Chapter 11 — The one who has tied a knot must untie it (1)
Step. Step.
The man took steps closer with a haughty manner and stopped right in front of Yoon-seok. And as soon as he was about to say something, Yoon-seok readied the half-broken sword and pounced towards the man, cutting and stabbing at random places. The blood that meant to be looked out, blew up and soaked Yoon-seok’s body. However, he couldn’t care less. Because this is a battle to put up with his death.
“You low desperate–!”
In a blink of eyes, the man’s body was stabbed non-stop. And of course, the body quickly recovered as early as the blood returned to the man’s body, however… the number of injuries was much more apparent than the healed ones. Bafflement washed over the man’s face. Yoon-seok found it strange. ‘…What is going on?’ If this man uses his explosion skill right now, he would turn me into a piece of meat in a second. But for some reason, he only focuses on recovering his injuries.
Blam! Blam!
Although occasionally there have been some explosions, it is not comparable to when his arm was crushed or his sword was shattered. It was only a small explosion intended to be a threat or warning to him. In addition, it seems like he is trying to shove Yoon-seok down as he was swinging his sword blindly from a very close distance. It looks like he wasn’t going to get caught up in an explosion.
‘He can’t make explosions and regenerate at the same time…?’
Yoon-seok’s eyes suddenly twinkled with an idea. Before, he thought that the man was going to eat him alive and torture while doing that, but now it seems like that wouldn’t be a case, looking at that troubled look. It’s not like the man doesn’t want to do it… but he just can’t. Although Yoon-seok didn’t know the exact reason. He held his sword tightly and drew near to the man. In fact, his broken sword was perfect for this situation since it was short like a dagger. “You persistent rascal!” The man’s face became more troubled.
Does the opportunity come when in crisis? I feel like I have found an answer to that question that I have never seen from anyone who is prepared to die. Yoon-seok didn’t stop the blind attack. The more he put the man in a difficult position, the more advantageous it’s going to be. The minor injuries that were caused by some small explosions? It was nothing. He just ignored it at this point.
With only half the sword, he constantly stabbed and cut his opponent, studying the man from time to time. Then a nagging feeling disturbed him. ‘Why is he focusing on healing on that side?’ The man was wriggling his arm to take out Yoon-seok’s sword from it. If he wanted to drive Yoon-seok back, he should have recuperated his arm. Yet, the man used his regenerative skill to his abdomen as his top priority.
‘I don’t know what it is, but that’s where something crucial is hidden, right?’
Yoon-seok bit the man’s neck. Since he didn’t have an arm, he bit the man to keep him from running. “This crazy human…!” The man stumbled backwards while trying to break free. Yoon-seok clung his legs to keep them from falling over the man’s legs.
Thud!
Their bodies were laid over the soil floor, which was full of dry blood. Even if the man were a woman, it wouldn’t be such a romantic sight. Yoon-seok attacked from above, slashing the sharper sword tip into the man’s stomach without resting like a madman.
Slice! Slice! Slice! Slice!
The flesh was torn apart here and there, ripped out a mass of flesh. He was wondering how many times he has done this. His arm was about to go numb, but Yoon-seok never stopped. Right at that moment…
‘What is it? Bead…?’ He felt something hard touch the tip of his sword. It is located around the lower abdomen. Something in there was round like a bead… ‘Is it here?’ He stabbed that place once more. Thunk! The blade made a sound that something hard that can’t be stabbed easily once met with the flesh and bones.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The man began to explode the blood. Unlike previously, it was a more powerful explosion. Amidst his legs were cut off due to the explosion and his back got a deep wound, Yoon-seok rejoiced on the inside. ‘So this is the jackpot!’
He still didn’t know what this bead was. This might be the Devil life core. The only thing that matters is that it’s something that’s worth the risk of letting himself get in the man’s explosion. To put simply, that thing was the weakness.
Boom! Boom!
His internal organs were revealed between the torn flesh, his hands which were gripping his sword became battered. However, Yoon-seok kept moving to strike the bead with his sword.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
One time, two times, three times, four times…
It was a lot harder than he thought.
Ka-Booooom!
The man spat blood on Yoon-seok’s face with his mouth. Apparently, they will blow each other’s heads together. Yoon-seok jab his sword without caring.
Five times…
Crack–
It finally broke.
“You… fucking… hu… man…”
Regardless of what he said, Yoon-seok could feel the man’s body dropped as well as his pouring blood. He still can’t believe what happened but…
He won.
* * *
「You won.」
「8000 AP will be given as a reward.」
「Unique skill <Predation> has been activated.」
「Learn one skill of your opponent at random.」
「Obtained Unique skill <Blood-bond>」
「One coin is being rewarded.」
「Teleporting to the waiting room on the 3rd-floor.」
「Prepare for the next duel.」
“Haa… Haa…”
Despite all parts of his body being recovered, Yoon-seok who entered the waiting room on the third floor, gasping for air. It was due to mental fatigue that had driven him to his limits. As time went by and Yoon-seok had completely calmed down, he looked at his sword. The broken sword was back in its original form. Just like himself. ‘It’s alright. It’s over now.’ The anguish from the last fierce duel was still clear when he closed his eyes, but the duel is over now. That’s why it’s time to stop and do things that he needs to do.
[Enter the 3rd-floor chat room.]
Yoon-seok accessed the chat room. Then, he read the chat one by one and examined the atmosphere. A familiar name caught his eyes.
-Devil666: If you want to get out of here, listen carefully. Even if you lose all the coins, you don’t actually die. I just lost my memory.
He was also in the 3rd-floor chat room. He’s eviler than the Devil, quoted by the real Devil. Yoon-seok frowned briefly. He then quietly checked the chat room participants.
[Current number of participants 1,481/8,912]
The chat room on the third floor was not divided into channels, nor was the total number of people 10,000. ‘There were over 30,000 people on the first floor.’ The number decreased drastically. It may mean that so many people have died, but it’s funny that Yoon-seok was proud of himself. A huge number of people have not come this far. On top of that, Yoon-seok arrived here and defeated all opponents without losing the streak. He was always belittled by Kang Hyung-woo, so he lost his self-esteem and stamp himself as a nuisance.
‘What about this side?’
Yoon-seok filtered the chat room to Earth. The number of participants was only 7. Calculating the rough estimate of the number of offline participants, there were about 40 challengers from Earth, who arrived on the third floor. It was a very small number compared to other dimensions that have over a thousand participants. ‘Well, that’s understandable…’ Taking from Yoon-seok’s experience, challengers from other dimensions were very good at fighting than from Earth.
Should he assume that it was because of the difference in mindset? Regardless of the strength condition are the same, those who have lived under the law and have a peaceful life will have a hard time adapting and winning. ‘No wonder the most one who fell into the Devil666 scheme were from Earth.’ Yoon-seok was reminiscing the chaos from the 2nd-floor chat room. He then estimated the number for another thing. How many challengers have been deceived by the Devil666 and give in themselves to death? Looking at enthusiast responses from challengers, if his guess is right, there might be thousands of them.
‘At this point, it’s almost like a massacre from history…’
But much to his relief (?), the challengers on the 3rd floor were not as thoughtless as the 2nd floor.
-Champion A: The Devill666 bastard is also here. How long are you going to eat everything he said as a whole?
-Generous Head of Rituals: At least you write his nickname when you’re calling him out. What he had done, anyway?
-Black-Cow: What a diligent endeavor fellow. Devil brother, it’s time to stop. I don’t think it will work here. You’ve got all the honey, right?
Most of them respond with a cold shoulder. Perhaps it was because the number of Earth challengers who sided with Devil666’s words has decreased and become less convincing. “Hold up. That is definitely that ‘Black-Cow’…” While reading the chat, Yoon-seok has a vague memory of that name. Black-Cow was the first challenger from Earth to fall under the temptation of the Devil666 on the second floor. Back then when Yoon-seok looked at what happened, he wondered how a person could be so naive. “Was he acting all along?” He felt dejected. A slight sense of betrayal filled him up. Disgusted by it, he closed the chat room.
Now that he had confirmed that no malicious rumors would be eroded among the challengers on the third floor, it was time to take care of the next business.
「You have acquired a new unique skill.」
Still, he didn’t know much about it but his guess that this was the man’s unique skill was proved.
<Blood-bond>
Rank E — Make an explosion from blood using Mana.
Rank F — Have control over the blood as long as the user’s Mana meets the requirement. If the core is intact, the body can be recovered using blood under any circumstances and the stamina is consumed according to the damage rate.
With the E rank’s skill open, that man seems to use around 5000 AP to upgrade his unique skill. ‘Put that aside, core? Is it means that something shaped like a bead?’ Yoon-seok, who pondered such a question, soon realized that he felt something strange under his stomach. ‘If it breaks, I can’t use this unique skill anymore.’ If he had not broken the core firsthand, he would have been wandering for a long time what the intact meant.
‘I’m glad I was fighting back. The explanation is very vague… Let’s try it out.’
Action speaks louder than words.
Yoon-seok stretched out his arm and slashed his palm with a sword, just like how that man did. Then he began to experiment with this and that using the blood that spurted out. “More or less it’s like this.” Wry smile planted on his lip after spending a few hours doing the experiment. Explode the blood, retrieve it, recover the wound. He could do it if he focused, but the process was harder than he thought. ‘It was far from easy.’ It may take more time to be as skilful as that man.
「Next Duel in 22:34:45.」
After checking the remaining time, Yoon-seok approached the tablet, he had made up his mind. He opened the convenience store window.
*Re-ticket (Rank F) — Tear a ticket and you will be able to return to the original world for 24 hours.
Price: 300 AP
A return ticket that he had a desire to buy several times but couldn’t buy it. Yoon-seok did not hesitate to purchase it. He currently has 9000 AP. He could afford to buy a ticket. Of course, he will fall behind from the other challengers who didn’t bother to buy the ticket, but…
‘It’s my priority right now.’
After the time when the fire broke out at his father’s factory, he suffered from panic disorder. His heart was pounding like crazy and he had difficulty breathing, he couldn’t see anything, his view was dark. At one time, it was getting worse that he got drugs and tasted it. Those days, he never heard such hallucinations as he listened in this place.
‘…Not to mention those phantom voices were getting worse by now.’ It wasn’t something he couldn’t understand.
The Tower of Heaven is a place full of stimulants, where life comes and goes, blood everywhere, struggles with pain, and pushing someone to their limit. It was impossible to tell whether a person who looks healthy, whether both their body or mind, would be able to keep their sanity from time to time. For Yoon-seok, he has to survive, fight and overcome it.
「The purchased item has arrived.」
「Please check the lower part of your status.」
And that is the exact reason why Yoon-seok bought a ticket. If he doesn’t sort out his business with Kang Hyung-woo, Yoon-seok won’t be able to believe in himself forever. If he was in a pinch again, the same thing will be happening over and over again, there’s no guarantee that the situation will end up as good as the last one. “Just wait, Kang Hyung-woo.” His eyes were blazed with confidence. He then tore up his return ticket.
「Re-ticket (Rank F) was used.」
「Teleport to Earth.」
It was his first return after 72 hours had passed.
* * *