Chapter 108: Chapter 108 - Opening Act (6)
Chapter 108: Opening Act (6)
Translator: HH Editor: HH
Semi ranker . Skilled people who challenged rankers .
A ranker is the name given to the strongest players who climb the Tower .
In general, they’re players who have started climbing higher than the 50th floor .
But the 50th floor isn’t one that can be overlooked .
It has a difficulty way stronger than the 49th floor .
Even the strongest players fail that floor . So that’s why rankers were so amazing .
Also .
Players who were about to defeat the 50th floor were often called this .
Challenger, or semi ranker .
77 floors that have been conquered so far .
And if you were to name the floors with the most residents, it was narrowed down to two .
The first floor and the 49th floor . The reason was simple . The first obstacle was the first floor, which was hard for people who just passed the tutorial .
And the 49th floor posed an obstacle to players who had been on a smooth run .
People on the 49th floor would kill to somehow succeed . Because even if it was only one floor, there was a wide gap between those who had succeeded and those who didn’t .
But the majority of them failed, and only a select few could move on . And so rankers who passed the 50th floor called the players of the 49th floor ‘failures . ’
Because they were fools who couldn’t move past that one obstacle .
But this was only something that players on the higher floors fought over . On the lower floors, even the 49th floor was incredible .
To pass the ‘magic gateway’ that was the 50th floor, you had to be extremely strong and make a huge effort .
So the players staying on the 49th floors were called something else out of respect . Semi rankers .
People who dreamt of being a ranker .
And in reality, semi rankers were already plenty strong . Some even said a few of them were stronger than actual rankers .
And there was a semi ranker right in front of him .
Yeon-woo let out a laugh in disbelief .
Even if he was at his full strength, the chances were slim . But he was trying to do this while he was both mentally and physically exhausted?
It was like committing suicide .
But .
‘This is fun . ’
Yeon-woo weirdly felt more of a stronger will to fight .
He laughed . This time it wasn’t because of disbelief, but in amusement .
Yeon-woo was going to defeat all the 8 clans single-handedly . And if he wanted to do that, he needed to grow stronger from defeating players like this .
No, he had to defeat the Nine Kings who were all high rankers .
He needed to be able to be on the level of the Martial Kng at the very least to start his revenge .
From that perspective, defeating a semi ranker was only a way to get stronger
Yeon-woo was able to learn a lot of things from the past 4 battles .
He had gotten rid of all unnecessities .
He had successfully linked the Heaven Wing Mana Control and Eight Extreme Fists, and he could control the intensity of the Cores .
Pushing himself to the extreme, he was able to find all the weaknesses .
The Marital King probably did this for that reason .
So he could improve .
Of course, if he was to make a slight mistake, his life would be in danger .
‘I already put my life on the line by entering the Tower anyway . There’s nothing to worry about . ’
The Martial King probably felt the same way . In some ways, he was extremely dispassionate .
Yeon-woo lightly waved his hand . The Black Bracelet made a slight ringing noise and it locked the souls in the collection .
It was hard to get souls of players of this level . It would be nice to make them his Soul Familiars .
‘Let’s start fighting again . ’
Yeon-woo pushed his Magic Circuit to the very limit . He didn’t have to worry about mana with the improved efficiency .
An abundant amount of magic power filled his body .
And with the use of Draconic Eyes and Combat Will, he got into position .
The proficiency of Eight Extreme Fists (Superior) was 15 . 2%, and Heaven Wing Mana Control was at 31 . 2% .
He had completely mastered the first section, so he didn’t have to worry anymore .
Shanon knew that Yeon-woo was gathering all his strength for this fight and gripped his knife .
Whether it be a human or a beast, a creature that was fighting with everything it could was dangerous .
Also .
The Yeon-woo that Shanon observed was that kind of being .
A beast drenched in blood .
One that wouldn’t fall even when it was tired . And it was one that kept growling, baring all its teeth . Shanon lifted his knife . The Sword Breaker that was bumpy all over like cobblestones . Auror concentrated within the blade .
Shanon looked at Yeon-woo with an unreadable expression .
“Can I ask for a favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Regardless of the result of this battle . I’d like it if my subordinates could be saved . ”
“What?”
Yeon-woo squinted his eyes at the unexpected request . Up until now, all the players he had seen were more concerned with saving their own lives, not saving others’ .
But Shanon smiled sourly .
“To be honest, on the way here, I was so scared that I wasn’t able to think of my subordinates . I just remembered them . I know we met as enemies, but you’re not cold hearted enough to kill those who surrendered too, right?”
Yeon-woo read Shanon’s mind .
‘He’s not planning on winning this battle . ’
It was strange . This situation was obviously favorable toward Shanon, and up until just now, Shanon had a strong will to live .
He was observing everything about the situation, figuring out how to attack and where Yeon-woo’s weaknesses were .
But how it was different .
He was half given up, and half curious about Yeon-woo .
Yeon-woo didn’t know why Shanon was suddenly feeling this way and felt heavy .
Like he had met a strong wall .
‘I’ll break it at once . ’
Yeon-woo summoned his fire . He was planning on finishing the fight as quickly as possible .
Wings made of fire soared higher than ever into the sky . He wrapped the wings around him and stomped his foot in the ground .
As the heat whipped around Shanon like hail .
Shanon lashed Sword Breaker out, and a strong wind pushed the fire away .
Yeon-woo focused his magic power in his feet and caught in balance mid-air .
And as he turned, he struck Shanon’s neck with Carshina’s dagger .
Sponsored Content
Shanon responded by using his Auror .
As the Auror exploded like fireworks they defended against the attacks .
It tried to rup Yeon-woo apart like a tsunami and he had to go on the defense .
Yeon-woo was flicked out of the air . But he tried again, using the First Section of Eight Extreme Fists .
Shanon swung Sword Breaker in wide movements, and with every swing, Auror spiked out like thorns .
Yeon-woo and Shanon fought a tight battle to never show their weaknesses .
Yeon-woo was rough . He didn’t even care about his body that was bleeding by the second .
On the other hand, Shanon was steady . He tried to push Yeon-woo into a hole by using his Auror
Everytime Yeon-woo tried to attack Shanon-to find his weakness, he was met with a wall .
Yeon-woo realized why his opponent was called a semi ranker .
He was really on a different level as him .
No matter how hard he tried to look for a weakness, the guy never showed a single one
But still .
Yeon-woo didn’t give up . Rather, he turned on all the Cores onto their full power . Thanks to that, he kept getting warnings that his Magic Circuit was overloading, but he ignored them .
He didn’t use Vigrid or the Black Bracelet and not even Aegis . This was a fight of his strength and his strength only . He didn’t want to input another variable .
Even at the risk of his life .
*clang*
Everytime he swung his sword, there was an explosion and sparks flew out . He could feel blood coming up in his mouth but he swallowed it back .
From some moment, Draconic Eyes had started to show all the flaws . They were all knotted together like string all led to one place .
‘Above his left elbow!’
The first weakness .
Yeon-woo quickly stabbed Carshin’a dagger because he thought the weakness might disappear .
He could hear all the 36 Cores in motion .
But .
‘What?’
The moment the dagger made contact . The left elbow that should’ve been there disappeared . Like an illusion .
‘An illusion?’
He moved his body to the side thinking something was wrong . But Shanon was already swinging Sword Breaker down on Yeon-woo’s neck .
It was an attack like lightning .
He barely summoned his wings of fire back, but his body flew away like a kite without a string .
He turned his body mid-air and narrowly landed . But he still couldn’t and was pushed back .
Where he passed the ground left tracks in the shape of his geet . Yeon-woo clenched his teeth .
“What happened?”
He was sure he had stabbed the flaw .
How did it suddenly disappear?
He raised the question, but he ignored it for the time being .
He thought he might’ve missed something, so he once again left his body to Draconic Eyes and chased the flaws . He didn’t have any leftover strength .
He saw the flaws again . This time, there were two . He mustered all his power and stabbed again . But again .
It disappeared, and instead, Auror flecks poured like rain .
Yeon-woo didn’t try to attack and instead created a large gap between them .
Sponsored Content
Over there, in front of him .
Shanon was still standing . Like a wall .
And in his Draconic Eyes, Shanon was revealing so many flaws .
But his instinct rang a bell . To not be lured in by them .
Once he did, he would be finished .
If he was lured again, he had a sense that he wouldn’t be able to get out .
‘What’s this?’
He had never failed to attack using flaws . Yeon-woo’s face crumbled .
He was frustrated because he couldn’t figure out what was wrong .
Then .
“Ah, I see . ”
Shanon smirked as if he realized something .
“You don’t know what a focal point is . ”
Focal points?
Yeon-woo squinted at the word he had never heard before . He was still holding his weapons, but his head was riddled with calculations .
“But how do you not know what focal points are? Usually this is a mistake that people who just started learning martial arts make . ”
The Yeon-woo that Shanon had seen so far had skills of someone who was deeply trained in martial arts .
He never would’ve imagined that Yeon-woo was a total beginner who had just started learning .
“Well . It doesn’t matter if you can’t find focal points . Since I’ll be alive at the end of this . ’
Shanon was curious, but it didn’t matter since he had found Yeon-woo’s weaknesses anyway .
“This time, I’ll go . ”
Shanon lightly moved . It was different from when he seemed like a sturdy wall .
He was fast .
Yeon-woo could tell right away .
Everything that Shanon had done so far was to discover Yeon-woo’s weakness . In a blink of an eye, a knife was coming down on his neck . He avoided it by turning his body and maximizing his fire ability .
Thankfully, the knife missed its target . But it flung back to his waist, and Yeon-woo swung the Magic Bayonet down . Suddenly, the approaching knife disappeared .
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened . He felt danger . Illusion . It was the same as before .
He could feel something approaching him from his back . He quickly turned his Draconic Eyes in that direction and a knife right in front of it .
Only one thought was in his head .
‘I’ll die . ’
At this rate .
[Combat Will]
The overloaded Magic Circuit started firing up again . And his ability to be logical fired up even faster .
He had a migraine like his brain was burning .
He used his rationality the best he could . He couldn’t predict and worry about situations that could happen, so he had to make fast paced questions and answers .
A way to avoid it?
None .
A way to stop it?
None .
A way to end it with the least amount of damage/?
Sponsored Content
There was…none .
He kept on asking him questions hoping there would be a way .
But the answer that returned was always the same . None .
There wasn’t a solution . He didn’t know what he should do .
Even if he thought of possible situations, there was only one possible outcome .
A knife splitting the air . His head being destroyed and his consciousness fading away .
Even if he was somehow lucky and managed to avoid it, the rapid attacks made him feel like his body would be ripped into pieces .
Yeon-woo experienced a helpless feeling . Even after changing his Magic Circuit and training his Mugong, it was still lacking .
He was weak . Extremely .
The gap between the semi ranker and him was huge, and there wasn’t a way to escape . He was completely trapped in the trap Shanon set up .
The only possible outcome was death . Loss .
So Yeon-woo flipped his thoughts .
He didn’t see a path, so he had to travel the way he came .
The Martial King . He had given another new test, fighting with the semi ranker . It was harder than making a new Inner Cultivation .
If so, why did he do this to me?
To die?
No, that probably wasn’t it . Even if he did weird things, everything was done with reason .
So that meant, there was a way for him to escape .
If so, what was that method?
The Martial King had said for Yeon-woo to fight with everything he had .
Then Yoon-woo thought again, Mugong was just a power out of many that he had . So maybe he could find a way from another option .
Draconic Eyes, Sense Strengthening, and Combat Will were among the skills he had used, but there was still one he hadn’t used .
And in that moment, he stopped thinking .
Another knife passed by Yeon-woo . His consciousness was still down low .
But . It was after he activated the remaining skill he had .
‘Foresight . ’
It was a skill he didn’t want to use because it would take up all his mana .
But there was no other choice .
When Yeon-woo opened his eyes again, Sword Breaker was pierced deeply in his chest .
His entire body felt like it was going to rip apart .
2 seconds was all Yeon-woo had turned back .
But his consciousness was able to come back . That was enough .
As long as he was alive, he could still fight back .
“What’s this? You should’ve died . ”
“You don’t need to know . ”
Yeon-woo forcefully moved his body back, bringing the sword breaker with it . And as Shanon came along with it, Yeon-woo didn’t miss his opportunity and stabbed his neck with Carshina’s dagger .
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc . . ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible .
Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .
Please download our sponsor's game to support us!