Chapter 60: Kaeseong Subjugation Battle - (5)
At the same time.
"Activate the mana emitter!"
"It's activated!"
"Put on the goggles!"
"Detected! It looks like a fully concealed monster!"
"Let's clear them out!"
The trio consisting of Kim Miso, Shin Taeri, and Jo Jinho was also engaged in battle against the Shadow Shades.
Shin Taeri had suffered an injury on her left shoulder due to a surprise attack, but it wasn’t deep.
The Shades’ stealth ability was so exceptional that even Shin Taeri, with her keen senses, had failed to notice their presence.
The mana emitter Jo Jinho had instructed Kim Miso to activate was a machine that continuously discharged highly concentrated mana in all directions.
If there were any concealed entities in the way, the mana flow would be obstructed at those locations.
To see this, they had to wear special goggles that allowed them to visually confirm the flow of mana.
The problem was that the emitter consumed an enormous amount of mana to function.
Just five minutes of operation required one high-grade magic stone.
That meant burning through one hundred million won in just five minutes. It wasn't a device that could be used freely at any time.
Only wealthy guilds like Eden Guild could afford such a thing. For ordinary guilds and regular players, it was out of the question.
Kweck! Kurek!
Once the positions were identified, there was nothing difficult left. Given Shin Taeri and Jo Jinho’s levels, it was expected.
However, Kim Miso’s expression grew darker despite the situation being resolved.
"Sanghyun Oppa wouldn't have been provided with a mana emitter."
There was no way the Shades had only appeared here. Similar monsters were likely spread throughout most of the routes.
Each team had been provided with a mana emitter, but since Sanghyun was an external cooperation guild member, he hadn’t received one.
"I—I'll go check on Sanghyun Oppa! I have a bad feeling that his side might be in danger!"
Kim Miso grabbed a small mana emitter and changed direction.
She had purchased this personal device separately, but it was also an expensive, mana-hungry machine, consuming one mid-grade magic stone every 20 seconds, which meant a cost of ten million won.
"Alright, check on him. Be careful in the middle paths!"
"Got it!"
Jo Jinho gestured for Kim Miso to leave quickly.
Since their situation was already under control, it was necessary to check on Sanghyun’s condition.
"It doesn’t matter how flashy your movements are. I can see everything you do, so what’s the point?"
Contrary to Kim Miso’s worries, Sanghyun was relentlessly slaughtering the Shades.
Some had hidden themselves deeply, holding their breath, but Sanghyun had hunted them all down.
Naturally, any that had revealed themselves were tracked to the end and eliminated.
The total value of the magic stones he had collected already exceeded ten billion won. Just from magic stones alone.
"Now, let’s plant a simple landmark for navigation."
Thud!
Sanghyun placed a marker coated with fluorescent paint at the site where he had finished clearing the Shades.
This was to help the porters following behind track his path precisely.
The paint was also mixed with a liquid that monsters found extremely repulsive, providing an additional deterrent effect.
Just then—
"Sanghyun Oppa! Oppa!"
Kim Miso appeared, pushing through the underbrush. Judging from her position, she had taken a shortcut across another route.
Since the terrain was extremely complex, even with GPS, one had to be careful when navigating.
"Why are you here?"
"Oppa! Are you okay?"
"Obviously. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t be putting down markers like this."
"The Shades... Whoa! What is this? Did you take them all out by yourself?"
"Do I really need to say the same thing again? That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?"
Unlike Sanghyun, who spoke as if it were nothing, Kim Miso’s face was full of astonishment.
More than anything, Sanghyun had not been provided with any stealth detection devices like the mana emitter.
"Then how did you deal with the Shades?"
"What do you mean how? I just beat them up as I saw them."
"Oppa, you can see hidden monsters now? Where did you get that ability?"
"I appreciate your concern, but aren’t you doubting me too much? If it were dangerous, I would’ve used a signal flare ages ago."
"Ah…"
Kim Miso looked blankly at the scene.
Contrary to her worries, the path Sanghyun had traveled through was nothing short of a massacre.
The number of Shades he had eliminated was several times greater than what Jo Jinho and Shin Taeri had taken down.
It seemed he had actively hunted them out. Several bodies were found wedged between bushes and crevices in rocks.
"There’s no need to worry, so head back. I can detect stealth now, so stop worrying about that."
"Oppa, you're really amazing. The fact that a swordsman has stealth detection skills doesn’t even feel out of place anymore."
"Good, as long as you understand. Haha."
Sanghyun laughed and gestured for Kim Miso to return.
Kim Miso took one last look at the battlefield Sanghyun had ravaged. It was a graveyard where not even a blade of grass remained.
"Oppa."
"Hm?"
"About what happened with Taejung earlier—I apologize. He has always been overly jealous, and his words crossed the line."
"Ah, it’s fine. I don’t mind, so just go back."
Sanghyun patted Kim Miso’s shoulder in a small gesture of encouragement.
He appreciated it.
After all, she had rushed a long way to check on him out of worry.
"I’ll go!"
"See you at the first gathering point. It seems like we’re almost there."
"Got it!"
Kim Miso disappeared in an instant.
Although not as fast as Shin Taeri, she was highly skilled in high-speed movement.
Meanwhile—
As soon as Kim Miso left, Sanghyun examined 『Demon Bash』, which had just reached skill level 5.
He had been grinding the skill diligently before the Kaeseong Subjugation Battle but hadn’t quite reached level 5 until now.
Skill levels underwent significant transformations every five levels. The coefficients increased dramatically, and additional options were unlocked.
That’s why named players trained their core skills to extreme levels like 15 or 20.
It granted them immense power and utility.
//s_win
//win_h 『Demon Bash』
■ Skill Level: 5 (0.1%)
■ Skill Description: Inflicts a stiffness status effect for 3.0 seconds on monsters or players exposed to the attack.
//e_win
"The stiffness duration jumped from 2.6 seconds to 3.0 seconds in one go. It used to increase by only 0.2 seconds each time."
With the 【With Overwhelming Strength!】 title, the maximum stiffness duration could now reach 3.3 seconds.
//s_win
//win_h ■ Additionally, increases intimidation value by 20.0%. If intimidation reaches 100%, the target falls into despair for 15 seconds.
//e_win
“Intimidation increased from 17.2% to 20.0%.
Despair duration increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds.
Now, I can consider Demon Bash as my main skill.”
I liked the coefficient changes.
Now, just five hits with Demon Bash would inflict Despair, and its duration increased by 50% compared to before.
The change from level 4 to level 5 felt much more significant than the changes from level 1 to level 4.
//s_win
//win_h ■ On the third hit, there is a 90% chance; on the fourth, a 70% chance; and on the fifth, a 50% chance to extend the Stiffness effect.
■ If Stiffness is successfully extended five times in a row, the target will be Silenced for 2 seconds.
//e_win
“The probability increased even at the fourth hit (60%) and the fifth hit (30%)?
And now, there’s a conditional Silence effect, too... This is insane.”
At this point, the skill had practically undergone a complete transformation.
It was enough to make me instinctively shout praises for skill upgrades.
Now, I looked forward to leveling up the skills that were still being refined at stages 3 and 4.
How much would they change at level 5?
Whether conditional or not, getting additional status effect options was always a good thing.
If I could even induce Silence after Stiffness, the unfortunate target would be helplessly beaten until their death.
Swaaaash!
“Krrrgh!”
Meanwhile, a Shadow that had been sneaking up on me from behind let out a death cry under my attack.
It was thanks to my vigilance even while checking my skill details.
“A title too! Perfect.”
The title reward I had been waiting for since I started hunting Shadows finally appeared.
Just as planned.
//s_win
//win_h 【Silence of Darkness】
■ Title Grade: B
■ Title Description: The perfect harmony of silence and darkness allowed Shadow entities to reject sound.
Having acquired their perfected techniques, you can now drastically reduce the noise of your attacks.
■ Evasion +50
■ Every attack action and skill usage consumes 1 additional mana while reducing noise output to 30% of the original.
■ Unlocks the skill 『Step of Darkness』 when linked with the title. This skill consumes 1 mana per second to completely erase footsteps.
//e_win
“This is an assassin-specialized title.”
I nodded in satisfaction.
It was a valuable title that significantly reduced the sound generated from all attack actions.
And if I used Step of Darkness, I could completely erase my footsteps, making stealth assassinations possible.
I was realizing once again that titles were the more, the better.
Even if a title wasn’t specialized for my class, I could still find a way to make it useful.
At that moment—
Pyuoo! Pyuoo!
Illumination flares shot up into the night sky from various locations.
It wasn’t just one or two places.
Not only from routes 1 through 3, which the Player Union managed, but also from route 4.
Even from route 4-10, the one closest to me, flares were rising.
“Is it because of the Shadows?”
I tilted my head in curiosity and tried to assess the situation.
Srrrk. Sssrrk. Srrrk.
The seemingly ordinary ground suddenly started rising.
It was like a thick, sticky fluid gradually forming into a humanoid shape.
“A Split?”
If my memory was correct, a Split was not a monster I should be encountering in this area.
Even in my past life, Splits only appeared in the next zone after passing the rally point during the Third Individual Subjugation Battle.
Not here, but in a significantly more difficult section.
Moreover, Split wasn’t just a regular monster—it was a mid-boss monster.
It was evaluated to be around level 250, making it a formidable opponent compared to the average player level.
When its health dropped, it would divide itself, creating new bodies to recover its HP and status.
It could also change into a slime-like form, turning transparent or liquid, making it a tricky foe.
Most troublesome of all, it had the bizarre ability to reflect status effects.
I couldn’t recklessly use skills that inflicted debuffs.
Kekekekeke.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
As the Split’s form became more defined, five smaller copies split off from its body.
Split’s clones were essentially ticking time bombs that could explode at any moment.
I had to be careful.
Then, a sudden thought flashed through my mind.
//s_win
//win_h ■ Constellation: Goddess of Luck
■ Effect: [Make a Wish]
(……omitted)
Third Effect: When defeating a mid-boss or boss monster, you will receive an artifact with a 100% drop rate, regardless of its grade.
//e_win
I rechecked the information about my contracted Constellation, the Goddess of Luck, focusing on the third effect.
‘What if Split’s clones are also classified as mid-boss monsters?’
It was a plausible assumption.
If that were the case…
‘Wouldn’t that mean every single one of those clones is a 100% guaranteed artifact drop?’
My thoughts took an unexpected yet delightful turn.
The idea was so promising that a grin crept onto my lips.