novelraw Chapter 179 : One-Sided Massacre - (1)
Chapter 179 : One-Sided Massacre - (1)
Chapter 179: One-Sided Massacre - (1)
‘It feels like the total amount of power itself has changed. Each strike is more destructive and more defined. As if he’s become a different person.’
Do Kyunghye's keen eye had sensed that a significant change had occurred in Sanghyun.
Of course, she couldn’t begin to guess how immense that change truly was.
She only predicted that, like her older brother Do Kyungsoo’s rapid growth, Sanghyun might have had a major awakening and broken through his own limits.
Or perhaps there had been a major change to Strength, the key stat for a swordsman.
Suddenly.
She recalled the phone call she had with Do Kyungsoo before the raid with Sanghyun began.
Out of the blue, he had called, despite having been so engrossed in training that he’d lost contact with his younger sister.
[I've been reflecting on how Shin Sanghyun looked during the last large-scale raid. It might be a bit sudden, but he was even more impressive than I thought. There wasn’t a single opening in his movements, which were extremely restrained.]
[I even considered bringing him into the Sword Demon–Sword God team. Actually, a lot of people inside are pretty positive about it. But there's no way he’d want that, right? In my opinion, Korea’s stage is too small for someone like Shin Sanghyun.]
If Do Kyungsoo had said something like that before she had gotten to know Sanghyun properly, she would’ve brushed it off as nonsense.
A player praised so highly by her brother Do Kyungsoo, someone admired by all?
That was not something that could exist in Korea.
Not even the ones called Sword Saint, Sword God, Sword Devil, or Conductor of Blades were acknowledged to that extent.
In terms of skill evaluation at least, Do Kyungsoo had always maintained a cold and objective view— and the only person he had ever only praised was this one man.
That person was none other than Sanghyun.
‘A massacre? Seriously?’
That was Do Kyunghye’s biggest question.
This wasn’t a gate where the strategy was widely known.
Nor was it some place that just any average person could conquer.
It was a gate with a first-time clear bonus. That alone meant the monsters and gate were of high caliber.
Based on the available information, the estimated average level of monsters in this gate was around 275.
That was quite high.
Usually, for a strategy, it was basic protocol to form a party of four players close to that estimated level.
Right now, with only the two of them forming the team, they were definitely short on numbers.
And yet—
In actual combat, it felt like even just having Sanghyun alone might be enough.
The process of preparing and checking all the materials so meticulously before the raid now felt embarrassing.
But what was even more surprising wasn’t just Sanghyun’s one-sided massacre.
[Mad Kobold King’s ‘Killing Roar’ triggers a deadly Intimidation effect!]
[Player ‘Shin Sanghyun’s title ‘Before the Drink Gets Cold’ has successfully protected you from the Intimidation effect!]
One of the most dangerous issues in this gate was the roar of the mid-boss monster.
The Intimidation effect, when stacked repeatedly, would eventually turn into the Despair effect.
While Intimidation just made one fearful and hesitant—
Despair meant losing all will to fight and doing absolutely nothing.
In a battlefield where a split-second decision could be the difference between life and death,
this was effectively a condition that made players surrender with both hands raised.
Most players who had challenged this gate had struggled due to Intimidation.
Even with resistance-type Artifacts equipped, those didn’t provide full immunity.
Eventually, the Intimidation would stack, and the players would fall into Despair.
But Sanghyun’s title was perfectly protecting her.
There wasn’t even the slightest bit of effect.
Maybe that was why—
Only now, with time passed, could she finally diagnose the source of the discomfort she had felt since the start of the raid.
‘It’s like using a cheat code in a game.’
An unrealistic feeling.
Like playing a game alone where the difficulty didn’t match at all! That was exactly it.
The first mid-boss monster, the Mad Kobold King, was a berserker-type monster known for its ferocity.
Usually, it would take two swordsman players specialized in tanking just to suppress its rampage.
Especially without a taunt skill, it would go completely out of control and cause chaos.
But now—
“Oh, come on.”
Do Kyunghye was seeing something with her own eyes that she couldn’t believe.
It was the Mad Kobold King.
The so-called King of Mad Kobolds had its head bowed like a docile sheep in front of Sanghyun, completely still.
Just to be sure, she activated the information window for the Mad Kobold King.
◎ Despair
◎ Has lost the will to fight or defend in any way. Permanently affected due to title.
It was in an impossible abnormal state. Not just for seconds or minutes, but a permanent Despair status!
This was a special status effect caused by Sanghyun’s title: ‘Terror of the Massacre – Kobold’.
Sanghyun hadn’t even gotten close to the Kobold King.
The King was indeed incapacitated, but there were still several defensive mechanisms around it.
A sort of defensive turret continuously fired mana-condensed shockwaves.
The turrets were designed to activate if anyone entered a certain range— and Sanghyun had remained outside that detection radius.
Then—
『Spatial Rift』
From the tip of the Nameless Sword, the skill Spatial Rift was activated.
This was the first time it was being properly used in actual combat.
It was definitely a destructive skill.
However, the projectile was slower than expected, so agile monsters had a high chance of dodging it once they saw it.
Of course, things were different now.
The Mad Kobold King, now trapped in a state of Despair, only stared vacantly into empty space with unfocused eyes.
Crack! Crackle!
The rift that left the sword moved in a zigzag pattern, like parched earth cracking in a drought.
Wherever the rift passed, the space visibly distorted and twisted severely.
‘My brother was right. Sanghyun is a mutant. A kind of mutant that can’t be contained by any single vessel.’
What kind of skill Sanghyun had activated didn’t really matter to Do Kyunghye.
What mattered was that Sanghyun, a swordsman, possessed a skill that distorted and manipulated space at will.
It might’ve been a prejudice—
But the ability to manipulate space definitely belonged more to mages.
There was a reason for all the different classifications. Each path had its own area of expertise.
But Sanghyun had a skill that far surpassed those boundaries.
A swordsman who could control space?
That referred to the magic swordsman type, someone who was treated like a rare guest in both the swordsman and mage communities.
Even Do Kyungsoo had taken a long time to obtain a magic-type skill.
He had only acquired his first magic-type skill shortly after reaching level 400.
Even that had only been possible thanks to the support of the Sword Demon–Sword God team and some good luck.
Considering that, Sanghyun’s current growth pace was clearly abnormal. A wild charge forward, to say the least.
Eventually—
Crackleeeee!
The Mad Kobold King was swept into the warped space caused by Spatial Rift and was torn to pieces.
It looked like he’d been cut by a razor-sharp guillotine—each severed part of his body was grotesquely exposed.
There was no need to even check—he had been killed instantly on the spot.
Because of just one title and one skill Sanghyun had, the Mad Kobold King had been rendered powerless without landing a single hit.
Rumbleee—
With the Mad Kobold King’s untimely demise, all the defensive turrets also stopped functioning.
The machines had lost the target they were meant to protect, and thus ceased operation.
And scattered in plain view were glorious, radiant magic stones.
Sanghyun grinned and asked Do Kyunghye,
“Which one would you like to take?”
What had shocked Do Kyunghye wasn’t just the Spatial Rift skill.
This gate was known for being tricky—there were countless aspects that made it difficult.
But the most lethal threat to players came from what was known as the ‘Judgment of God.’
It was an issue that occurred after defeating the mid-boss monster, the Mad Kobold King.
Just like the name implied, it referred to a deadly lightning strike from the sky.
Rather than something caused by monsters, it was a special phenomenon of the gate itself, which meant players had always needed to identify safe zones in advance.
It wasn’t something that could be blocked with defensive skills or shields.
Many players had underestimated the lightning’s power, relying on their high defense, only to end up burned to death while standing.
The Judgment of God was an element that prevented players from moving freely.
If a fight broke out during transit, players couldn’t even respond properly.
Because they never knew when the lightning would strike.
But Do Kyunghye’s journey with Sanghyun was completely different. From the start, they hadn’t paid it any mind.
About 5 seconds before—
When the rumbling sound that preceded the Judgment of God echoed,
Sanghyun immediately used the Perfect Sword skill to make Do Kyunghye completely invulnerable.
He protected his own body perfectly with the Song of the Sword as well, not suffering even a speck of damage.
‘There were times I never really understood what “playing all the roles alone” meant...’
But now she had living proof right in front of her.
The first person in her career as a player who had made her feel like nothing more than a buff shuttle!
That person was Sanghyun.
During a short break—
Sanghyun saw Do Kyunghye fast asleep in a shaded area and gently placed his outer garment over her.
It had been a grueling march.
During the five hours they had been on the move, Do Kyunghye’s buffs had never once ceased.
To compare it with Sanghyun’s standards, it was like fighting for an entire day without sitting down even once.
The fact that a buffer had kept her buffs up continuously for five hours bordered on abuse.
So he had ignored her claim that she was fine and laid her down— and she had fallen asleep in exactly one second.
She had drunk a high-end healing potion beforehand, so her recovery would be certain.
‘So, defense 1,024, huh.’
Sanghyun finalized his stat allocation for the reward stat from the Blood Tower quest—the one he hadn’t yet assigned.
He chose Defense.
The reason was simple.
There was a recipe that guaranteed the acquisition of a title once one’s Defense stat surpassed 1,000.
And there was no limit on how many could get it.
[You have earned a title as a reward for reaching 1,000 Defense stat!]
[You have acquired the S-rank title, 【Iron Wall Determination】.]
The title, Iron Wall Determination.
It allowed the player to always maintain a 10% increase in Defense stat.
It was essentially a free 10% boost to defense, making it an absolutely worthwhile recipe.
Of course, not many players currently knew of this title’s existence.
Those who had fulfilled the conditions and obtained it kept it a secret to enjoy its benefits alone.
‘But this is the real problem.’
With a troubled look, Sanghyun checked the Artifact in the small pouch at the back of his waist once again.
It was an Artifact obtained from eliminating the trio of Predators.
Normally, Sanghyun would’ve just equipped whatever Artifact he needed—
and consumed the rest without hesitation.
‘But I can’t do that this time.’
[Curse of Binding]
Every Artifact the Predators had carried was marked with this unpleasant curse, even just from the name.