Chapter 148
Jae-Hyeok smiled. “This is going to sting.”
Loren felt the hairs on his neck stand up, and the tunnel flickered gold and white as a line of lightning tore through the ceiling. This...! Loren’s eyes widened in shock and understanding. No wonder the Kang family’s Bloodline Skill was famous. It was related to the lightning attribute—the fastest and most powerful of attributes.
With no time to dodge, Loren infused mana into his armor and glared at Jae-Hyeok—or he intended to. When he met Jae-Hyeok’s eyes, his mouth slackened. Although Jae-Hyeok’s eyes glowed gold, it was pale—too pale to have been a sign of Bloodline Skill activation.
The gold in his eyes was an illusion, a trick of the descending lightning reflected in Jae-Hyeok’s eyes.
“You—”
The lightning reached Loren, and his entire body spasmed. Although his armor had absorbed much of the tribulation lightning’s power, it did nothing to resist the shock and paralysis status effects.
There was a reason why the thunder tribulation was called a divine punishment. Let alone others, even most S-class players chose to remain at level 150 in order to avoid it. True tribulation lightning was a fatal threat to players.
“I told you... it would sting,” Jae-Hyeok said with effort. As the intended target of Traces of Thunder Tribulation, Jae-Hyeok had suffered the brunt of the lightning strike.
Slowly, he climbed to his feet, but...
Shit.
Jae-Hyeok intended to stab Loren while Loren was stunned. But no matter how he tried, his hand holding Iyarugt only trembled weakly.
He was really at his limit.
No matter how high Jae-Hyeok’s resistance to lightning, he had endured a direct strike while critically injured. That was too much, even for him.
Jae-Hyeok stumbled, and Do-Jin came over and caught him. “I... I will support you.”
Do-Jin himself was charred black and still hot to the touch. Unlike Jae-Hyeok, who had lightning resistance, or Loren, who had his bone armor, Do-Jin had received the full effect of the tribulation lightning.
The pain of his split skin was secondary. Do-Jin felt as if he’d been cooked from the inside out. Anyone else would have fainted.
Yet he remained standing. Do-Jin’s voice was raw. “I will protect you so... Don’t worry.”
He uncorked a potion and poured it over Jae-Hyeok.
Nothing happened.
Jae-Hyeok had been using potions constantly to withstand Loren’s attacks and was in a state of potion poisoning.
Despite this, Jae-Hyeok’s sword grew lighter in his hand.
All he felt was Do-Jin’s supportive hand, and all he thought was that he was no longer alone. Yet Loren, Loren
, wanted to take Do-Jin away against his will.Jae-Hyeok roared in his mind, and like a puppet to his commands, his body obeyed.
What...?
Loren, meanwhile, stared dumbly at Do-Jin, not even trying to recover from his paralyzed state. The sight of Do-Jin standing with someone else and pointing his blade at him shook Loren greatly.
Jae-Hyeok’s red sword rose up and aimed at the slit in Loren’s helmet, the only gap in the bone armor.
This isn’t the only price you have to pay. Jae-Hyeok had seen several corpses today. The armed forces and gatekeepers had made terrible sacrifices to slow Loren’s group, and who knew if other students had gotten caught up?
Jae-Hyeok’s heart burned with hatred, and he moved to drive Iyarugt into Loren’s eyes.
Just then—
“You!” Wolfgang, who had just rounded the last bend in the tunnel, roared. With a burst of mana, the entire bone hill was blown apart, revealing the sky overhead and knocking Jae-Hyeok and Do-Jin back.
“You dare use dirty tricks to challenge the successor of the Bause family!?”
Wolfgang’s face turned purple as he charged after Jae-Hyeok.
Wolfgang was covered head to toe in wounds, and there were ugly chips in both his axes. It seemed his battle with Shinra Kyeong hadn’t been easy. But no matter his appearance, the charging Wolfgang was an unavoidable disaster in the eyes of Jae-Hyeok and Do-Jin.
“Shit!” Do-Jin tried to use Flash Steps but nothing happened.
He was out of mana.
It’s over. Do-Jin closed his eyes, but the sound of clashing metal met his ears, and Do-Jin looked up in confusion.
Shinra Kyeong blocked Wolfgang’s advance. “I lost him for a while.” His typically expressionless face looked worn, and seeing how Shinra Kyeong clenched his jaw with every swing of his sword, it was clear he was near his limit. Nevertheless, his determination to fight the S-class Wolfgang to the end gave Jae-Hyeok and Do-Jin new courage.
Meanwhile—
“Do-Jin, I’m heartbroken.” Loren shook off the last of the tribulation lightning’s effects and rose to his feet. Then, he recited two words.
“Arise, army.”
Rattle, rattle!
The ground around Loren stirred, and hundreds of skeletons rose in unison.
A one-man army—the true power of a necromancer was finally revealed.
“Ah... ”
The skeleton soldiers filling Do-Jin’s view instantly broke his motivation. It was already hard to lift a finger. He might not be able to handle one or two skeletons in his current state, let alone hundreds.
Their levels are probably high as well.
The level of skeleton summons was set at half the summoner's level. Meaning, if Loren was over level 60, the level of his skeletons would be at least comparable to Do-Jin’s.
“Loren... ” Do-Jin slowly raised his hands. “Let’s end it here. I won’t rebel anymore. Let them go, and I will follow you.”
Wolfgang scolded, “Don’t make me laugh! You dare to beg for forgiveness after harming the young master? You and these guys will face the punishment you deserve!” He had no intention of sparing Kang Jae-Hyeok and Shinra Kyeong.
Do-Jin looked at Loren desperately, but Loren’s thoughts weren’t much different from Wolfgang’s.
It is better to deal with them while we have the chance.
Loren had seen how Shinra Kyeong’s divinity had easily dealt with Wolfgang’s poison.
He’d grown up hearing that the Shinra family’s divinity was fatal to the Bauses, but only after seeing it person did the danger sink in.
It would be best if Shinra Kyeong were dead.
As for Kang Jae-Hyeok...
I have to kill him.
Loren stared into Jae-Hyeok’s black eyes.
He was certain.
This guy hadn’t awakened the Kang family’s Bloodline Skill.
Jae-Hyeok had used powerful swordsmanship to threaten Loren’s bone armor and could even call down a thunderbolt that resembled tribulation lightning. That was enough to prove his qualification to become a second Yaksha, even without the help of a Bloodline Skill.
Loren had no intention of sparing a monster who had a grudge against him. If Jae-Hyeok didn’t die, he would become a lifelong source of fear and worry.
Loren said, “Friendship should be based on equality. Do-Jin, you broke my heart, so I will make sure to break yours at least once.”
Do-Jin’s heart sank.
The skeleton army had already started advancing.
They surrounded Jae-Hyeok and Shinra Kyeong in an instant.
“......”
Shinra Kyeong looked troubled.
He could break through the encirclement, but he didn’t have enough strength to extend a helping hand to Kang Jae-Hyeok.
“Kill him.”
At Loren’s command, the skeletons with shields blocked Shinra Kyeong, while the skeletons armed with swords and spears rushed at Jae-Hyeok.
A rusty spear stabbed Jae-Hyeok in the shoulder.
Slash!
A rusty knife slashed at Jae-Hyeok’s back.
Was it due to pain or fear? Jae-Hyeok leaned forward, almost bowing. He resembled a criminal presenting his neck for the guillotine.
“Farewell, son of the Yaksha.”
Maybe I will remember you for a long time, Loren thought. Then, his murderous intent spiked, and two particularly large skeletons slammed their axes toward Jae-Hyeok’s neck.
Suddenly, a solid red line appeared across the skeletons.
It was Iyarugt’s sword light—in one strike, the rusty axes were destroyed, and the skeletons' heads flew.
Despite being stabbed and cut, Jae-Hyeok had patiently waited for an opportunity to counterattack. Loren wasn’t surprised. It was only natural for someone like Jae-Hyeok to show such resilience. Besides, he’d only lost two skeletons. His army was still intact, while Jae-Hyeok had squeezed out the last of his strength—
Suddenly, a pillar of light rose from Jae-Hyeok.
Loren’s eyes widened.
“...What?”
The pillar of light was a universally recognized phenomenon for players.
“He leveled up from killing a few skeletons?”
Within the light, Jae-Hyeok’s wounds rapidly reknit and his breathing stabilized.
Wolfgang was also shocked. Jae-Hyeok had fought toe to toe with his young master earlier
That Jae-Hyeok had leveled up by killing his young master’s summons. That meant Jae-Hyeok, who’d just fought toe to toe with his young master earlier, had a level lower than the young master’s skeletons.
“Since when?”
A mischievous smile appeared on Jae-Hyeok’s face as he stretched his body to test the stats he’d gained from his level-up.
“I was waiting to have a proper feast, but it took longer to level up than I expected.”
“A feast? You...!”
“Do-Jin, you should get up and join me. We’re going to eat well today.”
Usually, being low-level was a weakness. After all, a low level meant low stats—or it should have. But such common sense didn’t apply to Jae-Hyeok. He had awakened only after training his stats to the human limit and was powerful beyond his level.
For him, leveling up was as easy as breathing so long as he had enough high-level monsters.
“Livestock fatten themselves up for their owners. Your growing faster than me follows the same principle,” Jae-Hyeok said.
“Crazy kid! How dare you!” Wolfgang could no longer listen to Jae-Hyeok’s nonsense and became furious.
“You were the ones who were rude first.”
Jae-Hyeok didn’t even blink. He grabbed a nearby skeleton and threw it over to Do-Jin before glaring at Wolfgang.
“You will pay the price for running wild in South Korea... especially on the land that the Yaksha defended.”