“Ao!! This slippery little rat bastard!!”
According to the twins, even though Teacher Cha is a provocation-type tanker, he was extremely reluctant to use provocation.
I guess there’s a limit to how many times he can use it in a day.
Anyway, he would just draw the opponent in for close combat and then unleash his other specialty, a martial arts skill, to pummel them senseless.
Pang─! Papapapang──!!
“Cough-! Every punch carries some serious power!”
It’s a simple pattern, but thanks to years of training, it had a strong punch.
“Looks like he’s done a bit of boxing!”
The punches of mana spreading wide as they pursued me were surprisingly powerful, enough to knock out a decent-sized monster in one hit.
“But that won’t matter at this distance.”
“I-Ik…!! Where do you keep running off to!!”
In terms of agility and movement, I was overwhelmingly ahead.
As long as I maintained a decent distance and occasionally dodged the close attacks, it wasn’t too hard to deal with.
The real issue was his reckless aggression that didn’t give me a chance to counterattack, but that would be a problem that would resolve itself over time.
Since I had already laid down a devastating ground field for continuous damage, gradually his body would soak in poison and paralysis.
And if I added one more thing.
“This is real provocation!”
[Graaaaaah]
Summoning the minion “Jim” beneath the white sands, I activated provocation.
Moving quickly beneath the sand, “Jim” drew aggro with irritating noises, causing “Teacher Cha” to look around, and eventually, unable to hold back, he charged at me again.
“Come!! Let’s have a real match!”
“Uuaaaaaaa!!”
“······!!”
With his giant fist swollen like a giant, Teacher Cha swung his great sword with all his might, signaling the start of the real battle.
Kwaaaang──!!
*
“Huuh── I dragged this out longer than expected.”
“Grrk…!”
Boom──!
As the hulking hunter collapsed onto the white sands, the crowd of hunters gathered around began to cheer and applaud.
– Yeahhhhh!!
– He really won?!
– That bastard Teacher Cha!! I knew he’d meet his match someday! Hahaha!!
– How about not killing him but just ripping his lower half off and leaving him on a rock? Armored existence!!
This was also rare because the one-on-one duel among hunters had lasted over twenty minutes.
There was admiration toward the mysterious armored existence who had managed to chip away at the overwhelmingly physical tanker with a strategy of outboxing and ultimately took him down.
“Training really can’t compare to actual combat.”
Thanks to the characteristic of Teacher Cha, who avoid the decisive attacks far too easily, I was able to learn something good.
“He had a lot of finesse for someone who looked tough.”
With a stone inscribed with thunderous provocation, absurdly high stamina and solid defense, along with skills that would disrupt the ground at random times making it impossible to stand firm.
If we exclude the fact that he was a villain, he was a nearly perfect tanker with a golden balance.
Rustle—
“Ugh-!!”
“Is he still alive… I mean, not even a zombie. Can we stop this already?”
– Kill him! Kill him! What are you waiting for!
– Uoooooh!!
There were nearly a hundred hunters watching the battle between me and Teacher Cha.
Thinking I was hesitating to kill him, they urged me to commit murder.
“When did this many people gather?”
Some were even live streaming the whole thing on their smartphones.
If I were human-shaped, I’d be in a really awkward situation right now.
Sloosh──!
“······.”
Without hesitation, I dispatched Teacher Cha, and silence fell over the crowd for a moment.
“My appearance? I can change that later.”
Thud—
As the head of a man rolled across the floor like a toy, the previously quiet crowd erupted into even louder cheers, none of them frowning.
A world where a person kills another and is cheered for.
In that moment, I realized just how broken this world I was in had become.
“I don’t care, damn it. Let’s gather some artifacts.”
The artifacts that dropped from Teacher Cha began to draw greedy eyes from the spectators.
“Hmph! Just a bunch of wolves hunting for their prey.”
Whoosh──!!
But as I swung my great sword to showcase that I was still in good shape, the bodies of the hunters rattled as if someone had pulled them from behind.
“It’s actually beneficial to have so many spectators, huh.”
After collecting three artifacts and Teacher Cha’s corpse, I quickly made my exit.
As I vanished, the onlookers wore smiles on their faces as if they had just witnessed a great show.
– Now that that bastard Teacher Cha has disappeared, I can finally breathe easy.
– I have to go check out the area he was sitting in!
– Let’s take over the place without him.
– That junk of a Teacher Cha got what was coming to him. Hah, feels good from the morning.
It seemed Teacher Cha had been quite disliked by many.
But I only pretended to leave and didn’t actually go anywhere.
“It wouldn’t do to just leave behind the footage.”
Returning in a stealth state, I lightly tossed [Thunderhorn] at the cell phones of the hunters filming the duel and smashed them all to bits.
Puffpuffpuff!!
“Whoa?! What, what the hell?!”
“Which crazy bastard is looking to die!?”
“See? Why were you filming it?”
Seeing the hunters arguing unnecessarily, I felt a bit amused and left once again.
Tap—
“Haah… It’s exhausting to start the day.”
Finally finding a secluded spot, I was able to examine the artifacts I had taken from Teacher Cha.
Palestine’s Sky Fortress
– The passionate follower of the God of Thunder “Shininbane” and the great sculptor of the ancient empire “Palestine” created eight fortresses.
– Summons the eight fortresses wrought from “Palestine’s” fanatic worship and conducts a ritual, exerting a powerful provocation effect along with paralyzing effects.
– With the 719th ritual symbolizing “Shininbane”, it disappears, becoming one with the earth.
– 334/719
“This wasn’t just a skill, it was the power of an artifact. No wonder it felt extraordinary.”
Since I have strong resistance against status ailments, I managed to escape, but that power was indeed impressive.
“The number 719 symbolizing Shininbane… Not really my concern, but I’ve already used half the times. Damn it, that bastard should have conserved a bit…”
It was a disposable artifact, but its usage had already been heavily reduced.
Still, I had about 385 uses left, so it could still provide quite a bit of strength.
And the next artifact was a stylish chest plate in dark gray matte.
Elimane’s Sticky Chest Plate
– A youthful early work by the craftsman “Elimane,” recognized even by dwarves.
– Defense +192
– Has a low chance of absorbing a percentage of the opponent’s attacks and converting it into vitality.
“Oh… This is good too. Seems like I’ve picked up a lot of good stuff.”
While there weren’t specific numbers indicated, it was a solid piece of armor that converted damage into health to prolong durability.
I promptly put on the armor, and surprisingly, the artifact seemed to blend and vanish into the Flame Armor.
– Fully fuses at the job change stage.
“Oh ho… Now it even eats artifacts.”
With even the lightest attacks not hitting me, I prepared to become tougher at the job change stage.
And the last artifact.
The Unyielding Necklace of the Mad Earthworm
– Grants the will and strength to seek light in an underground environment.
– Creates strong vibrations in the ground, greatly disturbing the opponent’s balance.
– Health +150
– Agility +20
“Ooo…? This one’s good too? This bastard… just how many good things did he pick up?”
Though he didn’t have impressive runes or mana stones, all his artifacts were top-notch.
Was he born with a silver spoon in his mouth beneath that rough exterior? Or was he not simply killing people for fun, but rather for monetary gain?
I donned the necklace and gazed at the ground a short distance away.
“I can feel it… the heartbeat of the earth.”
Rumble rumble rumble───!!
At the same time, the area within about two meters of where I looked started to shake violently as if an earthquake had occurred.
“Whoo… depending on how it’s used, it could come in handy.”
The range is small, but the vibrations were enough to create a variable in battle.
It would be useful to use it along with [Root Chain] to distract attention.
“Now for the main event of the day.”
Activating [Sanctuary of Vigilance] to block outside views, I summoned the corpse of the recently defeated “Teacher Cha.”
“I need to test this out at least once.”
Life Potion.
To use it boldly when truly needed, I had to try it out beforehand.
“Hmm… Should I burn off his arms and legs… nah, that might be overdoing it for a test. If he revives without recovery, I’ll just lose one power.”
I was about to conduct an experiment that I couldn’t show anyone.
“I don’t know how much physical damage needs to be inflicted for the recovery to occur…”
There wasn’t a clear explanation of how far and what states of revival were possible.
If I didn’t experiment against the specified villain of the system, who else would I do it on?
“It’s all your fault, Teacher Cha. Let’s see… I shouldn’t damage the head… How about the heart? Should I try that?”
I slit open his chest and cut about 10% of the still warm heart out and set it ablaze, while I also cut off one of his ears and burned that too.
Whoosh──
A burnt, somehow slightly sweet scent brushed past my nose.
The sweet scent reflecting the cravings caused by [Blood Transformation].
In a sudden surge of wanting to gulp down blood, I shook my head vigorously and once collected my wits, continued the task.
“Let’s keep the head near the torso.”
I brought Teacher Cha’s severed head close to his torso, looking up at me with a gaze that seemed unable to comprehend what was happening.
Thud—
And from the space, I summoned a giant sphere.
Splash-splash-
Life Potion
As I brought my hand to it, a faucet-like protrusion emerged from it.
“······ So this will work according to my will, huh?”
The life potion seemed to change shape as if it read my thoughts.
It was certainly no ordinary item.
I turned the handle and poured a little over half of the life potion into a brown bottle.
The capacity of the brown bottle was 50ml.
That meant I had about 30ml of the potion inside.
Dropdropdrop—
“Carefully, carefully— not a drop must be wasted. But how do I feed this to him?”
First, I pried open his mouth and poured half of the potion inside, while the other half I carefully sprinkled over the cut ear and heart area.
“······.”
About a minute passed.
Bubbling—
The place where I poured the potion began to react.
Shaking—
After a moment, the severed neck shook violently and suddenly floated into the air.
“Huh… insane…”
The severed head rose up on its own.
If our party members had been there, they would have had quite the reaction, but that was a bit disappointing.
Flicker-!
Now the eyeballs even started to move.
The once dull eyes slowly rotated 360 degrees, scanning the surroundings.
“··· What is this, some horror movie or what?”
The slowly rotating eyeballs fixed on me for a second before their gaze shifted to their own torso.
“Uuugh······.”
The head of Teacher Cha, frothing at the mouth like a zombie, let out a cry.
“··· Dammit, next time if I have to do this again, I’m definitely doing it alone.”
I expected something spectacular with a beautiful light show would happen, but this felt way too grotesque.
“Then again… how could such a concocted potion be all that considerate?”
Considering how it was made, I could understand that to an extent.
Splatters—
The floating head of Teacher Cha gradually moved to align itself with the section of its torso.
“The direction’s···.”
[Imitation]
“Hey, you need to turn your head the other way.”
“Uuuh…?”
“Turn back, just a bit more. No, the other way! That’s it. Just a little more. Stop. Stop!”
Following my signals, the head landed back perfectly onto the torso, and bones, blood vessels, muscles, and skin fused back together to restore its original form quickly.
“Haah······.”
He let out a long sigh as his body quaked once.
“Kraaaaack!!”
With a horrendous scream, he began to writhe and twist his body.
At this rate, it seemed that the departing soul was almost halfway returned.
“The heart… is healing…”
However, it didn’t seem to regain the size it had before I cut it but rather was only healing the injuries.
But crucial functionalities were showing signs of recovery.
“Seeing that the ear isn’t healing, it seems it doesn’t restore damaged body parts.”
Yet the skin on his thigh, which I had burned, had regenerated perfectly.
“The recovery ability itself doesn’t match Gu Sang-min’s healing. But still, to bring back the deceased life like this is truly…”
It was a surprising and eerie affair.
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