly recovering through Blood Draw, he still lost enough that it couldn’t be helped.
A situation that unfolded in just two minutes.
A debuff that steadily drained 10% of health every 10 seconds created intense psychological pressure.
And that wasn’t all.
Kuwaaaah!
Now that the monsters meant to die in his place were gone, the commander monsters roared and summoned reinforcements.
Then, from behind a massive boulder in the blind spot, hundreds more monsters appeared.
It was a Kobold army.
"Yeah, call in more. I could use some health drain too."
Sanghyun wiped the Demon Slayer Sword, slippery with the blood of monsters, across his clothes.
Due to being outnumbered, it seemed like a siege battle was unavoidable.
He actually thought it was for the best. There couldn’t be a better environment for chaos warfare than this.
Besides, if they were normal kobolds instead of tank types, one greatsword swing would be enough.
In other words, they were basically walking potions right now. It might even help Sanghyun maintain himself better.
Sanghyun strategically saved Over Psychedelic.
Immediately upon use, and again once the effect ended—
Over Psychedelic, which fully restored his health twice, was Sanghyun's final trump card.
『Werther’s Rage』
『Werther’s Rage』
He immediately entered stage 2 of Werther’s Rage.
He planned to hold out through the berserk effect once his health hit rock bottom, then use Over Psychedelic.
Since he had a method of full recovery, he felt no pressure about burning through his health freely.
‘Insane.’
Sanghyun clicked his tongue after feeling the difference in offensive power and mobility upon entering stage 2.
Just by using an acceleration skill, his movements felt as fast as the Sword Demon Do Kyungsoo’s swordsmanship techniques.
Multiple monster attacks flew in from all directions.
But his reaction speed was fast enough that he could dodge everything by sight.
It felt like his body was reacting before he could even think. Maybe that’s why the attacking monsters looked flustered too.
Slice! Thud! Crack!
Not a single monster could accurately follow Sanghyun’s movements.
It almost felt like they had overinvested in their strength for nothing.
Grrrr! Hrrrgh!
Maybe it was because they were overwhelmed by Sanghyun’s momentum and movement.
There was a visible change in the monsters, who just moments ago had charged in, confident in their numbers.
A flinch driven by fear.
That was the heart of a coward who couldn’t step up first, hoping someone else would move instead.
"It’s over."
Sanghyun declared flatly.
Fear was contagious.
Once they’d been completely crushed in the battle of momentum, the only thing left for the enemy to do was turn and run.
And not long after—
Kieeeek! Kiiiii!
Sanghyun’s prediction came true.
10 minutes later.
“Whew. I’d really rather not deal with another brute-force swarm tactic. I’m completely drained.”
Sanghyun looked back at the battlefield soaked in blood after clearing the second debuff zone.
Hundreds of monster corpses, hacked into meat chunks by the Demon Slayer Sword, were piled up.
Naturally, with each corpse came experience points, and Sanghyun’s level had now reached 199.
Level 200, the threshold for receiving skill enhancement bonuses, was just around the corner.
[Preliminary reward for breakthrough has been revealed. You may increase the stat of your choice by 100.]
[This preliminary reward will be granted immediately after completing the quest.]
“This is what makes it scary.”
Sanghyun nodded at the sight of the second preliminary reward.
It was also the reason Valentin Schneider had become a monster in his previous life. He had literally hoarded stats.
“Only I could’ve survived this.”
Sanghyun wiped the thick sweat running from his forehead down to his temples.
It was only thanks to having both full recovery and blood-sucking methods available that he managed.
There were countless cases of players lacking even one of those two. Probably nine out of ten, realistically.
There was a reason this place was called a graveyard for players.
Once again, Sanghyun appreciated the variety in his skill repertoire.
Different from others.
A perfectly differentiated set of options.
The skills he had steadily acquired by consuming Artifacts until now were each a treasure in their own right.
Who would’ve guessed?
Even now, in this moment, there were still countless skills waiting to be slotted in and crafted.
As long as Artifacts didn’t disappear from the player world, growth would continue without end.
After that—
There were two more debuff zones, but Sanghyun navigated through them wisely.
◎ Runaway Locomotive
◎ Only a 5-meter width and 10-meter forward view is available. All other visibility is blocked.
◎ Swamp of Delusion
◎ If standing on the same spot for over 1 second, the ground beneath rapidly liquefies.
Each one was a pain in the ass of a debuff.
But he overcame them wisely and received generous pre-buff rewards in return.
[……(omitted). You have acquired a vision-blocking skill.]
[……(omitted). One chosen skill can instantly be upgraded to level 5.]
A bonus that granted an additional status ailment skill and allowed instant level-5 enhancement of a chosen skill.
A quest that gave generously.
At least for Sanghyun, the Blood Tower so far wasn’t a battlefield of death but a land of opportunity—until he met the mid-boss monster, Skald.