Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
The Duke felt that something had gone wrong, something much worse than Lee Jiwon’s Abilities Menu disappearing. Another message appeared which explained why he was feeling so nervous.
==[You have lost your Predation ability.
You can longer use Predation on other people any more.]==
“…” The Duke didn’t know how to react to the message. Predation was all he had. It made him everything he was from all of the abilities he had consumed over the years. Explosion? Doll Summons? Whip? Those weren’t his own skills; they were all skills he had stolen. Without Predation, he was nothing, he had nothing!
“Fuck! Don’t give me that bullshit!”
The battle around him stopped for a moment at the Duke’s cry. He and his army had just about won the war. The Duke was giggling like a schoolgirl as he consumed Lee Jiwon just a moment ago, so there was no reason for him to act as if he just lost everything. The remaining five hundred-some Werewolves, the four deities and the remainder of the Duke’s army all turned to stare at the Duke. They could tell something was off.
At that moment, another message appeared that slammed the final nail on the Duke’s coffin.
==[You will now lose all Predation-derived powers and abilities as you no longer possess Predation.
Absolute Predation will be removed, regardless of how many uses remain.
Re-learning Predation will not grant Absolute Predation again.]==
The Duke slumped to the ground. Losing Absolute Predation made him realize that this wasn’t a dream; he had actually lost it all!
The Duke trembled. He was scared. He was at rock-bottom now. He had nothing to protect him from the rest of the world!
Then, the Duke began to grimace and heave. His mouth gaped wide open, just like it did when it swallowed Lee Jiwon whole.
“Blargh!” The Duke vomited Lee Jiwon back up whole, even though Lee Jiwon was supposed to have been consumed by Predation. It was then that the Duke realized this was all because of Lee Jiwon.
—
I raised my head from the ground and looked around me. I saw that I still had my body and my feet and hands were moving like normal. I was really back in the real world. I turned around and noticed the Duke on his hands and knees with a paled face. I knew why he was like that.
-Ha…to think that it actually ate Predation…-
I couldn’t see anything in that place, but I could feel that two entities were fighting over something. I had realized that it was Shaman Ko fighting Predation, and that it had won.
“Give…it back. It’s mine. Predation is mine,” the Duke whined as he crawled over to me and pulled on my pants leg. “You…already have a lot. You’ve got so many Stat points and stuff, but all I have is Predation. Please give it back. I’ll do anything you ask,” the Duke begged as he cried.
“I was wrong. I’ll be good from now on. I’ll be your slave. I’ll leave the Werewolf Clan alone and won’t even turn in their direction. So, please give it back. Please?”
He was like a child now, crying over a broken toy. “Get the fuck off of me,” I said, coldly, as I kicked him away. It was virtually impossible for the Duke to ever recover from this, even if I spared his life. He would have to start at rock bottom, and even if he did ever recover his Predation skill somehow, he would never be able to use it properly again to ever become a threat to anyone. But one thing was clear; after today, I would be his most hated enemy. He would always have it out for me and would no doubt take any chance to hurt me. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to shut him down for good.
Besides, I had accepted Kylie’s request with full intentions to kill him. He was just like that loan shark, Oh Hyungjae; he didn’t deserve a second chance at life. I didn’t regret what I had to do that day, and I wasn’t about to start now.
I took out my Harrier from my inventory. “Mana Conversion – Fire. Warrior’s Brave Spirit. Judge’s Gavel.”
==[Mana Conversion – Fire Level 2 has been activated.]==
==[Warrior’s Brave Spirit Level 1 has been activated.]==
==[Judge’s Gavel has been activated.]==
“My Predation…give it back…” I stared for a moment as the Duke lay there, crying, before rushing in. I raised my spear high and stabbed his tiny body. The hammer of the Judge slammed down on his body, nearly crushing it.
Unfortunately, the Duke survived the attack. He had only lost his fatty armor; he still had all of the abilities he had absorbed over the years and his own base Stats. I guess it was normal for someone like the Duke to not die from a single blow.
“You son of a bitch!” the Duke shouted at me as he got up, surprised that I had actually attacked him. “Did you seriously just attack me even though I look like this?”
“What the hell are you talking about? You’re my enemy, aren’t you? What, did you really expect me to pity you just because you’re a dwarf?”
“…”
“Wait, are you serious?” I asked, surprise,d before I charged at him again. The Duke tried to resist, but he had lost all of his will to fight now.
Not long after, the Duke was on his knees, panting, while glaring at me with contempt. “This isn’t the end of me!”
I slowly walked over to him, ignoring his ranting.
“Lee Jiwon, you son of a bitch! Just you wait. I’ll be back and I’ll have my…Erk!”
I slammed my spear through his chest. He was my enemy; I didn’t care what he had to say as long as he died. “If you show yourself in front of me again, I’ll kill you. I’ll keep killing you as many times as you want, so feel free to do that,” I said, staring at his eyes as they dimmed. The Duke’s body slumped as I finished speaking and puffed into a giant cloud of smoke.
—
“The Predator Duke…is dead.”
“Look. The smoke trails are all heading back to their rightful owners.”
“The Predator Duke that brings death around him is actually dead…”
“But how did he survive Predation?”
“Isn’t death absolute when you get consumed by it?”
Not a single soldier of either army moved when the Duke vomited Lee Jiwon back out. No one had ever heard of that ever happening. They also couldn’t get over how the Duke begged for his life at Lee Jiwon’s feet and how confidently Lee Jiwon stood.
That shock didn’t last long for the Duke’s army, however, when Lee Jiwon turned to face them as the smoke dispersed. Four deities and over two thousand soldiers still remained, but not a single one of them were willing to stand in his way.
That was the end of them, as they all turned tail and ran back to their container ship. The Werewolf Clan had won the war.
“Yaaaaaah!”
“We won! We actually stopped the Predator Duke!”
“Glory to the van Agassi!”
“Glory to Lee Jiwon!”
The Werewolf Clan had lost more than four thousand soldiers. They barely won the war, but were victors nonetheless. They had finally rid themselves of their greatest enemy. The Duke had just incurred a heavier penalty as a deity, and lost his title of Duke. He was no longer a threat to the Werewolves. He was a nobody now.
They had just witnessed their greatest enemy beg for his life; there was no better reward for their struggles. This was the greatest day for the Werewolf Clan ever!
—
I let out a heavy sigh as I slumped to the ground. I looked down at my Bracelet of Eternal Fire. Its description said that its Last Breath effect was currently deactivated. “If it weren’t for this…Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.”
Absolute Destruction had failed me, and I ended up getting caught in the Duke’s grasp. If it weren’t for the Bracelet, I really would have died today. It was thanks to this that I had managed to kill the Duke.
It was done. The Duke was no more. I sighed in relief.
“Thank you, Mr. Lee.”
“Thank you so much. You…truly saved us today.”
Lod, Kylie and the other Werewolves gathered around me, each thanking me in turn. Kylie and a few others were crying as well, overjoyed.
“There’s one last thing we must do. It’s time to party!”
“Yeaaah!”
“Hey…hey!” The Werewolves picked me up and carried me away on their shoulders.
The Werewolf Clan held a party in my name for a week, which only got bigger as the deceased Werewolves resurrected and joined in. For them, a single death penalty was a cheap price to pay if it meant the death of the Duke. I was ecstatic as well, as I had killed the invincible Predator Duke that no one could ever touch in the past.
—
One week later…
I watched as a few van Agassi children ran past me, waving. I waved back, smiling, but I was too busy thinking about something else to pay attention to what they may have said.
“Umm…Shaman Ko? If you’re there somewhere, please answer me.”
A week ago, I had no idea what Shaman Ko had eaten. All I knew was that Shaman Ko had stolen it away from Predation and ate Predation as well. But now, I knew exactly what that was.
“Open Specials Menu.”
==[Special Effects: Luck Boost (X + 1), Immune to all Status effects, Dungeon seeker 14 points]==
The Fragment of the Destruction God, that was right next to Dungeon seeker, that meant that I had Absolute Destruction, was gone. Shaman Ko took it away from me.
“Come on, Shaman Ko. If you ate it, you gotta give it back to me.” Sure, it was better than letting the Duke have Absolute Destruction, but what did that matter if I couldn’t get it back?
“Look, I’m thankful you ate Predation and spared my life ,but why did you have to eat Absolute Destruction too?!”
Shaman Ko truly was a selfish prick. It ate the Predation’s meal before turning on Predation, as if it didn’t wish to share anything with anyone.
I heaved a heavy sigh. “If it’s like this, then I’ve gained nothing.”
==[Shaman Ko’s Selfish Prick Roulette Wheel will now spin.]==
“I want an answer, not this.” The roulette wheel continued to spin every day. “Is it just me or is it spinning slower than before? Is it because it lost an arm that day?”
After that day, the wheel still landed on 3, but there were two sections that were obscured; sections that should have had a 0 clearly marked.
“Ugh, whatever. I don’t care about 3 daily Stat points anymore, Shaman Ko. Please, just keep Predation and give me back my Absolute Destruction!”
