I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 129

Cha Jin-Hyeok threw out his sword, the Greatsword of La’kan. Having become familiar with the Skills he had been using throughout his journey through the maze, he immediately activated Shattering Sword. The Greatsword shattered Jonprich’s glasses and struck one of his eyes.

“ARGH!”

Jonprich let out a scream, covering his eyes with his four limbs. This allowed Jin-Hyeok to break free from him.

“Through Broadcaster's Clairvoyance, I have already seen that a colorless, odorless anesthetic gas was filling the area,” Jin-Hyeok quickly said.

He had been deliberately hiding this information. He was beginning to know what to reveal to the viewers and what to keep hidden. His collaboration with Bong King had been quite helpful in that aspect.

“I’m also reaching my limit on holding my breath.”

Using the same principle as before, Jin-Hyeok had protected himself with Broadcaster’s Barrier by maintaining a thin layer of it over his skin to minimize his contact with the anesthetic gas.

‘That was really tough.’

Not only did he have to pay attention to his livestream, but he also had to avoid being fatally injured by Jonprich, hold his breath, and maintain the Broadcaster’s Barrier all at the same time.

‘The path of becoming a great Streamer is truly high and steep.’

Being a Swordsman seemed so much easier in comparison. Back then, all he had to do was just mindlessly swing his sword. However, the more complicated his life got, the greater the sense of accomplishment he felt.

“I will use this,” Jin-Hyeok said, pulling out an item from his inventory.

[Superior Spirit Stone of Fire]

“If I detonate the Spirit energy with this, I should be able to clear out all of this colorless, odorless anesthetic,” Jin-Hyeok declared.

He tossed the Spirit Stone into the air and swung his sword, the Greatsword of La’kan, like a bat.

[You have activated the Skill 「Shattering Sword」.]

A blaze of red fire ignited. Flames imbued with Spirit energy enveloped both Jin-Hyeok and Jonprich. Naturally, the fire consumed Jin-Hyeok as well, filling him with a sense of pride.

‘Humans really are adaptive creatures.’

Had he encountered these flames when he first entered the New World, the agony would have been far worse. However, repeated interactions with the Spirits had made him quite accustomed to the Spirit energy.

“But it seems Jonprich has far greater resistance to the Spirit Flame than I do.”

The Spirit Flame could not even stick to Jonprich’s legs.

“After all, he is a monster with eight limbs made of wood from the lava. It makes sense that he would have that sort of resistance.”

Although the flames had caught onto Jonprich’s face and torso, the monster puffed up his belly and inhaled the flames.

“He ate the fire! His belly area has turned red.”

‘I didn’t know that was possible. Can I do that too? Wouldn’t it be convenient if I could block fire like that?’

Jin-Hyeok was momentarily curious, but he had little room for experimentation right now. Just conducting a livestream while battling Jonprich was overwhelming enough.

“A madman who experiments with Spirits on living creatures would naturally have such resistance,” Jin-Hyeok said.

Jin-Hyeok never intended to inflict damage on Jonprich with the Spirit Flame, so it did not matter.

Just then, a wooden arm flew toward Jin-Hyeok’s head.

“I just need to quickly dodge the attack.”

Jin-Hyeok still could afford to broadcast his next step to his viewers. He took a few steps backward and dodged the wooden arm.

“Another attack is coming.”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The freely extending wooden arms drove into the ground. Once again, Jin-Hyeok took several steps backward and dodged them.

“It looks like Jonprich’s appearance has become quite grotesque.”

On Jonprich’s torso, which originally had eight limbs, dozens more had sprouted. Each arm writhed as if it possessed its own life.

“He’s definitely a high-Level monster.”

The arms themselves stretched and contracted like rubber, moving freely at will. They attacked Jin-Hyeok in various ways: once like a whip, another time like a blunt weapon, and yet another like a spear. Occasionally, they even caused explosions. The complex and clever range and means of attack left Jin-Hyeok without the leisure he had before.

‘He’s strong.’

A sly grin formed on Jin-Hyeok’s face. Jonprich was indeed a Level 128 monster.

‘I’ve been relatively able to dodge his attacks thanks to his attacks being slightly off the mark.’

Reducing Jonprich’s field of vision during the first attack had been a wise choice. The monster’s precision had faltered. Yet, Jonprich seemed to be growing accustomed to his impaired vision.

“The attacks are becoming sharper. It’s really hard to counter with ordinary swordsmanship,” Jin-Hyeok commented.

While pressuring Jin-Hyeok with most of his arms, Jonprich used two remaining arms to mold clay into a round shape. Soon after, he pierced his damaged eye with a quick stab, plucked it out, and threw it to the ground.

“He is an interesting fellow.”

Jonprich inserted the round clump of mud into his eye socket. The clump of mud began to spin before morphing into an eyeball. Jonprich had fully recovered from the injury.

A sly chuckle escaped from Jonprich.

“Now, let’s really get down to business.”

? ? ?

“We need to move quickly,” Kim Mu-Jin, the Navigator, said.

Before he knew it, the resurrected Bong King, Kang Min-Hyeok, Lee Hyeon-Seong, and even Choi Gang-Byeok had descended into the well. Time was running out, and Mu-Jin grew increasingly anxious.

“Kim Chul-Soo is still progressing in Solo Mode. It’s quite strange when you think about it. Why does this Dungeon have a setting where someone is set as the one who is leading and the others are the ones who follow? And why, after bringing them all together, allow that one person to retain the Solo Mode? There are some bizarre contradictions occurring here,” Mu-Jin said.

Mu-Jin barely managed to calm his pounding heart. Having recovered from a near-death state, he felt like he had pushed his own limits. It thrust him into a state of intense euphoria.

“To fully clear this New World, to complete the Scenario, our roles have clearly been assigned. Chul-Soo has shattered the maze and headed somewhere. We can’t say his path is wrong, but the path I thought of is a bit different.”

Mu-Jin spoke fervently.

“Our paths have been different from the start. We must go a different way. Our role is not just to follow the steps of the one who has gone before but to go on our own. We have to show our strength elsewhere. We should not compete with Chul-Soo. We must collaborate! In our own way!”

Mu-Jin then began to pave a new path, in the style of a Navigator. It was in the opposite direction to Chul-Soo’s path.

‘It’s easier than I expected.’

Though he was not sure why, many traps seemed to have been destroyed. It was probably because Chul-Soo had demolished the maze to create his path.

Mu-Jin entered the Trance Realm, advancing at a pace that would make it difficult for other Players to catch up. His eyes shone with a madness akin to someone with a runner’s high.

Lagging behind, Ruler Kang Min-Hyeok felt intensely stimulated in his own way.

‘That look in his eyes... That’s the same look Chul-Soo has,’ Min-Hyeok thought.

That look was indeed the foundation of an excellent Player.

‘I’ve been thinking about this all wrong.’

To reach great heights, one had to be a bit mad. Though Min-Hyeok knew this intellectually, it was the first time he felt it viscerally. Even the eyes of Min-Hyeok, who was considered to have the most common sense, began to change a little.

Bong King caught this transformation on his livestream.

?Our Ruler is Awakening! Are you guys seeing this? Our party members are growing stronger in real-time! This is all thanks to me, Bong King!?

The viewers mocked Bong King.

-Yeah, right.

-Anyone can see that he is only motivated because of Chul-Soo. Stop lying.

? ? ?

“Now, let’s really get down to business.”

As Jin-Hyeok heard Jonprich’s voice, he changed his Achievement.

“I hadn’t been using the One Who Breaks Artificiality Achievement until now.”

The change was instantaneous.

“You know, upon reflection, Jonprich is the very definition of artificiality.”

Jonprich had modified his own body, fusing it into a Chimera-like amalgamation of body parts. This made the One Who Breaks Artificiality Achievement exceedingly effective against him.

[You have activated the Skill 「Shattering Sword」.]

Boom!

Accompanied by the sound, a wooden arm belonging to Jonprich snapped off powerlessly.

‘I shouldn’t be doing this...’

Jin-Hyeok still saw swords as weapons meant for slicing and stabbing.

‘This is not supposed to be this fun!’

Swinging the sword like a blunt weapon was clearly frowned upon in the world of a Swordsman. It was almost disrespectful to the blade itself.

‘But then again, I’m not a Swordsman, am I?’

Upon reconsidering, he recalled his actual Job: a Streamer. And a Streamer had no obligation to think like a Swordsman.

‘I’m right. It doesn’t matter.’

Truthfully, the sensation of swinging his sword like a blunt weapon was not too unpleasant.

‘It’s even more fun because I have never done this before.’

Employing the One Who Breaks Artificiality Achievement had made deflecting Jonprich’s attacks substantially easier. Despite his diminished stamina, facing the opponent had become more manageable.

Snap!

Another wooden arm twisted grotesquely and broke off.

‘If the same thing keeps happening, my livestream will get boring, right?’

Jin-Hyeok already figured out the attack patterns.

‘Let’s just quickly break the arms.’

In just fifteen minutes, dozens of the wooden arms that clung to Jin-Hyeok were smashed to smithereens. With all his limbs shattered, Jonprich screamed, “You bastard!”

A stream of purple venom spewed from his mouth.

Hiss!

Upon contact with the air, the liquid instantly vaporized. Jin-Hyeok quickly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve.

“It doesn’t look like the venom is specifically targeting me. More likely, Jonprich is just buying time. I will take a closer look.”

The broken arms shattered into fragments, embedding themselves into the ground surrounding Jonprich. Soon enough, the fragments coalesced, forming a fortress-like barrier around him.

“Looks like I’ll need to take a closer look through the gaps.”

[You have activated the Skill 「Time-Lapse Recording」.]

Jin-Hyeok managed to slow down Jonprich’s movement. The monster was not particularly fast to begin with, so slowing down his movement allowed Jin-Hyeok to see what Jonprich was doing.

“He is using his arms to construct a fortress, shielding his back,” Jin-Hyeok narrated, finding the situation vaguely familiar.

‘Come to think of it, isn’t that ability quite similar to Mok Jae-Hyeok’s Wood Fortress?’

Jin-Hyeok felt a curious sense of nostalgia but maintained his focus on the livestream.

“The back is beginning to split. Something seems to be squirming and emerging from there.”

A sticky green liquid oozed from Jonprich’s back, and from it, something covered in white scales started wriggling like a larva and then began to rise.

“Ah, I get it. He is in the middle of transforming.”

Being vulnerable during transformation, it seemed Jonprich was using the purple poison mist and the wooden fortress for protection.

“I’ve always wondered,” Jin-Hyeok mused, recalling his childhood fascination with robot cartoons.

Why don’t the villains get attacked while they are transforming?’

“Wouldn’t the perfect time to attack be during a transformation?”

A wry smile crept onto Jin-Hyeok’s face. The target was too tempting, too opportune.

Unconsciously, he found himself murmuring, “What a wonderful day for a good stabbing.”

Jin-Hyeok was currently located inside a sewer. It wasn’t possible to confirm the weather, but that did not matter.