Chapter 205. Château d'If (3)
“Count...!”
“Come, Nameless!”
Gunshots thundered through the air.
The path of a sword sliced through the wind.
Calling each other’s names, we squeezed out every ounce of strength we had and attacked.
And in the middle of that violent battle, I suddenly remembered my days as a Contractor.
The days when I had no power.
No means of forcing victory.
When all I could do was struggle at the very bottom.
I was different now.
I had become an S-rank Constellation.
I possessed nearly 80 billion Origin Power.
With my current physical abilities, I could overwhelm even top-tier Contractors.
But against the Count of Monte Cristo, those specifications meant very little.
The Count was also an S-rank Constellation.
His Origin Power was estimated to exceed one trillion.
He was not a hero famous for slaying monsters or earning glory on the battlefield, but his raw specifications should still be enough to casually overpower most combat-type Constellations.
Fortunately, having ten times more Origin Power did not seem to mean having ten times the physical ability.
Even so, it was obvious that he surpassed me physically.
What about weapons?
I had obtained the legendary Ruyi Jingu Bang.
As a blunt weapon, it would not be an exaggeration to call it one of the greatest in the world.
I had already confirmed its power against Asmodeus, Crocell, and others.
Meanwhile, the Count’s pistol and sword did not appear to be legendary weapons at first glance.
Yet his bullets had killed Yang Jian.
And his blade did not so much as chip when clashing with the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
My guess was that the Count had invested Origin Power into strengthening them.
Still, it was difficult to call them weapons on the same level as the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Rather than using them because the weapons themselves were overwhelmingly powerful...
it looked more like he used them because he had mastered them completely.
The Count had superior physical ability.
I had the better weapon.
There were other areas where each of us had our own advantages and disadvantages.
But taken as a whole...
the Count was probably stronger.
“You cannot defeat me, Nameless!”
The Count roared as he pulled the trigger.
“I am the Count of Monte Cristo! A master of marksmanship and swordsmanship who won countless duels...!”
“It is impossible for you to defeat me in a duel!!”
Edmond Dantès had once been a kindhearted sailor.
Then he was framed for a crime he did not commit, imprisoned, and robbed of everything, including the woman he loved.
During his agonizing years in prison, he met Abbé Faria and learned countless things from him.
After Faria died, Edmond used the dead man’s body to escape.
Then he found the immense treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo, just as Faria had told him.
With that fortune in hand, he traveled the world and honed his abilities.
By the time he reappeared before his enemies under the name Count of Monte Cristo...
he had become overwhelming not only in wealth, but in combat.
His swordsmanship was good enough to defeat Paris’s most renowned fencing instructors one after another.
His marksmanship was so precise that he could shoot holes into playing cards and create an entire deck through the pattern of bullet holes.
And above all...
he possessed an iron will forged through more than a decade of imprisonment.
A man who overcame countless hardships and seized tremendous power.
The true ‘King of Avengers.’
“Do you really think a pathetic existence like you... can defeat me?!”
The Count was right.
Compared to him, the man I had been in life was insignificant.
We had both lived at the bottom.
But unlike the Count, I had never climbed out and achieved anything magnificent.
But still...!
Even knowing that...
I did not shrink back in the slightest.
I threw myself forward without hesitation and continued attacking.
And as I fought...
I kept remembering my days as a Contractor.
Back then, I had no power.
I had never received proper enhancements, so my physical abilities were lacking.
I possessed no powerful weapon.
No Skills.
And I could hardly expect meaningful Blessings from a Constellation.
Even so...
I had always tried to become stronger.
I studied other Contractors.
Analyzed them.
Thought about them.
Searched for a way to win.
When I watched talented people like Cheon Sangwoon or Somun Gwang...
I tried to steal even the smallest thing from them.
And that habit...
had never disappeared even after I became a Constellation.
Clang!
At last, the Count’s sword succeeded in knocking the Ruyi Jingu Bang away.
The staff flew far into the distance.
I had lost my weapon.
An opening appeared.
The Count smiled in triumph and aimed his pistol at me with his left hand.
But at that instant...
I moved.
I stomped hard with one foot.
Zhenjiao.
Then I twisted my body, shoved aside the pistol aimed at me, and drove my upper body forward with a powerful body check.
Kao Fa.
The Count was hurled backward.
Bang!
His body slammed into the wall.
“This...!”
He shouted in disbelief.
“That was... something Kang Yujin used...!”
I didn’t stop.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang had been thrown too far away.
So I picked up the sword the Count had dropped.
Then I swung it at him as he hurriedly tried to evade.
“This swordsmanship... Cheon Sangwoon?!”
The Count’s eyes widened as my slash cut through the edge of his clothes.
I pursued him.
And I used every technique that remained in my memory.
Even after becoming an S-rank Constellation... I’m still me.
I wanted to become strong.
I admired strong people.
I wanted to fight powerful enemies with everything I had, just like they did.
But I had never possessed talent like theirs.
My physical ability and reflexes had always been far behind.
No one had granted me overwhelming power either.
I had never met a master who taught me everything I needed.
That was why...
I had struggled alone.
I had no choice but to observe others.
To think.
To analyze.
“This is... ghk! How can your fighting style change this much...?!”
My movements changed from moment to moment.
I tried different forms of attack.
Watched the Count’s reactions.
Adjusted in real time.
And little by little...
those movements stopped belonging to anyone else.
They became mine.
More precisely...
they became a fighting style created solely to defeat the enemy standing before me.
“Count, I am weak!”
My head felt hot.
My thoughts were moving too quickly.
My brain...
no, my soul itself...
felt as though it were burning.
The sensation made my consciousness blur.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Faster.
I had to think even faster.
I had to understand everything about the Count and create a method of fighting that could defeat him.
“That’s exactly why I can stand against you...!”
"...!"
I was weak.
That was why I could easily see the weak parts of my opponent.
I was weak.
That was why I could easily see the strong parts of my opponent.
Instantly identifying an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
Then creating the most appropriate countermeasure on the spot.
That was the ideal fighting style dreamed of by a nameless Contractor who had once been weaker than anyone.
The reason I could now drive back an existence far stronger than myself...
was because there had once been a nameless Contractor who had desperately struggled and cried out, wanting to become even a little stronger.
“Haaaaaaah!”
I roared.
With everything I had.
Not only the little over one year I had spent as a Constellation...
but my entire life.
I crushed through every bit of resistance from the hero before me and forced my attack through.
The pistol fell from the Count’s hand.
The sword I held in both hands pierced through his chest.
The chapel had been completely destroyed by our battle.
Dust drifted thickly through the air.
Nothing around us moved.
The Count, his chest pierced through by the sword, leaned against me without moving.
I could hear neither his breathing nor his heartbeat.
“Count, you...”
I tried to speak to the motionless Count.
But at that moment...
“Lower your voice. Countless cameras are recording this situation.”
"...!"
His faint voice cut me off.
“You really did... surpass me.”
The Count spoke with difficulty.
“A fighting style that analyzes everything about the opponent and creates the optimal strategy on the spot...”
“A weak man’s way of fighting.”
“But... magnificent beyond measure.”
“Count...?”
“I told you earlier that I would explain my third Constellation Skill.”
The first Skill, [Fortress Prison], manifested Château d’If.
The second Skill, [Duel Etiquette], granted a powerful Blessing in one-on-one combat.
And his third and final Skill...
“My last Constellation Skill is called... [Legacy of the Grotto].”
“Legacy... of the Grotto?”
“Yes.”
The Count slowly nodded.
“Just as Abbé Faria passed everything he had to me in Château d’If before dying...”
“This Skill passes everything I possess to the one who witnesses my death.”
I sucked in a breath.
“My Origin Power.”
“My rights.”
“Everything I possess is transferred to you... at the moment I perish.”
The reason the ordinary sailor Edmond Dantès had been able to become the overwhelmingly capable Count of Monte Cristo...
was because Abbé Faria had passed everything on to him inside the prison.
