Fwoosh—!
Blood sprayed from the neck where the head had been ripped off, and the newly awakened super beings trembled at the merciless action devoid of any hesitation.
‘…I guess I twisted things by suspecting the people here…’
The problem is, that guy is still not his original self.
The appearance of Jo Gi-man, which had shown some vulnerability compared to his overwhelming power, had completely disappeared.
If he keeps looking like that, it’s going to be a major disaster for me.
‘Sharp and cold… like a finely honed sword. With such tendencies, while I might avoid immediate anger, he could target Yeon-hee soon enough.’
After dealing with Kim Jae-hyeon, the guy who landed on the ground looked up at the sky and stood still.
‘Huh—damn… I can’t breathe. Hmm?!’
– You have achieved a special achievement by defeating the ‘Great Beast’ alongside your competitor.
– You have obtained the achievement [Dissonant Harmony]!
[Dissonant Harmony]
– When attacking in cooperation with your competitor, your attack power doubles.
– During this achievement, you cannot attack your competitor.
‘Ah… my head is spinning, what’s this about?’
It seems like this is an achievement I gained by defeating the guy Jo Gi-man was fighting, but I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to trigger this in the future.
In fact, it could hinder me when battling other enemies, so I couldn’t be overly joyful about it.
‘Doubling attack power with Jo Gi-man’s cooperation… what a ridiculous achievement.’
But then, another message popped up.
– You have defeated an opponent with a huge difference in levels.
– You have obtained the achievement [Incomparable Fury]!
[Incomparable Fury]
– Your attack power increases in proportion to the difference in levels with your opponent.
‘Oooh…! This is a jackpot! So, there’s no death sentence after all!’
This was an essential ability for me, considering I would have many encounters with powerful enemies.
Even when I take a shot at that guy standing over there, it will be a big help.
‘I don’t know how effective it will be… but it’s a reward that can’t be compared to the previous achievement.’
Although my body still felt stuck to the ground like it was glued, receiving such big rewards allowed me to relax a little.
However, an additional choice popped up as if it were the final reward.
– The Fragments of a Great Being that devoured the Great Beast ‘Debsorpia’ leave behind a small reward.
‘Debsorpia… that’s quite a noble name.’
Perhaps the name was given by its mother, the Queen Slime.
I opened the reward left by the being that devoured it.
‘…? Is it asking me to choose one of the two?’
1. You have defeated the Great Beast and obtained massive experience points. Stat growth upon leveling up to level 80 is tripled.
2. Forfeit all experience points and steal one skill from the being that fought alongside you.
‘…… Why are the choices so extreme? But the second option… could it be a response to my request at the end?’
I hesitated for a moment, but the choice wasn’t too difficult.
‘Tripling my stats is certainly attractive, but… I should choose option 2.’
If it were a permanent buff that tripled my stats, I would have chosen option 1.
But since I’ve already reached level 73, its value couldn’t compare to option 2.
‘Option 2 must be that guy’s skill.’
The being that fought alongside me could only be Jo Gi-man, as suggested by the achievement I received earlier.
‘How could I ever let that guy’s skill be taken away from him?’
Moreover, the second choice was shining golden, practically advertising that I must pick it.
Since my experience gain increased by 20% with job change, I’d naturally level up while exploring with companions and didn’t want to reach level 80 too early and face ‘Residue of Chaos’ again.
‘Given that I don’t know how effective [Incomparable Fury] will be, it’s best to postpone facing that monster as much as possible.’
I didn’t feel that the Residue of Chaos had shown all its strength last time either.
I have only two chances left to challenge it.
The more I can increase my odds of winning, the better it will be.
‘I will choose option 2.’
Given that it was a reward left by a great being, it naturally brought out honorific speech.
With my choice, countless traits and skills flooded my mind.
These must be the abilities of the dumb guy over there, who is foolishly staring at the sky.
They kept surfacing in my mind.
Surfacing, surfacing, and surfacing again…
‘W-what is with all this?!’
I couldn’t help but panic looking at the hundreds of abilities.
I knew he had numerous abilities throughout several lives, but this was…
‘Is that guy perhaps also possessing [Thief]?’
Such a large number of them made me suspect.
Of course, many of these abilities were well-known, so they probably weren’t stolen from monsters.
Still, the reasonable suspicion remained that he might have an ability to steal skills like me.
‘So he didn’t just get stronger from having lots of time. He has a skill that allows him to steal abilities… I need to be more careful?’
If I’m not careful, I might lose my [Thief]!
‘There’s no way I can die by his hands even once… I must at least self-destruct before that.’
Among the countless skills, three abilities approached me closely.
It seemed like I needed to pluck a skill from the three skills he showcased today.
The other skills moved away as I reached out to grasp them, rejecting my choice.
[‘Thunder Punch’], [‘Lightning Strike’], [‘Meteor’]…
He definitely seemed to have used various movement skills, but only offensive skills were sticking around.
[Lightning Strike] is an incredibly unique skill that can only be infused into punches, greatly increasing punch damage along with ‘Electrocute’ and ‘Paralysis’ effects.
‘It has the advantage of consuming relatively less magic power. Not bad.’
The skill I was most tempted by was actually Thunder Punch, but it had one major problem.
According to the information Jo Gi-man had mentioned in his past life, using [Thunder Punch] requires a minimum magic power of over 2000.
Currently, my magic power sits at 554.
Desperately insufficient.
‘Well, considering the need to unleash a thousand of those powerful lightning threads… 2000 magic power might be efficient.’
Ultimately, the choices narrowed down to [Lightning Strike] and [Meteor], but it was easy to favor one given my current situation.
‘This one is a fire spell, so it’s somewhat ambiguous to call it magic… but to catch that guy, this is the best option.’
I kept in mind the plant-type Great Beast ‘Devouring Creeper’ and chose [Meteor].
[Meteor], a top-tier magic that requires profound understanding of physical laws to manipulate flame, stone, telekinesis, celestial bodies, gravity, and the trajectories of meteors.
To manifest that which all wizards aspire to achieve, I would get the opportunity to steal it with little effort.
It would be the most painful skill for Jo Gi-man if he were to lose it.
‘It’s a spell primarily focused on fire attributes…’
It should fit well with my heightened attack power in fire-type magic, including the trait [Obez’s Blessing].
And I suspected that the traits connected with [Flame Explosion] were influencing me.
I nodded and read the message that appeared.
– You have received a small reward left by the Fragments of a Great Being.
– You have stolen [Meteor] from the Incarnation of the Seven-headed Dragon!
– The Seven-headed Dragon senses the power of the Great Being and hastily cuts off its manifestation!
‘Oh?’
With that message, Jo Gi-man’s body jerked significantly.
‘I knew it, that guy has come back to his senses?’
After twitching a few times, his sharply honed gaze turned blank again.
But then, Jo Gi-man suddenly collapsed on the ground, covering his head and howling.
– ……?! W-what the hell!! Why is [Meteor]!! Damn, my skill…! How did I lose my skill…?!
Jo Gi-man, who usually steers clear of swearing for the sake of image management, was now letting out a stream of expletives as he lamented losing [Meteor].
Despite having many abilities, he couldn’t easily acquire a magic like [Meteor] that demands many abilities.
He was in despair, plainly revealing his panic to everyone.
– The achievement [Pioneer] is activated.
– All attributes increase by 1.
Jo Gi-man, crouched down and pounding the ground like mad, belatedly noticed the surrounding hunters buzzing with commotion and suddenly threw himself flat on the ground, pretending to lose consciousness.
‘……? What is he doing? The act is too bad.’
He usually wouldn’t engage in such odd behavior.
Perhaps due to the shock of briefly losing his ego, he was exhibiting incomprehensible actions.
Even someone who had senses would notice that he was becoming increasingly conscious rather than losing it, as his magic power stabilized.
“Seriously… the more I look, the more ridiculous this guy is…”
Kang Yeon-soo seemed to have realized that too, letting out a chuckle.
“I don’t know what he did, but still, that guy must have done something, right? Is he acting like a child due to the side effects of overly exerting himself?”
Yeon-soo seemed confused, stating she couldn’t remember anything from when Jo Gi-man and the monster clashed.
“Since there’s no one else, it must be him… He managed to take down that immense beast and even stopped Kim Jae-hyeon. A monster is indeed a monster. Tsk…”
‘…… As expected, others don’t remember either.’
Time must have been in a state of near stop, and with the cognitive inhibition being so difficult to gauge, even someone like Kang Yeon-soo seemed unable to grasp what happened.
– You have forcibly awakened the top-tier magic [Meteor]!
– You have obtained the achievement [Unexpected Liberation of Stars]!
‘Whoa…’
[Unexpected Liberation of Stars]
– The activation time of top-tier magic decreases by 10%.
– Magic +200.
‘Wow!! To gain 200 magic from just one achievement! That’s insane!’
Today had been overwhelming enough to leave me dizzy.
But just as my excitement peaked, a message added cold water to my bubbling enthusiasm.
– You do not possess the minimum level to use [Meteor].
‘Aah! So this one also can’t be used right now.’
I nodded and checked the conditions to use [Meteor].
‘Minimum magic power of 1000, possession of stone attribute magic, possession of telekinesis skill, wisdom 500… resistance must also be at 100? Why?’
Each one of those minimum conditions was falling short.
‘Well… I could potentially reach something near the required level with artifacts from a C-rank dungeon for magic and wisdom, but telekinesis… that’s the tricky part.’
There are monsters using telekinesis at B-rank dungeons…
‘Well, at least I can consider it a victory for shaking Jo Gi-man’s mentality.’
Of course, stealing one skill won’t drastically decrease Jo Gi-man’s combat power, but it was satisfying knowing I inflicted a psychologically meaningful blow. However, I reflected on my numerous shortcomings.
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