novelraw Chapter 215 : Status Ailment (4)
Chapter 215 : Status Ailment (4)
Chapter 215: Status Ailment (4)
"I can't believe it. No, I believed it would happen, but I didn't think it would become reality this easily……."
"This place is practically a Gate made just for me. If it were somewhere else, it would've been a struggle."
"No, from what I see, Sanghyun, I think you would've done well anywhere. Your response ability is amazing."
"Whoa, that's high praise."
"I'm not good at empty compliments."
At that moment, Sanghyun and Sophia had already arrived at the end of the Gate— In other words, the boss monster section.
They had encountered a monster with no prior information in the middle, But it hadn’t become a major variable.
Because Sanghyun had too many status ailments he could inflict.
As he applied each status effect and looked for the answer, Eventually, the solution always came to light.
The boss monster's name was Beikal.
Like the ghost they had faced earlier, it had a spiritual form. So Sophia's link was essential, and it was already established.
Since it was Sophia's first time seeing the monster too, There was no set strategy— they had to figure it out from here.
Meanwhile, the Stone Killer was of no use in this fight,
So it was discarded.
If mana wasn’t supplied, The minions revived with Undead Revive would lose their power and vanish.
After completing their battle preparations—
"Keep your distance. Even if you're worried, don’t come close. You never know what might happen."
"Got it."
"Here I go!"
Sanghyun charged straight at Beikal.
Beikal, in the form of a human mage, emitted a blue light and stared with an expressionless face.
He opened with a direct charge combo using Full Bash.
He started with the most basic attack pattern.
There was no way a boss monster battle would end quickly. He planned to conserve skills during this probing phase.
Ten minutes later.
"This is insane……."
Sanghyun backed away from Beikal to regulate his breathing and took a deep breath.
He thought it would be easy if he pushed aggressively, since it was a mage-type monster— But that was a miscalculation.
Beikal skillfully countered Sanghyun’s attacks in close combat, Combining various martial arts techniques with shields.
And there was one more unexpected variable Sanghyun hadn't anticipated.
Beikal had a skill called "Spirit Energy Absorption."
It absorbed mental power and thoughts— This happened the moment they came into contact.
Like being hit with a Devouring Energy technique, Something inside his mind was being constantly sucked out from the point of contact.
With just brief contact, Sanghyun lost most of his memories from before the age of five.
If it had dragged on even a bit longer, He might have lost all his happy memories with his parents too.
Ironically, the fortunate part was that the lost memories were mostly unpleasant ones.
He was lucky.
If not, he would’ve lost good memories— the happy ones.
And he would have become unable to even realize those memories ever existed.
The problem was, Sophia had also been affected during this process.
When he looked back, Sophia’s face was drenched in cold sweat. Her face had gone pale, and it didn’t look good.
Sanghyun asked Sophia,
"Are you okay?"
"……I think I can hold on for about five more minutes."
"I'll try a bit harder then."
"No, Sanghyun, if you take on the fight feeling pressured like that……."
"It’s not pressure. I’m just pissed."
Sanghyun kept steadying his breath.
Though not completely exhausted, he was close to a semi-exhausted state. The fight with Beikal was draining far more stamina than expected.
Of course, Beikal’s movements were also noticeably slower than at the beginning.
That’s why, even though Sanghyun was intentionally taking a break, Beikal wasn’t attacking either.
He needed rest too. It was a brief ceasefire born out of mutual necessity.
But Sanghyun was worried about Sophia, whose expression was getting worse. She was currently being overworked.
‘The “Conductor of Illusions” title granting full immunity to Beikal’s Silence has been a godsend.’
During the fight, Sanghyun realized that all of Beikal’s attacks carried the Silence effect.
If it were an average player, all their skills would have been sealed, And they’d have been utterly helpless.
But since Sanghyun was immune, he was unaffected. Because of that, Beikal had suffered several counterattacks from him.
By Beikal’s logic, Sanghyun should not have been able to use any skills. But he kept using them without issue.
Beikal, on the other hand, couldn’t use any of his own skills, due to Sanghyun’s control skills.
The only reason he could still use shields Was because they came from an Artifact he was wearing.
From Beikal’s perspective, wearing that Artifact was the only saving grace. It became the foundation for his endurance.
‘It’s turning into a contest of endurance…… I can see a chance to trigger Frenzy. Even Overdrive and Over Psychedelic.’
Sanghyun was deliberately delaying his health recovery.
Beikal, despite being a mage, responded so quickly that Sanghyun judged a single decisive blow wouldn’t be possible at this pace.
In the end, ultra-high-speed movements beyond current limits were necessary— That meant entering the Awakened state.
Graaaaah!
Beikal let out a roar and charged at Sanghyun.
He was a mage, but one who fought in close combat— A martial arts-style mage.
Sanghyun decided he needed to thoroughly store information about Beikal in his head.
Just like how being a swordsman didn’t mean only close combat, Beikal, though a mage, didn’t only fight at range.
In short, he felt it was time to abandon preconceived notions.
There could be other mage players like that in the future.
Kugugugugu!
A dark crimson aura spread out from Beikal’s body in all directions.
His appearance changed from earlier— This seemed like he had entered his finishing pattern.
Sanghyun, deciding he couldn’t hold back anymore, Intentionally let one of Beikal’s attacks graze him.
It led to a minor injury, And naturally dragged his health down below 10%.
And then—
『Frenzy』
■ Skill Level: Stage 2 (3.9%)
■ Skill Description: When health falls below 10%, you enter a Frenzied state.
All Awakening and Buff skills are amplified by more than 3.5 times…… (omitted)
Frenzy state was activated.
Only then did Sanghyun use the Over Psychedelic skill he had been saving.
The reason was simple.
Using Over Psychedelic instantly restores health to 100%, But if Frenzy is activated beforehand, it doesn’t cancel it out.
In other words, Even with full health, the Frenzy state would continue for a short while.
It didn’t last long—about 30 seconds— But in truth, that was more than enough.
This method, which Sanghyun dubbed the "Frenzy Trick," Was a loophole not found in any skill tooltip or system explanation.
If this were a game, it would be considered a bug.
He discovered this through countless repetitions of practice and trial and error, Which made it all the more valuable.
Uuuuugh!
Beikal was flustered.
Just seconds ago, Sanghyun had seemed just as exhausted as he was, but now his demeanor had completely changed.
He felt a deep sense of deprivation.
He couldn’t even attempt to recover stamina because his skill usage was sealed.
But Sanghyun was freely restoring his stamina and bombarding him with skill attacks.
Only then did Beikal realize how terrifying the control skill Sanghyun had used truly was.
It felt like having your fists tightly bound while your opponent threw punches with a stone glove.
An excessive unfairness. To Beikal, it was a symbol of disadvantage, but to Sanghyun, it meant extreme advantage.
So—
Kugagagaga!
He exploded with even more power from within.
Such extreme awakening consumed his life force rapidly, but now wasn’t the time to think about the consequences.
If he lost here, he’d die. Why worry about shortening his future lifespan? Absolutely pointless.
‘That guy is incredible too. Even with his skill usage blocked, he’s continuing the offense against me.’
While admiring Beikal’s capabilities, Sanghyun also thought about what if Beikal had been a melee damage dealer.
If so, the battle would’ve been extremely difficult. He might’ve even lost and had to retreat.
That’s how proficient Beikal was at using martial arts.
The only reason Beikal was at a disadvantage was that he couldn’t use any magic skills to counter even when the opportunity arose.
Hwaaah!
With his physical abilities maximized, Beikal launched a fierce assault against Sanghyun.
The black energy surrounding both his hands had become solid and powerful, like iron gloves.
With that momentum, Sanghyun had no choice but to use his sword to defend.
Beikal also had a high resistance to status effects, so most skills were meaningless against him.
“Hoo.”
Sanghyun held out patiently.
The Frenzy state was ticking away in this ultra-defensive mode, but he didn’t dwell on it.
Instead, he broke down Beikal’s movements in detail.
He knew Beikal wouldn’t blindly throw predictable attacks. There had to be a deadly technique coming.
As expected—
Just as the thought crossed Sanghyun’s mind, both of Beikal’s hands began to blaze red.
Gwaaaaah!
A thunderous roar followed as he closed in on Sanghyun. If he got grabbed like that, something—an arm or more—would be torn off!
In the next moment—
『Back Step』
『Full Bash – Direct Charge』
He used Back Step to slip out of the attack, then immediately closed the distance with a forward charge.
He dodged the nasty attack and dove into a counterstrike. A delayed-timing reversal from Sanghyun.
Thud!
Sanghyun rammed straight into Beikal.
No matter how good his martial arts were, a mage was still a mage.
He inherently had weak durability.
Kugh!
Already low on stamina, Beikal was sent tumbling across the floor by Sanghyun’s brute force.
Facing an enemy up close— And not even being able to stand—what did that mean?
It was simple. Death, or the start of a hell equal to death.
Then came Sanghyun’s voice—eerily calm, yet full of confidence.
“Now it’s my turn.”
After that, Beikal’s memory was completely wiped.
It wasn’t that he forgot or lost something somewhere.
He simply had nothing to remember—because he had been beaten within an inch of his life.
At the tail end of that one-sided assault—
Beikal, reduced to rags by relentless sword strikes, gasped for breath and brought his hands together.
It looked almost like he was praying. And in that moment, Sanghyun sensed a change occurring in Beikal.
‘Self-destruction.’
It was the sudden outburst of mana from his body and the beginning of an internal rampage.
Nine times out of ten, such a situation meant self-detonation. Using one’s own body as a medium to cause a massive mana explosion.
It was a pattern often seen in higher-level dungeons.
Monsters that sensed their death would willingly sacrifice themselves to inflict damage on their enemies.
“What a damn pain to the end.”
Sanghyun bit his lip.
He didn’t intend to stop someone who was determined to die. But he had no intention of going down with them, either.
The annoying part of self-destruction was its nasty aftermath— Just watching it made one sick to the stomach.
If you’re going to die, die cleanly. Why burn yourself to ashes to take someone with you? He couldn’t understand it.
Sanghyun quickly used Back Step to move into the rear and placed a hand on Sophia’s shoulder.
Even that light touch made her stagger. Her mental fatigue was clearly immense.
She had fought with all her might from the rear, enduring overwhelming pressure in a linked state.
Sanghyun was grateful for Sophia’s silent sacrifice. She never flaunted it or made a show of it.
Kuaaaaaah!
At last, Beikal’s body began to swell like a balloon— The final phase of his self-destruction had begun.
“Hoo.”
Sanghyun took a deep breath and then—
『Another World』
In time with Beikal’s explosion, he isolated both himself and Sophia in a completely different subspace.
The next moment—
The two of them saw it.
Though their vision was shared, the space was entirely different. Beikal’s spiritual body shattered into hundreds of fragments and scattered.
If they hadn’t had the space-isolation skill, They would’ve all perished together in mutual destruction at the end. It had been a chillingly close call.