The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 141

"Sigh, it was fun after a long time, but it's a shame."

Arachne said that and moved her steps leisurely.

"What, you don't have friends?"

"I do, but they're not the type to have this kind of conversation."

Saying that, Arachne took off the gloves she was wearing, put them in her pocket, and held a dagger in each hand.

"What, you're not going to use those gloves?"

"Isn't that something you shouldn't be saying, Oppa?"

As Lee Shin said with a hint of disappointment, Arachne said with disbelief.

At that, Lee Shin shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm the type that gets fired up the harder the game difficulty is."

"You too, Oppa? Me too."

Arachne chuckled and spun the daggers in each of her hands simultaneously, as if spinning a pencil.

"Still, what can't be done, can't be done. I have my pride too, so it's a bit much for me to go all out against an opponent holding that kind of weapon."

"It's because I only have one spear I can use."

The spear in Lee Shin's hand and the daggers Arachne was spinning in her hands were all ordinary weapons that could be commonly seen in any shop.

Lee Shin, who saw that, refuted with his own logic and told her to just come at him with all her might from the beginning, but Arachne didn't budge.

"Then blame yourself for not being prepared. Ah, no. Thinking about it, there is a way."

"What is it?"

As Lee Shin showed interest, Arachne, who had already gone right in front of the dungeon, smiled at him.

It was a smile that contained a heat that had not been seen in their conversations until now.

"I'll use it if I think I'm going to lose."

"Don't people usually get embarrassed when they say something like that?"

If I think I'm going to lose, I'll throw away my pride and just use a cheat weapon.

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn't something to be said proudly, but Arachne was proud.

"Well, who cares. It's better than losing."

Pfft-

"That's certainly true."

Lee Shin smiled widely, just as he had when he saw her from the tree, and said to Arachne.

"Now, I'll count to 100 and then go in, so you go in first."

"That's a lot of confidence. Telling an assassin to go in first and hide."

Arachne said with a slight sarcasm, thinking she was being ignored, but Lee Shin was confident.

"Are you stupid? I wouldn't have made this suggestion if you weren't an assassin in the first place. Try to attack with all your might."

"…Well, okay. I'm not the type to refuse what's given, so I'll gratefully accept. Just don't regret it later."

Arachne glared at Lee Shin for a moment, then nodded her head and jumped into the dungeon.

Seeing that, Lee Shin leaned slightly on the spear he had stuck in the ground and looked at the dungeon.

He had released a terrifying poisonous spider into the forest.

While he counted to 100, what kind of web would that poisonous spider build and wait for him?

"I'm looking forward to it."

Lee Shin, feeling his heart pound after a long time, calmly counted down from 100.

As the number he was counting in his head decreased, his heart began to beat faster.

The moment the number he was counting in his head reached 100, Lee Shin retrieved the spear he had stuck in the ground, stood in front of the dungeon, and thought for a moment.

What to do with the food laid out before him.

The thought was short.

Because it was a problem that didn't even need to be thought about in the first place.

Heejuk-

And for good reason, if the other side had prepared the food with all their might, wouldn't it be the etiquette of a fight for this side to overturn that table with all their might?

"Shall we start with a bit of a flourish?"

He moved the flame and lightning that had settled in his dantian at the same time.

The place where the flame and lightning that flowed out of his dantian were heading was not the hand holding the spear.

It was the two feet that were firmly standing on the ground.

Lee Shin lifted one foot in time with the pounding of his heart.

Flame Lightning.

The full power possible for the current Lee Shin, created by combining the two properties of internal energy into one.

He had used it through a spear a few times, but this was the first time he was trying to use it through footwork like he was doing now.

But he didn't worry about failure.

It was an inspiration that had blossomed from the strange feeling of wanting to land a blow on that Arachne, but there was a strange conviction that he would not fail.

That's why he was now just focusing on sublimating the inspiration that filled his head into a technique.

Starting with his feet, Lee Shin's body entered the dungeon.

Chyureureuk-

As Lee Shin revealed himself in the dungeon, numerous threads of silk made a sound like a bug crying and rushed at him from all directions to entangle him.

Tak-

But Lee Shin's foot touching the ground was faster than the threads of silk reaching him.

What unfolded from the tip of Lee Shin's foot that touched the ground was not the Flame Leaf Return Art or the Lightning Tree Immortal Art, but a new footwork.

With the point where Lee Shin's foot touched as the starting point, flames and lightning blossomed, and the world distorted.

The blossomed flames shake the space, and the lightning pierces the shaken space.

It mixes everything around Lee Shin at will.

And so, it dyes the world with its own color.

Flame Lightning Dyeing World Step.

The purple spiderwebs that had attacked Lee Shin were torn and scattered, and the bamboo that had filled the forest burned black and fell to the ground.

In a landscape that was hard to believe was created by a single footstep, Arachne appeared, grumbling.

"Hah, really. What is this again? Is it something like the Heavenly Demon's Reigning Step?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it, it is similar. If I use it well, I might not be able to make the people around me kneel with one step, but I think I can make them fall."

At my words, Arachne looks at me with disbelief.

"By the way, did you tell me to go in first and prepare just to destroy everything like this?"

"Well, there's nothing as fun as breaking something someone has made with great care."

Lee Shin said that and smiled slightly at Arachne.

"Unfortunately, it seems you expected that too."

"I'm an assassin, you know. I might not know if it were a tiger that only knows how to fight or a naive angel, but how can I not be suspicious after being told to go in first and prepare a trap."

"So what you prepared was a preemptive attack using a trap?"

"I guess so."

Lee Shin said playfully to Arachne.

"You have a very twisted personality, don't you?"

"I don't think that's something you should be saying, Oppa."

Lee Shin and Arachne said that and each moved their internal energy and aura.

A transparent spear ki glinted on Lee Shin's spear.

A third eye revealed itself on Arachne's forehead.

The full moon illuminating the bamboo forest shone brightly, as if its eyes were sparkling, as it looked at the two.

***

Magic creates a desired phenomenon in the world using mana.

Martial arts allow an individual to move towards the strength they desire using internal energy.

Then what does a psychic, an aura user, pursue using aura?

It's simple.

An aura user pursues the ideal that their heart points to.

The thoughts they've had since they grew up, the talent their body possesses, a strong emotion from a certain moment, a dream they've continuously wished for, the characteristics their soul possesses, an unconscious mindset, etc.

A single ideal drawn from the complex mixture of all those things.

And what is created in response to that ideal is the unique ability that each aura user possesses.

"But even if individual tastes should be respected, a poisonous spider, isn't that too maniacal for a girl?"

"Is that so? Don't you think poisonous spiders are cool? I quite liked it when I first saw it."

Arachne said in a flat tone, as if it were nothing.

Looking at her expression, it felt as if she were just having a casual conversation.

Shwook-

And Arachne's hand also moved naturally, as if it were nothing, and swung her dagger.

Lee Shin twisted his body to dodge the dagger that was swung at his neck.

'It's better not to touch it, just by looking at it.'

A purplish aura was faintly flowing on the blade of the dagger Arachne was wielding, and judging by the atmosphere it was giving off, it seemed to be a considerable deadly poison.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have frowned at Arachne for using poison, but Lee Shin, on the contrary, smiled brightly.

Because a fight was most fun when both sides went all out.

Lee Shin tried to thrust his spear into the opening created by the swinging dagger.

But the moment he was about to take a step, Lee Shin's instinct rang an alarm, telling him not to take a step but to retrieve it.

And the choice his instinct had led him to was the correct one.

Pyuuuk-!

Almost simultaneously with Lee Shin stepping back, a purple something shaped like a conical spear pierced the spot where he had been.

At that, Arachne asked with a hint of disappointment.

"How did you dodge it? I definitely showed the opening well."

"You showed it so well that I became suspicious."

Lee Shin, who had stepped back slightly, looked at Arachne's appearance with interest.

"You're LV.3, but you can already materialize?"

"Because it's a path I've already walked once. Besides, you're proudly using sword ki, so what's the big deal about that."

"Hmm, that's true too."

Aura users, when they are beginners, firmly engrave the blueprint of their ideal in their minds.

And when they become proficient and open their third eye, the moment they can face the ideal within them, they materialize the ideal engraved in their minds into reality.

Just as Arachne had now created a pair of purple spider legs near her shoulder blades.

"Well, I'm still lacking in many ways, so a pair of legs is all I have, but it won't be boring."

Arachne lightly wiggled her spider legs and rushed at Lee Shin again.

The dagger, receiving the moonlight, creates a purple trajectory, and the spider leg, shaped like a thick skewer, watches for an opportunity to pierce Lee Shin.

Facing a combination that is not normally seen, Lee Shin dodged and deflected them one by one with a smiling face.

No matter how much Lee Shin had [Poison Immunity] and ignored most poisons, he was not at a level where he could ignore the poison of Arachne, one of the Ten Kings.

'It's tricky.'

It wasn't that Arachne was weak.

It was just that the word 'tricky' came to mind before the word 'strong'.

Her simple strength is also strong, and her head for using her own characteristics is also good.

The weapon called a spider's leg is full of character, and the poison contained in her aura is a great threat.

"Iyap!"

"Puhahaha!"

Lee Shin laughed as he dodged the Hectopascal Kick that came flying, using the spider leg as a support.

Judging by the tingling in the hand that had blocked the kick, it seemed the poison was trying to penetrate through the skin.

That was fun.

It was so fun that it was meaningless to compare it to the spider he had fought in the past.

Lee Shin swung his spear, enjoying the feeling of his blood circulating faster and faster.

Hwoooong-

The transparent spear ki that had been enveloping the spear turned red, and flames blossomed from its trajectory.

-Flame Lightning Tree God Spear

-Flame

-100 Leaves

"Huh?"

The scattering flames blind Arachne's eyes and burn the poison.

Taking advantage of that opening, Lee Shin swings his red-dyed spear.

Seogeok-

The sound of something being cut was heard, but the sound of something falling was not.

It's natural.

Because an object made of aura through materialization disappears as if evaporating the moment its connection is cut.

"Ha, this throws off the balance."

Arachne muttered, shaking the spider leg whose joint area had been completely cut off.

But Lee Shin, as if he had no intention of giving her an opening, closed in on her.

Because he could see a purple poison mist flowing from the severed leg.

Pajijik-

His legs, wrapped in lightning, instantly closed the distance between the two.

At the blatant movement of not letting the poison mist spread, the corners of Arachne's eyes twitched slightly.

At the same time, Lee Shin slowly changed his movement from defense to offense and began to pressure her.

The spear, wrapped in lightning, gathered and scattered, moving unpredictably, digging into the openings of the dagger and the spider leg.

Arachne raised her aura to increase her speed and at the same time, dodged Lee Shin's attacks with stealthy and irregular movements.

Countless exchanges of offense and defense go back and forth in a fleeting moment.

In the midst of it, the two continuously deceive and are deceived by each other, creating openings.

It was a fight between person and person, different from a fight between martial artist and martial artist.

'What is this?'

And the one who felt impatient first between the two was Arachne.

Even though her opponent was in the poison mist, he moved as if it were nothing.

He raises his physical abilities and gradually keeps up with her movements.

She can feel him gradually catching up to her even in the psychological warfare of deception.

Kkadeuk-

Arachne, who had thought that far, bit her lip slightly.

As long as the poison is spreading in Lee Shin's body, the moment she gains the advantage will surely come.

But why is she feeling impatient?

This was not her hunting method.

Basically, her fight is a long-term battle.

A fight to gradually wear down the opponent using poison and spiderwebs.

Of course, she has the leisure to handle a long-term battle.

But why is she having these thoughts?

'It's because of that smile.'

The smile of enjoyment on Lee Shin's lips.

Looking at that smile, she can't see a future where Lee Shin obediently collapses.

Even though she is the one tightening the noose, she feels like she is being chased in reverse.

Grin-

The moment she thought that far, Arachne smiled.

'Certainly, as Unni said, there is something to learn.'

In a different kind of pressure that she had never felt before, Arachne raised the corners of her mouth as she looked at Lee Shin's smiling face.

Although the shape of the smile was a little different, what was contained within it was similar to Lee Shin's smile.

Arachne felt her pride being ignited after a long time.

She still has the upper hand.

That's why she had no intention of being caught up obediently like this.

She will go up with all her might.

She will drag her opponent down with all her might.

She also didn't lose to anyone when it came to having a twisted personality and a strong desire for victory.

"If you bark 'woof woof woof' three times right now, I'll let you go."

As Arachne lifted her loose clothes, numerous daggers underneath were revealed.

As the tips of Arachne's fingers moved, purple spiderwebs flowing from her fingertips connected to the ends of the daggers.

Seeing that, Lee Shin smiled, his red and golden eyes curving beautifully.

"I have no intention of letting you go, so if you were expecting it, wake up from your dream."

(End of Chapter)