Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
“Shit! Manifest: Aegis! Activate – Defense: 400 million golden rings!”
“Block this!” I slammed my spear against his shield, trying to break it. I had to admit, whoever this guy was, he was strong. I had also never met anyone who could spend golden rings to increase his attack, defense, and skill power like this. If someone like this existed, I should have heard about him in the past, but I was completely in the dark. Someone this strong could have even defeated a Monarch on their own.
“I didn’t come this far to fall to the likes of you! Bring all the money you have in the world! I’ll still defeat you!” His abilities reminded me of the pay-to-win people who plagued online games around the world from the way he was just pouring golden rings into his skills. But I had items and skills that no amount of golden rings in this world could ever buy, especially the godly King-Emperor’s Commitment.
“Gah!” One attack connected with his shield, but the one that followed right after struck his thigh. He was no longer as fast as I was since I used Altered Equality on him. He was still very quick, but was now just a tithe slower than I was, which was enough.
That attack also flashed yellow, meaning it inflicted critical damage. I kept up my barrage of attacks after that. I needed to use Reversal Prodigy and get off as many critical hits as possible.
“Argh!” He still managed to block all of my attacks, even though he was slightly slower than me. But blocks weren’t perfect, and it didn’t mean he wasn’t taking any damage. With one more blow, I managed to force him back a step.
——
Lee Jiwon began to attack relentlessly and Arthur struggled to block each one. This was getting more unbelievable by the second. His DEF and MDEF were both boosted by 700%, and Aegis was still in effect. His shield was also the Rank 8 Indomitable Nature. He shouldn’t be receiving much damage, but that just wasn’t the case.
==[You have received considerable damage from your opponent’s attacks. 270,000 of the golden rings you have invested into defense will be used to absorb the damage.]==
A normal attack that struck his shield had dealt nearly 300,000 points of damage. And that wasn’t all!
==[You have received considerable damage from your opponent’s attacks. 15,480,000 of the golden rings you have invested into defense will be used to absorb the damage.]==
“…” The critical hit that struck his thigh inflicted more than fifteen million points of damage. With all he that had invested into his DEF, that shouldn’t have happened, even if it was a critical hit!
Arthur was speechless. He had thought that he could at least stand evenly against Lee Jiwon, and thought that fighting in a similar style would be enough. He thought that if he could beat Lee Jiwon at his own game, it would be the ultimate insult, but now, all that money he had spent on his defense was now almost gone. He was starting to lose HP now.
-Was I way in over my head?-
Of course he was, but it was too late for regrets now. All he could do was to hurt Lee Jiwon as much as possible. At least his attacks were still working.
==[3,000,000 golden rings have been used to increase Assault of the Titan’s attack power by 300%.]==
==[3,000,000 golden rings have been used to increase Assault of the Titan’s attack power by 300%.]==
“Gah!” Lee Jiwon grunted in pain from the blow. It was a sign that his attacks were finding their mark, but Arthur was far from satisfied. Lee Jiwon should be screaming after what he had spent to boost his ATT. Lee Jiwon should be getting thrown back at least ten meters from the force of the attacks, but had yet to take even a single step back. Arthur’s attacks only seemed to make Lee Jiwon attack harder.
Lee Jiwon stabbed his spear at Arthur’s chest. Arthur saw the attack coming, but couldn’t raise his shield fast enough to block it. Lee Jiwon had also put his entire weight into the attack.
“Grah!” Arthur screamed out in pain. It was the most pain he had ever felt. Arthur also noticed that Lee Jiwon inflicted way too many critical hits. Three to four critical hits in a row was not normal at all. Arthur was speechless once again. He had just lost 18,000,000 golden rings from that attack alone. Arthur wasn’t even angry or frustrated at this situation, he was too busy thinking that this couldn’t be real!
—
That was the most damage I had ever received and I couldn’t help but grunt from the pain. I didn’t back down, however, even as I lost chunks of HP from the stranger’s attacks. I kept up my barrage of attacks and trusted my HP and DEF to keep me alive long enough. I did contemplate if I should switch my fight style against this stranger who was still managing to block most of my attacks, but I decided not to. This was the fighting style I knew best and I noticed that the stranger was flinching more and more.
“It’s do or die now, punk!” I roared as I kept slamming my spear at his shield, ignoring my Comm Link that was ringing and the crowd that had gathered around us.
——
The guild master of the Messenger Guild had suddenly visited the Shire Guild, crying that he had to find his son as soon as possible.
“I’m positive he’s gone to find and fight Lee Jiwon, calling it a test or whatnot!”
“Why would he do that?” asked Daniel Miller.
“He’s got this strong desire to be a hero… Look; we have to find him now!”
“I understand.” Daniel Miller quickly sent word to the hunting parties in the Dark Caster Dungeon to search for Lee Jiwon and Arthur Lucas.
——
It wasn’t difficult for the Shire Guild’s hunting parties to find the two, since many of the parties knew where Lee Jiwon had been hunting for the past month. But that was the easy part; how were they supposed to stop them from fighting? The two were like demons, forming holes in the dungeon’s walls and craters in the floor every time their attacks connected.
“Holy…”
“Shit…”
“This is insane…”
The parties could only look on in amazement. They all had forgotten why they were looking for the two men in the first place.
“It looks like Lee Jiwon’s still stronger, though.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yeah. Look; Lee Jiwon’s slowly pushing forward, and Arthur isn’t holding his ground.”
“But Arthur’s pretty strong too, isn’t he? It’s impressive that he’s even lasted this long.”
“That’s true. Whoa! Damn…”
“Oh shit! We forgot to report in!”
“Oh, right! Hurry up!”
——
Now that they knew their general location, the leaders of the Messenger and Shire Guilds quickly raced for the Dark Caster Dungeon’s fourth floor.
“That foolish boy! I should have made it clear to him that he’s no hero!” Victor swore at his son, but he also realized that he was at fault. He was the one who had seeded the suspicion towards Lee Jiwon in Arthur. Ever since Lee Jiwon’s appearance in Egypt, Victor had kept an eye on him at all times. To Victor, Lee Jiwon was just another rival to overcome.
But that changed when news of the Judge’s Continent and the end of the Otatdolon stage spread. Lee Jiwon was no longer an enemy or rival, but a crucial ally the world would need to survive. If Lee Jiwon was to be the hero who was going to save Earth, then the truth of Lee Jiwon’s power or intent was no longer important. But Arthur failed to realize that, and had searched out Lee Jiwon regardless.
-Please! You have to stop now. I can’t have the two of you become enemies now, of all times!-
“We must hurry!”
“Yes, let’s go.”
——
“Activate – Attack: 50,000,000 golden rings, Defense: 100,000,000 golden rings, Skill: 50,000,000 golden rings.”
“It looks like you’re running out of money,” I taunted, but I was not in a better position. I had already lost a good chunk of my HP, but I couldn’t let it show. The other guy was obviously looking even worse.
“Ha…ha…if I say I’ll end the test here, will you let it go?”
“I. Don’t. Think. So.” I almost wanted to let it go. The Judge’s Continent was drawing nearer each day and the world was going to need someone as strong as him. But I didn’t want to let it go right now. I wanted to register him in Call and kill him at least once to punish him for even provoking me in the first place!
I rushed at the now-exhausted youth and quietly activated Register. I feigned my attack, causing him to raise his shield in front of his face, lunged my spear past him, grabbed him by the waist and brought him to the ground in a takedown.
“Gah! Get off of me!”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that quite yet.”
