novelraw Chapter 213 : Abnormal Status (2)
Chapter 213 : Abnormal Status (2)
Chapter 213: Abnormal Status (2)
“Ugh……”
Sophia furrowed her brows and turned her head.
Unlike Sanghyun, who tried to remain calm while witnessing the countless ghostly suicides.
Sophia, being a Player with excellent mental empathy, felt differently in this situation.
The pain and sorrow of the many vengeful spirits before her eyes seeped into her.
It was the inescapable fate of the ability she possessed. Because each had their own desperate reasons for suicide, it struck her even harder.
She couldn’t understand why such a dark fragment of the human world was embedded in a system-generated gate.
It felt as if wandering souls from outside the gate were forcibly dragged in and placed inside.
“Just keep the link stable.”
“Yes. Please take care of it.”
Seeing Sanghyun smile brightly back at her, the overwhelming emotions flooding Sophia came to a stop.
Because it was the only bright sight in the entire gate.
Sanghyun, from the first meeting, exuded an overwhelmingly positive energy.
He was filled with a spirit of challenge, and believed more in "I can" than in "Can I?"
Yet he wasn’t arrogant or conceited. He was humble, but never backed down when he was confident.
“Right now, the goal is to buy time rather than kill, so when I move, stick close behind me.”
“I’ll prepare right away.”
“Yes. In the end, we have to get through. I doubt a few tricks will be enough to kill these guys.”
Standing before the suicide section, Sanghyun adjusted his grip on the Nameless Sword.
He had to use his skills well.
It was also necessary to carefully calculate the positions of the falling ghosts. A mistimed move could lead to a collision.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Counting silently, Sanghyun watched the ghosts’ movements with his eyes.
At first glance, it looked like they were falling at random, but the more he watched, the more he noticed a pattern.
Though not perfectly rhythmic, there were jumps followed by gaps.
Regardless of that, it was torturous to keep seeing the ghosts fall, crash onto the ground, shatter into pieces, and then reform again.
It felt like a grotesque scene being replayed over and over—it was questionable how long his stomach could endure.
『Updraft』
■ Skill Level: Stage 4 (89.1%)
■ Skill Description – Creates an updraft that induces an Airborne effect on enemies.
The duration of the Airborne effect is proportional to the user’s Strength stat, producing 0.6 seconds of effect per 100 Strength.
However, the duration may be reduced depending on the target’s Skill Resistance.
Sanghyun checked the tooltip of the Updraft skill, which would be the key.
At first, even levitating an enemy for one second had been hard, but now the duration was insanely long.
Especially since, unlike Players who had varying levels of Skill Resistance, ghosts had no immunity to such abnormal statuses.
If the timing was right, he could keep them in the air for at least 10 seconds.
Factoring in the time it took them to fall from the air again, that added up to a lot more time.
‘I need to keep refining Updraft through training and finish the skill grind. Level 5 is right around the corner.’
Sanghyun drew his sword back.
Then, after counting to five one last time, he thrust the Nameless Sword forward and activated Updraft.
Whoooosh!
A current of air surged upward from the sword’s tip and shot straight ahead.
Blazing speed!
The Updraft closed the gap to the target in an instant and collided with the ghost. What would happen?
Screeeeech!
With an unbearable scream, the ghost caught in the Updraft shot upward like it was on a gyro drop ride.
The lift and speed were even greater than Sanghyun expected. It worked perfectly.
“Wow.”
Sophia, who had been watching from behind, let out an exclamation.
It was her first time seeing the Airborne effect so vividly.
Until now, all Airborne experiences had just been a slight float and fall.
Airborne status effects themselves were rare. They were completely fringe traits.
‘It can be this long?’
Sophia already knew that ghosts had no resistance to abnormal statuses.
It wasn’t anything special. So it was only natural that the duration of the status effect was applied without reduction.
What surprised Sophia was that the ghost caught in Sanghyun’s Updraft wasn’t coming down, even after reaching its peak.
It didn’t fall back down—it just floated there, suspended in mid-air.
Sanghyun took Sophia’s hand and started running.
If he were moving alone, he would have used skills like Acceleration, Brave Charge, or Frenzy, but now there were two of them.
That didn’t mean he thought of Sophia as a burden.
Without her, fighting the ghosts in the first place wouldn’t have even been possible.
Even now, he was benefiting from Sophia, and Sanghyun prioritized her protection above all else.
“Hmm.”
While running with Sophia and watching ahead, Sanghyun noticed a slight variable and nodded.
Up to the midpoint of the suicide section, the ghosts simply fell from above.
But in the later section, the ghosts curved mid-air before hitting the ground.
For runners trying to pass through, it was a potential head-on collision.
Sanghyun asked.
“Is your stamina okay?”
“No problem. I might be a bit slow, but I can keep running for a long time.”
If Sophia was fine, they could go a bit more aggressively.
At least, the data suggested he could buy a lot of time using Updraft.
However, since not all ghosts could be dealt with this way, other options would be needed later.
Sanghyun kept deploying Updraft, sweeping away the ghosts that blocked their path.
It felt good to see a target where abnormal status effects applied 100% after such a long time.
Last time, even after hitting Ashtaroth with Updraft, it had no effect—leaving Sanghyun feeling embarrassed as the caster.
As they passed from mid to late section of the suicide zone—
Thud!
Sanghyun stopped at a good spot and began charging a skill. It was a full charge.
Vwooooom!
A fierce energy began gathering at the tip of his sword, awaiting Sanghyun’s command to release as a skill.
Screeeee!
Just then, a group of ghosts twisted their direction right before hitting the ground and came rushing in!
『First Gale』
He used the First Gale skill, specialized in knockback.
Here, alongside Airborne, he used knockback as another means of breaking through. And it was fully charged.
Screeeeech!
“……!”
The moment the ghosts were swept up by First Gale, Sophia’s mouth gaped open.
It was like watching grass and trees getting swept up and scattered helplessly in a massive tornado.
The ghosts that collided head-on with First Gale were caught in the whirlwind and entangled with each other.
It felt like looking at laundry just pulled out of the washing machine. Everything was so tangled, it was impossible to tell what was what.
Sophia had already checked in advance that they could be affected by abnormal statuses, so the knockback itself wasn’t surprising.
The issue was the firepower.
This wasn’t just a knockback that gently pushed things away—it was strong enough that “launched” felt more accurate.
Plus, the vortex had rotational force, so they weren’t immediately knocked back.
They got thoroughly mixed up inside the whirlwind, and only after that were they spat out like projectiles.
Thud! Crack! Shatter!
The ghosts, flung away, collided with stone walls and shattered into pieces.
The ghosts, having suffered serious damage to their spiritual forms, died without even realizing they had been extinguished.
And then—
Whoooosh.
What remained in front of Sanghyun and Sophia was a neatly cleared, wide-open path that welcomed them forward.
Roaaaar!
First Gale was still flying toward the end of the corridor, and even the ghosts falling late were swept up in it.
It was like a vacuum cleaner.
All that was left in the area swept clean of ghosts was silence.
With newfound certainty in their method of attack, Sanghyun and Sophia’s pace accelerated significantly.
Sophia’s earlier doubts, held just in case, completely vanished.
Sanghyun also had no worries, knowing that Sophia was perfectly covering the mental front.
Having the answer in hand made everything else feel easy.
There were a few tricky sections that followed, but Sanghyun easily cleared them with abnormal status effects.
Because of this, Sophia began to feel regret for all the struggles she had endured in gates up until now.
It was so comfortable working with Sanghyun. She regretted not coming with him sooner.
Abnormal Status Vending Machine.
That’s the nickname Sophia gave Sanghyun. Like a vending machine that dispenses exactly what you need at the push of a button.
In her mind, another word came up.
‘Ecosystem Destroyer.’
Sophia had seen countless Players in the Nobility Guild.
Frederick often asked for her advice about Players he was scouting or thinking of scouting.
Thanks to that, she had encountered data on a wide variety of Player types.
Knockback-specialized Players, electric shock, sleep, ignition, gravity enhancement, taunt, etc...
She had even seen files on Players considered oddballs, but there had never been a case like Sanghyun.
That didn’t mean Sanghyun was only specialized in abnormal statuses.
If that were the case, she would’ve thought, “Oh, he’s just a status-effect shuttle,” and left it at that.
But Sanghyun’s basic combat ability was also extremely high.
His swordsmanship fundamentals were solid, and his swordsmanship skills were well-developed.
In particular, he had invincible skills like Sword’s Song, which gave him excellent ability to deal with variables.
It wasn’t impossible for a Player to have such a wide range of abilities. But it certainly wasn’t normal.
So the emotion Sophia felt was:
‘Comfortable.’
That was it.
No matter what kind of door appeared, she felt like there was a “master key” to open it. Sanghyun was that key.
‘I should give him more support. He’s worth investing in. A person with guaranteed returns.’
Sophia raised her combat phase to Phase 2.
She usually divided it into three phases, and normally used Phase 1 with Players she could moderately trust.
Phase 1 meant maintaining about a 75% soul link.
The reason was simple.
If she fully synchronized at 100%, she would feel all of the target Player’s pain and emotions.
She had done that once with a Player lacking in skill, and ended up vomiting blood. Since then, she had never done it again.
Phase 2 was around 90%.
She used it for Players whose abilities she could be sure of. About ten Players, including Frederick, were Phase 2 for her.
And now Sanghyun was added to that list.
Phase 3 was the final phase—reserved only for people she truly wanted to protect, people she didn’t want to lose, people she had to save.
It was a last resort, a phase used when saving someone would mean sacrificing herself. She had never used Phase 3 before.
‘I’m nervous. No, this feels exciting.’
The clearing of the gate, which had always been a torment before, now felt like joy.
She was excited to see what kind of strange new variables Sanghyun would create next with his abnormal status effects.
It felt completely different seeing it with her own eyes, rather than reading it as a few words in a report.
Yes, it was a visual feast.