Chapter 199 High Ranker (4)

‘Declaration of Divine Retribution.’

He didn’t know exactly what this was, but one thing was for sure. It wasn’t a field-type ability. If that were the case, New Human would’ve activated.

「By the effect of the path of sacrifice, all abilities except magic decrease by 2 levels.」

「Half of the magic used is absorbed by the Victim.」

「Body adapts to the new environment.」

「50% of all environmental penalties are reversed.」

Across the desolate sand of the arena, red flowers covered the ground. His foe was still spreading her wings and looking down indifferently.

‘Since she was raised like that, I can’t curse her saying this is for show..’

Thanks to New Human, he enjoyed increasing his stats, but Yoon-seok kept his face blank. However, he had to figure out how half of his magic was being absorbed.

「Twenty-five swords are used. Phantom Energy that is ingrained in the sword becomes stronger.」

Yoon-seok made Skywrath Swords orbiting around him. Then, he shot forward at his opponent. They disappeared at the translucent shield surrounding her, but..

‘I guess this is how it’s done.’

Yoon-seok’s eyes were filled with amusement. At the same time, when Skywrath Sword disappeared, half of his magic used was divided into two and flowed between his opponent and himself.

‘..Anyway, if it’s not a field-type skill, is it a skill that targets me?’

Yoon-seok once again focused on the Declaration of Divine Retribution. He needed to find a way to solve it.

Whoosh-!

When Light of Purification was used, shining black energy flowed out of Yoon-seok’s body. But, it was of no use. It wasn’t the same type of abnormality as a curse, then. How about Lady’s Commandment?

「By Lady’s Commandment, the effect of the Declaration of Divine Retribution disappears.」

Was it that strong of an ability? As soon as Lady’s Commandment was invoked, a noticeable quantity of magic was being consumed by the second. But, the sealed skills were back. Even considering the amount of magic delivered to his foe, it was more beneficial to maintain it. However, his opponent thought the same.

「Lady’s Commandment is nullified by Unique Power Sacrosanct.」

A counter for field-type abilities? The black veil covering the stadium broke like glass, and his skills were sealed again.

‘..This is going to be pretty difficult.’

Contrary to what he expected, Yoon-seok smiled. The skill that had rendered many people helpless was blocked effortlessly. At times like these, he felt this was a game, repeatedly blocking with a new card every time.

“Stop your useless struggles and repent.”

Given her relaxed attitude, it seemed that she was still hiding a lot of cards. Yoon-seok was also anything but impatient, however.

“There’s still a long way to go to repent.”

What determined the game wasn’t how many losses he accrued but how powerful the cards were.

Whoooosh-!

Yoon-seok brought out b Divine Ultimatum}. From {Dark Knight}, b Immortality}, b Demonify}, and b Death God}, to Demon Body and Soul Cleanse and Lady’s Commandment. This was no doubt one of Yoon-seok’s greatest powers. However, even in the absence of those skills, Yoon-seok fought well, and other than one defeat, he’d won all of his battles. It was the same this time.

The third technique of Heavenly Sword, Black Cloud Perforation. With that opening tactic, black energy swirled around his sword.

Swish! Swoooooooosh!

Pursuing extreme Illusion and swiftness. This wasn’t the spatial control of b Demonify}, but the surrounding air began to warp and distort. Within, Yoon-seok stared at his opponent calmly without moving.

“..”

This was different from before. Now he could order the spacecraft to initiate bombardment or summon hundreds of thousands of troops to aid him. He could also suppress people with a devil’s appearance or overwhelm his enemies by magic alone. But those were only forces that made it a little easier and faster to reach his goal.

Yoon-seok’s most trusted weapon hadn’t changed: the two swords in his hands. historical

Flash-!

His eyes glinted. At that moment, the world Yoon-seok saw lost its color. It was now colored in black and white, and lines were drawn over everything he could see. Yoon-seok slowly stretched his sword out. He didn’t have to use a lot of strength; following the lines would be enough.

“..”

There were no explosive sounds. As if piercing a piece of paper with a knife, the sword ignored all sense of physical distance and aimed at his opponent’s heart. It was a single move, but the sword technique pursued a speed that even a powerful foe could never sense.

But the crucial part was from then on. If this were someone who he could get rid of in one blow, the Tower wouldn’t have rated her higher than him.

“..!”

When the black sword was about to pierce her heart, he first detected a change in the air. Magic from the eight wings behind her covered the world in a fog. It wasn’t just a technique that used magic, however.

Clang!

He didn’t know what had happened. However, when he came to his senses, she had blown away his sword energy with her hammer of light.

“This kind of petty trick won’t work.”

Aside from ignoring the Heavenly Sword as a mere trick, it didn’t make sense.

‘Huh?’

Hitting his sword with a hammer? Up until now, he was playing along. Yoon-seok’s technique wasn’t as fast as Cheon-ma’s. The Heavenly Buddha had responded and avoided Cheon-ma’s attacks, so it was possible. But..

‘This doesn’t make sense.’

That and this were different things. Should he say it was like watching a slideshow with a small gap? As soon as the sword was about to touch her heart, the scene of her hitting away his sword appeared in its place. An important part was missing here.

Yoon-seok didn’t witness the incoming swing. Even with a way to see, he completely missed the movement.

‘Skill.. no, is it the strength of a power?’

There was no command. It might be an admin’s power or a general skill that became a power after reaching Rank S.

‘Temporal time pause? Extreme acceleration? Or was her main stat agility instead of magic?’

Regardless, it was mind-bending.

‘But if she had access to that physical ability from the start, why didn’t she rush in first?’

The moment he wondered, she narrowed the distance, perhaps reading his thoughts.

“It’s judgment time.”

There was no madness or excitement in her red eyes but calm as if she was just doing what she had to. Although it was a little unfair to be treated like that for having a few evil skills.. she must have her standards. He decided not to argue over evil or justice. It depended on the perspective, after all.

Since the beginning, justice belonged to the victor.

Tadak-!

Yoon-seok stepped back. It hurt his pride to back off, but it was dangerous to rush to a close battle until he learned about that odd movement.

‘Commander Call.’

Black Cloud Perforation didn’t work as his foe proved faster. Then, what about an overwhelming force?

—I just need to burst that half-breed this time, right?

Lynn looked somewhat excited. That was what he was hoping for. While he was at it, Yoon-seok synchronized with the vessel and handed over half of his magic to Lynn.

—It’s beautifully becoming dust..!

Along with Lynn’s shout, the spacecraft’s mortar aimed and fired.

‘Nuclear Plasma.’

Nearly a dozen shots were fired at once. It was almost impossible to stop.

‘But she’ll probably block it.’

Not a hunch, but a fact. Nevertheless, the reason he supplied half his magic to Lynn was simple. He had to figure out how she blocked it first so that he could move to the next step.

Booooom-!

The light rays collided with her as she approached Yoon-seok. No, as soon as he thought she was hit, he felt magic flowing out of her wings again. To be exact, it was flowing from two of the eight wings located at the top, just as it had before.

‘This again..’

Yoon-seok infused more magic into his eyes, but..

Boom-!

He couldn’t see it. About 300 meters away, when she was about to be hit directly by nuclear rays, her body disappeared. Again, the middle process was excluded. When he came to his senses, a sharp pain assailed the back of his head.

「You were hit by Carton’s Punishment Hammer.」

Only then did Yoon-seok realize he had been hit. And he had a question. There was numb pain but no significant damage, so.. why? While instinctively moving away, Yoon-seok realized the reason.

「Until the battle ends, all stats will drop by 1 level.」

Yoon-seok could tell how this woman hunted.

All stats were decreased. Yoon-seok immediately adapted to the sense of power escaping from his body, turned his back, and swung his blade.

Whoosh-!

The second technique, Traverse. This was a spatial sword that mixed the principle of dominance and bluntness. It swung down at his foe’s neck, but it didn’t work this time either. It was the same trick.

‘Damn it..’

Her wings exuded magic, and by the time he sensed it, a hammer was already hitting his head again. It didn’t hurt much this time either. However, his stats continued to plummet.

「You were hit by Carton’s Punishment Hammer.」

「The existing punishment effect will be stronger.」

「Until the battle ends, all stats will drop by 2 levels.」

The decline in stats could overlap.

‘What kind of crazy item..’

If he were hit 10 more times, his stat except for magic would be Rank A. No, if it were worse, it would go down to Rank B.

‘Is she the type who prefers attrition..?’

He didn’t know why she preferred this battle style when she had that speed, but he learned about her combat style. Therefore, Yoon-seok chose to widen the distance instead of counterattacking. But it felt like he was being dragged into a swamp. He instinctively felt that the more he tried to struggle, the more he’d lose.

“..”

As soon as Yoon-seok stepped down, his opponent silently followed. He didn’t know why all the women he met were like this, but she was very persistent. Yet something was off.

‘Why isn’t she using that skill?’

She crossed over 300m to hit him in the back of his head. In other words, if she used that ability, she could catch up with him immediately. Why didn’t she use it now, then? Yoon-seok smiled.

‘There must be a restriction..’

There was no way a ridiculous ability like this wouldn’t have any penalties. Then, what were the restrictions? As he pondered, his intuition based on experience told him. He didn’t know what it was, but it was related to him attacking first.

“You can’t avoid judgment, so take it sweetly.”

Sword Mastery had something similar in the past. The enemy’s first attack was a condition of initiation. But, Yoon-seok hoped that this hypothesis would be wrong. Because if it were true, it would be more troublesome. If he attacked, he would have to avoid the triggered ability.

‘Let’s check one more time.’

Yoon-seok turned his back and stabbed lightly at his foe’s thigh. The opponent ran at Yoon-seok, avoiding the blow easily. However, there was no explosive speed like before.

‘Was my hypothesis wrong?’

Even though he attacked first, she didn’t use the ability. Why? What went wrong? His concern didn’t last long. Even if it wasn’t for that ability, the opponent wasn’t losing to Yoon-seok in terms of physical ability.

When he turned around again and tried to widen the distance-

He was hit for the third time.

「You were hit by Carton’s Punishment Hammer.」

「The existing punishment effect will be stronger.」

「Until the battle ends, all stats will drop by 3 levels.」

There was almost no pain. It was a matter of course; it just slightly brushed his shoulder. However, the effect of the hammer washed over him.

‘What judgment does she like so much?’

For Yoon-seok, it was annoying, but complaints wouldn’t change anything.

‘Let’s fight back.’

Avoiding wasn’t the answer. Instead of widening the distance, Yoon-seok halted and drew his swords. His stats were gradually decreasing, but the hammer wouldn’t kill him. Therefore, it might be better to face it head-on and aim for an ultra-short battle. If the first attack wt the triggering, there must be a cooldown or a number limit.

Even if he were hit by the hammer, it’d be his win if he could slice her head off.

The moment he decided to fight back-

Slash-!

Yoon-seok’s sword cut into her shoulder, and red blood splattered out.

‘Huh?’

Yoon-seok was surprised even though he was the one who stabbed her. He wasn’t expecting she would get hit so easily. However, it wasn’t only Yoon-seok who was flustered.

“..!”

His opponent was also shocked. Something crossed his mind, but he still wasn’t certain.

Slash-!

To confirm this, Yoon-seok swung again. She fell for it helplessly. Looking at how she fought, he thought it was a proximity seal, but she was terrible at martial arts. No, looking at the damage he caused with a simple slash, her durability level was too low for a close-range fighter.

However, this also added credibility to Yoon-seok’s hypothesis.

‘..Was it that kind of ability? Interesting.’

Of course, this wasn’t the time to act conceited. Just as there were still a few cards left on his side, the same went for her. Considering that magic emitted from her wings when a skill was activated, maybe the other wings had different abilities. However..

Slashhhh-!

He’d better take them out quickly. Otherwise, whether it was a high ranker or some other swindling abilities, he would be devoured here.