[Translator – Prøks]
[Proofreader – Prøks]
Chapter 20: PK Killer
“This is strange.”
The enemy was too confident.
Did he have some kind of trump card up his sleeve?
Lee Seoyoon’s eyes narrowed.
‘Level? No way.’
This guy had only entered the Gate for the first time a few days ago.
It took time to level up.
No matter how high you put it, it would be less than 50.
There was nothing to worry about in terms of equipment either.
Except for a very small number of equipment, the performance of the equipment was bound to follow the level.
Those few pieces of equipment couldn’t be easily obtained even with money, so his own equipment had to be more overwhelming.
‘It’s not a consumable either…….’
Since he was a rich guy, he might have taken doping potions.
With that, he could catch up to the level difference to some extent.
Assuming it was the highest level, it would be around level 50.
Then, no matter how high you put it, he would be at the level of 100.
It was such high of a difference that it was embarrassing to compare herself to him, who was level 300.
The only variables were the special summon called Cedric and his swordsmanship.
However, a summon could not exceed the level of the summoner.
No matter how high an S-rank skill was, what could you do with a low-level summon?
Swordsmanship was also unlikely to have a major impact.
Lee Seoyoon also knew about the rumors.
The fact that the Sword Saint and Kim Minwoo had sparred.
‘I heard that the Sword Saint adjusted his body.’
Mana, skills, and even stat points.
The difference between using it and not using it was like heaven and earth.
Of course, she had no intention of adjusting it like the Sword Saint.
If the difference in ability value was overwhelming, then skill meant nothing.
“Are you scared?”
“……Bullshit. You’re bluffing.”
Yes.
It’s a bluff.
Lee Seoyoon was convinced.
Only then did she feel relaxed.
“You’re not going to live anyway.”
They had already seen each other’s faces.
There was no reason to let him live.
“Then shut up and charge.”
He waved his hand.
“Die!”
Seoyoon charged.
“Nice.”
Kim Minwoo’s eyes gleamed.
No matter how one tries to solve it with skill, the difference in ability was not something that could be easily overcome.
If Seoyoon escaped, there was no way to catch her. At best, he could just complain about it in reality.
‘That’s going to be difficult.’
Even if he disguised his identity and came here, that would be the least of his concerns.
The secret organization she belonged to, ‘Shadow’. They would probably come and rescue her from there.
He had to stick close to deal with her.
Luckily, Seoyoon chose to fight instead of running away.
Of course.
The level difference alone was over 200.
Usually, you would be overwhelmed at this point.
She must be confident in her combat abilities.
‘But level isn’t everything.’
If that was all it took, he wouldn’t have been able to catch the Orc Guard in his level 1 state.
Of course, Seoyoon, being a named character, would undoubtedly be much stronger than him.
‘But I’ve gotten stronger too.’
He had reached level 30 by hunting gorillas before she arrived.
And he had Cedric on his side.
‘I’ll catch her when she lets her guard down.’
Kim Minwoo’s eyes gleamed.
Assassins focused all their stats on attack power. Their defense was practically nonexistent.
Unlike the Orc Guard he had faced last time, there was no way his sword wouldn’t penetrate.
The outcome would be decided in an instant.
The armed skeletons blocked Seoyoon’s path with their shields raised.
She lightly scratched her dagger forward.
The skeleton group blocking her front split in half.
“Haha! Do you really think you can stop me with something like this?”
Seoyoon approached, slashing the skeletons as if they were vegetables.
He rushed forward with Cedric.
The distance closed in an instant.
“Die!”
She swung her dagger.
[Using Critical Strike (B)!]
The skill increased attack power.
But it wasn’t all advantageous. Using the skill would immobilize her movements.
In other words,
Kim Minwoo, like rotten water, could anticipate movements and attack directions from observing the skill’s usage.
‘Critical Strike, huh.’
It was an assassin-only skill that dealt powerful damage to a single target.
Using it fixed one of three attack routes.
The head, throat, or heart.
As the route was straightforward, if you hit, the damage would greatly increase.
‘She’s in a hurry.’
It might have been better to use an area-of-effect skill.
Since she was assuming that he couldn’t avoid it and was honestly stabbing, it was easy to dodge as it was a simple attack route.
He raised his sword.
The dagger aimed for the head.
The moment the longsword collided with the dagger, its edge flicked to the side.
The dagger narrowly missed the head.
The dagger passed by his head by a hair’s breadth.
He kicked Lee Seoyoon in the stomach.
Lee Seoyoon stopped for a moment.
Cedric, who had already positioned himself behind her, stabbed her with a spear.
She quickly dodged, as if trying to evade a low-level summon.
‘It won’t work.’
Stab!
The spear accurately followed, piercing her torso as if skewering it. The blade penetrated deep through the gap in her armor.
It was a serious injury.
“…!”
Her eyes widened in astonishment.
Her body trembled in pain.
Skeletons were already spawning on the ground, grabbing her ankles.
Kim Minwoo didn’t miss the gap. His longsword flew towards Seoyoon’s neck.
Despite the difference in stats, it seemed she would die if her neck was severed.
Seoyoon hastily raised her dagger.
‘It’s below, huh.’
Unlike skills, regular attacks could naturally adjust their trajectory with proper strength control.
The sword plunged into her side.
The longsword buried deep into her waist.
Mana gathered on her dagger as she trembled in pain.
‘Murderous Sword Dance.’
He stepped back, dropping his sword.
Cedric also pulled out his spear and stepped back.
In contrast, hundreds of skeletons rushed towards Seoyoon.
The surroundings were immediately filled with blades.
Murderous Sword Dance (A).
Seoyoon’s awakened achievement skill.
For an assassin with few area-of-effect skills, it was truly a sweet skill.
Blades erupted in all directions, slicing through the skeletons.
The skeletons collapsed, but there was a price to pay.
The blades that clashed with the skeletons quickly lost their momentum.
‘It’s too late.’
Seeing her use an area-of-effect skill, it seemed she was feeling the heat now.
‘If you were going to use it, you should have used it from the beginning.’
He immediately took out his weapon from his inventory and rushed forward.
She must have had a few good potions since she was a B-rank.
But he couldn’t afford to give her time to drink them.
As expected, Seoyoon had a potion in her hand, already close to her lips as if she was about to drink it.
There was no way to stop her at this distance.
As soon as he made the decision, he threw the sword.
The potion she was about to drink shattered into pieces.
In the meantime, Cedric’s spear once again pierced her body.
“You son of a bitch!”
She angrily swung her dagger at Cedric.
Clang! Clang!
Cedric skillfully deflected her dagger with his spear.
He, too, had excellent skill in parrying weapons like himself.
‘The game is over.
She couldn’t even use stealth because of the byproducts.
And with her already suffering from a serious injury and being surrounded, she couldn’t create distance.
The only option was to drink a potion and recover before fighting again.
But now, she couldn’t even drink it.
Using a skill to create distance would deplete her mana.
‘You need to be at least A-rank to use Murderous Sword Dance twice.’
Currently a B-rank, Lee Seoyoon could not use the skill more than once.
On the other hand, if she used a low-rank area skill, she would end up in a vicious cycle of consuming a lot of mana without being able to create distance.
He grabbed the sword that came out of his inventory once again and stabbed it at Lee Seoyoon.
She was quickly put on the defensive by the two-way pincer attack.
* * *
‘This is ridiculous!’
Seoyoon was astonished.
She realized something was wrong from the moment she used the Critical Strike.
The stat difference alone was hundreds.
And the difference in equipment was also overwhelming.
It was normal for the sword to break the moment it collided.
But it didn’t break.
Instead, it deflected the attack.
It was an incomprehensible sight.
How strong did a skill have to be to produce such a spectacle?
From that moment, everything went wrong.
Cedric, the skeleton, was equally extraordinary.
Disregarding him as a mere summon was a mistake. How could a mere summon possess such incredible spear skills?
As a result, she suffered a serious injury in one blow.
‘Damn it! These bastards are ruining all my skills!’
They moved as if they knew what skill she would use.
It was a movement that even high-level awakened individuals found difficult to demonstrate.
Even if he knew all the motions of every skill, he wouldn’t be able to demonstrate movements that he couldn’t execute!
Seoyoon couldn’t understand how a mere low-level awakened individual could move like that.
‘I have to get out of here…….’
The endlessly summoned skeletons obstructed her movements.
Meanwhile, Kim Minwoo and Cedric continued to inflict wounds on her.
It was like being trapped in an anthill, unable to escape.
But she couldn’t fight back either.
Cedric and Kim Minwoo.
If she attacked one, the other would exploit the opening.
She kept missing them by a hair’s breadth.
All she needed was to graze them once with her poisoned dagger!
But that didn’t happen.
As a result, her whole body turned into a mess.
‘F*ck…… This bastard…… He’s not S-rank.’
The skeleton called Cedric.
He was definitely not someone who could be summoned with an S-rank.
She could tell with her skin.
He was much, much more than that.
Seoyoon’s eyes trembled.
She had seriously messed up today.
‘Dying in an E-rank gate?’
Like this?
It couldn’t be.
Trembling, she opened her lips.
“Stop it! I was wrong! Just once, please spare me!”
“Friend. Would you spare me if you were me?”
“I, I have information! I’m sure you’ll be interested!”
“What information?”
“I, I belong to an organization……! I’ll give you all the information!”
“Oh. An organization? That should be interesting.”
Kim Minwoo’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
This was fortunate.
Having a brief conversation and buying some time was the best option.
If she could buy some time by talking, that would be the best.
“That organization is…….”
Pfft!
Lee Seoyoon stared blankly at the spear that had pierced her deeply in the side.
“Why…….”
“It’s Shadow, isn’t it? Why do you want to know about it? It’s annoying.”
“How…… did…… you…… know…….”
“I don’t know, don’t care. Farewell.”
If one is ready to kill others, they must be ready to die themselves.
Otherwise, every murder would go unpunished.
She was a murderer who would kill countless people if she was left alone.
He had no hesitation in killing her.
He cut Lee Seoyoon’s throat.
[You have won against an Awakened with a level difference of over 200!]
[You have acquired the title, ‘PK Expert’!]
[Your level has increased by 10!]
Her body collapsed.
He leveled up even after killing an Awakened, not a monster.
Perhaps because the level difference was significant, he had skyrocketed by a whole 10 levels.
Cedric, who had been staring at Lee Seoyoon’s body, spoke.
―She’s a useful piece of material. I think she’ll be good to use as an undead in the future, Master.
“That’s the plan.”
Level is one of the most basic factors that divides the ranks of Awakened.
So, does that mean that anyone can become an S-rank Awakened if they just keep leveling up?
‘That’s not it either.’
The maximum level that each person can reach depends on their individual potential.
What if your potential is low?
The closer you get to your maximum level, the slower your leveling speed becomes, until it eventually stops altogether.
It’s as if it’s saying, “This is as far as you go.”
‘Kim Minwoo’s was 200 levels.’
C-rank, middle-rank Awakened.
He stopped leveling at that level.
He couldn’t go any further.
That’s why he got his ass kicked when he tried to challenge the Dragon Lord.
On the other hand, Seoyoon had the potential to reach S-rank with some time given.
B-rank.
She was still incomplete.
That’s why he was able to catch her so easily, since she was also completely off guard and had fallen for his psychological warfare.
If he had met her after she had gained experience and reached S-rank, it would have been a lot more difficult.
By that time, he would have grown to some extent as well, and she wouldn’t have been as careless as she was now.
‘This kind of body should be useful for making a high-ranking undead later on.’
Kim Minwoo knew of high-level undead that suited assassins perfectly.
First, he needed to get some equipment…….
Then it happened.
– You are the ‘Harbinger of Humanity’s Horizon’!
– You perceive the changes in the world!
– You hunted down one of the supporting villains, ‘Lee Seoyoon’!
– The story begins to undergo some changes!
– The Achievement Shop is now activated as a reward!
– You receive a small amount of achievement points!
“…Huh?”
What’s this now?
[Translator – Prøks]
[Proofreader – Prøks]