novelraw Chapter 175: Disguise, the Weakness No One Expected
Chapter 175: Disguise, the Weakness No One Expected
“Sun” wasn’t feeling great right now.
That punch to the chest—he had already tried his best to block it using the explosion from his flames. In his current form, his defense and self-repair abilities were extremely high.
But now, his chest felt like it was burning from the inside out.
Keep in mind, he was a flame user—he was fire itself! And now he felt like there were flames burning inside him?
Did he just get hit by a f***ing train?
What kind of skill was that? It couldn’t have just been raw physical strength, right?!
In his Fire Giant form, Sun didn’t have a face—outsiders couldn’t tell what expression he wore. But right now, he was deadly serious.
This so-called World Number One… was probably the combat type...
Still, no matter what, he couldn’t let up verbally. Sun let out two booming laughs to suppress the churning blood in his chest, then looked at “Sin” across from him and said:
“Oh yeah? Makes sense, I guess. Your hand’s torn up like that—smelling a bit of blood just proves you don’t have a sinus infection.”Lu Ce’s right hand—the one he used to punch—looked like it had been dipped in lava. It was terrifying.
Right after he said that, Sun suddenly sensed something off and froze for a split second.
Tsk...?
Did I misjudge something?
Why did it feel like, in just that brief instant, “Sin’s” Spirit—had suddenly increased?
His own Spirit was naturally high, and had grown even more in-game. He was confident he didn’t misread it.
He saw it clearly—this guy’s Spirit stat was really low before. It still wasn’t high now, but somehow it looked like it had almost doubled from before?
Huh??
“You...”
The fire giant looked genuinely confused.
“There’s a lot you don’t understand. Gotta stay humble. It’s like that hotpot place in East City giving out ox p***s soup for free, you feel me?”
Lu Ce rambled with a smirk while checking the description of his newly acquired Bloodhound skill.
Sun wasn’t wrong—Lu Ce’s Spirit had just temporarily increased.
Since his opponent had at least some skill, Lu Ce didn’t want to get too cocky. He had temporarily learned this new ability.
The requirement to learn it was 5 Spirit points, and he had to temporarily boost his stats to qualify—spending some Pain Points in the process.
Honestly? It made his heart ache.
He’d always focused on enhancing his body—not because he thought Luck and Spirit were useless, but because they were expensive.
Luck cost 1:5; Spirit was 1:10!
Two points of Spirit cost 20 Pain Points. That was painful to spend... but he did it anyway for the skill.
But how could “Sun” have known that there was someone in this world who could just boost their own panel stats out of thin air? Looking at Lu Ce now, whose Spirit had increased for seemingly no reason, it felt like his CPU was frying.
“What the hell did you just do?”
Lu Ce ignored him. He lifted his head, sniffed the blood in the air, and sensed the power of his newest ability.
For someone with low Spirit, this was his second real skill.
【Bloodhound.】
【Effect: Can sense any blood scent within three meters and lock onto its source.】
【After locking on, can track the target’s location accurately within a ten-kilometer radius!】
【Special Effect: Can sense the general physical condition of the locked-on target. As the target’s condition worsens, their weak points will also become visible.】
“Hmm... not bad.” Lu Ce muttered to himself.
This skill cost more points than Scholar’s Right Hand, so it felt pretty fair.
And after landing that last hit, he could already feel Sun’s blood aura. It was still strong, but—he was injured.
“You...”
The two had been silent for a few seconds. Even Tokyo’s night seemed frozen. Sun took a step forward. He didn’t want to waste time.
This form of his wouldn’t last long—if they were gonna fight, it had to be now.
“Stop faking it.” As he inhaled the scent in the air, the Blue Mask shimmered on Lu Ce’s face, as if seeing right through Sun’s tricks.
“There’s no such thing as a true all-rounder in this short amount of time. If there were, it’d be me—not you.”
“Your actual physical attributes... they’re not that high, are they?”
Since entering the game, anyone who didn’t want to be a total loser and wanted some combat growth had three options:
First, training their own physical body.
Second, relying on external tools like Weapons and Sealed Artifacts.
Third, learning Special Skills, a.k.a. “Extraordinary Powers” through high Spirit.
No one could cover all bases. Even Lu Ce had to rely on Pain Points to strengthen his body while picking up outside gear in the game.
As for special skills—he was relatively weak in that department.
Sun already had powerful fire-based skills. How could he also be physically strong? That punch earlier—even if just a fraction landed—it should’ve hurt like hell.
A giant smile spread across the Blue Mask.
“Tsk, if I were in Berserk Mode, I probably would’ve just brawled you head-on.”
“Did I... accidentally expose your weakness just now?”
From the beginning, everything about Sun—his tone, his explosive appearance, and his massive, muscular build—screamed brute force lunatic.
Naturally, people would assume he was a dumb meathead fighter, relying on sheer strength.
And with his Fire Giant’s heavy, explosive form, no one would think to suspect... that his real body might actually be weak.
“Heh... who would’ve guessed...”
“That the guy who looks like a berserker... is actually a mage...”
Thud. Thud. Thud!
Heavy drumbeats echoed through the ground. Sun began his charge, barreling toward Lu Ce like a raging bull.
Despite the massive size difference between the two, Lu Ce didn’t bother with hit-and-run tactics—he charged straight in!
This Fire Giant... was actually weak in close combat!
Their fists clashed with no restraint, sounding like a bell tolling across an empty square—sparks flew!
Lu Ce relied on pure physical strength, while Sun used the explosive impact of fire.
Even so, the weight of the punch still came through clearly.
Crack!
A soft bone-cracking sound came from Sun’s body. Lu Ce grinned, even though his own fist now looked halfway cooked.
“Hmm... you feel kinda squishy?”
The two were already going at it this hard—there was no way the others could just sit on the sidelines any longer.
No one knew where Chiyo Eine had run off to, but now, a massive pitch-black magic array covered the entire square beneath the Tokyo Tower. Countless dark blue tendrils began to writhe wildly!
Some swayed like seaweed, pushing civilians away toward the edges. Others struck out like the sharpest ironwood spears, attacking the other players.
Wu Changkong stepped on his skateboard, drew a circle in the air—
—and dove straight into the ground headfirst!