Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
I could deal with the 15% debuff. I had still managed to deal more damage to Fayez than he could do to me. But 40% was just way too much. It practically halved my combat abilities, and that wasn’t the end to this misery either.
Fayez threw a bigger Spear of Death that flew at me at much higher speeds that I couldn’t defend against it.
==[Touch of Death increases damage received from all Death-type skills by 60%.]==
The original 30% extra damage it increased hurt plenty enough already, but this effect had doubled to 60% as well.
“Bahahaha. What’s wrong; got nothing else witty to say?”
“…” Oh, I really wanted to if I could. I really didn’t want to lose this battle of will, but I was truly at a loss for words. That single attack did way more damage than he did before. This was not the same Reaper I fought less than ten minutes ago.
The Reaper had a failsafe, just like the Monarchs I had faced and killed before him, but theirs wasn’t as overpowered as this. The Blood Prince’s and the Predator Duke’s just gave them a chance to live another day, but the Reaper’s failsafe turned him into a different being. This was just way too unfair.
I could only sigh in despair and frustration and the Reaper laughed in joy at my silence. I wanted to yell that he was just a bug in the system, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was the bug, not him. I was the one who got to come back to the past, and that pissed me off even more. I worked my way up here from the bottom, but he was born that way from the start. He was just lucky enough to be reborn as a goddamn deity.
I squeezed my grip around my spear. I was going to feel the loss of my Unrivaled skill properly now. But there was no way I was going to accept my loss like this. If I was going to lose, then I was going to make him work for it. I wanted to wipe that smug grin and rub his face in the dirt once more.
“Fuck it! I’ll show you who the real system bug is!” I charged in at the Reaper once more.
“Gahaha! Yes! Struggle for your life. It’s all you can do anyway,” Fayez laughed, but I was more concerned about the black aura that was oozing from his body.
“Appear before me! Gap of Death!” The black aura spread out widely and shot past me as I continued charging. A message soon appeared before me.
==[You are 10 meters away from the Source of Death.
You will lose 100 HP per second.]==
I was still sprinting toward the Reaper and after I took a couple more steps, another message appeared.
==[ You are 10 meters away from the Source of Death.
You will lose 120 HP per second.]==
The closer I drew towards the Reaper, the more HP I lost per second and I was already still in the Death Blossom Field and was losing an additional 10 HP per second. A couple more steps and another message appeared telling me that I was losing 200 HP per second now. So now, on top of the doubled damage debuff from Touch of Death, I was losing 210 HP per second.
“You’re pissing me off!” I doubted Fayez knew the definition of overkill.
“Mantle of Death.” The Mantle of Death he summoned this time was twice as big as the ones before. My spear struck the Mantle dead on, but I was only rewarded with a loud clang and the feeling that it was twice as thick.
“Encase!” The Mantle of Dead wrapped around me in an alarming speed. It closed around me so fast that I couldn’t get out on my own. I still had both Blinks off of their cooldowns, but I didn’t use them. I was already pissed off enough by Fayez’s damned debuffs.
“Argh! I can break through this easily!” I slammed my spearhead into the walls of the Mantle and the sound of metal clanging echoed around me.
==[You are encased in Death.
You will lose 1000 HP per second.]==
“Enough with it already!” I ignored the message and continued to slam my spear against the Mantle. After about eight or nine hits, I finally broke my way out.
“Tsk. I just don’t understand it. How can you be this strong? There are so many debuffs on you as well!”
“Fuck you! It’s you I don’t understand. How are you allowed to change that much in a matter of a few minutes?” His power had more than just doubled; I was doubly weakened as well!
I didn’t have time to complain anymore and charged at the Reaper once more. I was still losing 210 HP per second so each second was precious right now. Once I was close enough, I swung at Fayez with my spear. Ever since I had found my Harrier, my attacks had always pierced through my enemies, and now, my Commitment’s Penetration was recently doubled, thanks to Amplification. My attacks didn’t go through this time, however, and were stopped by Fayez’s Armor of Death.
“Gahahaha! Give it up! Your puny attacks won’t ever pierce through my Armor of Death!” Fayez cackled as he looked down at his Armor… and then made a shocked expression. The second slash from my spear had made a gash in the Armor, and a black powder was spilling from the hole. “…That’s a trace of the Armor of Death being destroyed?” he muttered to himself.
I felt a newfound vigor rise within me. If my attacks couldn’t make a scratch in that Armor of his, I would have really felt lost and would have given up then and there, but now I saw a ray of hope.
“Fissure!”
—
Once again, Fayez was shocked at Lee Jiwon’s strength. He knew that he had the upper hand now that he had ascended as the Incarnation of Death and saw the damage he was doing to Lee Jiwon. But even with all of those debuffs on him, Lee Jiwon was barely slowing down. His attack power was still high and he still had enough HP to keep him going. Fayez was growing more annoyed. If it weren’t for Incarnation of Death, he would have actually lost to a damn deva!
“Die! Death Burst!” Three giant explosions went off consecutively around Lee Jiwon, but despite that, Lee Jiwon forced his way through the explosions and stabbed at Fayez again.
“Argh! You’re a tenacious bastard, I’ll give you that! Summon: Spear of Death!” Fayez summoned a spear of his own and counterattacked Lee Jiwon.
Lee Jiwon was losing 210 HP per second as long as he stayed close to Fayez. There was no reason for Fayez to not fight in close quarters. Time was on his side. The two began to fiercely exchange blows, while the ground around them cratered from the force of their attacks.
—
“Keep up your attack!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Billowing Fire Pillar!”
“Razor Wind”
“Iron Wall!”
Baden continued to lead his army from the front and together, they pushed hard against Astes. However, both sides couldn’t help, but pay attention to the fierce duel taking place a ways from the main battle.
-Damn…is that even possible?-
The time they were all given since Otadolon began was the same. Even then, Baden was confident enough to say that he had become a deva sooner than most, but the difference in strength was too great. The Reaper was one of the Seven Monarchs, a man chosen to become a deity, so that much was a given… but Lee Jiwon was still a deva like Baden.
Baden inched closer to the duel.
==[You have been caught in the range of Touch of Death. You will receive the effects of the debuff.
ATT, MATT, DEF, MDEF decreased by 30%
All recovery-type skills lose 90% of their effectiveness.
Damage received from all Death-type skills increased by 60%]==
He received the messages explaining what sorts of debuffs were in play: Touch of Death and Field Where Death Blossoms. Just stepping within a hundred and fifty meters of the two nearly halved Baden’s combat abilities.
He also noticed the Astes soldiers moving closer to the duel as well. Most of them were soldiers from the six other emirates. They wanted to be the ones to defeat the great Lee Jiwon, but the result wasn’t what they had expected.
Anyone who got too close were cut down in two hits, even though Lee Jiwon was under those debuffs. They fell like moths to the fly. In fact, Lee Jiwon did away with the invading soldiers with a couple of swats of his spear, as if he was annoyed at their constant appearances.
However, the powerful and great Lee Jiwon was getting pushed back, even more as time ticked on. If Lee Jiwon fell here, it was over for Baden and Abu Dhabi. The only reason he and Abu Dhabi were able to last this long was because Lee Jiwon was keeping the Reaper occupied, and Baden knew that quite well.
“Umaru.”
“Yes sir.”
“Split five hundred off of the main force and have them support Lee Jiwon.”
“But sir…”
“I know. They probably won’t be of much help, but if he falls here, so do we. If he does fall, I don’t want it to be our fault, nor do I want it to be known that I did nothing to help him.”
“Understood, sir.”
At Baden’s order, Umaru gathered five hundred elite soldiers of the First Battalion. Their directive was to provide Lee Jiwon with some breathing room, even if it was only for a moment.
—
“Ha…ha…” I was panting heavily.
“What’s wrong? Are you tired already?” Fayez taunted, laughing.
“Yeah, just give me a second.” Losing 210 HP per second was a huge blow, not to mention his attacks were pretty painful as well. My HP had already dipped below 100,000 and by now, I had come to accept that this is where I was going to die. I had made plenty of holes in his Armor of Death, but that was all I could do while I only had 1% of my HP remaining.
Still, even if I died here, I would only incur a single death penalty. Once I resurrected in three hours, I could easily just use one of the many Death Penalty Restoration Gems in my inventory. Before then, I could fight a little longer thanks to my Bracelet of Eternal Fire. Either way, I wasn’t really too worried about dying here. The only sad part was that Baden would lose his title as guild master and head of the Abu Dhabi royal family. I was going to get my revenge, though; I had to.
“Are you going to give up now? Good. Then allow me to show you something interesting. Reveal Target.”
==[Target: Lee Jiwon
Kill Lee Jiwon within 3 months.
Time remaining: 85 days 17 hours 53 minutes.
Penalty: If you are unable to kill Lee Jiwon in 3 months, you will incur a death penalty. You will lose your exclusive ability, Death.
Advantage: Never miss Lee Jiwon, Cancel out Lee Jiwon’s Unrivaled skill, Lee Jiwon will receive 10 deity death penalties upon death.]==
“…” I finally learned why the attacks I avoided still struck me, and why Unrivaled wasn’t working. I also learned of something that horrified me; if I died here, I was going to incur 10 deity death penalties.
I had just thought that because I had done all I could, it was enough. I really did do all I could, but it just wasn’t enough. Now, I really had to win.
“Bwahaha! I hope you enjoyed your time being worshipped as a false god, for this is the end for you, Lee Jiwon!”
I stood on my spot, teeth clenched in fury. At that moment, I heard a loud shout from behind.
“Help Lee Jiwon!”
“We cannot let him die!”
I turned around to see about five hundred Abu Dhabi soldiers run towards me and step in range of the Reaper’s debuffs.
“I see your friends have come to die like moths to the flame.”
“Fire Demon’s Rage!”
“Stormbreaker!”
“Chain Lightning!”
“Piercing Power Shot!”
“Triple Shot!”
The Abu Dhabi soldiers fired a volley of spells and skills at the Reaper, but once they stepped within the range of the Reaper’s debuffs, their combat abilities were halved as well.
“Wall of Death! Wall of Death!” The volley of attacks had managed to pierce through the Reaper’s first Wall solely by the sheer amount of attacks ,but the remainder bounced of the second Wall.
“Come forth, Roots of Death!” Giant black roots broke through the ground, inflicting a great deal of damage on the soldiers.
“Heal!”
“Flourishing Incense of Cure!”
“Shit!”
“The Heal spells aren’t doing much!”
“Damn it! We’ve pretty much been stripped of our abilities! What are we supposed to do here?”
The soldiers quickly plunged into chaos, but I didn’t just stare at them dumbly. There was nowhere to run to, so all I could do is keep on attacking. I had to get at least one more attack in before the Bracelet of Eternal Fire activated.
“Gahahaha! Did you find your will to fight again as you watched your allies die? Giant Spear of Death!”
My attack finally pierced through the Reaper, but in return, I was impaled by the Reaper’s own spear.
==[Your HP has reached 0 through a considerable amount of damage. The Bracelet of Eternal Fire’s Last Breath has been activated.
35% of your total HP (9,240,700) has been restored (3,234,245).
Eternal Fire’s Last Breath has been deactivated for thirty days.]==
I was out of chances now. “Yaah! Die! Die, you son of a bitch!” I swung madly at the Reaper with a bestial roar. I hated being here. I hated that I was chosen to be his Target and that I was going to incur those penalties. I hated that even with the Bracelet, I was still going to lose.
“Oh ho! Looks like someone’s back alive! Too bad that’s all you can do. Explosion of Death!” Fayez set off an explosion right at my face, but I kept attacking.
“Judge’s Gavel!” I activated the skill once its cooldown was up and sent him flying ten meters back.
“Tsk. That attack still hurts!” The blow from Judge’s Gavel had shrunk the three-meter tall Reaper down by about half a meter. I still had more to do!
—
Forty minutes later…
I was bent over, hands on my knees and sweat streaming down my face. I had 45,000 HP left. The Reaper could finish me off in a single blow. I hated this. I was going to die and incur ten deity death penalties as a deva. If I were a deity, I doubted I would be this pissed.
“Huh. I can’t even laugh anymore. Fuck! How did a mere deva get this powerful?” Fayez spat at me, but I didn’t have the strength to retort.
Fayez had to use his special and strongest ability to take me down. Normally, I’d feel honored that a Monarch had to go such an extent to defeat me, but I was pissed. I didn’t have one of my own. Even if I did, they only amounted to Mana Conversion and Judge’s Gavel. They were enough to defeat the Reaper if he didn’t have that damn failsafe.
-Fuck! Why don’t I have one? Why couldn’t I be born with one?-
“Well, have a nice trip, Lee Jiwon. We won’t be seeing each other ever again.”
I tightly closed my eyes as Fayez slowly walked over. At that moment, I finally remembered that I did have a failsafe. It was the same failsafe that saved me against the Blood Prince and the Predator Duke, the same failsafe that stole Equality and Predation and gave them to me. I had Shaman Ko!
-Please, Shaman Ko! If you’re ever going to save me again, now’s the time to do it!-
I really needed Shaman Ko now, more than ever.
==[Shaman Ko’s Will reacts to its wielder’s powerful desires.]==
-Yes!-
My eyes shot open when the message appeared, but my joy was short-lived. Shaman Ko’s Will increased Shaman Ko’s Stat points by a hundredfold for three seconds. I had 3,432 points invested into STR. A hundred times that was 343,200. That was a lot of STR points, but I couldn’t use them against the Reaper. His Armor of Death was just too high, and he still had plenty of HP left. He could still kill me with a single blow before I could get one attack in. I might have a chance if I could use Judge’s Gavel as well, but I had already used it and it was still on cooldown.
“Kyuu! Kyuu!”
“Huh?” I heard the squeaking of the Dungeon Mole and looked down to see a shaggy and dirty boy of around five years of age. He had a piece of string tied around his waist, which was also tied around the Dungeon Mole. I had never seen Shaman Ko face to face like this, so I’d had no idea what he looked like. During the battle against the Predator Duke, I could only feel him eat Predation, but I knew that this boy was Shaman Ko. I didn’t know why, but I opened up my inventory, took out the Scroll of Predation and ripped it.
==[You can now use Predation 1.
You can only use Predation on certain targets.
After using Predation, you can use your target’s abilities for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, all abilities taken from your target will return to their original owner.
If you do not use Predation on a target within 24 hours, you will lose the effects of the Scroll of Predation.]==
“Consume,” I said as I pointed my finger at Shaman Ko. I had no idea why I did that, but my hand moved anyway.
