Chapter 139
"That's impossible...."
Wayne muttered blankly, unable to believe the scene before him.
The knight called Baul had a massive frame wrapped in pitch-black armor.
In one hand, he held a mace larger than Wayne's own head.
WHOOOM! CRUNCH!
The mace swung at such terrifying speed that the space around it seemed to distort.
Gwak Cheol could do nothing but endure the beating.
"You monster bastard...!! Keugh!"
WHOOOM! CRACK! CRUNCH!
Wayne stared in disbelief.
Even Kasim beside him could only watch, stunned.
The attacks were almost too fast to follow with the naked eye.
There wasn't a single gap between them.
Every blow crushed flesh and shattered bone.
Like a mouse being toyed with by a cat, Gwak Cheol threw himself around desperately, trying to dodge.
CRUNCH!
"AAAAARGH...!!"
"M-My leg...!!"
Eventually, while rolling across the ground, his ankle exploded beneath a merciless downward strike.
Chunks of flesh scattered everywhere.
The ground was soaked in his blood.
Wayne himself...
Even working together with Kasim...
Wouldn't have been confident of victory against Gwak Cheol.
They would've had to fight prepared to die.
And yet Baul was handling him like a child.
Grab.
Gwak Cheol suddenly seized Baul's ankle.
Even while coughing up blood, a vicious smile appeared on his face.
"Hah..."
"Finally caught you."
"I win."
"Kuhaha...!"
He immediately activated the Absorbing Star Demonic Art and tried to drain Baul's energy with all his strength.
Then...
"...Huh?"
Gwak Cheol's eyes widened.
He shook his head sharply.
Then tightened his grip and tried again.
The result was the same.
No matter how much he absorbed...
Nothing entered his body.
It felt like sucking at an empty shell with absolutely nothing left inside.
CRUNCH!
"AAAAAARGH...!!!"
Baul planted his other foot on Gwak Cheol's shoulder.
Then violently ripped off the arm still gripping his ankle.
Gwak Cheol now had only his right leg intact.
Every other limb had either been severed or crushed beyond recognition.
Blood poured from every opening in his body under the unbearable pain.
Then Baul turned toward Suhyeok.
He was waiting for his next command.
His skin was as black as his armor.
Empty violet eyes stared without emotion.
There was no feeling inside them at all.
He existed only to carry out orders.
He definitely wasn't human.
Wayne swallowed and glanced toward Suhyeok.
How did His Grace obtain something like that...?
Appearing here from the front gate in an instant...
That absurd ability...
All of it transcended common human understanding.
Step. Step.
Suhyeok walked toward Gwak Cheol.
The man crawled across the ground like a worm, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Suhyeok stopped in front of him.
"You look terrible."
"Keugh...."
"I suppose I should thank you."
"You killed everyone else for me."
"So now..."
"You're the only one left."
Realizing death was coming, Gwak Cheol stopped crawling.
He started laughing weakly through bloody coughs.
Then somehow lifted his head and grinned at Suhyeok.
"Kuhuh..."
"You don't have time to stand around here."
"While you're wasting time..."
"The walls have probably already fallen."
"Your soldiers have probably all been trampled to death."
"They'll be advancing here soon...."
Gwak Cheol gasped for air.
Then something changed.
His hands...
His muscles...
The huge body that had been swollen only moments ago...
Began shriveling.
"Uuuugh..."
"No..."
"Noooo...."
Before long...
He looked just like the dried corpses he'd spent so long draining and discarding.
"Just as I thought."
Suhyeok looked down at him.
"So yours was only a half-finished version of the Absorbing Star Demonic Art too."
"H-Half-finished...?"
"What are you talking about...?"
Before the regression, several Players had learned versions of the Absorbing Star Demonic Art in Murim.
No one knew where it had originally come from.
Even after interrogating those who possessed it, their stories about its source were all different.
There was only one thing they had in common.
Every one of them used it indiscriminately.
On Players.
On residents of the Tower.
Anyone.
The more they absorbed...
The stronger they became.
Naturally, they became addicted.
So they continued endlessly.
And eventually...
Every last one of them was found as a dried corpse.
Of course.
Because what they'd learned wasn't the real Absorbing Star Demonic Art.
It was an imitation.
If it was the real thing, there's no way it'd have a penalty like this lol
So the more you absorb, the shorter the interval gets and you have to keep doing it? The real one probably just makes you stronger without any side effects.
No wonder his body kept getting smaller while fighting earlier lol
Even all his hair fell out. Can't even recognize him anymore. Serves him right ㅋ
Suhyeok revealed the truth to the broken man.
"What you found was an imitation cobbled together by some third-rate demonic practitioner after seeing the real Absorbing Star Demonic Art."
"There are probably plenty of others besides you who found the same thing."
"And they'll all meet the same ending."
"N-No..."
"That's impossible...."
"This is real...."
Suhyeok looked at Gwak Cheol, who was somehow still alive.
Then gave him a cold smile.
"Looks like you've absorbed women and children too."
"Otherwise, you wouldn't still be clinging to life like a cockroach."
The Absorbing Star Demonic Art greatly increased regenerative ability when it absorbed energy from women and children.
Absorbing men, on the other hand, amplified raw power.
Normally, by this point, all stored energy would have been exhausted trying to heal the severed wounds.
The user would die immediately afterward.
Yet Gwak Cheol was still alive.
Barely.
[Good-aligned Constellations frown and say judgment must be carried out.]
[‘Miracle of Four Days’ declares ‘Gwak Cheol’ a sinner who has committed unforgivable crimes.]
[‘Woman Holding the Scales Above the Law’ shouts that even paying with his life would not be enough.]
"I don't pity you."
"Those imitation techniques only appear before people who are clearly evil anyway."
Gwak Cheol no longer seemed able to hear him.
He simply repeated the same words.
"S-Spare me..."
"Please..."
"Please save me...."
He was already gone mentally.
There was no reason to keep him alive.
Suhyeok stopped Baul from finishing him with the mace.
Instead, he left Gwak Cheol with one final, cold curse.
"You're already in a body that can't even die by your own will."
"So die slowly."
"Feel yourself shrivel away piece by piece until the end."
"Uuuuugh...."
That evening...
A funeral was held for the soldiers who had died.
Logs were stacked like a tower.
The bodies burned atop them in blazing flames.
Following northern tradition...
Everyone raised a cup of alcohol toward the sky.
Then poured it onto the ground.
Some cried silently.
Others forced down the grief rising inside them and continued the ritual.
No one screamed.
No one loudly called the names of the dead.
That was how the north honored warriors buried beneath its soil.
After the funeral ended...
Suhyeok returned to his office.
He sat down and checked the messages appearing one after another.
[The Second Wave has been successfully defended.]
[Following System evaluation, the remaining three Waves will be replaced by a single final Wave.]
[Wave Theme: ???]
[Time until the next Wave: 2 months.]
The preparation period had increased to two months.
This time...
The theme wasn't even revealed.
Perhaps the System no longer wanted to give Suhyeok enough information to discover a countermeasure beforehand.
But that also meant whatever was coming next would be on a completely different scale from this Wave.
Even aside from that...
The Monster Faction had suffered enormous losses.
They would need time to prepare properly for another attempt.
But what if it says two months and then randomly starts early again?
Right? Why did this one just start whenever it wanted? Who's the Administrator here again?
Doesn't seem like an Administrator issue. They can't just freely alter the System itself.
Rules are what make a game fun. If it just does whatever it wants like this, that's a problem ㅇㅇ
Already submitted an objection. Don't worry ㄴㄴㄴㄴ
As expected of the Great Hero.
Ding!
A mail icon appeared in the air.
Suhyeok opened it.
A letter had arrived.
The sender...
Was Highest-Level Administrator Ruzian.
The writing carried his unmistakable tone.
[Please accept my apologies for the disturbance caused by the Wave beginning earlier than scheduled.]
[As compensation, I would like to send Player Lee Suhyeok a gift.]
[I sincerely hope you will generously let go of your anger.]
[Ah.]
[And this is being sent as a ‘comrade-in-arms,’ so you may look forward to it.]
[Until we meet again.]
The deliberate use of comrade-in-arms was probably meant to remind Suhyeok that Ruzian still considered them allies.
The apology itself was mostly formal.
The important part came next.
[All consumable items and buildings within the castle are fully restored.]
[Special Privilege granted.]
[Items in the Defense Master Shop may now be purchased using Coins instead of Points.]
[16,500,000 Coins obtained.]
[The ‘restriction on combat power’ placed on Player Lee Suhyeok has been lifted.]
They were good rewards.
Suhyeok already possessed nearly seventy million Coins.
At that point...
There were practically no items he couldn't afford.
More importantly...
The restriction preventing him from using his own combat strength had been lifted.
While that restriction remained...
He had needed Borrowing and the Demon God's power to fight.
That couldn't truly be called his own full combat power.
[You exist outside the standards of this floor.]
[Unknown beings dwelling on this floor begin showing interest in you.]
Those unknown beings are probably ‘them.’
They were beings he would've had to meet eventually anyway.
And with two months before the final Wave...
He had plenty of time to visit them.
Then Suhyeok remembered what the Demon God had said while controlling his body.
The true way to use Rank....
So I've only been using it superficially until now?
He decided to study the proper use of Rank later.
For now...
He checked the remaining rewards.
[Quest Reward obtained.]
[UR Selection Ticket ×1]
[200,000 Points]
The UR Summon Ticket had been upgraded into a Selection Ticket.
That was probably Ruzian's doing as well.
Since ten thousand Points were roughly equivalent to one million Coins...
The two hundred thousand Points were essentially another twenty million Coins.
Suhyeok rose from his chair and looked through the window.
Night had already passed.
The sun was beginning to rise.
"It's already this late."
Two months sounded like a long time.
But setting out from the harsh and isolated northern frontier would take a considerable amount of time.
Especially because Suhyeok already knew the identity of the mysterious beings interested in him.
They were none other than...
The originators of the study known as magic.
And the strongest creatures in the Tower.
Dragons.
If beings who don't even care whether the continent survives or collapses are interested in me...
Then there's only one reason.
They want something from me.
And there was a high chance that something was Seong-a.
Within this Tower...
The existence of an Ego Sword was almost as rare and abnormal as a dragon itself.
Then...
"AAAAARGH!!"
"AAAAAAARGH...!!"
A scream echoed from outside the window.
It came from the private training ground reserved for the knights behind the office.
And the person screaming was...
As expected...
Wayne.
Ding!
[SR Rank ‘Wayne’ is confused about your true identity.]
[Growth Quest generated.]
[Objective: Resolve Wayne's confusion and earn his recognition.]
[Reward: SR Rank Wayne Awakening]
